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You are not a leader unless you have followers. Everyone can exercise personal self-leadership, but not everyone will be a leader that connects and collects with followers. You will not collect followers until you connect with people. Even those with a title or a position, may not have real people follow them in real time.
To be a leader that others follow you must…
1- Demonstrate a care for others that is greater than yourself. Care is three parts: (1) concern, (2) love, and (3) loyalty. A leader who doesn’t show concern is demonstrating a selfishness. People love a selfless leader. A leader must show unconditional love. A heart connection is the deepest connection. Leaders must learn to love their people more than their position. Finally, a leader must demonstrate absolute loyalty to loyal people. A lack of loyalty from a leader to his/her people is an automatic eject button.
2- Hold yourself to high personal standards, but be ready to give grace. Followers need consistency in conduct. Leaders must have impeccable integrity and set themselves up as the example. Followers don’t want to follow leaders who get a position and them reward themselves with perks and allowances. Followers love leaders who hold themselves above personal privilege and perks. This also speaks to holding others accountable. A leader must hold a consistent firm line with everyone, but they must consider each one as an individual. Leaders make allowances for your people, not for your self. Be ready to give grace instead of giving grief. Leaders who start with grace are leaders that others want to follow. There are no perfect leaders and no perfect followers, so a leader should be ready to give lots of grace.
3- Set a positive tone with a positive attitude. The leader is the the thermostat, not the thermometer. The thermostat sets the temperature, the thermometer reads it. Don’t do negativity. Don’t be naive, but start from a positive place and build on that. People follow positive people. Like attracts like. If you have a team or organization full of negative people, then your leaders are probably negative and the same if you have a team full of positive people. Drive negativity and bad attitudes out of your organization. Negativity is like mold. You can’t find it, but it stinks up the room. Positivity is like sunshine. It warms and welcomes.
4- Be the first to take responsibility. Don’t shift blame, pass blame or start with blame. Be ready to admit as the leader that you are ultimately responsible and it starts and ends with you. People want to follow a leader who will step up and take responsibility, even when it probably really isn’t their fault. People love a leader for that kind of a behavior.
5- Know where you are going and clearly communicate direction. People need a vision. They need to know where they are going. People would rather go the wrong way with a good leader, than to go the right way alone. This is why leadership is so important. It is up to the leader to not only provide the direction or vision, but to make sure the information is communicated clearly and timely. Followers like to be “in the know.” Most people if they are loyal can handle more sensitive information. Leaders must practice more sensitivity than secrecy.
Questions for teams to consider:
1 – Rate your organization 1-10 on how much you think people feel cared for. How can you demonstrate greater care for those in your organization? What will it take to get that number higher?
2- What is grace? What positive effect can it have on those in your organization? How do you hold high standards, yet give grace to others?
3- Rate your personal leadership on “positivity” and “energy” on a scale from 1-10? positivity:_____ energy: _____ : What will it take from you to get those scores higher? What prevents you?
4- How does blame make a team more ineffective and less productive?
5-What is the vision of your organization today? Compare your answer with others on your team. How clear is the vision and direction? Why is it clear or unclear?
(c) Alex Vann, 2018
Excellent article!
“Leaders must connect before they collect followers” love this!!! This is even something that is relevant in teaching.. I’ve found that building relationships, being intentional, and staying consistent with the people you are trying to teach/lead, are absolutely necessary. These three things must be done first before there is any reciprocation of respect.
I believe grace is sometimes over looked and it is important to show grace to the people who look up to you. Blame isn’t healthy in a group operation. There is no “I” in team so theirfor there shouldn’t be just “this person did this” situation. Build one another through learning experiences.
Be a loyal/selfless leader. I Loved the “eject button” example and how important is to show loyalty and to be loyal to your people, especially the ones who are loyal to you. Caring for your people is an important part of what we do as leaders. I asked myself this question, “Do I love my position more than the people that work for me?” There are some areas in my position that I love more than my people and that’s a convicting thought. Especially, since the love I show for my people may be the only time they feel what love really is and what the love of Jesus Christ looks like.