Why can some people produce great leaders and for others it’s like trying to find their way across a busy street blindfolded?

There is a secret to producing the next generation of leaders. But, first there a few obstacles that if they exist in your life, thought process or development style, you will hinder, retard or reject the next great leader. Actually, they will probably just leave you first. Great leaders have something in them that you have to draw out, sharpen and shape. Do you know what it is? Leadership. Either people will follow or they don’t. You can never be a true leader without people that follow you from the heart. If you can’t win the heart of the people you lead or are trying to develop, then you will face the continual frustration of what could have been or what might have been. Your leadership tree will bloom rarely and produce little to no fruit.

“The price of greatness is responsibility“

~Winston Churchill 

You’ll never develop great leaders if…

…If you don’t give them real responsibility. Developing leaders absolutely need real responsibility. This means you have to release control of certain things into their hands. Real responsibility means they have the ability to fail. You aren’t leading if you don’t have the ability to fail. Now, as the overall leader in your organization, you are the safety net. But, get far enough away from the leader that he/she feels the air between their decision and the safety net. If you are constantly cutting off or jumping in to the decisions your developing leaders are making, you aren’t allowing them to learn by experience. Now, when do you cut them off or interrupt them? When they are making excuses. Responsibility means you will be held accountable for your actions. Responsibility means having the power and control to manage something and be held accountable for your actions. Too many coaches or teachers or instructors or bosses do not give their charges real power to influence real decisions. And then, they don’t really let them own the responsibility.

Responsibility = Release 

The secret to discovering your next great leader: responsibility. Who in your organization already is taking the most responsibility? Who is highly responsible right now without much prodding or pushing from you? This is a person to watch. People you are watching can be promoted too early, too soon and stifle and stop all future growth.

Leadership Secret: Give lots of responsibility before you give a promotion, title or raise. The best leaders like the responsibility more than the recognition. Responsibility before praise. Praise before promotion.

…If you are impatient and rush the development process. A great leader must have the attitude of a farmer. A farmer understands that in developing his crop that there are seasons and soils that affect the development and fruitfulness of the plant. A leader who can develop other leaders understands this too. If you are frustrated with your inability or your people’s inability, then chances are, you might not be that good at reading the seasons in your team members lives. As a leader who wants to develop other leaders, you only have the ability to water, prune and to observe the growth of the leader. You can’t make a leader grow. The developing leader is ultimately responsible for his/her own growth. But, you must nurture and cultivate–this is your responsibility. Neglect will kill your growing plants (people). For clarity, you cannot nurture that which doesn’t exist. Make sure you are working in reality–the leader must have the nature of a leader. You cannot make a nature, you can only nurture. 

Nature = Leader 

Nurture = Leadership Development 

The farmer is ultimately concerned with yield. Yield is the measure of the entire amount that will be produced. If you rush development, you will produce a deformed leader. The leader will be lacking the growth that only comes from time and seasons. Yield takes time. You must be patient with the immaturity of your plants. If you are patient, then you are more likely to see a strong healthy, mature and reproducing plant appear. Focus on the yield. Start small. Measure. Examine. Does this plant (person) have the ability to produce (results)? Stop promoting people who can’t get healthy results. Stop pushing people who can’t get results. Leaders have the natural ability to get results. Focus on your people getting better. When they get better, they will get better results. Growing your leaders will grow your yield. 

Yield = Results 

…if you don’t grow through reinventing yourself continuously. The farmer is concerned with the quality of the soil that the leader is planted in. If the leader is not examining the environment and climate that the one that is being developed in is healthy for growth, then a large part of the frustration may come because the soil has not been tilled correctly. Soil always need to be tilled. Now, get this, I’m about to mix my metaphor. You, the leader, are not only the farmer, you are also the soil. If your people aren’t growing, it’s ultimately because they choose not to grow or you aren’t growing. Most often, the leader has grown stagnant. Each generation of new leaders changes. If you want to develop people better, then you have to grow. You have to learn. Then, you have to share those learnings with those you are training. You must cultivate your own soil, before you cultivate the soil of those seeking to grow out of you. Leadership trees only grow branches that grow fruit and reproduce, if they are healthy. 

The Secret: Leadership Development must be viewed as a process, not a product. The process requires cultivating, planting, nurturing and pruning. The process is always on-going, fluid and dynamic. It’s a field plowed by fewer and fewer, but the harvest is well worth the work!

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(c) Redwall, LLC. 2016.