Listening is one of the most important skills a leader can develop.
Reflect upon the awesome responsibility you signed up for when you chose to be the leader.
As a leader in the workplace, employees will spend roughly half of their waking hours working and living in the environment you create as the leader.
Whenver two or more are gathered together for a purpose there is an opportunity for leadership.
Building influence with others, true leadership, requires a tremendous extension of oneself.
Management is not something you do to other people. You manage your investments, checkbook, resources. You can even manage yourself. But you do not manage other human beings. You manage THINGS, you LEAD people.
Leadership- the SKILL of INFLUENCING people to work enthusiastically toward goals identified as being for the common good.
Skill- a learned or acquired ability. Learned or developed by anyone with the appropria desire coupled with the appropri actions.
Influence- if leadership is about influening others, how do we develop hat influence with people? How do we get their ideas, commitment, creativity, and excellence, which all all by definition voluntary gifts?
Power versus Authority
Power- the ABILITY to force or coerce someone to do your will, even if they would choose not to, because of your position or your might. "Do it or else."
Authority- the SKILL of getting people to WILLINGLY do your will because of your personal influence. "I'll do it because you asked me to; I'll walk through walls for you."
Power defined as ability, authority defined as a skill because it takes a special skill set.
Power can be bought and sold, given and taken away. Authority cannot be bought or sold, given or taken away. It is about who you are as a person, your character, and the influence you've built with people.
Power erodes relationships. Rebellion with teens and even employees is often a response to being "powered around" for too long.
Volunteers respond to authority NOT power because they would not stick around too long. They will only volunteer with an organization that is MEETING THEIR NEEDS.
What about people's hearts, minds, commitment, creativity, and ideas? Can you order or demand commitment, excellence, creativity?
Sometimes power must be exercised, but when it must, the leader should reflect on WHY resorting to power was necessary. Was it because our authority had broken down; or worse, perhaps we didn't have any authority to begin with?
Character qualities of a person with AUTHORITY:
Honest, trustworthy
Good role model
Caring
Committed
Good listener
Held people accountable
Treated people with respect
Gave people encouragement
Positive, enthusiastic attitude
Appreciated people
All these listed traits are behaviors and behavior is a CHOICE.
The $25,000 challenge: challenge yourself to change your habits, change your character, change your nature. That requires a choice and a lot of effort.
Leadership is about getting things done through people. Two dynamics involved: The TASK and the RELATIONSHIP.
Must focus on BOTH. If you focus on just the task, you have a lot of turnover, rebellion, poor quality, low commitment, low trust, and other undesirable symptoms. On the other hand, if the leader is not accomplishing the tasks at hand but is only concerned with the relationship, that may be good babysitting but not effective leadership.
The key to leadership is accomplishing the tasks at hand while building relationships.
All of life is relational with God, self, and others. The truly great leaders are skilled at building healthy relationships.
The most important ingredient in a successful relationship is TRUST. It is the glue that holds relationships together.
