Achieving success isn"t easy. Thousands of new businesses are launched every year only to fail a short time later. Those that make it discover that sustaining success isn"t easy, either. Many companies said to have been "built to last" don"t. Even some of the giants who seem invincible don"t remain successful forever. What gives an organization the best chance for sustaining growth and success? Developing and training people. Only by helping your people reach their potential will your organization reach its potential.
Author Stephen Covey observed, "People and organizations don"t grow much without delegation and completed staff work, because they are confined to the capacities of the boss and reflect both personal strengths and weaknesses." Don"t allow yourself to become the lid on your organization. Give it the best chance for a bright future by developing other leaders.
3. People Development Empowers Others to
Fulfill Their Leadership Responsibilities
People development is more than just teaching. It"s transforming. It invites people into the process of leadership because many things can be learned only through experience. When established leaders focus on People Development and empower others to lead, everybody wins.
The first benefit comes to the people being led. When new leaders are developed, they become better at what they do and they help everyone who works with them to do the same. When these new leaders start building relationships with their people on Level 2, they treat them better and the working environment improves. When they master Level 3, they become more productive.
The second benefit comes to the organization. With the addition of more good leaders, the organization"s current efforts improve. Every developed leader adds more horsepower to the organization. And expanding the leadership of the organization also gives it the ability to expand its territory and take on new initiatives.
The final benefit comes to the leaders who are doing the developing, because new leaders help to share the load. All leaders feel a weight of responsibility for leading. They understand that leaders are expected to produce no matter what. They feel a responsibility to the organization and their leaders to fulfill the vision. If there are stockholders, they feel responsible to them for making a profit. They feel responsible to the people they lead. They want to help them succeed. And they know that people"s jobs are ultimately on the line.
As you develop people and they begin to share the load of leadership, it"s important for you to give them the right expectations. Let them know that you"re responsible to them, but not for them. By that I mean you will take responsibility for providing training, supplying tools, offering opportunities, and creating an environment conducive for their development. They must take responsibility for their growth through their choices, att.i.tude, and commitment. If they don"t, you will pay for their failure along with them, but that is a risk worth taking because the upside advantages if they succeed are so great. And when it does work and people seize the opportunity to grow and lead, it"s fantastic.
4. People Development Empowers the
Leader to Lead Larger
Many leaders don"t want to share responsibility with others because they don"t want to lose any of their power. But when you share leadership with others, it doesn"t actually take away from you. Instead, it gives you time. As you develop people and empower them to lead, their territories expand and so does yours. But you are also freed up to do more important things, the most important of which include thinking, envisioning, and strategizing.
It"s often difficult to hand over responsibility for a task to others, especially if you believe they won"t do as good a job as you will. But that"s no excuse. You cannot become an effective Level 4 leader unless you are willing to let go of some of your responsibilities. A good rule of thumb for transferring ownership of a leadership responsibility to someone else is the 80 percent rule. If someone on the team can do one of your tasks 80 percent as well as you do (or better), then give him or her responsibility for it. If you want to be an effective leader, you must move from perfectionist to pragmatist.
5. People Development Provides Great
Personal Fulfillment
The greatest satisfaction in life comes when we forget ourselves and focus on others. And what"s really wonderful is that when we add the giving that comes from developing people on Level 4 to the solid relationships we"ve developed on Level 2, the closeness and warmth that result can provide the richest experiences of our lives. We are often closest to people when we help them grow.
Rabbi Harold Kushner a.s.serted, "The purpose of life is not to win. The purpose of life is to grow and to share. When you come to look back on all that you have done in life, you will get more satisfaction from the pleasures you have brought into other people"s lives than you will from the times that you outdid and defeated them." That is great wisdom. Helping others grow and develop brings great joy, satisfaction, and energy to a leader. If you can achieve Level 4 as a leader, you will create a sense of community, where victories are celebrated, grat.i.tude is evident, and loyalty is shared. Level 4 is the sweetest of all levels a leader can achieve.
The Downside of People
Development
Leading on Level 4 Requires High Levels of
Maturity and Skill
There is a reason that many leaders don"t develop people. It"s not easy! And there"s no guarantee that it will work out. Every leader has horror stories of investment in others that turned out badly. You pour yourself into some people and nothing happens. Some people take without giving anything in return. Others make an effort but fall far short of your expectations. And sometimes you give your best to someone, he turns out to be an absolute star, and then he leaves and becomes part of another organization! What can be worse than that? Well, how about not training him and having him stay? If you think about it, you have only one great choice as a leader if you want to lead to the full extent of your potential: you need to invest in your people.
People development requires a very high maturity level. It also requires a very high level of skill. That can create problems for some leaders, and it prevents many from following through with it. Here are the primary causes of breakdowns on Level 4.
1. Self-Centeredness Can Cause Leaders to
Neglect People Development
Maturity is the ability to think beyond yourself, see things from the perspective of others, and place their needs above your own. Selfishness prevents some people from reaching that level of maturity. If you want to lead on Level 4, you need to focus 80 percent of your attention on others and helping them to grow, learn, and achieve. If your focus is always on yourself and what you want, then people become an obstacle to your goals. Their needs are seen as interfering with your goals. And you spend most of your time disappointed with others because they aren"t on your agenda and are forever letting you down. You shouldn"t go into people development selfishly. Don"t do it because people cause trouble and you want them to change. You should go into it because people are worth it, and you"re willing to take the trouble to help them.
If you want to move up to Level 4 leadership, get over your selfishness, get outside of yourself, and adopt the att.i.tude of speaker and master salesman Zig Ziglar, who said, "If you will help others get what they want, they will help you get what you want."
2. Insecurity Can Make Leaders Feel
Threatened by People Development
Insecure leaders continually sabotage themselves and others. Because they worry about their position and standing, fearing that someone will take their place, they have a hard time investing in other people. Leaders who don"t deal with their insecurities and overcome them rarely reach Level 4 as leaders. If you suspect that your insecurities may prevent you from moving up to the People Development level of leadership, then be prepared to do some work in the following three areas.
Ego Leaders who are honest with themselves know that they don"t have all the answers. They recognize that success comes when people work together, each person playing his or her part. Because of this, they don"t try to answer every question themselves. They don"t try to make every decision. They see winning as a collaborative effort. And their goal isn"t to make others think more highly of them. It"s to get their people to think more highly of themselves.
How can you tell if your ego might be getting in the way of your ability to move up to Level 4? Consider what happens when you meet with your team.
Do your team members share their thoughts and ideas freely?
Are the best ideas coming from others?
If you often contribute ideas, does the discussion quickly move from your idea to the best idea-and you"re happy about it?
Now consider what happens when your team performs.
When your team succeeds, do the other team members get the majority of the credit?
Is there a shared sense of pride in the work that"s being done?
When things go wrong, do you personally accept the greatest share of the blame?
If you can honestly answer yes to these questions, ego may not be a problem. If you answered no to many of those questions, beware. You may need to deal with your ego. Positive working environments led by secure leaders allow team members to get the credit. Level 4 leaders experience genuine joy in the success of others. When others shine, so do they.
Control Many insecure workers try to avoid making mistakes by doing as little as possible or by trying to keep a low profile. Insecure leaders, on the other hand, often deal with the issue by relying on control. They think if they micromanage their people, they can keep them from making mistakes. But progress comes only from taking risks and making mistakes. Good leaders forge ahead, break ground, and make mistakes.
Since you can"t prevent mistakes, why not adopt an att.i.tude in which you and your team learn from them? That"s the only way anyone can really profit from mistakes anyway. Don"t try to put people in a box. Try to help them make the most of their fumbles, flops, and failures. As Jack Welch, the former CEO of General Electric, said, "A leader"s role is not to control people or stay on top of things, but rather to guide, energize, and excite." That"s what Level 4 leaders do.
Trust Insecure leaders don"t place their trust in others, nor do they engender trust from others. As a result, they don"t invest in others. And they don"t become Level 4 leaders. As a leader, you should never take trust for granted. Only when you lose it do you really understand the value of it. If you want to become a People Development leader, you must give others your trust and earn their trust in return. There is no other way to succeed on Level 4.
3. Shortsightedness Can Keep Leaders from
Seeing the Need for People Development
How many times have you considered giving someone something to do and instead thought, It"s easier to just do it myself? Doing work yourself is always faster and easier than developing other people so that they can do it. But that"s short-term thinking! To become a developer of people, you have to be willing to adopt a long-term mind-set. If you pay the price on the front end, the return is great on the back end. On Level 4, the question isn"t, what can you do? The question is, whom can you develop? Investing in people takes a lot of time and energy.
Shortsightedness, like selfishness and insecurity, is another sign of immaturity in a leader. People Development requires big-picture thinking. It takes patience. Helping another person to become a competent leader almost always takes longer than you think and is more difficult than you expect. You must do it anyway. Otherwise you limit the potential for yourself, your people, and your organization.
4. Lack of Commitment Can Keep Leaders
from Doing the Hard Work of People
Development
Anyone who can relate well with people, produce personally, and communicate a vision is capable of attracting a following. However, attracting, developing, and leading other leaders is much more difficult. And most leaders are not willing to put forth the tremendous effort it takes and make the sacrifices necessary to do it.
For some, the idea of giving themselves away by developing and empowering others to lead is very counterintuitive. Those people fear it will lessen them. But many others get it. They do it. And they see the incredible impact People Development can make. It transforms organizations and even impacts cultures. But it takes a high level of security and skill to do. And it requires a high degree of commitment.
Best Behaviors on Level 4
How to Develop People