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Here’s a leadership self-test for you: How many times has someone said to you, “I want to be a part of this organization because you’re its leader” or “I’m working here because I want to work with you.” Once, twice, several times, all of the time – never?
My sincere hope is that you are able to say once, twice or hopefully several times or all of the time. If you are able to say any of those, that’s a strong commentary on your leadership skills. Congratulations! You’ve obviously had such a strong impact on at least one person that it has caused that person to want to experience working with you first-hand or that person wants to repeat a prior positive experience. Either way, those few words speak volumes of your leadership style. You’re a leader they want to learn from, work with, and follow. They consider you a leader.
On the other hand, if you’ve never had anyone tell you, “Because of you, I’m here too.” What the absence of those words may be telling you is:
* Because of your leadership, they don’t want to be a part of the organization any longer
* Because of your leadership, they feel under-appreciated, used, or ignored
* Because of your leadership, they aren’t challenged to learn, grow, and enhance their skills
* Because of your leadership, they’ve lost respect for you. They don’t consider you a leader.
Because of your leadership, others determine their future. Will they come to you? Will they stay with you? Will they go to get away? Or will they go because you’ve helped them grow?
What will others say about you as a leader – because of your leadership?
Copyright 2010
Great thought. Too many so called leaders do not pay enough attention to this. The only other thought I would add is… Are you inspiring?
I agree Mark. However, I honestly don’t think most wanna be leaders understand what it means to be inspiring — or rather — they don’t know how to do that. They don’t know how to do their job as a leader — & that’s what I work with my clients on all the time — what does it really mean to be a leader? It’s not what most people think.