Last week, following my presentation to 150 small business owners, one of the audience members shared with me, “You know, I’ve been a Stage Five Leader for years. That’s not the problem. It’s this vision thing. I don’t think we’ve got that down because I can get away from my business for up to three months, but any longer than that, and it will fail.”
I’ll share with you what I told him: Even though you’ve been a Stage 5 leader numerous times in your career, if your team or business cannot survive for more than a few months without you, you are not a Stage 5 leader. And that’s OK. It simply means that at this particular time, with this particular team, or with this particular issue or challenge facing you, your team needs you. It’s not time for you to move on yet.
If your team needs your support, it’s not time to move on just yet.
When I refer to a Stage Five Leader, I’m referring to my Five Stages of Focused Leadership Development® model. In this model, a Stage Five Leader is one who has developed a team or organization that now:
- Creates, uses and updates systems, processes and procedures to add value by increasing consistency, productivity and cross-training
- Develops, empowers and challenges team members to fulfill their job responsibilities – while holding themselves and their team members accountable
- Thinks strategically and works their strategic plan to ensure their organization and teams will be successful and relevant over the next 3, 4, 5 or more years
- Focuses on developing a talented workforce – deep and wide across the entire organization – to ensure their teams can perform at the levels needed 3+ years from now
If your team can stand on its own, you’re a Stage Five Leader.
When these leadership-driven behaviors and focus areas are in place and are being managed by the team, the leader can move into Stage Five Leader thinking and action: Move On. Move on and sell your business. Move on and retire. Move on to a different position within the organization. Move on to a different project. Stage Five Leaders transition responsibilities seamlessly to others. Stage Five Leaders can transition responsibilities seamlessly to others because their team members:
- Know the systems, processes and procedures – and are responsible for using, maintaining, and updating them
- Fulfill their ever-evolving job responsibilities – and hold themselves and each other accountable to do the work needed to move the organization forward
- Think strategically as they update and work the strategic plan to ensure their ongoing success
- Develop their skills continually to ensure they stay current, relevant, leading-edge – and marketable
- Know how to move on themselves as they develop others to step up and take over
Stage Five Leaders build solid, self-sufficient teams and organizations that evolve, grow and succeed when the leader moves on. Stage Five Leaders can move on because their teams have moved up.
Take our free leadership assessment to identify which stage of leadership you are operating in now.
Copyright MMXVII – Liz Weber, CMC, CSP – Weber Business Services, LLC – www.WBSLLC.com +1.717.597.8890
Liz supports clients with strategic and succession planning, as well as leadership training and executive coaching. Learn more about me on LinkedIn!
