You may have the title but do you have their faith in you as a leader. Tim Parsons explores how you may be getting in your own way.
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There are times throughout a leader’s tenure when he/she must look over their shoulder, and see if anyone is following. Are the goals that have been set being accomplished? Is the organization moving in a positive direction? Are people working together to achieve the desired outcomes?
Losing your influence over the people that you lead often does not happen quickly . . . but rather, over a period of time. People are forgiving at the beginning, but the longer you lead, the less they are willing to forgive your shortcomings. Those that you lead need to be led – want to be led.
We’ve probably all known “leaders” who were leaders in name only. The people who have been put in charge of a team but have no influence over those they are leading. Or, maybe you’ve been involved in a group, a ministry, or a task where we’ve been put in charge – but for some reason, no one is following.
There are lots of reason why people may not be following your leadership. Here are a few common reasons I’ve discovered:
1. You’re disorganized.
Organization leads to clarity. Clarity of mission, clarity of tasks to be completed, clarity of who does what, etc. When a leader is disorganized, he/she immediately loses credibility with the team. Being disorganized leads to confusion, missed deadlines, and a lack of care for the needs of the team.
You may find yourself late to appointments or meetings, misplacing documents, being unprepared for meetings, and forgetting who’s supposed to do what, etc.
2. You’re inconsistent.
Consistency helps people understand what is expected. When a leader is inconsistent, the team will be unsure of what is happening or what to do next. This is you, for example, if you change meeting times often and with very short notice, change your mind about how to accomplish group goals, and/or you’re moody and varied in reaction to things. Consistency gives people on the team a feeling of safety and security – which is vital to team success.
3. You don’t follow up.
You don’t follow up in a timely manner with emails, texts, phone calls, or tasks that were assigned to you. When you don’t follow up, people feel unimportant and can interpret this behavior as a sign that they’re not needed on the team.
This is evident when you don’t have a system in place to follow up on communications/requests that you receive, you don’t take minutes/notes at meetings that you lead, and/or you find yourself regularly saying that assigned items are not completed by the deadline.
4. You’re a discourager, rather than an encourager.
As the leader, one of the primary responsibilities you have is to encourage those that you lead. This is a non-negotiable and extends to everyone under your leadership regardless of position.
It’s bad enough for someone to stop following you if you simply do not encourage them, but when you also discourage those that you lead, it can be a deadly outcome. When you discourage those that you lead regularly, you are taking away the one thing that is most personal to them – the pride in their work.
You know this if your first reaction to others’ work is criticism, or you find it easier to tell others what they did wrong than what they did right, and/or you struggle to share the praise your team receives with other people on the team.
5. You care more about your success than their’s.
If you’re on the team and leading because you want the accolades and to take credit for the success, people will not follow you. One of the goals of leadership is to make those around you better. And, if they happen to surpass you in title, responsibility, and praise – so be it. That only looks good on you.
But, if you are threatened by others who have better talent and ideas than you, you may want to reconsider your role as a leader. This is you if you regularly need to be praised for the progress of the team you lead, or you find yourself jealous when someone else’s work is recognized or rewarded instead of your own, and/or you accept praise for yourself when the team wins, and quickly point fingers at everyone else when the team fails.
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The key ingredients for successful leadership span across all kinds of different personalities and skill sets. What is true about all successful leadership is that there are people who are actually following the leader. It is the leader’s responsibility to take the team farther and higher than they could go on their own. If no one is following your leadership, it is time to evaluate whether one of these five is true about you. One small shift in even one of these areas could mean the difference between failure and success, good and great, and profit and loss. Which one can you work on this week?
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This article originally appeared on timparsons.me and is republished on Medium.
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Photo credit: iStock