Are You Creating Leaders?

If you want to lead people, you need to get people to follow you.  You need to get people to believe in  you and your mission.  You need to inspire them to believe that you have a worthwhile destination.  You need to instill trust, and to make people comfortable that you are worth following.   You need to model the type of behavior you hope to see from your followers.  Do all of these things and you will get people to follow you.

Getting people to follow you is important.  But, if you want to have the biggest impact, you need to encourage people to be leaders themselves.  In any organization, the leaders can only influence so many people on a daily basis.  That is why to have the biggest impact you need to create an army of leaders each imbued with the confidence and enthusiasm to carry out the mission of the organization.

I think creating leaders starts with making sure people know how important they are to the organization.   It is one thing for everyone to understand the goals of the organization.  It is another when everyone realizes how big a part they play in bringing these goals to life.  Every team member at every level of the organization needs to be reminded that they have valuable contributions to make to the team.  Every team member needs to be supported, encouraged and praised when they do the right things.

I also think it is important to empower your team to be leaders.  Let them know that you respect their opinions and contributions.  Let them know that you see leadership qualities in them.  Let them know that they have your confidence.  Not everyone is a natural born leader.  It is amazing how many people don’t see themselves as leaders until someone else opens that door for them, and gives them the permission to take on the role.

You will never get everyone on the team to be a leader, but this shouldn’t stop you from trying.  A truly successful organization will have many leaders in every level.  This has to be our goal.  Let’s get out there this week and inspire others to not just follow, but to be leaders themselves!  Have a great week!