Circle of Leadership

Please forgive me for taking so long to write this latest post.  Life sometimes takes over. 

Today I want to discuss the Circle of Leadership concerning (for lack of better terms) bragging.  I was asked to talk about how great leaders are those who brag about their people, not themselves.  I agree entirely, and have spent some time now thinking about this very thing, even using this as a discussion point with a friend of mine who has been thrust into a position of leadership.  He sometimes too humbly discovers he is in a leadership position, and quite often doesn’t understand how he got there.  So, I spent some time explaining this phenomenon to him.

I believe in two things.  1. People should always work hard to make their boss look good. 2. Leaders should always work hard to make their people look good.

Let’s take a look at the first truth:  if people work hard, their boss looks good to management. From then, any accolade he/she gets is due to their employees.  This is known by management.  The boss gets accolades as a leader, but management realizes they wouldn’t be where they are success-wise without the hard work of their people.  As a result, if the boss looks good, so do the employees.

Now, the second truth:  if a leader praises their employees to the management, the employees will receive better evaluations—thus leading to promotions and awards.  If their employees receive praise for their work, they will work harder for their leader.

Now, combine the two and you get the Circle of Leadership.  Leaders brag about how good their employees are and that it is truly their work that leads to team success—those employees work because they are happy and feel appreciated.  As the team works harder, more success will rain on the team, and the leader gets praise for leading such a successful group.  As this circle continues, it becomes a perpetual motion machine—the output is the input. Even as an employee leaves the circle due to promotion, another will take that place and work hard just because of the reputation. The same is true if a leader leaves the circle. From within, an employee who has seen the benefits of this leadership style will talk over with the same ideals. The loss is minimal to the movement, but its impact is huge on the organization as you grow great employees.

This is obviously the positive.  The negative has as significant, if not even a bigger impact on the organization.  If a leader feels he or she needs to brag about him or herself and take all the credit for work accomplished, then no one will enjoy working for them.  The end result is a fractured group because of one person.  So while one person is not the success of a company, one person can easily become the failure of a company.  To those of you who lead feeling you need to take all the credit, STOP! In this position of leadership, you feel this will show your success. In fact, you have isolated yourself and you will fail.  Stop this habit now; it is unhealthy to you and to your team.

So, as I discussed this with my friend, I had hoped to point out to him that he doesn’t see his success because he has been busy pointing out the successes of his people.  He was elevated because he elevated others.  Everyone wants him as their leader and everyone wants to work hard for him.  He is a great example as to why the circle works.

As always, please share with others.  I appreciate any and all input.