A number of people on leadership development courses, ask me the following question: ‘why is leadership immersive? The maverick in me wants to respond almost immediately with, ‘why wouldn’t it be?’.
I suppose the answer depends on what you believe leadership is. And here lies the problem. If you look up – ‘what is leadership’, you will find cold descriptions of how to ‘use’ leadership to do things to people. Or perhaps descriptions on how you can define good leadership by the number of people that are following you …
And here lies the problem.
I believe that leadership is more than what you can achieve and more than what you can make people do. Leadership cannot be something that you only do in a certain place (work) and in a certain time (not in your lunch break).
Leadership is more, it has to be …
The problem with almost all leadership theory, is that it is often only applicable in the era that it was conceived in. When the environmental factors change the leadership theory no longer works. This is because often, an essential ingredient has been left out.
That ingredient is you … and me – us!
Why is leadership immersive?
Leadership is not a special cloak that you put on when you open the doors to your office, nor is the designation limited to those in positions of authority. Whilst many companies state that anyone can be a leader, they often don’t include the average employee in that determination. Which is a shame, companies need leaders in all tiers of its workforce.
When everyone can lead in the organisation, then innovation, transformation and execution can become the bywords for success. Leadership is immersive because it requires deep absorption and deep mental involvement in the people around you and the work that you do.
And here lies the problem …
When leadership is more than what you can do to someone and may involve changing who you are, (eg caring for the people you work with), many shirk from this duty. Or do not know that this duty exists. The thought of immersion is exhausting … isn’t it?
Well, not if you put leadership in the right perspective. Whilst leadership isn’t a cloak that you put on its not a straight jacket either. It is not a burden or a weight to carry until you drop it. That’s a relief! If leadership is about influence (John Maxwell) then Maverick Leadership is the marriage between who you are and what you do.
If leadership is about influence it is also about trust. To be trusted and to be considered trustworthy requires a number of factors or questions to be answered:
- What type of person are you? Do you have integrity?
- Can you do what you say you can do? Do you have competence?
- Have you done this before? What is your track record?
- What’s your intention? What’s your purpose here – is it the same as you say it is?
Whenever you are leading, wherever you are being – others are considering the above questions. You should be too. However, hold this knowledge loosely, don’t let this realisation hinder you.
Leadership is immersive because you are leading all the time, regardless of whether you mean to or not. Your reputation as a leader precedes you whether you go. Gone are the days when as a manager you could get away with treating your employees badly and expect them to stay working for you. Gone are the days when your reputation damaging exploits at the weekend did not affect you at work.
Gone are the days where a lack of integrity had zero effect on your job prospects … well, not quite gone but certainly this privilege is receding …
The trend for integrity in leadership, built on a solid foundation of trust and execution begun by Socialised Mavericks are being driven forward by Generation Z and carried by the Covid-19 sea.
If I don’t like and trust you, if your company does not work for the greater good – then I’m leaving and taking my custom elsewhere – this is the rallying cry of this decade. Covid-19 has just accelerated a trend that was already picking up pace.
What people are looking for, is to be around individuals that have integrity (in character and ability to integrate all parts of themselves into one integral whole), who live blended lives. Who they are at work is who they are at home. Their word is their bond and they care about the impact they have on the world and each other.
The very foundation of Maverick Leadership.
Maverick Leaders intuitively understand that Maverick Leadership is an immersive experience. They see themselves as leaders, role models for change and their jobs to empower others to become leaders too. Maverick DRIVEN Leadership™ is a methodology that creates passion filled individuals determined to change your organisation for the better, in an ethical, sustainable way.
How great is that?
When an individual moves towards self-mastery they are more cable in the art of leading themselves. When they can lead themselves, they are better able to lead others. It’s a fallacy to assume that leadership development that concentrates solely on how to get others to do things, without addressing the individual doing them, will work.
I equip Maverick Leaders to change the world we work in. Leadership of self, leadership of others, and leadership of a business – three important facets of this immersive experience.
What do you do to ensure that leadership is an immersive experience for those that you are in contact with?
