Building People Up
Posted by
patrick
By its very definition, leadership requires followers. To become a good leader, it's necessary to bring people along with you and to help build them into better people-often, to train them as leaders.
How is this done? First, it's important to have a clear and worthwhile vision. Certainly this will help to attract devoted followers.
Integrity is also critical in building loyalty.
But becoming a builder of people requires more. It takes a genuine desire and commitment to call forth the best in others-to believe in them, even when they may doubt themselves.
People are Everything Too often, people are looked upon as being easily replaceable and yet, in every successful organization, people are put first.
Andrew Carnegie, the great steel magnate, once said, "If you take away all my mills and all my capital, but leave me with my people, I will have it all rebuilt in a short while." Many business leaders today are questioning the old adage that the "customer is number one," and now say the "employee is number one." If you take good care of your people, your customers will automatically be well taken care of.
Being a powerful leader does not mean people will follow you blindly, although there are certainly examples of that in history. The intention is not to become a guru; it's to become more like a shepherd-one who cares for, nurtures and watches over his flock. The objective should not be to feed the ego and denigrate the masses, it should be to accomplish the vision and lift everyone else in the process.
Shoulder the Blame and Share the Glory One of the things that separates a true leader from a wannabe is that of acknowledgment. You can tell by the speech the captain of the team gives when he accepts the trophy: If he takes all the credit and doesn't share it with his team, he's not a leader. A real leader always gives credit to everyone who made it happen.
Conversely, when things go wrong and victory slips away, the builder of people answers the charge. When John F. Kennedy shouldered the blame for the Bay of Pigs fiasco, he said, "I take full responsibility." That was the day, in my eyes, he became a true leader.
It's easy to underestimate the value and power of lauding people for their accomplishments. We forget how just one genuine compliment made to someone at the right time can make all the difference. That one comment may be remembered for years to come and could play a major role in that person's self-esteem and confidence. Praising someone is easy to do and so often forgotten. It costs so little; yet the return is enormous.
Criticism and Praise Much damage has been done by people in authority (teachers, parents, bosses, coaches and the like) who chastise someone publicly for some shortcoming or wrongdoing. In many instances, it has resulted in the broken spirit of a child or even an adult. There is a time for criticism and a time for praise. The first should be done only in private and the second done publicly.
Most of the time, criticism is unnecessary. By focusing on what works, the things that don't work will often go away. Tom Peters likes to say, "Catch people doing things right!"
Create Safety A good leader makes it safe to ask questions and make mistakes. The builder of people is approachable and easy to talk to. There are never any stupid questions and mistakes are not only tolerated, but are treated as a necessary process on the way to success.
There's a story about a top executive at IBM who was in charge of a project that ended in disaster, causing the company ten million dollars in losses. The executive met with the president to go over what went wrong, expecting the worse. "I suppose you want my resignation," he stammered. "On the contrary," said the president, "we just spent ten million dollars educating you. Do you think we want to lose that kind of investment?"
There's no doubt in my mind that experience went a long way in building a valuable and productive leader for "Big Blue."
There may not be any such thing as constructive criticism. You are not perfect, nor will you ever be. If you constantly look to build on your own strengths and the strengths of others, you'll go far. If you look for the best in people, you're likely to find it.
How is this done? First, it's important to have a clear and worthwhile vision. Certainly this will help to attract devoted followers.
Integrity is also critical in building loyalty.
But becoming a builder of people requires more. It takes a genuine desire and commitment to call forth the best in others-to believe in them, even when they may doubt themselves.
People are Everything Too often, people are looked upon as being easily replaceable and yet, in every successful organization, people are put first.
Andrew Carnegie, the great steel magnate, once said, "If you take away all my mills and all my capital, but leave me with my people, I will have it all rebuilt in a short while." Many business leaders today are questioning the old adage that the "customer is number one," and now say the "employee is number one." If you take good care of your people, your customers will automatically be well taken care of.
Being a powerful leader does not mean people will follow you blindly, although there are certainly examples of that in history. The intention is not to become a guru; it's to become more like a shepherd-one who cares for, nurtures and watches over his flock. The objective should not be to feed the ego and denigrate the masses, it should be to accomplish the vision and lift everyone else in the process.
Shoulder the Blame and Share the Glory One of the things that separates a true leader from a wannabe is that of acknowledgment. You can tell by the speech the captain of the team gives when he accepts the trophy: If he takes all the credit and doesn't share it with his team, he's not a leader. A real leader always gives credit to everyone who made it happen.
Conversely, when things go wrong and victory slips away, the builder of people answers the charge. When John F. Kennedy shouldered the blame for the Bay of Pigs fiasco, he said, "I take full responsibility." That was the day, in my eyes, he became a true leader.
It's easy to underestimate the value and power of lauding people for their accomplishments. We forget how just one genuine compliment made to someone at the right time can make all the difference. That one comment may be remembered for years to come and could play a major role in that person's self-esteem and confidence. Praising someone is easy to do and so often forgotten. It costs so little; yet the return is enormous.
Criticism and Praise Much damage has been done by people in authority (teachers, parents, bosses, coaches and the like) who chastise someone publicly for some shortcoming or wrongdoing. In many instances, it has resulted in the broken spirit of a child or even an adult. There is a time for criticism and a time for praise. The first should be done only in private and the second done publicly.
Most of the time, criticism is unnecessary. By focusing on what works, the things that don't work will often go away. Tom Peters likes to say, "Catch people doing things right!"
Create Safety A good leader makes it safe to ask questions and make mistakes. The builder of people is approachable and easy to talk to. There are never any stupid questions and mistakes are not only tolerated, but are treated as a necessary process on the way to success.
There's a story about a top executive at IBM who was in charge of a project that ended in disaster, causing the company ten million dollars in losses. The executive met with the president to go over what went wrong, expecting the worse. "I suppose you want my resignation," he stammered. "On the contrary," said the president, "we just spent ten million dollars educating you. Do you think we want to lose that kind of investment?"
There's no doubt in my mind that experience went a long way in building a valuable and productive leader for "Big Blue."
There may not be any such thing as constructive criticism. You are not perfect, nor will you ever be. If you constantly look to build on your own strengths and the strengths of others, you'll go far. If you look for the best in people, you're likely to find it.
About the Author:
Michael Angier is founder and CIO (Chief Inspiration Officer) of SuccessNet--a support network helping people and businesses grow and prosper since 1995. Get their free Resource Book ($27 value) of products, services and tools for running your business more effectively. And most of the over 150 resources are FREE to access and use.
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