A Key to the Mastery of Leadership

 

          Leadership is about inventing something uniquely new in concert with those who will be led and it cannot be done through formulae, steps or a checklist. Leaders who have mastered the skill of leading have invented, together with those being led, a new way of listening.

     In an earlier article I wrote about Leaders having first to be Followers, as it is quite obvious, I trust, that in order to follow one must first listen, intently and conscientiously.

     Now the shoe is on the other foot. It is the Leader's turn to listen.
          Allow me to take an area which I am fairly acquainted with, namely Network Marketing. But the principle presented here will work in any field where leadership is required.

          Consider complaints. Complaints from those being led are born from situations over which people feel they have no power. Such complaints or situations are early warnings of a future outcome that is 'already written'. Namely, these are outcomes that can more accurately be called predictions because the Complainer "knows what will happen". It is here that the Leader must listen along with the Follower/Complainer and not fall into some formulaic response.

Here is an example of such a sequence.

Complaint: "Not one of the prospects I attract is serious."

The Leader's question: "What is not being said - but is being communicated - about this situation?"
This is important, even imperative, to discover because whatever is being left unsaid but communicated leaves no space for a solution to be created by Leader and Follower as a team.

The Default Future being Spoken: The Complainer/Follower wallows in failure, unaware why or how this is occurring again and again and again. In countless situations such as this, the outcome is preordained by the Complaint as it is designed to kill all possibilities of creating a successful outcome.

          A fork in the road is presented, the road sign pointing to either "Fit In" or "Stand Out". Will the Complainer/Follower/Networker "fit in" with the 98% who fail and complain again and again or will the individual "stand out" by standing with the 2% who excel?

          I will reiterate what I began with: Leadership is about inventing together with those who will be led an outlook that cannot be had through formulae, steps or a checklist. Leaders who have mastered the skill of leading have invented a new way, together with those being lead, of listening, which implies a radically new and different interpretation of what is being spoken. And left unsaid.

          No one-size-fits-all solution can be pulled out of a bag of leadership tricks and be applied slapdash to a complaint/situation. Here is where the expertise of the Leader who has walked the path before must come into play. Here is where the Leader who listens intently can hear the subtext and along with the Aspirant come up with their unique solution.

Credit : Tony Lauria