If we would suspend judgment and criticism of other people, perhaps we might accomplish more in many areas of life.
Have you experienced times when you’ve been unfairly criticised, perhaps where you might not have been able to get a job done because of criticism levelled against you, and each time you think you have made some progress, you are told to redo work? This is something that many leaders face daily. Leaders have a difficult task! It is much easier to give advice as an onlooker, than it is to be on the ground, living through an experience, and trying to get work done with opposition mounting. Leaders may experience great praise when a job goes well, but may be harshly criticised as the sole reason for failure when something goes wrong.
Leaders form that sector of society responsible for vision, planning, and coordination for a specific task, and to see change happen for the betterment of society. They are appointed to do a job, and are trying their best, by ethical means, to honour that appointment. Leaders are usually appointed for their knowledge, and for some type of ability that makes them stand out from others around them. I wish to see leaders supported by the people whom they were hired to serve. Government leaders are criticised for not solving all of a country's problems, for not doing enough to combat crime and poverty. Leaders in organisations are targeted when companies start performing badly. Coaches of sports teams are vilified in the media when their teams change from a previous winning streak and lose. I wonder if we would get further by supporting our leaders instead of criticising them. By allowing them time to make a difference, as momentum may take a long time to build, and change happens slowly.
Types Of Leaders
Some leaders are appointed to lead an organisation, or a group of people like teams, a big corporation or even a government. These people spearhead their sphere of influence, often leading with vision. They signify the brand they are leading, and they are the face of the business that others see. Some leaders are appointed mainly for their knowledge or technical expertise, like a coach of a sport's team. I see a coach as someone who has specialist knowledge of a sport and who will teach teamwork and methods to employ to counter another team's move. Coaches teach what to expect in given scenarios. They may not themselves be people who are able to talk to the media. I suspect some coaches may not even be good motivators themselves, which I believe is a necessary quality to have in working with a team, and they may then be complemented by motivators like sport's psychologists. Another type of leader are visionary leaders who people follow, sometimes because of a dream. These leaders might not even have an organisation they are supporting around them. They may have no political backing, no political power to make changes, they are followed purely because others look up to them and admire them for who they are, often for what they promise. An example is Jesus. When Jesus was on earth He did not have His church yet. He was a lone person preaching love for God and love for fellow man. Visionary leaders have vision, and others follow them due to the dreams they allow others to dream. This promise of a dream is also why bad leaders sometimes have a lot of followers. Visionary leaders promise positive change and a better life through their vision. This section is not about these leaders, as it is a choice whether to follow them or not, but I wanted to mention them, as they are important leaders too, as visionaries.
Qualities Which I Believe Are Necessary In Leading
United We Stand, Divided We Fall
A basic foundation principle is that "united we stand, divided we fall" (Aesop). If we do not support our leaders, who are we sabotaging but ourselves? A key reason to support leaders, is that leaders will come and go as change happens, and they are usually responsible for spearheading this change. I’ve seen leadership change many times in one of the departments of a big organisation I used to work for, and often each time the people beneath the new leaders changed too, as the new leaders want people to support them, and they may want their followers in place in key positions. Sometimes people who were being trained along certain career paths no longer had any future career growth when leadership changed. So this principle works both ways: support leaders so they will support the people below them, and leaders should likewise support the people below them so that the leaders will be supported in turn.
Leaders are but one face supporting many others below them. Most leaders are not lone spokespeople, they have some authority to decide on their own, but most of all they listen to those around them. It is a team effort. Change happens slowly. It can take a long time to get all the pieces of a puzzle ready to actually start building the puzzle. Planning may be underway, small cogs turning, most of the work done before we even start seeing any visible action. The iceberg effect is at work keeping much of what is happening behind the scenes. Not everyone will be able to see the whole vision, but we do need to trust that work is happening, and give vision enough time to work. Support leaders so they may do their jobs without worrying about politics and what people think about them. Every time we divert their attention, we take time away from crafting the vision. When we are able to support leaders for the duration of their leadership term then I believe we will see real change happen. Collaboration wins over competition!
Have you experienced times when you’ve been unfairly criticised, perhaps where you might not have been able to get a job done because of criticism levelled against you, and each time you think you have made some progress, you are told to redo work? This is something that many leaders face daily. Leaders have a difficult task! It is much easier to give advice as an onlooker, than it is to be on the ground, living through an experience, and trying to get work done with opposition mounting. Leaders may experience great praise when a job goes well, but may be harshly criticised as the sole reason for failure when something goes wrong.
Leaders form that sector of society responsible for vision, planning, and coordination for a specific task, and to see change happen for the betterment of society. They are appointed to do a job, and are trying their best, by ethical means, to honour that appointment. Leaders are usually appointed for their knowledge, and for some type of ability that makes them stand out from others around them. I wish to see leaders supported by the people whom they were hired to serve. Government leaders are criticised for not solving all of a country's problems, for not doing enough to combat crime and poverty. Leaders in organisations are targeted when companies start performing badly. Coaches of sports teams are vilified in the media when their teams change from a previous winning streak and lose. I wonder if we would get further by supporting our leaders instead of criticising them. By allowing them time to make a difference, as momentum may take a long time to build, and change happens slowly.
Types Of Leaders
Some leaders are appointed to lead an organisation, or a group of people like teams, a big corporation or even a government. These people spearhead their sphere of influence, often leading with vision. They signify the brand they are leading, and they are the face of the business that others see. Some leaders are appointed mainly for their knowledge or technical expertise, like a coach of a sport's team. I see a coach as someone who has specialist knowledge of a sport and who will teach teamwork and methods to employ to counter another team's move. Coaches teach what to expect in given scenarios. They may not themselves be people who are able to talk to the media. I suspect some coaches may not even be good motivators themselves, which I believe is a necessary quality to have in working with a team, and they may then be complemented by motivators like sport's psychologists. Another type of leader are visionary leaders who people follow, sometimes because of a dream. These leaders might not even have an organisation they are supporting around them. They may have no political backing, no political power to make changes, they are followed purely because others look up to them and admire them for who they are, often for what they promise. An example is Jesus. When Jesus was on earth He did not have His church yet. He was a lone person preaching love for God and love for fellow man. Visionary leaders have vision, and others follow them due to the dreams they allow others to dream. This promise of a dream is also why bad leaders sometimes have a lot of followers. Visionary leaders promise positive change and a better life through their vision. This section is not about these leaders, as it is a choice whether to follow them or not, but I wanted to mention them, as they are important leaders too, as visionaries.
Qualities Which I Believe Are Necessary In Leading
- Leaders must have vision: They carry their followers along in their vision, underpinned by planning and goal setting. Leaders must know what they need to achieve, and by when, to get the master plan in place, and to start showing visible outcomes.
- Seeing potential for problems before they happen: A leader must be prepared and able to plan in advance for any potential pitfalls. They must be able to identify risks and have plans in place to mitigate those risks. Leaders step in and take charge when things go wrong. I once attended a project management skills training course, and one task was to work as one team to complete a demo project. One of the team members was hopelessly slow keying in data to the computer. In frustration, I asked if I could take over, and started typing, and our team just scraped through completing the demo in time. I expected a lambasting for having taken this task on my own shoulders, but instead the lecturer, who saw what happened, complemented me and the team for managing to finish the demo project. It was a relief for me at the time, but the real lesson is that sometimes leaders do have to step in when someone is hopelessly floundering, if the person does not have the skills for the job.
- Genuine concern for others: In the example I gave above, where I completed data entry for someone else's task, I realised afterwards that I should probably have used more tact with the person concerned – the person probably valued my help, but one needs to be careful in how help is given. The way you do things that impact other people is important. Are you thinking about the other person, or is it just the task at hand, which might ironically be to do good for other people?! To win with people, you need to be concerned about people.
- I believe listening to others is a key skill: A leader that does not listen to what their followers are saying will fail in his or her basic appointment, which is to honour the wishes of other people. People appoint leaders due to the things leaders say and for their vision. Citizens appoint governments because they believe in what the presidential candidate is promising the country, which is usually good governance and making a change to people's lives for the better. Leaders listen to their followers and make the wishes of people around them known.
- Facilitation skills: A leader must be able to work well with other people. They must be able to facilitate agreement using collaboration amongst the people they are leading.
- Communication: Leaders must be able to communicate with others around them, and this includes nonverbal language. They should be good at public speaking, good at written communication and especially good a communicating where they are on the path to realise the vision.
- Political skills: Leaders must be sensitive to political undercurrents. I believe leaders must not play political games, they must however be aware of politics. As Jesus said, be as wise as serpents but as harmless as doves.
- The ability to delegate: If a leader tries to do everything under their own steam they will dilute their effectiveness. Leaders must concentrate on planning and vision and coordination. Administrative duties should be left to other people to manage.
- Leaders should be able to get their hands dirty: Even though I have just said that leaders should be free to lead, sometimes leaders do need to get involved with some hands on activities. Nothing motivates like a leader working alongside the people they are leading and setting an example.
- Leaders often find people who will complement their weaknesses: It is difficult to find all the qualities a leader needs within oneself. Often a team effort is needed. Maybe a person is wonderfully charismatic and a great spokesperson and people look up to them, but they are unable to make key decisions quickly. What if some of these decisions were made through collaboration instead, or there was a key person in the background with required tactical knowledge? There must be some leaders who work behind the scenes, valued for their knowledge, but who would never be put in front of a crowd. They don't need to be. Let marketers handle the marketing, sales people the sales.
- Being able to persevere in spite of criticism: Leaders must sometimes come up against the worst criticism. They are blamed when things go wrong, but they are actually just one of the people in the cog of often complex and huge machines. Imagine how many people there are in a government? Imagine the effort it takes just to get a cruise ship from point A to point B, with all passengers enjoying themselves, then think of how complex it is to move a country forward and keep everyone happy!
- Leaders must be supported by the right people: Leaders have teams below them, each spearheaded by leaders in turn. Leaders in all levels need to feed information back and forth through an organisation. Leaders need to trust each other. If one rung on the ladder is shaky, the whole structure may collapse through sabotage.
United We Stand, Divided We Fall
A basic foundation principle is that "united we stand, divided we fall" (Aesop). If we do not support our leaders, who are we sabotaging but ourselves? A key reason to support leaders, is that leaders will come and go as change happens, and they are usually responsible for spearheading this change. I’ve seen leadership change many times in one of the departments of a big organisation I used to work for, and often each time the people beneath the new leaders changed too, as the new leaders want people to support them, and they may want their followers in place in key positions. Sometimes people who were being trained along certain career paths no longer had any future career growth when leadership changed. So this principle works both ways: support leaders so they will support the people below them, and leaders should likewise support the people below them so that the leaders will be supported in turn.
Leaders are but one face supporting many others below them. Most leaders are not lone spokespeople, they have some authority to decide on their own, but most of all they listen to those around them. It is a team effort. Change happens slowly. It can take a long time to get all the pieces of a puzzle ready to actually start building the puzzle. Planning may be underway, small cogs turning, most of the work done before we even start seeing any visible action. The iceberg effect is at work keeping much of what is happening behind the scenes. Not everyone will be able to see the whole vision, but we do need to trust that work is happening, and give vision enough time to work. Support leaders so they may do their jobs without worrying about politics and what people think about them. Every time we divert their attention, we take time away from crafting the vision. When we are able to support leaders for the duration of their leadership term then I believe we will see real change happen. Collaboration wins over competition!
Related blog articles:
- Leaders face a lot of opposition and criticism. See article Learning from criticism
- I believe we will achieve more by working together than by competing: Collaboration wins over competition
- I mention visionary leaders in The power of one voice (part 1): leaving a legacy
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