LEADERSHIP
Leadership Is Not A Race !
By CS , Dr . Kellen Kiambati
Many leaders start their leadership career with a notion that leadership is a race and that they must prove themselves by ensuring they overtake others . It is not true and the true starting point of an effective leader is having a stint as a follower with an intention to learn skills to become a great leader .
The main question at this point perhaps would be what makes a good follower ? A good follower has ability to make good judgement to take direction but contending instructions that are ethically inappropriate , work ethic paying attention to detail , must be competent to do their work well , have a responsibility to be honest , courage to confront issues , discretion , loyalty and ego management so as to remain a team player .
Leadership title does not make a leader and moving up the leadership career is not as important as creating relationships and connecting with people . When a leader focuses on his position people will very carefully listen to them but they will not follow them . It is that simple . When followers make up their mind to follow someone based on relationship as opposed to the position , this makes a leader who has poor connection skills very very frustrated . I am sure all of us must have heard the phrase ‘ people do not care how much we know until they know how much we care ’. Connecting with followers should be the priority for all leaders so as to ensure allegiance and to deter people from looking for opportunities to pull their leaders down .
We should not make a mistake to imagine that leaders should not focus on their career progression . Progressing as opposed to plateauing is in their DNA because they are go-getters , competitive , opportunity seekers and self-driven . The mistake of focusing on moving up the leadership career while neglecting the connection part is common with leaders who have little experience and believe in knocking down others to keep themselves on top . All leaders should be consciously aware of who is ahead of them and behind them in the organizational structure , who is with them and how they come alongside them while at the same time building bridges where it is necessary to do so .
Leadership is not about competition and looking to win at all costs . Yes , winning is important but should be an enjoyable journey and working together should be viewed as a win . Getting to the top is not a solo endeavor and the way to build high power delivery teams is through partnerships and getting everyone on the same page so as to work together .
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The mistake of focusing on moving up the leadership career while neglecting the connection part is common with leaders who have little experience and believe in knocking down others to keep themselves on top .
In conclusion , to connect with other people as a leader I suggest the following :
• Having a sense of exclusivity and appreciation : Genuinely recognize effort and applaud it while appreciating diverse personalities and using the diversity as an advantage to deliver targets . Each follower should be appreciated in a unique way and not through a very general annoying communal email .
• Dangerous to have a running mouth , uttering words without thinking twice . Leaders who are insensitive find themselves surrounded by silent followers who are very detached but physically present because they must be present .
• Consistent : Leaders who have very varying ways of working raise fearful followers . They are not sure how their leader will react to emerging issues and so they opt to be silent and watch them dig graves for themselves .
• Sense of humor : It builds deeper relationships , increases personal likeability , and improves team ’ s job performance . A leader who is always very serious even when it is obvious there is no need for seriousness is a turn-off to his or her followers .
CS , Dr . Kellen Kiambati holds an MBA in Strategic Management from the Kenya Methodist University and a PhD in Business Administration with a focus in Strategic Management from JKUAT . She is a member of the Institute of Human Resource Management of Kenya . She can be reached via : Kellenkiambati @ gmail . com .
10 MAL51 / 22 ISSUE