The Business of Leadership
Leaders
Rise Up
Leaders
That’ s What We Do
By: Bonnie Benkula, BSHCA, MBA Certified Coach, Speaker, Trainer
The John Maxwell TEAM The Leaven Exchange Bonnie @ Benkula. com
You will influence others and you will be influenced. Today. Tomorrow. Always. In John Maxwell’ s Book, Becoming a Person of Influence, he used the acronym to set values for leaders rising up other leaders.
We often blindly influence as we go through out our day-one way of the other. Think about it. Every time we are present we have an opportunity to influence. With social media today, we can influence from anywhere and to anywhere in the world.
Remember the word Influence and how each letter in that word prepares us for leadership.
Integrity – Integrity Is doing the right thing when no one is looking. It is what we do, what we say, and what we say we do.
Nurturing – To nurture someone is to care and to encourage. No one cares how much you know, until they know how much you care.
Faith – In leadership, faith is believing others will do the right thing. This can be difficult- everyone has an excuse. Have faith in people until they give you a reason not to have faith in them. Everyone deserves a chance.
Listen – Really- listen to your team. Listen to what is being said and listen to what is not said. Listen to the body language, watch how people respond and react. Fear can close down communication, watch for clues as to what your team feels and believes. Listen to understand.
Understands-“ Be the one who has an understanding and a forgiving heart one who looks for the best in people. Leave people better than you found them.” Quote by Marvin J. Ashton. To me this says it all.
Enlarges – Put your team in a position to succeed. Enlarge others. You must influence trusting mentorship on your team. Grow new leaders.
Navigates – Know where you are leading your team. Develop skills to communicate this with clarity. Chart the course and stay with your team through thick and thin. Your team must know you have their back at all times.
Connects – A leader truly connects with their team. They stay in touch, know what is important to each one of them and they don’ t take people for granted. Be authentic and be sincere and truly connect.
Empowers – Find the influencers on your team and give them the authority to get the job done. Set them up to succeed and let them gain confidence. Don’ t take credit for the work of your team, empower them and reward them, broadly and loudly.
Reproduces – Real leaders raise up new leaders. Invest in your own leadership training. Learn to lead right and teach others to lead. Multiply and grow your influence.
Our ability to lead others is directly proportional to the value we add to others.
If you want to lead you must humble yourself to continue to learn. You must challenge yourself to get better and surround yourself with stronger leaders than yourself. You must influence the development of new leaders. Leaders rise up new leaders – that’ s what we do.