As you might have gathered by now, I am a big fan of John Maxwell. I believe he is one of the leading authorities on leadership in the world. Within the next few weeks John will be coming out with another book entitled, The 5 Levels of Leadership. I really encourage you to purchase and study this book. One of the themes I have noticed in most of John’s books, and as a matter of fact, one of the common traits you find in all successful leaders is the importance they place on relationships. I don’t believe that you can be an effective leader unless you like people and people like and respect you. I believe you must believe, trust and respect the people you lead.
Today I want to leave you with a few thoughts that came out of John’s soon to be released book.
Making the shift from Position to Permission brings a person’s first real step into leadership. Why do I say that? Because leadership is influence, nothing more, nothing less. Leaders who rely on their positions to move people rarely develop influence with them. If their subordinates do what they are asked, it’s usually because they think they have to–to receive their pay, keep their jobs, prevent being reprimanded, and so on.
In contrast, when a leader learns to function on the Permission level, everything changes. People do more than merely comply with orders. They actually start to follow. And they do so because they really want to. Why? Because the leader begins to influence people with relationship, not just position. Building relationships develops a foundation for effectively leading others. It also starts to break down organizational silos as people connect across the lines between their job descriptions or departments. The more barriers come down and relationships deepen, the broader the foundation for leading others becomes.
When people feel liked, cared for, included, valued, and trusted they begin to work together with their leader and each other. And that can change the entire working environment. The old saying is really true: People go along with leaders they get along with.
Moving up to Level 2 is an important development in leadership because that is where followers give their supervisors pemission to lead them. People change from being subordinates to followers for the first time, and that means there is movement! Remember, leadership always means that people are going somewhere. They aren’t static. No journey, no leadership.
