Five Levels of Leadership – Level 2 Permission

The last time we talked about the Five Levels of Leadership we discussed the foundation or the starting point for everyone “Position”. Without a position or the right to lead there is no reason to follow you. “You are taking a walk by yourself”

This time I would like to talk about the second level or step in leadership. This step in leadership is called permission. It is called permission for the very simple reason is that people give you the permission to lead them. While you were at the position level people begin to enjoy being around so they begin to follow you because they get along with you (Permission).

This occurred for me when I worked in a fast food restaurant. I like this example because working in fast food people do not have to follow your leadership. I was working on the night shift and I was asked to work during the lunch rush to help straighten out the slow service.  This is always an awkward position because you are going to a new team to diagnose a problem and help correct it.

Well my first steps were very uneasy because I was the new guy being brought in and everyone thought I was against them from the beginning.  So instead of trying to be mister-fix-it, I tried to learn what each team members responsibility was.  The simple step of understanding what others did and treating my teammates with dignity and respect, people began to follow me and take my recommendations as recommendations not as personal attacks.

At this point I held a leadership position (Level 1).  Now through simply understanding and listening to my teammates people began to follow my lead because they wanted to (Level 2).  I had developed a working relationship with the team, their perception of what I was there to do began to change as we continued work together.  We began to make strides toward servicing our customers better, higher food quality, and better team morale.  This is not a simple credit to me because I am such a great leader, no,it is a credit to the talented people that I worked with.  My job was not berate and dehumanize the team, I was there to bring the best out of the talented individuals in place.

Here are some points to remember about Level 2 “Permission”:

• Keyword is relationships
• People follow because they want to
• Makes following fun
• People go farther than they could  alone
• Excellence is possible
• People will not go along is they cannot get along with you
• The relationships you develop are the foundation of your leadership
• Synergy
• Leaders really need to like people
• People follow when they don’t have to
• The first sign of leadership is coming through

When people follow you because they want makes leading a joy to do.

Michael

How to Do the Impossible

Last night I was in a leadership meeting and I received some great teaching about how to accomplish things that have been said to be impossible.  While I never have been a person that thought “I can’t”, these simple steps were profound and eye opening.

I would like to share with you the notes that I took and some of the thoughts that I have concerning the notes:

“What seems to be impossible is not always impossible” – P. Micah

“God is not asking me to do the possible, what impossible task am I to accomplish”

“Forget that it is impossible, look at it like walking, and riding a bike just figure it out (Find positive encouragement)”

“Just be crazy enough to do it with out taking thought that it cannot be done”

• Constantly question your boundaries (Green Light thinking)
  • Traditional thinking (This is how we do it, we always do it like this) 
  • Has this ever been done (You ain’t goin be nothin)
  • What logic will tell you (What your friends tell you)
  • What can be, not what is (Where can I be not where am I)
  • Get rid of the “theys
    • Find out the difference between the theys and those that help (Here is how to know the difference)
      • They: poke holes in your plans
      • Those who help: point out holes and tell you how to fill them
  • Push past your past (good and bad)
  • Tell yourself that you can - “become an I can do this person”
• Realize there is always a way (“According as his divine power has given unto us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him…”(II Peter 1:3))
  • What must I do to recognize the way
  • You have to search for it, it is in your grasp
• Work hard and have fun
  • Hard work provides the foundation for “the impossible”
  • Find the place where your work fits like a glove

The notes that are here are not just another motivational tactic.  These are practical steps to help you move past the limits that have been placed on you by the way you think, what others have told you, and what you say about yourself. 

I started writing to take help take the limits off of others lives because “limits” are just that; they tell you what you cannot do, where you cannot go, and what you cannot accomplish.   Limited thinking, limited believing, and limited speaking keeps you trapped in the cycle of doing what everyone else does.

I want you to see that you can go as far as you are willing to think, believe, and say about yourself.  I would like to challenge you to look at how you think about yourself, believe about yourself, and say about yourself.  The picture that you see may not be something that you are comfortable with but it is the first step in moving past your current situation.

Michael

Five Levels of Leadership – Level 1 Position

Five Levels of Leadership

Level 1 Position: Keyword “Rights”

• This is where leadership starts you have a job to lead others.
• People follow you because they have to
• At this level the leader makes the position, not the position makes the leader
• You can be easily frustrated because people want to do the least work possible
• To move to the next level of leadership you must build on your position

This is where leadership starts, you are given a position to lead others. You may say I do not have a leadership or management position where I work that’s ok because you are in the position to lead yourself. Leading from a position is the most difficult to do because people want to get away with doing the least amount of work possible.

One of my first leadership positions was in the Marine Corps and I started as a huge positional leader. I was promoted to Corporal and I thought I was the top dog. I walked around with a granite look on my face expecting people to respect the rank on my collar. I soon found out that leadership is not just position. I realized this as we were packing a connex box (just like a pod) of equipment, I told someone that they should move some equipment because it was stacked uneven. Guess what they did not listen to me just because I had the rank. I knew during the shipping of the equipment things would fall over and be a mess to clean up when we arrived for our exercise, however, due to my lack of leadership skill and heavy dependence on my rank and position I said do it because I said so. What I requested required extra work but I knew what would happen during the transportation of the equipment. So I walked off wondering what happened, now I know, I relied to much on my rank and position to get people to do something they did not really want to do.

Side note: I was correct in what would and did happen, I was wrong in how I tried to get people to see my side of the picture.

Outcome: Extra work for other people and myself because I had to jump and straighten out the mess I could have prevented. The worst part of this was I alienated people who had respected me before I had received any rank or position.

UL

The Leadership Effect

On October 12, 2007 I was able to go to the Leadership Effect in Durham, NC. This was my first opportunity to see Dr. John C. Maxwell in person, it was great. I received so much insight and understanding of what leadership really is, from the foremost authority on leadership. Having the opportunity to sit with leaders from different fields (education, business, medicine, and religious) has been a life changing experience.

I will be posting some of the notes that I took during my time, to share some of the insights that I received.

UL