Archive for leadership
Some insights into the 5 Levels of Leadership
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The 5 Levels of Leadership will be available for purchase starting TOMORROW (October 4, 2011)!
I can’t wait! Why? Well, as I’ve told anyone who asks, “It’s the best thing I’ve ever done.”
People who have known me for awhile always smile when I say that. That’s because they know I believe it about everything I do. “This is the best lesson I’ve ever taught.” “This is the best book I’ve ever written.” “…Until the next one,” is what they add in their minds.
And they have a valid point, most of the time. I AM a pretty positive guy, and my favorite project is almost always the one I just worked on. But I might have to argue that The 5 Levels of Leadership truly could stand the test of time as the best book I’ve ever done. That’s because it’s the first book based solely on a concept I’ve been teaching for over 30 years, with great positive response. It’s clear, it’s proven, and it’s well-received.
Here’s one last excerpt before the book arrives on shelves. Just a few insights into The 5 Levels of Leadership:
1. You Can Move Up a Level But You Never Leave the Previous One Behind
Now that you’ve seen the levels and learned the basics about them, you may assume that a leader climbs them, leaving one to arrive at the next, similar to the way one moves up a staircase. But the truth is that you never leave a level behind after you’ve achieved it. Instead, you simply build upon it.
2. You Are Not on the Same Level with Every Person
Leadership is dynamic, and it changes from relationship to relationship. The same is true for the 5 Levels of Leadership. I may be on a different one of the 5 Levels with each of five different people at my job. Someone the first day on the job will acknowledge only my position, while someone in whom I’ve invested and whom I’ve raised up to lead will likely put me on Level 4.
3. The Higher You Go, The Easier It Is to Lead
Here’s some good news. As you work to climb up the levels of leadership, you’ll find that it gets easier to lead people. Each advance allows you to be more effective in leading others because your influence increases as you go to a higher level. As your influence increases, more people follow you more readily. Limited influence, limited leadership. Greater influence, greater effectiveness.
4. The Higher You Go, the More Time and Commitment Is Required to Win a Level
Which is harder? Being given a leadership position (Level 1) or getting people’s permission to lead them (Level 2)? That’s pretty obvious. It takes time, effort, and commitment to develop positive relationships with people. How about moving from Level 2 to Level 3? I believe it is harder to become consistently productive than it is to make friends. It’s even harder and requires much more time to go to Level 4, where you develop people to become good leaders. And it can take a lifetime to become a Level 5 leader who develops leaders who in turn develop other leaders.
There is no easy way to get to the top. And each time you go up, you pay.
5. Moving Up Levels Occurs Slowly, But Going Down Can Happen Quickly
I’ve had people ask me, “How long will it take me to become a Level 5 leader?”
“A lot longer than you think” is my answer. Building always takes a lot longer than destroying. A lot of things have to be right to climb to a higher level, but sometimes it takes only one thing going wrong to cause someone to fall. While it’s unsettling to think about how quickly one can fall from a level of leadership, I hope you can take solace in this: once you’ve climbed up to higher levels, the ones below you function as a safety net. So the more you’ve advanced up the levels, the more secure your leadership is.
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By now you may be wondering, “What level of leadership have I reached with the different people that I lead?
Well, there’s an app for that!
My publisher has created a 5 Levels of Leadership iPhone app. In it you’ll find quotes, more insights, and best of all, an assessment. You can get an idea of where you stand on the levels with every person in your life, if you want. Just click the image below or search the iTunes store for “5 Levels of Leadership.”
It’s my sincere hope that this app and the book would add value to your life and help you grow as a leader!
Thank you for joining me on this journey through The 5 Levels of Leadership. I’ve enjoyed sharing a sneak peek at my book and reading your insights into what makes an effective leader. Now we’ve got just one more week before the book comes out. I hope you’ll purchase and read it – not just for my sake, but because I know that the concepts within it can teach you how to grow as a leader.
Here’s a sneak peek at Level 5: The Pinnacle. I hope it inspires you to become the kind of leader who can eventually rise to that level:
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Rare is the leader who reaches Level 5—the Pinnacle. Not only is leadership at this level a culmination of leading well on the other four levels, but it also requires both a high degree of skill and some amount of natural leadership ability. It takes a lot to be able to develop other leaders so that they reach Level 4; that’s what Level 5 leaders do. The individuals who reach Level 5 lead so well for so long that they create a legacy of leadership in the organization they serve.
The individuals who reach Level 5 lead so well for so long that they create a legacy of leadership in the organization they serve.
Pinnacle leaders stand out from everyone else. They are a cut above, and they seem to bring success with them wherever they go. Leadership at this high level lifts the entire organization and creates an environment that benefits everyone in it, contributing to their success. Level 5 leaders often possess an influence that transcends the organization and the industry the leader works in.
Most leaders who reach the Pinnacle do so later in their careers. But the Pinnacle level is not a resting place for leaders to stop and view their success. It is a reproducing place from which they make the greatest impact of their lives. That’s why leaders who reach the Pinnacle should make the most of it while they can. With gratitude and humility, they should lift up as many leaders as they can, tackle as many great challenges as possible, and extend their influence to make a positive difference beyond their own organization and industry.
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P.S. October 4 is the actual date of publication for The 5 Levels of Leadership. I’d appreciate it very much if you would help get the word out. On Twitter, you can use the hashtag #5Levels. And here’s the link that you can share anywhere:
http://tinyurl.com/5levelslead
Thank you!
I hope you’ve been enjoying this series of posts, giving you a sneak peek at my new book, The 5 Levels of Leadership. So far, I’ve given an overview and talked about Levels 1, 2, and 3. Today’s post is about Level 4: People Development. Here’s a reminder of all five levels and how they build on each other:
Level 4: People Development
Effective leaders understand that what got them to their current level of leadership won’t be enough to get them to the next one. They understand that if they want to keep getting better as leaders, they have to be willing to keep growing and changing and that each move up the 5 Levels of Leadership requires a paradigm shift and a change in the way a person leads.
On Level 3, the emphasis is on personal and corporate productivity. The ability to create a high-productivity team, department, or organization indicates a higher level of leadership ability than most others display. But to reach the upper levels of leadership that create elite organizations, leaders must transition from producers to developers. Why? Because people are any organization’s most appreciable asset.
To reach the upper levels of leadership that create elite organizations, leaders must transition from producers to developers.
Good leaders on Level 4 invest their time, energy, money, and thinking into growing others as leaders. They look at every person and try to gauge his or potential to grow and lead—regardless of the individual’s title, position, age, or experience. Every person is a potential candidate for development. This practice of identifying and developing people compounds the positives of their organization, because bringing out the best in a person is often a catalyst for bringing out the best in the team. Developing one person for leadership and success lays the foundation for developing others for success.
Bringing out the best in a person is often a catalyst for bringing out the best in the team.
Peter Drucker observed,
Making the right people decisions is the ultimate means of controlling an organization well. Such decisions reveal how competent management is, what its values are, and whether it takes its job seriously. No matter how hard managers try to keep their decisions a secret—and some still try hard—people decisions cannot be hidden. They are eminently visible. Executives who do not make the effort to get their people decisions right do more than risk poor performance. They risk losing their organization’s respect.
How does this emphasis on people and people decisions translate into action? Leaders on the People Development level of leadership shift their focus from the production achieved by others to the development of their potential. And they put only 20 percent of their focus on their personal productivity while putting 80 percent of it on developing and leading others. This can be a difficult shift for highly productive people who are used to getting their hands dirty, but it’s a change that can revolutionize an organization and give it a much brighter future.
Level 3 – Production: Making Things Happen Separates Real Leaders from Wannabes
Posted by: | CommentsThe 5 Levels of Leadership is almost here, and I’m excited. This is my best material, and it’s been tested and proven for over 30 years. I know the 5 Levels work.
Here on the blog, I’ve been going over the levels, and this week it’s time for Level 3: Production.
But before I get into the definition and value of production in a leader’s life, I want to clarify how the levels work. Remember the graphic? The 5 Levels are like a building – all the higher levels rest on the lower ones. Every leader must pass through every level to get to the next one. Level 2 builds on Level 1. You can’t be a Level 3 leader until you’ve mastered Level 2: Permission. But once you’ve built a relationship with your people, you’re ready to focus on producing results.
The Production level is where leadership really takes off and goes to another level. Production qualifies and separates true leaders from people who merely occupy leadership positions. Good leaders always make things happen. They get results. They can make a significant impact on an organization. Not only are they productive individually, but they also are able to help the team produce. This ability gives Level 3 leaders confidence, credibility, and increased influence.
No one can fake Level 3. Either you’re producing for the organization and adding to its bottom line (whatever that may be), or you’re not. Thomas Watson, the founder of IBM, noted, “The outstanding leaders of every age are those who set up their own quotas and constantly exceed them.” That is a good description of Level 3 leaders. They are self-motivated and productive. As a result, they create momentum and develop an environment of success, which makes the team better and stronger.
Another benefit of leadership on Level 3 is that it attracts other highly productive people. Producers are attractive to other producers. They respect one another. They enjoy collaborating. They get things done together. That ultimately creates growth for the organization.
Leaders can get to Level 1 for an almost endless number of reasons: They show promise. They have connections. They play politics. They have seniority. The organization is desperate. You name it, and someone has probably become a leader because of it. Leaders who are naturally good with people or who take pains to learn people skills can move up to Level 2. But some people never move up from Level 2 Permission to Level 3 Production. Why? They can’t seem to produce results. When that is the case, it’s usually because they lack the self-discipline, work ethic, organization, or skills to be productive. However, if you desire to go to higher levels of leadership, you simply have to produce. There is no other way around it.
Level 2 – Permission: You Can’t Lead People Until You Like People
Posted by: | CommentsIn only a few weeks, my new book, The 5 Levels of Leadership, will be on bookshelves. And I can’t wait. Here’s why I’m really excited: this book is about a concept that I’ve been teaching for over thirty years! With that kind of history, I really KNOW that it works.
Lately, I’ve been using this blog to provide a sneak peek at the book and what a reader can hope to learn from it. So far, I’ve given you an overview and quite a few details about Level 1. Now I want to use the time between now and October 4 to give you a basic understanding of Levels 2, 3, 4, and 5.
Level 2 – Permission:
You Can’t Lead People Until You Like People
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 permission 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.
