The 5 Levels of Leadership: Proven Steps to Maximize Your Potential (18 page)

T
he Production level is where leadership really takes off and shifts into another gear. 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 received a leadership position 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.

W
ith the addition of Production, people’s leadership really begins to hit its stride. Built on a foundation of strong relationships, leaders who get results dramatically improve their team and organization. There are so many upsides to Level 3. Here are six:

The ability to produce results has always been the separation line for success. It is also the qualifying line for leadership. Peter Drucker, often described as the father of modern management, expressed it this way: “There are two types of people in the business community: those who produce results and those who give you reasons why they didn’t.”

Authentic leaders know the way and show the way to productivity. Their leadership talk is supported by their walk. They deliver results. They live on their performance, not their potential. They lead by example. And their ability to get results tends to silence their critics and build their reputations.

Colin Powell asserted, “You can issue all the memos and give all the motivational speeches you want, but if the rest of the people in your organization don’t see you putting forth your very best effort every single day, they won’t either.” Level 3 leaders
take
their people where they want them to go—they don’t
send
them there. They are more like tour guides than travel agents. Why? Because people always believe what we do more than what we say. Therefore the credibility of a Level 3 leader can be summed up in one word:
example
.

Recently I ran across the story of a great general from history named Epaminondas. A leader of Thebes, he was a brilliant military tactician who defeated the vaunted Spartans. His victories brought him great acclaim, but they also produced enemies within his own city.

The opponents of Epaminondas could find no easy way to destroy or discredit him, so instead they sought to humiliate him. They put him in charge of collecting the city’s garbage, a thankless job in a filthy city.

Even though he knew his appointment to the job was done out of spite and was meant to humiliate him, he accepted it with dignity, saying “If the position will not reflect glory on me, I will reflect glory on the work.”
¹

I suspect that the story is apocryphal, but it still proves the point. If we do our work with excellence and help others to be productive, we gain great leadership credibility.

I found this to be true in my own career. As I was graduating from college with a bachelor’s degree, two churches offered me the job of being their pastor. One was in Maysville, Kentucky. It offered an excellent salary and benefits and was an exceptional place to begin my ministry career. The other was in Hillham, Indiana. It was a very small church in the middle of nowhere that could not afford to pay me a full-time salary.

I chose Hillham over Maysville. Why? I wanted to prove to myself and others that I could lead people and build a congregation. My father advised me that Hillham would be a better place to learn. It was one of my best decisions as a leader.

During the three years that I led that church, it grew and prospered in many ways. Many people began to attend the church for the first time, people were growing spiritually, and we were recognized as the fastest-growing church in the denomination. We even had to buy land and build a new building.

It was in Hillham that I learned to move up from Level 1 Position, to Level 2 Permission, to Level 3 Production. My leadership credibility among my peers was established there, and doors for greater opportunities quickly opened to me. Those are some of the reasons I say that every young leader should have a place like Hillham to learn how to lead.

Poet Walt Mason wrote a poem called “The Welcome Man,” which describes the credibility that Level 3 leaders have. Here is an excerpt:

There is a man in the world who is never turned down,
wherever he chances to stray;

He gets the glad hand in the populous town,
or out where the farmers make hay;

He is greeted with pleasure on deserts of sand,
and deep in the isles of the woods;

Wherever he goes there’s the welcoming hand—
he’s The Man Who Delivers the Goods.
²

People welcome achievers who deliver the goods—who get results.

Producers and achievers always have an impact on the people who work with them and for them. To illustrate the point, I want to share my all-time favorite story, called “Sel not Spel”:

Okay, I admit that it’s a corny story, but I just love it because it shows how loudly productivity speaks in any organization. Gooch in the story may not be a Level 3 speller, but he is certainly a Level 3 producer. And as a result, the company president held up his example as the standard to follow.

That’s how it is in leadership. Productivity puts people at the head of the class. And when that producer has already done the slower work of building relationships on Level 2, his or her leadership really takes off!

I had to learn this the hard way. When I came out of college, someone could have written a book about all the things I
didn’t
know. I was just a kid and had no idea how little I knew. But I liked people and I worked hard. And I could produce. As a result, new worlds opened up to me very quickly. I was surprised and pleased when people started asking me to speak at conferences to tell my story. As a result, my influence began to grow, and soon leaders began to visit our church and ask more questions. Many times these leaders were older and much more experienced than I was. I found that very humbling. But it also inspired me to want to help people more. That was when I began to develop resources. I wanted to keep helping people long after my personal contact with them was finished. This eventually led to my writing books and being published.

I don’t tell you this to brag. What I’m really trying to communicate is that
anyone
who can produce has a chance to influence people at a higher level. That’s the power of Level 3 Production. If you can develop solid relationships with people and you can produce, you can be an effective leader.

Productive leaders are an example to the people they lead, and their productivity sets the standard for the team. President Abraham Lincoln recognized this. During the American Civil War, the president relieved General John C. Fremont of his command. He said it was for this reason: “His cardinal mistake is that he isolates himself and
allows no one to see him.” Lincoln knew that leaders need to be among their people, inspiring them with their ability, letting them see what the standard should be for their performance. When leaders produce, so do their people. Productive leaders thrive on results—from themselves and the team. They show the way and others follow.

Good leaders constantly communicate the vision of the organization. They do it clearly, creatively, and continually. But that doesn’t mean that everyone who receives the message understands and embraces it. The Production level of leadership communicates the vision through action, which helps people understand it in ways they may not have before. When followers see positive results and see goals being met, they get a clearer picture of what it means to fulfill the vision.