The 5 Levels of Leadership: Proven Steps to Maximize Your Potential (24 page)

Stephen Covey observes, “People and organizations don’t grow much without delegation and completed staff work, because they are confined to the capacities of the boss and reflect both personal strengths and weaknesses.” Don’t allow yourself to become the lid on your organization. Give it the best chance for a bright future by developing other leaders.

Many leaders become a lid on their teams or organizations. The typical lid is the person who can’t lead yet possesses a leadership position. It’s the Peter Principle playing out, where people rise to the level of their incompetence. Because they can’t empower and motivate people, their area of responsibility suffers and their people go nowhere. But there is another kind of person who also puts a lid on those he leads: the competent person who won’t share responsibility.

People development by its very nature shares responsibility for getting things done. I say that because people development is more than just teaching. It’s transforming. It invites people into the process of leadership because many things can be learned only through experience. History provides abundant examples of people whose greatest gift was in redeeming, inspiring, liberating, and nurturing the gifts of others. John Quincy Adams said, “If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more, and become more, you are a leader.” When you give someone responsibility and authority, they not only learn, but they also start to fulfill their leadership responsibilities. That action transforms people and organizations.

When established leaders focus on People Development and empower
others to lead, everybody wins. The first benefit comes to the people being led. When new leaders are developed, they become better at what they do and they help everyone who works with them to do the same. When these new leaders start building relationships with their people on Level 2, they treat them better and the working environment improves. When they master Level 3, they become more productive.

The second benefit comes to the organization. With the addition of more good leaders, the organization’s current efforts improve. Every developed leader adds more horsepower to the organization. And expanding the leadership of the organization also gives it the ability to expand its territory and take on new initiatives.

The final benefit comes to the leaders who are doing the developing, because new leaders help to share the load. All leaders feel a weight of responsibility for leading. They understand that leaders are expected to produce no matter what. They feel a responsibility to the organization and their leaders to fulfill the vision. If there are stockholders, they feel responsible to them for making a profit. They feel responsible to the people they lead. They want to help them succeed. And they know that people’s jobs are ultimately on the line.

One of the principles I teach is that everything rises and falls on leadership. Most people apply that concept to productivity. But it also applies to responsibility. When I owned three companies, I felt the weight of my leadership responsibilities every day. I was responsible for the direction the companies were heading, the values that we were establishing, and the bottom-line success of the organizations. Every leader who has a lot of responsibility in an organization feels that weight. (Anyone who doesn’t feel it needs to examine their motives, because they may be taking their responsibility too lightly.)

As you develop people and they begin to share the load of leadership, it’s important for you to give them the right expectations. Let them know that you’re responsible to them, but not for them. By that I mean you will take responsibility for providing training, supplying
tools, offering opportunities, and creating an environment conducive for their development. They must take responsibility for their growth through their choices, attitude, and commitment. If they don’t, you will pay for their failure along with them, but that is a risk worth taking because the upside advantages if they succeed are so great. And when it does work and people seize the opportunity to grow and lead, it’s fantastic.

Philanthropist Melinda Gates understood this dynamic at an incredibly early age. In her valedictory address at Ursuline Academy in 1982, she said, “If you are successful, it is because somewhere, sometime, someone gave you a life or an idea that started you off in the right direction.” That is true for all of us. No leader is self-made. Everyone was given a start by somebody else. That is a gift. Our gift back is to take responsibility and do our best to lead others with effectiveness and integrity.

Farzin Madjidi, professor of leadership at Pepperdine University, asserts, “We need leaders who empower people and create other leaders. It’s no longer good enough for a manager to make sure that everybody has something to do and is producing. Today, all employees must ‘buy in’ and take ownership of everything they’re doing. To foster this, it’s important that employees should make decisions that most directly affect them. That’s how the best decisions are made. That’s the essence of empowerment.” What he’s describing is Level 4 leadership—leadership that empowers others to share the load. In healthy organizations led by Level 4 leaders, rewards are given for empowering others, not for climbing over them.

If you want to improve an organization, improve its leaders. If you want to grow an organization, grow its leaders. When you increase the
number of leaders you have and you make the leaders you have better, the potential of the organization increases greatly.

Many leaders don’t want to share responsibility with others because they don’t want to lose any of their power. But when you share leadership with others, it doesn’t actually take away from you. Instead, it actually gives you something you can get
only
by developing others: it gives you back time. As you develop people and empower them to lead, their territories expand and so does yours. But you are also freed up to do more important things, the most important of which are often thinking, envisioning, and strategizing.

Leaders always need more quality thinking time. Yet because most leaders have a bias toward action, they often don’t have it. As you develop other leaders and empower them to lead, they take on work that used to be yours, and you can use that time to take your team or organization to the next level. Everyone benefits.

It’s often difficult to hand over responsibility for a task to others, especially if you believe they won’t do as good a job as you will. But that’s no excuse. You cannot become an effective Level 4 leader unless you are willing to let go of some of your responsibilities. So what’s a good rule of thumb for transferring ownership of a leadership responsibility to someone else? I use the 80 percent rule. If someone on my team can do one of my tasks 80 percent as well as I do (or better), then I give him or her responsibility for it. If you want to be an effective leader, you must move from perfectionist to pragmatist.

In his book
Man, The Manipulator
, Everett Shostrom quotes a teacher who learned the secret to reaching people and changing their lives:

The greatest satisfaction in life comes from giving to others. We are most fulfilled when we forget ourselves and focus on others. And what’s really wonderful is that when we add the giving that comes from developing people on Level 4 to the solid relationships we’ve developed on Level 2, the closeness and warmth that result can provide the richest experiences of our lives. We are often closest to people when we help them grow.

My best friends are the people who have brought out the best in me, and the people I’ve tried to help be their best. Our growth journey has been filled with laughter and tears, wins and losses, hopes and hurts, questions and answers. I treasure the notes I’ve received from people who generously share the credit for their growth and success with me.

Howard Schultz, founder of Starbucks, said, “Victory is much more
meaningful when it comes not just from one person, but from the joint achievements of many. The euphoria is lasting when all participants lead with their hearts, winning not just for themselves but for one another.” That is a good description of how I feel about the people closest to me in life: my family and my inner circle. Just last night I enjoyed dinner with a group of them—all of whom I have developed in some way. We laughed, shared pictures, told stories, and traded ideas. The evening went way too fast.

Mark and Stephanie Cole were there. I assisted in their ceremony the day they got married. Now, years later, Mark has become my go-to guy and confidant. Many a project that needs a good leader’s attention I give to him. Stephanie freely allows him to travel with me whenever I need him. What a gift. What would I do without them?

David and Lori Hoyt were there. David handles all my speaking engagements with great care and professionalism, representing me so well to so many people. Lori expresses her love and support for me every time I am with her.

Charlie and Stephanie Wetzel were there. Charlie has helped me write for over seventeen years. With over 20 million books sold, I acknowledge that he has become the greatest influencer of others in my inner circle. Stephanie is Ms. Social Media. She manages my blog as well as my Twitter and Facebook accounts. Some in the publishing industry credit her with much of the recent success of my books.

And finally, Patrick and Linda Eggers were there. Patrick used to be a member of my board. He has been a good friend for over thirty years. He’s big enough to be my bodyguard and smart enough that he once worked as an honest-to-goodness rocket scientist. Linda has been
my assistant for fifteen years. She has been a great friend to my wife, Margaret, and me. Linda knows what I’m thinking before I think it, and she handles everything for us.

As I looked around the table last night, I thought three things: First, these people that I have helped to develop have really grown me. In the beginning I helped them more than they helped me. Today, they help me more than I help them. There is a huge return in developing people!

Second, these are true friends. Our best times are when we are with each other. In 2010, we all went to Israel together and had a blast. The journey of life was not meant to be traveled alone. I’m grateful I get to travel much of it with them.

Third, my greatest fulfillment has come not from the books I have written, the companies I have started, or the recognition I have received. My greatest fulfillment comes from the people I love, and especially from the people whom I have helped to develop.

Rabbi Harold Kushner asserted, “The purpose of life is not to win. The purpose of life is to grow and to share. When you come to look back on all that you have done in life, you will get more satisfaction from the pleasures you have brought into other people’s lives than you will from the times that you outdid and defeated them.” That is great wisdom. Helping others grow and develop brings great joy, satisfaction, and energy to a leader. If you can achieve Level 4 as a leader, you will create a sense of community where victories are celebrated, gratitude is evident, and loyalty is shared. Level 4 is the sweetest of all levels a leader can achieve.

T
here is a reason that many leaders don’t develop people. It’s not easy! And there’s no guarantee that it will work out. Every leader has horror stories of investment in others that turned out badly. You pour yourself into some people and nothing happens. Some people take without giving anything in return. Others make an effort but fall far short of your expectations. And sometimes you give your best to someone, he turns out to be an absolute star, and then he leaves and becomes part of another organization! What can be worse than that? Well, how about not training them and having them stay? If you think about it, you have only one great choice as a leader if you want to lead to the full extent of your potential; you need to invest in your people.

People development requires a very high maturity level. It also requires a very high level of skill. That can create problems for some leaders, and it prevents many from following through with it. Here are the primary causes of breakdowns on Level 4: