Alice is a friendly, helpful and upbeat security guard at a venue that I frequent many times per year. Though I've never seen her job description, I can assume that exerting power and influence is not included. However, she is the perfect example of exerting power and influence, regardless of title or prescribed duties. It is clear that she loves people and life, by her infectious optimism and bright smile.
Yesterday, when Alice and I visited, she said that she would have happily given me a preferential parking place. I appreciatively told her how thoughtful that was, and that the parking place I found was very convenient. As I wished her a happy rest of the day, I told her that I'd look forward to seeing her early the next morning, for another event. She quickly told me exactly where I should park upon arrival.
This morning as I pulled into the parking space Alice had designated for me, in addition to extreme gratitude, I was so impressed by the model she exemplifies, of leading from where you are.
Showing posts with label leading from any position. Show all posts
Showing posts with label leading from any position. Show all posts
Thursday, August 29, 2013
Thursday, August 27, 2009
We Lead From Where We Are
There are multiple leadership options including: situational, leading by example, authoritative/positional and charismatic.
Situational leadership often evolves during a crisis. What is the disaster recovery plan? IT and Operations experts can emerge as situational leaders. What do we do when the economy slows? By asking all customer facing associates "How can we provide new product/service offerings to better serve our customers and achieve competitive advantage?" we gain invaluable insight. This is a great way to identify emerging leaders.
Leading by example is a leadership option available to every person. My daughter incorporates exercise into her daily time budget and thus influences the rest of us to be more consciously and consistently active. When the sales leader schedules 15 appointments per week, you get the message that a combination of breakfast, lunch, dinner and non-meal appointments will fit into every work day.
Authorative/Positional leadership is a leadership option most commonly experienced in the business, government and academic workspace. The boss has the ultimate say. Though this is a reality, every highly effective organization (except military) with which I've been affiliated, uses this as the tie-breaker rather than the mode of operation. It's clear that there are non-negotiables, but when teams adhere to core principals and can compromise, collaborate and deliver solutions without invoking authorative/positional leadership, everyone wins.
Charismatic leaders have a connection that resonates with others, sometimes despite the message. I had a list, but intentionally deleted them, because we all have our own lists of folks who have prompted us to act based upon their passion, energy and "expertise".
Each of us has the opportunity to lead regardless of the position we hold. Only authoritative/positional leadership is determined by the job we hold. We can all be positive situational and charismatic leaders. And, of course, we can all lead by example.
Situational leadership often evolves during a crisis. What is the disaster recovery plan? IT and Operations experts can emerge as situational leaders. What do we do when the economy slows? By asking all customer facing associates "How can we provide new product/service offerings to better serve our customers and achieve competitive advantage?" we gain invaluable insight. This is a great way to identify emerging leaders.
Leading by example is a leadership option available to every person. My daughter incorporates exercise into her daily time budget and thus influences the rest of us to be more consciously and consistently active. When the sales leader schedules 15 appointments per week, you get the message that a combination of breakfast, lunch, dinner and non-meal appointments will fit into every work day.
Authorative/Positional leadership is a leadership option most commonly experienced in the business, government and academic workspace. The boss has the ultimate say. Though this is a reality, every highly effective organization (except military) with which I've been affiliated, uses this as the tie-breaker rather than the mode of operation. It's clear that there are non-negotiables, but when teams adhere to core principals and can compromise, collaborate and deliver solutions without invoking authorative/positional leadership, everyone wins.
Charismatic leaders have a connection that resonates with others, sometimes despite the message. I had a list, but intentionally deleted them, because we all have our own lists of folks who have prompted us to act based upon their passion, energy and "expertise".
Each of us has the opportunity to lead regardless of the position we hold. Only authoritative/positional leadership is determined by the job we hold. We can all be positive situational and charismatic leaders. And, of course, we can all lead by example.
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