Often when studying leadership much of the information is centered around the individual. How the individual leader makes decisions; formulates a vision; communicates the vision; personal integrity; delegates authority; perseveres through failure and so forth.
It is critical to remember that the team that surrounds the leader is worthy of nearly the same amount of attention and study. The following points are listed for your reflection:
- Whoever is controlling the information and people that have access to the leader is almost as powerful as the leader themself and in some cases even more powerful.
- Often the successors will come from those around you, will have input into who replaces you and most likely will be responsible for spinning up your successor after your gone.
- When walking into a new situation you must have people that are loyal to you. You aren’t that good that you can walk into an organization and expect 100% compliance and support absent of jealousy and individual agendas. Don’t learn this lesson the hard way, your tenure will be much shorter than you planned.
- You will spend a lot of time with these people. You should like them and care about them.
- Those that surround you are just as much a part of your legacy as you are.
- You will often read about delegating and how you must allow those under you to be creative and have some flexibility (allowing them room to fail). This is much easier said than done. This takes courage.
Serious leaders know the value of having the right team surrounding them. They learned this through experience. Pay attention to this aspect of leadership. It is a good idea to find a mentor that can help you in this area of development. While there is no substitute for experience you can shorten the learning curve by talking with experienced leaders, taking notes, and starting a personal leadership journal.
Thoughts or comments? Let me know what you think.