A Leader's Primary Job Is To Create Opportunities For People To Step Into Their Zone Of Genius. Period.
Kingsley Grant
Helping wives better understand their entrepreneurial husbands, rekindle love, deepen intimacy, & have a happier marriage | Author: The Joyful Wife | Therapist & Coach ??? Host of the Build Your Happier Marriage Podcast
How often have you heard that leaders ought to develop other leaders?
I would dare say, if you’ve been around the leadership space for any period of time, you probably have heard it a number of times. Most, if not all, leadership experts tend to say the same thing.
But, do you buy that?
How does a leader develop other leaders?
Secondly, why would that be his or her primary job?
Thirdly, what about the people who have no desire to be leaders?
I’ve wrestled with this idea for some time.
As a matter of fact, I’m one who has also espoused this idea myself. At leadership events, I’d parrot those very words.
A NEW PERSPECTIVE
As time has passed and having done a lot more work in the leadership space in research, interviewing other leaders, and referencing my own leadership experiences, I’m beginning to have a different take.
What drove this home for me is from an interaction I had with one of my coaching clients.
This client was promoted to be a team-lead simply because they excelled in the area in which they worked.
Their technical and tactical skills made them a stand-out among their peers.
Upper management noticed it and had this “brilliant” idea to promote them to a team lead.
Granted this person has not had any leadership experience per se in their life.
Promoting a person to a leadership position simply because of tenure or performance at one level is a sure-fire way for potential disaster.
Not only is that person being set up for failure, but to potentially damage relationships along the way, not intentionally, but because of the inability to lead people.
Now, my client hates being in this leadership role and wants to go back to their old position where they excelled at what they did. They wake up each workday feeling depressed about work.
Imagine!
What should have been done?
SHIFT IN APPROACH
Upper management should have given my client the support and resources to continue to do what they do best. They should find ways to reward and publicly acknowledge them for their work.
To me, this makes more sense rather than forcing the issue of developing people into leaders who would rather not be one simply because of the notion that a leader’s responsibility is to develop other leaders.
Wrap Up:
Your primary job as a leader is to provide opportunities for your people to:
- Identify their skills and strengths aka zone of genius
- Place them in the areas where they can show their strengths and skills
- Provide them with the resources and encouragement to continue to develop themselves in this area
I would love to hear from you on this topic so I can learn as well. I learn more when I’m engaged in healthy dialogue whether in agreement or disagreement.
If you resonate with this topic, you would be interested in The Kingsley Grant Show as well as my talks on leadership.
Remember, YOU ARE 1-SKILL AWAY from your best hope and if this is something you want to know more about, do not hesitate to connect with me at www.kingsleygrant.com/connect.
Founder at GreenLeaf Technology Solutions Company Limited
5 年100% true
IT Leader | Consultant | Global Delivery | Vendor Manager | Coach | Mentor | Program Manager | Certified Scrum Master
5 年Thank you! I am in total agreement. This is the definition for the role of any leader.
Emotional Empowerment & Female Self-leadership | uniting women and men to create a bright & human future with nourishing love and change in paradigms needed.
5 年Yes, employees should always be encouraged and enabled to realize their individual potential in order to increase their satisfaction as well as their value for the company.? However, though I can mainly agree with your final conclusion, I actually struggle with your thesis. Would one really reduce a leader's job to the (main) responsibility of developing other leaders? I think, no. Besides encouraging others to realize their individual potential a not least important aspect of the leader role is (still) to also enforce proven routines and methods to keep on track with goals in order to not drift off. Experienced employees often have valuable process-related know-how and best practices, which could be multiplied for the company (also good leaders, of course). To support good employees with leadership qualities within a company is therefore of great value, as long as you're aware that you can only train skills but not develop the desire to be a leader as such. Why making an artificial distinction into either black or white, if the actual point is to focus more on what people are capable and willing to achieve rather than predefining their development goals?
Project Manager
5 年This can also apply to changing employee responsibilities and job descriptions as well as promoting them. I have seen this first hand recently. As a leader, it is very easy to only think about what you need and not how your employees skills and competencies can be leveraged. This is especially difficult when organizational goals or business models change. But approaching these changes with an attitude of how your employees strengths can be leveraged as opposed to what you need will allow them to feel successful, fulfilled, and engaged in the organization. Ultimately, this will help you achieve those goals or changes more quickly and fully.