WHY YOU MAY STRUGGLE TO LEAD OTHERS III

In the previous piece, I wrote about the thin line that exists between influence and manipulation, because I have observed that some pioneer leaders may not even realize that their mode of leadership is manipulative due to the need-state of the people.

The majority of people in society ultimately have needs, which include what to eat, where to lay down their head, and what to wear. If the majority of the people you are leading have these basic needs as their major concern, the pioneer leader, if not self-aware, would become a manipulator with time.

The former president of Nigeria, Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo once said that “wetin hungry man wan hear, na come chop.” In other words, what a hungry man needs is food, which is a solution to his immediate needs. This he pointed out to be the bane of manipulation in, especially political leadership. So, if you control the water, you control everything.

And many times, pioneer leaders who take advantage of the people’s immediate needs to make them believe that they are the Saviour they (people) hope for, would in the long not be able to sustain that promise. This is because when a hungry man “don chop”, there is every likelihood that his senses would return back to him. But that has not always worked in their favour because the manipulator would be smart enough to ensure that they are always hungry or the food they eat is not enough.

True leadership is influencing people whose immediate needs are not what to eat, wear and where to lay their heads. If a pioneer leader, devoid of manipulations, can transform the people to do what needs to be done, when it has to be done, then he is truly a leader.

While solving a problem in connection with the needs of the people may have been the reason for the initiation of the leadership movement, however, that is only a catalyst to make their needs go. Making their needs go away requires that the people are able to take care of their own needs. So, true leadership is not about giving people fish, but about showing them how to own their ponds and have others learn to fish from them too.

In this piece, I will be showing you how to go about that kind of influence that empowers the people to be better versions of themselves. I wrote in my book, Leadership Tweaks, how any pioneer leader, regardless of nature or where the leadership takes place, can influence the people without having to manipulate them. I explained that the way a leader would influence people depends on their personalities and the way they want to be influenced.

The pioneer leader who understands the various designs of the followers will eventually end up influencing them no matter who they are, in class or calibre, without persuasion. By this, there are three possible points of influence for every player in the cycle of leadership common to both followers and leaders. These points are attuned to the tripartite nature of man with varying degrees of inclination. They are spiritual, physical and intellectual. The operations of each individual vary, which is dependent upon temperament and personality dimension. Your disposition to these points of influence depends on your awareness on how they affect your take and decision and how you perceive others. People who are in tune to their spirituality will likely be influenced by a leader who can affect their spiritual life, nonetheless; those who are more in tune with their senses will be influenced based on how they feel about the leader, and those who are more in tune with their intellect will value their leaders based on logic/reason and how intelligent they are or present themselves.

Having established that people can be influenced in the direction of achieving the intended result needed, which lies solely on the leader’s dexterity in understanding the dynamics of human personality and relationship associated with the articulation of vision for the leadership, who you are as leader will determine how you will be perceived by the people you are leading and consequently, how you will influence them. On the other hand, who your followers are will also determine how they will be influenced by you. You can succeed in influencing your followers when you have the understanding of you are and the people you are leading.

In a broader sense, when you are able to type your personality dimension, you will come to the knowledge of how you are always being influenced by those who lead you without you realizing it. This further defines your likeness to specific kinds of individuals who look forward to being elected in some kind of political leadership that requires you to vote.

There are four personality dimensions. Nevertheless, in our studies, following these dimensions, we observed that each of them is characterised by a pattern of preferences to the way we perceive and make judgments about information gotten through the five senses or “knowing sense” – intuition. However, to be able to explain the dynamics of influence associated with these personality dimensions, there is need we first lay them out:

1. Rationals

2. Artisans

3. Guardians

4. Idealists

In understanding these dimensions, let us quickly look at the way followers are influenced along with the three gates in a less explicit but concise manner, thus:

Heart Influence: Rationals can only be influenced through their first point of contact with the leader, which is their spiritual gate, followed by the intellectual gate and then the physical gate. Because they are in tune with their spirit, they value spiritual things more than anyone else. They often check people out with their spiritual sense and also value the antecedents of their leaders as such.

Sense Influence: Artisans can only be influenced through their first point of contact with the leader, which is their physical sense gate, followed by the intellectual gate and then the spiritual gate. They are influenced because the leader is able to make physical or material sense by the way and manner he or she talks and excites them physically or materially.

Help Influence: Guardians can only be influenced through their first point of contact with the leader, which is their intellectual gate, followed physical and then spiritual gate. They perceive the leader as helpers, who should help them move on in life because of their close affinity to their physical gate. They value intelligent leaders and would gladly follow without arguments.

Soul Influence: Idealists can only be influenced through their first point of contact with the leader, which is their intellectual gate also but followed by a spiritual gate, and then their physical gate. They only are influenced by leaders who they know to be intelligent, and when the leader does not meet up to their standard, they become silently stubborn and sometimes oppositional because they believe that, even as followers, they know they should be led by those who lead them. 

Do you think you may be struggling with the people you are leading because you have not paid to understand their personality dimensions and temperament so you can be sure of what kind of result to expect from them as you connect with them? While everything is said to rise and fall on leadership, the greater responsibility is on the pioneer leader who is charting the course and setting the sail.

In the next piece, I will be looking at the various temperaments types that make up the 4 personality dimensions and you should apply a tailored influence on them.