OS 029 - 5 Leadership Power Myths

Orchestrating Success

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OS 029 - 5 Leadership Power Myths

December 09, 2016

Leaders Lead for a Position of Power Myth
It’s the BOSS syndrome. It’s not effective. Your position and title is not enough to motivate others to follow you. It’s like when your mom said “Because I’m the parent”, it didn’t inspire cooperation, it probably inspired defiance.

Tip: People follow clarity and energy
Learn to communicate your vision so people understand where they are going…they want to follow, help them do it. Leadership isn’t about power of position, it’s about influence. Be the influencer and you’ll attract people who have a passion for your vision.
There Is Only One Leader Myth
In autocratic or charismatic leadership models, there is only one leader who makes all the decisions and calls all the shots. The style is that the one leader commands lots of followers. It’s all about ego and not about teamwork.

Tip: Leaders become successful if they empower, coach, and mentor others.
Leaders equip and empower others to lead. This is a related topic to #1, which is about power. If there’s only one leader who holds all the power, then the team is not effective or efficient. Transformation leadership is about a culture of high performing leaders. The organizational leader builds leaders on teams. This is creating and ensemble of excellence by building high performing, high functioning, synergistic cultures.
Leaders Always Have All the Right Answers Myth
Somewhere we have learned that the leader must have all the right answers…WRONG? I don’t know who made this up, but it’s 180 degrees off. Those whose we lead naturally come to us for answers to questions. We make it worse by attempting to answer all questions because we think it’s our responsibility.

Tip: Learn to ask good questions. Leaders ask the right questions and then listen carefully to the answers. Leaders are mentors of other leaders in the organization. We coach and mentor others on fulfilling our vision and mission. Make sure that others are right and take the focus off of being right yourself.
Leaders Control Everything Myth Leadership is about the future, not the past. Joel Barker has the best quote about leadership, "A leader is someone you would follow to a place you would not go to by yourself.” Effective leaders cultivate respect because they build strong relationships. Trying to control everything is a sign of insecurity.

Tip: The effective Transformational Leader defines the end result and then coaches, mentors, and empowers others to achieve those results. Failure is a way for team members to learn better leadership skills. We assist in order to minimize the risk of failures…which we reframe as learning opportunities.
Leaders Know More Than Anyone Myth
Educational degrees may mean you have a good education, but it doesn't necessarily mean you are a good leader or that you have any practical knowledge. Transformational Leadership is modeled after the military, in that it’s a culture of high performing members, who understand objectives and tactics to achieve those objectives. Their leader is in front, but not in control. Everyone on the team is an expert at some level.

Tip: Learn to be a student of leadership and commit to continuing improvement. Transformation of an organization begins with the leader’s own transformation. The culture is a reflection of the leader. Leaders learn from everyone and from every situation. Those who think that they know it all are missing out on their own personal improvement

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Orchestrating Success hosted by Hugh Ballou