Not all of us are leaders; most of us would actually prefer NOT to be leaders, but many of don’t have a choice. My WordPress guru, best mate and the guy who keeps the back end of my site ticking over beautifully, showed me this diagram yesterday and I thought it was worth sharing.
As you can see, the 5 ascending levels of leadership starts at the bottom and it is probably fair to say that, within most organisations in which we find ourselves, that is where it stops. This level is called Position and the reason for the name is obvious. For most of us, we follow what the boss says and wishes because we have to; sanctions of varying types apply if we don’t. But, given that this is the bottom level, it is disappointing to find that most organisations never progress past this level.
The next level is where people follow their leader because they WANT to. This is called Permission. Either the leader is so charismatic or so rewarding of this type of behaviour it doesn’t really matter. We follow, not out of fear but out of desire. This is a much better model as it can easily be seen that followers who are following their leader willingly are more likely to be happy, compliant and productive.
But, even if an organisation gets past Level One, you rarely find that it will progress past Level Two.
Level Three is called Production. The leader is followed because of their track record, what they have been seen to have done for the organisation. Again, this is better but still not optimal.
Level Four is called People Development. We follow the leader because of what they have done for US. I think most of us would have experienced this type of leader at least once in our work career. This type of leader embodies all of the qualities of the lower levels but has taken their leadership more personally.
The fifth and final level is called Pinnacle. This is when we follow our leader for who they ARE and what they represent. This is leadership at its best, no compulsion, no incentive, no reward, just leading people who want to be led because they believe in the leader and what the leader represents.
As a teacher I am excited about looking again at my varying work situations and seeing how the leadership of the various schools in which I teach measure up. More importantly, however, I am encouraged to look at my own teaching and see where I fit in to this structure. If you are in any position of leadership, I encourage you to do the same.