Take Charge Get Results - UNDERSTANDING LEADERSHIP

Chapter 2

UNDERSTANDING LEADERSHIP

“It is Leadership that sets the course, and provides direction for all achievement, great or small.”

Over the years, leadership has been defined, redefined, debated, discussed, and analyzed. It has been dissected into styles, forms, varying degrees, principles, character traits, and responsibilities. Despite all of the expert analysis, the question, “What is Leadership?” remains, in large part, unanswered. If you ask a thousand people what leadership is, you will get a thousand different answers. The answer is lost, somewhere deep within a thick cloud of confused opinion, theory and conjecture. The existence of real leadership in our society, our organizations, our families and our lives has been lost, somewhere in the attempted application of ingenious new techniques and half-baked notions.

What Leadership Is

Leadership belongs to the family of universal truth, and its meaning cannot be changed every time an authority figure feels the need to abdicate his or her responsibility. Leadership has only one meaning: to be responsible for all outcomes, whether successful or failed, anytime, all of the time. Leadership is what it is, and a person either understands it or does not; either employs its principles or does not. There is no such thing as “good leadership” or “bad leadership”, only ‘leadership” or “no leadership”. The existence of leadership is evidenced by the existence of followers. No followers – no leadership. It’s that simple.

What Leadership Is Not

Just because you pay somebody to work for you, and they do what you tell them to does not make them your follower, just as your working for someone and following their orders, does not make them your leader. In our society today, many businesses, governmental agencies and organizations are confusing the issuance and following of orders with the existence of leadership. You can pay someone to follow your orders, but you cannot pay someone to follow you. It is the misconception, or poor understanding of what leadership really is, that causes most of the problems for these groups, such as discontented workers, low morale, inefficiency and high turnover, to name a few.

More often than not, the authority figures of these groups attempt to improve morale and increase productivity by increasing pay and benefits. However, when the desired result is not achieved, and the price of obedience becomes too costly, they resort to threats of demotion, reduction in benefits or termination of employment. With the adoption of this “Get results or else” policy, they actually create a toxic, fear based environment. The responsibility for poor performance is shifted completely off of the authority figures’ shoulders onto the shoulders of their employees. While this approach may bring about short-term improvements in performance, it ignores the serious lack of leadership, and has long-term consequences. It’s the absence of leadership which ultimately results in decreased performance as employees spend more and more time preparing their resumes.

[I’m not suggesting that authority figures can’t hold a subordinate accountable for performance. On the contrary, they can and they should, however responsibility for overall results rests squarely in the lap of those in authority, a fact that any real leader understands; a responsibility that any real leader accepts.]

Accept Responsibility

Being in charge, by virtue of position, has no bearing on leadership, in and
ofitself. Anyone can be placed in charge of something or someone, but that
doesn’t make them a leader. Instead, leadership begins with a decision to
accept the primary responsibility of a leader: to take charge, to care for
to be responsible for the success and well being of

something or someone, for example, a situation, personal goal, project,
marriage, family, group, or business.

Take Charge

You may be wondering, “What does leadership have to do with me? I’m not in charge of anything or anyone.” Well, yes you are. In the most basic sense, we are all in charge of something or someone – ourselves. That’s right. You are in charge, of you. You are responsible for you. The real question is: Are you merely “in charge” or have you “taken charge?”

Leadership plays just as important a role in our personal lives as it does
in our professional lives, and is a necessary element to achieving our goals. If you are struggling with performance, getting poor results, or
experiencing failure in some area of your life or business, do not ignore the true cause of the problem (lack of leadership). Do not shift responsibility
onto someone else’s shoulders.

If you are going to get results, you must take responsibility, by taking
charge of yourself and your situation. Make a decision to accept this primary responsibility of Leadership. Invoke its power in your own life. Set a course for success. Take charge, and lead yourself and your followers – your organization, business, community, family – to greatness.

George J. Morse
Email: george@coachmorse.com
http://www.coachmorse.com