By Wisdom Kwame Nuworkpor FCCA, ICA, MBA
Over the past two weeks, we have been studying the levels of leadership. In the previous articles (What kind of leader are you Parts I & II), we learnt that taking a leadership position is the beginning of your leadership journey (thus Position). We also said that, the position level should not be the desired level of any leader and so the leader at this stage should aspire to build relationships. The result of this is that, people will follow you because they want to. This is the Permission stage of leadership.
At the Permission level, it is exciting to see people follow you because they believe in you and trust you. The leader at this stage needs to be careful because, there is a high temptation for the leader to stop there. However, good leaders don’t just create a pleasant environment, they get things done. Getting things done introduces the third level of the leadership journey.
Level 3 - Production
John Maxwell1 in his book 5 levels of leadership refers to the level 3 stage of leadership as Production. According to him, production level leaders gain influence and credibility and people begin to follow them because of what they have done for the organisation.
In the book of John 2:23, the bible says that, at a Passover feast, many believed in the name Jesus when they saw the signs which he did. There are also several scriptures in the bible which support the fact that, people followed Jesus because of what they had seen him do. For example, in Luke 5:1-11, we read the account of Jesus preaching to the multitude from Simon’s boats. After the sermon, He asked Simon to launch out into the deep and let down their nets for a catch. According to the story, Simon and His partners had toiled all night and caught nothing. But at the instruction of Jesus, they did let down their net and to their astonishment, they caught so much fish that their boats begun to sink. After this miracle, they did not hesitate any further but to forsake all they were doing and followed Jesus.
If even Jesus Christ, people followed him because of what they saw, the production level is certainly a prerequisite for every great leader.
In politics, the Permission leadership (level 2) gets people to follow some political leaders but this is only for a while. After the followers realise that they are not producing results, they switch camp to other leaders they believe are more productive.
In the corporate world, subordinates will switch roles or jobs when they realise that their leaders are not producing results. In order words, you may be the nice guy, likable leader, which is a great thing but if you do not produce results, your people will leave you.
Many positive things happen at the Production level of the leadership hierarchy: work gets done, morale improves, profits go up, staff turnover declines, goals are achieved, momentum kicks in, leading and influencing others become more exciting, mistakes are overlooked and rather, people are encouraged to be innovative which in itself, tolerates mistakes. It is fun to both the leader and subordinates at the level 3 stage of leadership hierarchy.
It is not uncommon to see leaders who produce results sit close to the Chief Executive during monthly or annual performance review meetings. Such leaders easily get their budget approved because they have demonstrated that they are profitable. The leader who is not productive struggles to get his budget approved.
Every good leader should therefore aspire to build on level 2 of the hierarchy and climb up the next levels. This is not in anyway suggesting that the level 3 leader forgets about level 2 principles. As we learnt last week, a good leader builds on the previous level.
Next week, we will look at the 4th level of the leadership hierarchy (People development). This is a must do for every great leader.
Keep your feedback coming through and remember to share this link and help build great leaders.
References:
1 John C. Maxwell (2011), 5 levels of Leadership
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