Like everything else in life, the Production level of leadership has its downsides as well as its upsides. With Level 3 leadership, achievement within the organization becomes easier. However, the leadership itself doesn’t become easy. Here are the four main downsides I’ve discovered on Level 3.
1. Being Productive Can Make You Think
You’re a Leader When You’re Not
All great leaders are productive. However, it is possible to be a producer and not a leader. Personal success does not always translate into team success. Leadership is defined by what a person does with and for others. It is established by making the team better and more productive. It’s measured by what the entire group accomplishes, not by the individual efforts of the person in charge. Good leadership is never based on what someone does by and for himself.
I know many individual producers who have no desire or ability to lead others. Some don’t have the people skills. Others don’t have the desire to be responsible for others or take the time to help them become productive. Organizations all over the world make the mistake of putting high producers into leadership positions only to watch them fail to lead well. This mistake is often made because a prerequisite for being an effective leader is the ability to be effective yourself, but it is not the only qualification. Good leaders must establish themselves in their position on Level 1, gain people’s permission on Level 2, be productive on Level 3, and possess the desire to take the entire team to a higher level.
2. Productive Leaders Feel a Heavy Weight of
Responsibility for Results
If a football team doesn’t win, the coach gets fired. If a corporation doesn’t make profits, the CEO gets the ax. If a politician doesn’t do a good job for his constituents, he doesn’t get reelected. In any organization, the responsibility for results rests with the leaders. Productivity is measurable. Organizational growth is tangible. Profitability is quantifiable. Leaders who fail to produce are held accountable. Leaders who add to them are rewarded—and then asked to achieve even more the next time. High performance requires high commitment.
Many leaders who reach Level 3 tire of leading because of the weight of responsibility they feel. Most leaders experience days when they wish no one was watching their performance, looking to them for direction, or wanting them to make something happen. However, effective leaders understand that the cost of leadership is carrying the responsibility of their team’s success on their shoulders. That is a weight every leader feels, starting on Level 3. You will have to decide whether you are willing to carry it.
3. Production Leadership Requires Making
Difficult Decisions
Whenever you see a thriving organization, you can be sure that its leaders made some very tough decisions—and are continuing to make them. Success is an uphill journey. People don’t coast their way to effective leadership. If you want to lead at a higher level, be ready to make difficult decisions. On Level 2, leaders often have to start making difficult people decisions. On Level 3, leaders continue to make those but also add difficult production decisions.
It has been my observation that when leaders are confronted with these difficult decisions on Level 3, many fail to make them. What they may not understand until it’s too late is that failing to do so will eventually disqualify them from leading. Their leadership potential becomes stunted, and they cannot remain on Level 3.
I encourage you to persevere—even in moments when you feel the way Moses must have felt when the Red Sea parted and the people waited for him to take them forward, saying to himself, Why must I always go first? Going first may not always be easy or fun, but it is always a requirement of leaders. It paves the way for the people who follow and increases their chances of success in completing the journey.
4. Production Leadership Demands Continual
Attention to Level 2
Becoming accountable for the productivity of the team does not mean that leaders can stop caring for the people they lead. Remember, just because you add a new level of leadership doesn’t mean you leave the previous one behind. There is a real temptation for leaders on the Production level to neglect relationships in pursuit of achieving a good bottom-line result. However, if leaders do that for an extended period of time, they burn their relationships with their people, and they will eventually find themselves back on Level 1. Don’t fall into that trap. Keep developing the relationships and caring for them as you produce results. Stay relationally connected to your people. Get out among them and spend time with them. Put connection time on your schedule, if needed. Do whatever it takes to keep from losing what you’ve gained on Level 2.