To change from a Level 1 leader to a Level 2 leader, you must first change the way you think about leadership. No one has to remain a positional leader, though the longer you have relied on your position, the longer it may take you to change the way you lead and the way others see you. You will have to earn your way up from Level 1.
Here are four statements you must embrace internally before you will be able to change from a positional leader to a permissional one:
We live in a culture that values titles. We admire and respect people with titles such as doctor, CEO, chairman, PhD, Academy Award winner, director, Nobel Prize winner, salesman of the year, president, poet laureate. But what do those titles actually mean? Very little. The titles are ultimately empty, and you must learn to see them that way. People who make it their career goals to gain certain titles are not setting themselves up to be the best leaders they can be.
Who the person is and the work he does is what really matters. If the work is significant and adds value to people, then it doesn’t need to come with a title. Many times we don’t even have any control over whether we receive a title or an award. And for every person who has received recognition, there are thousands of others working without recognition who perhaps deserve even greater honor. Yet they continue to work without credit because the work itself and the positive impact on others are reward enough.
Developing an awareness that titles have little real value and that Position is the lowest level of leadership brings a healthy sense of dissatisfaction with Level 1 as well as a desire to grow. A Position is not a worthy destination for any person’s life. Security does not give purpose. Leadership is meant to be active and dynamic. Its purpose is to create positive change.
A Position is not a worthy destination for any person’s life.
If you want to become a better leader, you can’t focus on rules and procedures to get things done or keep things going. You must develop relationships. Why? Because the reality is that people get things done, not the playbook they use. And because people are the power behind any organization, they are its most valuable—and appreciable—asset.
Learning this lesson made a huge difference in my leadership life. During the first few years of my career, I was a Level 1 leader. I focused way too much on position and became position-driven. I was constantly wondering, What are my rights? Is my authority clear? Where am I on the organizational chart? How do I compare to other leaders? How can I climb the ladder? Who do I need to know? What’s the next step in my career path? My preoccupation with position created frustration within me; if your focus is on position, you’re never satisfied if you’re not at the top. (Ironically, if you’re focused on position and you do get to the top, you won’t be satisfied with that either.)
I’m sorry to say that back then I was willing to use people to improve my position instead of using my position to improve people. That wasn’t right. And it didn’t work. When I finally realized that relying on Position and bossing over people wasn’t the best way to get the best out of people, my attitude and actions started to change. I began to put people ahead of position. Instead of powering down, I started peopling up. Immediately, people noticed that my attitude had changed toward them.
It took some time to develop the people skills I needed to become a better leader, but it took no time at all to let others know that I valued them, expressing appreciation for them and taking interest in them personally. So that’s a change you can make quickly, too. And here’s the immediate benefit: The moment people noticed the shift in my attitude, I noticed a positive shift in their response to me. They began to help me, which allowed me to help them.
Positional leaders often believe that they need to have all the answers. After all, if they admit that they don’t know something, it shows weakness. And if they show weakness, how are they going to stay on top of the hill and maintain their precious position? To get off of Level 1, a leader has to think differently.
When I started my career right out of college, I naïvely thought I had all the answers. Within a few months I realized I didn’t, but I was afraid to admit it. My insecurity and immaturity caused me to act like Mr. Answer Man. It didn’t matter how far outside of my expertise the question was. For a few years, I tried the “fake it ’til you make it” approach to leadership. However, I didn’t fake it well, and others could tell. And, of course, that kind of approach doesn’t help you to actually make it!
I began to realize that a leader’s job is not to know everything but to attract people who know things that he or she does not. Once I recognized that one of us is not as smart as all of us, I stopped bringing people together to give them the answers and started calling on them to help me find the answers. That transformed my leadership, not only because I could be myself and stop pretending that I knew more than I did, but also because it harnessed the power of shared thinking.
One of us is not as smart as all of us.
Because positional leaders often work alone, standing atop the hill of leadership while their subordinates work together at the bottom, their teams work far under their capabilities. Why? Stand-alone leadership doesn’t lead to teamwork, creativity, collaboration, or high achievement. What a shame, and what a waste of potential.
My father’s generation possessed a lot of lonely leaders whose motto was “My way or the highway.” As a result, they missed out on a lot. Moving up in the 5 Levels of Leadership is all about others. It means relating well to other people. It requires leaders to be examples for other people. It challenges them to develop and equip people. The higher you go up the levels of leadership, the more you realize that good leadership is about leading with others, not just leading others. It requires collaboration. It requires inclusion. It requires sacrifice of selfish personal ambition for the sake of the team and the vision of the organization. It means being part of something greater than yourself. It means putting others ahead of yourself and being willing to go only as fast as the people you lead.
A friend told me that when a group of Marines go into combat, they don’t wear their insignia of rank. One reason is that they don’t want officers and noncommissioned officers to be targeted by the enemy. But there’s also another reason—when Marines go into battle, they know who’s in charge. The chain of command has already been clearly established. Nobody needs a reminder of it. But not wearing symbols of rank also sends a clear message from leaders to followers: we are all in this together. We live or die together, regardless of rank.
Moving up from Level 1 to Level 2 requires the greatest personal change from a leader. It requires a change of beliefs and attitudes toward other people and leadership. But here’s the truth: once you decide to include others in the leadership journey, you are well on your way to achieving success at the other levels.