When you become capable of leading people on Level 4, the upside of leadership becomes even stronger and the potential of the organization increases dramatically. Here are the primary positive benefits of leading on the People Development level:
Most leaders are looking for ways to grow their organizations. Where do they usually focus their attention? On Level 3. They work to increase production. That’s the wrong focus. How do you grow a company? By growing the people in it. And if you really want to expand the organization and its potential, focus on growing the leaders.
Author and friend Denis Waitley once shared with me a wonderful insight about personal development. He said that people need to have the conviction that there is value in their dreams, and he said that it required “the belief that you are worth the effort, time, and energy to develop yourself.” That can also be said when it comes to developing others. We must believe in their value. We must value their dreams. We must believe that they are worth the time, effort, energy, and resources that developing them requires. Unfortunately, many leaders do not have that belief.
One of the leaders I admire is Jim Blanchard, for many years the leader of Synovus. In 1999, Fortune named the company the best place in America to work. I believe one of the main reasons Synovus was so successful and such a great place to work was because of their dedication to developing people. That started with Blanchard, who said he loved reading books and any kind of opportunity to receive leadership training. Blanchard explained,
We made a decision twenty-five years ago that… putting people in jobs that they are not prepared for because we have not invested in their training is one mistake we are not going to make…. Training and preparing leaders, teaching them the basics, and trying to enthuse them to seek their own highest level of leadership was a good approach and a good investment in a corporate environment. It has certainly paid off. One thing we learned is that developing leaders is probably the most appreciated benefit in the company. When current or would-be leaders realize that you are investing in their growth, it’s more important to them than money. It’s more important, in my opinion, than a supervisor taking personal interest in their person and encouraging them along the way in their career, although that is probably second.2
That is a good description of the jump from Levels 2 and 3, where a leader builds relationships with people and helps them to be productive in their career, to Level 4, where the leader helps them develop their potential and become the leaders they are capable of being.
The mark of someone with potential to grow is openness to the process.
Blanchard says that the mark of someone with potential to grow is openness to the process. “When you look at people who are eager to learn more,” Blanchard remarked, “you can bet they are on the right track. And when you talk to people who just don’t want any more instruction, then they have pretty much hit the wall. They are done.”
If you want the best for your organization, you need to invest in its people. That’s where the greatest potential is. And in a competitive business world, the ability to develop people is often the difference maker between two organizations competing to succeed using similar resources. Former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich pointed out, “If employers fail to upgrade their workers, then they’re trying to be competitive only with their capital. Anybody can replicate physical capital. But the one resource nobody can replicate is the dedication, the teamwork, the skills of a company’s employees.” Develop them, and you become a one-in-a-thousand leader.
Achieving success isn’t easy. Thousands of new businesses are launched every year only to fail a short time later. Those that make it discover that sustaining success isn’t easy, either. Many companies said to have been “built to last” don’t. Even some of the giants who seem invincible don’t remain successful forever. What gives an organization the best chance for sustaining growth and success? Developing and training people. Only by helping your people reach their potential will your organization reach its potential.
In the early years of leadership, I didn’t understand this. Equipping and developing others wasn’t a high priority for me. Once I discovered the Production level of leadership, that was where I poured my seemingly endless store of energy. I was able to work long hours, and I loved the affirmation that others gave me for my work ethic and productivity. Words such as “How can you accomplish so much?” were music to my ears. Only after I left an organization did the music stop. I realized that as soon as my personal touch was no longer on a particular task or effort, it wasn’t sustained. As a result, many of the things I built ceased to thrive or in some cases even to exist after my exit. I had flunked the leadership test!
This really threw me for a loop. Author and friend Ken Blanchard says, “The test of your leadership is not what happens when you are there, but what happens when you’re not there.” I wondered what the secret was. Why did some organizations continue to succeed after their leaders left while others fell apart?
I began to gain leadership insight in an unlikely place. One night Margaret and I went to a circus, and in the center ring was a man who began to spin a plate on the end of a stick. (If you’re from my generation, you may have seen this done on a variety show.) After he got that first plate spinning, he started to spin another plate on a second stick. Then another and another and another until he had six plates spinning. For the next few minutes he hurried from stick to stick, keeping the plates spinning so that none of them would lose momentum and fall. The more plates spinning, the faster he ran to keep them from falling.
All of a sudden I realized: that was me! I was doing everything myself, and as long as I ran quickly, I could hold everything together. But the moment I stopped, everything would crash around me. By not training anyone else to spin the plates of leadership, I was wearing myself out and limiting the potential of my organization. What a mistake. That was when I made developing others to lead a priority in my organization. It has revolutionized my leadership and made an incredible impact on every organization I’ve led.
I think many of us come from the paradigm where the leader is connected to everything of importance in an organization. Authors James A. Belasco and Ralph C. Stayer liken this mind-set to that of a buffalo herd, where everyone waits around to see what the head buffalo thinks and wants to do. Instead, they argue, effective organizations need to be less like herds of buffalo and more like flocks of geese, flying in V formation and sharing the load. Their book Flight of the Buffalo states,
Rather than the old head-buffalo leadership paradigm, I developed a new lead-goose leadership paradigm. Crafted in the crucible of real-time leadership experience, that paradigm is built around the following leadership principles:
• Leaders transfer ownership for work to those who execute the work.
• Leaders create the environment for ownership where each person wants to be responsible.
• Leaders coach the development of personal capabilities.
• Leaders learn fast themselves and encourage others also to learn quickly.3
When leaders take this kind of approach, then everyone has the potential to lead—at least in some area and capacity.
If you haven’t made developing leaders a priority in the past, allow me to encourage you to do so now. It will take time and commitment, but you can do it. If you have been successful leading on Levels 1, 2, and 3, you have the potential to move up to Level 4. It will require you to shift from doing to developing. It will require you to believe in people. And it will require you to share the load. But if you desire to make the shift in emphasis and put in the work, you can do it. Never forget that leadership is the art of helping people change from who they’re thought to be to who they ought to be.
Stephen Covey observes, “People and organizations don’t grow much without delegation and completed staff work, because they are confined to the capacities of the boss and reflect both personal strengths and weaknesses.” Don’t allow yourself to become the lid on your organization. Give it the best chance for a bright future by developing other leaders.
Don’t allow yourself to become the lid on your organization. Give it the best chance for a bright future by developing other leaders.
Many leaders become a lid on their teams or organizations. The typical lid is the person who can’t lead yet possesses a leadership position. It’s the Peter Principle playing out, where people rise to the level of their incompetence. Because they can’t empower and motivate people, their area of responsibility suffers and their people go nowhere. But there is another kind of person who also puts a lid on those he leads: the competent person who won’t share responsibility.
People development by its very nature shares responsibility for getting things done. I say that because people development is more than just teaching. It’s transforming. It invites people into the process of leadership because many things can be learned only through experience. History provides abundant examples of people whose greatest gift was in redeeming, inspiring, liberating, and nurturing the gifts of others. John Quincy Adams said, “If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more, and become more, you are a leader.” When you give someone responsibility and authority, they not only learn, but they also start to fulfill their leadership responsibilities. That action transforms people and organizations.
When established leaders focus on People Development and empower others to lead, everybody wins. The first benefit comes to the people being led. When new leaders are developed, they become better at what they do and they help everyone who works with them to do the same. When these new leaders start building relationships with their people on Level 2, they treat them better and the working environment improves. When they master Level 3, they become more productive.
The second benefit comes to the organization. With the addition of more good leaders, the organization’s current efforts improve. Every developed leader adds more horsepower to the organization. And expanding the leadership of the organization also gives it the ability to expand its territory and take on new initiatives.
The final benefit comes to the leaders who are doing the developing, because new leaders help to share the load. All leaders feel a weight of responsibility for leading. They understand that leaders are expected to produce no matter what. They feel a responsibility to the organization and their leaders to fulfill the vision. If there are stockholders, they feel responsible to them for making a profit. They feel responsible to the people they lead. They want to help them succeed. And they know that people’s jobs are ultimately on the line.
One of the principles I teach is that everything rises and falls on leadership. Most people apply that concept to productivity. But it also applies to responsibility. When I owned three companies, I felt the weight of my leadership responsibilities every day. I was responsible for the direction the companies were heading, the values that we were establishing, and the bottom-line success of the organizations. Every leader who has a lot of responsibility in an organization feels that weight. (Anyone who doesn’t feel it needs to examine their motives, because they may be taking their responsibility too lightly.)
As you develop people and they begin to share the load of leadership, it’s important for you to give them the right expectations. Let them know that you’re responsible to them, but not for them. By that I mean you will take responsibility for providing training, supplying tools, offering opportunities, and creating an environment conducive for their development. They must take responsibility for their growth through their choices, attitude, and commitment. If they don’t, you will pay for their failure along with them, but that is a risk worth taking because the upside advantages if they succeed are so great. And when it does work and people seize the opportunity to grow and lead, it’s fantastic.
Philanthropist Melinda Gates understood this dynamic at an incredibly early age. In her valedictory address at Ursuline Academy in 1982, she said, “If you are successful, it is because somewhere, sometime, someone gave you a life or an idea that started you off in the right direction.” That is true for all of us. No leader is self-made. Everyone was given a start by somebody else. That is a gift. Our gift back is to take responsibility and do our best to lead others with effectiveness and integrity.
“If you are successful, it is because somewhere, sometime, someone gave you a life or an idea that started you off in the right direction.”
—Melinda Gates
Farzin Madjidi, professor of leadership at Pepperdine University, asserts, “We need leaders who empower people and create other leaders. It’s no longer good enough for a manager to make sure that everybody has something to do and is producing. Today, all employees must ‘buy in’ and take ownership of everything they’re doing. To foster this, it’s important that employees should make decisions that most directly affect them. That’s how the best decisions are made. That’s the essence of empowerment.” What he’s describing is Level 4 leadership—leadership that empowers others to share the load. In healthy organizations led by Level 4 leaders, rewards are given for empowering others, not for climbing over them.
If you want to improve an organization, improve its leaders. If you want to grow an organization, grow its leaders. When you increase the number of leaders you have and you make the leaders you have better, the potential of the organization increases greatly.
Many leaders don’t want to share responsibility with others because they don’t want to lose any of their power. But when you share leadership with others, it doesn’t actually take away from you. Instead, it actually gives you something you can get only by developing others: it gives you back time. As you develop people and empower them to lead, their territories expand and so does yours. But you are also freed up to do more important things, the most important of which are often thinking, envisioning, and strategizing.
Leaders always need more quality thinking time. Yet because most leaders have a bias toward action, they often don’t have it. As you develop other leaders and empower them to lead, they take on work that used to be yours, and you can use that time to take your team or organization to the next level. Everyone benefits.
It’s often difficult to hand over responsibility for a task to others, especially if you believe they won’t do as good a job as you will. But that’s no excuse. You cannot become an effective Level 4 leader unless you are willing to let go of some of your responsibilities. So what’s a good rule of thumb for transferring ownership of a leadership responsibility to someone else? I use the 80 percent rule. If someone on my team can do one of my tasks 80 percent as well as I do (or better), then I give him or her responsibility for it. If you want to be an effective leader, you must move from perfectionist to pragmatist.
If you want to be an effective leader, you must move from perfectionist to pragmatist.
In his book Man, The Manipulator, Everett Shostrom quotes a teacher who learned the secret to reaching people and changing their lives:
I had a great feeling of relief when I began to understand that a youngster needs more than just subject matter. I know mathematics well, and I teach it well. I used to think that was all I needed to do. Now I teach children, not math. I accept the fact that I can only succeed partially with some of them. When I don’t have to know all the answers, I seem to have more answers than when I tried to be the expert. The youngster who really made me understand this was Eddie. I asked him one day why he thought he was doing so much better than last year. He gave meaning to my whole new orientation. “It’s because I like myself now when I’m with you,” he said.4
The greatest satisfaction in life comes from giving to others. We are most fulfilled when we forget ourselves and focus on others. And what’s really wonderful is that when we add the giving that comes from developing people on Level 4 to the solid relationships we’ve developed on Level 2, the closeness and warmth that result can provide the richest experiences of our lives. We are often closest to people when we help them grow.
My best friends are the people who have brought out the best in me, and the people I’ve tried to help be their best. Our growth journey has been filled with laughter and tears, wins and losses, hopes and hurts, questions and answers. I treasure the notes I’ve received from people who generously share the credit for their growth and success with me.
“Victory is much more meaningful when it comes not just from one person, but from the joint achievements of many. The euphoria is lasting when all participants lead with their hearts, winning not just for themselves but for one another.”
—Howard Schultz
Howard Schultz, founder of Starbucks, said, “Victory is much more meaningful when it comes not just from one person, but from the joint achievements of many. The euphoria is lasting when all participants lead with their hearts, winning not just for themselves but for one another.” That is a good description of how I feel about the people closest to me in life: my family and my inner circle. Just last night I enjoyed dinner with a group of them—all of whom I have developed in some way. We laughed, shared pictures, told stories, and traded ideas. The evening went way too fast.
Mark and Stephanie Cole were there. I assisted in their ceremony the day they got married. Now, years later, Mark has become my go-to guy and confidant. Many a project that needs a good leader’s attention I give to him. Stephanie freely allows him to travel with me whenever I need him. What a gift. What would I do without them?
David and Lori Hoyt were there. David handles all my speaking engagements with great care and professionalism, representing me so well to so many people. Lori expresses her love and support for me every time I am with her.
Charlie and Stephanie Wetzel were there. Charlie has helped me write for over seventeen years. With over 20 million books sold, I acknowledge that he has become the greatest influencer of others in my inner circle. Stephanie is Ms. Social Media. She manages my blog as well as my Twitter and Facebook accounts. Some in the publishing industry credit her with much of the recent success of my books.
And finally, Patrick and Linda Eggers were there. Patrick used to be a member of my board. He has been a good friend for over thirty years. He’s big enough to be my bodyguard and smart enough that he once worked as an honest-to-goodness rocket scientist. Linda has been my assistant for fifteen years. She has been a great friend to my wife, Margaret, and me. Linda knows what I’m thinking before I think it, and she handles everything for us.
As I looked around the table last night, I thought three things: First, these people that I have helped to develop have really grown me. In the beginning I helped them more than they helped me. Today, they help me more than I help them. There is a huge return in developing people!
Second, these are true friends. Our best times are when we are with each other. In 2010, we all went to Israel together and had a blast. The journey of life was not meant to be traveled alone. I’m grateful I get to travel much of it with them.
Third, my greatest fulfillment has come not from the books I have written, the companies I have started, or the recognition I have received. My greatest fulfillment comes from the people I love, and especially from the people whom I have helped to develop.
“The purpose of life is not to win. The purpose of life is to grow and to share. When you come to look back on all that you have done in life, you will get more satisfaction from the pleasures you have brought into other people’s lives than you will from the times that you outdid and defeated them.”
—Harold Kushner
Rabbi Harold Kushner asserted, “The purpose of life is not to win. The purpose of life is to grow and to share. When you come to look back on all that you have done in life, you will get more satisfaction from the pleasures you have brought into other people’s lives than you will from the times that you outdid and defeated them.” That is great wisdom. Helping others grow and develop brings great joy, satisfaction, and energy to a leader. If you can achieve Level 4 as a leader, you will create a sense of community where victories are celebrated, gratitude is evident, and loyalty is shared. Level 4 is the sweetest of all levels a leader can achieve.