Different levels of Leadership

DIFFERENT LEVELS OF LEADERSHIP

Different levels of Leadership

 

While organizations previously enlarged their market position gradually over time, most of them now operate in context to the quality of leadership in the organization. The more is the quality of leadership in the organization, the better and sustainable it will become. The modern day businesses are much more dependent on the position of leadership rather than individual position and skills. The reason behind that is simply because a leader is like a lighthouse which guides their organization depends upon the character of people in leadership in that organization. There are different levels of leadership where a leader operates the organization and lead people based on the level of influence they have on them.

These levels of influence separates leaders who just have authority from leaders who provide and nurture the people with information, bringing them a revelation about their life and leading them to a transformation. The purpose for the people they lead and different leaders do it differently and therefore, they are distinguished on the basis of influence.

John C. Maxwell is an American author and a motivational speaker who wrote a book named “The Five levels of Leadership” in which he explains about the various types of leaders based on the impact they manifest on the people.

 

Positional Leadership

Different levels of Leadership

 

“The only real training for leadership is Leadership.”-Anthony Jay

 

 Leaders with a position have a very narrow influence on the people they lead. They have an impact on a very small scale over the lives of people. Their leadership is confined just to their position or authority over people.

Most of the leaders in the contemporary world exercise positional type of leadership. They may be captain or head of their football team, their university, their business organization or even their home. Leaders in this leadership position must recognize the limitations of their position or authority. Because of the same reason that they do not necessarily have a huge impact on their organization and individuals.

Different levels of Leadership

However, whenever a person is given a position, they have the opportunity to grow themselves a leader and reach to higher levels of leadership. It’s important for leaders to continually dedicate themselves to develop their leadership skills in order to become a better leader.

Service Leadership

 

Different levels of Leadership

“Leadership is not an affair of the head. Leadership is an affair of the heart.”-James Kouzes & Barry Posner

 

The next level of leadership after positional leadership is leadership by providing help or service to others. People may have to obey you without their will, when you are a positional leader for many things like their pay or to keep their job and therefore, they ‘have to ‘ follow you although they may not “want to’.

But leaders who focus more on understanding the needs of the people and making healthy relationships with them fall under this category. As a result of which, people willingly do what the leader needs to get done and always try to contribute their best to the organization. People prefer to work with such kind of leaders who understand them and help them rather than leaders who get things done merely by giving orders.

This level of leadership focuses primarily on the value of each person. All great leaders  value people. They know that every individual is unique and has some unique qualities which they can contribute to the organization. Therefore, they treat people with care keeping in mind with their importance. Everybody in this world wants to be treated with respect and care whether they accept this or not. And Great leaders understand this very basic and natural human psychology and consequently, they form good relationships with people.

Leaders need to understand the importance of serving, otherwise if they are too hard on people to achieve something, there are some people in their organization only who wants to see them fail.

 

Exemplary Leadership

Different levels of Leadership

 

“Authority: The skill of getting people to willingly do your will, because of your personal influence.”-James C. Hunter

 

Leaders who get the most out of people are usually the ones who lead by example. Great leaders are themselves committed to their work. You can give all the motivational speeches you want, but if you yourself don’t show a good work ethic and don’t apply what you say, there’s no way that people will do the things you say. It’s important for a leader not just to brag things on people don’t do the things that they want their people in the company to do and make a bad example.

This level of leadership is commonly found in military leaders but rarely found in business leaders. That is the reason behind an organization’s failure. The job of a leaders is to lead and you cannot lead from behind. To lead, you must set the right kind of example that you want your people to follow. Leading by example not only brings productivity but also creates a clear vision for the organization. It sets a standard for the people to follow. You cannot just keep people intact with principles and ethics until you follow them yourself.

You do not lead with your words. You lead with your actions and your life. The kind of life you live sets the standard for the people to follow and maintain. Therefore, it is the responsibility of the leader to make sure that they live by the standards that they wish to inculcate in their followers.

 

Developmental Leadership

Different levels of Leadership

 

“Your rewards in life will be in direct proportion to the value of your service to others.”- Brian Tracy

 

Effective leaders understand the importance of always developing. They understand that if they want to keep getting better at what they do, they need to commit themselves and their team to a learning attitude. And therefore, Great leaders are life-long learners and never stop learning till the time they die.

Steve Jobs was once shown a prototype of the iPad and looking at it, he complained that it was too big. When the engineers told him they couldn’t make it any smaller, Jobs took it over to an aquarium and dropped it into the water. ‘These are air bubbles’, he said. ‘That means there’s space in there. Make it smaller.’

This reminds us of the opportunity that we have at our work. Even though we do great work as a leader, there is always an opportunity for improvement. Great leaders never stop learning! They do not only commit to develop themselves but also others to become a better version of themselves. They are People Developers. And this is how they influence people with such immense intensity because of the connection they develop with others and inspire them to achieve great things. They know that when individuals develop themselves, they develop the organization automatically without any effort. And that is why, they work more on people rather than on organizations.

It not only provides a chance to fulfill others goals and desires but also gives a sense of satisfaction or fulfillment when they develop others. It takes a mature leader to see their progress in their followers success.

 

Natural Leadership

 

Different levels of Leadership

“A True natural servant automatically responds to any problem by listening first.”- Robert Greenleaf

 

 This level of leadership is the highest level of leadership. When a leader reaches this position of leadership, people follow them without thinking of their personal interests because they are influenced by the passion and inspiration of the leader. Leaders at this level do not demand ‘RESPECT’ from the people instead they receive it without even asking for it.

Leaders at this level have so much inculcated the qualities of good leadership that it becomes a part of their DNA. Whenever we talk about a long-lasting organization, we are not just discussing about the leaders that served but also the legacy that they left. Great leaders leave an impact on the people that people are not able to forget then even after they die. Great leaders live even after their death because of the influence they had on people.

Leaders at this level are so much matured in exercising their leadership over a long period of time that they do not even have to think about what to do in a particular leadership dilemma. They know how to handle the situation because of their prior experience. Leaders at this level are shaped by the tough and turbulent times that they face in their life or leadership position.

As a leader, it is your responsibility to determine at which level you are and how you can improve yourself to reach at the top. Remain humble and guide your way to the character based leadership.

 

 

REFERENCES:

 

1.      John C. Maxwell, The five different levels of leadership, pub. 2011

2.      Anthony Jay, 100 greatest leadership principles of all times, pg-05, pub.2007

3.      James Kouzes & Barry Posner, The Leadership Challenge, pg-06, pub.2012

4.      James C. Hunter, The Servant, pg-50, pub.1998

5.      Brian Tracy, 100 Absolutely Unbreakable laws of Business Success, pg-48, pub.2000