Leadership Unlocked: Secrets of the 5 Levels of Influence
#LeadandLift | Episode 94 | Chabidaye Jaglal Ramnath
There are a lot of ways that people define leadership. My favorite is how the world’s number one leadership coach, John C. Maxwell, defines it. He defines leadership is influence; nothing more, and nothing less.
No matter what position you have in your career or where you are in life, you are undoubtedly influencing somebody. Therefore, leadership is a relevant topic for you, and improving your leadership skills is essential.
The first step
A lot of people don’t want to improve their leadership skills because of the assumptions that they hold. People believe that leaders are born but that is very far from the truth. Leadership is a skill that anybody can learn and develop. It is a skill that people can practice and someday master.
Some people don’t develop as leaders because they are waiting for themselves to get placed into a leadership role. Let’s go back to John’s definition of leadership. Leadership is influence, therefore having a title doesn’t make you a leader.
You are already influencing people around you, and sometimes, you influence them the wrong way. That’s why leadership training is important - because we need to learn how we can influence people the right way.
“The first step in developing your leadership abilities is recognizing you are a leader and working on personal development so that you can lead yourself first." Chabidaye Jaglal Ramnath
Now that you know what leadership means, acknowledge that you are a leader, and commit to personal development and training of your leadership skills. Lead yourself well so that you can also lead others.
Show people that you are accountable to your commitments and that you are dedicated to walking your talk, and they will be inspired to do the same.
Lifting others up
Being a leader doesn’t only mean managing people so that they can get the team’s goals done efficiently and effectively. It also means that you are responsible for the growth and development of the people that you lead. Since leadership is influence, this includes your family and your children. You influence everybody that you come into contact with.
The goal is to help them become the best that they can be and for them to reach their potential. You can help them grow by sharing the things that you’ve learned along the way to your own personal growth or by showing how they can apply what you learned in their situation.
When you help people learn to become better, they will see you as that difference maker and they will want to be around you all the time.
Leadership without relationship
According to John C. Maxwell, there are five levels of leadership. The lowest level is called position.
That is where you get tapped on the shoulder, you get a job where you have direct reports, and you have a title that comes with it.
At this level, you are in charge of people’s performance reviews, so they will tend to follow you to some degree whether they like you or not. Some may rebel, but most will follow you because they have to. They will follow you to the extent of what’s written on their employee obligation, and that’s it. This is not the kind of leader you want to be.
You’re going to want to move out of this level as quickly as you can by building and developing relationships with the team around you. Without relationships, you will only get compliance and not cooperation.
Building relationships with people
The second level of leadership is permission. This is the level where people want to follow you not just because you have their direct reports, but because you’ve built a great relationship with them.
If you’re in a corporate environment, a lot of times when you have projects or goals you’re working toward, your team alone can’t deliver that. It will require the collaboration of other teams or other departments that don’t have a direct line of reporting to you. The only way you can get them to work with you is by developing a relationship with them so that you can move your project forward.
“You care about them, you take the time to ask them how they're doing what's going on with them, how you can help them. That's how you build relationships and that's how you start finding true influence because those people don't report to you. But they still want to help you on your mission. Because they understand what it is. And they like you and you care about them.” Chabidaye Jaglal Ramnath
People gravitate towards winners
The third level of leadership is production and according to John Maxwell, this is where you start producing results. By developing your relationship with your team and with people from other departments as well, you get the support that you need. Once you get that support, you’ll be able to set a goal and deliver on it.
People will see your success and they will want to be in your team. They would want to support you, and help you and therefore succeed with you. People will start gravitating towards you because of the results you’ve achieved. Your higher-ups will also see this and they will want to give you more stuff knowing that you’ll be able to get it done.
In teams, you’ll start to get high-performing team members, and therefore productivity increases. Loyalty increases as well because they know how capable you are of achieving success when you work together.
Developing the people in your team
Level four is people development. According to John Maxwell, you're a level four leader when you are in the stage where you are developing the people in your team. At this level, you’ll be reproducing other high-performing leaders who will also lead high-performing teams.
People will follow you because you’ve grown them in their skills. They’ve become better people, and also better leaders, because they followed you. These people will always come back to you and will always help and support you because they will always remember you as the leader who took the time to help them develop and grow.
I love this quote that I read from John Maxwell, and it says “Leaders become great not because of their power, but because of their ability to empower others.”
Anyone in a leadership role has the power to do either of these two things: they can either put down a team member or they can lift team members up. What kind of leader do you want to be?
Be a leader that sees people’s strengths, lifts them up, and helps them grow into their potential. Your success as a leader is directly tied to how good you are at empowering people to become better.
The pinnacle of leadership
The fifth level is the highest level of leadership and it’s something that might take your entire life to reach. This is the pinnacle, where you’re respected as a leader. An example of a level five leader is John Maxwell himself. He is at the pinnacle, he has spent his entire life devoted to leadership and in growing leaders throughout the world.
The fifth level is when people follow you for who you are and what you represent.
Now why is it important for you to know these five levels of leadership? It’s because people are your most valuable asset. We have big goals, dreams, and visions, and a grand goal can’t be achieved by one person alone.
If you’re a leader, ask yourself which level you are at and ask yourself how you can move to the next level. There’s always another level. Focus on your growth, develop your relationship with your team, and strive for the next level.
Gift For YOU!
Do you feel you’re being as productive, influential and successful as you want to?
Are you struggling to stay focused, to get ahead, or to better influence your team or customers?
Have you reached a plateau in your progress and struggled to breakthrough to the next level of joy, power and achievement? I can help!
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Author
Chabidaye Jaglal Ramnath
Coach
Hi! I'm Chabidaye Jaglal Ramnath, your Certified High Performance Coach. You know when high achieving moms in leadership desire more joy, fulfillment and confidence in their personal life and business? I deliver that through high performance coaching. I am so happy that our paths have crossed!
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