Leading is Influencing
In his book, “Leadership, Promises for Every Day” Maxwell writes: One of the biggest mistakes a coach can make is to believe that he must treat all of his players the same… to believe that everyone must receive the same treatment is not only unrealistic but destructive. Poor or mediocre performance should not be rewarded the same as the outstanding contributions.
I agree with him wholeheartedly. I think it’s fair to all parties.
Tae Abe-Abion, General Manager and Senior Consultant at SpiceWorx Consultancy says that she agrees with Maxwell and adds that, “a great leader can still inspire both (mediocre and high performers) to aspire for excellence or for better.”
“Leading is about influencing. You can influence by imposing authoritative power or by fear but the most powerful influence is by inspiring … connecting to the heart (of your people) and stirring up the motivation and aspiration from within,” says Tae.
I think one of the most important and critical role of any leader is to mold people into becoming the best at what they can be or who they can be. However, each one can take up a different path (or a different level of speed at which to pursue his goal) and any great leader would be able to direct and mold them rightfully — even if these people are not in the same path.
Tae adds that it’s also not about giving up on the poor performer. “Influencing even the poor performers to perform better is what leaders must be able to do.” People know when they fail, and don’t really need someone to tell them that they did so — or that what they did wasn’t the best — and in such time, what inspires them is a simple recognition that is positive, much more like an encouragement, and not another reminder of the fact that they didn’t do well.
Different strokes for different folks — mentions Ruth Billones, Human Resources Director here at Exist. Give people equal opportunities for growth, reward them what they deserve.
What do you think?
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COMMENTS / ONE COMMENT
Jon Hernandez added these pithy words on Sep 03 10 at 3:42 pmThis is very true. Each individual has lived their lives on different circumstances and they tend to react base on those experiences. That means an individual’s reaction to a certain stimuli (either a compliment/recognition or getting into his/her face) is different hence the leaders should treat each individual differently and help them achieve their potential. What makes one individual click might make another be devastated and vice versa.
Nice article here.
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