Have you ever thought, “I wish I knew then, what I know now?” As I reflect on my early leadership style, I was an agenda driven leader.

Lead Down

My focus was on getting the job done and it did not matter how hard I had to drive my soldiers to complete the task.

I thought that was effective leadership, however I learned my soldiers would do what I asked but nothing more. They did not buy into my style because I did not invite them into the process. To inspire and motivate my soldiers, I had to trust and invest in them.

This post is the sixth in a series about leadership based on John Maxwell’s book The 360 Leader: Developing Your Influence from Anywhere in the Organization. In this post, we will discuss the principles 360° Leaders Practice to Lead-Down.

While the heart and soul of leadership is people, Maxwell (2005) contends most leaders are agenda driven, task focused and action oriented who spend very little time with people. As a result, most leaders are really on a walk because nobody is following them.

[callout]Mid-level leaders need to be visible and accessible in order to be effective.[/callout]

The perceptions of the leader will determine how much influence the 360° Leaders will have. Maxwell believes there are seven principles, when practiced, which make leaders more effective. They are:

#1: Walk Slowly Through the Halls
#2: See Everyone as a “10”
#3: Develop Each Team Member as a Person
#4: Place People in Their Strength Zones
#5: Model the Behavior You Desire
#6: Transfer the Vision
#7: Reward for Results

Maxwell challenges the leader to see everyone as “10” because people will rise to the leader’s level of expectation. Every person has unique gifts and talents; however, most leaders only scratch the surface of their subordinates’ talents.

[shareable cite=”Kim D. Moore”]The development of individuals is a long-term process which begins with modeling the desired behavior, because the behavior of the leader determines the culture.”[/shareable]

Maxwell believes many leaders equip their people instead of developing their people. He states “when you equip people, you teach them how to do a job. When you develop them, you are helping them to improve as individuals.”

My next post will examine the Value of 360 Degree Leaders. Until then, give some thought to how you can show authentic care to those you lead.

Your friend,
Kim


 

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Dr. Kim Moore

About the author

I'm Kim, your Educational Leadership Guide. I equip educational leaders with research-based and experientially learned educational leadership principles and best practices to promote student success.


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