LEAD | Love, Encourage, Apply, and Develop those you want to lead

Love those you want to LEAD. What has loved caused you to do in the past? Love causes us to do some crazy stuff. As you think about it, love causes us to do things we would never do. This makes them feel appreciated and significant in your eyes. They begin to see you more as a leader that is looking out for their best interests, instead of a leader trying to get what you want out of them. When you love those you want to lead you will do things for them that you normally not do. You learn to appreciate them, look after their best interests, and hope that they succeed at whatever they do.

Encourage those you want to LEAD. We all have those days when we are not as motivated as usual. Those days when we feel like what we are doing isn't making a difference. A leader knows when and how to encourage others to get the best performance out of them. Zig Ziglar says, "When we encourage others, we are encouraged." It's important to encourage those on your team (when I say team, I am referring to your boss, coworkers, friends, and family). The best ways to encourage those you want to lead is to:

* Express your gratefulness for having them in your life
* Give them an award, such as The Fred Factor Award
* Tell them they did a great job on their last project
* Speak well of other people, because when you speak well of others, they know you will speak well of them
* Remind them that what they have done has made a positive difference in the world

One of the most crucial times that we need to encourage those we lead is after they have failed or done something wrong. It's at these times that we need to encourage. I love what Batman's butler Alfred says, "Why do we fall Mr. Wayne? So we can pick ourselves back up!"

Now go be an Alfred!

Apply what you learn to those you want to LEAD. Living in North America we have access to so much great information. Everyday I'm grateful that a library card is free. Part of what you do as a leader is teaching those you lead to be better at what they do. Part of their success depends on how much of the information they apply to their lives from what you teach them. If you expect them to apply what you teach them, you first have to master the technique of applying what you learn to yourself. You can't expect them to apply what you teach if you don't do it first.

A project that I'm working on right now is accumulating every John C. Maxwell book that's been published. Once I have all of his books I plan on reading one of his books every week until I have completed all of them. This will be total immersion into John's leadership philosophy and principles which I plan on implementing into my very own life as a leader. One of the benefits is that I will be able to display myself as an example of someone who continues to be a life learner, in an effort for my team to apply much of what I teach and coach them on into their own lives.

Develop those you want to LEAD. There are two ways to develop other great leaders around you. One is to make sure that all the focus is not on you. Focus on what is great for your nonprofit and the people doing the work. Don't make a big deal out of what you have done in the past, who you know, or what awards you've won. This goes back to what Jim Collins defines as, Level 5 Leadership. Where the CEO or leader of a company is focused outward on how he can develop future leaders of the company/nonprofit, and not on how he can become famous because from his efforts.

Another way to develop other great leaders around you is to let them fail. Yes, letting them fail is what will rise them up to become great leaders. There is one important point in this style of development, when they do fail you must be ready to encourage them to get up and try it again. Start by allowing those on your team to take on a project. This needs to be a project that "they" want to do, not something that "you" want them to do. As they work on it, don't suggest or try to help them. Let them know that you're there to help if they need you, but you will only help if asked to do so. This can be tough, especially when you see them doing something that is going to increase their chances of screwing up or failing. After a couple of failures they will start to have some success. Before you know it they will have developed into self-sufficient leaders.

Remember that you're only going to be alive for so long. Eventually you will have to pass on the baton to someone else.

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