The qualities that make up great leadership have been debated for centuries.
The question of how to best lead others will likely never be answered to anyone’s full satisfaction. That’s because the competing goals leaders must pursue to be effective make leadership exceedingly complex.
Great leaders must motivate team members while holding them accountable for weak performance.
They must build trust while delivering tough messages. They must make difficult decisions that create winners and losers while attempting to forge caring relationships. They must protect the time to get their own work done while coaching others to success. They must create teamwork while celebrating individual performance. The list goes on.
As one expert on the subject puts it: “Leadership is not rocket science. It is much more complex than that.”
Despite this complexity and the many competing goals required to be effective, some leaders have learned to excel. Not only by achieving great results but also by creating great followership.
These are leaders others root for. Becoming such a leader isn’t easy, but one part of the formula is something any leader can act on.
Leaders everyone roots for have one thing in common: They do everything first.
They trust before gaining trust. They respect before asking for respect. They face discomfort before others do.
They engage vulnerably before others find the courage to do so. They acknowledge uncertainty before asking others to grapple with it.
They admit mistakes before asking others to admit theirs. They ask for opinions before sharing their own. They ask for feedback before giving it.
They sacrifice before asking others to sacrifice. They show up physically before others show up.
They go first. They act first. They engage first.
Ironically, leaders who go first prove to people that they actually come first, that their needs and wants are more important to the leader than their own self-interests.
That is the magic.
Going first is an act of generosity that stimulates the human need to reciprocate. That’s why leaders who give trust first usually receive more of it.
People root for leaders who act in their best interest and prove it by leading the way.
Leaders who have learned to go first experience a seismic shift in followership. People stop working for them and start fighting for them. Everyone wants them to win. People stand firmly in their corner. The whole team begins pulling for them. All because they go first.
How many people root for you and your leadership? Ask yourself how often you go first?
A Daily Dispatch from the Front Lines of Leadership.
