It is all about People Development

Leadership is defined differently by people.

Throw the word "Leadership" at a group of people and they will give you back different meanings and experiences. So what exactly is Leadership? And when we train someone in leadership, what are we training him or her for?

I have come to my personal conclusion, Leadership Training is part of People Development.

Instead of training someone in leadership, we should focus on developing the person, helping him to grow in experience, knowledge, character and spiritual. Helping someone to grow and develop, is the key to leadership training.

The Measure of Belief

I came across this quote, "What you believe is what you will achieve."

I was and still am not sure whether that is true or not; especially when we are talking about measurable and attainable goals. Yet, belief in oneself and the things that we do is essential and can be critical if we want to do anything right. Belief gives us that extra boost of energy and a good measure of resilience when things do not go our way.

We may not know for sure what our belief systems can give us in the end.

However, we can be sure that a strong belief system will give us a good start, shelters and strengthens us through our ups and downs.

Command and Control

"Command and Control" has its place in leadership. It is especially needful when it comes to crisis control when the crowd and teams need to follow the leaders at their every command and directive. 

Yet, the world has changed much over the years; people too.  With the advance of technology, people access knowledge and information easily. Different perspectives set in and there are more options to explore now. "Command and Control" may not work as well as like in the past.  

What's in store for young leaders of this generation?

How should they lead then?

Legacy of Leadership

I do not really expect alot of people coming into my blogs and read what I have written on Leadership. In my mind, these pieces of write-ups, accumulated through the years may be useful to someone who passed by my blogs and read them, even when I am gone from this world.

Not all the write-ups may be useful to him - maybe one or two.

That would be enough reason for me to keep writing, keep serving and keep going.

That is one thing about trying to leave a legacy - we may not get immediate rewards or results for what we are trying to do. Yet, we should keep going and do what we need to do and someday, someone, somehow will reap what we have diligently sowed through the years.

Take Time to Breathe, Rest and Reflect

Even engines get too warm and break down when overworked, much less a Leader when he gets too busy and no rest.

Leaders have to take time to breathe, get some time-outs from his busy schedules and simply, ......... Rest and Reflect.

It is important if we want to:

a) Stay focused at our original goal(s).

b) Prevent burnout.

Prevent burning out is especially important because, if we are being thrown into that state - it could mean the end of our Leadership. We get too tired and discouraged with things and ceased to be effective leaders.

So, Leaders (young and old, seasoned and new), do take time out To Breathe, Rest and Reflect.

Knowing and Connecting

People follow a Leader by at least one of these two ways :

a) Knowing the Leader - The Leader's track records, values, passion, vision, position etc are known by his followers. Things that can be seen mostly and communicated to the followers by the Leader.

b) and/or Connecting to the Leader - The followers "clicked" with the Leader, felt his passion, agreed with him and follow him wholeheartedly.

So it appears that Leadership can happen in four ways. It happens when :

1) Followers do not know the Leader and is not connected to him (zero Leadership).

2) Followers do know the Leader but is not connnected to him.

3) Followers do not know the Leader but is connected to him.

4) Followers do know the Leader and is connected to him.

And of course, for Leadership to last - ensure your leadership is at the fourth level.

Our followers must know our vision, feel our vision, connect with our vision and personalise our vision to be theirs.

Armchair Leaders

Leadership is about Life, People and Action.

People who sit on armchair and discuss leadership in-depth over a cup of kopi may not necessary be good leaders - or leaders at all.

I may be the writer of a few blogs on leadership - but that does not make me a leader.

Then ... how to know whether are we leaders?

When we direct, do people follow us?

When we speak, do people listen to us?

In short, we are not leaders if there is no one following us - in big or small ways. So, are You a Leader?