WHEN you walk into leadership, the next thing you should be thinking about is: How will I exit as a leader?
The question digs into the impact you live behind, the people you hand the button to.
When you step into leadership, you need to look for an exit strategy.
The reason being; you are always going to leave that position.
So in this article, I’m going to articulate a number of issues.
These include, but are not limited to:
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You need to discover your leadership.
You need to discover the leadership that is in others.
You need to develop your leadership.
You need to develop the leadership in other people.
You need to delegate your leadership.
Finally, you need to delegate other people into leadership.
Discover yourself
You need to discover that you are a leader in your area of expertise.
I love a guy called Zig Ziglar, who said: “Man was designed for accomplishment, engineered for success, and endowed with seeds of greatness.”
The first place where you need to start is understanding who you are, why you’re here on earth.
Defines or delineates your purpose as a leader.
Discover your turf
Discover the area of expertise in which you can easily flourish without struggling.
If you can discover that area, you can lead.
When you are in your zone, you get true fulfilment and it’s easy to work and inspire others.
Discover the leadership in other people.
People are talented. People have multiple skills.
People have knowledge that you do not have.
People have wisdom that you need to lean into.
They might be older. They might less intelligent. They might look irrelevant.
But the most important fact is; you need to discover the leadership in others.
Develop yourself
When you have discovered the leadership in others, you need to develop yourself.
A leader reads every day.
A leader has to be constantly feeding their mind with things that are going to change and shift their thinking. We are in an age of AI.
You cannot be thinking the way people did in 1974.
Things have changed, and how we deal with life needs you to think.
Think critically, think creatively, and think futuristically.
So you need to be constantly feeding your brain, your mind, your knowledge space with information that’s going to elevate you to a higher level.
Develop other leaders
You need to develop other leaders. Jesus was so clear. He had to pick the 12 disciples.
And what was he doing? He was discipling them, teaching them, empowering them, and giving them opportunities to explore their capabilities.
He had to send them. He said, “Go and preach. Go and do this.”
He had to send them. But he discovered them from their different perspectives.
We realise that some were fishers of men.
So you need to discover and develop other leaders. Give them the tools. Buy them the books.
Give them relevant information. Speak to them. Train them. Expose them to relevant resources.
Deploy
Now, when you have done that, you need to deploy the leadership.
The worst thing you can do as a leader is never give responsibility or an opportunity to the one you think you are leading; the power to lead as well.
So the most important thing you need to do right now is give them an opportunity. Give them a day. Give them the week. Give them the month.
Let them lead the company while you’re not there.
Give them the power, the resources. Give them access. Don’t limit them.
They’re not going to take away your job.
They are there to lead.
Give them all the power, the expertise and the opportunities.
Parting point: That is the power of being a leader.
It’s not only for the leader to be travelling abroad and clinging to these opportunities while the subordinates or the followers and other leaders are not learning at all.
Give them the opportunity to go abroad and learn from other leaders. Expose others.