Position and Title don't make a Leader

My thoughts are riddled today with leaders and leadership; power and power trips. With what is beneath decisions and actions that seen cold hearted, malicious and 'personal'.

What lies beneath it all? The individual in their full majesty. Along with all the filters from their past experiences, sometimes clouded with preconceived notions of others, judgments and assumptions about that other individual or collective.

Through this project a good proportion of the leaders I have been speaking with have said how important it is to engage with your team in an equitable way (this does not mean equal). This is about seeing each person as an individual, finding out about them and working with them how it works for them.

What is important to an individual isn't always the same for the whole collective.

What makes one person's needs, goals and objectives matter more than another? Perhaps a lack of respect, empathy, understanding and compassion? Perhaps ego or fear of losing control? May it's the need to keep up pretences and appear to be running a tight ship? Forgetting that the individual people are what makes the ship run, maintaining it, making repairs and keeping it moving forward.

If you take the focus off the people your ship will eventually sink. Especially when the sense of personal power turns to a power trip and the 'captain' begins to dictate and micromanage others lives and styles of getting the job done. When it begins to become important to make an employee a carbon copy of yourself or of what you think they should be, instead off harnessing their individuality, strengths and ideas.

Remembering that any collective, business or organization is only that because of the individual people who do the work.

Diversity... embracing and recognizing it in the individuals of the collective. Working towards a creative workplace, where ideas, thoughts and different viewpoints are celebrated and valued.

Having a position and title indeed does not make a leader. There is so much more to it than that.

Life is good... and there is always more.