Leading from Behind
There are certain values that I hold in high regards as it pertains to living my life in service of others, which is what I consider leadership to be based solely on. These values, such as respect, honor and selflessness, are at the core of what I imagine a leader should base their decisions on and build their relationships from. After multiple tests and leadership style identification workshops my leadership style has been evenly split between many styles, generally scoring slightly higher in a more spirited or relationship type of leadership style. With that being said, I do not have a concrete leadership philosophy that fits every situation. Instead, I tailor my leadership styles per situation based on the people I am working with and what I needed to get accomplished. My values however never change.
As a leader, the contributions that I want to make to my followers is to be able to inspire them to find fulfilment in the act of serving others. Knowing that they have the capacity to influence social change by providing their unique skills and talents to people or situations that need them fills me with happiness. That feeling of contentment with others success is what I want to share with them through their personal experiences of serving others.
In terms of my personal influence amongst a group of individuals I have considered it to be one of personal growth and confidence. This is how I choose to look at what I have to offer those who follow me. I am very well familiar with being a follower and with this experience there were a couple of things I expected would happen between my leader and myself. One of these things is that I would gain knowledge and experience that would help me be more confident in myself and my abilities. The other is that we would each come to know one another on a personal level and grow from each other’s differences. As a leader these are some expectations I want to fulfill for my followers as we interact through different experiences.
Furthermore, these qualities of leader/follower relationship help me delegate tasks within a group of people who I have come to know. After I have connected with each person and learned their strengths and weaknesses I am able to effectively assign tasks for them to accomplish that will complete the assignment efficiently. Then further down the road, when they have gained confidence, they can be given tasks that challenge their skills and abilities in new and intriguing ways.
As I referred to earlier in this paper, I have had extensive experience being a follower which has helped me become an effective leader. It is one of my firm beliefs that you must first be an effective follower before you can be an effective leader. Then, once you become a leader you can continue to expand this capacity by being a follower for something else. As it has traditionally been done, the group decides who leads. Historically, this has been proven to be the most effective and long lasting in the leader follower relationship and so it has consistently been orientated in this manner. Similarly, the dynamics associated with such defined positions evolves as the group interacts, which could lead to the strengthening of the relationship or, if you’re not careful, the deterioration of it.
When I think of the type of relationship I want to have with my followers I first think about what my strengths and weakness are. Coincidently enough, one of my greatest faults is my willingness and devotion to giving myself entirely to a person or cause that I believe in. It may seem like a strength, which it is, but it has also been my greatest downfall. In my willingness to give my sweat, blood and tears, I realize that I lose parts of myself in the service of others. I lose sight of my own ambitions and needs, causing me to wear myself thin in sight of the needs of other people. That is why I have come to realize that there is only so much I can do for people before all that is left for me to do is support them and their decisions. But that will never stop me from giving anyone my time, energy and effort, whenever necessary, as long as it is within my personal value set. But as I told my best friend once, you must only give eighty percent of yourself one hundred percent of the time, so that at the end of the day there is something left for you to fall back on if what you’ve been working so hard at for so long does not work out. The first ten percent is for you. You must never give it away. It must always stay behind, in your heart, for you to have security and comfort in and if needed, start to build yourself from again if you lost yourself along the way. The other ten percent is reserved for the next person who needs you. This is what I try to remind myself and others as we venture into this competitive and unforgiving world.
In summation of these concepts and ideas that I have concentrated based on my own personal leadership philosophy, I realize that there are situations where I a better follower than I am a leader. Through no fault of anyone but myself do I refuse to yield to the stereotypes of my generation that leads me to step down from a situation in order to be able to stay true to my beliefs while also accomplishing the task at hand.
Katie House 