The Essence of High Level Leadership

Posted by Jim Connolly on 26 August, 2009  Email This Post -  Print This Post

You’ve undoubtedly heard the distinction between management and leadership.  In short, it is said, that managing is about planning and control, while leadership is about influence.  However, while many organizations now clearly emphasize the benefits of leadership (influencing behavior toward achieving organizational goals) as an organizational strategy for driving organizational performance, high level leadership remains elusive for many leaders.

So, what’s the difference between average leadership and high level leadership?  And, how can a leader become a high level leader?

In addition to influencing employees to achieve organizational goals, high level leadership requires that leaders also become actively engaged in developing their employees into peak performers in key areas of responsibility.  “Developing employees?  Check.  I do that, so I’m a high level leader,” is what I hear in response from a lot of leaders. 

However, the evidence doesn’t support the claim that most leaders are high level leaders.  Instead, when I probe further, I hear leaders say things like ”John is a very strong analyst, but his people skills are not as strong.”  Here’s the key - Average leaders assume that what they’re getting today is all they’re ever going to get from an employee.

Now, hear me correctly.  I’m not suggesting that every person can improve in every aspect of their jobs with just more training.  John’s personality many not be wired for him to improve his people skills significantly.  That may be the case, but average leaders just assume that John is doing the best he can do and so they don’t even try to help John improve his people skills.

High level leaders understand that there is a predictable human behavior model for developing peak performance.  The process begins when an employee tries a task for the first time and ends when that same employee is a peak performer who can now train and mentor others on the same task.  High level leaders work to build peak performance in employees in as many areas as possible. 

High level leaders get their hands dirty and help employees develop into peak performers, to the extent that they can, in each key area of responsibility.  If an employee is doing the best they can, but isn’t a peak performer, there are some options.  Maybe another employee could use their area of peak performance to complement for an employee’s average performance in a key area of responsibility.  Or, if an employee is average or below average in several areas of performance, maybe the employee is not really a fit for the position he/she is in and could contribute to the company much more effectively in a different role.

The essence of high level leadership is in developing employees into peak performers.  High level leaders know that as they build more peak performing employees, the performance of the team, the department and the company overall will also improve.

Are you an average leader or a high level leader?