Leaders: Be a Catalyst, Not a Manager

Leaders, whether they be in a for-profit business or a non-profit or other community group, are there to serve and uplift others.

The performance of those they lead is the measure of a leader's success.

There is a common perception that business leaders need to be bold individuals known for their larger-than-life personalities and extravagant headline-winning accomplishments. This makes them noteworthy, for sure, but does it make them effective?

Which is more important, the results of a team that changes the world, led by an individual who's practically anonymous, or flamboyant words and headlines from a leader everyone has heard of but the results of their actions and decisions don't move the world's needle in any substantive way?

There may be a bit of enigmatic chicken-and-egg situation going on with today's business leaders. "Bold" and "leadership" seem to go hand-in-hand to the point that many assume you can't have one without the other.

"Lead from the front" is a mantra that many consider a maxim as reliable as gravity.

There is something within these attitudes about leadership that may be outside the point: They share a fundamental similarity that speaks more to the journey than the destination.

Let's be clear about a leadership fundamental that, like gravity, cannot be ignored: leadership is about the end result. If you're not accomplishing anything, if your efforts don't produce the desired result, can it be said that you're leading at all?

If you're doing but not achieving, you're not leading, you're managing.

What about driving from the front and being bold and executing your mission and vision and all that platitudinal hot air? Is that worth something?

A leader can certainly achieve results by leading from the front. They must have a clear mission and vision or else all their powerful effort will be nothing but motion and little or no direction. Leadership inherently has execution as a key component of its effort, otherwise it's all direction and no motion.

But what makes a leader most effective at reaching their destination? What empowers an individual to accomplish their goals in the most effective and efficient way possible?

No Egyptian pharaoh has ever built a pyramid by themselves. In fact, it's unlikely they ever actually touched the stones that went into their great structures until they were already dead.

(And before you go there, archaeological evidence shows the pyramids of Egypt were not built by Hebrew slaves but most likely by paid workers.¹)

Football quarterbacks are often team leaders both on and off the field, but without a team of specialist players around them all focused on their position, would they ever score a touchdown?

There are leaders of all stripes, but the ones who are most effective at getting things done and getting them done in the best way possible are those who build teams of individuals who are the best at their particular role, they work together efficiently, and all are empowered with the tools and communication they need to be as effective as possible.

The best leaders focus on empowering their team instead of their own egos.

Leaders are most effective when they are a catalyst for the success of others. They are the oxygen that enables their teams to burn brighter. As soon as a leader feels the need to manage others, they've already headed down the wrong road.

NOTES:

[1] Source: LiveScience

Special thanks to HR leader and eRep contributor Steve Browne for the inspirational quote, "Leaders, be a catalyst, not a manager."