May 6th 2011 was the date for the annual Chic-fil-a Leadercast. The theme of the conference was, “Voices of Change.” For under $80, I am convinced that this is one of the best professional-development values on the planet.
The event was broadcast via Internet from the main stage in Atlanta to locations in 27 states for some 85,000 participants like me. The main stage presentations were punctuated by local speakers, local musical performers, and free food provided by Chic-fil-a.
The first speaker, a Leadercast regular, was John C. Maxwell. Maxwell’s title: Leadership is Influence.
In summary, Maxwell’s five stages of leadership are:
- Position. This is the most basic stage of leadership. People must follow us because we have the power. With positional leadership, our people give us the minimum they can get away with.
- Permission. This is the next step up from Position. People follow us because they want to. We have made connections with people and developed relationships that are the foundations of the rest of the stages. It’s listening, observing, and learning.
- Production. This is where we build momentum into our team. Maxwell said, “Managers look for solutions. Leaders build momentum.” It’s really all about enabling the team to act on its own. It’s about leading by example and never sending someone to do what you haven’t done yourself. A team with momentum will solve 80% of the problems all by itself without “help” from us.
- People. At this stage, it’s all about talent. Recruit the right people, put them in the right seats, and give them what they need to succeed. We grow an organization by growing the people.
- Pinnacle. Building through the previous 4 steps, the Pinnacle describes the leader who “has arrived.” We become the recognized expert and our influence goes beyond that of a single organization. Very few leaders achieve this stage, but those that do have wide-ranging influence.
Note that we can potentially be at a different stage with every individual in our lives. People will react differently to us based on which stage we are with them. For example, a call to work an extra Saturday is going to be perceived differently by someone who looks at us as a stage 1 leader verses someone who looks at us as a stage 3 leader.
The key is to analyze where we are with each person in our lives and then to work on the things required to get to the next stage with each individual we lead.
