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Core value · Leadership family
Leadership
Setting direction and bringing people with you
Also covers Empowerment
What does leadership mean as a core value?
Leadership as a core value means setting a direction and helping people move towards it willingly, leaving them more capable and less dependent on you than when you started.
You notice the absence of direction almost physically. A meeting drifts, a project stalls, a family holiday has no plan, and something in you wants to step in and give it shape. Being out in front is only part of it. You care whether people come with you willingly, and whether they’re stronger for it. For you, a leader who leaves everyone dependent on them hasn’t really led at all.
What does leadership look like in practice?
- You say out loud where you think the group should go when everyone else is hedging.
- You hand someone a stretch piece of work and resist taking it back when it gets messy.
- You explain the reasoning behind a decision along with the decision itself.
- You take the blame in public for a call that went wrong and share the credit for the ones that went right.
- You end up organising the school fundraiser or the five-a-side team when nobody else steps forward.
When is leadership overplayed?
Overdone, leadership turns into taking charge of everything. You step in before others have had a chance, fill every silence with a plan, and quietly teach the people around you to wait for your lead. It’s exhausting for you and shrinking for them. Sometimes the most useful leadership is following someone else well. One thing you could try is to hold back your view in the next meeting until everyone else has spoken, and notice who steps up.
Often confused with
Leadership vs Authority
Authority is the standing to make the call. Leadership is getting people to want to follow, which you can do with no title at all, or fail to do with a grand one.
Leadership vs Influence
Influence is shaping how people think and act, often one conversation at a time. Leadership adds a direction, and responsibility for where everyone ends up.
Leadership vs Vision
Vision is seeing the future clearly. Leadership is the harder work of getting other people there with you.
Questions to sit with
- Where are you waiting for permission to lead, and whose permission are you actually waiting for?
- If your team had to describe the direction you’re setting in one sentence, what would they say?
- Who have you helped grow into a leader in the last year, and what did you give up to make room for them?
More values in Leadership
Standing, influence and setting direction.
About the author
Matt Rutherford is a Career and Leadership Coach. The Values Finder is the same exercise he uses with his coaching clients. He also writes Stuff that MattRs, a weekly newsletter with practical ideas to help you think clearer and work better.
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