March 04, 2020
Leadership
Level 1 – Position
Book take aways
Position is the lowest level of leadership. It’s associated with reliance on job title and hierarchy to motivate your team and is the least effective of the five levels.
Positives
Typically you are promoted into leadership because of a recognized potential. Leadership at the position level is an opportunity to grow and run great teams. What you do with your potential is up to you.
Negatives
Title alone doesn’t define a leader. Actions define leaders.
Invoking your title hurts your leadership ability. Sometimes the title becomes more important than people on the team, your own work, or any effort to develop the team.
Teams run by Level 1 leaders can have poor morale. Politics disrupt work when leaders vie for loftier titles, bigger budgets, or the larger teams for the sake of maintaining power.
Half of the harm that is done in this world is due to people who want to feel important… They don’t mean to do harm… They are absorbed in the endless struggle to think well of themselves.
– T.S. Eliot
Growth from here
Clearly define your leadership style. What are your values? What changes would you like to make? What does it look like to be successful on your team?
Avoid using your title. Build shared goals to focus on what you can achieve together for the organization rather than how you can be noticed for your next promotion.
Find a leadership coach. If this proves difficult, there are groups like Rands Leadership Slack where you can learn from many great industry leaders.
Next
I’m Matt ⚡, making encoro for 360° feedback. Want to help your team hear how they’re progressing? Give it a try for free.