The 5 Levels of Leadership: Proven Steps to Maximize Your Potential (13 page)

M
aking the shift from Position to Permission brings a person’s first real step into leadership. Why do I say that? Because leadership is influence, nothing more, nothing less. Leaders who rely on their positions to move people rarely develop influence with them. If their subordinates do what they are asked, it’s usually because they think they
have
to—to receive their pay, keep their jobs, prevent being reprimanded, and so on.

In contrast, when a leader learns to function on the Permission level, everything changes. People do more than merely comply with orders. They actually start to follow. And they do so because they really
want
to. Why? Because the leader begins to influence people with
relationship
, not just position. Building relationships develops a foundation for effectively leading others. It also starts to break down organizational silos as people connect across the lines between their job descriptions or departments. The more barriers come down and relationships deepen, the broader the foundation for leading others becomes. When people feel liked, cared for, included, valued, and trusted, they begin to work together with their leader and each other. And that can change the entire working environment. The old saying is really true: people go along with leaders they get along with.

Relationships are a major key to success, whether you’re trying to sell, coach, teach, lead, or simply navigate the daily tasks of life. In the context of sales, Jeffrey Gitomer, author of
The Sales Bible
and
Jeffrey Gitomer’s Little Red Book of Selling
, uses the analogy of the rock-paper-scissors game to describe the importance of relationships.

That can also be said about leading. Relationships have great power.

Moving up to Level 2 is an important development in leadership because that is where followers give their supervisors
permission
to lead them. People change from being subordinates to followers for the first time, and that means there is movement! Remember, leadership always means that people are going somewhere. They aren’t static. No journey, no leadership.

T
here are many upsides to Level 2 because the focus on relationship building opens up so many new avenues of leadership. Here are my top five:

Positional leaders often focus their efforts on serving themselves or their organization, with too little regard for others. However, leaders who move up to Level 2 shift their focus from
me
to
we
. They like people and treat them like individuals. They develop relationships and win people over with interaction instead of using the power of their position. That shift in attitude creates a positive shift in the working environment. The workplace becomes more friendly. People begin to like each other. Chemistry starts to develop on the team. People no longer possess a “have to” mind-set. Instead it turns to “want to.” The workplace becomes more enjoyable for everyone—leaders and followers alike.

The key to moving up to the Permission level is having the right attitude. Level 2 leaders exemplify the words of J. Donald Walters, who asserted, “Leadership is an opportunity to serve.”

Permissional leaders like people and want to help them. They want to see them succeed. The prevalent attitude is one of serving others and bringing out the best in the people they work with.

I’m sorry to say that in my first professional leadership position, I focused way too much of my attention on myself and my organization. I knew where I wanted to go, and all I cared about in the beginning was getting there. What a mistake. It took me a couple of years to change my attitude and slow down enough to get to know people and find out what they cared about. It made a huge difference in my life and leadership. Now, more than forty years later, I have truly changed. Today my greatest joy comes from working with my team, not doing the work itself. I’ve gone from loving my work and looking for people to help me to loving my people and looking for ways to help them. As a result, the journey has become much more enjoyable.

What happens when you spend time with people you don’t especially like or who don’t like you? Doesn’t it drain you of energy? That kind of environment brings most people down. Even in a neutral environment, if you are with people you don’t know very well, doesn’t it require a lot of energy to get to know them? Connecting with others always takes energy. Conversely, what happens when you spend time with people you know and like? Doesn’t it give you energy? I know it does me. Spending time with the people I love—whether at work, at home, or while playing—is my greatest joy, and it always energizes me.

Good relationships create energy, and they give people’s interaction a positive tone. When you invest time and effort to get to know people and build good relationships, it actually pays off with greater energy once the relationships are built. And in that kind of positive, energetic environment, people are willing to give their best because they know the leader wants the best for them.

On Level 2, top-down positional leadership is replaced with side-by-side relationships. That requires and cultivates good communication. On the Permission level, leaders listen to their people, and their people listen to them.

The interplay of communication between good leaders and their people on Level 2 can be found in a quote by former General Electric CEO Jack Welch. He describes an ideal leader as

Welch also commented, “Above all else, good leaders are open. They go up, down, and around their organizations to reach people. They don’t stick to established channels. They’re informal. They’re straight with people. They make a religion out of being accessible.”
²

I believe most leaders are naturally better at talking than listening. I know that was true for me when I was early in my leadership journey. I was intent on communicating my vision to others and making sure they understood my agenda. I wanted communication to go only one way—from me to them. The result was that few people bought into my leadership or my vision. I failed to realize that the road to vision buy-in was a two-way communication. That meant I had to learn how to listen.

Recently I came across an explanation of the Chinese symbol for the verb “to listen.” I thought it gave tremendous insight into the concept. The word, pronounced “ting,” is made up of smaller symbols with specific meanings:
³

Those symbols represent
you
, indicating that the focus is on the other person, not on yourself; the
ear
, the primary tool used in listening; the
eyes
, which we used to discover nonverbal clues to communication;
undivided attention
, which every person deserves if we intend to listen to all that is said; and the
heart
, which indicates that we are open to the other person on an emotional level, not just an intellectual one. In other words, when I really open up the channels of communication on Level 2 and really listen, here is what I must give others:

Only when we do these things are we able to build positive relationships and persuade people to follow us.

When leaders forge relationships on Level 2, they not only create better communication, they also build a community. Sociologist Amitai
Etzioni observed, “When the term
community
is used, the notion that typically comes to mind is a place in which people know and care for one another—the kind of place in which people do not merely ask ‘How are you?’ as a formality, but care about the answer.” Level 2 leadership creates an environment where people begin to work together in a spirit of community and to communicate with one another openly.

Level 2 leadership is relationally driven. That is only possible when people respect and value one another. It is impossible to relate well with those you don’t respect. When respect lessens in a relationship, the relationship diminishes. You can care for people without leading them, but you cannot lead them effectively beyond Level 1 without caring for them.

All great leaders value people. And they lift the value bar in their organizations. One of the greatest leaders in our lifetime is Nelson Mandela. He continually modeled a leadership that placed high value on every person. His strength and humility are legendary, and he was aware of how important his attitude was to his leadership. He observed, “You see, when there is danger, a good leader takes the front line. But when there is celebration, a good leader stays in the back room. If you want the cooperation of human beings around you, make them feel that they are important. And you do that by being humble.”