Coaching for leadership power and influence (2)

“Even if you’re on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there” (Will Rogers).

The task of leadership is generally perceived to be onerous, apparently because of the huge burden and responsibilities that are associated with leadership roles and responsibilities. Most people are quite familiar with the usual major assignments and activities of leaders, whether in an organizational, political, social or spiritual setting. These will usually include planning, organizing, making decisions, initiating and directing processes, implementing ideas, driving changes, motivating teams, developing people etc. The presence or absence of a leader, as well as the actions and/or inactions of leaders may therefore soon become quite obvious due to their “power” and “influence”.

It is for this reason that leadership at any level and in any circumstance or environment must be seen and understood by the leader(s) as a call to higher responsibility. Not only that, leadership must also be embraced by everyone with any kind or form of leadership responsibility as a personal challenge. Among others, leadership is a challenge to increased personal creativity, self awareness and emotional tenacity. And, very importantly, it is one of the several proofs of man’s innate and acquired management ability. Man was made to “influence” his environment, and that is essentially leadership.

The fact that every one of us can be influential in one way or the other, irrespective of our position, calling, achievements and possessions suggests that we all can at one time or the other also exert some form of leadership, if the need arises and the opportunity is provided. Without getting into the debate of whether leaders are born or they are made, the important point to understand is that leadership is the means of influencing other people to think, behave and act in a particular way.

For example, a waiter in a restaurant can effectively ‘lead’ the chief executive of a large corporation, simply by advising on what may be a good or better choice of meals. To illustrate further, I know of a top executive of an organisation in South Africa that will always ask the chef and waiters in his favourite restaurant to advise him on the “specials for the day”. And, quite often he ends up enjoying the meals, which have been suggested to him by the waiters.

While the above illustration may appear a bit simplistic, the fact remains that the top executive made a choice with regard to allowing himself to be influenced by the chef and waiters. And, due to their influence upon his choice of meals, they have indeed led him to make certain decisions. The chef and the waiter may not appear to be leaders over the top executive, but they have manifested some form of leadership through their influence and power – the power of knowledge and possibly conviction. Hence, to be called or known as a leader implies that there is someone to influence.

The truth is that in real leadership, there must be someone who is committed to your leadership. Commitment in this regard suggests love, loyalty, acceptance and responsiveness of the follower(s) through a heart-connection or bond. Usually, this is based on shared vision, values and destinies. And that is the reason why a leader without committed followers is like a person taking a long walk alone. In leadership coaching, leaders are actively supported to avoid taking long walks alone.

To “walk alone” suggests that a person that is supposedly a leader is experiencing some forms of disconnection with his people, such that he will eventually become lonely. Physically, he may be speaking to his people, but in reality he is speaking into the air, because he is not communicating with them, and therefore fails to engage their heartfelt passion and commitment, because he is not ‘speaking to the hearts of the people”. Truly, the people may be near him, but their hearts are very far from him.

The sad part is that in many instances the leader actually knows that there is a disconnect, but quite often hardly has a clue about how to bridge the gap. That is why some leaders are often said to be very lonely people. Such leaders may have people around them, but they remain insecure, untrusting, fearful and sometimes manipulative. You find it everywhere, in homes, the corporate world, politics and governments. Realistic executive and leadership coaching interventions are required in such circumstances, in order to facilitate team adaptation and operation dynamics.

This is with respect to higher goals setting and attainment of superior corporate performance.

For example, in an organization where the above situation occurs, executive and leadership coaching must be aimed at helping to unpack and showcase the human resources potentials within the organization. That is the first goal. The second step would be to assist to identify specific areas of current challenges that hinder the harnessing of these potentials and bring about knowledge and impact gaps. The only way to find out is through index questioning, which is every successful coaching engagement’s process of uncovering latent inhibitions. You can read more about the transformational power of coaching at www.ceedcoaching.com.

Emmanuel Imevbere