John Maxwell says “Everything rises and falls on leadership”. What a thought, what a statement. When we look around our world today we see how true this is. When there is good leadership, so much good happens. When leadership is poor, weak or arrogant we see so much hurt, conflict and disaster.
People once stood in awe of electricity, writes Dale Zand, until scientists identified and harnessed its three basic variables: voltage, current, and resistance. In many ways Leadership process and teams have the same triad…
#1. The Leadership Toolkit Triad
- Knowledge – Of good leadership / the industry / the company / products
- Trust – Inspiration / admiration / value
- Power – legitimate authority to lead
Any senior leader has to balance out and build on these three foundations. They need to have the know how knowledge that inspires trust from their team. This trust then gives them the legitimate power to oversee and govern the team effectively.
#2. Triadic Leadership Relationships
- The senior leader
- The 2IC
- The 3 IC – support
High performance teams have a process of raising senior leaders, a defined succession plan and a clear line of communication between the senior members of a team. This way of thinking often develops as a team with a leader(captain) rather than a lone leader with a team.
One of the most important considerations of any main leader is….what kind of a leadership structure am I developing. This functional structure needs to be effective in three areas:
- Raising quality leaders
- Brilliant and effective communication
- Positive governance of the entity / company.
“The single biggest way to impact an organization is to focus on leadership development. There is almost no limit to the potential of an organization that recruits good people, raises them up as leaders and continually develops them.”
-John Maxwell