Lonnie Pacelli - Why Dont They Follow Me?: 12 Easy Lessons To Boost Your Leadership Skills

12 Easy Lessons to Boost Your Leadership Skills

Lonnie Pacelli

www.lpacelli.com

Published by Pacelli Publishing at Kindle.

Copyright 2009, 2016 by Lonnie Pacelli

Kindle Edition, License Notes

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Cover Design by Kiwi Creative , Seattle, Washington

Leadership Lessons

Class is in Session!

Lets do a little exercise.

Think about the term leader and associate it with either a public figure or a person you know. Who did you conjure up? Maybe it was a governmental head of state; or maybe a military general; or possibly a corporate executive; or perhaps a professional sports figure. Its true that these high-profile positions carry great responsibility and are charged with leading important causes. The truth is, though, that virtually any situation where a person has to assemble, organize, guide, and inspire a group of people to get something done is using the same leadership muscles that high-profile leaders need to use. Think about the job of a PTA president (of which my wife was for a number of years); she needs to get things done using a volunteer force of parents that sometimes deliver but many times dont. Her job as a leader is in many ways more difficult than that of a corporate executive or military general in that there is no personal consequence for not following the leader. If one of her PTA board members doesnt follow through there is no firing or being thrown in the brink awaiting the board member. She has to get the board to want to follow her to get things done.

It is for leaders like the PTA president that I wrote Why Dont They Follow Me?

As I look back at my biggest screw-ups in over 30 years as a leader (and Ive had a ton of them!) they werent because of a complex business problem or a deep technical issue. They were because I didnt fully grasp that a leaders positive actions can easily be outweighed by his negative actions. Lets take lesson #1, Humor Credibility = Doofus as an example. Humor can be a very positive attribute of any leader and is one that shows the human-ness of the leader. The use of humor becomes a problem when the leader hasnt previously established credibility with his team. So, while the leader has established that he has a funny side, his team will be reluctant to follow him because he hasnt proven himself worthy of being followed. It is the inter-relationship of these key leadership attributes and how bad attributes outweigh good which Why Dont They Follow Me? focuses upon.

Why Dont They Follow Me? presents must-need leadership attributes in an easy-to-understand format that both new and experienced leaders will quickly grasp and apply. Perhaps you lead a team in your daily job; or own a small business; or lead a small non-profit organization. Quite frankly, it just doesnt matter when it comes to these principles; if you want and need people to follow your leadership, this book is for you.

Each leadership lesson is presented in a consistent format to help you quickly navigate the content and efficiently refer back to points when you need them.

Learning the lesson - This section focuses on a definition of the principle and some root causes as to why leaders fail at the principle.

Adding it up - This section focuses on at least three helpful tips which you as a leader can use to improve your leadership skills.

Graduating with honors - This section gives you a summary of the leadership lesson and gives final tips on how to avoid screw-ups of your own.

My hope is that you are able to quickly grasp the 12 leadership principles, determine which of the principles are problem areas for you, and take away just a couple of nuggets to help you put new tools in your leadership toolbox and improve your skills as a leader.

To your leadership journey -

Lonnie Pacelli

Humor Credibility = Doofus

Ed was just appointed team leader in a public works organization of the federal government. In preparing for his first meeting with his new team, Ed thought long and hard about some of his prior managers leadership styles. One characteristic he particularly admired in several of his managers was the ability to connect with the team through humor. He decided on a strategy that would help the team accept him as a leaderhe would show his human side and use humor to connect with them.

Ed had his first meeting with the team and was very satisfied with the results. The team seemed to really like him. The meeting was filled with laughter and both the team and Ed seemed to really be enjoying themselves. Ed was very happy and believed things were getting off to a great start.

With each passing meeting, though, there seemed to be a growing concern among the team. While Ed seemed to connect with the team, he didnt see the cooperation on getting things done as he had hoped. There were also a couple of team members who asked for permission to interview for positions outside of the group. Ed was growing concerned over the trend and asked Betty, one of the team members, what she thought was the problem. Bettys counsel hit Ed right between the eyes: Ed, youre a great guy and people really like you, but I just dont know if youve got what it takes to lead this group. The team is concerned which makes me concerned. While Eds focus on using humor to connect with the team was great, he didnt take the time to establish the necessary credibility with them.

Learning the Lesson:

Any one of us can think about an influential figure weve had in our lives, whether a parent, boss, or religious leader, who used humor to build camaraderie and inspire people. Leaders who have a sense of humor motivate those around him to want to participate in the journey. The problem arises, though, when a leader tries to connect with a team of people prior to establishing himself as worthy of being followed. If a leader fails to establish his worthiness by gaining credibility with the team, the team may only stick with the leader when things are going well and there are no problems on the horizon. The moment that problems start cropping up, team members will be more apt to defect because they wont have faith in the leader to navigate the storm. Credibility breeds acceptance, humor fosters inspiration.

So why is the failure to establish credibility such a massive issue? Here are the biggies:

• Team members need to trust that the leader can get from origin to destination Being a leader means knowing the plan and leading the team down the field. The leader not only needs to know the plan and how to execute, she needs to communicate the plan to the team and ensure the team understands and believes in the plan.

• Team members need to feel secure that the leader will navigate well through stormy issues Think of an airline flight youve been on where some unexpected turbulence hit. While the plane is rocking and rolling, the pilot speaks to the passengers with incredible calmness and control. His job is to make you feel that things are well in hand. Imagine if turbulence hit and you heard the pilot say Weve got problems and Im not sure what to do! Id be heading to the cockpit to fly the bird myself (and I can barely fly a kite never mind a plane!) Having credibility with the team gives the team greater security that the leader will get them through sticky issues.