I had an interesting conversation with a student of mine a few days ago. He left frustrated. I left with a deeper insight about leadership.
He came to me after class – and had a favor to ask. He was part of a group, one that helped the homeless. It had been started by a student in New Jersey. He was charged to reach out and help create awareness about their organization. He wondered if I might blog about it.
As I entertained his request, I had lots of questions. What was the message? What did they want people to do? Who was their target audience? What was the call to action?
As the conversation progressed, several things became very clear:
- He was greatly inspired by this young women and her work
- He had only a fleeting idea of what he was charged to do – and that task was amorphous as well
As I pushed him on how this information would benefit you (my blog readers) or what he might want you to do with this information, he was clueless. He finally mumbled something about only being a peon in this organization and not a leader.
At that moment, I flashed back to all the times in my life that I had been led – but led poorly.
It seems to me that there are leaders that can inspire action. The young lady in this story is clearly one of them. They can galvanize people to get up and do something. They create energy and the desire to be a part of something.
There are also leaders who can provide direction. They are clear about what needs to be done and can organize a team to accomplish it.
Leaders that can do both create energy that has a direction. Their followers are running with the wind at their back. Great things get accomplished and there is a sense of easiness about it.
Not being able to do both is problematic. With inspiration but no direction, the energy that is created is aimless, diffused and ultimately squashed. There is confusion, duplication of effort and wasted energy.
Direction without inspiration is called “micromanaging” in its worst form. It is all about task and work. It may be efficient, but there is no spark, no inner energy.
As a leader – be prepared to share the “why” – which creates energy and inspiration. And at the same time, follow with the “what and how” – which provides unified effort and direction. You’ll both unleash the energy and channel it into a useful direction.
