Do you think there is a difference between teaching the principles you live by and teaching people general principles to live by?
In my opinion, I think there is a huge difference between the two.
This is one out of many concepts I learned under great leaders for about twenty years.
Dr. Sam Adeyemi and Pastor Nike Adeyemi have been and continue to be instrumental in sharpening my leadership edge because they don’t only teach how to lead from a global perspective, they live the principles first, then teach the lessons in the principles. They literarily model what they teach.
Back to my earlier question;
Teaching the principles you live by could make you a transparent leader that is authentic to the people you lead. This approach will place responsibility on you to first model it, then mirror and teach them to others.
When you lead from a place of genuine love for people, competence, systems, and structures mindset, your team members or staff can see for themselves. Except for hirelings in your team, those who would contribute great value to your organization will be encouraged to stay committed to the achievement of organizational goals and objectives.
Teaching general principles of leadership to live by can easily be done by anybody. If you are in this category, you can “wow” people with your oratory prowess without actually modeling it yourself. It would only be a matter of time before people see the misalignment in what you teach and model. In my consulting journey, I have seen how some leaders rose in their leadership cadre and lost relevance over time. I have equally seen organizations develop so rapidly and got to a point in their business where they could not navigate the next higher phase of the organization because of this approach.
Whether you are misaligned or aligned with what you teach and model, expect certain outcomes. Some of the possible outcomes are stated below.
Misalignment between the two could:
- Lead to distrust from your team members or staff.
- Discourage and lower the morale of the team you are leading.
- Create rifts within the team.
- Replicate falsehood among team members or staff because is it what they can see mirrored from you.
- Make you lose your best hands because they are committed to offering value and bringing solutions.
Alignment between the two could:
- Help you keep the best hands in your team.
- Encourage loyalty and commitment from your team members or staff.
- Increase ownership mindset, thereby helping your team not only meet but exceed goals and expectations.
- Reduce staff or team attrition rate.
- Make the leadership development process easier.
Current and upcoming generations want authentic leaders. Leaders that would be vulnerable, secure, principled, relational, and competent.
Dear leaders lead others after leading themselves. It is critical there is alignment between the leadership principles you teach and the leadership principles you model.