Successful leadership is about ninety percent people knowledge and ten percent product knowledge. Henry Ford once said, “You can take my factories, burn up my buildings, but give me my people and I’ll build the business right back again.”
You can have strong people skills and not be a good leader, but you cannot be a good leader without people skills. In my thirty-plus years of leadership, I’ve discovered that many people in leadership positions fail to ever gain a proper understanding of the people they lead. As a result, neither they nor their people ever reach their potential.
But successful leaders are able to discern the needs of their people instinctively, then take action to meet them. The following is a list of the most common needs of people and how to meet them effectively. Though every item may not be true of the people you lead, take the time to determine what items do describe them. Then commit to take the proper action to put you and your people on the road to success.
1. People Like To Feel Special…Compliment Them
The highest compliment a person can receive is one given by his or her leader. Mark Twain said, “One compliment can keep me going for a whole month.” Take the time to notice your people’s work and don’t hesitate to tell them when they’ve done a good job. Make a habit of being generous and sincere with your compliments.
2. People Look For A Better Tomorrow…Give Them Hope
Jean Kerr said, “Hope is the feeling we have that the feeling we have isn’t permanent.” In other words, when your people are having trouble seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, remind them of the purpose of their work and help them envision what their work will accomplish. With hope our people will work harder and longer to see a task through to completion.
3. People Need To Be Understood…Listen To Them
Every leader would be wise to heed the Cherokee saying: “Listen to the whispers and you won’t have to hear the screams.” Don’t judge what your people want to tell you before they’ve told you. Take time to understand their point of view and listen to their suggestions. It’s the best way to ensure that they’ve been listening to you and it opens the door to innovative ideas for improvement.
4. People Lack Direction …Navigate For Them
Don Herald said, “Unhappiness is not knowing what we want and killing ourselves to get it.” Part of your job as a leader is to help your people figure out what they’re most passionate about, then help them pursue it. Sometimes that may involve a position change within your organization or even allowing a person to pursue another opportunity.
But when you understand that effectiveness comes as a result of surrounding yourself with people who love what they do, it’s not difficult to let a person go who doesn’t enjoy their work. Spend your best time developing and giving direction to those who are passionate about the work your organization is accomplishing.
Tom Peters said, “Techniques don’t produce quality products or pick up the garbage on time; people do, people who care, people who are treated as creatively contributing adults.”
Before you ask anything of your people, make sure you’ve taken the time to understand and meet their needs. In doing so, you will give yourself a decided edge in maintaining their continued support.
monthly e-newsletter: Leadership Wired available at www.INJOY.com.
John Maxwell grew up in the 1950s in the small Midwestern city of Circleville, Ohio. John's earliest childhood memory is of knowing that he would someday be a pastor. He professed faith in Christ at the age of three, and reaffirmed that commitment when he was 13. At age 17, John began preparing for the ministry. He attended Circleville Bible College, earning his bachelor's degree in 1969. In June of that same year, he married his sweetheart, Margaret, and moved to tiny Hillham, Indiana, where he began his first pastorate.
While serving in his second church, Maxwell began to study the correlation between leadership effectiveness and ministry effectiveness. On July 4, 1976, while preaching at a service commemorating America's bicentennial, John sensed that God was calling him into a ministry to pastors. Within days after that event, pastors began to contact him, asking for his assistance in nurturing their churches. Over the next four years, on an informal basis, John helped scores of fellow pastors. Then, in 1980, he was asked to become Executive Director of Evangelism for the Wesleyan denomination.
Though his time at Wesleyan headquarters was productive, John soon realized that his deeper desire was to help pastors from numerous denominations. He knew that desire would be unfulfilled if he were to stay at denominational headquarters. As a result, in 1981 John accepted the call to return to the pastorate, this time at Skyline Wesleyan Church in the San Diego, California area. But he did so with the church's blessing to pursue his vision. The Skyline congregation allowed him to continue mentoring and assisting pastors even as he led them to new levels.
In 1985, as he continued to equip and encourage other pastors, John took the next crucial step in leadership development. He founded a new company called INJOY and created the INJOY Life Club, featuring a monthly tape for leaders. The fledging operation, established in the corner of a garage, was soon bursting at the seams. The INJOY Life Club tapes were received with great enthusiasm, and the number of subscriptions quickly increased from hundreds to thousands. Simultaneously, the demand for other resources and seminars exploded. Pastors from coast to coast were responding, and their desire for help was even greater than John had anticipated.
As the years passed, INJOY began demanding more and more of John's time. In 1995, he resigned from his position as senior pastor at Skyline following a very fruitful 14-year tenure. The church had tripled in size and its lay ministry involvement had increased ten-fold. Dr. Maxwell is in great demand today as a speaker. Through his bestselling books, audio and video resources, and major conferences, he communicates directly with more than one million people every year. He is frequently asked to speak for organizations such as Promise Keepers and Focus on the Family, but his greatest joy and desire is to help pastors become better leaders.
Because the need for leadership development knows no borders, John established EQUIP, a non-profit organization which trains leaders in urban communities, academic institutions, and within international organizations. EQUIP is also spearheading a movement which has enlisted more than one million pastoral prayer partners who covenant to pray specifically for those who shepherd God's flock.
John continues to seek new opportunities to help churches and church leaders. He knows that one thing is constant: the only hope for the world is salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ, who gives life abundantly.