New York Times Best-Selling Author John C Maxwell explains about the hierarchy of leadership in his book Developing The Leader Within You. In his book, he breaks down leadership to five different levels. Each of these levels builds on the previous one so one can only reach Level 5 by embodying all the aspects of Levels 1 through to 4.
Level 1 - Position
This is the bottom tier of leadership. At this level, people respect you only because they have to, because you are in a position of power and possess rights granted by that position whether or not they want you as their leader. But all's not so grim at this level, the author contends. At this level, you can hone your leadership skills by learning to lead yourself through self-discipline and endurance before you progress to Level 2.
Level 2 - Permission
At this level, people follow you because they want to. You attain this level after you have gained your subordinates' trust. They believe in you because you listen to their values and opinions. Relationship between you and your team flourishes.
Level 3 - Production
Level 3 is achieved when the relationships built such as those from Level 2 starts to produce results. At this level, leaders gain influence and credibility. You bring in results for the organization and people begin to admire those results and are ergo happy to follow you.
Level 4 - People Development
Level 4 kicks in when you've become a mentor to your team members. You help the organization by developing leaders like you. You use your position, relationship and productivity to help those followers to grow into leaders of their own. This stage is about reproducing leaders such as yourself.
Level 5 - Pinnacle
The highest and hardest level of leadership is the Pinnacle. At this stage, people respect you because of whom you've become and what you represent. Level 5 leaders, the author explains, often transcend their position and their organization. They are almost an entity onto themselves.
Which level do you reckon portrays your current leadership status? Regardless of where you are, remember that you can always hone your skills to rise to the top tier.
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