“Position” Leaders

As is often the case, leadership is closely associated with position. The more advanced you are in your firm, the more you are expected to lead. However, if your “leadership” is related only to your position and not from your interest in leading, you may find it easy to take advantage of your position to do what you want instead of what your people need.

I know this happens too much. When I conduct the Partner-Pipeline courses, I inevitably hear from participants of their experiences of being led by their managers and partners. Some of those practices erode their trust and respect in their leaders.

Behavior of “Position” Leaders

My point is that leading is not function of position. And it’s not only what you do, but also what you shouldn’t do. You shouldn’t behave in ways that frustrate or disempower your people. Here are some examples of behavior from leaders who lead from their position.

• I’m going to lead you by ignoring your (repeated?) requests for a response.
• I’m going to lead you by doing it myself, instead of teaching you.
• I’m going to lead you by surprising you with assignments and expectations I forgot to tell you about.
• I’m going to lead you by micromanaging you.
• I’m going to lead you by making decisions that affect you but that I don’t involve you.
• I’m going to lead you by being too busy to give you feedback on how you are doing.
• I’m going to lead you by avoiding telling you the truth, clothed of course, in not wanting to hurt your feelings or making you mad.

Effective Leaders

As a leader, you do some of these behaviors, which diminish your leadership effectiveness. If you could pick one practice to change, which would it be? Better, ask your followers which one they struggle with the most. Regardless, don’t lead from your position privilege. Pay attention to what your people need and earn the right to lead.