Powers of Leadership

According to Stephen R. Covey, he categorizes the Powers of Leadership into 10 power tools. These power tools are available to any principle-centred leader. Now, what is a principle-centred leader? A principle-centred leader is one with a strong base of security. We will touch on more when we go into the topic of Security in Leadership.

Coming back to the 10 powers tools, these are tools that allow leaders to change, influence and motivate the people he or she is leading. Leading is much more then giving orders or instructions, leading is about feeling sympathy and empathy for the people under them so as to communicate effectively to others around you. They can be your boss or another team or just your fellow colleagues.

These are the 10 power tools:

1. Persuasion


2. Patience


3. Gentleness


4. Teachableness


5. Acceptance


6. Kindness


7. Openness


8. Compassionate


9. Consistency


10. Integrity

Looking at the list above, you might notice a strong sense of morals and humanitarian theme running through it all. This is not surprising as leaders lead fellow human beings. The effective leader draws people towards them without or with little effort because they understand the powers that come with leadership. The ability to feel for his or her subordinates and to be kind, compassionate and gentle towards them is almost second nature for effective leaders. They hold no prejudice or resentment when a follower makes a mistake. They in turn learn to accept them and show a high level of patience to teach them. This draws people towards them and more importantly, makes them stay and believe in the leader leading them.



Using the Powers of Leadership


There are a number of ways that people can use the powers available to them through leadership. One such way is through Fear. There would be many instances where both you and I have experienced fear working under somebody. The idea of using authority and title of the leader to make others do what they want is in essence to instill fear in those under them. I am sure this is something none of us like to be under but sometimes we forget and lead in the same way. It is important for us to remember that as leaders we are there to bring out the best in others not turn our followers or subordinates against us. This action of instilling Fear actually seems to only work in the short term. Once the title is gone or the threat or source of fear is gone, you will lose all your followers and nobody will believe in you anymore. It may get you the result in the short run but people will not want to work for you in the future. In fact the long term damage upon you is much worst. People will have a bad reputation of you and you will bear the mark of a tyrant who is only interested in the power that comes with leadership and not the people you lead as a leader.


The next way leaders use their powers gained through leadership is sort of like a resource centre. Followers know you have a great source of influence in a certain area or are following you just to gain our knowledge or experience. Again, this is a misguided reason to lead and to follow. Are we leaders because we stand up for what we believe in? Or are we leaders because we have something that others want to exploit. Just to make things clear, it is not wrong for a leader to teach and coach his or her followers, however if the follower is following the leader just because of the influence or the monetary value the leader has then there is a barrier in the attitude of the follower thus affecting the leader as well.

One example I can give you is Tom, a young entrepreneur who is quite successful in his business ventures and has a simple staff office under him. He has learned through his dealings that ruthlessness is the key to success. He treats his staff the same way as well, however there has always been a high turn out for interns at his office, many of them who, in turn, became successful businessman as well. They all named Tom as a role model or a leader which inspired them but felt that there were some areas he needed to work on, mainly staff management. Looking back at this example, many people wanted to follow or learn from Tom because of his success in business, but not many wanted to follow him in his believes. Thus Tom actually resulted in losing a few good men who could have helped his business grow even further just by making them feel that it was worth staying and working under him. This is the difference between a mere leader leading due to success and an effective leader leading followers because they want to follow.


This brings us to the last usage of powers gained from leadership. This is the 'legitimate' power which brings people across boundaries to work towards the same goal. These leaders lead their followers with great pride and responsibility. They create a belief in their followers making them want to follow because they trust and respect their leader and the cause he or she believes in. This is not done through an act of instilling fear or followers following just to gain something. It is made possible because of the human element in leadership, the desire to count amongst many and the leader is able to provide this trust and acceptance to all and at a consistent level. This is the pinnacle of influence that an effective leader can hope to achieve. Followers following in a well thought and uninhibited commitment which greatly improves the capacity and ability of the group.


In conclusion, it is undeniable that Power and Leadership go hand in hand. It is crucial for a leader to choose what he or she is going to use the power for. To focus on self-gain is to focus on the negative aspect. To focus on the greater good for those around them and themselves is the positive aspect. Power is in the end, a self belief to be able to do things. It is what you do with it that matters.

Jonathan Szeto has been working with youth and teens for many years and wants to encourages everyone to find that Leader in them. For more information on Leadership for Teens, Becoming an Effective Leader and Using Leadership to Create Change please visit http://the-effective-leader.blogspot.com/