The Five Levels of Leadership (and Steemit adaptations)

Because of my journalism background, I always feel like if I have some good news, I should report on it and share it with others so everyone can be benefited. A leadership conference I attended on June 1 changed the way I understand life and my life, and my Steemian life, so I thought I should pass it on...

"The Five Levels of Leadership" was a leadership conference provided to the community by The Urban Outreach Foundation, and hosted by my church. The facilitator was Dr. Stanley Long, who presented on exactly how it is that people lead, and the levels of why people follow them. Much of the material is attuned to churches and church leadership, in which I deeply participate. However, the conference took place on the same day as #spud2, and so I was also thinking of how what I learned applies to what happens here on Steemit!

To the points of the presentation itself:

1. The first level of leadership is POSITION; people follow us because they have to. This is also the lowest level of leadership in most cases, because people are following us out of respect or fear of the office we hold, not because they are necessarily convinced of our worthiness to be followed. There are exceptions to this, but that comes later...

2. The second level of leadership is PERMISSION; people follow us because they want to. This is the kind of leadership we see when people have a personal connection to a particular person, someone they know and feel good about following. This still may not go very deep, because people's feelings are fickle, but it is still an important step up from level 1 and the stepping stone to level 3...

3. The third level of leadership is PRODUCTION; people follow us because of what we are able to get done. People love success, and they love to be involved with successful people ... at this point, the leader is harnessing both relationships and position to get good results.

4. The fourth level of leadership is REPRODUCTION; people follow us because of what we do for THEM. This is the level at which leaders begin to nurture other people to the point that they create OTHER leaders, and also assist in helping other existing leaders getting to as high a level as they can. This is the point at which people around a leader are not just followers; this is the point at which the whole mass begins to grow and new leaders come forward to expand the work and to launch out on new ventures. Once a leader has become consistent in growing and also growing others, then...

5. The fifth level of leadership is PERSONHOOD; people follow us at this point because of who we are. Dr. Long said this can take a lifetime to achieve, because of the time it takes to master the previous four levels. But, if this level is achieved, people will move for us just because of the respect they have for us.

Dr. Long mentioned that most people are content with just achieving position, as if that is enough, but what he encouraged us to do was to move on up by first building authentic relationships with those we are leading, commit to producing the results necessary for the work to advance, concern ourselves with the growth of potential leaders around us, and in the process become the kind of leader who has such respect that people follow just for that.

HOWEVER -- because I talked to Dr. Long afterward -- there are two alternate ways people ascend the first three levels. Some have good relationships that allow them opportunity for position, and THEN they produce, or, they produce first in an humble place, build relationships because of that as people come to know them through and while they work, and THEN achieve a position because of the production and the relationships. So: 2-1-3-4-5 and 3-2-1-4-5; alternative sequences to ascend the levels of leadership.

I thought about my entire life, in light of all this new information. My personal path to leadership has been on the two alternative paths: position has often found me because people I knew and even people I didn't know saw what I was doing and were looking for somebody to fill a spot. I was smart enough and could produce enough to do the job, and too dumb -- er, I mean, too compassionate toward others who were to be served -- to say no.

Because there is SO much work to do, I also have now gotten into level 4 -- mentoring younger leaders and nurturing still younger potential leaders. So, previous to June 1, I was working my was up unconsciously ... now, I know what I am and need to do to keep growing and growing others!

Then, I thought about my journey through Steemit... there are similarities in how the platform works, perhaps so much that it explains why I fit in here. Production leads to good relationships which leads to position -- up from plankton to minnow, and from minnow onward. However, this also requires some level-4-type leadership from orcas and whales who are interested in others reproducing their success, and my experience shows that Steemit has quite a bit of that kind of leadership around!

I was following my general path in the matter of what I would do when I got big enough here ... I would do what the noble orcas and whales before me have done, and help others off to the right start. Still, that is going to take a LONG time... even true minnowhood (minus delegation loans) is still a little ways off. However, I will do what I can as a newbie, distilling the steps of leadership to a stepwise pattern!

1. PRODUCE good content
2. BUILD RELATIONSHIPS by checking out, upvoting, and commenting genuinely on others' content
3. Ascend in POSITION from plankton on up by producing, and by supporting and being supported by others
4. Remember to REPRODUCE and help others come up from plankton when resources are available to do so
5. Become a NOBLE orca/whale, respected by the community because of the work done FOR the community on the way up

The process of rising on Steemit is slow, just like the process of becoming a truly great leader in non-crypto world ... I expect that it will take YEARS for most of us to make even orca, much less whale, and this is assuming what we all hope about the longevity of Steem and Steemit itself. Yet, leaving aside all the things we cannot control, attending to the first two steps, consistently, is the best and necessary thing to do well on Steemit, and actually, quite a lot of life!