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Leaders know they can’t do it alone. Leadership is a team effort.
Student leaders Enable Others to Act by fostering collaboration and strengthening others.
In the cases analyzed, student leaders proudly explained how teamwork, trust, and empowerment were essential to strengthening everyone’s capacity to deliver on promises. Collaboration is the master skill that enables teams, partnerships, and other alliances to function effectively. So leaders engage all those who must make the project work and, in some way, all those who must live with the results. Cooperation can’t be restricted to a small group of loyalists. Leaders make it possible for everyone to do extraordinary work.
“Being a camp counselor for a group of fi sixth-graders,” Will Cahill explained, “taught me that a good leader is a team player; and to become a team player, one must offer encouragement and be willing to listen to others’ ideas. Working with others and getting everyone to participate actively requires trust and expanding capabilities. For example, we gave each kid the chance to lead the group to meals and during nature hikes, and also listen to each boy’s ideas. Decisions were made as a group. Another key to success is that in order to gain respect you must also show respect for others.”
At the very heart of cooperation is trust. Leaders help create a trusting cli- mate. They understand that mutual respect is what sustains extraordinary efforts. When leadership is understood as a relationship founded on trust and confidence, people take risks; make changes; and keep programs, organizations, and movements alive. Without trust and confidence, people do not take risks. Without risks, there is no change.
Creating a climate in which people are involved and feel important is at the heart of strengthening others. It’s essentially the process of turning constituents into leaders themselves—making people capable of acting on their own initiative. Leaders know that people do their best when they feel a sense of personal power and ownership. Commitment-and-support structures have replaced command-and-control structures.
The work of leaders is making people feel strong, capable, informed, and connected. Exemplary leaders use their power in service of others; they enable others to act, not by hoarding the power they have, but by giving it away. When people have more discretion, more authority, and more information, they’re much more likely to use their energies to produce extraordinary results that serve everyone’s best interests.
Student leaders Enable Others to Act by fostering collaboration and strengthening others.
In the cases analyzed, student leaders proudly explained how teamwork, trust, and empowerment were essential to strengthening everyone’s capacity to deliver on promises. Collaboration is the master skill that enables teams, partnerships, and other alliances to function effectively. So leaders engage all those who must make the project work and, in some way, all those who must live with the results. Cooperation can’t be restricted to a small group of loyalists. Leaders make it possible for everyone to do extraordinary work.
“Being a camp counselor for a group of fi sixth-graders,” Will Cahill explained, “taught me that a good leader is a team player; and to become a team player, one must offer encouragement and be willing to listen to others’ ideas. Working with others and getting everyone to participate actively requires trust and expanding capabilities. For example, we gave each kid the chance to lead the group to meals and during nature hikes, and also listen to each boy’s ideas. Decisions were made as a group. Another key to success is that in order to gain respect you must also show respect for others.”
At the very heart of cooperation is trust. Leaders help create a trusting cli- mate. They understand that mutual respect is what sustains extraordinary efforts. When leadership is understood as a relationship founded on trust and confidence, people take risks; make changes; and keep programs, organizations, and movements alive. Without trust and confidence, people do not take risks. Without risks, there is no change.
Creating a climate in which people are involved and feel important is at the heart of strengthening others. It’s essentially the process of turning constituents into leaders themselves—making people capable of acting on their own initiative. Leaders know that people do their best when they feel a sense of personal power and ownership. Commitment-and-support structures have replaced command-and-control structures.
The work of leaders is making people feel strong, capable, informed, and connected. Exemplary leaders use their power in service of others; they enable others to act, not by hoarding the power they have, but by giving it away. When people have more discretion, more authority, and more information, they’re much more likely to use their energies to produce extraordinary results that serve everyone’s best interests.
Commitment #7: Foster CollaborationExemplary leaders Foster Collaboration by building trust and facilitating relationships. Here are ways you can live out this commitment:
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Commitment #8:
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