Welcome back to the People First Leadership Framework discussion! In the last post I reviewed my simple 3 step People First Leadership Framework: (1) People Must Be First, (2) Mission and Vision Come Second, and (3) Results Happen Third. In this post I’ll start breaking down Step 1: People Must Be First.
People Must Be First – The Commitment Step
The outcome of the People Must Be First step is that you create commitment from your team members to you as their leader. It’s about genuinely (and not manipulatively) winning people over to YOU as their leader. Too many leaders (especially new leaders) expect their team members to follow them, trust them, and work hard for them. Sorry, that’s not how it works. First, you must gain their commitment.
Why Your People Must Be First?
Let me highlight a few reasons why your people must be first:
First Importance
Your people are the most important resource you have to achieving success and they are typically your biggest financial asset. They are worth investing in and focusing on first before anything else.
First Class Team
People want to work for great leaders who put their people first. Your current team members will work harder for you if you put them first. Hiring great employees is easier if you put your people first.
First For Greatness
I like to say leadership is the art of releasing greatness in other people. Releasing greatness in your people is hard work. It’s a constant focus to help each of your team members take each step on their path to greatness. To do it requires dedication to your team members. [Note: My leadership definition here is a slightly tweaked version that I read from Gapingvoid years ago in an awesome post they wrote. I love their work, check them out.]
"Leadership is the art of releasing greatness in other people." Share on XFirst For Commitment
Your team members must willingly choose to follow and commit to you as their leader. The word commit means “to roll unto, to put all your weight onto something.” This means it takes great trust and faith in you for them to commit to you. To get to this point, you must care and serve them. If they think you are in it for yourself or aren’t genuinely about them, then they won’t fully buy-in to you. And if you don’t have buy-in from your team, you’re doomed to fail. Your team members will commit to a leader who puts them first.
Commit means "to roll unto, to put all your weight onto something." Leaders, if you want your team members to trust you enough to truly commit to you as their leader, put them first. Leadership is service first. Share on XYou Serve First
Your team members will serve you, because you serve them.
They will support you, because you support them.
They will sacrifice for you, because you sacrifice for them.
They will commit to you, because you commit to them.
You serve first!
Commitment Is The First Outcome to Sustainable Success
If your team members truly commit to you as their leader, they will follow you anywhere…into aggressive projects, into hard work, into challenging circumstances, into new adventures, into exciting opportunities, into ups, and into downs. Committed relationships like this are a game changer when it comes to being successful, and you get them by putting your people first.
If you don’t have this level of commitment from your team members right now, I know you can get there! In the next post we’ll discuss how you can practically put your people first to start building toward their commitment to you as their leader.
If your team members truly commit to you as their leader, they will follow you anywhere. Committed relationships like this are a game changer when it comes to being successful, and you get them by putting your people first. Share on XUp Next
In the next post we’ll talk about HOW to put your people first.
Discussion Questions – Let me know what you think
- Which People Must Be First reason resonates the most for you?
- Can you think of another reason that People Must Be First that I didn’t list?
- How are you feeling about the notion that you must serve first and put your people first?
- What’s your top action item or takeaway from this post?
This post is the second post in the my People First Leadership Framework series.
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Photo by marianne bos on Unsplash