World famous conductor, Ben Zander once said that after 20 years of conducting, he suddenly realized that the conductor is the only member of the orchestra who does not make a sound. The conductor becomes powerful by making others powerful. And therein lays the secret of leadership.
Before becoming a leader, you were likely motivated and subsequently paid to produce something.
The more you accomplished, the more you were given in workload and compensation. You learned your trade and executed on your responsibilities. You learned to be personally accountable, and your ultimate reward was to be elevated to the position of manager, or leader. Here, you quickly realized that the measure of your success had changed. Future outcomes were now more important than present. Your skills as a “technician” would now take a back seat to your skills as a leader of people. Your success was now measured less on your actions, but more by the accumulation of the actions of others. Doing had been replaced with leading others to “do”.
While this may be an exciting new challenge for you, nothing in your training or experience thus far has prepared you for this new world. You now find yourself passing up the courses specific to your trade in favor of the soft skill courses on goal setting, communication, coaching, and empowerment. You begin to realize that your success is measured by the success of your team. You see, as Ben Zander did, that power is paradoxical. The more you give it away and remain silent, the more it grows. The more you hoard it or put it on display, the more it stagnates.
Learn to be a conductor and make others powerful and you will grow to become a great leader.