Overcoming the Leadership Vacuum: Harnessing the Compounding Power of Teamwork
Have you ever observed the image of an eagle used to describe an effective leader. Eagles are loners. They don’t flock and rarely fly together with their mates or offspring. The awe-inspiring eagle lives a solitary existence—leading and working with no one. For these reasons, I don’t believe it is the best comparison. On the contrary, exponential leadership prioritizes working closely with others, which intentionally enables leaders to influence attitudes and behaviors of the team. They strategically position themselves at the head of the team, including them in the process.
Highly effective team leaders can also be appropriately compared to the leader of a gaggle of geese. “How?” you might ask. Geese assemble into a powerful, aerodynamic V-formation as they cut through the skies. Their mutual cooperation is an admirable demonstration of a team working together, guided by a team leader, each one working closely together and making a valuable contribution to the team effort.
Eagle leadership is still evident in corporate and some religious circles. You’ve observed these individuals, I’m sure–executive leaders who are loners and do not practice effective team leadership. They often lead by manipulation or heavy-handedness, blaming others for the failures of the organization, motivating through employees’ fear of losing their jobs, and pleading for or demanding better results. These types of leaders, in many cases, will burn out, burn others out, or be forced to resign.
Here's the issue! Although the American marketplace and non-profit organizations are inundated with seminars, videos, podcasts, literature, virtual learning, and specialized leadership programs for managers, many organizations have a leadership vacuum. In his book, On Becoming a Leader, legendary leadership expert, Warren Bennis, discusses the leadership crisis and asks, “Where have all the leaders gone?” He goes on to explain, “America needs leaders—because, of course, as the quality of leaders declines, the quantity of problems escalates. As a person cannot function without a brain, a society cannot function without leaders. And so, the decline goes on.” To stress one of his points, it is not simply the lack of leaders, but the lack of quality leaders—the qualitative and quantitative components of a person who can ignite the compounding power of a team.
The challenges of leadership span across all organizations. The leadership vacuum present in organizations exists partly because many leaders have inadequate perceptions concerning what it takes to lead and serve effectively. For example, in the non-profit space with pastors of churches, most of them view their primary task as preaching from the Bible. This is definitely important. But the acts of preaching and leading require a different set of skills and activities. George Barna writes in Building Effective Lay Leadership Teams that most pastors don’t see themselves as leaders and, in fact, only 12 percent of the pastors—about one in eight—reported that they have the gift of leadership. As you can imagine, this situation creates a leadership vacuum and results in significant challenges for any organization.
The success of organizations depends on strong, visionary leadership. Companies can compensate for the absence of certain skills and resources but cannot overcome the absence of effective leadership. This leads to a high level of frustration among leaders and team members. What causes this dilemma? The leaders’ skill sets are weighted toward other areas. Consequently, a massive leadership vacuum develops.
What is a solution to this widespread scenario? It lies in a leader’s willingness and ability to effectively develop a team-based vision, rather than depending upon the contribution of individuals’ strengths. Being a lone ranger is not usually beneficial, so developing a team filled with complementary strengths is key. I’ve heard it said, “Two are better than one, and a cord of three strands is not easily broken.” Teamwork. Unity. Pulling the line together. Good leaders do not see themselves as the king of the castle. They do not see subordinates. They see associates. Many gifts, many strengths, many minds… all moving in the same direction. Successful organizations run as partnerships wherein every member helps the greater entity achieve more. Research has demonstrated that this is the most effective avenue for exponential success.