This week I came across a great new way to describe how a leader needs to train and release their up-and-coming leaders. It comes from a book by Sherwood G. Lingenfelter called Leading Cross-Culturally: Covenant Relationships for Effective Christian Leadership. It is a terrific book that has challenged me and taught me some valuable lessons about making an impact in this world as a leader. The concept is that the mentor leader is either “responsible-to” or “responsible-for” the people they are training to take on the mantle of being a leader. Responsible-to leaders operate with the assumption that their trainee is responsible and competent, and is able to make decisions for themselves that will get them to their desired results. The mentor leader is responsible to the new leader to grant authority, provide counsel, freedom, accountability, and encouragement. The younger leader is allowed to learn by doing and make their own mistakes, with the two in a coach-player relationship that allows for input, but not domination. On the contrary, the responsible-for style of leading is when the older leader cannot relinquish control, doesn’t trust the younger to make good decisions, and gives directives instead of advice. The responsible-for leader assumes that the new leader is unready and inadequate and the older leader feels that they always know best, while the responsible-to leader is eager to allow the responsibility for the results to be in the hands of the new leader and the team that has been charged with the task.
One of Lingenfelter’s main topics in the book is that there needs to be “covenant relationships” of trust between leaders and followers and among team members. Trust is the foundation of a covenant and the basis of being a responsible-to leader who can equip, empower and encourage their team members to do the job, then step away from the need to control everything and allow their people to rise to the occasion and make things happen. The opposite is the micromanager, which comes in many forms. One is the old-school command-and-control leader who is more interested in compliance than buy-in and is perfectly happy to make all the decisions and give orders, then expect the results that they have set before the team. Another type is the insecure and narcissistic leader who is only interested in their own benefit, so they, too, give orders and expect their team to deliver the goods, however, they will take all of the credit and only care about benefiting themselves. Neither of these leaders are interested in collaboration and innovation, and they are definitely responsible-for leaders who are controlling, self-absorbed, and if given the choice, prefer to be feared rather than respected.
The trends in twenty-first century leadership point to leaders and teams that collaborate in order to make decisions and come up with new innovative ideas. They share the responsibility for their enterprise and the rewards. The twenty-first century leaders that will thrive will absolutely be responsible-to leaders. They will look for every opportunity to raise up the next generation of leaders, give away the credit, and enjoy the rewards as a team. Hierarchy will take on a flatter appearance and everyone in the organization will be valued. Twenty-first century leaders are the type of leader to whom people will be drawn to and who will be willing to give of their time and talents in the achievement of worthwhile goals. Responsible-to leaders will be the leaders of tomorrow and the type of leader which I hope all of us will aspire to be.
Lead well.