Can you be a great leader without technical experts is a question most people cant know how to pose.
A lot of people assume that the skills you need to be a leader are more or less transferable like shares/stocks. They think: that if you can inspire and motivate people in one area, you should be able to apply those skills to do the same in another area. Wow! It’s the transference of leadership acumen from one sector to another. But skills like the ability to motivate self and others, and effective oral and written communication differ from one domain to another. See this: Doctors influencing patients must communicate to them differently from how a Politician who is conversing for votes will do on campaign grounds or even a CEO responding to a Union to avert labor strike. These are all leaders in different sectors, with different acumen.
The FACT leadership principle is the same, but practice differs from one environment to another.
What’s the Implication of this?
- Implications to Leadership Developers.
Primarily to my fellow leadership developers, when we develop leaders for companies, clubs, unions, churches, and government agencies, let’s be mindful of;
1st. We need to be more explicit that the domain expertise matters.
2nd. We need to give them practice in solving domain-specific problems.
3rd. More.
These and more help them to integrate information into areas they are asked to lead.
- Implications to Training Managers & CEs.
Managers, stop asking Management experts to teach you Leadership. It’s like asking an accountant or Finance/Banker to teach you about Money or Wealth Creation. If Accountants have got money or know about money, he/she wouldn’t be counting other people’s own but/hers.
Take Home:
To the question, “Can you be a great leader without technical experts?”, the answer is YES and NO.
Yes: Leadership Principles are Universal – SAME.
Capacity Development to deploy this principle in various sectors can be attained, after all, leaders are made by knowledge & attitude
No: Leadership Practices are Specific – NOT SAME.
Where Capacity Development is not available at the time, leadership goal attainment fails.
#LeadershipXcellence, #MikeIhezuoSpeaksHQ, https://www.mikeihezuospeaks.net, https://www.mikeihezuospeaks.com, and this https://leadershiproundtablehq.com have been teaching organizations’ leaders and emerging leaders on Why Lead, What’s Leading, How, When, Who and Where to Lead. Leadership Excellence can help you. CONTACT him here OR CALL for his books.
