Most of us live much of our lives in groups—when we work, when we worship, when we play, when we learn. And it seems all groups do need leaders, for better or for worse. But as you and I know, leaders can make or break a group.
From Dr. Gordon:
“Their attitudes and behavior strongly influence the group’s performance and also the amount of satisfaction enjoyed by group members, as everyone knows from direct experience with teachers, administrators, supervisors, committee chairpersons, coaches, managers, clergy, and elected officials.
It is equally true of our society, and a fact often overlooked, that most people at one time or another are thrust into a position of leading a group. Most people become parents, for example, a leadership position in relation to the children. The teacher, too, is a leader of his/her classroom of students.
Each person is a leader who gets chosen to direct a committee or task group, who is elected president of a volunteer organization, who assumes responsibility as a scout leader or camp director.
Research has shown that one of the primary reasons leaders fail is that they are promoted into positions that make it necessary to work closely with others.
Being untrained in the requisite skills for building good relationships and group-centered teams, they are unable to harness the creativity of team members.
They often fail because they do not know how to build equalitarian or partnership relationships.”
See where I am going with this…? Yeah, I thought so.
“An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” – Benjamin Franklin
So, save yourself, your organization, time, money and energy and equip people with relationship and communication skills BEFORE they become a leader.