Good Leaders Know When to Follow!

The supervisors that I liked most during my working years were people who understood that they didn’t have all the answers. They realized that sometimes they needed to listen to the views and reports of others. They were humble enough to allow subordinates to change the course of an operation, if they were convinced that change would enhance profits and make fellow employees feel valued and of worth.

The supervisors that made the workplace a nightmare every day were individuals who only accepted their own opinions on issues and on how to proceed on the job. Even when they knew an associate was right, the leadership would not change directions, seeming to prefer sabotaging the mission rather than admitting to being wrong. Everyone in the department was unhappy in what seemed like a hostile workplace, simply because leadership didn’t understand that everyone has something to offer, and one person is never always right.

Good leaders can be followers when it becomes necessary to change directions. They allow people the freedom to use their God-given talents and skills, and they are not threatened by the success of their associates. I once knew a pastor who any time an associate minister would be lauded for their sermon, he would remind the congregation that the church was not seeking another pastor. He made it so that associates feared doing well, and they were preaching God’s word! Rather than congratulate the associate pastor on a job well done and admit that he needed the message as much as everyone else, he thought that if he didn’t preach it, the sermon had no substance. He was threatened by associate pastors who could teach him a thing or two, so he turned the church into a hostile workplace.

Good leaders are humble, admitting that they can learn from others. The person who is unable to listen to sage advice without firing an associate for trying to upstage them will never be a good leader, because they haven’t learned how to follow.