Leadership ability is the lid that determines a person’s level of effectiveness. The lower an individual’s ability to lead, the lower the lid on his potential. The higher the individual’s ability to lead, the higher the lid on his potential – John Maxwell
The law of the lid, happens to be the 1st law of Leadership in John Maxwell’s bestselling book -The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership. To give you an example, if your leadership rates at 8, then your effectiveness can never be greater than a 7. Your leadership ability – for better or worse – always determines your effectiveness and the potential impact of your organization.
Understanding this law of leadership enables you to assess your leadership levels and effectiveness and then intentional work on improving your leadership ability.
According to a former US President, John Quincy Adams, Leadership is when your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more. John Maxwell says “Leadership is not about titles, positions or flowcharts. It is about one life influencing another.”
I saw this law of the lid in display a few weeks ago and it was then I fully understood the application of the law. A relative (a sales manager) told me of a challenging situation she was facing. She had been asked to go and re-organize the branch office of her company and train the new sales people who had recently been hired. This branch office has been one of the lowest performing branch in a few years. The branch manager I had been told was very nice lady and had done a great job when the company was going through a crisis.
However five years later, this branch was no longer performing as expected. When I probed further, it became apparent that the manager leadership ability and effectiveness was really the problem, and I advised she needed to go. Her leadership ability was no longer aligned with the expanded role and its increasing responsibilities. The effect of this misalignment was when dynamic and employees with higher leadership abilities were hired. After a while, the leadership effectiveness of these new recruits were significantly reduced. In essence, if the branch manager’s leadership ability was rated a 5, eventually it will be a challenge to find her subordinates with a leadership ability of above 5.
These leadership lids limit our capacity as leaders. Does this mean you cannot increase your leadership ability? The good news is yes, you can. You can increase your leadership ability by:
- Become aware of your leadership rating or score. If you have never assessed yourself,send me an email at [email protected] and I will send you’re the leadership assessment
- Make an intentional effort to work on your strengths
- Invest in a leadership/development coach
- Do something that is beyond yourself
- Read books written by ‘great’ leaders
- Join a leadership mastermind group
- Make a ‘stop doing’ list and follow through with it
QUESTION: What is your leadership score and how are you working to improve it?