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    You are here Home » leaders

    Are you a Leader or a Lemming?

    Last updated on Oct 19, 2017 by Dan McCarthy · This post may contain affiliate links

    Guest post from Sandy Coletta:

    I know what you are
    thinking - a lemming is a follower and by its very definition, a leader
    isn’t a
    follower. It is absolutely true that within a given group, the leader is
    setting the direction and guiding those who follow. But what happens when you
    assemble a group of leaders? Perhaps it starts within your organization, then
    within your industry? How many “leaders” are present at your college reunion,
    your country club, or your annual conference? At some point in your career
    journey, have you started to focus more on status as a leader than the job at
    hand?

    Regardless of our
    station in life, there are always others who share similar roles.  All of us have a peer group and within that
    group a select few are viewed as the role models and the others aspire to reach
    that level of peak performance.  Said
    more simply, some are leaders and the majority are followers.  So even the Chief, President, Provost, Chair
    or other applicable senior title within your organizational structure are
    leaders while at the same time mimicking the practices established by those
    they aspire to be.    These individuals,
    Lemming Leaders, are less focused on adapting best practices to their specific
    setting and more concerned with being at the “industry standard”.

    Signs of a Lemming
    Leader:

    Use of jargon:

    Do you use the
    terms restructuring, high reliability, six sigma, just culture, strategic
    sourcing, population health, or employee engagement in your organization? How
    about reengineering, total quality management, performance management, learning
    organization, value analysis, managed care, or employee satisfaction?

    The trappings:

    Look in your
    driveway.  Does your car reflect your
    “status”? List your favorite restaurants. Do you bump into employees when you
    are there or other executives?

    Your friends:

    When is the last
    time you spoke to a friend from high school? Who would you call in an emergency
    if your family was unavailable? Are your social activities limited to work and
    business colleagues?

    Your bookshelf:

    Are they all
    leadership books?

    The other
    employees:

    Do they know you? I
    mean, do they really know you?

    So, if you are a
    Lemming, join the club! It is human nature to look towards others who are
    successful in a similar position and try to emulate them. The problem rests
    however in how this pre-occupation with being acknowledged as a “leader” by
    your peers is perceived by your employees. This job you are in isn’t about
    enhancing your standing relative to others, but is about enhancing your
    organizations’ performance in the market, which can only be achieved through
    the combined efforts of your entire team.

    To break away from
    the lemmings, give these techniques a try:

    1. Use plain
    language to describe what you are trying to accomplish. If you are trying
    to make your operation more efficient, then say so. “To continue to have our
    product priced competitively so we can increase sales, we need to reduce our
    costs. To do that, we are going to identify any work effort that doesn’t make
    our product better and eliminate it.”   

    Sounds a lot clearer than saying “we are going to embark on a six sigma project
    to improve efficiency,” doesn’t it?

    2. Encourage the
    customization of best practices in your organization. Learning from others is appropriate, copying
    is not!

    3. You should be
    able to enjoy your life and the economic rewards that you have earned. Just be
    sure that what you want is the driving force, not what looks best. My most
    recent peer review included a comment that I needed to get a better car. I
    drive a Fiat 500. I worked hard to earn a salary that allowed me the discretion
    to buy what I love, not just what I can afford. I love my Fiat, whether it fits
    my role in the company or not!

    4. This one is
    IMPORTANT: When the time comes for your career to end, and it will one way or
    the other, your friends and family are the ones who will still be there. If you
    have those kinds of people in your life, treasure them. If not, find some who
    don’t know and don’t care what you do for a living.

    5. Remember back in
    your undergraduate liberal arts classes when you had to read the classics? That
    was when you learned to think for yourself. Keep reading the leadership books
    if you must, but branch out a bit. Read a novel. Study history. Write a poem.
    Think beyond what other leaders have discovered, discover on your own.

    6. Be open with
    your staff; share who you are and what you care about. Be fair, not
    frightening.

    As my career
    progressed and I got drawn into a “lemming leadership” identify, my mother
    would quite bluntly point out that the higher one climbs, the harder the fall.
    She reminded me that I am privileged to have a great job, but it does not
    define who I am.

    Know who you are
    and be yourself first and lead from there. When it comes time to hand off the
    job to the next rising star, you will still have your feet on the ground to
    break the fall.

    The
    Owl Approach to Storytelling: Lead with Your Life
    , the first book from Sandy Coletta, is available
    now. Originally published in early 2017, The Owl Approach combines
    a how-to guide for leadership storytelling with examples of actual stories
    shared with Coletta's staff at Kent Hospital in Warwick, RI during her
    tenure as President. The book offers insight into when to use personal
    stories, where to "discover" those stories and why the moral
    matters. 

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