LESSON 5 5
PHASES IN THE JOURNEY OF LEADERSHIP
Granted, Leadership has nothing to do with a position but the action and function a person does but to my mind, occupying a position of authority is the zenith of leadership as it offers one a platform to perform and show what he has to offer.
I have always thought of leadership as a journey with three phases; Morning, Afternoon and Evening. In our day to day living, these are the phases we have to go through each day. Your Morning and the beginning of your day’s activity should begin from 5am and span through 11.59am. Morning is the earliest phase of your day. The morning is the time when everyone prepares to set out and start their day, It is a time of planning and asking what your day would look like. It is the time when businessmen prepare to open their shops, students prepare to get to school, workers get to their place of work and unemployed people head to the labour market building.
As important and sensitive as the morning is, any mistake made in the morning can be corrected. Your afternoon begins by 12 noon and ends by 4pm; seemingly shorter than the morning but quite important. It is the time where mistakes are lethal. It is the peak of the day and often the time one does what he had set out to do in the morning. Recovery from mistakes at this phase could be quite difficult and what one does at this period sets the tone for his whole day. Evenings leave you with no chance change anything. Your evening just flows naturally from the tone your afternoon had given off. Evenings are times when you live the natural consequence of the actions you took in the morning and afternoon.
I equate this analogy to leadership being a journey with phases. A period one stays without having a leadership position could be likened to the morning. Here, one should be concerned with self-discovery and practice (This would be discussed subsequently). Mistakes are indispensable and any mistake made at this point is an experience that would pay off in the afternoon of your leadership journey. The afternoon phase is the time when a leadership position is entrusted upon you. Everything changes; everyone looks up to you to direct the group and all personal action would be seen as that of the group. This is a time for performance and mastery. Mistakes made here are lethal and would detect the outcome of your evening.
The evening phase should be the time for producing more leaders in the field. A time of mentorship. Here, you raise others to be better. You train people and watch them grow. You cannot really build a reputation here because your afternoon would speak for you.
In subsequent days, we’ll discuss each phase and how to make the most of it but Remember that Leadership is a journey with phases and what you do in each phase counts.
Stay on with the conversation!
You’re my priority.
#Leadership101