{"id":73939,"date":"2021-11-15T15:37:48","date_gmt":"2021-11-15T21:37:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mesonaz.org\/?p=73939"},"modified":"2022-07-21T15:38:22","modified_gmt":"2022-07-21T21:38:22","slug":"how-to-lead-those-who-dont-want-to-follow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mesonaz.org\/en\/how-to-lead-those-who-dont-want-to-follow\/","title":{"rendered":"How To Lead Those Who Don\u2019t Want To Follow"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/mesoamericaregion.us4.list-manage.com\/track\/click?u=03e55b045b4b2d81fc3a5a85b&amp;id=9c5cdee638&amp;e=1e0613ef18\">How To Lead Those Who Don\u2019t Want To Follow<\/a><\/strong><br \/>\nBy Dan Reiland<\/p>\n<p>Leadership is rewarding and definitely worth it, but let\u2019s be honest, there are many days when it\u2019s no picnic. Typically, those days have something to do with human conflict. Would you agree?<\/p>\n<p>And one of the most tension-filled situations involving conflict is attempting to lead someone who doesn\u2019t want to follow you. So when that happens, do you know what to do?<\/p>\n<p>Start with \u201cWhy?\u201d\u00a0There are many possible scenarios such as:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>You are following (replacing) a beloved boss or volunteer leader.<\/li>\n<li>You are leading someone who is older with more experience than you.<\/li>\n<li>You made changes they didn\u2019t like.<\/li>\n<li>Your style is different than what they are accustomed to.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The best leaders take a moment for a \u201cself-check.\u201d That\u2019s always wise before we consider someone to be a \u201cdifficult\u201d person.<br \/>\nAsk yourself these questions:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Do they trust you?<\/li>\n<li>Do they like you?<\/li>\n<li>Do they respect you?<\/li>\n<li>Have you made the expectations clear?<\/li>\n<li>Are you investing in them so they can become a better leader?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><em>NOTE: These questions are not meant to doubt you or your leadership<\/em>. In fact, my assumption is that you are leading well. The point is that\u00a0<em><strong>their perspective matters<\/strong><\/em><strong>,<\/strong>\u00a0even if it\u2019s not entirely accurate.<\/p>\n<p>However, if you answer\u00a0<em>no<\/em>\u00a0to any of these questions, focus on resolving that first. The truth is that the best leaders can lead those who don\u2019t want to follow, those who think differently, and even those who are at times difficult.<\/p>\n<p>Keep in mind that a dissenting opinion, a disagreement about the course of action, or pushing a creative idea that\u2019s out of the box doesn\u2019t mean the person is difficult or doesn\u2019t want to follow; it might mean they are a leader. Good leaders have their own thoughts, ideas, and ways to solve problems. It\u2019s up to those of us who lead leaders to harness all that into a healthy and productive team.<\/p>\n<p><strong>6 practices to better lead those who don\u2019t want to follow:<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>1) Utilize the lens of \u201cdifferent,\u201d not \u201cdifficult.\u201d<\/strong><br \/>\nWe do have to deal with\u00a0<em>difficult people\u00a0<\/em>at times. Those who demonstrate traits such as chronically pushy, don\u2019t listen well, only see things their way, can\u2019t control their emotions, won\u2019t change, have major blind spots, etc. Candidly, however, they are by far in the minority of the kind of person you would have chosen for your team.<\/p>\n<p><em>It\u2019s more often the case that the person thinks differently than you do, and because of that can seem difficult. <\/em><\/p>\n<p>As long as the leader embraces your team values, staff culture, and the overall vision, thinking differently from others often adds great value and increases progress.<\/p>\n<p><strong>2) Redirect sideways energy in the right direction.<\/strong><br \/>\nSomeone who doesn\u2019t want to follow, or it appears like they don\u2019t, may be wasting sideways energy and therefore wasting time and resources. If a person on your team is burning sideways energy, don\u2019t kill their drive; redirect it in a more productive direction. Make sure they are aligned with the vision, and their chemistry fits in the culture, then empower them to lead, as long as it\u2019s in the right direction.<\/p>\n<p><strong>3) Exercise flexibility on the how, but hold firm on the what.<\/strong><br \/>\nIt often appears like someone is \u201cbucking the system\u201d or always going against the organizational grain, but they might just be exercising a leader\u2019s prerogative to get the job done the best way they can.\u00a0Give as much freedom as you can on<em>\u00a0how<\/em>\u00a0your leaders accomplish their goals and get things done, but hold very firm on the what and why.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s when someone is inefficient in their work habits strategy or fails to get their job done that you begin to prescribe the how through coaching. At that point, it must be certain they are willing to follow.<\/p>\n<p>Habits and patterns reveal much. If someone consistently seems to resist your leadership or run contrary to team culture, especially without being productive in light of the vision, it\u2019s time for very candid and direct conversations that result in positive change.<\/p>\n<p><strong>4) Improve the relational chemistry as much as you can. \u00a0<\/strong><br \/>\nWhen your team knows you care about them, you have their best interest at heart, and it\u2019s obvious you are investing in them, they are highly likely to\u00a0<em>want<\/em>\u00a0to follow you. Candidly, when I know a leader believes in me, has my best interest in mind, and invests in me becoming a better leader, I\u2019ll climb mountains to make things happen and advance the vision. Wouldn\u2019t you?<\/p>\n<p>Cultivating great relational team chemistry involves an intentional team culture, clear expectations, having fun, open communication, high trust, and giving the benefit of the doubt.<\/p>\n<p><strong>5) Ask your leaders to deliver a better way or show them a better way.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><br \/>\nIt\u2019s OK for good leaders to do it their way, as long as the end result is actually better, not just different. Ask your leaders to make things better, and if they can\u2019t, show them how. That\u2019s a great way to earn followership. One of the most sincerely motivating things you can say to a leader is \u201cmake us better.\u201d That communicates belief, value, and trust.<\/p>\n<p>And when they do, be sure to give them the credit!<\/p>\n<p><strong>6) You might need to make a tough call.<\/strong><br \/>\nI hope this post helps prevent you from the need to release someone from your team, but as I have mentioned earlier, some simply don\u2019t work well with others. They really don\u2019t want to follow.<\/p>\n<p>Those who exhibit characteristics such as being chronically pushy, don\u2019t listen well, only see things their way, can\u2019t control their emotions, have major blind spots, and won\u2019t change, cannot remain on your team.<\/p>\n<p>When you\u2019ve done all you can do, you will need to make the tough decision to release them from your team. That action, however, should be rarely needed.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Most good leaders want to follow a good leader.<\/strong><\/em><br \/>\nSet the example, genuinely care about each person, invest in them and lead on!<\/p>\n<p>\u00a9 2021\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/mesoamericaregion.us4.list-manage.com\/track\/click?u=03e55b045b4b2d81fc3a5a85b&amp;id=92ff4f914f&amp;e=1e0613ef18\">Dan Reiland<\/a>\u00a0| The Pastor&#8217;s Coach \u2013 Developing Church Leaders<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>How To Lead Those Who Don\u2019t Want To Follow By Dan Reiland Leadership is rewarding and definitely worth it, but let\u2019s be honest, there are many days when it\u2019s no picnic. Typically, those days have something to do with human conflict. Would you agree? And one of the most tension-filled situations involving conflict is attempting <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mesonaz.org\/en\/how-to-lead-those-who-dont-want-to-follow\/\"> <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":73940,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3380,4661],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-73939","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles","category-leadership-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mesonaz.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73939","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mesonaz.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mesonaz.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mesonaz.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mesonaz.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73939"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.mesonaz.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73939\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mesonaz.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/73940"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mesonaz.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73939"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mesonaz.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73939"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mesonaz.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73939"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}