Positional Authority vs Leadership

There is a drastic difference between positional authority and leadership.

I remember my first year of being a vice principal. I had the title but was exercising the accompanying responsibilities in a new school where very few people had ever even heard of me. In the beginning, much of my leadership clout was borrowed from any trust accumulated by the principal who had been there many years and chosen me to be his vice principal.

Over the past 14 years, my formal leadership experience now extends to 5 schools (head, principal, vice principal), 2 churches (executive, music), and a 4 non-profit organizations (board member).

Here’s a key piece of learning for me:

When you begin in a ‘leadership’ role, you must recognize that it’s actually a positional-authority role. Until the people know and trust you, it will remain in that gear.

To get to the next and limitless gear of ‘leadership’, your decisions and tangible practices must reflect something that is trusted by the people who are most affected by the change. This doesn’t mean that they should necessarily like all of your decisions, but they should trust that the motive behind them and the resulting gains are for benefit the organization.  Throw in some critical ingredients like transparency, good communication,  and listening/responding, and you’ll start to actually feel the shift from the title you carry to being their leader.

I have found that it takes time and miles travelled together to earn trust and ultimately the gift of leadership; yes, gift.  This gift is given by those who decide to follow, and it should be treated with the utmost humility and respect.

Thanks for reading!