Have you heard about the leadership notion and how it works?

The Leadership Notion

Have you been in a group where you wondered whether you should take charge of its leadership or not? Have you found yourself thinking through your options whether you should take charge of a situation? Have you found yourself contemplating whether the call to lead is worth answering? If yes, then you have been accosted by the leadership notion. The leadership notion is not an emotion. It is a critical internal conversation leaders have before they engage in any leadership exercise. This mental calculation must add up in order for a potential leader to take up a leadership role with conviction. If the equation does not balance, and you take up the leadership position, your performance is likely to be dismal. There are four elements that empower (would be) leaders to take on the mantle of leadership. First, comes notion, unction, then follow-through and finally the ability to make things happen.

Notion comes to you when you understand that something specific needs to be done in a situation. However, this is more than just an appreciation that someone needs to do something. Notion is affirmed in your mind when you develop a few ideas about what could be done. But you will be waiting to hear whether anybody else in the group has a better idea than the one in your head. As you listen and watch what is going on around you, you will begin to see that everyone else is not seeing what you see, nor are they able to articulate what is possible in comparison to what you know to be the best possible outcome (this is not about pride or prejudice). At this point you have a choice. You can let things go on with whatever leadership will emerge in the group, or you can speak into the situation and change the teams’ course of action to influence the success of the enterprise. Failure to speak at this point will result in the team sliding into sub-optimal performance and you lose the chance to make history and lead the group to its highest purpose. Nonetheless, the leadership notion is not enough to prepare you to take up leadership. Before you say “I do”, you will need to have thought through the whole process of creating the results you want from the end to the beginning. Yes, that is correct; from the end to the beginning. You will have created a mental road map from the end results you want all the way back to the present circumstances.  The sketch does not have to have all the solutions to challenges along the way, but it must be sufficient to inspire what Bishop Oginde describes in one of his sermons as the “unction to function”.

The unction-to-function requires that the potential leader be sufficiently excited to take charge of the challenging situation. The excitement I am talking about is not hilarious laughter, but rather the energy and inspiration needed to move an electron from one orbit to the next. This quantum energy has to be enough to excite the engagement of the leader in the situation. Leadership is not fun and games, it is hard work. Sacrificial energy and personal commitment are needed to follow through and complete any leadership task. Leadership requires access to a reserve energy store from which a leader draws encouragement, inspiration, and fortitude to forge ahead with the job. If a leader is not excited by a job and does not have the energy reserves to do it, they will very likely decline the invitation to lead. Once the unction-to-function has been ignited, then an examination of the capacity to follow-through can take place.

Follow-through implies a commitment to navigate a path, take both action and risk to facilitate activities that need to be implemented in sequence to realize (make real) the desired outcome. The leader will take on the role of the “boss” and start directing activities and aligning peoples behavior to facilitate the groups advance towards the goal. In following-through, the leader begins to create new value and construct the desired future position; followers maximize it. Followers sometimes object to a leaders’ “pushy-ness” and are distressed or confused by the “directive energy” the leader exhibits, because they do not fully understand the creative process the leader needs to implement to create desired outcomes. Followers do not always see the big picture the leader is moving the group to and may, in ignorance, criticize the leader’s initiative. However, it would have been very difficult for Michael Angelo to explain what he was painting until the painting was complete.

Finally, a leader has to consider whether he or she is ready to shoulder the risk to make things happen. More often than not leaders are blamed for failure to make things happen, if it does not happen. Response-able leaders consider a) the notion as a call to lead, b) are realistic about what it takes to get the job done, c) make a values-based commitment to follow-through and carry others along with the plan, and d) are willing to take responsibility for the outcome.