Blue Elevator Blog

Three Dimensional Leadership

I want to introduce you to a concept I will call three dimensional leadership.  Most people think of leadership in terms of authority or positions.  For example, a lot of leaders hold positions such as CEO, Founder, Principal, Chairman, etc.

If you are an organizational leader, you already have (I assume) a formal position of leadership authority.  Now, it’s possible for anyone to be a de facto leader regardless of position.  But, for this article, my focus is on those who have de jure (e.g., actual or bona fide) leadership.  But, again, anyone can engage in exercising three dimensional leadership.

So, what is three dimensional leadership?

The Three Dimensions Of Leadership And Organizational Development

In general, I would encourage you to think about leadership along these terms:

1. Building (e.g., Making)
2. Managing
3. Mentoring

Building (Making)

Building is the first dimension of leadership.  When you start a company or organization, it’s all about building.  To help you memorize 3D Leadership, I sometimes replace “building” with “making.”  You are innovating new and unique product or service offerings.  You are literally building or making.  Such was the case when Leo Fender and George Fullerton began designing production equipment and buildings for Fender Guitars and Amplifiers in Fullerton, California back in 1945.

At first, it was Leo and George designing and building prototypes.  But once the prototypes had been created, they were ready to launch.

Be encouraged to read our article Dream-Diagram-Develop.  You can’t diagram what you haven’t dreamed.  And, it’s hard to develop what you haven’t diagrammed.  The building or making phase is a critical step for all organizations.

Managing

The next (or second dimension) of leadership is managing.  After Leo and George had everything dialed in (e.g., concept, diagram, etc.), it was time to ramp up production.  After all, how many guitars can just two guys build in a day from start to finish?  Then, it became all about hiring and training – and next: Managing team members.

For hiring, be encouraged to read our article The Three T’s of Talent.  Also, for managing, be encouraged to read our article WDF – a Three Part Series!

This is a critical stage in the development of an organization.  If the right talent isn’t hired and not properly trained (and/or managed), you will have a hard time scaling your organization.  Some organizations seemingly never progress past this phase.

God willing, you will do well to pay particular attention to hiring, training, and managing the right people.  As Jim Collins said in his book, Good to Great, you have to get the right people on your bus!

So, be encouraged to think along these lines:

1. Hiring
2. Training
3. Managing

Mentoring

The third phase of leadership is mentoring.  Up until this point, YOU have been doing a lot of the building and managing – along with a ton of other things.  At some point, you need to begin instilling this into your team.

It’s kind of hard to describe, really.  Think of it this way.  Up until now …

• You’ve dreamed the dream, and
• You’ve been doing the hiring, training, and managing.

But now it’s time to equip and mentor others to do these things.

In essence, you need to mentor others to be able to do everything you’ve been blessed to do: To build or make, to manage, and to mentor.

All Together Now

As you may know, God willing, the key to creating and maintaining a legacy business is the ability to continually … Innovate, Accelerate, and Replicate™.

For your organization to continue to grow, scale, and impact future generations, you must mentor others to be able to build, manage, and mentor.  This is how you steward Innovate, Accelerate, and Replicate™.

Think this way:

1. Innovate™ (Making)
2. Accelerate™ (Managing)
3. Replicate™ (Mentoring)

Contact us!  We’d love to help you do exactly that.