When Followers Are Away

My children are staying with close family friends for a few days in order to attend a camp.

In some ways, this provides a welcome respite from the norm, and enables my wife and I to spend time together without the usual interruptions and distractions of our regular routine.

It is also, however, disconcerting for a few reasons.  First, the obvious concerns about how our children will behave in our absence linger.  This, though, provides an insight into leadership: it is how followers conduct themselves when the leader is not present that reflects most accurately the quality of the leader’s influence and training.  Followers must be trusted to carry themselves well, praised when they do, and gently restored when they do not.  Otherwise, they will remain in constant need of their leaders’ actual presence, which hinders growth and desirable outcomes of all kinds.

Maybe more important, though, is the second reason: it is disconcerting for me as a leader, and I must be aware of my own feelings in order to lead well.  The simple fact is, I miss my kids.  I am affected when they are away; I am emotionally attached to them because of my compassion for them, my investment in them, my hope for their futures.

And this is a good gauge for how committed we are as leaders.  How emotionally attached are we to those who follow us?  How invested are we in hoping for the futures of those who look to us for leadership?

We can find out by listening to our hearts when they are away.

~ by stoshdwalsh on June 23, 2009.