Leadership is a Relationship

How is leadership the same and different than other relationships?

Building relationship skills is the key to success as a leader, and in life. Another way to define leadership is to see it as a relationship between leaders and followers.

Leadership is not something that is done solely by the leader. Leadership is co-created by leaders and followers working together. In fact, it might be the other way around: followers may be more important to leadership, and getting things done, than leaders.

In any case, a leader’s success depends on the ability to create good relationships with followers. That is why, interpersonal skills, emotional skills, and being tactful are such important “soft skills” for leaders to develop.

It is important to understand that the leader-follower relationship is unique. It isn’t necessarily the case that leaders and followers have to be “friends.” It is imperative, however, that the relationship develops in a positive way, that both parties understand the reason for the relationship (i.e., getting things done), and that both strive to make the relationship work.

For Development: Reflect on your relationships with followers through the years. What were the features of the best relationships? What went wrong in the poor relationships? Was it due to a lack of common understanding of the leader-follower relationship? Was it a lack of effort? How can you strive to make your current and future leader-follower relationships better?