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LEADERSHIP AND INFLUENCE | THE COLLABORATOR

LEADERSHIP AND INFLUENCE | THE COLLABORATOR

In the previous essays I established that in the cycle of leadership that there are four stages, which begins with the follower, and after that comes the disciple, collaborator and then the leader. I also defined who a follower and disciple are by virtue of their stage in the cycle of leadership. Today’s essay will focus of telling a few things about the collaborators and how the leader should approach them in order to actualize the leadership purpose.

Collaborators are the young in the leadership cycle by virtue of their exposure and experience with the good information about dynamics of how principles work in real time. They almost have the same level of information with the leaders but are only lacking in experience. They are acquainted with information of how things should be done, even better, but have never tried them out. They are the journey men of every organization, association or institution, and are always willing to work as foot soldiers. Because they have just transited from being disciples, they always long to become leaders, which is also not farfetched if they can only keep calm to gain experiential knowledge.

Leaders, especially older ones, who do not understand the natural disposition of collaborators, will feel threatened because of their energy and exuberance in insisting on the need for more grounds to be covered in the fulfillment of the leadership purpose. Weak leaders will get overrun, while strong ones will be challenged to keep up with them. Leaders who do not understand these collaborators will often have the natural feeling of letting them off, which has a negative impact on the overall polity of the leadership cycle on the long run.

Another thing about these collaborators is that by virtue of their discipleship experience, they have developed their own leadership purpose which makes them look very pushy most of the times. And if their leadership purpose is not consistent with that of the leader they are following, then they tend to appear oppositional to the status quo. Leaders should be able to identify collaborators with contrary leadership purpose under their leadership so as to align them properly with other leaders whose purposes align with them, and never should in any way feel threatened.

Furthermore, collaborators also have a way of forming alliance with their fellow collaborators in the leadership cycle of other leaders, because they believe in sharing their new ideas. This often causes a lot of trouble for them from insecure leaders who begin nurse some notions of losing them to others. It is also important to note that this is the onset of brain drain in leadership, where when collaborators feel that they are not given the adequate opportunity to explore and exploit themselves would move to greener pasture, which is always a facade in the end.

In the next essay, I shall endeavor to explain the adequate responses the leader should maintain in order to keep the ball rolling.

Elvis C. Umez
Leadership Consultant
School of Leadership Development (SOLD)
IDB Consult

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