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LEADERSHIP AND INFLUENCE | THE DISCIPLE

LEADERSHIP AND INFLUENCE | THE DISCIPLE

In my 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. In the subsequent essays, I shall continue to x-ray each of these stages with the intent of explaining in a concise manner the responsibilities of the leader and how they can be influenced in order to produce the intended results according to the leadership purpose.

There is need that I say at this point that these stages are not necessarily associated with physical age as the case may be, rather they are concerned with the experiential knowledge that makes an individual able to discover purpose and fulfill it within time and space, which requires that he or she is exposed to the environment that affords such knowledge, and leadership being one of those. A follower, who is a babe, does not have experiential knowledge associated with leadership, and this I had explained in the previous essays, but as he or she continues to grow, a liminal phase is initiated, which forms the basis for today’s essay – the disciple.

The disciple, in the cycle of leadership, is a child who needs his or her innate abilities (in the form of potentials) to be awakened through exposure to life’s experiences, anchored by a trusted leader, targeted at causing growth and development, on the long run, for solving problems and taking responsibilities in the society. The disciple is technically an apprentice whose interest is to be transformed by the leader into something bigger and better. Here, being a disciple comes with the responsibility of commitment and followership, and makes the leader to become a teacher whose goal is primarily to impart knowledge and understanding with the sole aim of unraveling principles that make things work in leadership.

Additionally, the disciple is a protégé who has discovered the mentor and is willing to enroll in order to evolve into a collaborator and then a leader. Both the protégé and the mentor have specific responsibilities in ensuring that the leadership cycle is completed. In my work, I have developed a leadership dynamic model that must be followed by the leader if his or her goal is to ensure that the individuals being led make a perfect transition. This model affords the leader the understanding of what to do and what not to do, which classifies his or her activities into the following:

1. Leading from the front.
2. Leading from within.
3. Leading from behind.

Please note that it is not within the scope of this essay to discuss the leadership dynamic models, but for the purpose of the topic of discussion, I need to point out that for the leader to do a thorough work of transiting the disciples into the collaborators, he or she must lead from the front, within and behind. What this entails is that the leader must let the disciples to watch him or her “do it”, be with them “do it”, and let them “do it”. Understand that I had said here that the leader is saddled with the responsibility of deliberately teaching principles, which he or she must first exemplify in his or her actions with results before the disciples in the integrity of the heart, never in a hypocritical sense, for the purpose of imparting knowledge and understanding.

At the School of Leadership Development we developed a course on the Dynamics of Leadership, which majorly addresses the responsibilities of both the leader and disciples in making the needed transition in the cycle of leadership.

The next essay will focus on discussing the dynamics associated with influencing your disciples in a less explicit but concise manner. Be on the lookout for more.

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

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