Image by Hamed Saber via Flickr

One of the first things that I was taught on becoming a leader, and a message that I have heard throughout my career as a leader and people manager, is the need to lead people from the front.

I’ve been thinking about this a lot recently and I believe that if you take this literally you will only find trouble.

So what does leading from the front actually mean?  Does it mean blazing a trail with everyone else following, or something different?

If your definition of leading from the front is the first one, I’d urge you to try it and see what actually happens.  If you were to really physically lead from the front, just have a think about what you’d actually see.  Your view would only be of what is in front of you.

Now, lots of people say that is a good thing, and ‘vision’ is one of the words that people often refer to when they talk about leading from the front.  However, in order to have ‘vision’ you need to be able to see the full picture and you can’t do that from the front; but you can see the full picture if you start leading from the back.

Leading from the back you can see the road ahead, but crucially you can also see the team and most importantly the individuals within it.  John Adair states that in order to be a successful leader you need to be able to ‘achieve the task’, ‘build the team’ and ‘develop the individual’.  Adair also states that you need to be able to identify which of these areas you need to focus on at any given time.

Remembering that starting to lead from the back rather than always leading from the back is a vitally important differentiation.  Sometimes you will still need to be at the front forging the way ahead or protecting your team.

“Your job as a leader is to develop people to a point where you are no longer required” is the number one Golden Rule of Leadership. It’s easy to see that being at the front all the time will minimise the opportunities for people within the team to develop and grow, and subsequently you will always be required.

So what does leading from the front really mean?

“If you want people to demonstrate a behaviour, go there first!” is another Golden Rule of Leadership that is a truer reflection of leading from the front.  Role modelling the behaviours that you need your people to demonstrate as they work to achieve the task is the right way to lead from the front.

The behaviours you demonstrate set the tone, the pace and desire of your team. If any of those are not currently there, you need to look in the mirror first.

So, if you want to really lead from the front, lead with your behaviour rather than taking the lead all the time.

Martin le Comte – Head of Learning