Who Is Following You?

“Just keep your eyes on me and follow what I do. I will make sure I do it right.”

That’s what I said to an elderly lady in my aqua aerobics class. The lady slid next to me and whispered, ‘I don’t know if I will be able to do the class today.’ She forgot her glasses and is a bit hard of hearing.

So I told her to just look at me and follow what I do. As soon as I said that, I was immediately aware of the responsibility that I had just taken on.

I realised I had to listen intently to the instructor and I had to carry her instructions out perfectly because someone was counting on me to do it right so they could do it right.

This got me thinking about the importance and role of leadership. Paul, the Apostle and a disciple of Jesus once said, ‘follow me as I follow Christ’.

I take that to mean he gave people permission to stop following him if he stopped following the Christ. He needed to follow Jesus closely so those following him would ultimately do the right thing.

The responsibility of any leader is to make sure they are doing things right to help those following them to also do things right and be the best they can be.

As followers we also have a responsibility to follow the right leaders, to challenge leaders who lose their ways and to make sure every leader lives by what they are asking you to live by.

So the question this week is, ‘who are you following?’ Are they setting the right examples for you to follow? Are they worth following?

And who is following you? Are you worth following? Are you setting the right examples  for them?

Some lessons I learnt from this interaction are:

You can’t just suit yourself

Several times during the aerobics session, I was tempted to alter the exercise to suit my personal preference but I couldn’t. I wanted to make some exercises harder so I could get more from it but my hands were tied.

I had an obligation to the lady who was following what I was doing. I had an obligation to not change the rules or play a different game. I had to do every move just right so she wasn’t led astray.

As a leader, you don’t get to change the rules to suit yourself because it’s no longer about you or your personal preferences. It’s now about the people you are leading.

Check on your followers

I looked back several times to make sure she was fine and could see what I was doing. I checked to make sure she was doing the exercises right.

As a leader or person who others look up to, you have to check on their progress and well-being – spiritual, physical, mental and psychological. Your duty doesn’t just end with giving them directions or instructions to follow.

Check if they need more support. Check to see they are doing well and there’s nothing that could be adversely affecting them.

Observe closely and give Feedback

You need to observe and give your followers feedback to make sure they can be better.

Several times I looked back at the lady and corrected her. I was conscious that even though I was doing the moves right, it wasn’t an automatic guarantee that she would mirror them.

I still needed to observe her performance and give her feedback.

Just because you are setting the right examples and giving the right instructions doesn’t mean people will interpret and follow instructions correctly.

Visit the shop floor, and confirm your processes and services. You can’t lead well from an ivory tower. Talk to your people and customers. Use the information to make things better for everyone.

In conclusion, leadership is a privilege and not one to be taken for granted.

As you start a new week, look at your leadership style, look at those you call leaders and make any required adjustments. Thank you for reading and sharing my posts. Have a great week.