One of the biggest differences between someone who tries to manage people and someone who truly leads people is this: a manager may have the compliance of their people but a true leader has their commitment. 

If you don’t think that’s a huge difference then answer this. Which employees do you think serve an organization better, compliant employees or committed employees? Which would you rather work with, somebody who only does what they are told because they “have to” or someone who does whatever needs to be done because they “want to?” 

Pretty much any boss or manager can force their people to comply. They simply make the consequences of not complying worse than what they are asking their people to comply with. 

Having the compliance of your people isn’t the worst thing in the world but compliant people rarely perform up to the standards required to grow a business. They create a tension in an organization that leads to under-performance on many levels. 

Compliant people need constant direction and follow-up. Compliant people do only what they are told and seldom provide more than the minimum effort required to complete a task. Compliant people believe that “good enough” is indeed good enough.

It requires leadership to gain the commitment of people. Authentic Servant Leaders know that they must earn the right to lead. They know it is earned by demonstrating sincere caring for those individuals who they would lead. If your people don’t believe that you care about them they will find it nearly impossible to commit to you as a leader. 

Commit to you as a leader….do you understand that part? People don’t commit to positions or titles, they don’t commit to companies or organizations and they don’t commit to jobs. People commit to people and if you want them to commit to you as a leader then you must frequently SHOW that you care about them as a person. 

Caring as a leader is NOT a weakness, it is in fact a tremendous strength. It is a strength required for Authentic Servant Leadership. 

Once your people know you care then they can commit. Once committed they immediately outperform the merely compliant members of an organization. They consistently go the extra mile, they find solutions rather than just looking for problems. Committed people know that “good enough” never really is good enough so they strive for excellence in all that they do. 

Simply put, compliant people are a business expense, committed people are an asset. Which one does your business or organization need more of in order to grow and prosper?

I thought so…