Educative Leadership…

Educative Leadership…


Leaders should be termed ‘Teachers’, not ‘Managers’…



While trying to understand, what Leadership is, I came across many different types of Leadership… Autocratic, Democratic, Facilitative, Transformational, Transactional, Emotional, Charismatic, etc. etc. etc…..

I have one more jargon to add to it… EDUCATIVE LEADERSHIP….

While reading and grasping all these Leadership styles and their definition… Guiding us what to do when… The thought which constantly had me restless was, IS THERE A BETTER AND SIMPLER WAY OF DOING THIS? Can we have simpler and more inclusive understanding of Leadership? A thought process which is truly in sync with very definition of Leadership…. Here is what I could articulate…


I heard this story once…

A politician, good person by heart, was looking forward to amend certain law in his jurisdiction. He strongly believed that amendment was in sync with long-term welfare of his people. Before putting out his amendment, he thought of conducting a survey to understand what is people opinion about the amendment. Results of survey showed that people were completely against the amendment. Their common perception was that the amendment would do more harm than good.

While sitting with his advisors on survey results, the politician was sure of dropping the idea as it would decrease his popularity. On this one of advisors asked him… What kind of Leader do you chose to be; the one who says, Hey! Where are my people going, let me find out so I can walk ahead of them and it would appear I’m leading them… Or the one who says, I will have my people follow me in the right direction… The politician chose to drive all his potential on the amendment. He utilised all his resources in creating awareness and EDUCATING people how the amendment was beneficial. He convinced them to follow him in the right direction. Of course, he got the amendment implemented and became an even more popular leader amongst his people…

Leadership as defined on Wikipedia… Leadership is both a research area and a practical skill encompassing the ability of an individual or organization to "lead" or guide other individuals, teams, or entire organizations

In practical aspect, Leaders are the ones who know ‘Better way of doing things’… People follow leaders with faith of them guiding in every situation, themselves taking and helping others take best possible decisions. Often those people who have mastered their ‘functional / technical’ skills are looked at prospective leaders… Those who have done things and achieved results are expected to ‘Lead’ people and help them duplicate their accomplishment. But do we really make them or help them do that?

A person becomes a leader not just by the formal authority rested to reward and punish, but becomes a true leader when people follow voluntarily. When people are convinced of the leader’s capabilities in doing the right thing, taking the right decision. To add to it, a Leader cannot do it all alone, leader always needs support by people following him / her doing the right thing, the right way… When a leader can make someone else do their job as good as they do it, only then can move on doing other things which nobody else can…

I had one of my ex-bosses telling me, I should never do any task which any of my team members can do, I should ONLY focus on things which nobody else can… I wasn’t too sure about its meaning then, but now I can truly resonate with it. My prime job is to TEACH others how to do what I do, so I can continue exploring other realms which nobody else can, yet…

‘Managers’ is the term we use to refer to Leaders, I’m not sure if anyone would like to be ‘Managed’…. ;-) We look up to our Leader to Guide us, to LEAD us, to TEACH us… Not to Manage us… Managers should be termed as ‘Teachers’ or ‘Guides’, not Bosses, who Control or Manage people…

This brings me to an interesting distinction… When we say, Leaders are expected to Teach others how they do what they do, then what’s wrong with they MANAGING people teaching them their way of doing things???... The answer is simple, there is a better way of TEACHING… :-) They need to learn how to TEACH…

While helping people achieve better results, it is important to not be a Manager by enforcing their style of work only… Wrapping up Dos and Don’ts by Reward and Recognition driving their own tried and tested style of achieving results may not be the best thing to do. A Teacher understands that people have different ways of doing the same thing and might achieve better results than them, so the Leader plays role of a Coach. Embracing different mind-sets and skill-sets is an important part of people management, knowing how to Teach whom.

When someone excels in their functional role and takes up task of Leading people who would manage the role they did earlier. The most important aspect they need to learn is How does Human Mind / Motivation work… Leading people needs in-depth understanding of EMOTIONS & MOTIVATION. The most common and conventional line of thought is ‘Carrot & Stick’ method, but this method is grossly dependent on driving Formal / Authoritative leadership, led by Reward and Punishment. It certainly works, but there is a better way of doing things… Formal / Authoritative Leadership is very short-term and ‘friends with benefit’ driven… However, EDUCATIVE LEADERSHIP focuses on sharing the purpose, spreading awareness, communicating with their people, convincing them, teaching them by methods they understand, inspiring people to voluntarily follow them… This is when true revolution begins and possibilities are created…




Wishing you a Peaceful Life!

Deep Mody
A Change Leader
Helping Humans do what they do the best – Be Human



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