Don Roulo is the CEO (Chief Encouragement Officer) of Life Quest. He is a life, career and business coach as well as a Certified 48 Days Workshop Facilitator. He travels nationally and internationally to conduct business and career training as well as marriage and family workshops.

By DON ROULO

I was recently at a conference that prompted a question to form in my mind. The man conducting the conference made a statement that we need to raise up leaders and not just doers. The question that then popped into my mind was, “Are you modeling leadership or doership?”

A couple of related statements the presenter said caught my attention. He said businesses and organizations grow stagnant or decline when they stop raising leaders. He further said many businesses and organizations are great at raising a bunch of doers, but not leaders.

What I took away from this meeting was we need to be modeling leadership, so others can become leaders. Sorry to say, we have modeled the wrong behavior too often. Leaders have done this because some lead by finding the problem and then telling others how to solve the problem. I know your first thought is, “what’s wrong with a leader doing that?”

There is nothing wrong with a leader doing this if they just want nothing but doers and not leaders. Yes, every organization or group needs doers, but more importantly they need leaders. You cannot groom and develop leaders if everyone in the organization waits on the boss or manager to tell them how and what to do.

A great leader will model leadership by getting the team involved in finding the problems and more importantly finding the solutions to the problems. This can only happen if a leader, a boss or a manager, asks those around them questions as opposed to telling them what to do. I like what my friend Dan Miller says. He says, “Don’t come to me with a problem – come to me with an opportunity for a solution.”

Often times the problems are obvious, but the opportunity comes when someone sees the solution. The solution should not only come from the top down, the boss, but from the bottom up – those that are closest to the actual problem. After all, what is everyone being paid for if they only wait on being told what to do? (Your income will be in direct proportion to the size of the problems you solve. Not the problems you find, but the problems you solve.)

We build doers by telling them how to solve a problem. We build leaders by asking them how to solve a problem. If you, as a leader, are the only one finding problems and then directing others what to do to solve the problems – you are raising doers and not leaders.

Get your team together to discuss what they see as the problems and what they see as the solutions. Your team can be your family, your small group, or your large organization. Let the members of your team shine. You don’t have to have all the answers. To be a great leader you don’t need to be the smartest person in the room, but rather, surround yourself with people who are smarter and better than you. Are you modeling leadership or doership?

About the Author
Don Roulo is a life, career and business coach as well as a Certified 48 Days Workshop Facilitator. He travels nationally and internationally to conduct business and career training as well as marriage and family workshops.

As a business consultant, he has written business plans and worked to market products or services as well as organizing financial statements for investors. Because of his success in the sales and business arena, Don has been blessed with the opportunity to train, motivate and inspire others. His passion is to motivate and equip people to find their passion and achieve their goals and God given destiny.