A good painter knows that, when it comes to painting high walls and large areas, you should not do it on your own. Leadership guru Dr Sam Chand was a painter in his early life. He knows that to be effective, a painter needs someone to hold his ladder.
This was the inspiration for his book, Who’s holding your ladder? Shand believes that a leader’s success is dependent on the person or persons holding his ladder. The mistake many leaders make, he maintains, is to focus on their tools and ladder-climbing skills, instead of investing in finding the right people to hold the ladder.
We all know that a good leader has to be a good follower first. In the same vein, it is to your advantage to be a ladder holder before you start climbing the ladder – to know what it feels like.
The ladder holder determines how high you go and how effectively you operate. When last have you taken a close look at your ladder holders? Whose ladder holder are you?
The higher you go, the more important the quality of your team. Shand uses the acronym STAFF to qualify a good ladder holder. Apply this to yourself or your team, and see if the time has not come to develop yourself or find new holders that could move you closer to your goal.
A good ladder holder should be:
- Strong and not fragile, governed by his or her emotions. He should be open to instruction and correction. Don’t hire people that depend on you to make them happy…
- Teachable. A person that knows everything better is normally difficult to integrate into your business’ culture and way of doing.
- Attentive and a fast learner.
- Firm and not fickle or open to manipulation by others.
- Faithful and a good team player, having faith in the leader or supervisor.
Growth is a choice. If your ladder holder chooses not to grow, it should not hamper your own growth, resulting in your being stuck where you are.
