Leadership Tip Archive

Surround Yourself with the Best

View yourself as a Servant

by Ed Luttrell
National Grange Director of Leadership and Membership

Ever get discouraged and down? It could be that you have surrounded yourself with the wrong people. You need to surround yourself with the best people if you want to be a successful leader in your Grange.
The best people are other leaders who will help you keep that positive attitude. They will be friendly and have a “you can do it” attitude. When you get discouraged, they will encourage you. We feed off the emotions of those around us, so it is always to your advantage when you can be surrounded by the most positive people.
The best leaders will be open to new ideas and methods. They will challenge you to do it better each time. They will expect you to learn and grow as you take on new tasks and opportunities. Even more important, they will expect that you return their support as they grow as leaders. This becomes a circle that creates growth and improvement in both you and them.
Surround yourself with the best people and become a better leader in your Grange!

Being a successful leader requires you to build teams to get things done. If you are having problems building a team, try changing your view of yourself as a leader. When you start viewing yourself as a servant, you will find many advantages that will allow you to become a great team builder.
Servants are concerned with the well being and needs of those they serve. When your members believe that your first concern is them, they will be much more willing to step forward and become a part of the team. Take the time to get to know your members. Find out what they are interested in and what goals they may have. Then you can find ways to help them grow as people.
A second benefit of having a servant attitude is that personal recognition drops to the bottom of the your list. When we are only concerned with our fellow members and reaching out into our community to make things better, others are far more willing to commit their time and energy. Often few will volunteer for you, but many will volunteer for a cause they believe in. It is far easier to build a team when the team knows that all will share in the recognition rather than just a few.
Start viewing yourself as a servant and become a better team builder in your Grange!