How Well May I Serve You?

All of us must have heard of this question at various places, “How may I help you?”. Leadership is not only about helping. It is also about serving people. As Dr. Tim Elmore defines,

“A Leader is an individual who Assumes responsibility for the Health and Development of Relationships for people around him in daily life”

So how does a leader serve? A leader serves by being a giver in his life. One can only give what one has. Thus, a leader needs to equip himself to elevate to higher levels of Leadership Knowledge, Skills and Attitudes.

In an AchieveGlobal’s research, when leaders across the globe were asked on how leadership has changed, what is still important that the leaders has to do, and what is important now that was not important before, the following areas or zones of leadership came up as essential for leaders today.

In Zone 1 — Reflection
You assess your motives, beliefs, attitudes, and actions, asking, "How can I make sure my blind spots don't lead me to make poor decisions?"

In Zone 2 — Society
You apply principles such as fairness, respect, and "the greater good" to balance individual and group welfare.

In Zone 3 — Diversity
You respect and leverage human differences such as gender, ethnicity, age, culture, and beliefs.

In Zone 4 — Ingenuity
You offer and execute practical ideas, and help others do the same, by creating a climate in which innovation can thrive.

In Zone 5 — People
Your ability to connect with others on a human level brings huge benefits, including improved communication of every kind.


In Zone 6 — Business
You develop strategies, make and execute plans and decisions, organize the work of others, and guide efforts toward predicted results.

Your leadership profile measures your tendency to follow recommended practices in these six leadership zones. The term "practice" refers to a range of behaviours and thought processes, describing things that leaders do, or something about which they have evolving thoughts and feelings. A "zone" is a category of practices required to meet key leadership challenges in the 21st century.

The above mentioned requirements as zones of developments indicate a leader’s progress in his role with his people and organization. So how can a leader understand that he is climbing the levels of leadership? The people around him place the leader at various levels of leadership based on his performance.

According to the 5 levels of leadership by Dr. John Maxwell, we understand that on the 5th level of leadership, the pinnacle is where people place you after your efforts for the organization or community.

The leader is first recognized by his designation at level one, but surely, he will not want to stay there for life. Soon, he has to move to the 2nd level of leadership where he starts building relationships. To reach the next level, simply building relationships is not enough. At level 3, the leader will have to produce results for himself and the organization. In this level, he will have followers as he is being looked upon as one contributing with results. The leader then decides to move up the ladder and start creating more leaders who in turn create more leaders. This is the multiplier effect. He has to spend a lot of time here at the level 4 of leadership and probably a lifetime before moving on to level 5 which is the pinnacle of leadership. Only others can place you there.

The six leadership zones, and the thought and determination of a leader to continually move up the levels of leadership, transform him to be an individual who can serve better to his organization and the society.