Leading Your Tribe
I got an email from someone on my team the other day with an interesting question. He was reading the book “Tribes” on my recommendation. And he was wondering what was the line between being a leader for our group and being duplicable.
It’s a great question, and an interesting scenario…
Here’s my take on all this. Start with premise number one, your team needs you to lead them. And premise number two, you want to lead them by following the formula for duplication:
Lead a large group of people, to do a few simple things, for a sustained period of time. Here’s the distinction:
Your team needs to see you as a leader because they like to follow leaders. They want to see you on the platform at opportunity presentations or trainings. And they want to know that they can come to you for coaching. So you need to fulfill that role.
But as you lead, you want to lead through the system. Through the simple actions that the large group can duplicate. It takes some discernment, but it’s very doable. And do it you must, if you want a huge successful group.
So how are you doing on this?
-RG
Your Team has to trust, respect and know you’ll lead them by showing them the right path.
As long as the SYSTEM is Simple and Duplicable and the Leader along with the Team does not stray off the SYSTEM; then there is no need for problems to arise.
Any Leader can Lead “The Pack” and a very large one as long as everyone follows suit and in the right direction.
You rock Randy,
I also think that, when you are not sure if going with premise 1 or 2 always go for premise number 1: be the leader, solve the problems, make it happen. If you go for premise #2 at the wrong moment your team can feel like you left them behind, so, let them do alone everything they can, but be really aware of the moments they need you… Don´t mistake letting them grow with leaving them alone.
Yes, it is the easiest way and it is working!
Thanks Randy
I could be wrong, but I’ve always thought that the better the system, the less need for leadership. When the system isn’t great, people need to fill in the gaps.
I myself am looking for that balance still!
Randy,
Hi from Peru, South America. Please help us!
Talking about leading your tribe…In your manifesto you stated that if your company or leader is only focused on recruiting more people instead of selling the products, then you´re practically working at a legal pyramid. I agree.
We just had a discussion on this matter, because that´s the case of my company, and all top earners are only interested in recruiting. They told me: Erick, there´s 3 types of persons in the biz. The Networker (which only recruits), The Sales Type (which apart from recruiting, sells), and The Consumer (the one that is in for the discounts). It´s Ok to be just a recruiter.
My answer was: Randy Gage makes more than US$100k per month because the people he has selling in his downline, not only for recruiting. That will never give him a steady paycheck.
They answered: Do you think that Randy devotes 80% of his time selling the gel products or training his people for efficient recruiting? Randy is a Networker, not a salesman. He mastered the art of recruiting and teaches that to his team. He doesn´t sell gel…
Don´t get me wrong, they all have your trainings and Duplication Nation packages, and they worship you. But I they got me thinking if just being a “networker” is OK.
Sorry for the long-ass post, but it will mean the world to me if you helped me.
Cheers,
Erick Gamio
They are correct when they say I spent the majority of my time working with the leaders that want to duplicate. I believe the retailers don’t need much help other than letting them know about new products, catalogs, etc. As long as your company has some kind of a preferred customer or customer direct program you can do that. If not, you’ll need to devote more time retailing. -RG
Thanks for the quick answer Randy!
So it´s OK to be more of a networker than a retailer if your company has the right program.
The last question: But if I personally don´t focus on being a great retailer, how can i spect that my downlines do? (which I want …in order to have residual income).
Am i killing my residual income because of duplicating the practice of being more of a netwoker than a retailer?, ’cause in the long run i’ll have a team full of “networkers which train networkers”, but no retailers to build my residual income.
Thanks Randy, you´ve been of great help!
Erick
Lima – Peru
No have no worries about that. there will always be people not willing or interested in doing the work and growth required to lead a team and they will just want to use and market the products.
-RG
I agree 100%….Leaders do the things others do not want to do but are necessary. Like doing the presentation, 3 way calls and organizing team functions. The good news is we all start as followers and we can all grow into leaders. It’s just a matter of a decision.
Paul
Hi Randy,
Initially I tried “leading by example”. I thought that by showing my leaders what do do, how to do it and what was expected of them, they would then feel comfortable doing it themselves. Didn`t work!
So I tried again. This time I appointed a task for each leader. By doing this at each weekly meeting, and by changing the tasks of each one, and asking each to present a a different section each time, I am eventually creating a team of leaders that are confident in carrying out the different roles that a leader needs to master, and hey…they are actually discovering that its fun!
To take it the next step and making duplicatable, they are now doing the same with the leaders they are promoting. They are discovering that it is rewarding to be at the front of the room and equally rewarding to see one of their downlines up front too!
Greetings from Brazil!
Vicki
Great job!
-RG
I suggest that you can read books
“Developing Leaders Within You” and Developing Leaders Around You” by John C Maxwell.
I’ve learned so much how to be a great leader from those books.
Hi Randy,
I agree with most of the statements made here to date however I do have an issue or concern I’d like you to address. In my company my leaders tried to follow a very similar system as mentioned by Vicki however things began to go stagnent and the same leader(s) were doing the presentations, the three ways week after week and then these leaders up and left the company, leaving thier team(s) in limbo. Some remained in NM but some left completely. The team(s) left behind with no leader, no contact, have in most cases also walked away.
How do you rebuild from this type of situation? The leaders played a big part in recruiting their teams and yes they must have also saw and believed in the company as well but the belief took a huge hit when direct leadership left. What do you suggest, or anyone else out there suggest is the next step? How does one recover personally and how does one rebuild a broken team?
This is a very interesting situation and I would like to deal with it in a future post. It’s a real issue for a lot of people and deserves a deeper look.
-RG