Connecting the TRIBE
Last week we talked about how we as guiding leaders can go about LEVELING UP our tribes. Once we find them, it is our job to lead them with authenticity and intentionality. Actions always speak louder than words.
But to move the tribe forward, we have to help connect the dots and align perspectives.
Connecting the TRIBE
Everything that we do as a tribe is advocacy. It is all about perspective. It is only at the fourth and fifth stages of development (see last week’s post) that the perspective begins to switch from the individual self to the tribe’s relational capacity. Connection between tribes turns into something entirely different, and that is where movements begin. True power comes when tribes begin to see themselves as part of a bigger picture.
As Becky Brodin says, “leadership is not about wielding authority – it is about empowering people.”
The question, then, becomes how does the guide create opportunities, or moments of intentional connection within the tribe?
As leaders, all of us want to improve the experience of the people we care about. We want to be a part of helping create memories that matter and impact for a lifetime. As the guide in the plot of our stories, we have the opportunity to author these defining moments of connection that help bring the tribe together.
And that is a story worth sharing!
Groups unite when they struggle together towards a meaningful goal that is collaboratively, clearly, and effectively articulated. The job of the leader is to guide the tribe through that process as the authoritative and empathetic voice of reason.
That is how great leaders empower their tribes!
Snozzberries?
In 1971, the movie Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory was released starring the late Gene Wilder. In the film, there is a touching scene where Willie Wonka (Wilder) states that “The snozzberries taste like Snozzberries!” Veruca Salt responds arrogantly, “Snozzberries? Who ever heard of a snozzberry?” Wonka grabs her cheeks, pulls her face towards him and gently replies with words taken from the poem Ode, first penned by the English poet Arthur O’Shaughnessy in 1873:
“We are the music makers,
And we are the dreamers of dreams,
Wandering by the lone sea-breakers,
And sitting by desolate streams;
World-losers and world-forsakers,
On whom the pale moon gleams:
Yet we are the movers and shakers
Of the world forever, it seems.”
Movers and shakers are those that dare to dream. They have the ability to cast a vision of the unknown. Willie Wonka got that and so did Herb Brooks (see the blog post from two weeks ago). However, it goes beyond just comprehension. Guiding leadership is about creating and sustaining a culture of belonging that actively amplifies the values of the collective tribe. The people you are around day in and day out are ready to follow you, if you are ready to lead them.
And the response of the tribe to that relational responsiveness of the guide?
Respect…love….listened to…understood…loyalty….connection. Real influence comes when tribes of similar cultures find commonality and connect together.
I am thankful for our tribe.
Our tribe needs you.
Be the guide your heroes need.
Let’s create a movement together.