Absence of leadership often counteracts the perfection of actions. So, Leadership is a must in all events in our life. Hello readers of leadership articles, today I am going to discuss Maxwell’s Law of Solid Ground. I have already discussed five laws of leadership as established by John C. Maxwell which you may have already seen.
The main theme of the Law of Solid Ground is trust is the foundation of leadership. Trust is an adhesive type element that holds an organisation and its leaders together. In order to build trust in your followers, you must exhibit consistent competence and character. A true leader cannot continue to break trust of people and continue to influence them at the same time.
Character matters in Leadership
Good leaders always avoid wrongdoing of all kinds and sound leadership has a moral foundation. Your people may give you a chance for mistakes you make occasionally. They may give you a breathing time for correction, for connecting others. If not, they will not trust you any longer. Without solid trust nobody is going to follow you and you will not grow as a leader. However, the people will not tolerate changes in your character.
Character communicates your consistency. If the leader has very inconsistent or changing character, people will not accept is as normal. Everything around a leader may get changed but his character must remain consistent. Character also communicates the potential to do something. If character is strong people trust him. They trust in his ability to release their potential. Character communicates respect. By making sound decisions, accepting mistakes and wishing and doing best for the followers, leaders earn that respect.
Steps to Apply the Law of Solid Ground
To apply the law of solid ground in your life, you can follow the following three steps:
- Assess how your followers think of you, especially how trustworthy you are. Check whether they openly share their opinions with you or not. Observe whether they give you bad news as readily as good news. If not then you need to find out whether they have any doubt about your character.
- You have spend time keeping focus on three important areas of character: Integrity, Authenticity and Discipline. Remain honest even if it hurts. Do right things and avoid doing wrongs. Connect with people.
- If you have broken trust, first apologize. If you can make correction, do so quickly. Then come to earn trust once again. Because, trust is the foundation of leadership. If foundation is weak, your leadership will collapse.
