There are times when you can look at leadership from more than one viewpoint.  Many people feel that leadership is guiding people in a specific direction to accomplish specific things in a specific way.  There is also a view of leadership which involves getting people to follow what they will.  This view requires learning what they will follow.
Then there is a need to be able to see into people and learn what their uniqueness is and what their viewpoint on various things and situations is.  Also, you may need to become a student of their biases and the blocks that they impose in situations.  You need to understand people and what the situation requires and what each individual can and will contribute to the situation.
Many times leaders are endeavoring to lead specific people in a direction to accomplish goals.  Sometimes these people drift from the agenda because they are not a match for the situation.  You may hear comments like “I told you this would not work,” because a person was not a match for the situation and was biased against it.
You may have heard the statement “you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink.”  You can involve someone in a project, but you may not be able to have them take ownership of their portion of the project.  You may need to learn what you are able to lead these people to accomplish, if anything.  You may need to try them in various situations and test the effectiveness of the result before they are involved in major projects.
If a person has not been as effective as required, you need to determine if they can be effective and if so, where?
Who can replace them in projects?  One of the main things to consider, is that you need to believe in and have patience with the process of where people will fit and what you will be able to lead them to accomplish.
You need to put time and effort into being effective and doing this well.
Gary Haggart, CPC, is a management, marketing and performance development consultant, facilitator and problem solver.  He can be reached at 661-259-2530.