It is all too easy when you are in a position of authority, for example, as a supervisor, manager, leader, parent, or politician, to feel that you have earned the right to behave selfishly. After all, that’s the way many people, including many of our role models, actually behave. Certainly temptations are always present. Each and every one of the small steps that are taken can be justified and then be followed by a commitment not to repeat them. You soon realize that you are taking another step and then another. Over time, you stop worrying about needing to justify yourself. You have surely earned the right to behave however you want and in the way that most others behave.

We seem to have gotten stuck in a rut, where the only strategy for personal success seemingly relies on getting everyone else to the ground. Since almost everyone follows the same strategy, it is difficult to see real alternatives. Especially since this strategy seems to lead to success. But it is an empty success. It is like a building eaten by termites. On the outside, everything looks good, but as soon as you touch it, it starts to fall apart. All strength, vitality and goodness has been removed from within. It takes very little for the facade to turn to dust.

This is the risk that many people take with their careers following a selfish strategy. If things go wrong, they have no strength or support left, everything has been eaten up by their selfish actions in the past. There is another way to be successful. Is not easy. It takes hard work, commitment, and effort. But it leads to better, stronger, longer lasting and more robust success. One that can withstand the nocks and setbacks that will inevitably arise and helps you deal with them.

That’s the value of the selfless approach to leadership. Selfless leadership is defined in pioneering research by Dalton and Thompson that led to the four-stage contribution model. Effective leaders consistently demonstrate Stages 3 and 4 behaviors.

Read on for some thoughts and ideas to help you on the path to becoming an effective and selfless leader.

Selfless leaders take the time to develop and act on the following;

1. Consistently ‘letting go’ of detailed work. The selfless leader knows that her job is to understand the big picture. To help interpret what is happening out there for the benefit of those within. You can’t do this if you spend your time doing too much detail work. This is what the selfless leader delegates to others.
2. Focus more on the results achieved than the exact methods of completion. Don’t assume you have a monopoly on the best way to get the job done. Different people work in different ways. Value and encourage this diversity, even if it leads to awkward moments. Encourage your people to learn to better understand your more and less effective ways of working. And do the same with your staff.
3. Take the time to learn more about the organization and expand your understanding of the market.. You cannot be effective if you only “see” the world through your narrow, specific functional area. Learn to appreciate the context in which your organization operates, to better understand what other functions contribute to the purpose and overall success of the organization.
4. Participate in activities outside their functional area of ​​expertise.. An extension of 3 above. Get involved in additional tasks and projects that expose you to different areas of the business. Learn, learn and learn a little more. Meet people, meet them. Build strong, supportive relationships. These relationships are the foundation of your future success. Treat them how you want to be treated and you will earn their respect.
5. Delegate the best assignments or choice assignments as well as routine. It’s so easy to reserve the best and most exciting projects and assignments for you. So easy and so selfish. Whose! Let your people take care of them. Let them learn from them. Show that you care about their best interests. It will help ensure that they develop their skills, increase their commitment and their motivation. That means they are more likely to approach essential but mundane day-to-day tasks with the same enthusiasm and commitment.
6. Making time to help others. Be generous with your time and share your skills, experiences, and ideas with others.
7. Let others learn from your mistakes. If you want people to learn, you have to let them have a little rope and, from time to time, hang themselves. It is much more effective than telling them what will happen. Of course, they may surprise you. What you expected to fail can turn out to be a success. Either way, giving people room to fail sometimes without getting shot is another powerful way to build their confidence, skills, and motivation. As a selfless leader, your role is to give them that space. It does so by having measured and understood the risks. That is still your responsibility.
8. Allow others to come up with their own answers to problems.. Too much storytelling turns people off. If you persist in giving people the answers to their problems, they will soon stop trying to learn for themselves. They quickly become dependent on you. You will find that they cannot take the initiative. Avoid this by becoming a great coach. Train people to help them figure out the answers for themselves. Step by step you will develop stronger and more effective people, who will see you as the great selfless person that you are. Someone who has helped others to be successful.
9. Allow others to be the ‘experts’. When he was climbing, he was expected to be the expert. That’s what your reputation was built on. Now that you’re at the top, you need to stop trying to be the expert. Let others do that. It is one of the most difficult aspects of being a selfless leader. Because every fiber of your being wants you to stay in your comfort zone. You were there, you did it, and you got the shirt. So what? You cannot be a functional expert and be good at leading. What you, your staff and the company need is for you to increase the breadth of your knowledge.
10. Sharing the credit when others succeed. Be delighted when others do great work. Make sure your successes are communicated. Promote them instead of yourself. Let them become your ambassadors. Others will see this and decide that they want to work for you. You will have access to the best talent in your organization.
11. Sharing your internal and external networks with others. Selfless leaders know that their primary role is to ensure the success of their organizations. Connections and networks have the power to achieve this, so they happily share their networks and make the necessary connections.
12. Successfully selling or defending the ideas and work of others. If someone has a great idea, be open to it. Support and promote it actively. Avoid the “not invented here” syndrome. You don’t have time for negative or isolated thoughts. Only insecure selfish managers take this approach.
13. Allow others to do their work without micromanaging them. Micromanaging is the hallmark of the Selfish Manager. For the disinterested leader it is something to be avoided at all costs. Letting go, through effective delegation, builds your staff’s confidence and increases their trust in you. It does the same for you. As your people increase in capacity, so does your trust in them and you let yourself go even further. Over time, you build a team of people who can do more, faster than you could ever accomplish on your own.
14. Coordinate and successfully integrate the work of others to create business solutions.. This is the primary role that selfless leaders play. They create better futures based on the work of others. They do this by harnessing people’s talents and passions to deliver much more than what one person could do for himself.

If you can approach the rest of your life as a selfless leader by showing true and unconditional ‘generosity of spirit’ to all those with whom you work, live, and play, sooner or later you will reap considerable benefits.