Tim and Travis were going back and forth on a topic near and dear to my heart, the development of others. Travis said something that made me stop, go back and re-listen to see that I heard it correctly. What I heard him say was, “You’re a river, not a reservoir”, which he then followed with more emphasis saying, “It’s never meant to just stop with you.” It was one of those “ah hah” moments for me.

A river is a wonderful analogy of a true leader. As I look back on leaders that I worked with in my career, I can tell you I worked with many great leaders who clearly were a “river”, but sadly, too many were “reservoirs”.

A reservoir is created to build up a supply of something, usually water, for future use. It’s about feeding and filling up the reservoir. When I think of those reservoir leaders I worked with, there were two consistent observations.

• They were in total control. All decisions were ones they made. If you worked for them, you asked, “what do you want me to do?” Patrick was one of those “reservoir” leaders. During our annual succession planning talent reviews, we examined the placement of each leader on a 9-box grid, which had two axis, one for performance and the other for potential to advance and grow. Patrick had placed someone in the box for the highest performance and the highest potential to take on more responsibility and grow. The moderator asked the obvious question, why had he placed her in such a high position. His response was, “because she does whatever I tell her to do.” Spoken like a true controlling leader.
• There is no leadership tree, i.e., those that work for them don’t become great leaders within or outside of the organization. Their team can’t think for themselves, they commonly respond, “I’ll have to see what ___ thinks.” If you ask them about their successes in developing leaders, they’ll point to a few people that have been with them for 15-20 years, primarily in the same role. They are great at catching fish for their team but taught no one how to fish for themselves.

When I think of leaders who function like a “river”, it’s much different. They bring life to other places down river, allowing even more growth. I find three common traits in these leaders.

• They give up control – Don’t mistake giving up control for not having it. They have it but they share it. They begin with a small amount of responsibility and once successful, they give more and more as they earn it. They can enjoy vacation time because their operation wasn’t totally dependent on them having the answer, because answers came from their team.
• They are teachers – If knowledge is power, they want their team to have the power. They constantly share their knowledge with their team, always explaining the “why” behind decisions. They ask team members, “what do you think?” and “why?”, then use their responses as a teaching moment to affirm their answers or to show what they didn’t see.
• There is a large leadership tree – River leaders recognize talent when hiring and then develop them to be even better. They celebrate team members’ successes. They celebrate when new opportunities come, even if it is a new position outside of the organization. Ask them about their leadership development successes and they can point to many successful leaders who once worked for them who are now very successful in different organizations. Many are even more successful than them. Their legacy is in others.

What type of leader do you want to work for? What type of leader do you want to be?

 That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither—whatever they do prospers. Psalm 1:3