by Venchito Tampon | Last Updated on December 7, 2024
John Maxwell’s 5 Levels of Leadership outlines a clear pathway for leadership development.
I highly recommend this book as a leadership trainer, speaker, and business consultant.
In this guide, I’ll walk you through the five levels that define the growth and impact of every leader and organization. I’ll also share my personal insights into how you can leverage them in Filipino leadership.
Level 1: Position
Leadership begins with a title or role. At this stage, people follow because they have to, not because they are inspired.
From the name itself, leadership relies on their authority to direct and guide others. So people follow them because of their position —that of a supervisor, manager, or director. It creates structure but the most basic level of influence.
Pro Tip: If you assess yourself in this position, you’ll have solid benchmark where to start. Determine ways to improve as a leader and better influence others.
Increase self-awareness and emotional intelligence. To be a great leader, you must understand that people follow you more than just the surface level—your job role. As soon as you understand it, you’ll grow into the next milestone of your leadership.
Level 2: Permission
Leadership progresses when connections form. The keyword here is relationships.
People follow because they want to. Trust and connection are key, as leaders earn influence by genuinely valuing others and fostering a positive team environment.
When your team members permit you to enter their professional lives, allowing you to serve as their mentor, coach, or advisor, it becomes easier to work with them and adjust to their working styles.
Have you noticed any bosses or managers who are always being left behind by their team, as if the team doesn’t want their boss around all the time? That speaks truthfully for leadership who are not in the second level—permission.
Permission allows you to get closer to your team. Given that high-performing teams require both results and relationships, it’s critically important to build professional connections with your team so you can get to know them better.
Pro Tip: Invest time in knowing your people. Learn the five languages of appreciation (framework by Gary Chapman) to identify what makes your people tick. From there, you can think of ways to connect with your people by valuing their work and them as human beings.
Level 3: Production
Results define this level.
People follow because the leader achieves tangible outcomes.
At this stage, leaders focus on team performance, driving productivity, and leading by example to inspire commitment and results.
Given that you’re a solid contributor to the team, organization, and even to your upper leaders, people see that you’re setting an example for them to work hard and smart to get the results.
At this leadership level, you help people produce the same or higher output so that the organization will be rewarded for your efforts.
Pro Tip: Learn how to transfer skills to your people through coaching and mentoring programs. Strategize how you can teach your team (not based on how you understand it), but more on how your team can learn from the knowledge and skills you’d like to transfer to them.
If you can identify gaps through training needs analysis, you’ll have a better understanding of the learning path and be able to execute coaching well enough, given that it comprises 70% of the 70-20-10 model in learning and development.
People learn much more in their jobs than they can acquire from formal training programs.
Level 4: People Development
Actual growth happens here. People follow because the leader invests in them.
This involves mentoring, coaching, and empowering others to become leaders themselves. At this level, leaders build a legacy by multiplying their impact.
People development is what leaders should aim for. More than the results you and your team produce, you’re much more concerned about how you can develop your team members.
In today’s work environment, the new workforce – Generation Z, is leaning towards personal and professional development. As they see themselves growing in the organization, it becomes a good reason for them to stay longer.
Pro Tip: Include people development in informal (casual) and formal interactions with your subordinates. As the team learns more about their daily work, you can advise, give feedback, or transfer knowledge.
As a consultant and corporate trainer, I challenge my participants to reach this level, as this is where true success starts. When they continuously develop themselves, the team will be more ready to adapt to the ever-changing needs of the market.
Level 5: Pinnacle
The highest level of leadership is earned through sustained excellence and integrity.
The reality is that it takes a long time for people to respect you as a leader. People follow you because of your values.
By seeing you as a great example of character and success, they would want to rally with you to achieve your professional goals and the goals of the organization. They’re no longer working just for the sake of earning money but for the true mission you carry as a leader.
Achieving the pinnacle is rare for corporate organizations, as most top leaders consider results to be their ultimate career goal.
However, genuinely successful leaders want to leave a legacy by developing their people and seeing them become better leaders in the future. Through servant leadership and other leadership types, they continuously invest in them, even sacrificing for them. They make the best efforts to see others grow through their example.
Pro Tip: Live by values and live a life of character and integrity. Pursue character development over anything else. Be true to yourself, as authenticity matters to being a pinnacle leader.
How to Move From One Leadership Level To The Next?
This framework provides clarity for leaders at any stage. Knowing how to level up from your current level helps you achieve your professional and personal goals.
1. Recognize your current leadership level.
Be self-aware. Check your current leadership level and be honest with yourself so you can create leadership objectives as soon as possible.
Without self-awareness and honesty, you won’t deal with the challenges accompanying your current leadership level.
If you’re at level 1 – position, start connecting with your people. If you’re at 2, be a person of results, not just as an individual contributor but as a holistic contributor to your team and organization. If you’re at level 3, learn to develop others through coaching and mentoring. If you’re at level 4, stick to your values and walk through it.
2. Take actionable steps to grow.
Develop yourself. Read books, attend seminars, and participate in in-house training programs that include soft skills training such as problem solving and decision-making, critical thinking, leadership communication, and management.
Do not rely solely on your organization’s training. Learn to invest your hard-earned money to further improve your knowledge and skills.
As you grow, you’ll see yourself moving from one leadership level to the next.
3. Become a person of influence.
A person of influence doesn’t need to manipulate others through words or actions. Because of their character and personality, they can move others to take action.
Learn body language and how it affects when connecting to others. As you improve your body language, you’ll see yourself effortlessly persuading others to do your favor.
4. Produce results and inspire others.
Make work efficient and effective. Produce the desired output to improve most of your work. By doing so, you’ll be seen as an asset by your company and someone worthy of investing in.
Inspire others to do the same so your team members can achieve what you have achieved (and even more). Leaders cannot motivate others. They can only inspire others to be self-motivated.
Professionals have self-motivation; you just need to tap it to give them the push they need to create fantastic work.
5. Develop future leaders and create lasting impact.
Your goal is not to do all the work all the time. Your role as a leader is to delegate tasks and decisions so others feel empowered to do their own work.
Through autonomy and trust, you can produce leaders from being just followers. From here, you can create lasting impact-producing leaders who can also grow others.
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