You want a team that is willing to challenge themselves, test themselves, believe higher and reach farther – but how can you ask them to do so if you’re not doing the same yourself? How can they respect you if you’re not doing the same?

You can’t just approach someone and say, “I want you to make this number of phone calls. Or, I want you to build this thing. Or, I want you to see these patients. Or, I want you to talk this way.” You have to show them. When they see you creating incremental changes and gaining a better result, you’re a living example to them of what they should do. The more of an example you are, the more people will respect you as a person. They will admire you.

They can like you. They can love you. But here’s the truth: only when they respect you as a leader, they’ll follow you.

People aren’t going to follow you just because you have owner behind the name on your business card. However, they are much more apt to follow when you intentionally focus your energy on their personal, professional, and financial growth and align their interests with the interests of the business. Start to develop them, raise their belief level, raise their effectiveness level, (man, you want to watch somebody glow, show them how to be twice as effective at what they do) show them how to earn more income by doing things smarter not harder.

Demonstrate to them that you respect others and focus your energies on their development and their success. Work with them so they can see themselves as part of the contributing team. When your people can see this (and they see everyone is treated the same way), and you’ve aligned their interests, they will become loyal. Better yet, they become courageous. They become more successful. And success breeds more success.

So, if you want people to follow you, you’re not going to accomplish this by telling them to do so. They have to see you as an example. They have to respect you.