Understanding What It Means To Be The Leader Of The Tribe

I was sent a question asking for an explanation of Tribal Leadership. Simply stated, when you join an organization you are becoming a member of that tribe. When you join the tribe you give up simply being and individual and begin to take on the identify of the tribe. While some tribes are more cohesive and effective than others, the entire work group is a tribe; you are only as effective as your tribe. The tribe is focused on the success of everyone, and everyone of the success of the tribe. The leader of the tribe is much more than a supervisor or manager. The leader takes an active interest in all of the members of his / her tribal members. They are willing to learn about the individual and what motivates or de-motivates the individual. They have the ability to meld the individual, with their strengths and weakness, into a single group focused on meeting the needs of the tribe.

The leader of the tribe has many responsibilities. They do more than give out orders and create evaluations. The have to look at the individual and determine if they are low performers or not. If the individual is a low performer then they are actually hurting the tribe through low performance. The leader will then have to rectify the situation for the greater benefit of the tribe. The leader must actually develop two way communication pathways where open and frank discussions can occur. Sometimes the leader is wrong and must be willing to listen to the rest of the tribe, which takes courage and the ability to set a side ones ego.  During the evaluation process, the leader has the courage to ask the tribal member what they, the leader, is doing wrong and how they, the leader,  can improve. This one step, often ridiculed by managers afraid to move to the leadership level, is the greatest step towards building trust within the rest of the tribe.

The key to successful Tribal Leadership is to understand the personalities of the individual team members, and then creating a message and context that you are a tribe: together the tribe succeeds or fails.