In the season finale of the Mafost Mashup, we discovered some major problems groups must overcome before they can be effective.

Here’s one solution to these problems: Your Importance.

Positional leadership is not enough. To lead with bold empathy, you’ll need to increase your importance to the people in the group. Your positional authority alone is not enough.

Your importance to a group of people increases as a result of three factors:

• Credibility.
• Likeability.
• Trusted as a person, not just a position.

To increase importance to a group of people, to a team of teachers:

1. Gain the group leader’s endorsement. This could be the official team leader, or it could be the unofficial leader(s) of the group.
2. Use emotional debt. Give, give, give, and then ask. You’ll never (almost never) have to direct or mandate when you use emotional debt. This is the idea behind servant leadership.