The first thing to learn about leading from within an organization is that you aren't trying to usurp someone else's authority or carve out some “position” for yourself. You want to act in a way that supports the organization. As a leader, you aren't just going through the day doing what you have to. You're going out of your way to do what you can.

Sense of Duty

Duty seems old-fashioned these days. You hear few people talk about it, but it is vital to leadership from within. Duty is a concept that says people have an obligation to behave in particular ways and undertake tasks because of an allegiance to something greater. One might feel a duty to family or friends, to an entity, or to an idea. The exact nature of an obligation isn't as important in this case as the necessity of fulfilling it.

You can't lead from inside an organization if all that motivates you is your own self-interest. You can't dismiss self-interest, but, really, there are better and more efficient ways of serving it. And you can't lead inside an organization if you feel no bond to it and its mission. If you do have the connection, then you are acting from duty, which is something you can practice in many ways under different circumstances.

It's necessary to remember why you do something if you are actually to accomplish it. You can easily lose your way, winding up doing something completely different that doesn't really achieve what you wanted in the first place. Act from duty, though, and you keep the fundamental principle before you.

Be Committed

Acting from duty also isn't enough without commitment. It is one of the most common human traits to begin something and then, for whatever reason, to give up — usually while telling yourself that it's either not your fault or fooling yourself into thinking you accomplished what you wanted to. Listen to others and to yourself and hear the excuses. Don't beat yourself (or others) over this because it is part of human nature. To lead, however, you need to get beyond the willingness to give up. You must insist on doing what you have said you will do. Duty may support the end, but commitment is about the means and the process — the journey. You can't lead if you don't want to go where you must or if you aren't willing to keep putting one foot in front of the other. This is why duty and commitment are crucial.

Don't Wait for Others

People often abdicate their own responsibility and look to those in power instead. They assume the person in charge will take care of all the problems. But a funny thing happens. When you wait for the powers that be to ride in like the cavalry, they never show up. Ironically, that's largely because those authorities can't make things better. At best, they can rally others and help channel their help into useful action.

As you can see, the powers that be are actually highly dependent on all the other people in the organization. You wait for them, but in reality, they wait for you. It's a circle that can keep you chasing your own tail for years. The only way out is to become a leader by doing. When you stop waiting for others, they may find that you're the one they've been waiting for, giving you more freedom than you might think.

Must Do

It seems clear that if you're going to become a leader from within an organization, you need to take action. It's not enough to want to take action. You have to know that you need to take action.

People don't act without reason. What compels them may be selfish or selfless. They may work from intellectual curiosity or emotional fervor. Their motives might be well thought out or they might come on utter impulse. The one constant is that there is something they want. If they wanted nothing from the situation, they would do nothing.

You need a must, an imperative that comes from your belief in the goals or principles or even possibilities of the organization. It's good if you have personal reasons as well, but only if they augment the desire to help the group in its endeavors. If you act solely from your own desires, then you won't be leading. You'll be running a con job to get what you want — and people will know it.

When you act from something higher, however, you offer inspiration and vision because you are connecting action with principle, and that is motivation. You're offering an opportunity to experience something that is rare in the world. That's a big reason why people respond. They want a taste of that in their lives.