Two Vital Abilities Any Leader Must Have
As a business owner, you are a leader whether you like it or not. Whether you like it or not you have to guide your group in order to expand your organization. And whether you like it or not, there are some difficult situations that you have to confront and handle -- hopefully in a way that inspires confidence in you from your staff. I commonly say that in order to be successful you only need to be right 51% of the time. You really don't have to be much more right than that to make it. Fortunately or unfortunately the more correct you are in your actions, decisions, policies, directions and programs the more agreement you get from your group. Some people, one would say, are natural born leaders. I believe a natural born leader is one who is right more than 51% of the time, but even more importantly is willing to be wrong 49% of the time. He or she is willing to make the difficult decisions organizationally in planning, administration and justice within the group. The group then respects him or her for making the call and is more likely to support the leader in future decisions. If a business owner has guided his organization to high levels of prosperity over a period of time, when that business owner presents a new plan or goal to the staff they are likely to support it because that leader has demonstrated a majority of correct decisions and actions in the past. Conversely, if a business owner has not guided his organization to desired levels of success in the past, when that business owner presents a new plan or goal to the staff they are likely to disagree with or not comply with the plan because the leader has demonstrated a majority of incorrect decisions and actions in the past. Business owners I have met commonly know what they should do but most of the time they lack the courage to make the decision and act. I see this so often - an owner knows exactly what he needs to do to expand his organization or handle a particular staff member, but chooses to do something else; something easier to face, something easier to confront. This choice, in essence, makes him do the wrong thing. A real leader is one who does the right thing for the group even if it doesn't win a popularity contest. If you formulate a positive plan, if you get agreement on it from your staff, if you are not weak about your orders and if you follow through and get compliance, you will expand. We find in a less courageous leader an inability to issue an order and probably more importantly the lack of the ability to get compliance to that order. These are two vital abilities that any leader must possess. The ability to make the call and the ability to make sure it gets done. If you were able to face things in your organization without flinching or avoiding, if you were able to make the tough decisions and knew you were at least 51% correct in those decisions, if you were able to get others to get the work done and enforce compliance to your orders, you would find you would become significantly more successful and you would sleep better at night. What do I mean by that? Let's say you are looking at trying to solve a problem and you work out the solution. But the solution, however simple, is difficult to face. Perhaps it requires the determination of a staff member. Perhaps it requires changing how you have always done things. Perhaps it has the possibility of upsetting someone. So you choose to do something else. Something less right, or something more wrong. And when it doesn't turn out exactly the way you want it to, you look at this and although you might feel frustrated, you apathetically write it off as experience. But if you have the ability to face it, if you have the ability to tell that staff member something that you know might initially upset him/her and in the end gain the agreement of the staff member that it is the right thing to do, you find that the stress associated with not facing something, is significantly higher than just facing it. Have you ever lain awake at night trying to figure out how you were going to handle a particular staff situation? Perhaps you have someone who is basically causing trouble whenever you are out of the office for a day or two. You find you are always calling in to check on this staff member to see if he or she is causing any difficulties or problems for others in your absence. You think about this person all of the time. Basically you know you should fire this staff member, but you lack the courage to do it. Your group is looking to you to handle it. You lie in bed at night and think it through and what you dream up is something way more difficult to handle than just walking in and telling Joe that he needs to knock it off or he is gone. You should be a leader ? just implement what you know needs to be done and ensure that it gets done. That should be you. You know what to do. You know how to handle things. Your staff is counting on you. Can you do it without losing sleep? Maybe not at first, but when you do and see how easy it actually is you'll "sleep like a baby"! Shaun Kirk is President and Co-Founder of Measurable Solutions Inc., a consulting firm engaged in all areas of business management. Measurable Solutions trains entrepreneurs and executives how to be consultants to their own businesses, so they not only can expand their own business but any business. With his partner, he has built the most rapidly expanding company of its kind in the world. Visit his website at http://www.measurablesolutions.com
Related News
|
 |
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Introduction to the The Enneagram as a Leadership Tool
The Enneagram is a fascinating tool of nine orientations that enables us to gain insight into the depths of our true potential. It seeks to provide insight into how we fund our foundation of assumptions so they work for us or they don't! (In some ways it provides a generic Owner's Manual to Life! That little book we all hoped came with us to provide insightful directions on how to employ us and treat us with care.)
Embracing Adversity for Achievement
"Show me someone who has done something worthwhile, and I'll show you someone who has overcome adversity." -- Lou Holtz
Using Your Intuition
"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure."
-Nelson Mandela, Inaugural Speech, 1994
3 Cs Leaders Must Communicate!
"Of every noble work the silent part is best,
Of all expression that which can not be expressed"
- William Wetmore Story
People or Objects? - - You Decide
"How you think determines how you act. How you act, in turn, determines how others react to you."
3 Dynamic Techniques To Boost Your Executive Leadership!
Here's a really simple way to measure the strength of
your executive leadership skills. Ask your people to name 3
important reasons why they enjoy working with you.
In Leadership, The Eight Ways Of Right Action (Part 1)
The ancient Greeks had a saying: "When Aschines speaks, the people say, 'How well he speaks,' but when Demosthenes speaks, the people say, 'Let's march against Philip!'".
Reinventing Failure: Designing Success
I am fascinated by problems. I like to think of myself as a solution oriented individual. However when problems creep into my life as they always do I know that I am in for a major learning experience.
Leadership Development and Jumping Out of Airships
A German silent film melodrama depicts an airship bombing London during World War I. Lit up by searchlights and strafed by fighters, the crippled airship loses altitude as the captain frantically jettisons dispensable gear to lighten weight. Eventually, the only weight left is human. So the captain orders members of the crew overboard. A grisly scene unfolds as the airmen, one by one, without parachutes, step up to the hatch, salute the captain and the first mate, then jump to their deaths. Lightened, the airship returns safely to Germany.
How To Party Like Leonardo Da Vinci
After studying scores of great thinkers like Leonardo Da Vinci, I think I've stumbled upon what really set them apart from the rest of the folks living (and thinking) at the same time.
Pay No Attention To The Man Behind The Curtain!
As the 'Great And Powerful Oz' once said to Dorothy, "Pay No Attention To The Man Behind The Curtain!" and as you know, appearances can be deceiving they are also one of the first things people judge others by. For instance, you recall the old saying 'Never Judge A Book By Its Cover?' well guess what ? we still do!
What is Leadership?
Leadership is what every organization needs and so few have in adequate supply. Part of leadership is what the first President Bush called "the vision thing". It's the ability to see what does not exist and then gather, mold and shape the resources needed to make it happen.
Why Not Lead With Emotions?
Studies have shown that companies that have acquired competencies to lead with emotional excellence are far more productive and efficient because of the impact emotional excellence has on employee morale, loyalty, retention and overall performance of the organization to name a few.
Lessons In Leadership: What Not To Do... From A Canoe!
When it comes to fishing, my husband takes the lead. But his lack of leadership ability in a recent canoe trip on the Boundary Waters in Northern Minnesota offered wonderful lessons on how leaders can unknowingly screw up.
Helping Others Develop Their Potential
Most of us find ourselves in a position to help others achieve more of their potential than we realize. Sure, as leaders, supervisors, and parents we can see ourselves in that position; but the fact is that all of us are uniquely qualified to help at least one other person in our lives reach their potential. I believe it is part of our purpose in life to serve others in this way ? to encourage and support people we care about in becoming their best selves.
Ask Yourself Whats In It For WE?
"Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success." - Henry Ford
Building Teams and Teamwork
A tight knit team is a group of competent individuals who care deeply about each other and are fiercely committed to their mission. They are highly motivated to combining their energy and expertise to achieve the common objective. From our observation and studies on building teams, we have found three primary conditions that have to be met in order to attain higher levels of team performance and member satisfaction.
Resources and Commitment
Ownership and Heart
Learning
These three conditions are the heart and soul of teamwork but are not blueprints. Every team is unique, and the requirements and details of its teamwork have to be worked out separately. Let's look closer at condition number two ? Ownership and Heart.
In Leadership, Good Enough Is Pretty Bad
The first time I meet a leader to decide if we should work together, I invariably ask one question. The answer to that question gives me an idea of whether we'll have a productive relationship. The answer also tells me how the career of that leader might turn out.
Professional Organizations: Join or Fold?
All of us join professional organizations for a reason--a friend belongs, we need to for credibility, etc. Many times we let years slide by and we don't stop and review those reasons. Unless something sets off a boundary--lack of funds, the organization runs itself into a ditch, or a leadership problem.
Leaders Click It? Into Gear!
"Click It" Into Gear!
|
