Plotting The Course: Six Steps To Freedom
Edition: January/February 2012
Dave Anderson is someone many have looked to for assistance in expanding their business and leadership training. He is a superb author, columnist, trainer and speaker with a style that resonates with clients around the world. If you are fed up with the hyper-tolerance and politically correct trends, Dave is someone you’ll enjoy reading. Below is a quick excerpt of vintage Dave.
1: You’re never as good as you think you are, but you aren’t as bad as you used to be. The downturn provided clear evidence of the first part of this rule. Thinking you’ve “arrived” is arrogance. Realizing that you’re a work in progress and have a long way to grow is reality. Accepting this fact is the only thing that guarantees the second half of this rule applies to you.
2: The more your people need you, the less your organization does. Weak leaders want to be needed, whereas strong leaders want to be succeeded. This motivation prompts effective leaders to create the conditions for their people to succeed in their absence. These conditions include, but are not limited to, the establishment of clear vision, performance expectations, honest feedback, training, discretion and appropriate consequences for both success and failure.
3: Failing to develop a team that is able to perform well without you breathing down their neck render you as ordinary and expendable. If you want to become more powerful, start giving power away. The more power you hoard, the less powerful you are because you overload yourself with so much responsibility that you are unable to focus on executing the high-return activities found within your personal strength zone. Giving power away to others increases your power because you enable the people around you to operate at a higher level, as you are able to stay in your zone.
4: You overestimate your manager’s leadership ability and underestimate their capacity to grow in leadership. Management is about paperwork. Leadership is about people work. Most managers are far better with “stuff” than with people. Because of this they are more adept at maintaining your organization than they are at growing it. The good news is that leadership is developed, it is not discovered. Your people can improve their leadership skills if you provide the tools and opportunities to apply them. Failing to do so ensures that your business is over managed and under-led.
5: Don’t mistake tenure, experience or credentials for leadership. Leadership is performance and not position. It is a choice you make and not a place at a table where you sit. While you should appreciate one’s tenure, experience or credentials, keep in mind that those things don’t make anyone an effective leader. A measure of one’s leadership is found in their ability to perform and get results. Ceremonial leaders have titles and produce compliant subordinates. Effective leaders get results through committed followers.
6: The most important time to hold people accountable is when it seems less necessary. If your tire blows out while your car is idling in neutral, nothing drastic will happen. You’ll suffer a temporary loss of momentum and inconvenience, but you’ll survive. However, if you suffer a blowout while you’re driving 100 MPH, someone is going to die! Poor performers work much the same way. They break your momentum, which always hurts worse when you’re moving fast and setting records. Unfortunately, robust business periods are when most leaders turn a blind eye to accountability, because it doesn’t seem as necessary. Thus, they set themselves up for a breakdown when deficit performers eventually derail the train. Prune your team of non-performers while business is doing well and things are far more likely to continue going your way.
Questions or comments should be directed to plottingthecourse@tomberlin.net.
