Working as an accountant in major organisations for over 25 before setting up my own business in 2006, what I consistently noticed is that it was not the most technically gifted people who got to the more senior level posts.

I know that even though I climbed the career ladder from a Payments Clerk to Finance Director, I was not the most technically gifted accountant.

On the other hand I was always interested in the organisations I worked in, was able to build relationships and take on challenges. Contrary to many people I found having the opportunity to manage and lead people and be involved in key projects really rewarding.

Of course like most people I made mistakes and tried to learn from them.

So I am wondering what other people find it takes for people to break through into senior management?

Would love to hear your views and insights, so why not go ahead and leave a comment.

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps accountants make the breakthrough from highly regarded technical professionals to highly effective managers and leaders. To sign up for his Weekly Leadership and Management Tips click here

1. Be clear about the outcome or objective when making a presentation.
2. Research your audience and know their level of expertise.
3. Think about the key questions that they will need answered or reassurance on.
4. Tailor your presentation of the ideas to answer the most important questions that the recipients of the presentation have.
5. Practise, practise, practise rather than relying on getting it right first time.

What else would you add to the list?

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps accountants and health professionals to achieve success and realize their professional potential through being highly effective leaders and managers. For more information and to sign up for his free audio e-course click here

1. Know what your priorities are.
2. Plan your time utilisation to focus on your priorities.
3. Periodically record where you are spending your time so that you can be sure that you are spending it appropriately.
4. Do what you do best and delegate or dump the other things.
5. Get the team you lead or manage taking on the things that they do best.

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps accountants and health professionals to achieve success and realize their professional potential through being highly effective leaders and managers. For more information and to sign up for his free audio e-course click here

As a manager, you will more than likely be required to set objectives those that you manage.

So how do you go about doing this?

Think about what results are to be achieved

There are probably some results that your team has to achieve. Chances are the results will be dependent on all of your team delivering their specific contributions so make a point of linking personal objectives to team results.

Specify outcomes, not actions

Start writing objectives in terms of outcomes or deliverables. A one day reduction in the monthly reporting cycle is an example of a clear outcomes based measure. Reviewing the month end process is an action.

Ask yourself, can I measure this?

If you cannot come up with a way of determining whether the individual is on or off track in achieving the objective, chances are it is not sufficiently clear.

Get the other person to tell you what they think they are being asked to deliver

Seems blindingly obvious but I wonder how many managers use this strategy? Simply asking the person to play back their understanding of what you are expecting can eliminate confusion.

The Bottom Line

Truth is, setting clear objectives can appear simple in theory but is often a real challenge in practice.

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps accountants and health professionals to achieve success and realize their professional potential through being highly effective leaders and managers. For more information and to sign up for his free audio e-course click here

If you are a leader or manager, chances are your personal drive, desire to get things done as well as your ability to get on with others got you to where you are right now.

As you become more senior, the success you achieve is as much about your ability to get results through others as it is about what you do personally.

So what are 6 reasons why you cannot do it all by yourself if you want to succeed as a leader or manager?

1. There is only one of you.
2. Your capacity is capped at 24 hours a day.
3. No matter how good you are at your job, there are going to be things that you are not very good at.
4. You are expected to manage, lead and get results through others, not to be the Lone Ranger.
5. If you do it all alone, you can only progress one thing at a time.
6. You deprive others of the opportunity to grow and develop if you try to do everything.

The Bottom Line

Success as a manager or leader in today’s complex and demanding business world can only be achieved through the efforts of many. So what do you need to let go of to achieve more success?

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps accountants and health professionals to achieve success and realize their professional potential through being highly effective leaders and managers. For more information and to sign up for his free audio e-course click here

Managing or leading a team does not come with a procedure manual which, if you follow, always gets the result that you want.

At the same time, there are certain things that you can do to get the support of your team:

1. Listen to their points of view, opinions or ideas.
2. Don’t assume that everyone will react with enthusiasm.
3. Acknowledge their worries or concerns at a time of change or uncertainty.
4. Explain not just the ‘what’ but also the ‘why’ when making changes.
5. Don’t see objections as being negative.
6. Reassure and explain to them how you will personally support them.
7. Use past successes as a way of showing how it is possible to overcome challenges.

What else would you add to the list based on your experience?

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps accountants and health professionals to achieve success and realize their professional potential through being highly effective leaders and managers. For more information and to sign up for his free audio e-course click here

While there are many books out there which tell you what you need to do to succeed as a leader, the truth is there is no magic blueprint.

At the same time, I believe that there are some things that you can do to set yourself up for success.

One of the most important, and often overlooked by all of us (myself included), is to make sure that you have some support in place.

Truth is it can be really lonely at the top and having someone divorced from the day to day challenges, like a coach or mentor, can really make a difference.

This type of support can help you through the initial challenges, offering you someone to talk through concerns with, provide you with some reassurance and provide you with strategies and ideas to accelerate the transition.

So if you are struggling as a new leader, take some time to determine what support could make a real difference in accelerating your progress.

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps accountants and health professionals to achieve success and realize their professional potential through being highly effective leaders and managers. For more information and to sign up for his free audio e-course click here

Taking your first step into leadership is probably one of the biggest career steps that you make.

While it is vital to learn about the tools and techniques of leading, it is also important to pay attention to making the mindset shift.

So what do I mean by making the mindset shift? I mean mentally making the shift to being a leader, which includes:

1. Recognising that you have to deliver different results.
2. Investing your time on those activities that contribute to the results you are now expected to deliver.
3. Accepting that there is going to be some discomfort as you take on new and bigger challenges.
4. Letting go of the stuff that you should not be doing any more.
5. Being ready and willing to make mistakes and learning from them.

Truth is much of stepping into leadership successfully is as much about attitude of mind as it is about what you do.

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps accountants and health professionals to achieve success and realize their professional potential through being highly effective leaders and managers. For more information and to sign up for his free audio e-course click here

Motivating a team of people is one of the biggest challenges facing leaders and managers.

Trouble is so many managers and leaders believe, often incorrectly, that money is a motivator. Yes, people need to feel like they are fairly rewarded for what they deliver. However, as research shows, money in itself is not a long term motivator.

So how do you find out what motivates people? Well, you could simply ask them. After all, it’s important enough to ask at the time of recruiting, why would it not be useful to check with people you have not employed periodically?

Once you have an idea what motivates people, you might want to:

1. Regularly praise people when they have done a good job.
2. Learn to see challenges and problems from their perspective and acknowledge their point of view.
3. Give them new challenges or opportunities to build their skills.
4. Get them to deputise for you at a meeting or while you are on holiday.
5. Make time for staying in touch with your people rather than just being tied to your desk.
6. Understand and help them to achieve their career aspirations.

The reality is that a lot of motivation is common sense. Sadly, it is often common sense which is not all that common.

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps accountants and health professionals to achieve success and realize their professional potential through being highly effective leaders and managers. For more information and to sign up for his free audio e-course click here

Meetings present the opportunity for people to come together to share ideas, learn from each other and move things forward.

At the same time, they can become a huge drain on resources.

So what can you do to improve meeting efficiency?

1. Make sure the purpose is clear.
2. Have an agenda with allocated time slots for each item.
3. Stop the discussion once the allocated time has elapsed.
4. Make sure that people are clear on what should and what should not be brought to meetings.
5. Teach people to listen effectively and use questions to clarify.
6. Make the meetings solution focussed.
7. Keep a record of action points rather than lengthy minutes.
8. Follow up progress between meetings and ask people to give brief updates in the meetings.
9. Have a clear start and end time.
10. Challenge whether you could use technology to improve meeting efficiency and focus.

Truth is, meetings can be a valuable contribution to achieving results or just a drain on resources. What describes your meetings best?

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps accountants and health professionals to achieve success and realize their professional potential through being highly effective leaders and managers. For more information and to sign up for his free audio e-course click here