Posts Tagged ‘delivering results as a leader’

Holding people to account is one of those areas that leaders often find challenging. Maybe it is because they have pre-conceived ideas of what it means to hold people to account. It certainly is not about being nasty or a bully.

• The first key to holding people to account is to be clear about what you expect of them. Too often expectations are vague or poorly stated which means people are left guessing. State your expectations in terms of results or outcomes.
• The second key is to be clear about how performance will be assessed. This might be using some sort of personal balanced scorecard or setting key milestones to be achieved if the person you are leading is working on a project or may even include the results of client feedback.
• The third key is to be clear about how you will let people account for their performance. This might be very formal but could just as easily be a fortnightly meeting where you follow up on progress, issues and actions being taken to address them as well as offering support where needed.
• The fourth and final key is to make consequences of not delivering clear. An important point here is to make a clear distinction between the one in a while failure to deliver and the repeated non delivery of what was promised. You only really need to bring the consequences to the fore when you are continually being promised but not seeing results delivered.

The truth is most people are happy to be held accountable for delivering results provided you have involved them, made expectations clear and support them in delivering results.

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps accountants and health professionals to become highly effective leaders and managers. You can sign up for his free audio e-course leadership success at www.goalsandachievements.co.uk.

If you are a leader you are first and foremost tasked with delivering results.  Continuously delivering results can prove challenging.  There are numerous obstacles, objections and setbacks to deal with.  At the same time, your ability to deliver results can be enhanced by doing some simple things.

Be Clear About The Outcome You Want

Vague objectives or outcomes produce sub-optimal results.  Getting clarity on results can really make a big difference.  Sometimes it is a case of sitting down and really specifying what you want to have happened once the result is achieved and working back from there.

Take People With You

All leaders need to have followers.  For people to follow you, it is essential that you can get their buy-in.  People need to be convinced what’s in it for them as well as what’s good for the organisation.  Don’t just try to impose your ideas, listen to and respond to people’s ideas, insights and concerns if you want to take people with you.

Balance Short and Long Term

It is easy to fall into the trap of looking for just short term fixes or responding to the here and now.  The challenge for the leader is to find the right balance between the short term day to day issues and the longer term vision.

The Bottom Line: Being a leader is challenging and you need to consistently deliver results, no matter what challenges you face.

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements Ltd works with accountants and health professionals to improve their leadership and management capability.  He invites you to sign up for his free audio e-course Leadership Success

As a leader, your job is to deliver results. Part of leadership success is staying on track.

So what are some signs that you might be off track?

1. You are right on everything and everyone else is wrong.
2. The focus is on you rather than results.
3. You are not taking important decisions that you know you need to take.
4. You are not utilising the skills and potential of your people.
5. You get obsessed when even small things go wrong.
6. You are inconsistent in the way in which you deal with people.
7. The primary focus of your time is on looking good rather than delivering what you are expected to deliver.

What else would you add?

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

A leader is first and foremost judged on the results they deliver.

Delivering results right now is a lot more challenging than in the past. So how can you keep delivering results in the more challenging times?

1. Be clear about what it is you are trying to achieve.
2. Focus your attention on those things that are going to have the greatest impact.
3. Keep your staff on board and involved when you have to make change.
4. Listen to your customers and what they want.
5. Make changes and monitor what works and what does not work.
6. Get the help and support that you need to achieve what you want.

What else would you add to this 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

As a leader, you want to achieve great results. Right?

So what are 5 keys that can help you to achieve better results as a leader?

Key 1:
• Getting clear on the result that you want to achieve.

Key 2:

• Getting the insights from others who can help you to achieve the results you want.

Key 3:

• Involving others in the decision process.

Key 4:

• Building a good team around you and getting them to do what they do best.

Key 5:

• Being ready to adapt and be flexible when things are not going to plan.

I wonder what else you would 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

You might be someone who is highly creative, generates lots of ideas and identifies areas for continuous improvement.  At the same time you know that the ultimate indicator of your success as a leader is the results that you achieve.  So what barriers might be getting in the way of you achieving success as a leader?

Barrier 1: Not knowing the outcome

If asked, could you clearly articulate what performance results or outcomes you are aiming to deliver for your organisation, function, team or even project?  Without absolute clarity on what you are trying to achieve, it will always be a struggle to achieve results.  Make time to clearly define the performance results or outcomes that you want to achieve.

Barrier 2: Lacking confidence

Having confidence encourages you to take action and taking action leads to results.  Sometimes as a leader you need to have the confidence to follow your gut instinct and take action when everyone else is urging caution.  In fact, many of the most successful leaders are those that have been willing to take action when the odds were against them.

Barrier 3: Lack of focus

I sometimes refer to having focus as knowing the 20% of the things that you spend your time and energy on that delivers 80% of your results.  When you start to use your time and energies much more effectively, you can start to make a step change in performance and the results you deliver.

Barrier 4: Lack of belief

We all have nagging doubts and fears that a particular course of action might or might not be appropriate.  The question to ask yourself is whether you believe that you have the necessary skills and attributes to respond to the stumbling blocks that will without doubt arise.

Barrier 5: Lack of determination

Any long term success in leadership is a marathon not a sprint.  Quick results are rarely sustained so you need the drive and determination to keep going long term.

Bottom Line- Successful leadership is as much about mindset and attitude as it is what you do.  The question is what positive mindset shifts do you need to make to become a successful leader?