Posts Tagged ‘leadership challenges’

Here in the UK we are on the final run up to a general election.

What’s clear is that whichever party is in power there are some significant challenges ahead.

As early as the day after the election was announced, we saw the value of the pound fall against other currencies and part of the reason was a lack of coherent plans.

While the absence of coherent plans is most visible right now in government, business is no different.

When changes need to be made, people want to know what is going to happen.

Vague ideas and statements merely add to the rumour mill.

The clearer you can be about the plans you have to tackle the challenges, the more convincing you can be.

The more convincing you can be, the more influence you are likely to be able to have.

So, as a leader, are you being crystal clear in how your organisation is going to tackle the challenges ahead?

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 face many challenges.  There are however some top challenges that you need to address to achieve success.  So what are they and what can you do about them?

Challenge 1: Human resources management

Attracting, retaining and managing talent is one of the biggest challenges you face as a leader.  The best people are becoming more conscious of the choices that they make when deciding which organisation to join.  They want to be sure that the organisations they work with take their development seriously and have a structured approach to developing and growing people.   Take the time to look at how effectively you and your organisation are when it comes to recruiting, retaining and managing your best talent.

Challenge 2: Change resistance

Change in business is inevitable.  Even if you have had a period of reasonable stability, it won’t be long before you need to take some action to move your business forward or stay competitive.  Change can only be accomplished through others and yet people are often resistant to change.  As a leader it is important that you recognise that resistance is part of the cycle of making change.  You need to allow the time and space for people to come to terms with the change and then support them to make the change.

Challenge 3: Short term focus

In organisations there is a tendency to focus on the short term.  Leaders are expected to deliver results at rapid speeds and if they don’t they can find themselves relieved of their role.  While it might be tempting to focus on short term, quick wins, the outstanding leaders are those who created long term sustained success.  As a leader, commit to long term success and develop a compelling strategy to achieve that long term sustained success.

Challenge 4: Finding good managers

You might have the best team of leaders around but unless you also have good managers you will struggle to get results.  Managers are the key bridge between the strategy, action and results.  They are the people who make things happen on the ground on a day to day basis.  As a leader you need to find and develop your managers so that they deliver the performance levels that you need.

Challenge 5: Surviving the downturns

The economy and market place will not always be thriving and there will be downturns from time to time.  As a leader you need to put in place plans so that you can survive and continue to prosper during downturns in the economy.  This includes making sure that you are creating some reserves, that you have a portfolio of different offerings and having a structured and systematic approach to risk management.

Bottom line – Being a leader is demanding and success is never guaranteed.  So what challenges do you need to address to thrive as a leader in your organisation?

If you are leader right now you are likely to be facing some challenging times and if not, chances are they will not be long in coming round.  The current economy coupled with the continued media coverage of those organisations that are struggling mean that even the most optimistic of leaders probably has some element of doubt about the future.

Like any challenge, before you can start acting, you need to get crystal clear about the size and scale of the challenge you face.  So how can you do this?

1. Look at reports that contain the facts about how the business is performing.  These reports might not make great reading but they will give you a clear picture on performance.
2. Ask the people who are closest to the point of service delivery what they are noticing.  For example sales people might be seeing the number of leads slowing down or that the time it takes to closing a sale increasing.  Distribution people might be seeing stock levels building up or particular lines of product moving at a slower rate.
3. Stand back and work on some scenarios on the impact on the organisation if certain things happen over the next few weeks months and even years.  Starting with a best, worst and most likely is a very simple but highly effective way of doing some forecasting.
4. Research and look at trends in how the market is going right now and the outlook for the market or sector.

Planning to action starts with getting clear on the size and scale of the challenge you face.  So what other tips would you add to identify the size and scale of the challenges you face as a leader?