Posts Tagged ‘leadership success’

Today’s letter is G.

G in terms of leadership success is about:

• Goal setting
• Giving effective feedback
• Gaining the support of others
• Gauging the impact of key decisions
• Getting honest feedback

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

Our letter for today is E.

E in terms of leadership success for me is about:

• Energy and being able to keep up the pace
• Engaging with all of the different stakeholders
• Eliminating wasteful or non adding value activities
• Encouraging others to bring forward their ideas
• Employing the right people

What else would you add to today’s 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

Today in our A to Z of Leadership Success we are going to be looking at the letter B.

B for me is all about:

• Building a great support team
• Believing in yourself
• Bringing out the best in others
• Balancing work and life

What favourites 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

I don’t know about you but I am continually amazed how some people automatically believe that successful people were always successful.

Truth is, in my experience, those that really achieved long term success were willing to go the distance.

What I mean by this is that they:

• Got clear about the results that they wanted.
• Found out what it would take to achieve them.
• Got the help and support to get there.
• Put in the effort and made the sacrifices to make it happen.

So my question to you is, are you willing to go the distance to get the success you want as a leader?

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

In this blog post, I thought I would do something different and share with you 9 books that I recommend for anyone with a real interest in leadership.

Leighton On Leadership – Alan Leighton
• What I really like about this book is the range of tips and ideas throughout the book from a wide range of business leaders. This adds and complements the great insights from Alan Leighton, the former boss of Asda and Chairman of Royal Mail.

The Five Dysfunctions Of A CEO – Patrick Lencioni

• This book has it all. It’s a quick read, written as a fable, and really pulls out the 5 key things that get in the way of leadership success.

Working With Emotional Intelligence – Daniel Goleman

• Reflecting back on my own career and now as a business owner, it has become clear to me just how much softer skills, emotional quotient or interpersonal skills matter to your success. In this book, Goleman shows how it all applies to the work environment.

The Goal – Eliyahu M Goldratt and Jeff Cox

• This is written as a story, like Patrick Lencioni’s book, but within the story are a ton of insights about what it takes to achieve results.

7 Habits Of Highly Effective People – Stephen Coley

• Simple, well written but with what appear really obvious habits. Sadly, these simple habits are not always applied when it comes to leading.

The Success Principles – Jack Canfield

• While not one that you might think would be on the list, the reason I have included this is that it contains a huge number of the attributes that are essential to leadership success.

Time To Get Started – Mark Fritz

• The real value of this book is that it provides some simple tips but, much more significantly, forces you to stop and think about what you are doing (or not doing) and why.

Time Management For Dummies – Clare Evans

• Don’t be deluded by the title. What I notice is that people, and especially senior people, struggle with getting things done. Clare does a great job at looking at the subject broadly and practically.

In Search Of Robert Millar – Richard Moore

• No, you won’t usually see this on the list of leadership books. Why I have chosen to include this book (which is actually about the career of a successful professional cyclist) is to show the personal commitment and desire needed to reach the top in anything.

Well, that’s my 9 favourites that I would put on the must read list. What others would you add? Why not leave a comment with your recommendations?

As a leader, you probably started out life in a particular discipline or function. In order to make the step successfully from functional expert to leader, it is vital that you have a broader range of knowledge. This includes:

1. Finance – you don’t need to be an expert in accounting but you do need to be able to make sense of a financial report.
2. Marketing – strategies, techniques, tactics.
3. Sales – and what motivates people to buy.
4. Production and processes – and how to make these as effective as possible.
5. Customer service – and customer relationships.
6. Technology – and how to use it to good effect in the delivery of objectives.
7. Strategy – and business planning.
8. Performance management – and performance reporting.
9. Human resources – and people management.
10. Corporate governance – and risk management.

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

Action 1: Do an honest self assessment

 

It might be tough to do but if you are serious about moving forward, you need to take a long hard look at where you are right now in terms of mindset, skill set, experience and personal attributes.

 

Action 2: Get some feedback

 

Feedback is hugely valuable to you.  Getting some insights from others helps you to understand where your strengths are and what you need to work on.

 

 

 

Action 3: Get clear on your priorities

 

The biggest concern I hear from professional people is that they are running at speed but still struggling to get things done.  We can all fill up our week or month with activities but you need to be focusing on the priorities.

 

Action 4: Set a few key goals

 

We are all (me included) inclined to be far too ambitious when it comes to setting goals for the year ahead.  When setting your goals focus on a few major goals that will have a significant impact on what you and your team deliver.  It might be process automation, updating a system, a new product launch, a new way of running meetings or a new way of reporting to name just a few.

 

Action 5:  Set aside time for leading and managing

 

A huge part of leading and managing is about making time for your staff.  Sadly many leaders and managers fill their calendar with lots of activities and forget about making time for staff.  You can be sure that there will be staffing issues during the year so plan with this in mind.

 

Action 6: Think about how you can add more value

 

Many organisations are currently facing or are likely to face real challenges in the coming year.  The people who step up to the plate and focus on adding value are likely to get noticed. Ask yourself how you could add value to the organisation.

 

Action 7: Think about your contribution to the wider organisational agenda

 

We all to a greater or lesser extent can get stuck in a silo mentality where we only think about our own function or department.  Those that aspire to be a leader know that they need to be able to contribute to the overall success of the organisation, not just within their functional area.

 

Action 8: Take on a new challenge

 

I don’t know about you but I often found that I delivered better performance when I took on a new challenge.  We all can to some extent become complacent and go with the flow if we don’t have a new stimulus.  Taking on a new challenge not only stretches you but builds your skills, experience and provides renewed motivation.

 

Action 9: Make more use of your team

 

As a leader or manager you have responsibility for a team.  If you want to get the best from that team you need to help each and every team member grow and develop.  This might mean delegating and empowering individuals more or even setting up a small action learning set to resolve a particular problem or challenge.

 

Action 10: Make a commitment to developing yourself

 

None of us know everything and we all need to continually work on our professional development.  Make a plan, set aside the time and take the action to develop yourself in 2010.

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps accountants and health professionals to become highly effective leaders and managers.  For more information click here

A new year presents a golden opportunity to take stock and set out plans for great success in the year ahead.  For many, achieving the results that they want as a leader or manager is an important area, not least because of the personal rewards it brings.  In reality, success as a leader or manager does not happen by chance, so what are the x key questions you need to answer to achieving greater success as a leader or manager in 2010?

 

What do you want to achieve by the end of 2010?

 

Seems like a really easy question but in truth it is one of the most challenging to answer.  When people sit down to formulate their response they often fall into the trap of coming up with vague statements that are meaningless.  To overcome this, take the time to write out in some detail what you want to achieve by the end of 2010.  Remember that your career does not operate in isolation from the rest of your life so think broadly.

 

Why do you want to achieve more success in 2010?

 

Mark Fritz the author of a number of books talks about the importance of the why being bigger than the what.  In essence what he is saying is that unless the reasons for wanting to achieve something compelling are crystal clear they will never become more than aspirations.  The why is what provides the drive and motivation to keep going no matter what the barriers are.  For each thing that you want to achieve keep asking and answering why you want to achieve that particular goal.

 

What detailed plans do you have?

 

Knowing what you want to achieve and why you want to achieve something is great but unless it is supported by a detailed plan or action steps the chances of success are greatly reduced.  For each goal that you want to achieve list out the series of steps that you need to take to achieve it.  This does not need to be 100% complete at the start and you can add to it as new ideas for actions come to mind.

 

What sacrifices are you ready to make?

 

In life and in our careers everything is about choices.  By saying yes to something we are saying no to something else.  To achieve anything of significance is likely to require you to make some tough choices.  For example, you might need to take a short term secondment to get specific experience that requires you to spend time apart from the family.  This may or may not be a sacrifice you are willing to make.  Being clear about the sacrifices you are willing to make improves decision making.

 

What sacrifices are you unwilling to make?

 

We all have our boundaries or things that we are not willing to do.  Don’t see this as a weakness but instead see it as a strength.  If there are certain things that you know that you are unwilling to do, be clear about them and use them and stick to your guns.

 

What changes do you need to make?

 

They say that insanity is keeping doing the same things and expecting different results.  If you have taken the time to reflect on the last 12 months you will more than likely have identified some changes that you need to make in 2010. These changes might be about the environment in which you work, the staff you lead or manage or project.  They could just as easily be changes that you personally need to make in say your attitude, outlook or skill set.

 

What support do you have?

 

Trying to doing it all alone is tough even if you are the most motivated person around.  Successful people know that it is important to have some form of support in place.  This can take many forms, including working with a coach, finding a mentor, forming a mastermind group or a professional network to name just a few.

 

What follow up do you have in place?

 

One of the most important things to have in place if you are going to achieve more success as a leader or manager in 2010 is a system of follow up or accountability.  This simply involves letting someone else know what you are aiming to achieve by the end of 2010 and having some sort of way of regular reporting on progress.   

 

Bottom Line – Achieving greater success as a leader and manager does to happen by chance.  What questions do you need to answer to achieve more success in 2010?

 

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps accountants and health professionals to achieve results as leader and managers.  For more information click here

As a leader you are ultimately judged on the results that you deliver.  The further you climb the career ladder the more you earn.  This higher level of earning can sometimes lead to complacency which can result in performance going down rather than up.  So how can you transform the results that you deliver and stay on the high performance track?

 

Get clear on the goals

 

What are you ultimately judged on?  Contrary to what many of us believe, we rarely have a crystal clear picture or understanding of what it is we are expected to deliver.  Clear goals allow you to say explicitly whether you have or have not delivered.  They are not vague, fuzzy or a list of activities.  If you are not crystal clear on what you are to deliver or on what your success is to be measured, make a pint of finding out straight away.

 

Allocate your time to things that contribute to results

 

Time is everyone’s ultimate limiting factor.  We can buy more of it even if we wish we could.  Before you can start to decide how to allocate your time, you need to know what the critical things are that contribute to you delivering results.  We can all keep ourselves busy doing stuff but are you doing stuff that contributes to results?  Remember the 80:20 rule.  In essence, 20% of the things that you do contribute to about 80% of the results you achieve.  So what’s your 20% that contributes towards 80% of the results you achieve?

 

Coach your team and provide feedback

 

It does not matter how driven or committed you are, you cannot do it all by yourself.  You need a team around you that you empower, can solve their own problems and make their own decisions so that you deliver.  Invest time coaching your employees and providing feedback on how they are doing and how to get better, so that they become more valuable to you and the organisation.

 

Develop a what’s possible mindset

 

Ask people to come up with 1 solution and chances are that you will get 10 problems.  It is natural to focus attention on the obstacles rather than on what can be done.  When you see yourself falling into this trap, step back and think about what is possible from where you are right now. Even a small step can act as a catalyst for moving forward and once you have momentum you start to make rapid progress.

 

Bottom Line – Leadership is ultimately about results and by having a clear direction, investing your time wisely, equipping others to be more self sufficient and focusing on the possibilities you can make huge steps forward to achieving more success as a leader.

 

 

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps accountants and health professionals to become highly effective managers and leaders.  For more information click here

In the modern day of mobile phones with facilities to access the web, send tweets, watch video and listen to audio to name just a few, it is easy to fall into the trap of expecting instant success or results.

 

Achieving leadership success on the other hand is very much a long term project.  Pick up any books that are written by or are about successful people and you will notice that far from being an instant success, it took years to get the breakthrough and then even more time to capitalise on that initial breakthrough.

 

So what does this mean for anyone who is seeking to be a successful leader?

 

Make a long term commitment

 

A lot is said about the importance of having a long term career plan.  At the same time few ever sit down and make the time to create some sort of long term plan.  It does not need to be anything over elaborate it can be as simple as a statement of intention.  For example, when I worked in accountancy, my intention was to keep testing myself at the next level partly to prove that I could do it but more importantly to get access to new challenges.

 

Invest in yourself

 

Many people talk about the pressures on training budgets right now and in many organisations the level of funding for training might be being cut significantly.  At the same time a lack of funding from the employer is sometimes a convenient excuse for not undertaking any continuing professional development or even getting that qualification you need.  Think about the longer term.  What would a few hundred or even a few thousand pounds or dollars give you in return long term over your entire career?  Start to think of personal investment in your development as an investment rather than a cost.

 

Seek out different options and then act

 

There have never been more opportunities to grow and develop as there are today.  The internet has opened a huge range of possibilities from teleseminars to webinars to podcasts to free reports to name just a few.  You can also put yourself forward for projects, potentially shadow someone more senior or take a secondment.  Essentially find different options to developing so that you can choose a selection which give you the best return for your time.

 

Bottom Line – Achieving leadership success should be viewed as a marathon not a sprint.  So what commitment do you need to make to achieve more success as a leader?