10 Actions To Take Your Leadership and Management Success To The Next Level
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
About the Author Duncan Brodie
Since 2006 I’ve worked with in excess of 8,000 accountants and professionals in workshops, seminars and one to one helping them land their next jobs and become better leaders, presenters and business partners. Before that I spent 25 years in accountancy climbing the career ladder from Payments Clerk to FD. I’m a CIMA Fellow, Certified Professional Coach and Team Coach Facilitator.