Leadership Challenges: What Would You Do Next?
As a leader you have three main priorities. To move the organisation forward, to engage others and deliver results. It sounds easy when you put it in such simple terms. Yet in reality there are many challenges to face.
Let’s consider a challenge that many leaders face and ponder on what you would do next?
You have just reviewed the projections for the next six months sales in your organisation and it does not look great. What the figures seem to be telling you is that you will actually end up losing significant ground compared to your competitors.
So what would you do next?
Well there are plenty of options open to you.
You might challenge the information that you have received. After all those accountants and sales people often tell us how gloomy things are and are so way off the mark. Trouble is when you start from this perspective you send a message to everyone that the hours of effort and analysis that people do is a waste of time. Not likely to be very motivating for those who have probably put in a ton of effort.
You might just carry on as if nothing was about to happen. Tempting and maybe on first look an attractive option. The downside is that when you get into denial that something needs to happen it is much harder to tackle the problem later rather than earlier.
You might get angry and have a go at others. Yes it is easy to let off steam and for some it might well feel good in the short term. In reality when leaders lose the plot, they lose hard won respect and it is going to take a huge amount of time to repair the damage. The other adverse consequence is that you can easily end up in a situation where people tell you what they think you want to hear rather than how it really easy.
The Bottom Line: Dealing with challenges just goes with the territory of a leader. What differentiates the best from the mediocre leaders is how they respond to the challenges that they face.
Duncan Brodie helps accountants and other professionals to become highly effective leaders. He invites you to sign up for his free audio e-course
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.