Good morning and happy Monday!
I’m Monica Wofford and this is your Monday Moment.
Let’s address, as we transition from the discussion of barriers to effective leadership, to doing the job of being a leader. It’s more than a promotion. It’s more than a title. In fact, as the author of Contagious Leadership , I can share that it’s even more than being contagious! It’s a privilege and responsibility with three fairly specific aspects on which all good leaders focus. Those three aspects, when you’re doing the job of being the leader, are: people, performance, and problems. So, in the training we offer in the company I have the privilege of leading, Contagious Companies, we focus on these three aspects, as well as do managers who have been promoted, but perhaps not prepared to address, or perform well in, these three specific areas. How to do the job of being the leader is an elusive combination also of desire, skills, and practice in all three areas but it’s also being absolutely certain to be yourself, lead yourself, and do both of those well, before you really have any business leading others. But, as we progress through this year, we’ll address each of those. In fact, there’s an online platform called the Leadership Development Center.com, that we recently developed to also help in these areas because YOU are our focus. Your skilled practice and YOUR desire to perform well in all three areas will make you one incredibly, let’s call it bad butt leader. So, how do you do the job of being the leader?
Focus on People
Number one you focus on people. Are the people that work with you in the right positions to make the most of their natural gift skills and talents? That’s an easy question, but not always an easy issue to address. If the answer is I’m not sure or No, not yet, then look at the people you have the privilege of leading. What’s their motivation? How are they influenced? What are their challenges? What are their strengths? What are their gifts or their talents and where might you find they have a weakness, relevant to the specific position you’ve asked them to perform? People is priority one when in the role of being a leader because as Richard Branson will say, in a variety of different memes and in a variety of different formats, when you focus on the people they will take care of your customers as well as you take of those people.
Focus on Performance
Secondly, once you have determined people. You’ve spent some time analyzing and uncovering data and helping to provide the development for them, even if you only lead a team of 1 or 400. Focusing on those people comes first and right after that comes performance. Making sure that you hit your numbers, if you’re in a sales capacity. Making sure you are striving to reach any stated quota or make sure you understand what the key performance indicators actually are for performance in your position. Is good performance merely to mitigate drama or keep the status quo or keep your questions to a minimum? Or are they truly motivated? Might be also a good idea to check in with your leader and confirm and clarify the expectations and the measurement aspects of your performance as a leader. When you transition into this capacity, or if you’ve been in this role since the dawn of dirt, so to speak, you’ll find performance is really much more about all the performance of those you have the privilege of leading than it is about your own individual efforts. If you’re new to the role of leading, that can take a bit of transition, but people first, performance second, and the third aspect of doing this job called being the leader is addressing problems.
Addressing Problems
Ignoring a problem tends to make it get much bigger or may cause you to lose really good people. Ignoring a problem also sends a lesser discussed message. It’s implied approval for whatever is the problem behavior or statement. Be careful what you ignore because it then becomes what you accept. The job of being the leader, while we all know it’s not always easy, includes a responsibility for you to address problems as they arise. Perhaps the problem is with a customer or perhaps it’s a problem with an employee or perhaps it’s a problem with your own leader and managing up is an area where there could really be some additional skill and effort. Regardless, address problems head-on, quickly, and in an effort or with a goal, of finding solutions. Call me if you need some guidance as my coaching hat comes on awfully quickly, but I look forward to being a part of your leadership journey as we dive deeper into the people, performance, and problem aspects of being and becoming not only good, but an even better leader.
I’m Monica Wofford and that’s your Monday moment. Stay tuned for more and check out the LeadershipDevelopmentCenter.com. And, if you’re not already a member of the contagious Community go to MondayMoment.com and become one
Monica Wofford, CSP is a celebrated leader who develops future leaders. CEO of Contagious Companies, her firm delivers and designs leadership training for managers who’ve been promoted, but not prepared, and the leaders who promoted them. Author of Contagious Leadership and Make Difficult People Disappear, Monica and members of the Contagious team may be reached at www.ContagiousCompanies.com, www.MonicaWofford.com or by calling 1-866-382-0121.
