4 General Leadership Points of View
Upcoming Workshops to Develop your Leadership Capabilities
“So in my first hundred days [as Ford CEO], we have developed a point of view of the future of the company: Smart vehicles in a smart world.” -Jim Hackett, CEO, Ford
Are your people clearly motivated and aligned with your point of view? Do you enroll them in co-creating ownership of the vision? Do team members see a clear line-of-site between their work and performance outcomes?
Effective managers, like great CEOs, know that having a clear point of view is critical for galvanizing peoples’ energies, aligning around expectations and delivering targeted results. A clear point of view coupled with visible daily supporting behaviors is inspiring leadership that fosters strong team loyalty.
Below are Four General Leadership Points of View to stimulate personal reflection, help clarify your values, and motivate you to craft a philosophy that will inspire your team:
#1 We will act our ways into new ways thinking, not think our ways into new ways of acting. Encouraging a strong bias for forward action and continuous improvement is the best insurance policy against workplace complacency and stagnation. Everyone is expected to bring forth ideas for improving products, services, and operational efficiencies.
#2 Grow people first, who in turn grow the business. Effective managers are great teachers, coaches and mentors. Their #1 priority should be the future health of the business, not career advancement. They focus their efforts on building tomorrow’s leadership talent pipeline.
#3 Clear expectations and a feedback-rich environment create a high-performance culture. Exceptional managers believe that most employees truly want to give their best, contribute to the team, and achieve visible results. Work is a daily hard-played game and team members want to know if they’re winning. Goal clarity, lots of recognition, and frequent two-way feedback is a trusted recipe for a high-performance culture.
#4 Create an environment where people feel safe speaking up, contribute fresh perspectives, and proactively report problems. The evidence is clear (and tragic): Authoritative, rigid, top-down leadership has been identified as a root cause of space shuttle disasters, failed dam levies, and commercial airline crashes. When team members fear potential retribution for speaking up, problems stay hidden.
“As a leader, it’s a major responsibility on your shoulders to practice the behavior you want others to follow.” -Himanshu Bhatia, CEO, Rose International
Revitalize your management focus by clarifying your leadership point of view. Take the Four General Leadership Points of View to adapt, edit, and craft your own. Or, of course, create your own philosophy, share with your team, and enroll them in a rich two-way conversation to gain their input and support.
Most importantly, commit to a few repeatable tactics each day to drive your vision deep into the culture. Good things will happen!
Keep it simple. Keep it focused. Definitely keep it inspiring! –Steve