Today, productivity and consistent innovation are the key sources of business competitiveness. Yet, many businesses are plagued by two extremes that can completely drain these sources: good employees leave and bad employees are conspicuous by their ‘presentism’.
Businesses invest a lot of time in hiring people for their skills and to perfectly fit their job descriptions. The hidden problem is that some perfectly qualified people can physically be there, doing their job, but they are not adding value. But the real tragedy is that it is usually not their fault.
Best leaders are also great communicators and promoters of their Vision. However, only 47% of Managers communicate strategy to their employees. How then can you expect strategic decisions, or innovation that actually delivers results.
Understanding the Six Laws of Effective Leadership is critical to unleashing the Potential of Your Business through people and make all the difference between being a Market Leader and a market casualty.
1. Have and Communicate the Direction and Your Expectations of People!
Great journeys start with a clear purpose – a great destination. Providing People with a clear direction (Vision), and setting your expectations in the form of simple to apply guidelines is allows you as the Leader to set the pace and have a better chance of people actually doing what you expect, without micromanaging them. It is also the responsibility of a Leader!
2. Share Ownership Freely!
Have your own clear idea of the desired future for your organisation. Only then, involve people who are critical to your success: Management, key employees, key customers and key suppliers to communicate your intent and the compelling reason – to gain their understanding, and support.
3. Make hard Trade-offs!
Having firm ‘trade-offs’ makes success sustainable. If you want to stand for something (differentiate), you cannot stand for everything. Stating these laws will enable the Leader to lead a more focused and agile organisation and expect consistent performance based on clear guidelines.
4. Focus on Differentiating ACTIVITIES!
Most Strategies fail because there is a big chasm between Strategy and what people actually do every day! The traditional SWOT and ‘core competencies’ analysis does NOT easily translate into action. Competencies come and go with people and resources and are therefore easy to copy and source by your competitors. Differentiating Activities are harder to imitate and provide an actionable path to achieving your goals consistently.
5. Lead by example.
As a Leader, having personally worked through insights into your Goals and Vision for your business, and having documented the broad direction for your Competitive Strategy, you will not only help you communicate better, but will also set an example for a ‘learning organisation’! Building broad understanding of the company’s strategy [the big Goal] on all levels brings the whole organisation on the same page – and helps leverage hidden assets. Competitive Impact is a simple coached program that will help you be a better people leader: with a stronger base to show the direction and expect people to do the right thing!
6. Create a Closed Learning Loop: Measure for Improvement!
Encourage learning from results to create learning and improving organisation. Metrics MUST serve progress, and never punishment! Start to plant the seed before you even know how you will get there. Evangelise, train, coach, visualise the system – deep into the organisation. Encourage and stimulate conversations to develop common language. Always measure and share results to improve and celebrate progress!
InnoFuture is a specialist marketing and innovation resource for busy, under-pressure Managers. We support Business Owners and CEOs, Marketing and Innovation Managers, Sales and Operational Managers; and People & Culture Managers. We help you bring your competitive strategy on everybody’s agenda, so that you can achieve, Productivity, Brand Engagement, easier and more Profitable Sales, Continuous Innovation and Growth.
Find out how to make Competitive Impact.
Contact Margaret Manson | Chief Inspirator: M: 0407 66 11 30 | P: 03 9857 9215
