Leadership Success A Step By Step Approach

Leadership Defined The Introduction

An Overview To The 10 Steps To Leadership

Leaders Lead the Way

It’s actually not all that hard to get above 90% of the people around you.

One of the traits of a good leader is the ability to take action in any situation. Here are 10 simple action steps. If you apply them to every situation and every task, you will be considered a top 10%er by your peers.

1. What is the Objective? You have to be crystal clear on this or you can’t possibly succeed. This is essential. This is your compass. The objective determines the direction you are headed in.
2. What is the Plan? Devise it yourself or get help from your associates. The plan is what gives you the straightest possible path from where you are now to the objective.
3. What Resources Do You Have and What Resources Do You Need? This is critical to the success of any plan. You need resources to make any plan work. If just one of those resources is not available your plan is not going to work. So now is the time to revise your plan.
4. What Challenges Or Obstacles Might Come Up? You may have made assumptions, some things may not be confirmed, or you may know of some weak areas in the plan. If you have contingency plans you are less likely to stumble.
5. Are You Communicating Clearly? You can’t keep the plan all to yourself. Train you team, and communicate with all involved constantly. If the plan is large enough communication systems may have to be set up.
6. What Is Your Feedback System? You are steering the ship – you need to know what’s going on. Is the plan unfolding as planed?
7. What’s The Next Step? Any successful plan is nothing but a series of Small steps. Everyone involved needs to know this. You don’t want things to come to a screeching halt because the next step is unknown.
8. What Adjustments Can You Make? Nothing ever goes perfectly as per plan. Constant adjustments are part of the game.
9. How Do You Celebrate? You’ve seen an athlete cross the goal line or score a goal and make that famous gesture. Celebrate your victories – embed them in your mind! Give praise often, show your appreciation.
10. What’s Your Next Objective? Champions don’t rest on past glory – there’s always a new challenge. Momentum is a wonderful thing! Tackle the next objective.

Combine these 10 steps with the mental toughness of true companions and you can elevate yourself to the top 3% in leadership.

And don’t forget to follow like a leader when you’re not the leader.

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Step 1  What Is The Objective

If the goal is very, very clear the next step, coming up with a plan to achieve the objective becomes much easier. This is the foundation that you are building you reputation, your sense of worth upon. Become the rock – get this step right.

Leadership Step # 1 – What Is The Objective?

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Step 2  What Is The Plan

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Expect to succeed. Be optimistic. Have confidence (even if it is an act).

No one will follow someone who does not exude confidence. Be a champion.

You’re the leader.

Leadership Step # 2 - What Is My Plan?

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Step 3  What Resources Do You Have and

What Resources Do You Need?

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In Step 3 Clearly Define

• What resources do You Have? and
• What resources do you need?

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Step 4  What Challenges Or Obstacles Might Come Up?

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Above all expect to succeed.

Make sure nothing can stop you.

Be bigger than any problem.

Remember you’re not perfect – but you don’t have to be.

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Step 5  Are You Communicating Clearly?

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Are You Communicating Clearly?

Reason with passion to inspire people!

You either affect or infect others!

Be Optimistic,

Exude Enthusiasm,

Be Proactive

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.The video for the next 5 steps will be coming soon.

Step 6  What Is Your Feedback System?

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Leadership Success Step 6

In step 6 of the leadership success system you will be asking this question.

What is my giving and receiving feedback system?

Leaders need to have a feedback system built into their plan.

You have to receive feedback from the field and give feedback to the team.

Communication keeps you informed so you know whether the plan is working.

Here are some tips for giving feedback.

1)      Use truth with compassion.

2)      Be positive first.

3)      Own it.

As the leader, take in the details, but stay back and do not get involved in the details.

In order to be an effective leader you need to know what is going on.

You need to know 3 things.

1)      What’s working?

2)      What’s not working?

3)      What to do different?

Here’s an example of the feedback systems we would have on one of my construction sites. This would be a large project lasting a few months to over a year.

1)       Morning employee meeting – discussion of the day’s activities and doing a hazard assessment, confirming that the resources are on site for the next couple of days etc.

2)      Weekly safety meetings. At these meetings safety concerns on the site are discussed and plans to correct deficient areas are developed. There is also a training component to the meetings regarding procedures to be followed for upcoming tasks

3)      Daily close out meeting with employees. Have there been any incidents or near misses that day? Behaviour Based safety cards are filled out – everyone has a lookout on each others safety performance. The day’s activities are discussed and resources assessed.

4)      Weekly subtrade meeting. We discuss the overall plan (or schedule) for the coming week. Issues are always coming up are discussed. Requests for information from the designers are formulated and information received back is discussed. Change orders, contemplative change orders and information requested are sent out to all concerned on a daily basis.

5)      Owners / architect / consultant meetings. The reps from the owner, architect and his design team get a chance to walk the job site, making note of progress and pointing out missing or deficient details. At the meeting concerns, request for information, changes, costs and schedules are discussed. This is the feedback session between the owner’s team and the contractor’s team.

6)      Periodic inspections – safety, progress and quality control, these are ongoing inspections as required on a particular job.

Don’t let this scare you. You would need several years experience in construction to manage that kind of feedback system. In simple daily tasks you are your own feedback system. You just have to remember to periodically step back and assess the situation. Who said coffee breaks where a waste of time? It may just be a phone call to check in and tell the wife you’ll be late getting home and not to start dinner too soon. No matter what the scale of the task you need to know what is going on.

So how should you handle feedback? Here’s my take.

1)      I take all feedback as learning.

2)      See Feedback as a Blessing

3)      It’s nothing personal.

Leadership success system step # 6

What is my giving and receiving feedback system?

Step 7  What Is Your Feedback System?

Leadership Success Step 7

What is my next step?

A plan or a decision is nothing unless action is taken. And in order to take action you really only need to know one thing; what’s your next step. Make the next step as small as possible and; take it. Now the question is; what’s my next step? Again take it – that’s the key to making progress to any objective. Please note not any old step will do. The next step must be in the direction of your objective. You want to create the shortest path to your objective

It takes courage to act. What’s courage? Here’s my definition – It’s the commitment to be the best you can be. The next stage in this thing called courage is that when action is required, the natural thing that arises in every bodies mine is doubt. Now you have courage by going back to your commitment to be the best you can be and then bypass your doubts and take action in spite of your doubts. Think about it; how many times have you been stuck in doubt? What was lacking was the commitment. When you are committed you will have the courage to take action.

Many people sit and sit and don’t put the pedal to the metal – step on the gas. They have fear. They won’t say charge.

They don’t know what to do next.

What is it that moved you into action?

What did you do in doubt?

Now let’s get back to leadership success step 6. What’s your next step?

You have a plan. And a plan is nothing more than a series of steps.

To take action on your plan you must be present and take one step at a time.

The next step is the most important one. No matter how small or big it might be.

If you’re having trouble, break the plan down into smaller steps. The smaller the steps the easier it is to follow the plan.

Be confident. Take a step. Once taken, reassess, maybe you are off course. No problem, take the next step. You may have had to make a course correction or a step or two backwards. Just identify the next step and take it, take it with confidence and others will follow.

Expect to succeed.

Don’t over complicate things. It’s easy for you and you team to take small easy steps. When you drive down the road at night, you can only see clearly about 200 feet in front of you. Basically all you can see is your next step. Yet you can make it clear across the country driving at night taking that next step, those 200 feet of road.

Know the direction you want to go in, make a decision, and take a step in that direction. The astronauts going to the moon were off course over 90% of the time. The next step can get you back on course.

You must always know the answer to this question.

What is my next step?

Step 8  What Adjustments Can You Make?

Leadership Success Step # 8 Continuous Adjustment

Think about it, how often do your plans go perfectly from the get go? Well; hardly ever. So what do the best leaders do? They are constantly asking this question. What adjustments can I make? Leaders know that they are there to steer the ship, to guide the team to the objective. Steering the ship mean just that, to make constant adjustments guiding the ship in as straight a line as possible.  Continuous adjustments are to be expected.

Here’s a real world example in my area of expertise as a construction superintendent. We have a tool we use for making small corrections and also to ensure that we proceed as per are overall construction schedule and that is the two or three week lookout schedule.  This is a schedule we make every week which contains a lot more detail than the overall schedule that is hanging on the wall. From the overall schedule you know what tasks are on the critical path. These are the tasks that if they start later or last longer than scheduled, will delay the finish date on the job. So on the two week outlook you are looking at several things. One is the tasks on the critical path, you are always looking for a way to get those tasks started sooner and to get them finished in a shorter period of the. Another thing is the work flow path on the job. Certain tasks have to be complete before the next trade starts. But on most jobs you want a flow starting in one corner or a certain floor or where ever and working through the job in a sequence of areas to the last area. That way you get the trades following behind each other through the various areas. This gets more manpower on site without them getting in each other’s way. The third thing I look at is what I call the number one question. That is – What has to be done to be 100% complete and ready, in order for the next subtrade on the critical path to start in a certain area? These are often small tasks my crew needs to do or involves chasing certain subcontractors to complete certain details of their work. Combine those with productivity issue such as access to the site and where to store materials so you don’t have to keep moving them and you can come up with your 2 week outlook schedule. This is the plan that contains all the small weekly adjustments to keep you on track with the overall construction schedule.

As you can see on a large job this is a complex process, whereas on a small job you may not even put it to paper but just verbally communicate it to those concerned. And for those really small tasks you just have to ask yourself from time to time – What Adjustments Can I Make?

When the astronauts went to the moon they were off course over 90% of the time but though continuous small corrections they made their goal as planed within seconds.

The route to success is often a zig zag route. That route will be shorter if you correct and refocus on the objective more often.

Restating goals often and knowing what step is next and getting feedback allows the team to make corrections often and in the right direction.

The smaller the correction you make the more successful and confident the team will be about the plan and the next steps.

Instil that confidence.

The big secret – You can’t help but succeed if you continually make adjustments towards your goal.

Always ask.

What adjustments can I make?

“Daily ripples of excellence – over time – become a tsunami of success” Robin Sharma

Step 9  How Do You Celebrate?

Step 9  Celebrate

Step 9 in the leadership success system is to celebrate all your successes and achievements no matter how small.

Ceremonies and festivities or simple praise should always be a part of your plan.

Praise Individuals on your team publicly. People have a desire for approval. It makes them feel good and it makes the other feel good as well knowing that they are likely to be praised in the future. Reprimands are best given in private. That way, individuals will not be afraid to make mistakes. Individuals do not want to be seen to be ridiculed or called out for deficient work in front of their fellow team mates. This can lead the whole team into not taking any risk, not thinking on their own and the instigation of  innovations, which could improve the plan, will not be evident. In addition you supervision time with the team will increase dramatically.

Praise for successfully attaining a goal on your plan or simple praise for the thing done right creates a loyal team and it makes them feel good. We are all emotional beings and the more we create a positive emotional atmosphere, the happier, the greater the effort, the greater the willingness others will have to follow their leaders.

Have you seen athletes, or winners at anything, do their dance, or perform a certain gesture or ritual after they score a goal, or win a race, or accomplish a goal? That ritual V for victory, simple thumbs up, or up raised arms is a vital thing to embed that winning feeling, to anchor those positive emotions, the emotions you feel when you accomplish your goal, into your brain. And of course certain professional athletes have taken this to a whole new level with their entertaining dances and antics after they score a goal or touchdown. That winning emotional feeling will drive you to do your very best again and again, to succeed, and to reach your goals more often and more quickly.

Recognition is a powerful motivator. Many people will push their limits, jump through hoops just for a little recognition. Simple things such as praise, pins, badges, trophies and other seemingly simple stuff can mean more to some people than a pile of money. That recognition given at a meeting has a tenfold effect. Recognise people’s efforts and they will follow you and perform miracles for you.

Celebrate! It feels good. We are all creatures of emotion.

Remember Always celebrate any success.

Step 10  What’s Your Next Objective?

Leadership Success Step 10

Leaders don’t rest on you past glories. Leaders have a new objective to pursue the moment the old one is complete. You need to have momentum. It keeps you moving forward. It’s a matter of energy and the need to keep it high. Things can switch from good to bad when momentum is lost. Momentum keeps your team enthusiastic and in motion.

You are going to need discipline, drive and determination to be a true leader. The price that one pays for mastery is discipline. You won’t achieve success without it. Every day you need to devote yourself to the perfection of the path you have chosen to peruse. By doing this you will achieve self mastery. Achieve self mastery and you will have developed the essence of a great leader. Discipline is about developing powerful habits and at one point those habits will become your identity.

It is the discipline that keeps you moving forward. Keep moving forward to provide growth for you and your team in character, in strengths and virtues.

Albeit Einstein said that compound interest was the most powerful force in our society. Discipline and perseverance are a lot like the principle of compound interest – the longer you stay committed to work towards your goals, the more momentum you’ll build. Starting out there will be little progress seen, but gradually as you stack one success on another, your momentum will make you a force to be reckoned with.

The opposite result is to decay over time.

Always know – What is your new objective?

Always be a leader.

If you’re not sure – Act like a leader and support others like a leader.

“What really makes greatness is white hot action around red hot ideas. A genius idea alone has zero value” – Robin Sharma

Even before the end of your current task you should be asking.

What is my new objective?

This has been the tenth and last article about a special kind of leadership. I call it leadership without a title, because I firmly believe that anyone can be a leader in anything they choose to do. These ten action steps that have been presented allow anyone to step up and lead. These action steps apply to any sized task, the most common tasks that take mere minutes to complete, to ones that can last months. If you apply these steps to everything you do I know you will stand out head and shoulders above 90% of all those around you.

It’s strange that when you research the topic of leadership that there is no one clear definition of leadership. Leadership is a very broad concept and there are many different types of leadership.  There are a number of words that describe the qualities that many leaders possess and as you follow the ten steps I have given you, I believe that many of these qualities you too can’t help but possess. Here are the qualities that many of the world’s top leaders possess – accountable, decisive, courageous, assertive, calm, optimistic, confident, compassionate, creative, flexible, integrity, passionate, persistent, patient, action orientated, pro-active, love, focus, understand emotions, great habits, mental toughness, refuse to lose attitude, heart, attitude of ownership, they reinforce core values, vision, influential, humility, responsible, enthusiastic, determined, excellence, imagination, disciplined,  knowledge, kindness, listeners, believers, to list just some. No wonder it’s so hard to define leadership.

Keep practicing leadership and many of these qualities will be yours to enjoy.