DOES YOUR LEADERSHIP STYLE MATTER?

In previous blogs I have discussed by belief that leaders are made. But not all are made the same. When I speak with my Westchester County NY business leaders about traits that make a good leader no one can agree. The only trait that is agreed upon is having empathy. What do successful leaders have if they don’t have similar traits?

All successful leaders have the ability to set goals and achieve results.

Here is a results based model of leadership proven to produce success.  

It begins with setting goals through your organization's strategic plan that are focused on your vision. In this process you define the desired results from your team members. It continues by aligning the people and the processes to ensure its realization. The goal is to have all of your operations linked to the plan. Then virtually everything that happens should work toward achieving that Plan (Vision).

Once you accept this “results based leadership model,” you must next commit to leadership development processes that aggressively grow people to achieve the strategic direction of your company.

One of the single biggest reasons why leaders fail to lead is the absence of effective leadership development processes that ALLOW them to lead! In order to effectively lead you must create the leadership development processes that are purposely designed to incorporate that clear strategic direction for your company.

Your first step as the leader is to create alignment between the goals of the individual workers and the overall vision of the company. When that happens, positive results are more likely to occur. To do that you must:

Establish a Vision Statement - Who or Where You Want Your Company to be in the Future (about 3 to 5 year range).

Establish a Mission Statement - What must be done in one year to move toward achieving the Vision.

Create Critical Success Factors - Four to eight items that are necessary and sufficient to achieve the mission.

Establish goals that are necessary and sufficient to accomplish the critical success factors.

Offer a specific action plan to accomplish the goals - WHO does WHAT by WHEN.

Next you must engage every team member to:

• Understand his or her action steps to accomplish the vision.
• Get and use the support of the required resources.
• Have processes in place that ensure productivity, innovation, and speed.
• Create, execute, and measure specific goals supportive of the mission.

Then and only then is the organization aligned and is truly in a position to succeed. Many leaders of companies as well as small business owners fail to use this process. In some cases the leader holds control and delegates responsibility. This might work in some cases but if you want your organization to grow you must empower the team. Only then will the sales and profits of your organization grow to their fullest potential.

Let us help you create a successful leadership development process.

Contact Us for a Free Consultation

or call 914-953-4458.