The Leader’s Seven Essential Behaviors

We’ve been discussing the book entitled Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done. 

What is it about leaders who execute that makes them different from those who don’t?  For one thing, leaders who execute look for gaps between the desired and actual outcomes in everything from profit margins to selection of people for promotions.  Their time is spent discovering and closing these gaps and leading the whole organization to higher and higher levels of performance.

Another skill exhibited by leaders who execute is their ability to persistently and constructively probe and ask questions.  An example given in the book deals with a manager who plans an 8 percent sales increase in the coming year even though the industry as a whole expects no growth.  Some leaders might just accept the 8 percent target as a “stretch” and move on.  But some will challenge the manager asking questions such as, “Where will this 8 percent increase come from?  What products will generate this growth?  What will be the reaction from our competitors?  What will be the first quarter milestones, etc.?”  This leader doesn’t just sign off on the plan; this leader wants an explanation.  Details don’t bore her—she wants the details.  She needs to understand the “how” behind the plan.

So what does an “executing” leader look like?  Am I a leader who “executes?”  Are you?  The authors list seven essential behaviors that form the first building block of execution:

·         Know your people and your business

·         Insist on realism

·         Set clear goals and priorities

·         Follow through

·         Reward the doers

·         Expand people’s capabilities

·         Know yourself

Know your people and your business

Stay in touch with the day-to-day realities of your business.  Don’t just live on filtered information.  Get out and about where the action is and see for yourself what is really going on.  Be continually learning about your people and your business.  Poke around.  Ask questions.  After doing this consistently, you will be able to distill the challenges facing your business into just a few fundamental issues.  Why can you do that?  Because you know from first-hand experience what’s going on in the trenches.  And as you ask questions and show interest, you have an opportunity to show that you care for your people. 

Insist on Realism

Take a moment and conduct a “reality check” on your organization?  Do people tend to hide mistakes?  Do they do just about anything to avoid confrontation (particularly with you)?  And how about you as the leader of the organization—how comfortable are you with reality—particularly when the reality is not positive?  To make realism a priority within your organization, you must

start by being realistic yourself.  Then make sure everyone in your organization knows that realism is the goal of all dialogues within the organization.  At Zion Industries we used to say “speak the truth in love.”  Dealing with reality is not always the most comfortable thing to do.  Jesus stirred up plenty of controversy by “telling it like it is.”  But you and I must be willing to face the truth.  Think about it this way.  If good decisions depend on good information, then reality must be the basis upon which all decisions are made.  “Hope so” won’t make it.  Get real. 

Set Clear Goals and Priorities 

Here’s a reality check for you.  Ask (anonymously if you wish) each manager and supervisor in your organization what the few clear priorities are for your organization this year.  Review the responses.  Did everyone list the same priorities?  Focusing on just three or four critical priorities will produce the best results because contemporary organizations need a small number of clear priorities to execute well.  Telling your team that you have 10 key priorities this year just means you, yourself, don’t know what the most important things are this year.  Once you’ve distilled the priorities down to a meaningful few, you can then focus on speaking about them simply and directly.  What you say about these realities should be interpreted as plain common sense based on the “realism” of your situation (the market, the industry, the environment, etc.). 

Follow Through 

Having clear, simple goals is not the end of the story.  How will you make sure that people follow through in accomplishing these goals?  You have to establish some follow-through mechanism that ensures that each person does what he/she is supposed to do.  And, by the way, never assign a project, task, etc. to more than one person.  One person—one name—must be held accountable for any particular result.  Then stay in touch with that person.  Let them know you will follow through. 

In closing, I’m reminded of the Scripture in James where we are warned to “Be doers of the Word and not hearers only…”  (James 1:22).  Jesus was very action oriented.  In fact, the next time you read through the book of Mark, underline the word “immediately” every time you read it.  Jesus planned and prayed…and He got things done.

Have a great week. 

Keith

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