Want More Effective Results? Leaders: Look in the Mirror

"How can I make my business more effective, and get better results?" It's a reasonable question an executive will ask me.

I suggest you first look in the mirror because your organization, its people, and its results are a reflection of the leader.

"Okay Dr. Phil -- so what am I looking for?"

Dr. Phil has left the building, so forget the psychobabble – here are ten tactical, practical factors to consider based on best practices and actual painful leadership experience. These are not so-called leadership competencies, but things you can do to enhance the effectiveness of any project, goal, or business objective. The more of these factors that are present, the higher the likelihood for success. 

Read through the ten factors (below), add any that may apply specifically to your situation, and then use the (attached) self-rating sheet to evaluate them – along with barriers to be fixed or removed, and how you will address them. 

Download key_effectiveness_factor_rating_sheet.doc

In an actual client engagement I'd interview as many of the critical “stakeholders” as the project would allow, and get an aggregate picture of each key factor.   But the buck starts and stops with the leader, and I always start with them.

On to the ten factors:

Factor One: Engage only highly self-motivated and capable people to do the job.

To paraphrase Jim Collins advice: Getting the right people on board, and the wrong people out, can be a challenge. A common error is to choose or hang on to people based on factors other than capability and self-motivation. As Collins found in his study of companies that sustained great performance over long periods of time, “The right people don’t need to be tightly managed or fired up; they will be self-motivated by the inner drive to produce the best results and to be part of creating something great.” Setting high standards for the people you choose is critical to any objective.

Factor Two: Give your people the freedom to do it their own way, while also functioning within clear guidelines.

To get the most out of your excellent people, show them the game, playing field, and the values, guidelines, and milestones required to win. Then, let them play in their own way. This requires trust and verification on your part, but it is more effective than riding herd over them. Your team needs clarity from you about values, deadlines, revenue, cost, and how you define success. By combining clear guidelines and good delegation, you increase the likelihood of success.

Factor Three: Give your people a sharp picture of the desired outcome from the start.

Projects and businesses can fail because the definition is fuzzy from the outset. Take all of the necessary time to define up front what measurable outcomes will delight you. Studies show vagueness about key outcomes often leads to failure. Go over it repeatedly with your team until any assumptions are replaced with actual information. Leaders who have the courage to pause and clarify outcomes significantly increase the likelihood of success.

Factor Four: Create a culture where people are rewarded for being brutally honest.

Extraordinary results require a culture in which those you lead are rewarded for telling the grit-your-teeth truth. Take inventory of the culture you are creating, and be on the lookout for hesitation when it comes to full disclosure. By modeling and inviting brutal honesty, you enable your team to detect its own errors, and correct them, while providing you the “real story,” on which you can base smart leadership decisions.

Factor Five: Supply adequate resources to the task at hand.

Problems are often caused by either a shortage or a glut of resources. The fast-paced culture in the workplace tempts us to jump in now and be more precise about resource needs later. It takes leadership to carve out the time to calculate resource needs from the very beginning. By doing great job of allocating resources from the start, you stand a better chance of success.

Factor Six: Challenge your people by setting a high bar.

Capable, self-motivated people tend to work best when they are truly challenged. It is important to understand what motivates each key person, and set expectations within their grasp yet beyond their immediate reach. This keeps it interesting enough for them, producing a positive creative tension. Your best people are then more likely to run at full speed, even as you improve the chances for success.

Factor Seven: Implement simple yet profound measurements for success and failure.

How do you measure success? How do you know if you failed? If it’s not crystal-clear, perhaps it’s time to look more closely at your definitions of each. A great and simple measure for success and failure provide a compass for everyone involved that answers the question: where are we now, and where are we heading? Such a compass sets the stage for your team to act independently and effectively toward a common goal.

Factor Eight: Set up reliable, honest, and concise reporting on progress, and watch it carefully.

A clear progress report requires three elements: reliability, honesty, and brevity. Low reliability of information causes issues. Incomplete or anecdotal information leads to bad decisions. Too much information creates an inability to focus on what’s important. Careful and ongoing attention to each of these elements greatly increases the likelihood of success.

Factor Nine: Establish clear consequences linked to the success or failure of milestones and outcomes.

The consequences related to interim milestones and final outcomes are often glossed over or ill-defined. Set milestones that - if missed - could threaten the overall effort, and link them to predefined consequences. In this way, success and failure will be clear to everyone, and no one can be surprised when consequences - either positive or negative -follow.

Factor Ten: Create a stream of continuous feedback that helps you detect and correct problems.

Outcome is a result of people, resources, and process. Great processes are designed to self-educate – that is, they are designed to identify and correct errors in a timely way. Building in real-time error-detection and correction feedback mechanisms will improve the quality of intended outcomes continuously. The process should make itself more effective over time, making “ah hah!” moments an ongoing thing, rather than at the end, when it’s too late.

How can you apply these Key Effectiveness Factors to your project? One way is to make each factor worth ten points. Use the attached rating sheet to chart your progress. By scoring your project, you will have an overall picture, and you will know where barriers exist and where additional focuses needed. Armed with that information, you can then apply solutions appropriately, ensuring effective results.

David Peck

Share your stories using these factors by adding your comments below.