Why Leaders are Failing to win at leadership

Great leaders are great leaders because they focus on the leadership part of their role…because they put leadership first.

Are you putting leadership first? Or are you so bogged down by the work you have to get done that leadership is that nagging thing that you never quite get to?

People are looking for you to put leadership first.  People who make friends and influence people put leadership first.  Putting leadership first will positively affect you and everyone around you.

The truth is, leaders are made, not born. Even if you are a natural leader, you get better at it over time. We’re always learning and adapting and new situations (like a new team, a new product, a new technology, heck, a new government) require that we evolve.  So even if you have the leadership edge in that you enjoy being a leader and are naturally oriented to it, you still have to roll up your sleeves and work at it.

Leadership requires that you are always tuned in to what is going on and that you make adjustments all the time.  Leadership is actually a lot of work, really.  So the leaders who stand out as the great names (you know, the famous ones) have developed quite a discipline in order to be a great leader.

The critical items for ensuring that you are putting leadership first sound much simpler than they are:

  1. Establish and engage others in your vision
  2. Ensure you are leading with your values
  3. Have an effective meeting strategy and consistently adjust to keep momentum going and make sure your meetings matter
  4. Nail down the different types of conversations you need to be having and prioritize them
  5. Set goals that matter and achieve worthwhile outcomes
  6. Map out your team; their strengths, values, needs, and development plans
  7. Build a communication infrastructure to keep everyone in the loop
  8. Create a self-care strategy so you can take care of yourself first and foremost

Are you hitting the mark on all seven of these areas?  Why don’t you start by asking your team how they think you are doing.  We recommend that you take a moment at the end or beginning of each year to create a strategy for an entire year.  We find that if you lock all of these elements in place, including placing things on your calendar for an entire year, you have what you need to be successful.  When we rely on the day-to-day to guide us, we tend to let the leadership stuff take last place.  Honestly, that makes you a bad leader. As much as I hate to break the news, when you don’t prioritize being a great leader, those who are depending on you are getting cheated.  And your outcomes, like revenues and profit, engagement levels, quality, and efficiency – those also taking a hit.

It is time to get out of the groove. We are swamped, we are busy, we are doing thing after thing. We are distracted and overwhelmed all at the same time. We are not doing this right.  It’s time to put leadership first!

If you’d like some help, we make it easy with tools, templates, agendas, talking points, prompts, and plans and we take the time to lock down your calendar for an entire year so you can prioritize the right things.  The best part is we do all of this in Just. One. Day!  The bigger your leadership role becomes the harder it is to keep track of all the people! So we make it easy for you to also help the leaders who work for you to be successful as well.  

We can help!

If you’d like some help, we make it easy with tools, templates, agendas, talking points, prompts, and plans and we take the time to lock down your calendar for an entire year so you can prioritize the right things. The best part is we do all of this in Just. One. Day!

We’re so excited to share that we will be hosting a full-day workshop where leaders roll up their sleeves, lay out a strategic leadership plan, and establish a solid infrastructure to guide their leadership efforts.

The bigger your leadership role becomes the harder it is to keep track of all the people! So we make it easy for you to also help the leaders who work for you to be successful as well.

Click here or the image above to learn more about our upcoming workshop, Leadership First: Lay Out Your Leadership Strategy for 2019. We can’t wait to see you there!