No matter what you’re in charge of – a huge corporation, a small business, or a little-league team – you’re going to face a variety of roadblocks. Effective leaders overcome obstacles and achieve goals, and that only happens if they’ve honed their skills in three critical areas. Master these, and you’ll consistently deliver amazing results.
Vision
It’s imperative that everyone be on the same page about where a team is going. Without a clear organizational vision you’ll have people working at cross-purposes, you’ll chase tangential opportunities and you’ll waste precious resources. A skilled leader can assess the complex external environment, evaluate her assets and liabilities, and choose both a destination and a plan to get there. It can be from the smallest thing, such as good spreadsheet practice and business admin to the grandest ideas for your future industry giant. A clear vision helps the team define long-term success and lays out the steps necessary to get there.
Traction
Just like a car stuck in the mud, you’ll never get anywhere unless you’ve got a grip on what has to happen in your business every year, every quarter, every month, every week and optimally every single day. In his great book – appropriately titled Traction: Get a Grip on Your Business Gino Wickman lays out a set of simple tools designed to enhance organizational traction that he calls The Entrepreneurial Operating System©. Great leaders stay focused on making sure the right things are happening to achieve the long-term vision.
Health
Businesses are just like families. When they are riddled with dysfunction, dishonesty and politics they simply don’t work. But when they are open and honest, committed to the collective good, and built on trust they can accomplish amazing things. The great leaders constantly strive to build teams that can depend on one another and have the collective maturity to deal with inevitable challenges as mature adults committed to a common goal.
If you’re charged with leading others to get results, make sure that you’re constantly exercising these muscles. Great leaders aren’t the ones who can do the most, they’re the ones who can get the most out of other people. By focusing on vision, traction and health, you can help your team overcome seemingly insurmountable challenges and achieve results no one thought possible.
