steps to successful business leadership

8/7/2019 Steps to Successful Business Leadership

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B u s i n e s s S u m m a r i e s . c o m

5 S t e p s t o S u c c e s s f u l B u s i n e s s L e a d e r s h i pB y G ra ham R . L ittle , Jaico B ook s, 2006"5 Steps to Successful - C rea tin g theBusiness Leadership" is an environment for successimportant management -Thinking outside theguide which explores the squareprinciples and practice ofleadership in business.It provides readers with fivecreative and groundbreakingsteps - a process which, ifused properly, can help themto succeed at the task ofmanaging a team.

*****

Areas covered include:-How to set the standards-How to motivate themanagement team-Establishing andachieving targets- Coachingskills-Monitoring performance

B o o k o f t h e W e e k :

. . I n s id e T h is B o o k S u m m a ry :.The Big Idea.Why You NeedThis Book.STEP 1: Gain agreement that people want to be successful in their jobs.STEP 2: Define success in terms of the numbers the team must achieve.STEP 3: Identify the actions that, if acted out, will facilitate asatisfactory resuIt

.STEP 4: Keep the team focused on their level of effectiveness atimplementing behaviors of success

.STEP 5: Celebrate large and small successes

.Final Notes

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[W h y Y o u N e e d T h is B o o k

Written in direct, down-to-earth language,this book proffers five steps which can helpreaders succeed at the challenging task ofbeing a manager.

S T E P 1 : G a in a g r e e m e n t t h a t p e o p lew a n t t o b e s u c c e s s f u l i n t h e i r jo b s

A common issue is the line wheremanagement influences stop and personalinfluence starts. It is what is called the keyethic of leadership and can be stated asfollows:All individuals have the right to selectthe thoughts they hold in mind and thethoughts influencing action.

Let's take a simple A, B, C view of the causesof human behavior:Attitude leads to Behavior that leads to

Consequences.

Now let's expand this simple explanation asfollows:

A I A b o u t th e B oo k :f j

Author: G ra ha m L ittlePublisher: J aic o B oo ksDate of Publication: 2006ISBN: 81-7992-129-8156 pages

] B us ine ssS umm a rie s.co m ]Attitude A person is respons ible for his

or her own thoughts and noother person is able to tel lanother how he Orshe should

(Managernm! can /lH,I(6 no derrends) think.

Behaviour What we think expressesitself in behawour, Within themodel of management,beha";our at work is- expectedto reDectthe goals. ~ 101 l0wsthat a business canexpectand: require people to act a

(Ma""llO""nt"an ckmend) certain way at wor k,

Consequences BehalAour has consequencesand at wull 'k , the business hasthe right to requireconsequences that serw its

(Managerrenl can dem:lnd) needs.

The following notes are a summary of theapplication of this system to business:Donot train to changeattitude. Trainingis the act of improving the performance ofthe actions and tasks to achieve the goals. Itcan and must bea focused activity with clearpayback, and if there is no clear payback,then the training expense must bequestioned.Attitudes can and should arise intraining, butonly good attitudes can help the employeefocus behavior and enhance his or herperformance at work.

Business has no right counselingemployees. A person's head is his castle.People will have life difficulties, such asdivorce. But the business has no placeinvolving itself these situations. It can onlyoffer the employee the chance to file a leave,or offer advice on whom to approach forcounseling advice.

Surveying attitudes is a waste of time

5 S te ps to Success fu l B us ine ss Leadersh ip , by G raham L ittle ~ 2 of 6 ~


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[and money. There are two good reasonsfor this. First, any effective manager canwalk into a work place and have a very goodidea in a few minutes of the attitudes of theemployees there. Second, even if he or shefinds these out, nothing can bedone directlyto change these existing attitudes.So how can a management team tackleissues of attitude? The best and mosteffective thing management can do to buildthe best possible attitudes within thebusiness is to focus on management'sproper job - of course, "to manage" - to do itvery, very well and then ask everyone tocome along for the ride, grow with thechallenge and enjoy the success.

S T E P 2 : D e f in e s u c c e s s in t e r m s o f t h en u m b e r s t h e t e a m s m u s t a c h i e v eFor a management team accountable for

profit and loss, coordination of effort iseffectively achieved by the profit profile.Each team member is responsible for somenumber on the profile and for some projectwhereby that number will be improved thisyear and next year. This defines success forthe team, and momentum and commitmentto being successful in this team and this job.The result of these clear and focused effortsisto arrive at a strong 'team spirit'.SUMMARYOFTEAMWORK

1. Coordination. Making very clearwhat the team as a whole must achieve.All team members are expected tocooperate in such a way that the totallevel of operating profit is alwaysenhanced.2. Ethics. This is the responsibility of allteam members, but a crucial focus of the

team leader. It is not necessary that theteam members actually like one other, bueveryone must afford his or her fellow teammembers professional respect, ensuringthat no personal biases undermine anyaspect of team performance.3. Personal performance. Bounded bthe preceding points, eachteam member iexpected to be thoroughly focused on hisor her own job to the extent that when theysay 'such and such will happen', other teammembers are confident that itwill.

S T E P 3 : Id e n ti f y t h e a c t io n s t h a t , i fa c te d o u t, w i l l f a c i l i t a te a s a t i s fa c to r yr e s u l tThe trick to handling business situationseffectively is to apply tools that make sense othem, that clarify and simplify without strippingeach situation of its uniqueness, because if thahappens, then you are not acting on things athey are today but on things you experiencedyesterday.Management ends up facing two strategicquestions: what is it we are going to do? Andhow will we make it happen?In what way does training arise within thismodel? The first sequence of the model icalled 'the thinking problems of management'That is getting the direction clear as in thestrategic plan for the business, or as in theclearly stated role and purpose of the team sothat all team members can see and understandwhere and how their team contributes to thestrategic plan.The problems of direction and implementationgive riseto the model, summarized as follows:

5 S te ps to Succe ss fu l B us in e ss L e ad e rs h ip , by Graham Little ~ 3 of 6 ~


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[ ] B us ine ssS umm a rie s.co m ]The Slralegic plan as Ihefoundingdowmen t oIfha t>Js iness . Use of'Slrategic plannil"lgtOQI5 to makedear fhe ' what, who and ho w

Pecore have a great nurrber of'Wishes and a ims_ Work l is o f tenon ly a pa n of lhair Ii_.

~

STEP 4 : Keep the team focused on the irle ve l o f e ffe ctiv en es s a t im p lem en tin gb eh av io rs o f s uc ce ssAt some companies, the "regular" sort of jobdescriptions are out of date at almost theexact moment they are typed up, and sit infiles generally unused and largely ignored.The principles of job descriptions aswe knowthem seem sound. Yet, there is somethingmissing - a tie-up between the jobdescriptions and the behaviors of success.Hence a framework has beendeveloped:

'Mlat are the keybehaviours of""",,"ss?

QuesUons .

Use 0 ' g o a t . .. . action to createorganisation alternatives. DecisionOforganisa lion des ign based: onwhat,!s beS I f'otadlieving theSlralegk: alms.~

. Leads to clarity of the beha.vioursof success for the business. Tha tis, these behav ioors that. ,if actedou t with due oormi tment ', a reroost l i .kely to f 'a c il it a te s u o o e ss a s,defined by the 'strategic pian.

Management m.JsI contract. wlthpeople for the beha\ 'lours neededt o m a k e, t h e : bu s in e ss success1utT~is, ~agementmu~contrac t with people ' fo r tn ebehavioo/S o f s u cc e ss .

""'sllIon de9cnpHon lOr:

Un less managemem Isdea r In i tsown mim;t as t c what are t hebet\a,\liours of suc ce s s , tnen it willI 'IO! be able 10 coach and supportad lieve rmet of resul ts to thesatisfaction of the, businessstakehctders and tctba personal,9rT1)tionaJ and finandaJsatisfaction of the s ta N o f thebusineoss.

The second sequence is called the'implementation problem of management'. Ineffect, this sequence begins with people andtheir wishes and desires. The problem ofmanagement is to have the people focus onthe actions needed for business teamsuccess.

Dale:

'Mlal is Ihe aim ofthe team in re1at ion tothe strategiC plan?

I _ 1 " 1 1 _ ' I.gew "". ..1 1I = - - I~"-.

L_ _J

P&opIe ara inclinBdtOYiards doing whattney like. .men theylike

Org""laadonstructure

As cun 8 best possible ".,.,mapbetween the o'lB6dI' Of thBbusiness and the rI89ds olIIIB popIe

Qusstl'on

'Mlat are t he keypertcrmarce_marl


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[discussions on 'how we do a particular thing',a.k.a. behaviors of success.Other advantages of using this form:

1. Itmust be clearly derived from andrelated to the strategic business planand team members can see immediatelywhy they in fact exist asa team.2. The thrust is team based, and thisemphasis on team effort and teamwork,when backed by the simple ethics asoutlined in an earlier section, leads toimproved team cohesiveness.3. The system immediately placescurrent performance expectationsagainst business benchmarks, and thebusiness benchmarks are always higher.This has the effect of stressing thestriving philosophy taken as one of theunderpinnings of the businessculture.4. The system focuses on the keybehaviors of success with a strongpositive effect on the person concerned.He or she is constantly reminded of theactions needed to attain success.

The system has proven very successful andhas become a tool used by many managersto enhance the performa nce of thei r teams.

S T E P 2 : C e le b r a t e l a r g e a n d s m a l ls u c c e s s e sA relationship can be established betweenthe satisfaction and emotional state of aperson's life and the time he spendsworking. This is shown in the diagram

] B US ine ss sum m a rie s .com ]

below:

Time

Daily emotional state isgraphed asan irregularline, which indicates fluctuations in the level ofsatisfaction on a daily basis.The progressive build-up of life satisfaction issomething that should occur despite this dailyflux, and ideally should increase over time. Itcan seen as being related significantly to aperson's goals.Note that work is only one component of aperson's life and, for some people, not even amajor component at that. But work has thepotential to be a major component based onhow important it is in a person's life.This iswhy it is important for managers to drumup the successes, both large and small, thattheir staff experience, sothat they view work asa larger component of their lives.Celebrating both small and large successes isasure-fire way to get staff to realize theirsignificance in the eyes of management andthe team itself, itself a stepping-stone towardsa realization of the importance of work in theirlives.It is after all not only a place where money canbe earned, but where we can be satisfied andhappy aswell.

5 S te ps to Succe ss fu l B us in e ss L e ad e rs h ip , by Graham Little ~ 5 of 6 ~


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[ ] B us ine ssS umm a rie s.co m ]F in al No te s

A le ad er h as th e u ltim a te re sp on s ib ility fo rthe productiv ity of h is team , an d som ep eo ple w ill a ctiv ely o r p as siv ely re sis t th ec halle ng e to im prove th em se lve s a nd w illshow no energy or in teres t in do in g so.Th es e o bsta cle s m us t be o ve rco me by th eleader if he or she is to brin g the team torea lize the pow er and po ten tia l o f eachperson in tha t team.As a lre ad y s ta te d, p ers on al g ro w th a nd a nin c re as e in s atis fa ctio n th ro ug h s uc ce ss iso n ly c om fo rta ble in re tro sp ec t. It w ill ber es is ted i n advance and r esen ted i n r ea li ty . Itis t he le ad er wh o g uid es th e p eo ple th ro ug hth e emo tio n a l o b st ac le s b y h avin g a re a lis tica n d a ch ie va ble g oa l a n d s how in g h ow to g etthere.

-lll-

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