Three Impact Points of Leadership

Three Impact Points of Leadership

A team that is engaged, motivated, and well led is a potent business

force. It must be remembered that a highly performing team is not

an end in itself, but rather, a means to an end: superior business

results. While I feel that this is self-evident, it is a point that should

be reinforced. It is the business that often brings teams together.

It is the business that needs, even calls us, to perform at

ever-higher levels. Thus, the results of the business are a critical

report card. With that said, it is my experience that only through

teams that are in-synch, and working well, that superior business

results can be not only achieved, but also sustained.

The role of the leader is a vital part of a highly performing team.

Unfortunately, it’s also often its weakest link.

In my experience of leading teams over the past twenty years,

a three-pronged foundational concept has emerged.

A leader must at all times:

Educating the Mind

First things first. A team must know what they’re supposed to accomplish.

What does winning look like? What are the key priorities?

This is primarily an intellectual exercise, the domain where the left

brain does its real work. In the business context, this is may be captured in

an annual business plan that needs to be successfully executed.

It is critical in this step for everyone on the team to have a clear idea

of the overall objective/issue/opportunity and a clear idea of how

they fit in. Where do they, as individuals, as a team, and as a department, fit into

the overall picture? Clarifying an individual’s responsibilities and accountabilities

and clearly connecting them to the larger objective is a critical first step of

leadership.

Inspiring the Heart

Once the team has some idea of “what” to do, the next required

step is to determine “why.” Why is this important? Why is this

important to me? Why is it important for me to play a role? Why

should I go the extra mile? In my experience, this is the secret ingredient

that differentiates great teams from merely productive work groups.

When a team’s heart is “in” their work, they care not only for the project, not only

for the business results, but more importantly, for each other.

This is when amazing results or seemingly unachievable feats can

be accomplished. This is the work of the right brain: the less intellectual side,

the more emotional side of all of us.

Directing the Hands and Feet

Now that the mind and heart are engaged, the final required step is

to ensure that the team is focused in the right direction. With the

“what” and the “why” established, the last thing a team must know

is the “how.” Inspiration, after all, still requires direction.

When things get stressful, there can be a tendency to overly focus on this

last “impact point”. Out of balance with the other two priorities, active direction

can devolve into reactive “barking out orders”.” When

a team understands what they have to do, as well as why their work

is important, directing the “hands and feet” becomes more about

leading people than about managing initiatives and activities.