After working with CEOs, executives and business owners
for many years, I’ve seen common themes in the ways that successful leaders run
their businesses. Here are five of them. They seem like secrets because only
the best leaders use all of them consistently.
Organization – Highly
successful leaders create a structure of processes and procedures that define
how the business should work. They have a formula for how they most efficiently
produce the best possible results. Leaders ask: What do we need to do every day
to get the results we want? How many phone calls does it take to get to the
appointment, then to the proposal and to actual sales? That is a sales formula.
Highly successful leaders create these formulas and apply them to all areas of
their business.
Communication – Highly
successful leaders effectively communicate the processes and procedures that
help their people follow through successfully. This includes proper onboarding
and training so that everyone is clear on roles and responsibilities. As the
business grows, the leader is also responsible for communicating changes and
improvements to get better results.
Accountability – Within the
infrastructure of processes and procedures, highly successful leaders provide
clear expectations of performance to get predetermined results. There are lead
measures (strategy) as well as lag measures (goal). Lead measures are specific
activities that need to happen to hit the goal (lag measure). What gets measured gets done. Make it public.
Talk about it daily or weekly. Don’t just create a list, go away and come back
three months later to find out it wasn’t done or done right. Accountability is
a gift to the people in your organization to understand what is expected of
them, when it’s due and what the intended result should be. When people are
clear on their role and purpose, they are happier.
Discipline – Highly successful
leaders don’t have 100 goals. They pick one to three goals maximum. When one
goal is achieved, they add a new goal. They stay the course and don’t get
distracted by off-track ideas. Accountability supports discipline so you can
easily measure progress.
Peer Groups – This is my
favorite secret for highly successful leaders. If you don’t get exposure to new
ideas and perspectives outside of your business and your team, you won’t be as
challenged, educated or fulfilled as a leader. It’s lonely at the top; you
can’t take things to your executive team or home and expect to always get
objective feedback. A confidential peer group helps you stay disciplined,
accountable, organized and communicative on the most important strategies for
your goals.
