11 Areas Of Delay That Detour Your Leadership Goals

I saw this statement the other day, “I let go of anything and everything that could delay my good in any way.” By Louise Hay

Hmmm… Of course, as I so often do, I contemplated how this might apply to leadership.Leadership is the action that motivates people toward a vision. Therefore, if the vision is the “good” in this statement, we need to ask ourselves, “What gets in the way that could cause delay of achieving my vision?” In other words, what no longer serves us?I discuss this topic a lot with my clients. It is a great exercise to stop and check-in with yourself regularly, asking, “What no longer serves me?”Some possible delays to our good or vision may include:

  • Underlying beliefs that no longer serve us

  • Ego

  • Clutter (literal and physical)

  • The need to be right

  • Noise (literal and physical)

  • Fear

  • Poor health

  • Lack of sleep

  • Lack of knowledge

  • Lack of anything…

  • Toxic relationships

Once you’ve identified what gets in your way of achieving your good or your vision, it is time to let it, or them, go. Time to move into action, ridding yourself of anything and everything that gets in your way.

Brian Tracy, in his book, “Eat That Frog!” offers some great suggestions for getting out of the procrastination habit.Mark Twain was the inspiration for the book title and overall premise of getting procrastination out of the way. Mark Twain said that if the first thing you do each morning is to eat a live frog, you go to through you day with the satisfaction of knowing that is probably the worst thing that would happen to you all day long. So eat your frog and know that it is the time to start exercising your backbone instead of your wishbone.

You are the architect of your life, the author of your book. This is not a dress rehearsal. If you don’t like what you see…change it!

I want to hear from you.

What is your favorite strategy you use to work through delays and detours? How do you eat your frog?

With love,

Maria

4 Steps Leaders Need For Keeping Delegation Simple

For many of the leaders I work with, delegation is a real struggle. Leaders resist delegating because we are so accustomed to doing the work ourselves. Many times, fear will rear its ugly head, thinking that if we want the work done correctly, we must do it ourselves. And then there is the time issue of communicating and training others to complete the task for us.

Ahhh, but the benefits of delegation far outweigh the negativity that surrounds this illusive skill. When we delegate, we have more time for our high-priority tasks and we actually get to experience the joy of completing our tasks!

Delegation increases our productivity and is a much better use of our resources.Delegation gives you freedom from chaos and confusion.Since we are not born with the delegation gene, we must learn this skill. It’s not as hard as you think!Just follow these four simple steps and you will be delegating before you know it:

  1. Explain the need for delegating, including the reasons why you selected that person to complete the task.

  2. Clearly set the objectives defining responsibility, level of authority, and deadlines.

  3. Develop a plan to achieve objectives, resources, and give the authority necessary to obtain those resources.

  4. Establish an accountability plan with checkpoints.

True, there are some tasks best kept to ourselves such as personal matters, confidential activities, crises, and activities that are specifically delegated to us. However, we can delegate paperwork, routine tasks, technical matters, tasks with developmental potential, and employee problems that we do not need to be involved in.Somehow we’ve managed to complicate the idea of holding people accountable, and it is quite simple, really, SIMPLE:

S = Set clear expectations – this is the number one complaint and stressors from employees – that the expectations are vague.

I = Invite commitment – some say gain “buy in” but I much prefer to invite commitment. With an invitation, there is a shared sense of ownership.

M = Measure progress – Super important to keep up on this. How you will measure is part of the description of setting clear expectations.

P = Provide feedback – again, super important. Far too often managers will wait until the project is finished to say that it wasn’t done correctly.

L = Link to consequences – consequences are also identified in the setting clear expectations step.

E = Evaluate effectiveness – Do this together and it becomes a powerful activity for you and the person who is accountable.

I want to hear from you!

What are some techniques you use to hold people accountable and why do you think the strategies are effective?

With love,

Maria