This might be an unpopular idea, but we need to stop teaching leaders to manage employees. Whole organizations are set up to have all of their leaders, at every level, manage work that is being done. They focus on KPIs and metrics. Then they teach everyone who supervises a team that achieving results comes from making sure the KPI’s are met. What you get as a result isn’t achievement. It’s a manager who shares metric status in meetings and reinforces the expectation of hitting the mark. We’ve all worked for a manager like that and can vouch that, achieving results isn’t exactly what we felt like we were doing. It creates a punitive culture focused on hitting the minimums. Achieving results comes from specific leadership principles. Click here to watch the YouTube video that showcases the specific principles you need to get there.
Managing people isn’t bad, it’s just basic
I want to clarify that there is nothing wrong with KPI, metrics, or managing to expectations. There is a time and a place for that level of management. Typically, you need to manage when you’re very new to supervising people directly. Or if a team member’s performance is below expectations, you need to go the management route. However, if you are someone who really wants to make a difference at an organization, managing people won’t get you there. You want to make a name for yourself as a leader? Then you want to go beyond the basics.
A leader who wants to make people talk, in the best way possible, does it by exceeding expectations. A leader who wants their team to have the most amazing resume, ready for that next promotion, does it by inspiring an even higher bar. You can be that leader. You just won’t get there by measuring progress toward the status quo. That sort of thinking is just way too small.
Focused on achieving results? Consider new leadership principles
If Achievement is your go to, natural leadership attribute (Not sure if it’s yours? find out here), there are leadership principles to focus on and ‘management’ isn’t one of them. If you’re focused on achievement, you likely strive to hit and surpass new goals. You’re excited to realize a beautiful vision. That might even be part of what got you into leadership. You seem to have a natural ability to achieve at the highest levels, and now you want the same for your team. You’ll start achieving results through your team when you focus on vision, decisiveness, accountability, empowerment, and resilience.
Vision
Every true achievement starts with a clear vision. Whether you’re in the C-suite and your vision is where to take the company or your division in the next 10 years, or you’re a front-line manager and your vision is to promote 15% of your team. You can set the vision. Creating a vision is expansive. It has you picking your head up to see what’s possible rather than burying it in the metrics that were delivered to you. When you are focused on more than metrics, on possibilities you inspire others to do the same. With time it even becomes more than inspiring, you set the expectation of driving toward a vision and raising the bar.
Decisiveness
It’s easy to see how spending too much time on your vision can keep your head in the clouds. That’s why leaders focused on achieving results are decisive. There are choices at every turn and without the safety of having your upline tell you exactly what to do to hit your KPI, they get more difficult to make. Leaders at this level make quick decisions based on principle. You have the opportunity to look wholistically at the vision and decide based on how you’ll best achieve what you want.
Accountability
It is critical that you, as the leader, hold yourself accountable for the results you’re trying to achieve. You again set the example. Your team will see you and you’ll create a culture of accountability and to the overall vision and mission. Imagine if instead of worrying about hitting the production quota, your team looked beyond that. What if the team that you led didn’t focus making 20 contacts with customers per day. Instead, they focused on who they’ll improve their sales skills on those 20 contacts because the number of calls is just the baseline. The vision of improving skills to get to that next level of promotion was the vision they were truly holding themselves accountable to.
Empowerment
Your team reaches a level of expertise as they build on their skills. Soon they feel empowered not only to hit their metrics without that being the focus, but to identify other ways to contribute to the mission. Your employees will begin to focus on how they can build toward the vision in their own sphere of control. This means you go from managing employees or managing the work, to leading leaders who are solution focused for themselves and everyone else that they are now influencing.
Resilience
Any time you reach higher and raise the bar, you’re bound to fail. You are. Failing is a part of overall success because of the strength that it builds as you get back up. Leaders who are focused on achieving results, rather than managing work, are more resilient. They are more resilient than any manager out there because they have more opportunities to get up and strengthen those muscles over time. You take intentional risks as you work toward the result you want and gain more knowledge, confidence, and wisdom every time you do.
What does achieving results look like for you?
Whether you’re an emerging leader just getting your feet wet, an experienced leader who has seen wins over the years, or anything in between, you can achieve more focusing on these principles. Taking yourself from managing to the stated metrics to thinking beyond KPI to work toward your vision, is worth the work it takes to get there. Not only is it worth it in the role you’re in today, but for any role in the future. The ability to achieve and influence others to raise the bar is the most valuable and transferrable skill there is. Need a tangible example to help you understand? Click here to see the principles in action on YouTube.