Lead to Succeed: The Seven Essential Steps
By Gerald Czarnecki |
In my book You’re In Charge…What Now? I use a mnemonic to describe the seven
essential steps to work leader success. The mnemonic is “L.E.A.D.E.R.S” and each
of these letters represents an essential step. While I have simplified the
elements of leadership into seven words, the essence of my message is that being
an effective, peak-performance work leader is simple, but not easy.
The
responsibility of being an effective work leader is much more important than
being an effective “manager”. Every effective manager leads first, and manages
second. In my lexicon, there are two things the “person in charge of an
organizational unit” does: the first is to lead the people; the second is to
administer the processes that make up the work. I call this administrative
activity the mechanics of managing…these are the activities of planning,
organizing, controlling, report writing, etc., and of course the implementation
of the technical work of the unit. These are critical activities and can never
be ignored, but in my experience those managers who focus the preponderance of
their time on the mechanics, ultimately do not succeed. They may achieve short
term results, but they usually fail over time.
That which is done “to
and for” the people makes a work leader a long-term success, not what he or she
does to administer the mechanics. Indeed, a manager with great leadership skills
can sometimes be successful without being an effective administrator. I have
worked for leaders like that, and they were great achievers.
On the
other hand, I have worked for leaders who were great administrators but poor
leaders, and they were ultimately failures. Simply put: administration may be a
necessary condition, but it is not a sufficient condition, for success; whereas,
leadership may be a necessary and sufficient condition for success.
My
core premise is that if you are to be a successful work leader, your success
will be determined not by how great an administrator you are, but how great a
leader you are day-in-and-day-out. When the staff you are “in charge of”
believes that you are a great leader, and when you are doing the seven essential
steps, you will be a peak-performance leader who tastes the joy of
success.
The seven essential steps to work leader success are easy to
remember through the mnemonic L.E.A.D.E.R.S.… Each letter represents the essence
of a key principle for Peak Performance.
L: Love – Friends Like but Leaders
Love
E: Expectations – Setting the Bar Sets the Tone
A: Assignment –
Square Pegs in Round Holes Never Fit!
D: Development – The Good Get Better,
the Best Excel
E: Evaluation – Leaders Success by Making Judgments
R:
Rewards – An Organization Elicits the Behavior It Rewards
S: Self – Work
Leaders Must Lead Themselves
For more information:
www.deltennium.com/articles.php
About the
Author
Gerald Czarnecki, Chairman & CEO of the
Deltennium Group, is a consultant, author and public speaker. His popular "work
leader" books and seminars are designed for managers and supervisors to gain
leadership training which is critical for success in any "management" position.
Visit http://www.deltennium.com for more
information.
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