Define the Results You Want & then Grow into Them

Defining the results and outcomes you want isn’t a novel concept. That’s just strategic planning. The whole point of strategic planning is to develop implement-able actions that move you closer to your intended outcomes. Sometimes when there is a gap between your plans and where you are today it’s the result of your need to grow yourself and your processes to ensure those results are possible and achievable.

As leadership and self-leadership are about getting results through yourself and others that growth rests with you. When you’re a solo professional that growth rests entirely on you. When you work with others as their leader you have to recognize when your staff needs to grow, and provide them with the means to achieve that growth.

Frequently the personal growth you and your staff need isn’t technical in nature. When you or your staff need some kind of technical growth you buy it without blinking an eye. But think about the times when, as much as you didn’t want to, you had to fire someone. As you recall that painful and frustrating experience you know that you didn’t fire them because they didn’t have the skills and knowledge they needed to do the job. You never would have hired them without those skills and knowledge. No, the reason you had to fire them had more to do with their attitudes and behaviors than their skills and knowledge. You may think there isn’t anything you can do about your attitudes and behaviors, or those of your staff. Well you have certain attitudes and behaviors that are natural to you and that make you more suited for certain types of work than others, but those attitudes and behaviors aren’t what make you have to fire someone. The attitudes and behaviors that led you to have to fire someone were directly related to their lack of self-leadership skills. You can grow your and your staff’s leadership abilities and consequently get the outcomes and results you want.

Processes and systems are what make your business work like a well-oiled machine, or what makes running your business like driving a car with three round tires and one square tire. Processes and systems exist to make it easier to run your business. Once they are in place it’s just a matter of rinse, repeat, results. The challenge most people have with their processes and systems is that when a process or system isn’t getting the desired results you focus on “correcting” a symptom. That means that as soon as that symptom is “fixed” another symptom pops up. When a process or system isn’t making things easier dig down to find the root cause of the problem and fix that. When you fix the root cause the system improves and you don’t keep getting more new symptoms.

Top achievers understand that if you want to be the best you have to commit to continuous personal growth. No matter how good you are there is always an opportunity to make good better. Do you have an attitude that loves continuous growth and the results it allows you to get, or is your attitude one of enough is enough? Remember your attitudes are a reflection of your leadership skills, so if you don’t like your attitudes you may want to develop a plan to grow your leadership skills or those of your staff.

Women in sales keep reading

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