Leadership is not inherent. It’s a skill that must be learned through experience. Today you’ll learn three of the most important leadership lessons I learned in Army officer school and how to apply them in your business.
3 Leadership Lessons:
Lesson 1: Have a plan, but be flexible.
Mike Tyson is known for saying,
“Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face.”
General Eisenhower stated is similarly when he said,
“Plans are useless, but planning is everything.”
Even the best plan won’t last past first contact, but having a plan is crucial.
Look at your overall strategy and all the projects you have to complete and build several plans that will accomplish your vision and mission.
Remember there are many ways to achieve the same mission.
Identify the patterns in your business, your competition, and your clients by reviewing the lessons learn with each project, and apply what you learn to your future planning.
If one plan doesn’t work out, you will be prepared with another.
Lesson 2: Communicate your intentions and expectations clearly.
I made the mistake once of writing out a mission plan and assuming that everyone had read it and was ready to take action…that wasn’t the case.
The mission failed. Soldiers weren’t where they were supposed to be, communication crashed, and thank God it was only a training exercise otherwise I would have had to write letters home to family’s who lost their loved ones.
It was a failure on my part, NOT my Soldiers’.
I failed to inform them of critical information.
I failed to follow up with to ensure that my instructions were clear and understood.
Ultimately, I was responsible.
How often does this happen in business. We think we share all the information because we sent the slides or spreadsheet.
When in reality, we took the shortcut and didn’t explain the context or follow up to make sure everything was understood.
Take responsibility for not clearly communicating.
Take it upon yourself to be more specific with your requests.
More often than not, when you take responsibility to communicate more clearly you’ll lead the team to better results.
And if something unexpected happens or goes wrong along the way, at least you’ll have your team’s support and a plan to adjust from to keep moving forward.
Lesson 3: Don’t step on your your subordinate’s toes.
I’ve seen behind the scenes of too many leaders who micro-manage every detail of their team.
Have you ever been in a situation where you were micro-managed?
Not only do the people doing to work not feel valued, they actually feel undervalued because they are unable to exercise their unique talents to solve problems.
They have a specific job they were trained or hired to do, so let your subordinate leaders do their jobs so you can focus on yours.
Know your role as the leader and delegate through the chain of command. Give the the mission and boundaries, and let your team do their best work.
Toyota implemented this on their vehicle assembly line. To this day, any employee who is building a vehicle and notices something wrong has the ability to pause the production line and address the issue.
Not only has the quality of their products improved, the happiness and productivity of their manufacturing has increased too.
Brining it all together
As a leader it’s your job to achieve a specific set of goals. And, your team is there to support you.
- Develop a plan, but don’t become rigidly tied to it,
- Communicate clearly and follow-up,
- And let your team do their best work
Here’s to streamlining your leadership!
