Leading or Expecting?

Often companies are making decisions based on the WIIFM concept. Today’s business flow and marketplace doesn’t allow this for success. If it’s not WIIFU, alone with short term gains may be your future. While I’m not pointing out any one business in this particular rant, I am saying, “You know who you are.” So ask yourself these 4 simple things.

1. Am I the one with the power to make the decision?
2. Am I afraid to make the decision or afraid of the consequences for a bad one?
3. Am I putting the best interest of the work, the company, and the people into my decisions?
4. What is the core reason this isn’t getting done.

The hardest part of decision making is being truly objective. As a leader, it’s important for your team to know that you know you aren’t perfect. They already know you can’t be and will find it easier to support someone that can say I’m sorry, my fault, and engage the solution with them. Ask yourself these questions:

1. Do I admit failure? Really?
2. Do I expect others to fail less?
3. Do I allow others to fail securely?
4. Am I part of the solution in recovering from failure or do I expect someone else to “fix it”?
5. Am I part of the solution when others fail or do I “govern the fix”?

I suspect in a public forum the results would be the socially accepted answers to these questions, I challenge you to be objective and really think about what the questions are asking. These questions are for you, the answers aren’t going to be discussed in an open forum (unless you truly are a responsible leader and have fostered the right environment).

As I said when I started this thought, we are too often blaming the economy for the state of affairs. If you have a contract opportunity, close it. If you have a job opening, fill it. If you have a project deliverable, get it done. If you just don’t feel it matters, get a different job. At the end of the day, bad economy or not, the true leaders of your organizations are getting things done and making a better environment by reflecting the kind of honesty, responsibility, and commitment they expect from others. Are you one of ’em?

Final Thought – Is there really such a thing as a self-less act? I think so, for those of you that are true leaders, your people are counting on it.