5 Temptations of a Leader
5 Temptations of a Leader
Patrick Lencioni refers to the temptations that leaders face as they get caught up in the details and complexities of business. Often when often too close to the action it becomes easy to lose clarity and often confuse valuable counsel from peers and subordinates as criticism!
It is often easier to resent and resist the short term pain of change and not being open to new ways and new ideas. Being a leader can have a number of pitfalls:
1. Choosing position over results - The desire for title and position and choosing personal gain over results. The need to protect ego or reputation - this is the most dangerous temptation. The focus on career and status causes complacency and causes results to slip. Also rewards tend to go to those who protect your ego rather than get results. Publicly commit to outcomes and evaluate success based upon measurable results
2. Choosing popularity over accountability - The need to be liked and popular by staff at the expense of holding them accountable. It is the feeling that affection and friendship is more important than decisiveness and managing performance. Clarify expectations up front and 'be straight' in dealing with behaviour and performance.
3. Choosing certainty over clarity - Discomfort about making decisons without having perfect information. This can sometimes be a challege for highly analytical people. Issues are left to hang ambiguously without making clear and timely decisions. So timely decisions will wait rather than being wrong! The inevitable outcome is underwhelming results. Be decisive and set deadlines for making decisons.
4. Choosing harmony over conflict - The failure to achieve buy-in of new ideas for fear they might be challenged. The challenge in maintaining harmony is that there is little room for full self expression. Without active participation there is no benefit of other people's ideas and interactions. Draw out differing opinions and engage in passionate discussion about key issues.
5. Choosing invulnerability over trust - When leaders do not want to be seen to be making a mistake or afraid of being wrong or losing their status. With invulnerabilty and the failure to 'be human' comes low trust as team spend more energy trying not to make mistakes then they do in getting results. Acknowledge your weaknesses and mistakes - and let everyone see your human side!
Extraordinary leaders are authentic and have deep founded values and a strong sense of purpose. The most compelling source for strong leaders is spiritual, the energy derived from connecting to deeply held values and a purpose beyond one's self interest. Purpose creates a destination!
With vulnerability comes trust and healthy conflict
With conflict comes passionate discussion and absolute clarity
With clarity comes accountabilty
With accountability comes results
Extraordinary results come from extraordinary leaders who clearly understand that change is always powered from the top down!
5 Temptations of a Leader - To learn more about this author, visit Geoff Flemming's Website.
Like this article? Share it with your friends
I was reminded recently of the pressure facing CEO's, managing directors and managers in dealing with issues and making decisions. Moreso than ever these days they face the pressure of making clear and hopefully well grounded decisons - in ever decreasing timeframes.
Patrick Lencioni refers to the temptations that leaders face as they get caught up in the details and complexities of business. Often when often too close to the action it becomes easy to lose clarity and often confuse valuable counsel from peers and subordinates as criticism!
It is often easier to resent and resist the short term pain of change and not being open to new ways and new ideas. Being a leader can have a number of pitfalls:
1. Choosing position over results - The desire for title and position and choosing personal gain over results. The need to protect ego or reputation - this is the most dangerous temptation. The focus on career and status causes complacency and causes results to slip. Also rewards tend to go to those who protect your ego rather than get results. Publicly commit to outcomes and evaluate success based upon measurable results
2. Choosing popularity over accountability - The need to be liked and popular by staff at the expense of holding them accountable. It is the feeling that affection and friendship is more important than decisiveness and managing performance. Clarify expectations up front and 'be straight' in dealing with behaviour and performance.
3. Choosing certainty over clarity - Discomfort about making decisons without having perfect information. This can sometimes be a challege for highly analytical people. Issues are left to hang ambiguously without making clear and timely decisions. So timely decisions will wait rather than being wrong! The inevitable outcome is underwhelming results. Be decisive and set deadlines for making decisons.
4. Choosing harmony over conflict - The failure to achieve buy-in of new ideas for fear they might be challenged. The challenge in maintaining harmony is that there is little room for full self expression. Without active participation there is no benefit of other people's ideas and interactions. Draw out differing opinions and engage in passionate discussion about key issues.
5. Choosing invulnerability over trust - When leaders do not want to be seen to be making a mistake or afraid of being wrong or losing their status. With invulnerabilty and the failure to 'be human' comes low trust as team spend more energy trying not to make mistakes then they do in getting results. Acknowledge your weaknesses and mistakes - and let everyone see your human side!
Extraordinary leaders are authentic and have deep founded values and a strong sense of purpose. The most compelling source for strong leaders is spiritual, the energy derived from connecting to deeply held values and a purpose beyond one's self interest. Purpose creates a destination!
With vulnerability comes trust and healthy conflict
With conflict comes passionate discussion and absolute clarity
With clarity comes accountabilty
With accountability comes results
Extraordinary results come from extraordinary leaders who clearly understand that change is always powered from the top down!
5 Temptations of a Leader - To learn more about this author, visit Geoff Flemming's Website.
Like this article? Share it with your friends
 | |
 |
No article feedback found. |
| |
Leave Your Feedback |
 | |
| |||
Dave KurlanDave Kurlan is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the industry leader in sales assessments and sales force evaluations, and the CEO of David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in sales force development. Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc. Magazine's Conference on Growing the Company, the Sales & Marketing Management Conference and the Gazelles Sales & Marketing Summit. He has been featured on radio and TV, including World Business Review with General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc. Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine and Incentive Magazine. He is the author of Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball. He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary recruiting process for hiring great salespeople, and he writes Understanding the Sales Force, a popular business Blog and is a contributing author to The Death of 20th Century Selling and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2. - Visit Dave Kurlan's Website |
|||
Linda RichardsonLinda Richardson is the Founder and Executive Chairwoman of Richardson, a global sales training and performance improvement company. As a recognized leader in the industry, she has won the coveted Stevie Award for Lifetime Achievement in Sales Excellence and she was identified by Training Industry, Inc. as one of the “Top 20 Most Influential Training Professionals.” Ms. Richardson is credited with the movement to Consultative Selling and is the author of ten books on selling and sales management, including Sales Coaching — Making the Great Leap from Sales Manager to Sales Coach, and Stop Telling, Start Selling. She teaches sales and management at the Wharton Graduate School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton Executive Development Center. Linda is a frequent speaker at industry and client conferences, has been published extensively in industry and training journals, and has been featured in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Nation’s Business, Selling Power, Success, and The Conference Board Magazine. Learn more about Richardson's sales training and performance improvement solutions at http://www.richardson.com web - Visit Linda Richardson's Website |
|||
|
To learn more about the Evan Elite Author Program please contact us. | |||
 | |
|  |
Subscribe to Geoff's articles
 | |
|
|  |
 | |
|
| |
 | |||||||
|
 | ||
 |
||
 |
||
 |
||
|
| ||
 |
| Have you written articles that would be of value to entrepreneurs? Become an expert on our site by publishing them! Expose yourself to a wide audience, drive more traffic to your website and get more sales! Click Here for details. |
|
|
 |
| Modeling the Masters: Learn the true secrets behind Walt Disney's business success factors & grow your company! Video produced by Phanta Media |
|
|
 |
"Learn straight from Evan how you can Make a Full Time Income (And More) from a Website"
Click Here To Learn More |
|
|
|
|
Get advice & tips from famous business owners, new articles by entrepreneur experts, my latest website updates, & special sneak peaks at what's to come!
|
|
|
 Making It Happen Create A Mission Statement Intentional Leadership Integrity Internet Marketing Secrets Take the Lead |
|
 | ||
 |
Top 50 Marketing Blogs
Top Marketing Blogs of 2010 | |
 |
Top 50 Productivity Blogs
Top Blogs To Watch In 2008 | |
| ||
 | ||||
| ||||
|
| ||||
| ||||
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||
|
Email us your ideas on how to make our website more valuable! Thank you Sharon from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for your suggestions to make the newsletter look like the website and profile younger entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez and Sean Combs!
|
|
|
