No matter what your productivity has been year-to-date, the last months of 2019 will define your productivity. It can be filled with great achievement, momentum-building activities to finish the year strong and lay groundwork for launching 2020. Are you focused on the key results you want to achieve? Are you committed to making them a reality? Are you willing to grade how successful you were? That was one of the biggest steps I have hesitantly taken. Looking at my top five objectives then rating whether I would give myself an A, B, C… you get the point. Now at the end of the day, my wife Tommie will sometimes ask “Did you have an A day today?”
I recently interviewed David Alexander, President of Soliant Health and Accounting Principles, two of Adecco’s largest brands in recruiting. David has an impressive record of building fast track organizations. He founded Elite Medical which was recognized on the Inc 500 fastest growing companies in the country before becoming a part of Adecco. As we discussed leadership principles that are keys to success, he pointed how the most important thing leaders should do is to choose the 10 things you need to accomplish (not just do) the next day.
While it may sound a little sophomoric, I began to see his point. We drive our schedules, tearing down walls and obstacles, answering the call to make things happen. Then, the day is over. Time to take a breath and get ready for tomorrow. But we usually don’t, we run full speed until the bell rings. We head home, turn the lights out, and then wake up the next morning to charge back into battle. When we don’t slow down…the battleground can look blurry.
What our teams need from us is the discernment to choose items of the highest consequence, select what our talent, energy, thought process or sometimes just sheer will needs to be applied to which priority. What struck me though was David’s passion for carving out daily time before you leave the office, commit to identifying those items which will lead directly to the success you are trying to chart. The next morning, review the objectives on the way to work, then do everything in your power to make them a reality. Execution is driven by steps, by persistence, by resolve. And I believe, most importantly, the key to leading our teams is not the ability to focus but rather refocus as interruptions and distractions arise.
Are you putting a to-do list together or a roadmap that truly charts a course for your team that defines success? Do you hone in on steps toward objectives that will propel you forward, or fill time by doing tension relieving versus goal-achieving activities?
“Did you have an A day today?”
How will you answer that question?
Don’t miss the opportunity to listen to the entire discussion with David below on the Strategies for Tomorrow’s Leaders Podcast.
Topics include:
- Importance of planning the key things that need be accomplished the next day, then focus your attention on making those things happen
- Practical ways to empower people, not manage them
- How productivity comes from leading with optimism
- Seeing what people are capable of and turning them loose; your role in getting obstacles out of their way
For more Leadership Strategies for Tomorrow’s Leaders visit: lightingthepath.net/media/
Other ways to listen and share this podcast:
