Speed or Distance?

I ran on the track and field team in high school. We had runners who were fast and skilled at short distances. We had runners better equipped for mid to long distance. I usually ran the half-mile, which is a mid-distance race. In those days it was unusual for anyone to run both short and long races. You trained for one or the other, because the stamina was different and the mental approach was different.

Leaders make a similar choice with their work teams. Are you going to push for short term results, whatever the cost? Or, are you going to build for the long view and develop your people even as they make some mistakes along the way?

I'm a strong advocate of the long view, of building for going the distance. In the mean time, leaders still must deliver short term results.

Like modern track athletes, leaders now must ask: are you running for speed or distance? -- knowing full well that it's not a choice. You must deliver both.

That's the tough news. The good news? When you build for the running the distance your speed -- and your short term results -- can improve as well.

High performance leaders are very skeptical about either/or questions. Like a great improv actor, leaders should ask "what if we did both?"

-- doug smith

Leadership Call to Action:

Think about your current short term pressures to perform. Ask yourself, how can you deliver on that short term result while also developing for the long haul?

Comments

Strategic and Communication Skills

Supervisors often bring strong technical skills to the job. When they have worked in technical jobs prior to becoming a supervisor, they were often the best at what they do. They know the ground level part of their business well enough to solve problems and deal with day to day issues. Leading is all that and more. High performance leadership requires attention to detail AND a constant view of the big picture: where is your team, your market, and your customer base headed? What does the future hold? Strong supervisors learn to add strategic and communication skills to their technical ability. What are you doing today to develop your sense of the big picture? -- Douglas Brent Smith

Win The Game

It would be nice to win the game. But, do you ever feel like you're in a game that keeps shifting the rules and making it easy to make progress but impossible to win? You've probably noticed lots of game elements creeping into service. Points, incentives, expiring coupons followed by new expiring coupons, leader-boards...on an on a relentless attack on service comes from playing a game designed -- you guessed it -- to maximize profit. If the customer is happy, fine, but the point is to make money. Not to put too fine a point on it but that's a lousy point. What if there could be something better? What if customer service excellence became playing a game where the customer always wins and that makes you happy? You don't have to. "give away the store" to achieve a winning game for all of the players. Just stop stacking the rules against customers and watch how much more they will want to do business with you. -- doug smith

Art Belongs Everywhere

What does it take to be creative? What place does art have in your business? People are naturally creative. As a leader you can put that creativity to good use, or you can hold it back. If you want innovation, new ideas, better ways of serving your customers, and happier team members you probably already know that it pays to keep your environment conducive to creativity. Art helps. Whether it is in the form of fascinating photos, interesting prints, provocative sculpture, or occasional performances by that local string quartet or improv troupe, people benefit from an environment that celebrates creativity. Creativity helps to bridge the previously unseen connections. Creativity helps to spark new ideas. Creativity puts smiles on people's faces. Where does art belong? Art belongs everywhere. What can you do today to add a touch more of creativity to your environment? Curious about creativity? Creativity May Play A Role in Healthy Aging The Power of Ordinary Prac...

Make the Hard Choices

Are you faced with a hard choice? A hard choice is one we don't want to make, and yet realize that sooner or later we need to. It could be making that big career change. It could be ending a destructive relationship. It could be selling that car that costs too much to keep repairing. Make the choice. Moving on is the direction of growth. Gathering the facts, discovering the reality of the situation, and making the choice is the way to go. We might need to get creative to do it. It may take all of our creative juice just to figure out a better way, but there is always a better way. A creative act may close a door or two but it will soon open thousands of possibilities. And possibilities are what we want. Positive, energized, growing possibilities. This all becomes easier when our goals are clear. When we know where we're headed -- and we're willing to do the hard work it takes to get there -- any distraction is more easily exposed. Choices become more clear. Make...

What You Do

Do your team members know what you do as a leader? It's a serious question. I've known leaders who seem to nearly never venture outside of their office, and others who are seldom there. What is it that you do? Answer customer questions? Resolve team conflicts? Make your own boss happy? Develop new ideas? Fill out reports? Answer emails? It's risky to take for granted that your team members know what you do. But, they sure want to! I'd encourage you to conduct daily individual conversations so that no matter what else you do, much of what you do is communicate with the team. Will that take time? Sure. Is it worth it? Absolutely. Are you giving your team members enough of your time? Is what you do vital to your team's success? -- Douglas Brent Smith

Every Answer Raises Two More Questions

Have you ever wondered when exactly you'll have this leadership job figured out? You're in good company. The longer that I serve as a leader, the more questions arise. People challenging questions, character challenging questions, process challenging questions. It's all a mix of constant learning. Things that worked with one team seem ineffective with another. That's no reason to stop asking the questions, though. So what if every answer raises two more questions? It's in the questions that we move forward. -- Douglas Brent Smith

Expect the Best

People sometimes disappoint. Whether it is intentional, accidental, or something in between, it happens. People also intend to do their best. Our expectations influence our team members one way or another -- positive intentions and expectations are a better match than negative expectations and whatever happens next. Expect the best from people and let them know: nothing less will do. -- doug smith

The Essence of Leadership

What do leaders spend most of their time doing? Is it planning? Is it counseling and coaching? It is working with customers? The essence of leadership is solving problems and achieving their goals. Whether you solve a problem or achieve a goal directly, or whether you enlist the help of others to do it, that is what leadership is all about. Whether you write your own goals or have them handed to you, chances are you are held accountable for them. And whether or not you expect them, sure enough problems develop that demand your attention. What are you doing to improve your ability to solve problems and achieve your goals? -- Douglas Brent Smith Information on Solving Problems and Achieving your goals .

What to Blame

It's better to blame the product than it is to blame the customer because you cannot fix the customer. -- doug smith

Behind Closed Doors

How secretive is your organization? Are there mysterious initiatives that you know nothing about? Have you ever been told that a piece of information is "eyes only" or on a "need to know" basis? How does that make you feel. If you reverse the scenario and withhold information from others in your organization, you are contributing to a culture that is difficult to sustain. If you often hear "behind closed doors" in your organization, it's time for major change. Strong, sustainable, noble organizations are built on an open culture where information flows freely and people know what's going on -- not just those in the inner circle -- everyone. To communicate for results leaders must be open and truthful. They must expose their agenda to scrutiny and hold few, if any, secrets. What kind of organization do you want to build? -- Douglas Brent Smith Learn more in the workshop Communicating for Results

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