Energetic Leadership Thoughts

It all begins with energy. Leaders must have other strengths, such as intelligence and decision-making ability, but it is the energy that converts good ideas into measurable performance. How do we do this?

First, we will start with getting high-energy people into the organization … which is the equivalent of setting the table. Now this doesn’t mean getting animated extroverts that like to motivate and encourage everyone about everything. No, this means professionals who are laser focused on their assignments and bring stamina for seeing things through to completion with a positive attentive attitude based on the reality of the facts. In other words … leaders who are doers and achievers.

The next step – even bigger, is the task to create an organization that converts energy into results. In other words, leaders who execute and get the troops involved. This includes top-to-bottom and bottom-to-top communication that shares and has focus.

Simplify and Engage

A good place to start may be to simplify the organization chart. Delayer or remove barriers that cause communication issues … and keep it simple and brief. Furthermore, be sure your key leaders are setting strategy and not delegating it to others. NOTE: The strategy to accomplish the vision and goals of the company is where the rubber hits the road. This is your power-field to success … don’t water it down or let it not be proactively managed by delegating it down line.

Require of yourself and your key team leaders to get the good ideas out of the organization. They are there … and if you don’t know what or where they are you have some work to do. But they are there. You need to get them found and identified … and put them into the strategy-and-results arena. Search the entire workforce for good ideas … all levels, up and down. Then get management to deal with the new good ideas. Start with at least three goals:

1. Make the organization more productive
2. Weave a higher level of self-confidence in the structure of the firm
3. Kill any bureaucracy that exist

Peter Drucker was a big advocate of killing bureaucracy … as he said, “Bureaucracy kills passion and divests energy from the critical tasks to be accomplished for success.”

Keep in mind that the higher up an executive is in an organization, the larger will be the proportion of time that is not under his control and yet not spent on contribution. The larger the organization, the more time needed to just keep the organization together and running, rather than make it function or produce. At the same time you have to know that the goal is to make the company the best it can be. Therefore, simplify rather than keeping things complex and difficult.

Set Key Metrics|

Per Peter Drucker: What gets measured; gets managed.

Make sure the Doer’s and the Manager’s are exposed to new ideas – and are given ample opportunity to soak up those new ideas when identified. Figure out how to measure the really good ones and they will get managed, therefore, adding to the success of the company.

It’s important for managers and top management to have a forum or system for sharing experiences, aspirations, and even frustrations of identifying, qualifying, choosing, implementing, executing, and measuring of the good ideas. A viable forum will ensure the camaraderie or teamwork necessary to stay focused on results that will help the company be successful. This has to be a priority and challenging to be useful, let alone successful.

In closing, it should be noted that company politics or playing games within an organization can stifle productivity and muck things up. And it takes real guts and commitment to correct such a situation. A good leader understands that the organization should be structured to harness – and amplify – the collective energy of the organization so that the whole is more than the sum of the parts. And this takes energy.

Please share your thoughts or comments.

© Phil Hoffman 2013. All rights reserved

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Tags: business, Decision Making, Leadership

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