A+ Lady Leaders Series – Are you achieving results?

Let me start by asking you a question: Are you achieving...

• The right results? WHAT
• In the right way? HOW
• For the right reason? WHY

If you are an A+ Lady Leader, you know the answers to these questions and have the skills to do just that!

1. What are you trying to achieve?
2. How are you doing that?
3. Why is it so important to be successful?

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You need all three parts
It's not just about the results or the just process. You all know wealthy individuals, who are complete jerks and have lost everyone they loved along the way. You know of very successful organizations with nasty work cultures. You know really good people, who never achieve anything because they are too nice. You probably also know wonderful, caring people, who work hard every day, but never get anywhere, because, they don’t have definite aspirations. I know, none of these is what you are looking for!

The point is, we need to get the right RESULTS, in the right WAY for the right REASON

​Any one of the 3 points is important, but to be that A+ Lady Leader, you need to combine all 3.
Here’s how:

Getting your WHAT right
​The skill you need to develop: 
Being GOAL ORIENTED: 
When you hone this skill, you set goals and focus on goal achievement. That means when you establish goals, you don’t stop there. You create timelines to achieve those goals. You then break down your objective into smaller tasks, take action on some parts and delegate others. You follow up with your team and keep the process on track. The end goal is high performance and goal attainment.
 
How to develop this skill
Practice setting bigger goals and the get used to breaking goals down into weekly tasks. Work with your team to share the work and progress.

FOR EXAMPLE:
​The big goal may be to finish a manual. Included in the handbook or guide there will be topics, chapters, and sections to focus on. There could be research that needs to be completed before beginning to draft the manual. You may need to include a process of getting stakeholder feedback. Then there will be draft copies, editing, and final proofing to finish before printing the completed version. You could have an online version that needs to be uploaded to a website following the print version.
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Put the goals, tasks, and timelines into a spreadsheet, on the whiteboard or into project management software. Then, attach who’s responsible for what task and by when. Set regular progress reviews with everyone. Check in with those working on the project along the way to see where you can help. Don’t forget to do your part!

Getting your HOW right

The 2 skills you need to develop are: 
Having a STRATEGIC FOCUS:
This means you have a good process in place for maintaining an ongoing strategic perspective within your organization. A strategic focus includes more than setting goals. It is looking at how your team’s or your organization’s work fits into the bigger picture. It starts with strategic planning, but it doesn’t end there. To truly have a strategic focus, you need to keep the process alive throughout the year. The ongoing process includes regularly reviewing goals, both for progress, but also to see if they are still priorities.
 
How to develop this skill 
Start developing this skill by scheduling time monthly in your agenda to take a look at the bigger picture and see how it fits in with today and next week. What has happened that may have changed the original strategic plan?

FOR EXAMPLE:
​Your program may have started working on the new manual because you are going through a standards review process and it was required. The review process may be delayed. A planned monthly review will have you step back and look at current tasks and resources strategically. How do the resources you have (time, staff and money) fit in with the manual, given other priority projects that are also going on in your organization? Maybe a focus on recruiting suddenly takes higher priority. Or perhaps, the pushback in timelines for the review process frees up a staff that can now add her time to the manual project, thus fast tracking the manual. 

​Being DECISIVE:
This is the ability to make decisions, including tough ones, in a timely manner. You need to make decisions under pressure and be comfortable moving forward in uncertainty.
 
How to develop this skill
 
To become more adept at being decisive, you need to heighten your awareness around the decisions you are faced with.

FOR EXAMPLE
​When you are faced with a decision, such as how to allocate an employee’s time or where to focus program attention, make a note of it.

• Write down the decision you need to make.
• Make a note of the feelings you had around the making of the decision.
• Document how long it took you and what help you asked for in making the decision
• A week or month later, note what the impact of that decision was and what you learned from not only the choice you made but how you made it.

** I suggest all leaders have a learning journal, which is a place to keep track of whatever skill development you are working on

​Getting your WHY right
The skill you need to develop is:
Being PURPOSEFUL & VISIONARY:
You need to clearly communicate and role model a commitment to both your personal purpose and vision and the organization’s deeper sense of purpose
 
How to develop that skill
Spend time individually and with your team crafting a future vision. This vision can include things such as goals and plans. More than that though, you will need to take a look at the values you want to honour, the workplace culture you want to have an choosing the impact of your lasting legacy on the community you serve.  

FOR EXAMPLE:
​Take time to do some journaling exercises to draw out your legacy. A helpful exercise is to imagine you are leaving your organization in 10 years and they are having a going away party for you. Write down what you want people to say about you, your worth ethic, your style of leadership and the impact you had.

Leadership Competencies
These skills listed above come from The Leadership Circle Profile. This is a 360 tool I use with my A+ Lady Leaders who join the Women with Grit Program.
The Leadership Circle describes them as part of the Creative competencies that are well-researched competencies that measure how leaders achieve results, bring out the best in others, lead with vision, enhance your own development, act with integrity, and encourage and improve organizational systems.

Want to learn more?
Anyone can achieve results. What they actually achieve, how they do it, and why they are even bother trying to do, makes an incredible difference. I know, if you want to be an A+ Lady Leader, that you not only care about the what, but also the how and why.

You can learn more here by listening to this session on how you can increase your skills to achieve the right results, for the right reason, in the right way.

Then, get a sense of how you are doing with the skills to achieve results with the guide below.

Weekly Facebook Live Session
Join me most Thursdays at 12:15 MDT for a Facebook Live session.
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Ask me questions and gain insights as you learn to lead and live with more balance and enjoyment.

If you aren't sure how Facebook Live sessions work, learn more here.