Perspectives & Strategy

Much of what is written about leadership today concentrates on what the leader can do to empower a team to achieve success. Yet a part of that success is about addressing the personal needs and desires of each member of the team. Those personal needs may include non-work goals, for example Alex is attending baking classes every Tuesday night, because he has a desire to win the district master-chef competition. You may ask what this has to do with his role as a Network Administrator? It is simple in that people are complex beings and as such have many desires and often need support in achieving their personal goals, once their personal needs are seen as important by their business colleagues then this can boost their professional performance.

In this case moving the weekly status meeting from 4pm on Tuesday to 10am on Thursday allowed Alex to leave on-time every week and not miss large sections of his class. It also allowed others in the team to take part in the  the regular friendly football games that evening, boosting their fitness and energy levels.

Leadership is complex and naturally enough it is primarily focused on achieving corporate or business goals, yet often paying attention to the little things can make the important things run smoothly. These days most people are working extra hours and handling more tasks than ever before, but is this a reason for forgetting that people have personal lives and that time off recharges personal batteries.

Staff in the accounting and administration department for one company were forced to work compulsory overtime every weekend for one whole day in order to sort out the accounting mess that had arisen due to a business acquisition and procedural changes. This compulsory overtime lasted for a period of five months. By the end of the period every member of staff was complaining how drained they felt, some even stated that  working the extra day achieved nothing as their productivity was at an all-time low. Such actions may be necessary to solve a specific problem, the accounting consolidation, but there is no reason why the following year there also has to be a repeat performance, just to close the accounts at the year end.

In this case the right procedures needed to be in place to ensure that all the right steps were taken at the appropriate time. We know that there are more complex compliance and regulatory issues that must be managed for any business, but they need to be managed as a part of the normal everyday activities, whether that is by staff or through automated processes is an operation decision to be made. Key here is that doing the right thing at the right time often alleviates the need to clean up a mess later. Again a matter of training for those involved at the coal-face, but it is a question of leadership for the management team.

The key to achieving goals and visions is in managing them through small, yet achievable steps and celebrating each success along the way, as well as learning whatever lessons we can from both our failures and successes. Individual and personal goals, being achieved will help everyone move forward and that is important for the success of a team.

All goals are achievable provided everyone is motivated. Remembering back to our earlier school days obtaining a gold star was a matter of personal pride, particularly when it was on an achievement chart for everyone to see. We are all aware of the challenges facing our organisation. For those in a leading role it is important to both listen and take action when necessary. It is a series of small steps that can often make the difference, and as Neil Armstrong once said “One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” What steps are you taking?