Great Leaders Know "The Genius of the And"

Leadership is about helping the people you lead succeed.  In a previous post, I provided a list of tips for helping the people you lead succeed, grow and flourish.  I’d like to discuss one of those leadership tips in more detail here.

Lead by teaching the people you lead how to focus on multiple priorities.

What Great Leaders Do

• Great leaders help the people they lead focus on all of the responsibilities of their job. 
• Great leaders don’t let the people they lead focus on one responsibility to the exclusion of others. 
• Great leaders help the people they lead avoid becoming victims of “the tyranny of the or”.
• Great leaders do not accept such arguments as “What do you want, production or quality?  I can’t do both.” Or “What’s more important, making sales calls or filling out reports?  I can’t do both.”

How Great Leaders Do It

Great leaders keep the people they lead focused on all of the key indicators of their jobs.

Great leaders help the people they lead understand that their jobs have a number of priorities, and all are important.

Great leaders don’t accept the tyranny of the or.  Instead, great leaders focus the people they lead on the “genius of the and”.

• For example, great leaders will say “I want you to meet production targets and meet quality standards and do it safely and in a manner that complies with all the regulations that govern manufacturing.”
• Or, great leaders will say “I want you to make sales calls and close sales and complete all of your sales reporting on time.”

Great leaders know that the people they lead can get too narrowly focused on one aspect of their job.  They don’t let this happen.  They lead by making sure that all of the people they lead focus on all of the important aspects of their jobs.

That’s it for today.  Please log on to my other blog www.CareerSuperStar.com for common sense advice on becoming a leader and the star you are meant to be.

I’ll see you around the web, and at Alex’s Lemonade Stand.

Bud

PS: Speaking of Alex’s Lemonade Stand – my fundraising page is still open.  Please go to www.FirstGiving.com/TheCommonSenseGuy to read Alex’s inspiring story and to donate if you can.

Comments

[Ellen Weber]

Thanks for the motivational post, Bud. I'd like to hear more about your notion that ... "Great leaders help the people they lead focus on all of the responsibilities of their job." You have piqued my curiosity:-)