14 things I’ve Learned In My 14 Years of Working with Business Leaders
Hard work
Business leaders tend to wear ‘hard work’ as a badge of honour. Arriving first, leaving last and then continuing to work into the evening often stay up til midnight and beyond. They do this despite the fact that they aren’t being paid to work hard.
They are being paid to keep the business in high performance mode and the best way to do that is to keep themselves in high performance mode. A tired and overwhelmed leader will soon start making decisions based on their own limited bandwidth and will quickly create a tired and overwhelm business.
I help my clients to find and protect their own high performance mode so that they can better support the business to locate and maintain high performance mode.
Drama to data
Business leaders tend to operate from their zone of uncertainty where they feel the constant pressure to know all the answers and often feel like imposters as a result. They do this despite the fact that it is their job to ask the right questions, follow the data and be the forever curious student always being willing to say ‘I don’t know’ in order to continue making improves rather than getting stuck operating from what they know that is GUARANTEED to cause stagnation.
Productivity
MOST leaders tend to aim their time at PRODUCTIVITY, checking their email first thing in the morning and last thing at night while letting the loudest screamer control their time getting their rewards from putting out fires and ticking things off the to do list. Putting their head down and hustling like an overwhelmed boxer who has reverted to windmilling in the hope of finishing the fight and gaining some space and time to re-group.
They do this despite the awareness that MOST things aren’t important and most things aren’t urgent given the businesses objectives and the process outline for achieving those objectives. In fact a leaders time is BEST spent in pursuit of their own redundancy moving themselves ever further away from those day to day task and learning to create a state where they make better decisions and teach others to do the same.
Dreams
MOST leaders tend to have some BIG ideas about how life is going to be. The money, the house, the summer house, the fun, the relationship with their partner and kids, the health, the adventure. Then at some point they down grade the importance in their minds of some of those things that are alluding them or perhaps have allude them for 5 or 10 years. Sure they gain MORE money and even the houses but they mentally down play the price they are having to pay in other areas.
What I support my clients to do is to keep their DREAMS front and centre because that is the only real way to change your thinking, which is the only real way to change your actions which is the only real way to change your results and have the life you dream of.
Leftovers
Most leaders tend to leave their health to chance. Of course it doesn’t seem like that in the moment but when we say, ‘I’ll exercise WHEN I get work done’, ‘I’ll eat better when I have more control’, ‘I’ll sleep more when work calms down’ and the work is NEVER done, the control never comes and work NEVER calms down and it hasn’t for years then this is EXACTLY what we are doing.
It’s those things that we leave to chance that our brain down grades in importance and so we will have to, at some point, face the harder fight of WINNING our health back, our relationship back, our children back, our friends back.
A better approach I have found with my clients is to implement a set of SMALL health fundamentals that happen first thing in the morning and reward them all days and with compounding interest across their lives. MORE over this approach gives them more energy for both their work and the important relationships every day.
Support
Most leaders tend to see themselves as the resilient load carriers who can bare any weight. This is a powerful mindset that serves them in many areas. Where it acts against them is that they store up frustration, anger and resentment and they fail to ask for what they NEED in order to progress. The result is that they don’t get to take full advantage of the support and collective intelligence of their families and teams while shouldering unnecessary stress, overwhelm and workload.
I support my clients to start asking for those things that would give them a greater sense of support and connection and reap the full benefit of the people in their lives that truly DESIRE to be of greater service to them too.
Failures
Most leaders tend to carry their failures and mistakes with them as incompetences or regrets that weigh on them like heavy burdens. The stress of carrying tends to make them destined to repeat them over and over again. They continue to repeat the exact process that they KNOW caused failure in the past.
Instead I help my clients to integrate EACH of their past failures and extract SPECIFIC processes to make those mistakes and failures significantly less likely in the future helping them to not ONLY avoid the same mistake next time but also to create a new way of operating in the future.
Ready Fire Aim
Most leaders tend to have mastered the skill of ready-fire-aim to great effect. They are used to taking action, and then adjusting accordingly to data and feedback as they go.
This is the nature of the action taking leader. This is a great strategy. It tends to look like habitually throwing themselves into the day and getting drawn into what’s expedient, what comes naturally and getting through on instinct. This is fine for survival but as the company grows this unstructured approach causes them to become the bottleneck for the business as clear processes haven’t been created and the leader feels like they NEED to teach instinct.
The meetings end without delegation and ownership of tasks, nobody is clear on what they should or shouldn’t be doing or how to measure success independent of the leaders review.
Instead I have the leader take the time to Define what needs to happen, to clearly detail what doesn’t need to happen and the exact and precise steps to success. Not just that but getting into the habit of mapping PROCESS as it is the only way to progress. While information ONLY lives in the leaders head and instincts determine ‘what next’ the leader will remain overwhelmed and EVERY SINGLE member of staff.
Willpower
MOST leaders tend to posses strong willpower. They have often had YEARS of doing what it takes to get things done which often requires force. They are often on a quest to find the BEST way to do things and then on finding (a) best way they force it into place. The result, after a few years is that they become exhausted and the days start to feel incredibly effortful. Using willpower prevents habits from forming and requires huge amounts of energy.
Instead I have my clients operate in their zone of skill power where habits are formed, the work becomes energising and the systems are both personalised and fun. When a leader operates in their zone of skill-power they start to become more relaxed, patient and present as they are no longer having to dig into energy reserves. They start to become the leader they want to be and others need them to be at work and at home.
Energy
MOST leaders tend to quite logically USE their energy on the most VITAL tasks first. The deadline, the fire that NEEDS putting out, the meeting that MUST be taken. This seems to makes sense for many years but steadily the window of the energy shrinks as does the quality of the energy in that window. What starts off as a “just for now” approach becomes the habit. The result is collateral damage to health and relationships and those things that CAN go another day unattended become default unattended.
Instead I have my clients create small energy growing processes that take VERY little time as they move towards doing what’s MEANINGFUL rather than what’s expedient. The result is growing energy as well as a more deliberate and predictable approach to life and business.
Ignorant or incompetent
MOST leaders fear appearing ignorant or incompetent. The very words seem threatening. The result is that they tend to avoid areas that they know little about and avoid tasks they don’t know how to do. The result is that blind spots grow and unattended areas grow larger. The problems they have now are the same ones they had 5 or even 10 years ago. They have become part of their identity. ’I’m not the sort of person who works well with a plan’. ‘I’m the sort of person who acts of instincts’. ‘I’m an all or nothing sort of person’ this list goes on.
Instead I have my clients make their seeming ignorance and incompetence part of their daily strategy for moving problems into their zone of genius while teaching their teams and loved ones to do the same. As a result they rapidly grow in these areas and begin to see their obstacles as the way to progress rather than what’s stopping them.
Communication
MOST leaders tend to get quickly frustrated as people seem to misunderstand them or make promises to do something and then fail to keep that promise. The result is that they feel like they are the only people they can rely on and end up doing many tasks themselves for fear they won’t be done or won’t be done correctly.
Instead I teach my clients how to never be misunderstood again and how to know for certain if the task will be done. The result is an increase in mutual trust and an increase in connection, as they are able to fulfil their goals more quickly, as are those they are delegating to.
Hope to Habit
Most leaders tend to have a HOPE for the day. ‘I hope I will have the energy for my kids’, ‘I hope I will be able to detach from my phone’, ‘I hope I’ll be able to go to bed on time’, ‘I hope I’ll get the time to exercise’. The result is that all too often these hopes don’t materialise. Years go by and the hopes fade as even when the time does appear the old habits die hard.
Instead I have my clients construct minimum effective dose habits. Default minimums with caveats so that the promises are kept and expanded into. The result is that although the phone is used, sometimes the kids play time doesn’t happen, sometimes the bed time is late, or the phone is needed, THEY are the exception NOT the habit. The power of this is immeasurable because it gives an incredible sense of freedom.
People Pleasing
Most leaders want people to be happy, their staff, family, clients and board all wanting their time and wanting it when they want it. In order to make these people happy they do their very best to give them what they want. They answer the phone when ever it rings, they say yes often and try and find a way to force in another commitment.
The reality is that fulfilling peoples desires to talk to us WHEN THEY want to talk to us is the VERY thing that prevents us from being able to keep the larger promise of achieving SUCCESS as it has been defined in those areas. I help my clients to define what is required to keep them centred and focused on producing their best work and achieving their desired outcomes. Instead of trying to serve the random, whimsical and MOSTLY unnecessary communications.
