“I can do it better myself.”
“It takes more time to teach someone else to do it than it does to just do it myself!”
“If you don’t hear from me, that means you’re doing a good job.”
If we’re being honest, most of us in leadership positions have said one or more of these things at least once (and probably more than once).
Every leader wants more time to focus on higher-leverage activities. To be able to leave the office for more than an hour and have things operate as if we were still there. To be able to take our family on vacation without sneaking off to the balcony to take a quick call or solve a problem. But what is preventing us from being able to do that?
In my case, it was me.
I wanted better productivity, less drama, lower employee turnover, and greater employee engagement. But I was causing low productivity, drama, and employee turnover. This is because I was bringing my champion mindset to the job: I was focusing my time around "me" and not "we".
If this sounds familiar, check out the PDF below that you can use to do a "neck up check-up" and see how much champion mindset vs leadership mindset you recognize. Included is also our approach to solving this with a program that addresses mindset, skillset, tools and discipline of leaders.
Most leaders in Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are promoted into leadership positions because of their technical and functional expertise. They are what we call Champions.
It makes perfect sense to promote your most competent performers to a leadership role.
However, to be successful as a leader requires a different mindset, skill set, tools, and discipline than that of a champion. The primary shift is that instead of being a champion, once you are promoted into a leader role, your job is to create champion performance in others and create an environment where people thrive.
Want to learn more? Check out our podcast:
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
As Managing Director of Ramsee Consulting Group, Rick Robinson has focused developing and delivering a variety of programs in the areas of Leadership Development, Project Management, ERP systems, Lean Manufacturing, Teambuilding, Quality Systems, Strategic Planning, Motivation, Measurement Systems and Change Management. In the last ten years Rick has facilitated a number of strategic and project planning sessions for a variety of clients, including Wingstop Restaurants, the Town of Addison, DeKalb Office, Malphurs Interactive, the City of Richardson, the City of Georgetown, the North Dallas Chamber of Commerce, and Greenberg Farrow Architecture. His inclusive and highly interactive style has earned him high praise from his clients and conference attendees. Rick earned degrees in Accounting and Finance from Texas A&M University in 1985 and taught Economics and Accounting in the Fiji Islands as a Peace Corps volunteer after college. His client list also includes GM, Chrysler, Nortel, Picker, Del Monte Foods, Steelcase, Texas Health Systems, Dallas HR, and Lloyds of London.
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