Lead to Succeed: The Seven Essential Steps to Work Leader Success

In my book "You're In Charge?What Now?" I use a mnemonic to describe the seven essential steps to work leader success. The mnemonic is "L.E.A.D.E.R.S" and each of these letters represents an essential step. While I have simplified the elements of leadership into seven words, the essence of my message is that being an effective, peak-performance work leader is simple, but not easy.

The responsibility of being an effective work leader is much more important than being an effective "manager". Every effective manager leads first, and manages second. In my lexicon, there are two things the "person in charge of an organizational unit" does: the first is to lead the people; the second is to administer the processes that make up the work. I call this administrative activity the mechanics of managing?these are the activities of planning, organizing, controlling, report writing, etc., and of course the implementation of the technical work of the unit. These are critical activities and can never be ignored, but in my experience those managers who focus the preponderance of their time on the mechanics, ultimately do not succeed. They may achieve short term results, but they usually fail over time.

That which is done "to and for" the people makes a work leader a long-term success, not what he or she does to administer the mechanics. Indeed, a manager with great leadership skills can sometimes be successful without being an effective administrator. I have worked for leaders like that, and they were great achievers.

On the other hand, I have worked for leaders who were great administrators but poor leaders, and they were ultimately failures. Simply put: administration may be a necessary condition, but it is not a sufficient condition, for success; whereas, leadership may be a necessary and sufficient condition for success.

My core premise is that if you are to be a successful work leader, your success will be determined not by how great an administrator you are, but how great a leader you are day-in-and-day-out. When the staff you are "in charge of" believes that you are a great leader, and when you are doing the seven essential steps, you will be a peak-performance leader who tastes the joy of success.

The seven essential steps to work leader success are easy to remember through the mnemonic L.E.A.D.E.R.S.? Each letter represents the essence of a key principle for Peak Performance.

L: Love ? Friends Like but Leaders Love

E: Expectations ? Setting the Bar Sets the Tone

A: Assignment ? Square Pegs in Round Holes Never Fit!

D: Development ? The Good Get Better, the Best Excel

E: Evaluation ? Leaders Success by Making Judgments

R: Rewards ? An Organization Elicits the Behavior It Rewards

S: Self ? Work Leaders Must Lead Themselves

Gerald Czarnecki, Chairman & CEO of the Deltennium Group, is a consultant, author and public speaker. His popular "work leader" books and seminars are designed for managers and supervisors to gain leadership training which is critical for success in any "management" position. Visit http://www.deltennium.com for more information.

---

Building the Trust in Your Employees - 12 Easy Tips

In Stephen Covey's great book, "The Seven Habits of Highly... Read More

How to Prepare for Your Companys Financial Future

Sooner or later, most business owners need to look for... Read More

Counseling Interviews for the Marginal Employee

ACTIVE LISTENING: The most frequent cause of failure in therapeutic... Read More

Is Chess Good for Management?

The game of chess has been applauded and taught in... Read More

Business Innovation ? Improvisation

Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation... Read More

Avoiding The Sheep Dip

It is a sad fact that many employees are still... Read More

Are You the Culprit?

Are you a business, non-profit or association manager who pretty... Read More

Innovation Management: What Problem Is Being Solved?

Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation... Read More

Business is About Making Money

Ask most people why they are in business and they... Read More

Action Learning: Its More Than OJT

For centuries companies have used on-the-job training (OJT). OJT works... Read More

Miracle Max On Market Breakthroughs

Successful enterprise building requires seven elements. These are:1. People, who... Read More

Five Ways to Influence Change in Others

Because of my work as a consultant, trainer and coach... Read More

Employee Turnover: Seven Reasons Why People Quit Their Jobs

There are many reasons why good employees quit and go... Read More

Time Management Tips for Managers

Late last year I was presenting a workshop for the... Read More

Conflict Resolution Training- When Personal Safety is an Issue

Conflict generally arises by having your needs, desires, perceptions and... Read More

Birds of a Feather May Be Turkeys

Birds of a Feather May Be TurkeysBy Gene Griessman, PhD... Read More

Selecting A Collection Agency

If you run a business, you are sure to have... Read More

No Time to Focus on the Big Picture? Try Focus Management

E-mail, voicemail, "got a minute?" interruptions, multiple projects... Read More

Balancing Power in Outsource Contract Agreements

The practice of outsourcing business processes has long been subject... Read More

What To Do When Your IT Project Is Late, Over Budget, and Looks Like It?s Never Going To Work

Here's a scary statistic. According to four prominent research firms,... Read More

Measure for Measure

Can you imagine playing hockey without a goal? Basketball without... Read More

Managing Change in the Workplace

Change is exhilarating. Change is terrifying. Change is badly needed... Read More

The Three-category Approach to Performance Management: Effort, Ability, or Environment

Performance Management is the act of managing personal or organizational... Read More

Managing After Downsizing

So, you survived the downsizing. Your company did something that... Read More

Understanding How Change Has Changed

There seems to be an assumption that change is a... Read More

5 Creative Evolutionary Leadership Niche Strategies!

I have a short story to share with you about... Read More

Why Your Company Needs An E-Mail Policy

Everyone at the office thought that using the company e-mail... Read More

Take Your Firm to the Next Level

So you did such a good job in 2003 at... Read More

The Email Trap

If you sit at a computer for most of the... Read More

When Code Freeze Turns To Code Slush

Time To Market (TTM) is a vital concept that every... Read More

The Survey Feedback Process for Organizational Development and Change

THE PURPOSE OF SURVEY FEEDBACK:In globally competitive environments, organizations are... Read More

The Rise of Corporate Chair Massages

Employers have rapidly begun to understand the importance of stress... Read More

Employee Retention: Keeping the People Who Keep You in Business

The retention of highly skilled knowledge workers is one of... Read More