The Effective Leader in Action | Series I | 5 Practices

Introduction: Effectiveness Can Be Learned!!

How you can train yourself to be an effective person, an effective knowledge worker, and an effective leader – for training yourself to get the right things done.

Effectiveness is getting the right things done. It is a habit consisting of five (5) complex practices. You can acquire the habit of effectiveness by practice, the way you acquire any other habit!

There are five (5) practices or skills to acquire to be an effective person. These five are:

1. Managing your time;
2. Focusing your efforts on making contributions;
3. Making your strengths productive;
4. Concentrating your efforts on those tasks that are most important to results; and
5. Making effective decisions.

These practices are simple, but these practices are exceedingly hard to do well. You will have to acquire them, by practicing and practicing them again.

A. Getting the Right Things Done:

(To be effective the knowledge worker is, first of all, expected to get the right things done.)

(Insight: What needs to be done? – Successful leaders don’t start out asking, “What do I want to do?” They ask, “What needs to be done?” Then they ask, “Of those things that would make a difference, which are right for me?” They don’t tackle things they aren’t good at. They make sure other necessities get done, but not by them; they delegate someone else. Successful leaders make sure that they are effective! They are not afraid of strength in others.)

Please ask yourself this question:

Question: What am I getting paid to do? What should I be paid to do if I am being paid for getting the right things done in my position? Am I doing things That I shouldn’t be doing?

Action: Eliminate or reduce the activities that do not contribute to effectiveness, the things you shouldn’t be doing. What are some of these activities?

B. The Authority of Knowledge:

(For the authority of knowledge is surely as legitimate as the authority of position.)

(Insight: Decisions are made at every level of the organization. The apparently low-level decisions are extremely important in a knowledge-based organization. Knowledge workers are supposed to know more about their areas of specialization. Their decisions are likely to have an impact on products, offerings, services, and even throughout the company.)

Please ask yourself this question:

Question: How do my decisions affect the overall performance of the organization? What is limiting my ability to make contributions?

Action: List the steps you can take to remove the impediments that limit your ability to make contributions.

C. Leader Realities:

(The fundamental problem is the reality around the leader.)

(Insight: There are 4 (four) major realities over which the leader has essentially no control. Every one of these realities exerts pressure toward non-results and non-performance. (1) The leader’s time tends to belong to everybody else. (2) Leaders are forced (by the flow of events) to keep on "operating". (3) The leader is effective only if and when other people make use of what he contributes. (4) Finally, the leader is within an organization. He sees the outside only through thick and distorting lenses, if at all.)

Please ask yourself this question:

Question: What major events prevent me from focusing on results? Do I feel like I'm caught up in internal dynamics and office politics?

Action: Begin to take steps to change your realities to focus on contribution and results. Do not let the flow of events determine what you do.

D. The Effective Personality:

(All effective leaders have in common is the ability to get the right things done.)

(Insight: Effective leaders differs widely in their personalities, strengths, weaknesses, values, and beliefs. All they have in common is that they get the right things done. Some are born effective. But the demand is too great to be satisfied by extraordinary talent. Effectiveness is a discipline. And like every discipline, effectiveness can be learned and must be learned.)

Please ask yourself this question:

Question: Who are three (3) effective knowledge workers in my organization? What are their prominent personality traits? How do these people use these traits to form habits of effectiveness? What does this tell me about the relationship between personality traits and effectiveness?

Action: Be yourself. Use your personality traits to form habits of effectiveness. Work on weaknesses that limit your effectiveness.