Many managers and leaders, especially those who have recently transitioned from 'expert professional' to supervisory roles, feel the frustration of not knowing how to achieve the results their organization needs.
Instead of blaming different external factors (and we are very creative in finding fault in many aspects outside ourselves), the reality is that to achieve better results we have to get better ourselves.
We have to develop new skills, new expertise, learn new strategies. But which ones? How do we consistently develop what we need to achieve increasing levels of results?
In this video, I lay out a four-step process to TAKE RESPONSIBILITY of your personal development and growth. This is the only way that will make us successful leaders or managers in our organizations.
To your growth and success.
Eduard.
Video Transcript
As leaders and managers in organizations we are many times frustrated because the results that we want to achieve simply don't come.
If you have recently transitioned from a position of 'expert professional' to coordinator, team leader, manager, in your organization you, for sure, have experienced this type of situations, these types of feelings, like:
"I have already told my team what they have to do but somehow they don't do that", or
"It seems that nothing is motivating them, and I don't know how to do that", or
"They are not proactive enough and problems come to them without anticipating a solution".
So this type of situations, this type of behaviors, lead to poor level of results, and then we get frustrated. And what is the most usual reaction that we have? We blame!!
We blame our circumstances, we blame our employees because they don't have the right level, we blame our company because the culture is not the right one or the salaries are not at the level where they should be, we blame our customers, because they are way too aggressive for what we can do for them, we blame the economy, we blame many many things, everything outside ourselves.
How few managers and leaders have stood up, raised their hand, and said: "I'm the responsible for this level of results, and I need to fix them".
Because, at the end, if the level of results that you are getting are not the ones that you want to get you have only to look in one direction, that is, look to you.
You have to grow, you have to learn new things, you have to get more experience and develop different skills for you to get growing those levels of results that you want or/and you need.
But most managers and leaders fall in two different traps.
One is, many of them, they don't want to put the effort that they need to develop those skills that they need to improve.
The other trap is their development process is not very efficient and is distracted by their environment. And I can give you an example.
Many years ago I worked for a big multinational company that spent every year millions of dollars for educating and training their employees. It was a huge opportunity for learning and developing. So, every year, the company put sort of a menu of trainings available for employees to choose from. Year by year that menu not necessarily was the same, so every employee was able to choose one or two or three trainings to keep developing themselves.
The question is: were they choosing the right training for their own specific goals and situation?"
Because the critical word here for me is, if you want to develop yourself, you have to TAKE RESPONSIBILITY on your own development, and not allow your company, your friends, your situations, guide your own personal development.
But you will tell me: "But I'm responsible!! I'm a responsible person. I work every day very hard to achieve the goals!!"
I'm not talking here about you being or not being responsible. I'm talking about you taking responsibility and decisions about your own development.
So, what is this in a more specific terms? How you can implement that 'taking responsibility' concept in a more specific terms that you can bring it forward in your benefit.
I would like to lay out four steps that you can easily implement, and bring your employees also to implement, because it's some kind of a personal thing everybody should do: his own personal development!!
Step number one is: you should clearly identify where you want to go, which are your goals for one year, three and five years from now.
Be specific. Write them down.
In one year I would like to achieve this and that, in three years, I would like to be in that and that position, or to have that level of results, and so on.
Be specific where you would like to be in one, three, five years.
Step number two: analyse where you are today.
Which are your main strengths and which are your areas for development? Which are those gaps that you need to bridge, to close, to get to the objectives you fixed for year one, year three, year five.
Be specific. Write them down.
Because this is going to become your guidance, this will guide all your actions in the next few years.
Step number three: create a Plan.
If in one year I want to achieve that, what should I do from now within the next 12 months? What should I do?
Write down a Plan. It is your plan. It's not your company plan, it's not your boss's plan, It's your own plan, for your own development.
And, step number four, put that plan into action.
Don't let the plan die on your notebook. Start taking action every day, every week in that direction.
So you have your direction, you know where you want to go, you know where you are, you have a plan. Put that plan into action.
Napoleon Hill identified 'Personal Initiative' as one of the 17 Principles of Success, and this is what I'm talking about: It's your Personal Initiative to make your developing plan a reality. You don't need to ask permission to anybody. You just identify what you want, and you start working in this direction.
One of the mistakes many managers and leaders make is they try to do everything alone and by themselves, so it's very difficult when you are dealing every day with problems coming from many different directions, It's very difficult to keep that plan ongoing, so my strong suggestion is don't try doing that alone.
Work with somebody, work with a senior leader in your organization, a mentor, a coach, somebody you trust and who will help you to take you by hand, to follow your own developing plan, because you want to take responsibility of where you will be in three, five years from now, and not allowing this to anybody else.
So if you would like to have that conversation going deeper, please go ahead and schedule a call with me, and we will discuss your specific situation.
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Thank you very much for listening today. Take care.