Leadership à la Pinocchio
Imagine if, like Pinocchio, every lie led to a longer nose. There would be fewer lies because every lie would be immediately visible. The same principle applies to other areas. If smoking immediately caused black spots on the face, fewer people would smoke.
The essence of this idea is that we would practice harmful or ineffective behavior less if the consequences were visible, and immediately.
The same applies in business life. Mediocre performance or ineffective behavior often goes undetected because the negative effects are not immediately visible. A major lever for better performance lies in making the impact immediately noticeable. This connection also applies to each and every one of us: if we bring the impact in the future into the present, we would make better decisions and take more meaningful actions. This is idealized, but we can move in this direction.
How can we achieve this in concrete terms?
Tip no. 1: Get rid of the number crunchersovens!
Companies often have huge tables and reports that hardly anyone understands. Imagine you could grasp what it's all about within three seconds. The goal is clear, simple messages. Use images and graphics that are immediately understandable.
This makes it more difficult to conceal connections. Effects become more visible.
Tip no. 2: Bring the future into the present!
You are familiar with the usual lag indicators such as sales growth or EBIT. These only measure success when it is too late to change anything. Much more important are lead indicators that show early on whether you are on the right track.
A personal exercise is to write down three things every evening that you have successfully completed today. This will help you develop a sense of progress and stay motivated.
Tip no. 3: Make sure it is clear!
In many companies, it is too easy to conceal things. Clearly structured reporting and transparent systems help to prevent this.
Imagine you have a CRM system to manage your customers. The rule is: what is not in the system does not exist. This prevents excuses and ensures clear, comprehensible data. Keep it simple and understandable so it's hard to hide poor performance.
Conclusion
These three tips can help you set your team and yourself up for success. Make things visible, use lead indicators and create clarity. You will see how your team's performance and your own productivity improve.
To the author:
Volkmar Völzke is a success maximizer. Book author. Consultant. Coach. Speaker. www.volkmarvoelzke.ch
