Deliver results?
Those words in the title may cause you to want to stop reading immediately. After all, you can get content focused on performance and results anywhere.
But, hang on. Stick with me please.
I see the ability to deliver results and the ability to lead teams with kindness and confidence as inseparable.
In fact, a leader who isn’t able to deliver results isn’t an effective leader at all. And, the hard reality is, ineffective leaders, even those who are kind and confident, don’t keep their role as leaders for very long.
In other words, if you want to be in a position to lead with kindness and confidence, you need to know how to deliver results.
Delivering – The third step in leading a team
This post on the importance of delivering results wraps up my blog series on the Connect. Mobilize. Deliver. framework.
In case you missed my introductory post, 3 Things To Focus On To Lead A Successful Team, “Connect. Mobilize. Deliver.” is how I think about leadership.
Connect people. Mobilize them. Deliver results.
I stated in the post Connect People with 2 Easy, 2-Minute Techniques that Connecting is the first and most important step in the Connect. Mobilize. Deliver. approach.
While I believe my statement is true, an argument can be made that the third step, delivering results, is just as important.
After all, a team that doesn’t deliver results really can’t be considered successful. And, neither can the leader of that team.
That may sound harsh, but it’s reality.
Don’t agree with me? Consider what organizational health expert and author, Patrick Lencioni, has to say.
Are you great or mediocre?
Lencioni, writes this in his best-selling book, The Advantage: Why Organizational Health Trumps Everything Else In Business [affiliate link].
There is no getting around the fact that the only measure of a great team, or a great organization, is whether it accomplishes what it sets out to accomplish.
Patrick Lencioni
He goes on to talk about leaders who insist that they have great teams because the team members care about one another and everyone wants to be on the team. But, these teams don’t regularly succeed. They don’t deliver results.
Lencioni, describes teams like this not as “great”.
He suggests a more accurate description is a “mediocre team that enjoys being together and isn’t terribly bothered by failure.”
Ouch.
To further emphasize his point he writes this.
No matter how good a leadership team feels about itself, and how noble its mission might be, if the organization it leads rarely achieves its goals, then, by definition, it’s simply not a good team.
Patrick Lencioni
I definitely don’t want to be known as a mediocre leader of a mediocre team. I’m sure you don’t either.
I want to be a great leader of great teams, successful teams. And, I also want to be kind to the people I lead.
The challenge we face as leaders who care about our teammates as human beings and as individuals is this.
In our efforts to be kind and compassionate, we can lose sight of the reality of how the world works. We have to remember that leaders in any organization are expected, in fact required, to deliver results. If we don’t,we won’t be a leader for long.
As a leader, we have to deliver results or we will lose our opportunity to lead.
Deliver or don’t survive as a leader
Does that sound extreme? Deliver results or lose the privilege of leading. Is that really right?
Like or not, that is reality.
As I wrote in the post, 3 Things To Focus On To Lead A Successful Team, the main reason leaders and teams have to deliver results is pretty obvious.
If you’re in a job, that’s what you’re paid to do. If you’re on an athletic team, that’s why you’re in the game. Even in a volunteer organization, you and your teammates are investing your time to accomplish a goal. To get something done.
That “something” you are expected to get done varies with each organization and each team.
In a business, financial targets are critical. In sports, wins and losses are measured. Whatever the “something” is, it needs to be accomplished.
Successful teams are clear on their goals. They’ve defined them and agreed to them. Their leaders hold them accountable to meet those goals. At a higher level of organizational health, truly great teams hold themselves accountable to meeting their goals.
Being accountable requires a leader and the team they lead to actually do what they agree to do, to deliver the results they agree to deliver.
Even leaders without a position of authority must deliver results to survive
For my regular readers, you may be wondering how a leader can lose their position of leadership if they are an informal leader.
By “informal leader” I mean they are a person who is living out the The Kansas Leadership Center belief that “anyone can lead, anytime, anywhere”. They don’t have a formal position of authority but they are, in reality, leading their team. (I describe this more in my guide, 5 Simple Ways to Lead when You’re Not the “Leader” for those who are not familiar with this concept.)
So, what does it mean for me to not survive as a leader if I don’t have a formal position I could be removed from?
In this scenario, not surviving doesn’t mean being fired. Or being pulled from the game and put on the bench.
It means losing your credibility with your teammates.
Let’s face it, when we’re on a team, we follow people who help our team reach our goals, people who help us deliver results.
Sure, we like to be around people who are nice and make us feel good, but we want to experience the pride and accomplishment of reaching our goals. Or, better yet, exceeding them.
We want to get stuff done!
Our teammates who are looking to us to lead them are no different.
If there is ever a time when you as a leader must deliver results to survive, it is when you don’t have a formal position of authority.
After all, your teammates aren’t following you because they have to. They are following you because you are leading them to be successful, to deliver the results the team is expected to produce.
Feelings and emotions are important, but they aren’t enough
I stated in the introduction that there’s no shortage of voices out there focused on performance and results. The same can be said about “feel good” messaging on the topic of leading others.
The inspiring quotes with beautiful images move us. A simple message in a tweet stimulates our emotions. Short videos motivate us to improve and take action.
This kind of content is everywhere.
And, I love it.
But it takes more than fleeting feelings and temporary emotions to be a successful leader. You have to deliver results.
You know that.
And, you also know if you’re committed to not only deliver results but to get those results while leading your team with kindness and confidence, you’re going to have to work at it.
Leadership like this is not common but it’s absolutely possible.
With the right training, the support of like-minded people, and continual practice you can do it. I know a kind, compassionate person of character who can lead your team without compromising your values is inside you.
You can learn to lead with kindness and deliver outstanding results.
And, when you do, you will have the confidence to lead with more boldness and courage than you imagined was possible. Others will see your example and follow in your footsteps. Your impact will be greater than you will ever know.
Together, let’s persevere to be the leaders our organizations and our teammates want and need. Let’s go help our teams deliver outstanding results.
Let’s do something great.
Greg
Discussion Questions
- How do you integrate delivering results with kind leadership in your organization?
- Who in your life has modeled kind, confident leadership while also delivering outstanding results with their teams?
I’m interested to know how your thoughts on this post. Please share your experiences in the comments section so we can learn together.
