Implementation - This is the Acid Test of Good Leadership

Oct 7, 2014 4:06:07 PM

So many times, teams would work tirelessly to develop the best possible solution for a company to emerge from a disaster or to achieve a highly valuable objective, just to see all their efforts going up in smoke. We never seem to find a problem with the motivation of the team at the beginning of a project, but somehow that same team loses their motivation and will to effectively implement a solution.

Why is that? Is it because the team made mistakes in their planning? Is it because the team lost interest once the planning stage was over? No, we do not think so. In fact the team is very rarely to be blamed, but the company leadership has been found guilty and coming short in their efforts to support the initiative and implementation. Needless to say that the leadership in tis case failed miserably and all the effort put into this initiative were wasted. What is the problem here?

In our 29 years of experience, we’ve seen many reasons for implementation failure and we can confidently state that in at least 80% of cases the cause lies at the feet of Management. If management would only realize that implementation support is as much their responsibility as that of the team. In fact Management is accountable for the successful implementation effort. The term “walking the talk” is a very simple principle but if followed correctly cold make the world of difference to a team tasked for successful implementation of an initiative.

The term is simple and it should also be simple to do the following basic actions to support a team effectively:

  • > Provide visible support – be there for at least part of meetings, not all meetings but choose them carefully to make sure to attend the critical ones.

  • > Verbalize your support for the team and their objectives at these meetings. The best way to do this is to ask what you can do to remove some obstacles on their behalf, which in many cases only you are in a good position to do.

  • > Question the team and listen to their answers. Ask questions about possible risks overlooked and help with suggestions. There is no better way to demonstrate your support.

  • > Provide constructive feedback and praise them for their efforts a lot to show your appreciation. Everybody likes to feel appreciated. Suggest they celebrate their interim successes at important milestones.

Do these few simple things the next time and you will see how that team comes through for you - through thick and thin. It is simple, easy, with a major dividend and a check mark behind your name for excellent leadership. It is not going to cost you a penny, but you will alsol feel like a million bucks.

GoodLeadership_ThinkingDimensions

If you liked what you read here, subscribe to our Blogs. Subscribe

Mat-thys Fourie

Written by Mat-thys Fourie

Washington, DC, United States | Founder & Chairman of Thinking Dimensions Global
Mr. Fourie is a thought leader on how IT professionals apply Incident Investigation techniques on a repeatable and sustainable basis within their organizations. His strength lies in customizing and embedding the various techniques within existing CSI, Incident and Problem Management practices.

SIGN UP TO OUR NEWSLETTER

Sign up for our newsletter and receive updates that will help your business to grow. Do not waste time, we're here for you.