Have You Shifted?
January 15, 2011Leadership Mistake #2: Lack of “Strategy Follow Through” Discipline
March 10, 2011How One Common Executive Mistake May Be Sabotaging Your Effectiveness as a Leader and What You Can Do About It
One of the most common mistakes that can compromise a high performance CEO is lack of consistency and conformity. Consistency and conformity are frequently listed as top priorities for growth and scaling by top executives. However, in practice, this is not always applied, and sometimes, a completely different message altogether, is conveyed. Conformity is usually a paradox in growing corporations, where thinking outside the box is often encouraged. And consistency can go out the window depending on how rapidly the organization is growing. It is not uncommon for a trend of “fire fighting” to take hold as the company culture.
In the 1970’s Steven Covey introduced the 2×2 matrix of prioritization, teaching us how easy we can slip from what’s “Urgent and Important” to things that are “Urgent and Not Important,” simply because the human energetic experience of “Urgency” is similar. As companies go through periods of rapid growth, the experience within the organization is similar to the “Urgency” experience and as a result, maintaining consistency and conformity can go by the wayside.
To avoid this mistake: Routinely communicate to your team the importance of following systems and procedures especially during periods of rapid growth. Systems and procedures maintain brand, product, customer service and other departmental consistency to the customer. Internal attention to having growth spurts be individual stages that get gelled back into the corporate structure will pay huge dividends. Reviewing values and vision on a monthly and quarterly basis will support a culture of consistency as well.
To learn about other common pitfalls to avoid, register to receive the “CEO Special Report”. It’s filled with valuable information, based on research and best practices, of some of the most frequent mistakes made by high performance CEO’s and how to avoid them.
At CCA our clients are trained in a unique process to design Standard Operating Procedures that drive high accountability and productivity in your team. We also teach how to have highly effective meetings that maintain team cohesion, a consistent leadership experience of executives and managers and consistent “results driven” conversations.