Covey’s Four Imperatives of Leaders
Inspire Trust This is where it starts. Do your people believe what you say? Do they trust that you will come through on your commitments to them? Do they feel safe? If so, they will go all out, and will take risks and work for the good of the whole, not just to cover their own backsides
Clarify Purpose Can your people explain your company’s mission in plain English? (can you?) What are the most important tasks and metrics you team is managing to? What are the “must-haves” as opposed to the “nice-to-haves?”
Align Systems People do what they are rewarded for doing, and avoid what they are punished for. They also tend to go with the path of least resistance. Do your systems allow and encourage the behavior you want? How many companies talk about “innovation,” yet reward steady growth and punish risk-taking? You can do better than that.
Unleash Talent This is the benefit of the other three, you get a fierce, proud, dedicated team. THis is the difference between a leader and a manager. A Manager tracks time, tasks, resources, etc, a Leader engages the team and brings the best out of them.
Tags: clarity, leadership, purpose, systems, talent, trust
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on Sunday, January 31st, 2010 at 4:23 pm and is filed under leadership.
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