7 Abilities leaders Must Have
It is safe to say that the first test of a leader is to deliver results – “deliver what you promise.” After all leadership is not judged by what they say instead it is judged by what they do. If we agree to the above hypothesis, then the next question is, therefore what are the abilities required by a leader to “deliver what she promises?” The answer is – there are 7 abilities, but before we discuss that let us give some context to it through 2 immutable facts of high performing organizations:
Fact 1: All business exist to grow in value over time Call it enterprise value or shareholder value, but the underpinning raison d’etre of a business is to grow. Implied in the notion of growth are 2 laws – the law of continues change and the law of rising targets. Einstein once said “insanity is to keep doing the same things, expecting a different result.” So growth by definition means continuously doing things differently – which means continues change and growth by definition means setting higher and higher goals, which means rising targets.
Fact 2: Businesses that grow – at a very micro level have 1 common trait. They are continuously innovating, looking at results and thinking about those results. They then experiment to try and see if they can produce results faster, better and cheaper. They then reflect on their experiment results and once satisfied, they act on it or implement it. Then the cycle starts all over again. This virtuous cycle of Think->Experiment->Reflect ->Act over and over and over and over again is what makes good companies, great. Implied in the notion of continuously innovating in this virtuous cycle is the capacity for thinking, measuring and implementing. So from the 2 immutable fact of high performing organizations, we distill out the 7 High Performance Abilities as follows:
The 7 Abilities
Ability to Think: Due to our conditioning we struggle to think beyond our normal thinking patterns. Thinking in its most basic form is the ability to link cause and effect, a step higher is the ability to connect unrelated events and the highest from is philosophy. High Performing Managers deliver on their promises by not thinking of the competition.
Ability to Count: Lots of managers do struggle with numbers, not the quantity but the quality of it. They will say things like lets grow sales by 10% (quantity) but find it hard to grasp what it will really takes to do 10% (quality). High Performing Managers have an ability to add quality to their numbers and through that understand exactly how they will leverage their organization to deliver as promised.
Ability to Communicate: Communications is the ability to get an idea across. and to leverage your resources you need to communicate. High Performing Managers know that communications is not about the ability to talk but the about the ability to get people to act on what is said.
Ability to Lead: Leading means getting your people organized, pointing them in the right direction, motivating them, developing team capabilities, coaching and engendering a can do spirit. High Performing Managers are able to get seemingly ordinary employees to produce extraordinary results.
Ability to Drive Change: The definition of insanity is to keep doing the same things, but expecting a different result. High Performing Managers are adept at getting their people to continuously do things differently to produce better results.
Ability to Manage for Performance: Managing for Performance mindset that ensures every member of the team “delivers as promised.” High Performing Managers know how to manage their people for results.
Ability to Deliver Results: Ultimately its all about results. High Performing Managers have a mindset that nothing is impossible and everything is possible. The use the 6 above mentioned capabilities to achieve the 7th. High Performing Managers are driven by the goal.
Assessment of the 7 abilities is imperative to the performance of managers. Acquiring these 7 abilities will ensure the performance and productivity of the organization.
