Driving Results describes all activities leaders engage in to define, monitor and ensure high performance from themselves and their staff. It is also a set of habits that help ensure goals are clarified and reinforced, progress is regularly discussed, and accomplishments are acknowledged and can be used to redefine expectations. They are often the difference between teams that go above and beyond and teams that merely meet their targets. When leaders know what to look for and when to intervene, they can address problems earlier on, achieving higher levels of success down the road.
How Highly Effective Leaders Drive Results
- Looking for Process Improvement Opportunities
The strongest leaders tend to recognize process improvement opportunities that their peers do not see. This may stem in part from greater experience with process improvement; however, it also seems to reflect a greater tendency to look for these opportunities. Process improvement is more a general orientation for this group than a tool to be brought out for use on identified problems.
- Staying Focused
In addition to their ability to spot process improvement opportunities, exceptional leaders also tend to keep themselves and others continuously focused on process improvement. They can readily bring any conversation back to the ultimate goals (e.g., efficiency, quality, bottom line).
- Keeping Organized
These leaders also have a knack for keeping track of agendas and milestones that their peers may allow to fall through the cracks. Some leaders accomplish this by keeping excellent notes or using project management tools; others methodically delegate record-keeping. Both end up in the same place—with more reliable monitoring.
- Having Boundless Energy
Being described as dependable and productive is one thing, being described as unstoppable is quite another. Exceptional leaders are often described in this way: Once they set their mind to something, it will either happen or it was not meant to be—period. On a day-to-day basis, these leaders tend to see every barrier as temporary, and they look to move around them as efficiently as possible. When the barriers are more indirect, these leaders will proactively surface them so they can be addressed head-on. These leaders also tend to push themselves at least as hard as they push others. Their coworkers know they will be quick to step in and help when needed.
When Driving Results is Not All it Could Be
- Lacking Energy or Drive
Some leaders do not have the energy and drive of their higher-performing peers. Less energetic leaders are more likely to procrastinate on pursuing initiatives or abandon efforts too early. In some cases, the difference between exceptional leaders and less effective leaders involves temperament, which is difficult to change. In other cases, however, a lower energy and drive involve internal conflicts that leaders may have about their initiatives or their roles.
- Underdeveloped Organizational Skills
Some leaders have energy and drive in spades, but their execution falls short because their organizational skills are not well honed. In some cases, leaders’ energy levels can mask organizational problems—they are outstanding at putting out fires but fail to recognize how many of these fires they themselves are setting. Common examples of where organizational skills undercut execution include failing to prepare meeting attendees ahead of time, forgetting to consistently monitor progress on goals that have been set with direct reports, and failing to make note of commitments to others and/or set specific times by which they will be completed.
- Developing Ineffective Working Relationships
Success in Driving Results depends on the development of effective working relationships. Some leaders find this part of their roles particularly challenging. A common barrier relates to leaders wanting to be liked. Leaders who are overly concerned about their coworkers liking them often have trouble holding people accountable. They may give in too readily to explanations for underperformance, or they may avoid addressing performance issues in the first place.
Even leaders with a more balanced orientation toward their coworkers will fall short if they have not mastered the art of clarifying priorities, setting clear and well-designed goals, and communicating about them on a consistent basis. All of these skills are learnable; leaders can master them most quickly by habitually seeking appropriate feedback (e.g., in times of confusion or underperformance, inquiring about how clear the goals were and how well the priorities and urgency were understood).
Misuse and Overuse: How Driving Results Can Work Against You
- Underemphasizing People
We have already mentioned the danger of letting a people-focus take precedence over a results-focus. There is ample danger in focusing too much on results as well. Some leaders neglect to celebrate successes and instead jump straight to raising the bar again. The consequence is that staff start to pace themselves because any improvements will only call for greater improvements later. Other leaders focus so strongly on individual accountabilities that they foster unhealthy competition among coworkers, undermining effectiveness when teamwork is called for.
Leaders who view their staff only in terms of their productivity tend to foster attitudes among their employees that their work is just a job. Organizational commitment will be lower, and people will be eager to find better arrangements elsewhere. Leaders with this approach may also too quickly dismiss people who have good long-term potential but are underperforming in the near term. These leaders may undervalue coaching and other forms of skill development and may have never mastered these skills.
- Overemphasizing Performance
Even when leaders do well with the people-related aspects of their jobs, they may still overemphasize performance. Some leaders will come full-steam into a new position, make a bunch of unsustainable changes and then leave before that reality becomes apparent.
A related pattern is evident in leaders who focus on performance above all else and expect the same from their direct reports. Leaders who think the ends always justify the means can end up justifying what in hindsight can look overly self-serving or even ethically suspect. Leaders who view their job as the whole of their existence are also at risk for developing dangerous blind spots, not the least of which is a failure to recognize when they are no longer right for the job they have.
- Lacking Flexibility
Leaders often find themselves in situations where an initial course of action seems no longer tenable—perhaps the external market has changed, or the leader was working from some misinformation in the first place. Some leaders can effectively admit they were wrong and change course. For other leaders, the very idea of failure is so aversive that they may instead push even harder on their original course of action. The problem becomes framed not in terms of faulty assumptions but as not working hard enough. Patterns like this can end badly, with everyone but the leader recognizing the futility of a given plan, eventually abandoning support and becoming suspicious of the leader’s judgment.
Editor’s Note: This content has been excerpted from the book Exceptional Leadership: 16 Critical Competencies for Healthcare Executives, Third Edition. The content has been edited for length. Order this and any book through Sept. 16 and receive a 20% discount on the member and nonmember price when you use the promo code SUMMER24 at checkout.