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Moving up to Level 3 leadership based on solid relationships of Level 2 leadership is no small feat. Many people find themselves incapable of leading at this level. If you are one that has achieved this new level, here are six insights on maximizing your accomplishment.

Understand How Your Personal Giftedness Contributes To The Vision

How would you describe your strength zone? Is it writing content to help others, connecting people through relationships key note speaker? Having this information helps you to stay focused on the development of your talents. Many people suggest that you should work on your weaknesses to excel in life. I would suggest the opposite – hire somebody to do the work for you in your weak areas and stay focused upon your strength zone. Learn to let things that you will never be good. If you want your team to be good at what they do, then you need to become good at what you do. Productivity starts with the leader. Focus here first and then you will have opportunities to help others improve and help them reach their potential.

Cast A Vision for What Needs TO Be Accomplished

Vision casting is an integral part of leading. Fuzzy communication leads to unclear direction which produces sloppy execution. Leaders show how short term impacts the long term. A compelling vision is clear and well defined, expansive and challenging at the same time. Consider these three truths.

• Leaders help people define the success of the vision. Help your team see what success looks in your non-profit. As a leader if you do not define the target you are aiming at, how do you expect others to be successful?
• Leaders help people commit to the success of the vision. The commitment of the team begins with the commitment of the leader. Teams do not win without leaders that are dedicated to advancing their non-profit toward the vision. Make the vision clear!
• Level 3 leaders help people experience success. Few things in life inspire people quite like victory. The job of the leader is to help the team succeed. If you want your team to be inspired to win, then reward the smaller daily victories that your team achieves.

Begins To Develop Your People Into A Team

Becoming a good team is always greater than the sum of its parts and is able to accomplish more than individuals working alone. Consider these four truths.

• Team members should compliment one another – Team leaders should make that happen. Stephen Covey stated that “the job of a leader is to build a complementary team where every strength is made effective and each weakness is made irrelevant. John Wooden stated once the one who scores a basket has ten hands.
• Team members should understand their mission – Team leaders should make that happen. Good leaders never assume their team understands the mission. Don’t assume that everyone knows what you are thinking – speak clearly and help people to see how their talents is moving the team toward the goal.Prioritize The Things That Yield High Return

  What is the key to being productive? PRIORITIZING! Jim Collins in his book Good To Great states that we try to build momentum by doing, doing, doing, and doing some more. This rarely works. TO become great you have to STOP doing some things are start doing the right things – get rid of the junk!

• Team members should work in an environment conducive to growth and inspiration – Team leaders should make that happen. Criticizing and censuring everyone will diminish friends, increase enemies, and hurt your leadership – Ben Franklin. If the leader is open for growth, learning, and encouragement, the team will follow. Make no mistake developing a high performance team is hard work, but the rewards are well worth the effort.
• Team members should receive feedback about their performance – Team leaders should make that happen. Most people are willing to change if they are convinced that changing will help them win. Productive leaders take responsibility for walking team members through that process.

We need to learn to stay in the areas of strength and out of the areas of your weakness. This is a key to personal productivity. The Pareto Principle states that if you do the top 20% of your to-do-list it will yield an 80% return on your efforts. In order to do this you need to answer the following three questions:

1.What is required of me? (What I must do)

2.What gives me the greatest return? (What should I do)

3.What is the most rewarding to me? (What I love to do)

Be Willing and Ready to Be A Change Agent

Progress requires change! Change in any organization is always a leadership issue. It takes a leader to create positive change. Any leader who wants to make changes is tempted to point our differences and try to convince others that change is needed. That rarely works. Focus on the common ground areas. Consider the following:

VISION – When the vision is similar you can bet that people are standing together.

VALUES – It is difficult to travel with others very long if your values do not align.

RELATIONSHIPS – Great teams have people that are as committed to one another as they are the vision.

ATTITUDE – If you are going to get people to work together for positive change, their attitudes need to be positive and tenacious.

COMMUNICATION – For change to occur, communication must be open, honest, and ongoing. When people are in the dark they create their own storyline that may not align with the truth of the matter.

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Music: “Gratitude Mood” by David Arivett. You can learn more about his music by clicking on his name. THANKS DAVID!