If you are leading people you are probably attempting to get them to do something different. It does not matter whether you are leading a large corporation, small up-start company, or just your family, no significant result is achievable unless people change their behavior. Compliance does not lead to success! When you attempt to lead people’s behavior with an eye upon permanent change taking place, you are stepping into one of the most difficult areas of leadership that you could ask for.
The authors of The Four Disciplines of Execution offer a four step strategy that has been proven and field tested. Here are the four disciplines:
- Focus on The Wildly Important
- Act on Lead Measures
- Keep A Compelling Scoreboard
- Create A Cadence of Accountability
It does not matter whether you call it a goal, strategy, or simply adjustments that you as a leader drive in order to significantly move your team or organization forward falls into two categories; the stroke of the pen and behavioral change.
The stroke of the pen is signing an executive order declaring the new direction and for it to be done asap! Behavioral change strategies are very different from the stroke of the pen strategies. You can’t just order them to happen because this requires people to change behaviors, often a lot of people doing something different and new. If you have ever attempted to get people to change their ways, you know how difficult that can be. Think about it for just a moment, changing yourself is hard work let alone changes a large group.
The bottom line is that to start doing things you have never done before, you must start doing things that you have never done before. Consider this book as a must read. Listen to the words of Chris McChesney in this short video.
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