Results Aren’t the Real Issue
Results never magically appear just because you want them. Wanting and producing are two different things.
Future results aren’t real.
Its easy to want to be a successful leader. Only fools want to fail. But, wanting to be a successful leader isn’t the real issue.
Successful leaders identify the behaviors that result in successful leadership.
Confusion:
Unsuccessful leaders confuse results with the real issue. Behaviors are the real issue.
Ask the average leader about the behaviors that characterize successful leadership and they typically explain an unseen result. They say things like successful leaders communicate and encourage.
Think of communication as a result. What behaviors let you know communication is happening? Failures talk about communication. Successful leaders describe behaviors that result in communication.
Apart from behaviors that result in communication, communication is a comforting cliche.
Think of communication as a noun, not a verb. Communication is the unseen result. Behaviors are the real issue.
Think about encouragement in the same way. Encouragement is a result not a behavior. You’re doomed to fail until you describe behaviors that result in encouragement.
Clarity:
Describe one behavior that results in communication or encouragement and you’re dealing with the real issues leadership.
If you can’t see it being done, it’s wishful thinking.
The most important thing about wanting to be a successful leader isn’t wanting. It’s identifying the behaviors that result in leadership.
Telling yourself you’re a communicator or an encourager doesn’t make it real. Just like sleeping in a garage doesn’t make you a car.
Results never happen until you describe the behaviors that produce them.
Rise above descriptions of results. Describe real behaviors that produce results.
Behaviors that produce results are the real issue.
Excellent post, Dan. Execution is all about behavior.
It is sometimes not easy to determine which behaviors will give results most readily – that often requires the humility to say “I don’t know”, and “Can you help me?”, and “What should we do?”. It also requires the courage to make decisions between competing suggested behaviors, as well as the perseverance to start and persist with the selected behaviors.
For example, the question “what should we do to achieve xxx” will inevitably bring a number of suggestions. Some of them may be easy, some difficult, some impossible, some so demanding of time and resources that they prevent other worthwhile and necessary things from getting done. The leader must listen, choose, and set directions. He/she must persist against adversity and encourage the hearts of those he/she leads, while being sensitive to better methods as they arise. Strategic direction and intent must be consistent, while tactics can shift. Doing little, doing too much, doing the wrong things, and losing focus on what matters will greatly affect outcomes.
Leaders become ineffective when they 1) Make decisions without sufficient inputs 2) Don’t translate decisions into behaviors and action 3)Change behaviors, strategies, and direction when the going gets tough or political winds shift 4) Are lazy 5) Are unrealistic, using enthusiasm and cheerleading as a substitute for planning and execution, rather than as complementary tools. 6) Can’t say “no” to competing priorities, thereby losing their way and devoting insufficient resources to important things.
Thanks Marc. I enjoy your thoughts on this subject. As I read you comment. Your use of “set direction” made something click in my mind. Setting direction is traditionally thought of as determining a goal and stepping toward it. In the context of this post, setting direction is determining the behaviors that get the desired results, with an end goal in mind. I have never include behaviors in the broader topic of “setting direction.” It feels important and powerful to have both the long-term views and the short-term behaviors as part of setting direction. Thanks for a new way of thinking about “setting direction.” You helped me rise above the level of cliche.
Absolutely, Dan.
Project management provides a logical way to organize work. It requires listing and organizing/prioritizing activities to match available resources, setting milestones against which to measure progress, and ensuring the right people are doing the right things at the right time. Project management and scheduling is where the nuts and bolts of execution are carried out.
Leadership can be very abstract if not tied to execution, just as project management can be technical and downright mean-spirited if people’s hearts are not deeply engaged in achieving common outcomes and the leader/manager is not as interested in their well-being as he/she is in the glory of the under-budget/ahead of time project.
At its heart, leadership is about getting things done as a group that individuals could not accomplish alone. It is about stewardship of resources for a common purpose, and stewardship of caring for the lives and well-being of all who contribute to that purpose, as well as those who profit from the organization’s goods and services.
Transparency would be the #1 behavior I see lacking in leaders that don’t get those results we all value in personal and professional life. I try to be honest with my wife and friends when I feel I’ve failed them or they’ve fallen short of my expectations. We should do and expect the same at the office.
Thanks James. Transparency is lacking in leadership. But, it seems to be essential if we plan to get below the surface or deal with failure. The transparency to say what we really want takes courage as well as skill in communicating.
In a practical way, transparency is SEEN when we explore what isn’t working with honesty. Very helpful.
Dan,
You’ve nailed it again. In sport we see this played out. No coach ever trains the team to look at the scoreboard. They train the passes, defenses and skills – the behaviours. I often wonder why we treat organisations differently. Too often we obsess on the scoreboard and forget the game.
Go well,
Andrew.
Andrew I love the analogy you used – if we don’t Train and Mentor how can we help all of us “score.” Thanks!!
Regarding transparency in leadership, the challenge is that too many leaders view “accountability” is a one way street. When a team or an individual under a leader fails, too few respond with “I failed as a leader.” Leaders who don’t take full responsibility aren’t even aware of the opportunity for transparency.
Dan,
These two lines are practically poetry!
>>Telling yourself you’re a communicator or an encourager doesn’t make it real.
>>Just like sleeping in a garage doesn’t make you a car.
The popular culture of visualization and affirmations (both of which I subscribe to) has done many a leader a disfavor, by NOT highlighting what you have stated. Beyond knowing, wishing, stating, DOING and being SEEN doing is critical. Recently two people, including my wife, told me “You are a good listener” but before I could blush, they added but are you doing anything about it. Ouch!
Once again thanks for a timely reminder that behaviors, ours and others matter. Keep the poetry coming.
Absolutely Dan. As the saying goes ‘ Proof of Pudding is in eating’ , it is essential for Leaders to see the proof of their action live. There is no point in just talking and expecting that things will fall in place. Who will bell the cat? It is the leader himself who has set the Agenda and ball rolling. He needs to set the plan clearly and arm it with necessary support system and follow it through till the end. Many hurdles will come in the way. Undeterred he needs to follow through, change course, weed out those who do not subscribe, mend and mentor if required before eliminating people etc; These traits are non negotiable if one wishes to succeed. Also it should be remembered that what succeeds in one place may not work elsewhere.
A friend of mine used to describe the “Mom, watch me
Effect” as a barometer for a component of an Action Plan.
Too often, people will put a desired result on an Action Plan (raise metric “x” by 20%) instead of the actual actions (behaviors) needed to achieve it. She described how your kid always shouts, “Mom watch me!” before performing a feat like jumping off the swing. We told our employees that if there were no OBSERVABLE behaviors (no “watch mes”) then the action plan was incomplete. Desired results, without understanding the behaviors needed to bring them about, are pie in the sky indeed!
Good analogy- only i would love to see ,the word ”Dare”(depicts behavior) in the caption,i:e ” If you can’t dare to see it being done,it’s wishful thinking”-,
Your observation is truly profound Dan – behavior v results.
Because of the science of people, why they react the way they do to what management does and does not do, there are behaviors that will lead people to be highly motivated Superstars and others that will lead them to be demotivated, demoralized and disengaged. The science of people consists of the fact we all believe in the same good values and how we use them, we all have the same five basic needs, and ~95% of us are conformists, some more and some less.
Well done Dan.
Best regards, Ben
Great topic Dan! The whole concept applies to people and organizations that apply the term “leadership” like smearing butter to bread. If they are not living the elements of leadership than it’s not leadership. Just because the term is used does not mean it is so.
Speaking of behaviors and results, what is more important: goals or the process, I mean habits and tasks, to get there?
I remember reading this at some point recently and I can’t remember why I didn’t share it right away! I was nodding my head and saying spot on throughout the whole thing! (grins)
My youngest has just been shipped off to Arizona to see grandma today so we had preparations for trip as top priority this weekend!
YES! Although I’m certainly I’m guilty of doing the same thing a time or two (grins) …it’s also a bit of a pet peeve to deal with people who LOVE cliches! And call it leadership, or try to pawn it off as great advice or ‘guidance’ or some profound wisdom which is really…more often then not, either a word for word direct quote stolen from a favorite author and the latest book, newsletter, or google search for quotes of the day!
I know I’m not the only one who feels this way. Especially for those of us that have spent ample time in social media for the past couple years (or longer for some folks), don’t you ever get TIRED and bored of seeing the SAME quotes on leadership (or insert your favorite topic here) day in and day out?
I mean…come on! We’re talking about LEADERSHIP folks! And if people think leadership is parroting the SAME ‘stuff’ that nearly every other leadership enthusiast is parroting or sharing the very SAME info from the very same leadership books many of us have read or been reading…. is that really leadership? NO!
Like you are sharing here, people need to actually do some THINKING in order to start defining what it looks like in terms of BEHAVIORS.
It’s time to RAISE THE BAR people!
There’s nothing WRONG with a good quote or noting where we get inspired etc…but those things should ENHANCE our own ‘power’ not be the SOURCE of it.
I love where you are going with this post Dan. Perhaps there could be more exploration on this topic.
Hi Dan, you might enjoy the comment I received about results vs behavior. https://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20140623154618-67634676-what-is-your-leadership-foundation?trk=prof-post
Enjoyed the article-Have a good day.
Charlee
Hi Charlee, Yes, interesting concern re: behaviors that don’t produce results.
I’d say it’s pretty hard to have results without behaviors. 🙂
I appreciate the post Dan, and love the way you suggest looking at communication differently. All too often, it is the bottom line results that receive the most focus and therefore drive many leaders to seek out operational inefficiencies with the “hope” that they’ll positively influence the bottom line.
I work in a manufacturing/distribution environment where hitting key performance metrics drive costs down. When the numbers don’t meet expectations, the questions gravitate toward staffing levels, equipment availability, travel distances or inefficient transportation/movement. In the end, the results most often stem from the behaviors of the individuals involved in the activities, and also the leaders whose behaviors drive their associate’s performance.
Most equipment and processes can be tuned to produce a very reliable and replicable result. It is the individual employee, their leaders, and the behaviors of both that drive the variability and inconsistencies in the results.
Thanks again.
You always bring clarity Dan. Thanks. 🙂