As you reflect on the upsides, downsides, best behaviors, and beliefs related to the Production level of leadership, use the following guidelines to help you grow as a leader:
Some leaders make the same mistake as some parents. They expect people to do as they say, not as they do.
Be the Team Member You Want on Your Team: Some leaders make the same mistake as some parents. They expect people to do as they say, not as they do. But here’s the problem: people do what people see. If you want dedicated, thoughtful, productive people on your team, you must model those characteristics. Take time to list all the qualities you desire in your team members. Then compare your own personal qualities to those on the list. Wherever you don’t measure up, next to the characteristic write an action statement describing what you must do to possess the trait you’d like to see. For example, if you want people to be dedicated, then write, “I will not give up solving a problem or doing a task until it is completed,” or “I will arrive early and stay late to set an example for the team.”
Translate Personal Productivity into Leadership: Just because you have a history of being a productive individual doesn’t necessarily mean you are a Production level leader. How can you tell the difference? The evidence can be found in your impact on the rest of the team. Are other members of the team improving or producing more as a result of your presence? If not, why not? Think about the things you could do to help others become better, both individually and as a team. Turn your focus outward from your own production and begin helping others to become high producers.
Understand Everyone’s Productivity Niche: One of the hallmarks of successful Level 3 leaders is knowing not only where they add the greatest value to the team, but where everyone else adds value, too. Take some time to define each team member’s area of contribution (including your own), and figure out how they all work together to make the team most effective.
Cast Vision Continually: When was the last time you cast vision to your team? Unless it was today, you’re probably overdue. Team members need you to describe the vision and define its success. Take time to carefully craft your communication, and deliver it creatively as often as possible.
Build Your Team: As team members come to understand the vision and begin to learn their strengths and roles, they can be formed into a productive team. That can be accomplished by creating a growth and performance environment. Plan to meet with your team daily (or at least weekly) to give feedback on performance. Do not penalize risk taking. Praise people’s effort, help them learn from their failures, and reward their successes.
Use Momentum to Solve Problems: What’s the most effective way to solve problems? Using momentum. How does a leader create momentum? By helping the team get wins under its belt. If you’re not thinking in terms of helping your team win, then you aren’t thinking like a Level 3 leader. Find small challenges for individual team members to take on in order to experience individual wins. Then look for obtainable challenges for people to win together as a team. The greater the number of wins there are both individually and corporately, the more you can increase the difficulty of the challenges. And the more momentum you can gain.
Discern How Team Members Affect Momentum: Every team has momentum makers, takers, and breakers. As the leader of the team, your job is to know who is who and to lead the team in a way that maximizes the makers, motivates the takers, and minimizes the breakers. Begin by categorizing everyone on the team:
• Momentum Makers (Producers who make things happen):
• Momentum Takers (People who go along for the ride):
• Momentum Breakers (People who cause problems and hurt morale):
Put the majority of time and energy into the momentum makers and place them strategically in the organization so that they make the greatest impact. And enlist their aid to help lead the momentum takers as you motivate them. Meanwhile, have candid conversations with the momentum breakers. Give them a chance to change their attitude and become productive members of the team. However, if they fail to rise up to the challenge, get them off of the team. If that is impossible, then isolate them from the rest of the team to minimize the damage they can do.
Practice the Pareto Principle: If you want your productivity to be at the highest possible level, then work according to the 80/20 rule. First, focus on your overall efforts. Set aside a block of time to make a list of all of your responsibilities. Then put them in order of importance according to the impact they make for the good of the organization. You need to make sure the lion’s share of your time and effort is focused on the areas at the top of the list. Second, practice the 80/20 rule on a daily basis. Every day list the tasks you must do. Then focus 80 percent of your time on the top 20 percent. Third, focus your team on the top 20 percent. On a regular basis (perhaps daily or weekly), review the team’s priorities with them and make sure 80 percent of the team’s efforts are focused on the top 20 percent in terms of importance.
Accept Your Role as Change Agent: Effective leaders on Level 3 take responsibility for making decisions and initiating changes needed for the team to succeed. If you are a leader, accept this responsibility. Be forever on the lookout for ways to improve the team and initiate them. Start today by setting aside an hour to think of five ways to change things for the better. And if things go wrong, take responsibility for that as well.
Don’t Neglect Level 2: There’s a lot to be done on Level 3. Because of that, many leaders lose sight of the human element in leadership. As you work on the Production level, don’t forget to stay relationally connected to your people. Get out among them and spend time with them. Put connecting times on your schedule, if needed. Do whatever it takes to keep from losing what you’ve gained on Level 2.