Here’s 3 things that effective leaders take total responsibility for.
While average ones might own one or two (and bad ones none 🤦♂️).
Strong leaders don’t make excuses. They accept that – if something happens on their watch – they’re responsible.
They don’t just parrot “the buck stops with me”. They own it. And they mean it.
Because they know their role is to get the job done, whatever the circumstances. Not just to get it done when it’s easy.
Here’s three examples that you might commonly hear ordinary leaders avoiding responsibility for.
But which highly effective leaders take full ownership of.
1. Poor performers in their team
Sure, when we take over a team, we inherit a group that we had no say in. We take the the good and with the bad performers.
After a period (let’s say, six months max), strong leaders take full responsibility for underperformers. Because they recognise that they’re the ones who:
- Set team member priorities
- Coach the team
- Choose whether or not to performance manage them
- Choose whether or not to let them go
2. Bad decisions
Even when they delegate decisions to their team, strong leaders take responsibility for any bad decisions. Because they’re the ones who assessed (or should have assessed) that person’s competence for the decision. And they’re the ones who coach and develop their team members to make better decisions.
3. Vision and direction
Sometimes leaders work within an organisational environment that lacks direction. But effective leaders don’t use that as an excuse not to provide vision and direction within their team.
Because they recognise that having a clear sense of direction is critical to high performance. And they recognise that – if anything – a lack of organisational direction provides a lot of freedom for them to freely identify their own.
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