productivity – Doug Dickerson on Leadership

Chad Le Clos glances over at Michael Phelps.
Credit: Google Images

The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing. – Stephen Covey

At the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio, one of the most infamous races that took place was the 200-meter men’s butterfly.

Entered in the race was American Michael Phelps. During his illustrious Olympic career, he won 28 medals, 23 of them gold.

During the 200-meter race, Phelps was leading for most of the race. As they entered the final stretch of the race, Chad Le Clos was starting to close the gap on Phelps. However, in the closing moments of the race, Le Clos made a mistake that cost him the race. He turned to look at Phelps in the other lane, and when he did, Phelps surged ahead and won the race. Le Clos finished 7/10ths of a second behind and finished in fourth place.

While stories like these are what make history and Olympic lore, they serve as a reminder for us as leaders to understand the importance of keeping our focus.

What would keeping your eye on the goal look like for you as a leader? How would it improve your leadership skills? Let’s explore a few ways and things we can do to improve this leadership skill.

Stay in your lane

You can be the jack of all trades or the master of none, but one key thing that is important to you as a leader is to stay in your lane.

What happens when we veer out of our lane? We take on roles and responsibilities that we previously delegated. We devalue team members by inserting ourselves into their work. We clog up the wheel of productivity by inserting ourselves in places where we don’t belong.

But worse, you ignore the more important thing that you should be doing – your work and taking care of your responsibilities. By staying in your lane, you and your team operate with efficiency. When you or team members get out of your respective lanes, you are presiding over chaos.

Keep your focus

In a split second, Chad Le Clos lost his chance at an Olympic medal simply because he lost his focus. And while it may seem innocent enough, that glance was his undoing.

In a research conducted by Insightful, they found:

Lost Focus is a big problem: 92% of employers said lost focus is a significant problem in the workplace
Deep Focus Time is Elusive: 80% of employees said they can’t go an hour without being distracted at work
Frequent Distractions: 67% of employees report checking messages or emails more than 10 times a day, with 59% experiencing interruptions every thirty minutes or less.

As a leader, you can’t prevent everyone within your organization from being distracted, but you can make it a priority to ensure that you are not contributing to the problem. Regularly encourage and remind your team of the importance of their mission and why it matters not only to them but to everyone else as well. With this thought reinforced, it can lead to greater productivity.

Be the exampleRegularly encourage and remind your team of the importance of their mission and why it matters not only to them but to everyone else as well. Click To Tweet

The importance of you being the example can’t be overstated. Good leaders model good behaviors in the workplace. If you expect your team to perform and function on high levels, they need to see it modeled by you.

John Maxwell states, “Good leaders must communicate vision creatively and continually. However, the vision doesn’t come alive until the leader models it.” This is your task as a leader: to model what it means to lead your team with clarity, focus, and intentionality.

Do you have your eye on the prize?

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Be a thermostat, not a thermometer – Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

The earliest recorded history of the thermostat dates back to 1620 when the Dutch inventor Cornelius Drebbel used mercury to control the temperature in chicken coops.

Later, in 1830, Andrew Ure, a Scottish chemist, patented the first modern thermostat, a bimetallic device that curved with temperature changes. In 1883, Warren S. Johnson developed the first electric room thermostat, which allowed for more convenient room temperature regulations in buildings.

I don’t know about your home, but thermostat battles have loomed large in mine for many years, dating back to when our two daughters lived there. Since then, finding the right setting has been a constant struggle.

My wife and I are empty-nesters, and it is still challenging as we age. The battle of the thermostat continues as our bodies fluctuate between being hot and cold. Depending on the hour, our home may have a nice warm tropical feel; the next, it could be an arctic blast. There’s no rhyme or reason, but the electric company loves us.

In leadership, you constantly struggle with being the thermostat. As a thermostat, you desire to set the pace for yourself and your team. The thermometer reflects the actual temperature. The challenge is getting everyone in their sweet spot of performance.

Mary Kay Ash observed, “The speed of the leader is the speed of the gang,” and this is your challenge as a leader. Is your speed or thermostat setting one that works for your team? Finding the right balance is essential for success. Here are three considerations for you to think through.

When your thermostat and expectations are set too low

If this is ever the case for you as a leader, you will cultivate an underperforming team. Finding and achieving excellence will always be elusive because your thermostat or standard is too low. As such, nothing noteworthy is being accomplished.

When no one within your organization is challenged or inspired by your vision and leadership, morale will be low, turnover will be high, and people who strive to create, grow, and be successful will be on the way out sooner rather than later.

Your people will embrace your leadership, vision, and dreams when they see that you have not set the bar too low and are pursuing them with excellence.

When your thermostat and expectations are too high

As a leader, you must have high expectations and goals. People need to know what they are, their role in meeting them, have accountability measures in place, etc., but as the leader, you also live in the tension between the two.

When expectations are too low, little is accomplished. When expectations are too high, the same could hold true even if the right motivations are present. So, how do you navigate this tension as a leader?

When your expectations and thermostat are optimal

Individual performance in the workplace is optimal when you set and model the thermostat (the pace and flow). Individual team members can adjust their thermostats to meet those expectations when set. They know where the bar is for performance and output.

When this happens, team members can reach and exceed their goals under the best conditions. Productivity can increase, morale can flourish, and it’s happening in an environment that is right for them.

This will challenge you as a leader because it begins with you. You will set the standard others will follow, so strive for optimal performance.

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Doug Dickerson on Leadership

Tag: productivity

Keep Your Eye on The Prize

Don’t Touch The Thermostat