Your 360 Degree Road To Success

Dear readers, I have been quite busy over the past year but the good news is that I am back. I hope you enjoy reading some of the ideas we have regarding the development of a 360 degree road to success. As always we welcome your feedback and comments.

Leading by Example or Walking the Talk are key ingredients needed to build a strong, trusting relationships within any organization. Just like the roads and buildings you create as part of a unique infrastructure to support and sustain life, relationships are a key ingredient in the foundation of a successful business..

We all want to be good leaders, and it not is not always obvious how to make the changes needed to strengthen the road you are on. What got you to where your business is today might not transport you to where you want the business to go in the future. Sometimes the very behavior that needs to change is what resulted in your decision to place people into the role they have today or even resulted in the reason you are in the role you have as a business owner. They say the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. Maybe taking a 360 degree look all around you might give you some ideas on what to do to become someone to follow. Once you decide to take that step and are really willing to change then the question to ask yourself is 'What do I need to change and how do I go about really walking the talk?'

Step One: Feedback
Getting honest, open feedback, from people around you can be acquired in several ways. One of the ways is an anonymous assessments that is designed to give you feedback from four important perspectives:

 

• How you see yourself
• How the person to whom you report to see's you
• How your peers and your direct reports or even clients perceive you
• Each group responds anonymous through a web based assessment tool that is  easy to administer.

Alternatively you can ask for verbal feedback from the same group if you feel you have developed a strong relationship. One note of caution about this method: unless you have a really good working relationship with people, and until you have demonstrated your willingness to accept this kind of feedback in a positive light, you may find people are hesitant or even dishonest. Only honest answers are going to help you become aware of how well you walk the talk.

Whichever method you use to build your awareness, always be open-minded and truly willing to listen. Accept the feedback at face value. Remember, it  is their perception and for good or for bad perception determines reality in their eyes. You may not see the same thing from your perspective but thank everyone for providing you with feedback because it takes courage for them as well as you to be open about this type of process.

Step Two: Set a Goal

Once you are aware, and you decide to do something about it, this step will enable you to clarify in your own mind what you intend to do about the situation. Ensure that the goal you set is measurable, and has a clear, expected results. The goals you set should clearly define in terms of what behavior will be different. How you and others observe this change creates the measurable aspect of the goal. You may become aware of the need to have better relationships with some of your coworkers, so in this case the goal you create might look something like this:

           

My goal is to improve my relationship with people I work with by the end of the second quarter of 2013.

Next define in a list  the expected results that you would like to achieve this is step three.

Step Three: Defining the Benefits for You

It is essential to identify the benefits of achieving the goal because each of us do things for a reason and if the benefit is not present or strong enough the likely hood of you completing the process may not happen. Make a list of the key benefits for you.  

Step Four: The Action Plan

Goals have enormous value and are the antecedents to getting results. Goals fire up the engine but without developing and working on action steps, the engine remains at idle. The action steps put the engine into gear so that you can move forward and get results. Goals clarify what you want to achieve, and an action plan tells you, step by step, how you are going to achieve it. Let's use the goal we came up with in Step Two to see what this could look like:

Goal Intent: To improve my relationship with people I work with by the end of the second quarter of 2013.

Possible actions steps;

 

• Check my work load before agreeing to a deadline.
• Schedule time in my week to manage the projects we have committed to complete.
• Always check what commitments I have for the week, and in particular a few days in advance, and let people know if I will have problems meeting deadlines.
• Learn to say no if other time commitments don't allow my involvement
• When things don't go as planned, stop before reacting. Spend time thinking through what needs to be done to correct the situation.
• Ask people for a one-on–one meeting to privately address issues.

In summary leading by example seems so simple, and yet it is something many leaders struggle with constantly. The most important thing to remember is that unless we ask others to tell us how we are doing, our perception and their reality may be two entirely different things. The lack of awareness and the unwillingness to change is what holds people back. As leaders on the road to success each of us has a responsibility to help the people we work with to grow and develop. This requires a level of honesty and openness in our relationships. If we are not giving and willing to receive constructive feedback and constantly work to better ourselves, we are working against the success of the business. As the old adage says: 'If you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem. So take a leap of faith and have the courage to grow and develop yourself by taking the first step. Ask for feedback and then plan to do something about the perceptions people have about you. Do you have the audacity to be the master of your 360 degree road to success? We look forward to your feedback and welcome your questions.