It's the middle of the week, and you can hardly wait
for the back-end of the week. You had the usual issues on Monday, and put out
some fires on Tuesday. Thursday is right around the corner, and you are ready
to put it on cruise control.
The successful leaders think a little different.
Each day of the week is important, and gliding into the weekend is not an
option. When they are not executing the plan, they are making sure that
problems are addressed quickly. In essence, they understand the importance of
taking corrective action when a misalignment takes place.
Wednesday is an important day for proactive leaders.
At this point in the week, they still have time to get the critical work done.
You will not hear the following from a go-getter: "Let's do the best we
can. We can always push it to next week." That is a no-no for successful
leaders. If the work is due this week, they will do whatever possible to
deliver on what is promised.
You will find top-notch leaders doing the following
on any given Wednesday:
#1: Review the plan created on Monday to ensure they
are on track.
In project management, we call the initial plan a
baseline. In other words, we want to know what we are expected to deliver
during the week. If the goal is to conduct 20 interviews with key customers
regarding their perceptions of the quality of tech support provided, these
leaders will make sure the work is on track.
The proactive leader will meet with the core team to
identify the progress. By becoming engaged in the process, the leader collects
valuable information to provide ample time to take corrective action when
necessary. Waiting even just one day to gather this time-sensitive feedback may
result in problems that escalate beyond the leader's department, and thereby
causing harm to the entire organization.
#2: Interact with team members to provide support
where necessary.
In MBA school, students learn an important
leadership concept called Management by Wandering Around. A successful leader
is on the floor as much as possible. It's important to know that this person is
not rolling up their sleeves and doing the actual work. Instead, the leader is
interested in learning about the obstacles that are preventing milestones from
being met.
I know of many so-called leaders that sit in their
comfy offices looking at report-after-report. This is akin to reviewing one's
bank account throughout the day hoping unexpected deposits are made. It's not
going to happen. It's much better to take action instead of staring blindly at
one's computer screen.
#3: Keep a moving forward approach.
The recommendation here is to move forward, and to
avoid costing, even worse, sliding downhill. The excellent leader is constantly
looking for potential risks, and is prepared to exploit opportunities. For
example, he might learn that an important resource has available time to work
on a key task. Understanding the importance of this development, the leader
will contact this person's line manager to request assistance.
By staying focused on the key deliverables, we get
more done. Let's avoid pursuing the Big Bang approach where we are mostly
concerned about impressing others. Successful leaders treat Wednesday as
another important day where the plan is executed, and just as much attention is
assigned to quality control. In short, the benefits are realized incrementally.
This is not a flashy approach, but it is effective.
