Great leaders do two things consistently well. First, they set clear, measurable objectives. Second, they follow-up (and follow-through).

Here is a simple test for you to evaluate your leadership in these two areas:

1. Have you set goals for your company, yourself or your people for 2011 and not followed up to confirm progress is on track on a weekly or biweekly basis? If you are not following-up, then how can you require your people to follow through consistently?
2. Do you make commitments to your staff that you will complete something by a certain date and then miss those due dates? If you miss your commitments to your people, then how can you require them to fulfill all their commitments to you and your clients?
3. Have you met with an employee about a problem and agreed to follow-up with them, but you have not followed-up as expected (yet)? What does this communicate to the employee, and how do they mirror your dysfunctional behavior to clients and coworkers?
4. Have you identified an issue that is hurting your company and procrastinated on making a decision? If you procrastinate when making important decisions, then how can you expect your employees to be decisive?

OUCH. These two skills are second only to holding yourself strictly accountable to being a person of integrity and good character. When you fully develop these two skills into consistent habits then you will be more effective than 81% of other leaders.

So why not start today? Contact us if you want coaching to help you accelerate the process.

Meeting Ideas

So you say, "This is not my problem. I already do this well." Wanna bet? If your staff is willing to be candid, then I suggest you gather a group of employees and ask for candid feedback. Or you can do this one-on-one. Basically you just need to ask the same questions I asked above to the group. Here they are:

1. What goals have I set for our company, myself, you or any of our people for 2011 and not followed up to confirm progress is on track on a weekly or biweekly basis?
2. What commitments have I made to anyone on our team that I would complete something by a certain date and then I missed the due date?
3. This year have I met with an employee about a problem and agreed to follow-up with them, but I did not follow-up as expected?
4. What issue have we identified that is hurting our company and I am the one who is delaying action being taken to resolve it?