Adrenaline / əˈdrɛnəlɪn / noun, a stress hormone produced within the adrenal gland that quickens the heart beat [and] strengthens the force of the heart’s contraction
The second element of healthy leadership is sustaining implementation. Many leaders are addicted to the rush they get from starting new things, and fail to follow through on delivery. This is a bit like being addicted to adrenaline.
I know I’m prone to this. When I worked with a large newspaper group a few years ago, to advise them on how their divisions could best work together, I remember that my instinct was to produce another analysis, or introduce a new team member, rather than follow through on the strategy we had agreed on.
Sustaining implementation is a vital element of good leadership, because your new strategy, product launch, or geographical expansion will only succeed if you take the time to deal with critical issues and follow through on implementing the solutions you develop.
So how do the best leaders sustain implementation? We think that five areas of activity are central:
Simple? The really hard part is kicking the habit of the daily adrenaline fix motivated by ‘new is always better’. The best leaders trust that they have charted a good course, and have the self-belief and charisma to ensure their organisation sustains that course.
Or, to put it another way: ‘We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit’ (Aristotle).
© 2020 Artesian Transformational Leadership Ltd. All rights reserved.