Winning leaders have a rhythm. They define and establish predictable behaviors and then build them into their cadence. These behaviors connect what is important with real action that drives toward it. They block out time to learn, to train, to coach, to analyze, and to celebrate. They are extremely intentional with their time and clearly understand the impact they can have on others through their use of it. This rhythm is connected to their purpose and identity, and is built around the critical things they have identified in their career and holistic life. It is developed to most effectively impact those they lead and is the basis of their thoughts and actions each day, week, month, and year.
This is incredibly important to recognize, as it is a clear differentiator between the leaders who consistently win and those who don’t. They define and schedule many of the areas of their role that have a significant impact on their results.
So how do they put all this together? We have found that they apply a series of specific principles to establish an effective rhythm around the things that matter.
They determine what is important. What is their organizational purpose? What are the highest priorities? What are the key performance indicators for their specific expectations?
They define what team behaviors must be in place to deliver the things that are most important. What should each role be doing? What actions should be observed and measured? What evidence of success can be identified and used as examples for others?
They determine what their behaviors need to be to train, direct, support, coach, and celebrate their team members to a high level of performance.
They schedule regular, recurring blocks of time to provide those behaviors and make those activities known to all.
They block time for self-growth. They devote portions of their schedule to reading, coaching, reflection, etc.
An impactful Leadership Rhythm is a regular cadence of purposeful activities designed to drive toward your highest goals and lead the actions of team members to deliver the things that matter most. It demonstrates behaviors that are repeatable and re-enforceable and establishes a high level of confidence and trust that the team can count on and look to for inspiration.