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A good plan might get you into the game, but sticking with it catapults you into the winner’s circle.
Based on 21 years of field research with the highest-achieving leaders here are the habits they stick with:
- Keep it simple.
Think in threes to simplify strategies, metrics, messages, and actions. Apply the 80/20 principle to focus on the 20 percent of (employees, products, customers) that are your “vital few.” - Identify your one thing.
Decide what is most important – the one activity that most directly help you execute your plan. Ask your team, “What is the most valuable thing you can do right now?” - Keep it visible.
Consistently and creatively communicate your focus day in and day out. Highly effective leaders maintain a meeting rhythm to get key messages to key people. - Treasure your talent.
Highly effectively leaders hire slow and fire fast. They treat employee development as a perpetual priority and they continuously coach for success, helping their employees reach their potential personally and professionally. - Get systematic.
Create repeatable systems and processes to reinforce daily personal and work habits. - Keep score.
Create a visible and compelling scoreboard top to bottom in your business. Seek both dashboard (general) and under-the-hood (detailed) knowledge about your operation. - Paint the picture.
Connect each job to a broader purpose. Clearly communicate goals, plans, roles and rewards. - Give what you want.
Show uncommon respect with common courtesy. Appreciate performance as well as the person behind it. Build your team up vs. break them down. - Create connections.
Build meaningful rituals to connect teams. Be accessible to your team and authentic with them. - Never stop learning.
Highly effective leaders understand that leadership is an inside job, and they always start making changes and improvements with themselves first.
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Check out this perennial best-seller for how to stick with it.
