I follow the “The Great Game of Business” team and the work that they do to help enable businesses become open book and transparent to all their employees. If you are an entrepreneur, it is worthwhile to check their work and explore if it is a good fit for you and what you are trying to achieve.
Yesterday, they posted a blog post (I have used the same title) which I found to be very useful to me and am sure will be useful to all leaders. You can read the full blog post here.
The Checklist:
This is a checklist of items that we need to think about on a regular basis. Here is the list that they have created/curated and I quote:
The Role of a Leader Checklist
- Establish structure.
- Push to get at the stories behind the numbers.
- Focus communication on what’s required to meet the goal & improve score.
- Make sure people give you the reality.
- Get commitments and establish accountability.
- Help remove the roadblocks and clear the path.
- Offer help without removing responsibility.
- Recognize and celebrate the wins, big or small.
- Recognize and highlight opportunities.
- Encourage participation and questions from all.
- Be prepared to learn, teach and be involved.
- Be consistent and respect everyone.
- Ask pertinent and stimulating questions to bring out the stories.
- Be a good listener and clarify for all.
- Remember, you don’t have all the answers.
- Remember, the Huddle is for the team, not you.
- Fire up the troops – by creating a balance between learning, accountability, recognition, and a little fun.
Is there anything that you would remove from this list?
Is there something that you would like to add to this list? I would for one, add the following to the list:
- Set clear vision and communicate, communicate, communicate the vision
- Err on the side of being transparent with employees rather than not being.
- Tolerate, and when necessary, even celebrate failure.
- Remember – Bad news delivered early is in fact good news
In Conclusion:
As leaders, we are pulled in different directions and it is easy to get lost in all the hum dum of busy meetings and many priorities. It is important to remember that the most important role we play in the business is that of a leader and that means that we need to lead more than anything else. So, having a check list of tasks to do on a regular basis can help us stay anchored to this reality.
