Articles > More Than One….Partnering for Increased Success

More Than One….Partnering for Increased Success

Do any of these phrases sound familiar to you?

• "I can do it better alone since I know what's been going on."
• "No one else has the background knowledge that I have to do this properly."
• "It just won't get done right if anyone else does it."

All of the above statements are usually said by someone who has tremendous talent at getting things done. However there is a dark side to this when our need for doing it ourselves outweighs our willingness to bring others in to support us.

Strong leaders have qualities that are needed in order to successful such as:

• Decisiveness
• Risk taking
• Problem solving
• Discerning
• Action oriented

The dark side of each of these qualities is:

• Alienate others from decisions
• Rush quickly into risk
• Do not include others or teach others how to problem solve
• Impatient with others when they do not discern quickly
• Expect others to be quick acting as well

To every positive trait that each of us has there is an equal negative perception that goes along with the positive trait. Although the world needs leaders with the qualities mentioned above these types of leaders would benefit from broadening their awareness and acknowledge that others may not perceive their leadership qualities as particularly positive.

For example a VP of operations that I am working with right now has all of the qualities of a strong leader and is struggling with why he cannot get the results he wants through his team of people. When we first met and discussed his goals and his current methods it became clear that he was asking others to things expecting and assuming that they had the tools and knowledge to do exactly what he asked. What he was doing was 'projecting' his abilities onto others with the expectation that somehow by osmosis they would just 'get it'.

We worked through his communication methods and the individual personality styles of his team and he quickly recognized that he had been operating from an expectation paradigm that everyone thought and behaved the same as he himself. This required a complete paradigm shift of his ability to inter relate with others. He had to now take the time to understand who he was dealing with, what was their style of assimilating information and what were his or her behavioral methods when completing tasks or projects.

For those leaders who sincerely care about engaging others for increased success there is a certain amount of mutual accountability that needs to occur. Accountability on the leader's part to modify their delivery mechanisms based on their behaviors for increased success when interacting with others. As well as accountability on the parts of those who work for the leader to communicate what they need in order to perform at the highest level possible.

No leader is an island unto himself or herself- there is more in more than one.

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