THE THREE DUMBEST THINGS LEADERS DO WHEN THINGS ARE GOING WELL

Play to win or get out of the way.

Successful leaders focus on success.

Progress, momentum, and growth are precious things. Fuel them with all you have in you.

The three dumbest things:

The three dumbest things leaders do when things are going well:

1. Divert resources from growing areas and high opportunities. Propping up poor performing programs and solving problems doesn’t produce stunning success.
2. Pollute successful teams with poor performers, foot draggers, and complainers. Put chronic complainers on the same team.
3. Listen to complaints from low or slow growth departments. Ask complainers what they want to do to solve their concerns. Leaders who focus on solving complaints end up controlled by complainers.

People who feel threatened by the success of others want to stop it. Listening to them makes you a success-killer.

The three smartest things:

The three smartest things leaders do when thing are going well:

1. Listen to passionate high-performers. Don’t get sucked into the complaints of low performing departments, teams, or team members. Follow success.
2. Pour fuel into successes. Speed up. Don’t slow down. Play to win, even when protecting gains.
3. Focus high performers on opportunity. Assign low performers to problem-solving initiatives. If low performers succeed, promote them. If they fail, reassign or remove them.

A team of low performers:

You might be concerned about putting low performers on the same team. Won’t they know they are low performers?

Everyone should know where they stand in your organization. Shielding low performers promotes low performance. Remember that poor performance in one area isn’t a universal statement about a person.

Don’t give up on low performers, if you believe in them. However, don’t put low performers on high opportunity initiatives.