Nobody needs consulting or training!
Today, I want to mention a topic that I have noticed time and again as a clear deficit in the thinking of leaders, but which is hardly ever mentioned: the confusion of results with measures.
One example: Whenever someone says that he/she does not need training or consulting, he/she thinks in terms of measures. If someone wants to carry out a "strategy offsite," it is about measures. Budgeting new headcounts is also a measure.
Of course, measures have to be implemented to achieve results. But all too often the measures have a life of their own that is decoupled from the possible results: Training is carried out because it is budgeted, not because you want to achieve concrete results. The annual strategy meeting is a tradition, regardless of the need to create a new strategy. And so on.
Top leaders think the other way around and are therefore much more successful. They first discuss the results and then the possible measures.
Here are three test questions that show whether you think sufficiently in results:
- "What exactly will be different once we have implemented the measures?" Most of the leaders I ask this simple question to have no clear answer.
- "What exactly is our vision for the next 3 years?" Almost nobody can answer this question. But the necessary measures follow a clear vision. If this is missing, measures begin to take on a life of their own.
- "How do we want to think and act in the future?" This is also a results-oriented question. From this it follows, for example, that coaching is an effective way to get there.
As I said, these are not nuances but big differences between mediocrity and top performance. The latter think and act in terms of results, not measures.
Such and many other key levers are part of my leadership coaching. Click here for more information.