We’ve talked about why and how your People Must Be First and Mission and Vision Come Second. These two steps have created a committed and engaged team. Now it’s time to take those two outcomes and use them to accomplish great things with Step 3 – Results Happen Third.
Results Happen Third – The Pride Step
Executing and delivering successful results is by no means a cake walk. It takes great skill, teamwork, leadership, and execution to deliver successful results. So just because you effectively completed (and are always continuing) the first two steps of the People First Leadership Framework doesn’t guarantee success. I don’t want to insinuate that Step 3 is easy…but executing and delivering successful results is WAY easier and more likely if you have.
Achieving successful results is hard, but when you do, your team members become PROUD to be part of your team because your team is successful and winning. Your people desire to be on a winning team and feel like winners, so when your team is successful, it evokes a natural sense of pride. This makes them proud of themselves, of their work, and of the team they are on.
Results First?
But what if you didn’t do it in the order I’ve laid out?
If you focus on achieving results BEFORE taking care of your people and delivering the mission and vision, you either burn your team out or alienate them away from you as their leader. You will have to push your team hard to get the results you want and will as a result create negative motivators (e.g. fear). The work environment will be poor, your team members will be disengaged, they’ll look for new jobs (and your best will leave first), and you won’t gain the commitment or loyalty that you want in your team members. Sure, you may be able to push hard enough to get successful results temporarily but that will not last as your team members will ultimately leave (note: turnover is VERY costly). This does not create sustainable success!
Results Second?
But what if you put your people first and then focus on results next?
Putting your people first but then focusing on achieving results before getting adoption on your mission and vision will not result in sustainable success either. If you have successful results, it’s likely due to luck or because you are working really hard to keep your team together, on track, and going in the right direction. Most of your team members probably like you as their leader but often feel clueless about the purpose of their work or have invested little of themselves in achieving results. Because of this, they end up making decisions that are costly in the long term because they weren’t the best decision given the purpose and direction of the team. This also does not create sustainable success!
What if Results Don’t Happen Third?
So let’s say you do the first two steps right before focusing on results, that’s awesome! BUT your job is not done yet because putting your people first (Step 1) and delivering an awesome mission and vision (Step 2) is great, but without delivering successful results in Step 3, you’ve failed. And that’s not okay either. Failure leads to stress, morale problems, possibly budget cuts, and eventually layoffs, bankruptcies, etc. I’m not talking about one off failures, I’m talking about big or continual failures. (Note: Failures are not bad if it’s not a chronic issue, but if you’re going to fail, then fail fast, fail small, fail to learn, and fail into success.) You must step up and be the leader your team needs to lead them to success. I’m all about putting your people first and effectively delivering mission and vision to your team, but you must also show you have the requisite skill and ability to execute the specifics of your job to succeed.
Putting your people first (Step 1) and delivering an awesome mission and vision (Step 2) is great, but without delivering successful results in Step 3, you've failed. You must step up and be the leader your team needs to lead them… Share on XYou need all 3 steps effectively completed to build your People First Leadership Framework pyramid.
Steps 1 Through 3 Lead to a BONUS
If you effectively and successfully do steps 1 through 3, congratulations, that’s an awesome outcome and you should feel so proud!
Even better, completing steps 1 – 3 (People Must Be First, Misison and Vision Come Second, and Results Happen Third) unlocks The People First Leadership “Momentum Bonus” which fuels sustainable success. I’ll explain this more and wrap up the series in the next post: Unlocking the Momentum Bonus – The Finale.
Completing steps 1 – 3 (People Must Be First, Mission and Vision Come Second, and Results Happen Third) unlocks The People First Leadership "Momentum Bonus" which fuels sustainable success. Share on XDiscussion Questions – Let me know what you think
- What do you think about the idea that if you put achieving results before your people or the mission and vision that you won’t be able to achieve sustainable success?
- What’s your top action item or takeaway from this post?
This post is the sixth post in the my People First Leadership Framework series.
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