Why What You Do Next is Your Most Important Leadership Ability
3 minutes
Being a great leader requires being good at many things. What you do next can make or break your leadership performance.
Whether you've just led the successful delivery of a major project or made a mistake your ability to navigate the ‘next’ is what truly defines your leadership prowess. We all have successes and failures so let's delve into why your next steps, and particularly your resilience and adaptability, should be a cornerstone of your leadership.
Embrace Failure as a Pitstop, Not a Roadblock
Picture this: You've meticulously planned a project, assigned tasks, and set expectations. But then, the unforeseen happens – a project goes off the rails, deadlines are missed, and the team is left disheartened. As a leader, what you do next is critical. Instead of pointing fingers or playing the blame game, it's time to roll up your sleeves and turn the failure into a learning opportunity.
Acknowledging mistakes is the first step towards recovery. Share the responsibility, dissect what went wrong, and identify the root causes. This isn't about finding a scapegoat. It's about fostering a culture of learning. Leaders who own their mistakes or contribution to something that hasn’t gone well with a view to learning earn respect and encourage others do the same, creating an environment where the focus is on what happens next not what cannot be changed.
After a failure or set-back include your team in the analysis. Encourage open communication about what could have been done differently. Early on identify what you could have done differently to make it OK for others to do so too. This not only humanises you as a leader but also instils a sense of collective responsibility within the team.
Then comes the crucial part – the rebound. Effective leaders don't dwell on failure or the past. They use it as a springboard to the next step, moving quickly towards improvement. Your role as leader is to lead the thinking about what could be done better, refine your strategies, and emphasise the lessons learned. Then aim that learning forwards. This not only gets your team back on track but also showcases your ability to lead through adversity.
Turning Wins into Momentum for Future Success
On the flip side, there’s success. You've just closed a deal, exceeded targets, or launched a new product or campaign and it’s going well. The temptation is to relax a bit and enjoy the moment, taking a break from the pac and pressure of delivering. It is important to recognise success - positive feedback is an immensely powerful leadership tool. But the best leaders understand that success isn't a destination – it's a journey.
Quickly after recognising success and high-performance they move to set up for even greater success in the future. In a similar way to a failure, they get those involved to review, this time looking at what was behind the success we well as what could be done better.
Gather your team and conduct a post-mortem on success, just as you would with failure. What worked well? What could be improved? Analysing wins with the same rigor as losses ensures continuous improvement and innovation.
Communication is key during this phase. Keep the team informed about the next set of goals and how their individual contributions are integral to achieving them. A successful leader knows that success breeds success, and it's about leveraging that positive energy to propel the team forward.
Adaptability: The True Measure of Leadership
In both failure and success, adaptability emerges as the linchpin of effective leadership. The business landscape is ever-evolving and your challenges as a leader don’t stop. Leaders who can pivot seamlessly, adapting both failure and success to future success, are the ones who stay ahead of the curve and get ahead themselves.
When faced with failure, it's not just about bouncing back but bouncing back better. Adapt your strategies, reassess priorities, and be willing to discard what doesn't work. The ability to pivot after a setback is what sets great leaders apart from the pack.
Similarly, after a success, adaptability involves capitalising on the momentum by identifying new opportunities. Markets change, customer preferences evolve, and technology advances. A leader's agility in navigating these shifts ensures sustained success.
This sort of growth as. leader is a powerful influence on those you lead and others in your organisation - The Ripple Effect of Leadership Development.
The Next Move is Everything
In the dynamic world of leadership, it's not the mistakes or wins that define you; it's what you do next. Resilience in the face of failure and a proactive approach after success are the hallmarks of a leader who understands that the journey is continuous.
So, whether you're navigating the stormy seas of a setback or riding a wave of success, keep one eye on the horizon. Your next move isn't just a reaction. It's a strategic play that shapes your leadership. If you make ‘next’ a focus on your leadership you will be. batter leader.