As a leader you are measured on your ability to deliver results. Continually delivering results can be challenging and without doubt you will encounter many obstacles along the way. Some of these barriers might be obvious, others not. So what are 5 barriers to your success as a leader?
Barrier 1: No clear vision
As a leader you need to be able to clearly articulate your vision and then sell it to others. This requires you to define what success means for your organization, team or function and why it really matters. If you have no clear vision it is going to be pretty tough to achieve anything.
Barrier 2: Lack of belief
It is no use having a clear vision and be able to explain it to others unless you totally believe that it can be achieved. Gone are the days when you could come up with a nice set of words and hope that no one will see through their doubts. Your belief is the fuel that drives the organization, especially through those challenging and difficult times.
Barrier 3: Absence of goals
Goals or outcomes set a clear destination. When you focus on goals, you are in the driving seat. When you are in the driving seat you focus on results and when you focus on results you achieve more. Results provide the reinforcement and motivation to aim for more and better results.
Barrier 4: Resting on your laurels
You may be doing really well at the current time but resting on your laurels is dangerous. As a leader you need to be continually be proactive, anticipate the need for change and stay ahead of the game whenever you can. If you want to succeed don’t take your foot off the gas.
Barrier 5: Fear
Everyone has fears. It might be fear that something will not work, the request for funding will be rejected or the grand turnaround will fail to materialize. At the root of all of this is fear of failure. If you fear failure and are not willing to address it, you will stop taking risks and when you stop taking risks, you don’t get results and end up stagnating.
Bottom Line – Being a leader is not easy. Being aware of and being willing to address your barriers to success is essential. So what barriers do you need to overcome to prosper as a leader?
7 Barriers of Leadership:
- Failure to name wins. Fear prevents you from naming what you really want. But, you can’t achieve what you haven’t named.
- Unrealistic optimism. Thinking the path ahead is short, smooth, and easy.
- Deliverables over developing people. Attaining goals is the easy focus of leadership. People are messy.
- Plans without champions. Wouldn’t it be great if plans magically happened? Who owns success?
- Ignoring barriers in the false hope they will magically vanish.
- Big passion without small deliverables.
- Lack of focus.
Breaking barriers:
- Acknowledge you’re stuck. Progress is a function of discontent.
- Name barriers. What’s preventing progress? Don’t assume you know.
- Connect with people who share your frustrations. Common frustrations reflect common enemies. Frustration is more powerful than contentment.
- Focus on people. The horses in the barn determine where you can go. Foolish leaders set short-term goals that teams can’t achieve.
- Embrace small, simple wins. A small win today is worth two tomorrow. A series of small wins lengthens leadership’s reach.
- Make plans by exploring the past. What repeated patterns emerge that must be leveraged or addressed? What are common points of failure or success in your past?
- Do more of what works. Breaking barriers is necessary but focus on what’s working. Or…
- Stop doing what’s working. When barriers persist, what you think is working isn’t.
- Bring the outside in. Find and integrate people who think differently.
- Identify and follow champions. Every barrier needs a champion whose working to break it. Competent champions galvanize teams that produce success.
- Forget the barrier. Choose a new path.
- Change the team. Identify the person who is the barrier and convert or remove them.