Samir puts out a weekly email to staff working at Amec – around 20,000 people work for this company.
He has 6 good pointers for success:
We all learn quickly that we each have different talents and strengths and need to work hard to overcome our weaknesses. Leadership does not always come as a natural ability to all of us and we must seek out mentors to help us create opportunities to fine tune our skills. Throughout my career I have learnt those elements that make a good leader and create success. Like a chemical reaction – if you know what elements you should mix and when different combinations are needed – success is inevitable. Through my experience, I strongly believe that the foundations of leadership are as follows:
Have a vision of success – without this you will lose your way and your direction. Without aspiring to success, there is no point in having a vision – we all want to be successful at what we aim for.
Know your purpose – define why it is that you are putting the effort in. In my role I continually ask – how are we creating jobs? Creating value to our customers? Improving returns to stakeholders? And most importantly are we doing this in a sustainable and meaningful way?
Build the best teams – your team is a reflection of your leadership. It cannot be taken for granted – you need to develop them, trust them and empower them. The more we practise these leadership qualities; which sound easy but take a lot of commitment and determination; the more we will develop the most effective teams in the world.
Develop a clear strategy – you need a roadmap that paves the way for you to achieve your vision. It is crucial that this is clear, action driven and honest. You need to embed milestones and measurement throughout and align your team to the strategy.
Stay focused – do not get distracted with non -priority issues. Plan your short-term, mid-term and long- term objectives. Be honest with yourself and stay committed to what you need to achieve today; tomorrow; in the week; in the quarter; and the year to achieve your vision and strategy.
Have fun – you need to feel excited and inspired every day. This involves recognising when you and your teams are fatigued, when it is time to rest and rotate your people.
This is a “top down” approach, not truly encompassing of a participation management style, however I like the concepts because they can be implemented quite easily across an participative organisation.
Like I telling people working with me (and often looking to me for an answer!), 10 brains working on a problem is much better than 1!
Jeremiah Josey's Blog 