The future-focused leader is not driven by the ‘numbers’ in hiring, how many women, how many ethnic groups or just customer satisfaction surveys. The innovative or future-focused leader balances a broader range of stakeholders with ingenious methods.
How can you and your team harness persistence and perseverance for innovative success? Consider using any or all of these as your foundation for action:
- Team leaders are adaptable in analyzing the exact situation at the moment. They do not give in to the weakness of becoming angry about the current situation. They know that a positive presence is required to motivate the team members to do the impossible. Frequently, it is the leader that presents the team’s strategies to finance meetings or review boards explaining how they will overcome obstacles, making the case for more resources or time. That person is the champion of how to coordinate company tradeoffs and timelines.
- Teams review their original idea and delivery dates to reassign tasks or pursue an entirely new direction. They determine what elements still have value and what facets need to change to deliver a new value structure. They do not use blame behavior or finger pointing in their assessments knowing that it is not a respectable use of energy. They have conversations that will be used for execution, not produce resignation.
- Persistent teams do not allow others to drain energy from their targeted goals. They recognize that collective negative moods can be ‘catching’; and they do not allow themselves to become passive victims of unconstructive moods. Also, they do not engage in adversarial conversations. They know that dialogues such as these only cause others to become defensive, crushing further explorative processes.
- Team members don’t hold back their emotional connectedness to the project. People become energized by the vital force each of them presents and what they will risk to realize final success. The actress today, Eva Longoria, is relying on her emotional intensity to fuel campaigns for racial justice and empowerment for women.
Collaborative leaders leverage their teams for solutions as part of the decision-making process. An example is companies surveying their employees to ask them how they want to work post-Covid-19 rather than leaders simply dictating policy.
As leaders, we are the stewards of our organizations, employees and stakeholders’ expectations. Consequently, we need to build imminent leadership mindsets and the necessary skills to lead in a manner that promotes success short- and long-term for our broad range of stakeholders.
“Success isn’t something you chase. It’s something you have to put forth the effort for constantly. Then maybe it’ll come when you least expect it. Most people don’t understand that.”
Michael Jordan