Your road to Success
What is success? How do we measure it?
If you want to be successful there are a few simple rules to follow that will help you get to the top.
In this article we will look at career success, self improvement and climbing the career ladder to becoming an inspirational leader.
Anyone can be successful with a positive mental attitude, hard work and perseverance.
It does take patience. Don’t give up, learn from your mistakes and do it better next time.
Remember you can’t do it alone; you need a good team with mutual trust and respect.
“The real test is not whether you avoid this failure, because you won’t. It’s whether you let it harden or shame you into inaction, or whether you learn from it; whether you choose to persevere.”
– Barack Obama
1. Focus on the end result, but don’t forget people too.
You should always do your best, what every you set your mind to. Set an example for others. We need to always try to achieve a positive outcome, we cannot always achieve perfection but we can certainly learn from our mistakes. This does not mean focusing on the end result to the exclusion of others; you need to balance “results focused” with “people focused” activities. Those who can focus equally on results and people motivate people to be their best, without losing sight of the bigger picture.
2. Request feedback
Self-reflection is very important for learning and development, but if you are not getting a return on your work and this is affecting your perceived performance, always ask for feedback from your boss. This is the best way for you to get things right and to focus your efforts on what your organisation wants to achieve. 360-degree feedback, from superiors, peers and direct reports, is a very useful tool for self improvement. If you are the CEO/owner look for feedback from your people, key stakeholders and customers.
“Management is doing things right. Leadership is doing the right things”
– Peter Drucker
3. Be a team player – you won’t succeed alone
You must always be ready to help others, to contribute to the overall end result. When participating in a multi-person project, provide the support others need, even if it goes beyond what has been determined as your remit, if you do this consistently others will help you too, as you build trust and mutual respect. Remember to celebrate the success of the whole team. The worst attitude for a professional, who seeks to stand out, is to take credit for an outcome that is not entirely theirs. Working together and knowing how to recognise other’s success demonstrates insight and maturity.
4. Learn how to delegate well
Management is delegation, the process of getting results through other people. Delegating is not a case of allocation without thought or responsibility; “dropping your employees in it” does not save time, on the contrary, it discourages people and generates a considerable volume of rework.
Peter Drucker challenged us to answer three simple and vital questions in managing people:
- What am I doing and does not have to be done?
- What am I doing and could be done by someone else?
- What am I doing and only I can do?
Of course, only the activities of the second group should be “delegated.”
Responsible delegation is about seek to develop the team, and strengthen you position as a leader, you are investing in future time.
A good manager should choose the right person for a particular job, communicate the information needed (clarifying the objectives), you must always be accessible (for questions, complements and dealing with doubts), provide clear resources and guidelines to achieve the expected results, follow- up and give constructive feedbacks along the way. If you do all this, you will be delegating successfully.
5. Keep you word. Under promise and over deliver.
If you promised something, then make sure you can deliver it. If you know you will not be able to deliver what you have been asked, renegotiate the deadline. The important thing is not to leave anyone hanging with the phase ”leave it with me“.
With these relatively simple actions you will be well on your way to success, through self improvement and self actualisation.
At first glance, these suggestions may seem too obvious, as does the advice in Dale Carnegie’s book “How to Win Friends and Influence People” a book which I would recommend you read. The advice does work!
“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.”
– John Quincy Adams