I absolutely love professional sport, especially Australian Rules Football – to see the finely tuned athletes apply their craft in arguably one of the world’s best stadiums, the Melbourne Cricket Ground, is a privilege. The way the players are able to combine as a team, to make the movement of the football seem effortless, to the point where the ball quite often does not hit the ground for minutes at a time, is sensational to watch. And in watching these professionals go about their work, we can sometimes sit back and ‘wish’ we were like them, to have their ability, and their precision with the skills and fitness. It is also somewhat easy to overlook the amount of work that these athletes have invested over time to reach that level of expertise, because we merely see the outcome or output of years of dedicated focus and application. Whilst these players started their professional career with ‘talent’, they have had to invest in and develop that talent constantly over time to earn the right and opportunity to play professional sport at the highest level. That investment has been a relentless and focussed approach to their daily activity. Their success did not develop and happen overnight – it was determined by their daily agenda, repeated over time.
And so it is with Leadership – whilst we may have ‘talent’ and ability to lead others, we need to make a constant and consistent investment in that talent & ability, over time, to earn the right to lead. And this investment is underpinned by our daily agenda. It has often been said that ‘success leaves clues…..and so does mediocrity’, and whilst leadership success will not develop overnight, we are able to see through the daily activities, clues such as ; passion, positive attitude, vision, discipline, prioritisation and influence. And through the daily application of these clues, leadership is formed, and compounded over time.
As a leader, are you committed to the leadership journey, or are you seeking immediate results and immediate gratification? Understand that becoming a leader is not an event at a point in time; it is an evolution that develops over time, through consistent and focussed daily activity. Remember, just because you have the title of ‘Leader’, does not necessarily mean you are a leader, yet.
To assist you on your leadership journey, here are several critical elements that when applied daily, will underpin your leadership development :
- Leaders are learners – Leaders understand that there are new lessons to be learned every single day, and hence they focus on learning something today that they did not know yesterday. This daily focus compounds over time – the power of the daily activity.
- Leaders have a plan for personal growth – As well as learning something new each day, Leaders maintain and execute a daily plan for personal growth. They know that daily personal growth (for e.g. listening to audio books, inspirational leadership podcasts, meeting a mentor etc) compounds over time.
- Leaders have unrivalled daily discipline and focus – Leaders understand that success does not happen overnight – it takes dedication, focus, discipline and relentless practice, daily. Just as the professional AFL footballer practices his craft daily, so must a leader, fine-tuning and expanding their leadership muscle. They know that champions do not become champions on the field of battle – they are merely recognised there. The power of the daily activity.
- Leaders are crystal clear on their objectives – Not only are leaders crystal clear on their objectives, they know why their objectives are important, and so they focus their energy and attention on the daily activities required to meet and exceed these objectives. As a result, Leaders can be very efficient and productive in their daily activity. And guess what? These activities compound over time. The power of the daily activity.
- Leaders persevere – Leaders expect challenges and obstacles and welcome them. They understand that they are an inevitable component to their leadership development and success, and will continue to persevere, knowing that it is through confronting the daily challenges that they grow.
- Leaders display a great attitude – Leaders understand that their team is merely a reflection of themselves, and hence to expect the team to display a great attitude, the leader must lead with a great attitude. It is through the daily activity of displaying a great attitude, that great team cultures are formed. The power of the daily activity.
- Leaders prioritise – with so much information available to us today at our fingertips, it can be very easy to be distracted by other people’s agendas, or by information that is not aligned with our objectives. Leaders understand that through prioritising activities and actions daily which are consistent with meeting objectives, efficiency and productivity can increase. And this compounded over time, can create outstanding results.
- Leaders focus on relationships – Leaders understand that they cannot achieve long term and sustainable success on their own. Success is built on the success of others, and so the leader will apply a daily focus on building, developing and maintaining relationships that will underpin success.
- Leaders create time and space for thinking – Despite having very busy schedules, Leaders understand the critical importance of creating time and space for them to think. It is through this daily discipline that new ideas are created, that may lead to exciting new opportunities being developed, or to preventing issues from arising. Even a daily discipline of 15 minutes focussed thinking, compounded over time, can have a massively positive impact.
- Leaders focus on their health – Leaders understand that in order to be the most effective leaders to their people, they must maintain their health and vitality. As such, they make their health a priority on a daily basis – whether it be walking briskly for 30 minutes, or playing squash or riding a bike for 30 minutes. They know that they can be more effective and influential when they have a healthy mind combined with a healthy body. The power of the daily activity.
It has been said many times, leadership success will be determined by your daily activities, and the elements outlined above, will go along way to you creating long term & sustainable leadership success. There is one additional element to add, and that is the ‘Rule of 5’, which comes from the work of John C Maxwell. The Rule of 5 is defined as the series of activities that you must carry out on a daily basis which are fundamental to your leadership success. For John’s company, their Rule of 5 is Lead, Grow, Create, Excel & Serve, and the ongoing success of the company is measured against this Rule of 5. What will be your Rule of 5 as you develop your leadership muscle? By creating and committing to a Rule of 5, along with integrating the critical elements outlined above, your leadership success will be inevitable.
Tap into the power of the daily activity and may you enjoy extraordinary leadership success!
Darren
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Thank you for taking the time to read this post – I greatly appreciate it, and welcome comments and feedback. Please feel free to comment below, to follow me on LinkedIn, or to connect via Twitter or Facebook.
About : Darren is an Executive Coach, Leadership Consultant, Trainer, Facilitator, Speaker. A passionate and driven individual specialising in personal development, strategic planning, coaching for advocacy & enhanced performance, situational and servant based leadership, executive coaching of people leaders, emerging leaders and ‘high potential’ individual contributors within the Enterprise & Government market, personal change management, and strategic workshop facilitation & training.
