If Leadership is so important, then where are the effective leaders in the Behavioral Health field?
Perhaps the problem is determined by too many people thinking Leadership is defined by what leaders do rather than what values they bring to the table? Management experts suggest that, “leaders lead by virtue of who they are and in order to be productive they must first be effective with themselves.”
Those managers who become comfortable enough in their Leadership roles usually have taken the time and energy thinking about what has worked in the past – and even more time considering what’s in the organizations future.
Another consideration in effective leadership styles is having the capability of developing projects where there are instant feedback systems that allow continuous adjustments to daily operations. By utilizing this information and adjusting to daily operational problems managers can quickly counteract roadblocks that could sink a project. Eating, sleeping and breathing time management is essential to successful operations. Effective leaders keep daily activity lists, of what has to be accomplished – things get done that would otherwise get lost. What needs to happen today? What jobs must be completed tomorrow? What’s happening that is critical this week? Building simple tracking tools such as Gantt Charts, even the use of simple “laundry lists” keeps the project elements and individual responsibilities on track. These tools could be as simple as maintaining a three ring binder with chapter dividers for each of the project’s elements.
Effective leaders have mastered time by utilizing the art of the 20 minute morning meetings. What gets measured and recognized gets done. With mandatory daily attendance at these morning meetings, all the key people will have an opportunity to give quick progress updates, nail down the daily milestones and give voice to major concerns and roadblocks. Think of the math problem presented here, if 70% of the time is spent talking then you’ll want to reverse these numbers so the Team spends 30% talking and 70% of their time activities engaged in listening and doing. Having someone typing the minutes as the meeting progresses helps efficiencies by building an progress reports in real-time.
When a major project is underway top management has to be continuously involved in promoting the benefits of successfully completing the effort. As is often the case, the closer a project is to completion there’s a tendency to become complacent and slack-off performance. It is important to keep positive emotions and enthusiasm running high – so the team does not let the project’s importance “slip away”. Keeping Teams morale high can frequently be accomplished by traveling to a retreat setting for a final project debriefing.
Although it is hard to predict exactly which companies will dominate in new environment, one principle is clear: The most nimble and adaptable companies, with the most effective leaders will thrive.
