Why The Best Leaders Are Doers, Not Talkers

“What does success look like for me to lead here?”

This is a question your team leaders are asking themselves if they haven’t asked you directly. As the CEO, I believe it’s my responsibility to set expectations for the leaders on our team so that they know what winning looks like as a leader.

I’ve been working on a series called 5 Principles to Guide You in Leadership for our team leaders at Leadr. It’s not meant to be a rulebook. Instead, it’s meant to be a guide to help engage and grow the leaders on our team.

Here’s Principle #1: Focus on Outputs.

If you haven't read High Output Management by Andy Grove, Founder, CEO, and Chairman of Intel, I highly recommend it.

One of my favorite quotes from the book reads, “The #1 role of a manager is to produce more results with the same or less resources.”

This quote challenges me. Grove is essentially saying that your role exists to produce more with less. If you're incapable of producing more with the same or less, you are probably ineffective in your role.

When you’re not producing more with less, outputs will suffer. If outputs are suffering, it might be time for someone else to be doing the job you are supposed to be doing.

So what does it look like to be a leader that focuses on outputs?

Be a Doer, not a Talker.

Talkers often sound like this:

There is a great tweet from Jason Lemkin (@jasonlk) on how to avoid being a “talker”:

This one also challenges me. When I think about talkers, I think about excuses. And we have all found ourselves slipping into being a “talker,” who gives excuses instead of solutions.

Instead, we should strive to be DOERS.

This comes to my mind when I think of a DOER:

Doers say, “Just watch me go.” In fact, doers typically aren't the best talkers. They rarely spin the best narrative or choose the best words when explaining the work they are doing. Instead, doers communicate that “The results will speak for themselves” with their work. Doers are focused on outputs.

What Does Success Look Like When Focusing on Outputs?

Even if you limit excuses and let your results speak for you, focusing on outputs is still hard. I have found these 5 steps to be helpful for consistent focus and effectiveness.

5 Steps for Focusing on Outputs

1. Clarify

   • Anytime you're beginning a new project, reaching for a new goal, or starting a new task, it is imperative to clarify.

   • I typically miss this one. I love to jump in headfirst and figure it out as I go. I've found that when I don't stop to ask, “Hey, why is this important?” I end up going in the wrong direction I would have chosen had I clarified my goals.

   • Ask yourself, “Why are we doing this? What's the ultimate goal?” This helps the team not make assumptions about the purpose of what you’re outputting.

2. Over-Prepare

   • Through my experience growing teams, I have found that if I under-prepare, I often look like a bit of a fool. People ask questions. When you run out of answers as the good questions start coming, you will wish you had over-prepared.

   • The only fix for nerves or anxiety heading into a project is over-preparation. Nothing else confirms me in feeling that I've got a handle on the details of a project like being over-prepared.

3. Execute

   • This should speak for itself--do what you say you’re going to do. 

   • Whatever it is, get it done.

4. Iterate

   • You will likely not see ideal results on your first try. Go back to step 1 and re-clarify your why. This doesn't mean you need to change your why, just that you need to revisit it with a fresh mind. You now have context which will help you reshape focus and try again.

5. Execute Again

   • This should not look like banging your head against the wall, doing the same thing over and over, but expecting different results.

   • As you make progress through the project, take a second, look around, and ask, “Is this working?” If it isn’t, don't panic. Pivot.

Leaders focused on outputs do these 5 things. What about leaders who are not focused on outputs? What are the consequences? I’ll cover that in my next blog.

MT

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