As a leader, what role do you take in your own leadership development?
If 2020 taught us anything, it was the importance of seeing the big picture without losing sight of the small details. This requires a tremendous skill in balancing priorities, energy, and focus. And while most great leaders can take pride in their ability to multi-task under stress, this year has really tested their abilities.
Leaders are called on again and again to shift their attention from one priority to another. They must consistently and consciously choose (and judge) that which is deserving of their attention. They must ignore impertinent distractions.
Developing the right leadership skills and habits is critical to personal and organizational success. The Pareto Principle explains how 80 percent of our results is achieved through only 20 percent of our efforts. That means that only about 20 percent of our activities actually provide the results we are looking for.
This is true for leaders and their organizations; in professional and personal capacities. In that case, if we devote more time and energy to the crucial 20 percent of our activities, we would accomplish more, have better relationships, and more life satisfaction.
Disrupting the habits that are counter-productive is important, but it doesn’t eliminate them. You see, unless you create a new routine in its place, the pattern will continue automatically. Fortunately, we’ve come to a new level of understanding about habits, and we’re learning and practicing new techniques to improve them.
In Summary
These articles and Article Nuggets explore habits, behavior models and methodology, and how to identify and create habits that transform leadership.
This is a brief synopsis of a 1,570-word and a 985-word article, and 5-Article Nuggets*, suitable for consultants’ newsletters for executives and leaders in organizations. It is available for purchase with full reprint rights, which means you may put your name on it and use it in your newsletters, blogs or other marketing materials. You may also modify it and add your personal experiences and perspectives.
The complete articles and Article Nuggets include these important concepts:
- The Importance of habits
- The Importance of focus and concentration
- When distractions become habits
- A Simple model to create new habits
- Motivation
- Ability
- Prompts
- The Habits that transform your leadership
- Identify transforming habits
- Questions for leaders
And references to the following sources:
BJ Fogg, PhD, Tiny Habits: The Small Changes that Change Everything (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt 2020)
Sam Horn, ConZentrate: Get Focused and Pay Attention–When Life Is Filled With Pressures, Distractions, and Multiple Priorities (St. Martin’s Press 2000)
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Send us an email and let us know if you’d like to receive this article, Article Nuggets, or Newsletter (as applicable.) It is available in the following formats:
- The Next Wave in Leadership Development: Habits – 1,570-word Article, $79
- The Next Wave in Leadership Development: Habits – 985-word article, $57
- The Next Wave in Leadership Development: Habits – 5-Article Nuggets, $89
*Article Nuggets: The same article broken up into 3-5 blog-style sections suitable for a series of blog posts or shorter newsletter articles.