Leading in the corporate world is much like being a parent – your job is to turn out a successful, independent company at the end of the day – not to produce a coddled and dependent child. Earning the respect of your employees is a much more valuable practice in the long run than taking the popular approach to decision making.
Every Leader who has to make daily decisions that could be contentious or polarizing knows that while it may be tempting to do the popular thing, doing the hard thing that you know will positively position the company is the right thing. It will also help build trust for you, letting those around you know that you can handle making the tough calls.
Consider Long Term Gains
Every decision you make will have a butterfly effect on the bottom line of your company as well as on its long term success. Whom you hire, how you group skill sets for teams, the approaches you take to problem solving, product design, marketing – the list is endless, but each choice plays a long term part in making your company a success.
Acting to solve only short term problems will never get you further along because you will always be busy putting out fires. Instead, imagine each decision you make as being a concentric circle slightly overlapping the decision made before it and continually being added to. This imagery can help you see how long term gains will always be connected to short term decisions.
Connect To The Mission Statement
It’s easy to get distracted by chasing success. Getting a win if you are in a tough industry (and let’s face it – every industry is tough in it’s own way) can sometimes block out the reasons why your company was started in the first place. Head back to the source to find inspiration.
Make it a habit to keep a copy of the company’s mission statement posted in your office, or in a communal gathering space, and take the time to review it, as a staff or by yourself at least once a month. Grounding yourself in founding principles will help keep your decisions on a steady path to success.