52 Leadership Tips- #19

Don’t Lead via Urgency.

Have you ever looked around and noticed that your team was getting nothing done? Or, how about yourself? You know, those very unproductive days, weeks or even months. This can be a natural byproduct of paying too much attention to the urgent, or, leading via urgency!

Don’t get me wrong... emergency’s come up, and they need to be dealt with, but living in a urgency driven world will lead to a continual lack of productivity. I have a good friend in the technology business who always says “A lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part.” Such a great saying, and how true is that? People’s lack of planning, lack of thinking, or just lack of doing, can often lead to an urgent situation. Sound familiar?

The same thing happens to leaders, their lack of planning, lack of thinking through, or lack of surrounding themselves with great managers can just lead to urgency after urgency. And urgency after urgency will lead to getting a big bag of nothing accomplished!

Leaders you need to have a vision that turns into a plan. A vision without a plan is a dream never fulfilled!  I know that visionary leaders will change, they will ebb and flow (I am one of them), so the plan needs to be flexible enough to support change. Leaders, you are the captain and are steering the ship, so if you want to make it to your destination, don’t lead via Urgency!

tags: leadership
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