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How many articles, books have you read on the leadership topic?
OMG! There are so many leadership pundits out there, it’s tough to decide who’s philosophy and advice to follow.
I’ve always recommended that you follow someone with proven achievements in the real world as opposed to theoretical academics who have never felt the heat of running a major league business.
Unabashedly I am one of those people you should listen to because I took an early stage internet company to A BILLION dollars in annual sales using breakaway moves I created ‘on the run’.
This is one breakaway leadership move—Fingerprint Leadership—I made which had a HUGE impact on accelerating the performance of my business.
’Fingerprint’ leadership is my simple proven way to execute better and take business performance to astronomical heights.
Fingerprint leadership, in a nutshell, has a leader strategically micromanaging in their organization.
Yes, micromanaging! The act that most advisors say a leader should NEVER do.
It’s targeted micromanaging.
It’s focussed on the key elements required to hit on all cylinders if their strategic imperatives are to be achieved.
It’s architecting operational elements to ensure execution has a direct line of sight to the strategic game plan of the organization.
It’s serving in disguise. Pressing fingerprints has more than a subtle “How can I help?” component.
In the process of teaching, the leader listens and crafts their approach based on the things employees need to make their jobs easier.
It’s coaching for employees and managers. Leadership fingerprint moments need strong coaching in order to ensure the instructions are sustainable and don’t get sucked into the momentum of yesterday.
What sort of things need the fingerprints of the leader?
These were some of my micromanaging tasks:
#1. The customer moment — Defining what ‘the customer moment’ had to look like.
Since creating mind blowing customer experiences was an essential strategic move, I was embedded in the frontline to architect what the customer interaction looked like.
#2. Selling the plan — Selling the business plan to employees.
The leader must sell the strategy to the organization. Present, answer questions and convince people that the direction we were going was something they could support. This is something that can’t be delegated to anyone else yet many leaders do. Shameful.
#3. Frontline manager interviews — Leading the interview process for frontline management positions.
Execution of the strategic plan requires the dedication, support and flawless execution of the frontline, which, in turn, depends on the right frontline management team.
To ensure we recruited correctly, I sat in on interview panels to test potential candidates.
- Did they understand our customer experience strategy?
- Could they define the key elements of the customer engagement process?
- Did they ‘love’ humans?
#4. New Moves — Introducing new programs to employees.
It is critical that employees understand the strategic fit between individual programs that are introduced, and the strategy of the organization.
Who else should be on the front end of an employee session introducing a new program?
The nuts and bolts can be explained by someone else, but the positioning of the new program must have the leader’s fingerprints.
#5. Execution roadblocks — Determining roadblocks to executing the strategy.
If you’re in for a nickel, you’re in for a dollar.
How can the leader be the Strategy Hawk of strategy execution if they’re unaware of the things preventing a clean implementation process.
Fingerprint leaders bravely enter The Bear Pit to understand what’s not working so they can fix it.
Fingerprint leaders are a breed unto themselves.
They are different from other leaders who follow the pedantically common leadership traditions.
You can tell who the fingerprint leaders are.
Look for the organizations that consistently perform at breathtaking heights.
Related: 50 Helpful Podcasts That Will Make Your Business Soar