By Dana Phillips.
If you are alive, I can say with absolute certainty that you have said this to yourself: “If only someone had warned me, I wouldn’t have made such a mess of it.”
How much easier would it be if someone shared their mistakes with you so you wouldn’t have to repeat them! These are some common mistakes most leaders make and their consequences. Here’s to hoping that by sharing the big mistakes, you can avoid making them yourself and accelerate your success!
One of the biggest mistakes is this: Focusing on what’s in front of you and ignoring the big picture.
Too often, I poured everything into one or two team members I was sure would be my next rock stars. I let go of looking for the next team member, and when my rock stars didn’t pan out, I was left with no one working for leadership. The big picture means that leaders are looking to recruit new team members and invite new people on the path to leadership every week. Promoting leaders works best when you create a consistent flow instead of focusing on one or two people.
The big picture means a balanced approach to your business. I had an AHA moment on the stage at National Conference when I realized I was the only person on my team receiving awards. It was time to let go of my goals and focus on theirs. I made a commitment to spend more time working with my team and less on my personal business, and the following year I received awards based on my team’s success, and so did they!
Getting sidetracked by a personal goal like earning a trip can create neglect of the big picture as your individual business takes over your team’s leadership. How can building your team contribute more to your personal goals than increasing your personal sales and recruiting? Promoting leaders consistently requires consistent effort. A time-out to earn a trip will sabotage your promotions.
“Leaders never walk alone” is a belief that will keep the big picture in front of you. Using your sales and recruiting as platforms to train people will leverage your time and keep you building other people in all aspects of your business.
Getting caught up in the urgent tasks before you and neglecting time to plan will keep you on the hamster wheel. Slowing down to speed up does work. What do you want to accomplish? Look at what is necessary to achieve what you wish, AND ask yourself, what must I give up to complete it? Too often, leaders keep adding to their task list and don’t take the time to prioritize what will make the most significant impact and what is not necessary. We often give up what is comfortable and take on what is uncomfortable to achieve the big picture.
It’s important to learn from your mistakes, but it is BETTER to learn from other people’s mistakes, and it is BEST to learn from other people’s successes. It accelerates your own success. ~Jim Rohn
How Do You Learn to Avoid Mistakes?
We know that it’s lonely at the top. It’s hard to find a common truth that fits you and even harder to find a confidante. You need to take support wherever you can find it.
Team Connections Pro is here to share leaders’ successes and the mistakes that happened along the way. Join our leadership family by joining our Team Connections PRO community.
