Leadership, Priorities and Risk Assessment

I originally published this post in October 2011, but because these themes continue to crop up in my work I wanted to share it again. Strong leadership, setting priorities and objective risk assessment can truly strengthen an organization.

The power of good leadership

Many times, companies want to turn things around or correct serious weaknesses, but just can’t make the changes happen. They may really be in the ditch when it comes to revenues and profits, or they might just need to get a small project moving. In either case, there are three things that will get the ball rolling:

1. Leadership – show it. Get out in front and show people where they need to go and what they need to do. Develop a vision and clear objectives to define a target state.
2. Priorities – set them. Identify what needs to be done and set priorities. Without priorities, people tend to do what is urgent rather than what is important and they spend time putting out fires rather than working toward important long-term goals.
3. Risk – assess it. Examine the risks in everything you do. For instance, many companies respond to a downturn with layoffs. What they may not know is that laying off one person often causes three people to underperform. This includes the one who was laid off, a second person who fears they’re next and starts looking for another job, and a third who keeps their head down and hurts their productivity by flying under the radar. Layoffs are a risky action that can start a downward spiral to disaster.

© 2011-2012 Rick Pay. All Rights Reserved.