What happens when busy leaders fail to create credibility for themselves and their company? This failure impacts them personally and professionally. It influences the loyalty of internal and external customers. If the marketplace’s perception is that the business, their products or services are untrustworthy, this perception drives purchasing decisions whether the perception is accurate or not.
As a leader, your employees emulate you. If you make poor business decisions or fail to develop good managerial skills, your employees will not have any incentive to act differently.
The key is to honor:
- Your word. Follow through. “I’m too busy” is one of the biggest excuses busy professionals use to justify their behavior. Have you considered, if you’re too busy to follow-through, you’re probably too busy to provide the quality of products and services promised? Get yourself well-organized to keep track of your commitments. Find the money to hire necessary support. Develop a dependable system and follow it.
- Your company’s vision and mission. Consistently make decisions that follow and support your company’s values. Implement them in a manner that promotes positivity. Too often we follow our ego (aka as our own self-interests) and this quickly limits sustainable company growth. Others will shy away from doing business with you if they perceive association with you could limit their own success.
- Your intentions. We judge others by their behavior and ourselves by our intentions. What are your intentions? Are you conscious of them when making decisions that impact others? Most people make decisions based upon the tiniest fragments of information. As a leader, this can be excruciating painful if you need to defend yourself against the facts! Apologize and admit when you are wrong. Encourage others to provide you with their opinions and fact-based solutions in the future. Make good decisions; your credibility hinges upon them.
(c)Jeannette Seibly, 2011