.Real.Greg.Lee.

One of my leadership strategies is to create self-accountability.  (My opinion: Truly helpful accountability is a weak force in today’s world.  There is either a lack of accountability or an attempt to micromanage, leaving little freedom and motivation)  I think if you want to be successful in life, you should figure out ways to have to account to yourself.

I do this in a few ways, but the most common one I use is to go public with my intentions.  My experience is that my ideas and dreams see little progress as long as I’m the only one who knows about them.  I internally justify their delay (or worse, their demise) and they remain on the bottom of my priority list.

When I take an idea public, though, everything changes.  There is interest.  There is fascination.  There is resistance.  There are people who are automatically more interested in accomplishing it than I am (which is great, but creates some pressure).  Bottom line:  It won’t sit on the bottom of my list any more. 

Note: This “going public” has levels to it and ALWAYS starts with individual conversations, not a broadcast announcement (those who deserve to know first, those most affected, those we’ll need on board to get it done.)  Some of the big mistakes I see in leadership are when the “visionary” casts the vision to the masses without having key people in the audience already shaking their head yes because they feel in the loop and have had some key questions answered (or at least considered).

Back to the point…Most of us have great ideas…great intentions.  Many of us also have regrets.  It doesn’t have to be leading a church or a business.  It could be leading your family or follwoing a personal dream.  Push the envelope today…start telling people about it.

One more thing…When you want to take it to the next level, I start telling people about the dates you are setting to accomplish it.  To say “We are going multi-site” out loud is challenging.  To say “We are going multi-site in Fall 2008” throws it down…and gets it done.  No one else is going to hold you accountable to YOUR dreams.

~ by Greg Lee on March 17, 2009.

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