Common Sense Ideas for Becoming the Career Star You Are Meant to Be

Today is Wednesday, so this post is on outstanding performance.

Outstanding performance is characterized by three things:

·        Technical knowledge and expertise.

·        Setting and achieving high goals.

·        Personal organization.

Recently, I have had several clients ask me to define the technical knowledge and expertise leaders need to be successful.  I’ve reviewed the most common areas of expertise in which I am asked to coach leaders and have come up with the following list of eight.

These eight knowledge areas and skills are a good place to start when assessing your technical competence as a leader or small business owner.  How good are you at each of these eight?  Which of these skills do you need to develop further?

Eight Leadership Knowledge and Skill Areas Necessary for Outstanding Performance

1. The ability to create a compelling vision of the future, and to enlist others in the quest to achieve that vision.
2. The ability to act as an effective role model for the organization’s vision, values and operating principles.
3. Ability to develop effective internal partnerships – to be able to collaborate across functions, working horizontally as well as vertically.
4. Knowledge of the total business, not just one functional area.
5. Financial acumen – the ability to not only read financial documents, but to understand how what you do, and what they people who report to you do, affect a company’s financial performance.
6. Ability to recruit, develop and retain key employees; effective performance management and coaching and mentoring skills.
7. Understanding of different cultures and what it takes to compete in a global marketplace.
8. Strategy implementation – the ability to turn strategy into tactics and them successfully implement those tactics.

    

Over the years, I have developed what I call the “snapshot analysis technique”.  Instead of rating yourself on a 1 to 5, or 1 to 7 scale on each of these eight areas, merely ask yourself a simple question.  “When it comes to this knowledge area, is this statement generally true or generally not true?”   You can ask the same question of others whose opinions you trust.

For any one item, if the answer is “generally true”, you have probably mastered that skill reasonably well.  If this answer for any one item is “generally not true”, you probably need some work in this area.  Focus on developing the skills in which you are not as strong as you would like to be.

If the answer is “generally true” for each of these eight knowledge areas; congratulations!  You are probably a pretty good leader.  Focus on continuously improving your knowledge and skill in each of these areas.  And focus on developing your knowledge and skill in the other four areas of the Star Power model: self confidence, personal impact, communication skills and interpersonal competence.

That’s it for today.  Thanks for reading.  Log on to my website www.BudBilanich.com for more common sense.  Check out my other blog: www.CommonSenseGuy.com for common sense advice on leading people and running a small business.

I’ll see you around the web, and at Alex’s Lemonade Stand.

Bud

PS: Speaking of Alex’s Lemonade Stand – my fundraising page is still open.  Please go to www.FirstGiving.com/TheCommonSenseGuy to read Alex’s inspiring story and to donate if you can.