Leadership Lookout

Are you an Accelerator or a Terminator?

Last year, while leading a strategic visioning and team development retreat, the Division VP, assigned primary follow-up accountability to the Director of HR, Alisa, whom he dubbed the “accelerator.” What the Division VP wished of Alisa was that she would move the team through its agreed-to action plan, that she would not let the commitment demonstrated during the offsite fade under the pressure of the day-to-day work, and that she would keep everyone’s feet to the fire.

There is a palpable sense of urgency in businesses today, companies cannot afford “business as usual” and therefore leaders in companies must recognize talented accelerators and do everything possible to remove obstacles to their success. As individual leaders we must step up our game and demonstrate the following 6 characteristics of accelerators.

An accelerator:

1. asks the challenging question and refuses to be put off by discomfort;
2. does not accept “I’m too busy…” as an excuse for inaction;
3. remains dedicated to what could be and resists NIH (“not invented here”) or “been there, done that and it didn’t work” reactions to change;
4. insists on excellent meeting practices – start and end on time, use and keep to an agenda, and move forward even if everyone is not present;
5. uses David Allen’s Getting Things Done question–“What is the next action?”–to focus effort; and
6. regularly documents progress against the vision and the action plan for the team to see.

What would you add to this list?
Who are the “accelerators” in your firm?
What can you do differently to be a better accelerator?

Filed under: Discussion, From Rebecca