As an executive, you are the CEO of your sphere of control. Assume everything is your fault, and you can control the outcome of the results for which you are responsible. This attitude forces a change in your mindset. It demands that you think about delivering results instead of excuses.
This shift in mindset will have many benefits over time, including:
- Better results and an enhanced reputation
- Others will view you as trustworthy and competent, and
- You’ll become a better leader, and your team will deliver results.
In the end, results matter. Our excuses may be valid and reasonable, but they’re still excuses. As leaders, we can’t accept excuses from ourselves or our subordinates and must drive a culture of accountability within our sphere of influence to be effective. When you’ve failed, just say, “I didn’t get it done and will do better,” and move on. Don’t make or accept excuses.
An executive must firmly believe everything is within their control to be effective. Too many executives blame outside forces for their lack of success. How many times have you heard someone say (or maybe even said yourself) things like:
- We don’t have enough training
- We don’t pay high enough wages, or
- The customer is unfair and dishonest.
These things may all be accurate, but I’ve noticed something when I dig into claims like these. I’ve found them to be somewhat accurate. Still, there were also things that we weren’t doing that had a far more significant impact on the negative results.
Jesus once said, “How can you complain about the speck of wood in another’s eye but not notice the log in your own eye.” This advice is perfect. We must look inward before complaining about others and circumstances outside our control. We must make sure we’re doing our part. If we’re honest with ourselves, we’re usually not.
I want to take the issues I outlined above and explore how a shift in mindset can have a profound impact. This change comes when we assume that we are responsible for our results, our work product, and our lives. We must refuse to let outside forces control our destiny. It starts when we pull the log out of our eye.
Here are some common complaints and examples of a shift in mindset that can work wonders.
- We don’t have enough training. This complaint is common, especially among poor-performing executives. Every business tries to provide training, every business misses the mark in some respects, and every company wishes it could do more. It’s the executive’s job to fill in the gaps. Ask yourself, how can I improve results given the training I can access? Could you make simple training videos for your employees with your camera and share them? Could you and your employees watch how-to videos for free on YouTube? Where can you find the information you and your employees need to succeed within your budget or even for free? Ask yourself this question before assuming someone else is the issue.
- We don’t pay high enough. The wages your company pays exist as a percentile in the marketplace. For instance, if you’re in the 50th percentile, half the companies pay more for your position, and half pay less. Wherever you are on this spectrum, there are always workers earning less than your company pays. There’s no excuse for not finding someone to fill a role. Ask yourself, how can I recruit better to find the best people for the pay I can offer? I’ve noticed that people complaining about the wages their company offers often wait for whoever comes in off the street. They’re not recruiting, posting flyers in the community, handing out their card to potential employees they see, etc. Wages are usually not the problem, and the executive needs to recruit and achieve results with the wages they do have.
- The customer is unfair or dishonest. This statement is often true in some respects. Customers can often seem unfair. Also, customers, like most humans, will sometimes lie to you. But as I’ve dug deeper into circumstances like these, unfairness and dishonesty are not the reasons for our lack of success. Often, the customer seems unfair because we haven’t done an excellent job. They don’t view us as competent and don’t have trust that we’ll get the job done and make them look good to their bosses. Also, most of what we perceive as dishonesty is a misunderstanding, a need to keep a secret for strategic reasons, or, at best, a white lie told to avoid conflict. Again, not the reason for our failure. In these situations, a better question is, “How can I get results and earn the customer’s trust?”
Notice the question, “How can I?” I’m asking this question over and over for a reason. Framing problems with the question “How can I?” forces you to solve problems using whatever resources you have at your disposal. It allows you to come up with a plan that will work. Your job is to think this way and devise the best plan you can execute. When you start thinking this way, you’ll notice that the plans you come up with will improve over time.
Asking yourself, “How can I?” will make a massive difference in your effectiveness. It will force you to think less like a victim of circumstance and more like someone controlling your own destiny.