WHAT IS A WORK LEADER?
Work Leaders are those who, day in and day out, lead the people
whose work produces results. These Work Leaders probably represent
more than 95 percent of all leaders in the workplace. They are
the leaders directly responsible for leading the people who are
doing the work, hence the term "Work Leader".
Work Leaders are those in organizations who are responsible,
day-in and day-out, for getting results from the individuals
who are doing the work
- Work Leaders are key to getting the work of the
enterprise accomplished
- Work Leaders administer
processes, but must lead the people to be successful
- Work
Leaders are helped more by learning how to lead, rather
than by learning what leaders are
There are Work Leaders throughout the workplace. Examples of
this crucial role might be someone who:
- Is a lead detective on a team investigating a homicide
- Leads a team of colleagues on a strategy consulting engagement
for a Fortune 500 company.
- Oversees a section of clerks
who are responsible for processing accounts receivable
payments
- Leads
a team of doctors treating patients in an emergency room
- Manages
a production line in the local automobile plant assembling
one hundred units a day
- Owns and manages a lawn-care
service that has a crew of seven
- Manages an information
technology project with ten analysts
- Manages a retail
store with nine sales clerks who need to sell a total of $250,000
each month if the store is to make money
- Heads a
product management team for a Fortune 100 company with a staff
of five assistants
- Leads a sales team of three people
that needs ten closes a week to make the month's sales goals
- Leads
a team of engineers in a Fortune 50 company working on the development
of a component for a new-generation aircraft
- Runs
a not-for-profit organization that has a budget of $1,000,000
and employs five people delivering services to the local community
- Owns,
manages, and styles hair in a salon with $200,000 a year in revenue
- Supervises
a team of accountants who audit a number of public companies
Each of these roles defines an activity that is often referred
to as managing or supervising. All managers must be focused on
results, and results are accomplished by the people in the organization
who do the work. For this reason, the primary skill required
to achieve Peak Performance results is the ability to energize
the individuals and the team to achieve the goals of the unit.
That means you must lead your associates doing the work.
It is impossible for a successful manager, in the long run,
to be a bad leader. People will not continue to achieve for an
ineffective leader. For this reason, the practice of leadership
is as important at the first level of management as it is at
the highest-indeed, maybe even more so.
A work leader gets the work done, day in and day out and success
is achieved by focusing on what great Work Leaders do,
not who they are. Our focus is entirely on helping
leaders do what will make them and their organization successful.
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