The Pause Principle: Step Back to Lead Forward by Cashman Kevin

Author:Cashman, Kevin [Cashman, Kevin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers
Published: 2012-09-24T00:00:00+00:00

CREATE A CULTURE OF CONTINUOUS

INVESTMENT AND GROWTH IN PEOPLE

Leaders foster accelerated growth: growth of revenue, growth of market share, growth of profit, growth of purpose, growth of innovation, growth of contribution. The essential growth questions to pause on are

Where does all this growth originate?

What is the prime mover of growth?

What fuels growth in the first place?

Too often, we view growth as merely an external process, rarely pausing deeply to consider its source within us and within our organizations. We excel at measuring growth but do we slow down, step back and consider where growth comes from?

Human insight, human energy, and human agility are the prime movers of growth in people and organizations.

Managers activate systems and processes for

control; leaders catalyze human potential to

multiply impact.

A senior leader in a multinational consumer products company, known in the industry for her exceptional creativity, put it this way: “Creativity and innovation are mental aspirations until human heart and human engagement are activated. No amount of brilliant strategy and brilliant leadership can outperform the human spirit. Managers and technical experts must engage their mental faculties to make a difference. Effective leaders go to the primal source of achievement, growing people to grow organizations, to grow enduring results.”

Like most high-achieving leaders, she did not always see herself or her role from this perspective.

Early in my career, I saw myself as the prime mover of achievement. When a job needed doing or expertise was required, I provided it. Having built my credibility through consistent achievement, as I moved up the ladder, I continued this same ‘I am the one’ mentality. I hit the wall in my first big role running a $1 billion region. I had hit my capacity for heroic, personally driven achievement. Honestly, I was forced to take a new path. I had no choice but to trust, let go, and become a coach and developer of people. Shifting my focus from me to we was transformative. I now estimate more than 80 percent of my role revolves around people and talent development to directly support the strategy. Helping my people to ‘step back to step up’ is my real job now.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.