Halpin leadership conference

Self-Leadership and Self-Management for Discipline and Focus

Leadership is an elusive quality that every company needs. As Ross Perot always said, ‘All any company needs to be successful is focus and discipline.” Which equates to leadership.

Our firm worked with a CEO, Joe, who loved being the charismatic, whose externally focused leadership led his company with charm and presence. Joe was in denial about the high cost of his leadership style to his people and their results. The company was trying to mature and needed a more mature leader with a more balanced style of leadership. They needed more discipline and focus. Joe needed to play a bigger game.

While it was sometimes difficult for Joe to get out of his comfort zone, he trusted his team and The Halpin Companies team. We facilitated a process to help him build this new awareness, focus and discipline.

Joe had always been a hard worker and never failed to roll up his sleeves and solve the most complex or tedious ‘challenge of the day’. What the company needed now was leadership that would eliminate fire drills permanently, not just put the fires out when issues became combustible. Leadership that created environments where everyone would win, their customers, their people and their teams. Leadership that pushed the envelope while supporting everyone’s success.

How did this transformation occur?

The first step for Joe and his colleagues was to put in programs of self-management and self-leadership. This provided much greater self-awareness and the ability to articulate what was working and what was not working for each leader and the company. Leaders became more adept at negotiating expectations more consistently and more completely.

We then facilitated a process to help them to build in greater discipline.  We worked closely with our technology partners to build an executive dashboard so they could stay focused on the facts.  We helped them design and use a more structured approach to decision-making. The leadership team almost completely eliminated the 3-minute hallway decisions and the long email or text message streams that resulted in poor quality decisions that brought about unproductive, unintentional consequences.

As a result of these few tweaks, the entire company began to experience significantly less stress and almost zero chaos, confusion, rework or duplication of effort. Teams were able to be proactive because they were no longer reacting to leadership’s lack of discipline, focus and professional maturity.

Now that Joe and his C-level team consistently bring a structured approach to managing what matters, decision-making and communicating these decisions, results are exponentially greater at every level of the company.

It was as simple as Joe ‘fine-tuning’ his leadership style. When the leader ‘walks his talk’ and models professionalism, the entire company benefits. They have stabilized their financial condition and positioned themselves for extraordinary growth. With the focus on consistency, transparency and discipline, everyone is winning. No longer is the company’s financial condition precarious, the company is not dependent on Joe’s magnanimous personality and charm. The facts are more apparent, decisions are made based on the facts, not emotions or whims. Everyone demonstrates consistency in communication and the ability to self-correct when necessary.

Everyone is playing a bigger game!

Katharine Halpin has been facilitating processes that accelerate the growth of organizations of all sizes and levels of complexity since 1995.  The Halpin Companies’ proven methods close all the growth gaps(tm) quickly, strategically and drive record results.  For a complimentary, confidential, consultation, click here or call Katharine at 602-266-1961.

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