QUOTATION 35

PETER DRUCKER ON WHY RESULTS MAKE LEADERS

Use this as the only true measure of your leadership ability.

Peter Drucker (1919–2005) was never afraid to ruffle a few feathers. While many writers were talking about how great managers were required to be charismatic and/or transformational, Drucker cut through the hype and said that:

Effective leadership is not about making speeches or being liked; leadership is defined by results not attributes.

Peter Drucker

Effectively, what Drucker claimed was that leaders are defined by the results not personal characteristics. If you achieve outstanding results, people will view you as a great leader. They will even start to analyse your leadership style and try and identify the secrets of your success for others to use.

WHAT TO DO

  • You cannot demand that people call you their glorious leader, unless you have the military and the secret police to back you up. The title of leader is bestowed on you by your followers. To attract followers you have to demonstrate achievements. Once you do that, people will want to be associated with you and the work you do because they, too, want to be part of something bigger than themselves that is successful (see Quotation 34).
  • Manage expectations. Always underpromise and overdeliver. Never accept an unrealistic deadline. Such deadlines set you up to fail. Instead, negotiate the deadline with your boss. For example, you’re asked to run a project and your boss suggests that it will take only six weeks. Play for time. Say something like, ‘Can I have a couple of days to think about how I’m going to handle it?.’ A reasonable boss will have no problems with that. Assess the job fully and decide how long you think you need. If it’s seven weeks, you go back to your boss and say you need eight weeks. You then deliver in seven. That way you are the manager who delivers ahead of the deadline and not the one who was a week late (see Quotation 79).
  • If the deadline is immovable, still play for time, only this time review the workload contained in the project. Identify the 80 per cent plus of the work that you can do in the time available. Normally, this will be sufficient to satisfy the organisation’s requirements. The less urgent aspects of the project can then be delivered after the deadline.
  • For all targets, both those that are delegated to you and those you draw up for your staff, describe and define them using the SMART criteria (see Quotation 19), i.e. each target must be specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and timely.
  • Hold regular review meetings with staff to monitor progress against each target. Where there is a significant negative variance from that expected, take corrective action; where there is a positive variance, identify what has caused it and see whether it can be extended further.

QUESTIONS TO ASK

  • Am I a pushover when it comes to accepting deadlines or do I negotiate fair but challenging deadlines with my bosses?
  • How effective am I at monitoring progress against my targets?
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