This week I’ve launched www.paulandrew.net – highlighting the work I’m doing as a speaker across a whole range of industries. I’d love you to take a few minutes to check out the site, with videos of me in action and testimonials from my clients.

Feel free to pass it on to anyone who might be looking for a results-oriented speaker for leaders & teams.

I picked up a nasty flu a few weeks ago, but afterwards I found out that I been keeping myself sick by taking cough medicine. It sounds ridiculous that cough medicine could actually make you sicker, right? Day after day I dutifully took my foul-tasting cough syrup but my condition only got worse. It was then that someone told me the difference between a “cough suppressant” and an “expectorant”. A cough suppressant deals with the symptom- a cough. That’s fine if you’ve just got a dry cough, but if you’ve got junk in your chest that’s causing you to cough then you need to deal with the cause not just the symptom. Within a day of taking an expectorant I was finally on the mend.

I wonder if you’re keeping your team sick? Perhaps in the busyness of it all you are just dealing with symptoms in your team instead of causes. Any time we as leaders react to behaviours or results of our team without addressing the causes we run the risk of prolonging the problem.

So what does it look like to deal with causes instead of only the symptoms?

Example 1: Team Conflict
Symptoms focus – The leader tries to calm people down. Perhaps give someone time off. Separate the people who are fighting. Keep the conflict away from the rest of the team. The goal is removing the conflict.
Cause focus – The leader seeks out what actually caused the conflict. Honest conversations need to be had. What are the individuals’ responsibilities here? And what about the organisation; what is our role in healing this situation? Is this an ongoing, unresolved issue that’s flaring up? What is this really a symptom of? The goal is addressing the source of the conflict.

Example 2: Job Dissatisfaction.
Symptoms focus – Give the unhappy employee a bonus. Let them whinge about the company because you might lose them if they were confronted. Put a new espresso machine in the staff room. Make promises about how great the future is going to be.
Cause focus – Give real consideration to why the person is unhappy. Are they a good match for their job? Do they need a change or a new challenge? Is the job the source of unhappiness or something else in their life? How well do I understand what motivates them and what their goals are? Is it simply time for them to move on, or is this a chance to reinvent their role?

I need to point out that some of the “symptoms” strategies above could be completely appropriate if all you’re dealing with is a surface issue. Every issue doesn’t need to have a witch-hunt and long therapy sessions to find the hidden causes. But it’s a reckless and short-sighted leader who turns a blind eye to the possibility that this cough might need more than a suppressant.

• So, what might you be suppressing in your team rather than dealing with the cause?
• Are you being reactive or proactive when it comes to the culture of your team?
• Write a short list now of any areas in your team where underlying problems are unaddressed. Then this week consciously switch your leadership focus from the symptoms to the cause.

I’d love to hear your comments and feedback
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For many years I’ve been fascinated by the subtle differences in the mindsets of highly successful leaders when compared with the mediocre majority. As Mark Twain once said “Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect”.  I’ve had the opportunity to observe many outstanding leaders in action and it has become clear to me that a core strategy of their sustained success is a decision to choose what they will focus on. So what do successful leaders focus on?

The Core (instead of the fringe)
An ever-present threat to the success of every leader is the array of issues occurring on ‘the fringe’. Like team members that are leaving. Or distractions and fire fighting. Or side projects that don’t align. I’m not suggesting leaders should ignore the fringe, because issues do need to be addressed and sometimes great opportunities first appear on the fringe. But it’s a question of focus.

The leader who focuses on the fringe lives a reactionary existence and without the strength that focusing on the core brings, they can rarely capitalise on opportunities that arise anyway. Something I’ve noticed about effective leadership is that it operates with great clarity around what its core business is. They know what really matters and what the centre of their target is.

Momentum (instead of maintenance)
What gives your organisation momentum? Knowing the answer to that question is one of the great weapons of effective leadership. Momentum is one of the most difficult aspects of a business to build and a commodity that should be treasured. When we focus on building momentum we often make different decisions to the person who is more concerned with maintenance.

A momentum focus demands that we invest in things like marketing, training, product development and generally taking some risks. A maintenance focus is more concerned with systems, quality control, management and generally maintaining the status quo. Of course, you can’t ignore maintenance either if you want to stay in business for long. But you can have a well ‘maintained’ business that you run into bankruptcy by failing to keep the focus on momentum.

What They Can Influence (instead of what they can’t influence)
Stephen Covey was right when he taught that focusing on your “circle of influence” is instrumental to being an effective leader (ref: Seven Habits Of Highly Effective People). There is a direct relationship between the extent to which I focus on the things I can influence in the world around me, and the extent to which I create real and lasting change.

To be ineffective is to expend my best efforts and energy on issues over which I have no personal control. Like every business I’m affected by interest rates, competitors, global events and a whole host of factors that I cannot influence. I don’t ignore them, but I can’t focus on them and remain effective. One of life’s best-kept secrets is that when I focus on what I can influence, over time I increase what I can influence. On the other hand if I expend myself on things that I can’t influence, gradually my influence shrinks through disuse.

So What Are You Focusing On?

• Are you crystal clear on what is core for you and your team?
• Do you know what gives you momentum and does that get the lion’s share of your attention?
• And how much of your precious focus is drained away by things you cannot influence?

I’d love to hear your comments and feedback
Plus click “ShareThis” below to post this article to your blog, Facebook, Twitter and more…