In Leadership, The Eight Ways Of Right Action (Part 1)

The ancient Greeks had a saying: "When Aschines speaks, the people say, 'How well he speaks,' but when Demosthenes speaks, the people say, 'Let's march against Philip!'".

To get the best results as a leader, the people you lead should be saying in one way or the other after you speak, "Let's march!"

When you speak to people as a leader, it's not what you say that's really important, what's important is the action people take after you have had your say. And if you are not having the people you lead take the right action, you're giving short shrift to your leadership, their trust in you, and their desire to take action for you.

Here are the 8 ways of right action to get people marching in the right way for the right purpose at the right time in the right direction.

I'll delineate the first four ways in part one of this two-part article then in part two, I'll describe the last four ways.

Action must be: (1) PHYSICAL. Action is not what the audience thinks or feels. It is what the audience actually does. Usually, the audience takes action with their feet and hands and tools. When thinking of what action you want your audience to take, imagine their actually doing something physical, and you are on track. Getting your audience to take right action involves challenging them to do one specific thing. When Ronald Reagan said in his speech at the Berlin Wall, "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" he was delivering a call-to-action that was a stunning turning point in the Cold War. In your day to day leadership activities, you are probably not meeting such daunting challenges as winning a war, but you can use the principle to raise the effectiveness of your leadership to much higher levels.

(2) PURPOSEFUL. People who take action are useless to an organization. It is only those people who take action for results who are useful. Make sure their action has purpose. The secret of success is constancy of purpose. When your audience does take action, they should know exactly what they are doing and why they are doing it. Purpose in leadership talk has three aspects: reason, feeling and awareness. People should understand the rational justification for the action; they should have an emotional commitment to the action; and be fully mindful that they are taking action.

(3) HONEST. If you trick people into taking action or lie to get them to take action, you'll damage that element on which all motivation is based, trust. Afterward, you may be able to order them to do a job, but you will never motivate them. Be honest with yourself in developing your call-to-action. Marcus Aurelius said, "Never esteem anything as an advantage to you that will make you break your word or lose your self-respect." Be honest with them in challenging them to act. I do not recommend this merely on trustworthy grounds but on eminently practical ones as well. After all, we do not know how good we are as leaders unless we are challenging the people to be better than they think they are. And they cannot be persuaded to accept that challenge if they think we're deceiving them or that you are deceiving yourself.

(4) MEANINGFUL. Action gives meaning to the emotion your audience feels. Emotion alone cannot get results. It's action that gets results. Action validates emotion, and vice versa.

Leaders who find little meaning in their jobs or the results associated with those jobs, shouldn't be leaders, or they should change jobs and/or results. Most leaders understand this. But few leaders understand that meaning also involves the jobs of the people they are leading and the attitudes of those people toward those jobs and the results the jobs aim for.

Your cause should be meaningful to the people who must carry it out. If it is only your cause and not their cause, the action they take will get insufficient results. Your cause will be meaningful to them when that actions they take to meet the challenges of that cause are solving the problems of THEIR needs. So, before you challenge them to take action, identify their needs and the problem solving actions.

2005 © The Filson Leadership Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

PERMISSION TO REPUBLISH: This article may be republished in newsletters and on web sites provided attribution is provided to the author, and it appears with the included copyright, resource box and live web site link. Email notice of intent to publish is appreciated but not required, mail to: brent@actionleadership.com

The author of 23 books, Brent Filson's recent books are, THE LEADERSHIP TALK: THE GREATEST LEADERSHIP TOOL and 101 WAYS TO GIVE GREAT LEADERSHIP TALKS. He is founder and president of The Filson Leadership Group, Inc. ? and for more than 20 years has been helping leaders of top companies worldwide get audacious results. Sign up for his free leadership e-zine and get a free white paper: "49 Ways To Turn Action Into Results," at http://www.actionleadership.com

---

Leadership For Deep Results: Without Them Are You Wasting Your Leadership And Your Life? (Part Two)

How does one go about getting deep results? There are... Read More

Two Leadership Traps: How To Get Out Of Them and How To Avoid Them (Part 1)

You've heard of the Peter Principle: "People are promoted to... Read More

Career Advice for Business Leaders: Empowering Others

Many potential leaders in business sabotage themselves and their organizations... Read More

The Six Essential Leadership Attributes

Leadership is the foundation for all organizations, whether corporate, nonprofit... Read More

Why Not Lead With Emotions?

Studies have shown that companies that have acquired competencies to... Read More

The Compassion Paradox

Effective leaders are comfortable with paradox. They can call on... Read More

5 Power Keys For Leadership Success!

Did you know that you can successfully handle most leadership... Read More

Make The Elephant Jump -- Leading With A Kind Heart

Leadership is not about getting people to do what they... Read More

7 Awesome Leadership Power Generators!

7 Awe-Inspiring Leadership Power-Generating Strategies!Here's a really simple way you... Read More

Hidden Self Confidence

Peer independence is arguably the least understood aspect of self... Read More

Leadership Training and Character

The vast majority of leadership training available to managers focuses... Read More

Your Ultimate Leadership Feedback Loop: Their Leadership

Life on our planet flourishes through feedback. If life forms... Read More

Being an Extraordinary Leader Through Tough and Challenging Times

Tough and challenging times will surely come. That is a... Read More

Five Things Smart Leaders Do to Lower The Barriers To Change

Smart leaders understand that they don't "make" a change happen.... Read More

A Winning Choice for Leadership!

"The only way to enjoy anything in this life, is... Read More

The Death of Potential

... Read More

Leaders Click It? Into Gear!

"Click It" Into Gear!Ever wonder how two people can be... Read More

The Seven Mistakes to Avoid when Organising Your Student Leadership Program

How do you measure the success of a training or... Read More

Choose Your Best Life: Where Are Your Choices Leading You?

According to the dictionary choice means "to select freely after... Read More

The Three Essential Attributes of a Leader: The Demonstrated Abilities

Leaders need to:1. Have a vision to which they are... Read More

Listening Like a Leader

Our studies of the most effective people in corporate America... Read More

Choose To Become An Encourager

"...I know that the only source of happiness is within... Read More

Lessons In Leadership: What Not To Do... From A Canoe!

When it comes to fishing, my husband takes the lead.... Read More

Heres The REAL Reason Bush Won: The Dark Night Of The Leadership Soul

George Bush won the election because he was finally able... Read More

To be, or Not to be (Average)?

When is hate OK? When it's the feeling you have... Read More

A Blueprint for Leadership - How to Be a Better Leader

If you were to build a house, you would begin... Read More

BIG-3 Leadership!

"Do what you do so well that they will want... Read More

The Greatest Leaders Are Often The Worst Leaders

It's a common occurrence, a CEO leads a company to... Read More

Supervisor Training: Helpful Tips to Lead Your Pack

A new supervisor is hired to anchor a gardening project... Read More

Leadership Development and Jumping Out of Airships

A German silent film melodrama depicts an airship bombing London... Read More

5 Leadership Power Principles!

95% of Workers Fail Because of This...But They Can Fix... Read More

Leaders ARE; Are you?

Identity CrisisIt's not only the knowledge you carry around in... Read More

To Be An Effective Leader, Do A Check-up From The Neck Up

Before we can effectively lead anyone, we must take an... Read More