The 7 Word Sentence That Can Sabotage Your Success

“Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.” - Helen Keller 

Would you like to know the #1 reason why CEO’s, business owners, and managers get so bogged down and end up sabotaging their own success? It’s a simple 7 word sentence that speaks volumes about you and how you operate your business, and that sentence is, “No thanks, I can do it myself.” Not only do you believe you can do every single thing without anyone’s help, you often don’t want to relinquish control over your business/company and the day to day operations. In fact, that is the one thing you have to become more skilful at doing in order to be the big thinker and implement strategies to create a well-oiled operation. 

In order to achieve the high level of success that you desire, you must be willing to ask and accept SUPPORT from your team. 

I frequently hear two complaints from my clients: 1 – “I have too much to do,” and 2 – “I’m not getting the results I want from my team.” When I start probing and asking questions, I find out that one of two things are happening in their business: either they’re not delegating or they’re micro-managing their team. Both can wreak havoc in your business. 

Let me spell it out for you. 

Delegation. When you become the leader, you go from being task oriented to that of a visionary. In order to do that, you have to be willing to ask for SUPPORT. And that means that you have to let go of the day to day details. For some letting go of certain tasks can be daunting. Why? Because we think that it will take too long to explain it to someone or they won’t do it right, so we just do it ourselves. I can promise you that kind of thinking will cause you a whole lot of havoc and you’ll end up doing 15 things at once. 

Micro-managing is when you give “Jane” a specific task to do and then you constantly check to see if she is performing the work to your standards. You even go so far as to give her ‘helpful hints’ on what she should be doing… according to your vision. When you assign work to members on your team, stand back and let them do their job! Definitely set guidelines for progress and completion. Always let them know that they can come to you if they need SUPPORT or have further questions. Don’t stifle their creativity and enthusiasm by constantly looking over their shoulder as they do their work. I’m sure you have better things to do with your time. 

Here are 2 sure-fire solutions to role modeling great leadership practices:

1. First and foremost, remember that you will get more accomplished and achieve better results when you work as a team. Notice that the word ‘I’ doesn’t appear in the word ‘team.’ Alone, you can only do so much, but by enrolling others in your vision you can accomplish much more and in a shorter time period. 

2. Learn how to make effective requests. Leaders often don’t get the results they want because they are not specific. Requests have to have 4 components – a speaker, a listener, action to be performed, and a time frame to be completed. Give clear instructions for their performance on the project. You don’t have to tell them how to do it, but you do have to tell them what you want and by when. 

When you incorporate these practices, you become a purpose driven leader as opposed to crisis manager. You’ll achieve more productivity, more effectiveness, more success, with a lot less stress if you incorporate these steps in your daily business operation.