Bottleneck Leaders

Leaders should aim not to be a bottleneck in the process of building a healthy and growing organization. In manufacturing a bottleneck can be defined as a point of congestion in a system that occurs when workloads arrive at a given point more quickly than that point can handle them.

 In an organization, the bottleneck can be the leader. When this happens, progress stalls and growth is limited.

Here are 7 characteristics of the bottleneck leader:

• Every decision ultimately goes through the leader…
• Dreaming is limited to the pre-determined boundaries of the leader…
• Waiting for the leader to make a decision becomes awkward and wastes time…
• There is no clear vision or direction for the organization…
• The leader never delegates…
• Potential leaders aren’t recruited…they are controlled…
• Everyone waits on the leader to make the first move…

Leaders, ask yourself this question: Are you a bottleneck in your organization?

If you aren’t certain, perhaps you should ask your team.

Celebrate the positives

Short-sighted leaders are stingy with positives and free with negatives. Their talk is constantly dark. They focus on:

1. What’s not working.
2. What you need to improve.
3. What didn’t reach the mark.
4. What could be better.

Words are like fertilizer. They are the reason behaviors take root. Negative questions build negative environments.

Leaders who don’t celebrate are negative.

Your biggest opportunity to build positive culture is day-to-day. Thoughtless leaders  only celebrations “important stuff.” Their strategy tells everyone that day-to-day doesn’t matter. But, organizational life is filled with day-to-day.

Celebrate frequently; celebrate unimportant stuff, celebrate small.

Leaders who don’t define, create, and celebrate wins, lose.

Ask positive questions.

1. What’s working?
2. What do you respect in those around you?
3. What do you love about your organisation?

The thought of asking positive questions terrifies leaders who fear slipping into apathy. Negatives are easy for people who aren’t there yet. But, positives provide energy for the journey.

“Great job,” helps people do a great job as long as there are new goals ahead.

Celebrate small:

1. Say, “You’re great with upset customers.” Don’t add, “I wish I was.”
2. Share stories of wins.
3. Transform criticism into celebration. “Thanks for caring for my success. What’s the next step?”
4. A past failure is all the more reason to celebrate a present win. Don’t keep reminding people they screwed up.
5. Future uncertainty is all the more reason to celebrate today’s win.

How do people feel when you’re around? The way they feel is the culture you’re building. Truth is, the way people feel around you indicates the life you’re building.

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