5 leadership behaviors essential for transformation success

So you are the Leader - you have convinced the Board to give you the money to deliver that major transformation program across your organization. The team is ready, your suppliers are ready and your customers are waiting. The benefits will be significant - but you know the road to glory is going to be littered with obstacles, land mines and it is bound to be an emotional roller coaster. How critical are you to the program's success? More critical than you most likely realize. Everyone is looking at you - here are 5 behaviors to keep in mind if you want to taste the champagne of success at the end of journey.

1. Engagement

• Be involved and interested in what is going on - know your people, your team, their roles, their skills and understand the issues they are tackling
• Show your personal energy and ownership - be visible and energetic, letting people know through your actions that this program is yours and you are committed
• Motivate your teams to be involved - talk to them regularly and outline the vision, your vision, and how much you need them on board 100%
• Talk to and listen to your staff and customers - keep your ears to the ground and stay alert to what is working and what is not working

2. Results Focus

• Use a "Scorecard" in conversation - ensure that progress against plan and goals are a feature of any dialogue
• Have conversations that lead to decisions - talk through issues and unblock areas that have stalled
• Have a clear understanding about what you want to achieve - keep the goals, short and long term, front and center and don't lose sight of this through the challenges
• Recognize and celebrate success - do this at regular intervals at a team and individual level

3. Customer Focus

• Demonstrate customer focus - the program should always ultimately be for the benefit of the end customer
• Build effective relationships with your customers - keep them engaged and connected and understand what they are expecting from your organization
• Listen to and act on what the customer says (internal or external) - take their feedback on board, share it with the team and act on it
• Always consider the customer perspective when making decisions and changes - know what the trade-offs will be for the end customer and internal customers

4. Constructive Challenge

• Understand behaviors and role model them - show the team how to be a constructive team player who can challenge when things don't make sense
• Deal with it when they are not being demonstrated - look out for when the right behaviors are not being demonstrated and tackle it immediately
• Confront challenging situations - don't walk away from difficult circumstances, face into them and work with those involved to get it sorted out immediately

5. Collaborative Working

• Co-operate and share within and across teams - share knowledge, personal learnings, challenges, accomplishments, goals, frustrations
• Support and encourage each other as a team - be in it for them, help people develop and become better versions of themselves
• Involve others in what you do - take people along for the journey so they learn from you and understand your decision making process
• Build effective relationships - across the team, up and down and at all levels

If you can model these bahaviors on a daily basis, your team will thank you for it and your program will be significantly more likely to succeed.