FASTER Way to Being a Better Leader in 2014

In 2014 if you want to become a better leader then take the FASTER Approach, not only will you be more successful but you will earn much more respect from your team 🙂

F – Focus
A – Accountability
S – Simplicity
T – Transparency
E – Empowerment
R – Recognition

Focus – Ensure you and your teams are focused on the right things.  Have a clear and easy to understand set of goals, which are communicated early and often to your team. Ensure that they know what success looks like, and that there are small successes along the way, which act as road signs, confirming that they are on the right route.

Accountability – Hold yourself and your teams accountable.
Now that you have a clear and easy to understand set of goals, let people know their role in them, and what they will be accountable for. People don’t mind being held accountable, in fact many like it, providing that there is clarity in what they are being asked to do.

Simplicity – Keep things as simple as possible, don’t over complicate things unnecessarily. Simplicity allows us to have better focus, it’s impossible to have great focus on a complex solution.
Challenge everything, and see whether there is a simpler way that it can be done, or whether something needs to be done at all.

Transparency – We need to be open and honest about where we are and the progress that we are making. We need to provide clear progress reports which we share with our teams. This will allow us to hold them accountable for what needs to be done, and to motivate them, as they see the good progress we are making. Without transparency we do not know where we are, and if we don’t know where we are, how the hell can we know the direction we need to go, to reach our goals.

Empowerment – If we are going to hold our teams accountable then we need to empower them to get the tasks done. Give them matching authority to be able to make the right decisions or the changes needed, to ensure success. Empowerment is a great motivator, as it shows to your team, that you have confidence in them.

Recognition – Recognise successes no matter how small.
What we recognise gets repeated, so create a culture of success by recognising successes, no matter how small. You can start small and then continue to raise the bar, and if you do this, with good doses of recognition, your team will strive to achieve more and more. Recognition is the greatest motivator that there is, so use it lavishly. I know many people think that you should keep recognition for special events or outstanding achievement only. Let me tell you, in my experience those are the same people who never recognise anything, because that special success never comes!
Success needs to be nurtured, and big successes comes after a series of small successes.

This is a tried and tested approach which has allowed me to achieve success in every company in which I have worked as a Leader.

Let’s make 2014 great.

Gordon Tredgold

Leadership Principles