{"id":4203,"date":"2014-11-03T20:05:51","date_gmt":"2014-11-04T02:05:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.scottcochrane.com\/?p=4203"},"modified":"2014-11-03T20:05:51","modified_gmt":"2014-11-04T02:05:51","slug":"5-signs-youve-taken-your-eye-off-the-leadership-ball","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/2014\/11\/03\/5-signs-youve-taken-your-eye-off-the-leadership-ball\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Signs You\u2019ve Taken Your Eye Off the Leadership Ball"},"content":{"rendered":"

It only takes a second.<\/strong><\/p>\n

A brief moment when, just for an instant, a receiver in an (American) football game takes his eye off the ball.<\/strong><\/p>\n

That fleeting moment of lost focus can not only result in a dropped pass, sometimes it can cost the team the game.<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s no different in the game of leadership.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

One of the most important roles of the leader is to ensure that they, and their team, are keeping their eye on the ball at all times.<\/p>\n

That means providing clarity of focus and helping each person know which priorities require attention.<\/p>\n

In one of my early leadership roles I found myself second-in-command in an organization with about 40 employees. One day a department head came to me with a plan to relocate her team\u2019s offices to a different part of the building.<\/p>\n

The basic idea made sense, so I took the proposal to the senior leader.<\/p>\n

His feedback? \u201cScott, your job is to keep everyone\u2019s eye on the ball. That department is under-performing, and rather than helping them get on track you want their energy to go towards an office relocation?\u201d<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve never forgotten that counsel, nor the lesson it taught me.<\/p>\n

Leaders must keep their eye on the ball at all times.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Here are 5 indicators that you might have taken your eye off the ball:<\/p>\n

1.\u00a0 <\/strong>There is no alignment in your \u201cto do\u201d list<\/strong><\/p>\n

A clear, direct line should run between your daily activities and your most important goals.<\/p>\n

2.\u00a0 <\/strong>Your team is vague on today\u2019s highest priorities<\/strong><\/p>\n

Every member of your team should be able to state unequivocally how their assignments are furthering the organization\u2019s objectives.<\/p>\n

3.\u00a0 <\/strong>You are being sidetracked with \u201cbusy work\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Busy work are tasks you indulge in which keeps your time occupied, but which does little to advance key objectives.<\/p>\n

4.\u00a0 <\/strong>You\u2019ve been avoiding difficult conversations<\/strong><\/p>\n

In order to keep your team on track it requires the occasional tough conversation, where you correct mission-drift.<\/p>\n

5.\u00a0 <\/strong>You haven\u2019t noticed measurable movement towards key goals<\/strong><\/p>\n

If neither you, nor your team, can point to recent \u201cwins\u201d with respect to key goals, you\u2019ve likely taken your eye off the ball.<\/p>\n

Watch vigilantly for these indicators.<\/p>\n

Because when the game really counts, your focus matters more than ever.<\/p>\n

How do you keep your eye on the leadership ball?<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It only takes a second. A brief moment when, just for an instant, a receiver in an (American) football game takes his eye off the ball. That fleeting moment of lost focus can not only result in a dropped pass, sometimes it can cost the team the game. It\u2019s no different in the game of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[769,5,738,440,478,7,580,583],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4203","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-culture-2","category-discipline2","category-effectiveness-2","category-failing","category-featured","category-leadership","category-results-2","category-staffing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4203","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4203"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4203\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4212,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4203\/revisions\/4212"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4203"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4203"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4203"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}