The Doing Trap

The “Doing” Trap
 
Whether we admit it or not, most of us in leadership positions are preoccupied with doing. It’s how we get our worth and value, and we pass it on our team. Maybe you learned it at home and at school. Maybe it was pounded into you by leaders early in your career. Whatever the source, most of us leaders get our worth and value  by “doing” – completing tasks and hitting goals. The truth is it’s hard to root out this pattern when it was engrained at an early age. It’s even harder when our leaders continue to reinforce it.
 
Effective leader today, though, requires getting rid of the “doing” mindset. That doesn’t mean that tasks and goals can be tossed aside. Far from it. Completing tasks and hitting goals will always be important. The key is how you think about tasks and goals. Are they the goal or the byproduct?
 
If tasks and goals are “the goal,” you and your team will always be task focused. Here's the big thing to know - a “doing” mindset rarely lead to innovation, change, and exponential growth.
 
When achieving tasks and goals is “the byproduct” though, everything changes. You shift from “doing” focused to “process” focused. Tasks are what you do. Goals are how you measure what you do. Process is how you do the tasks and hit the goals. The only way to create innovation, change, and exponential growth is to shift from “doing” to “process.”
 
It’s a huge difference. If doing is the goal, you will always be task focused. When you complete tasks and hit goals, you will take your foot off the gas because they weren’t your goals in the first place. They were the goals your leader gave to you.
 
Three actions can help rid your team of the “doing” mindset. 1. Build a relationship with your team so that conversation is natural. 2. Spend 80% of your vocal time asking questions and listening instead of telling. 3. Define the processes for every role on your team and invest your time working with everyone to improve those processes.