My thoughts about leadership and high performance

My number one goal as leader is to create an environment which allows high performance in a company. This involves trust and mutual respect, but also an error culture which enables and drives innovation. In the centre of this approach is the team. To foster and improve the performance of employees, I have identified 3 important key elements.

1. Awareness 
By being aware of yourself, your employees and the company, you’ll get to know not only the strengths and weaknesses, also the threats and opportunities of the current situations. On top of this, you’re building trust and confidence in the team and will be able to see opportunities for the team and the company. Awareness of these 3 areas will allow you to harmonize the people and the mission, to make sure everyone is working towards the same goal. It’s essential to build up a culture that allows high performance. 

2. Employee development 
Isn’t that what great leadership is all about? Making a difference in the life of your employees and creating value for the company? In my opinion investing in the development of employees is the most rewarding thing a leader can and should do. This will not only develop your employees skills, but also give them the “entrepreneur spirit“ and ownership which will engage them more in their projects. If you learn to delegate as a leader, your employees will grow with every new task.
But don’t forget: Before developing others, you should develop yourself as well. 

3. Leading by example 
One of the responsibilities of a leader is to inspire people to do the best they can do for the benefit of the company. In order to achieve this, leaders must walk the talk, because employees are more likely to learn from what you do and not from what you say. The leader must show them the way by getting involved in processes: leading by example. This needs to be adapted to the situation, of course. When we think of leading by example, we most likely think of a specific task that needs to be completed and our leader is showing us how to do it. This is one way, we can also lead strategically and forward looking when it comes to the future of the company. If we think bigger, our employees will think bigger too.
 
Performance or focus on the outcome
When it comes to the operational management of the company I focus on the outcome. The hardest and most intensive execution is worthless when it does not lead to the appropriate result. In other words: I prefer if we reach our goals with the smallest possible use of resources and by doing the right things. I’m not saying that we can be lazy, no, with the freed-up capacities we can now set and reach new goals. This way we can be as efficient and effective as possible in reaching our goals.