Debbie Storey, Senior VP of Talent Development at AT&T, outlines five steps to ensure that you vision is carried out.
By Nancy Flagg
Have you ever created a vision for your team only to find that after an initial period of excitement, it fades away and becomes yesterday’s news? Debbie Storey, Senior VP of Talent Development at AT&T, learned through experience that it’s not enough to merely tell everyone to implement the vision. You have to connect people to it and keep the flame burning. She does this by following her “5 C’s of Leadership.”
Debbie’s 5 C’s of Leadership
People often ask Storey how she is able to lead large teams to achieve great results. Storey says that her leadership principles were developed in hindsight by reviewing her experiences to see what approaches did and did not work. She distilled her acquired wisdom into her 5 C’s of Leadership.
- Create a vision. Paint a picture of where the company is trying to go. The vision needs to be described in clear and vivid images that allow people to really see and understand the goal.
- Connect to the vision. Some leaders paint a picture of the goal but neglect the crucial step of connecting people to it. People must get excited about the goal and feel that their role is critical to making it happen.
- It is not enough for a leader to say, “OK, there’s the vision. Go get it!” Leaders have to take the time to give their staff training, development, encouragement and to challenge them to give more than they think they can.
- It is not enough to describe the vision once. The lines of communication must constantly be open and the message conveyed over and over again.
- People do not stay on board unless accomplishments are celebrated. Recognition should not be just for the high-performers and the big wins, but also for the little wins little wins along the way.
You can read Debbie Storey’s full article here.
Nancy Flagg is a freelance writer at Forefront Magazine.
Nancy Flagg
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