During the last five years I have worked with more than 25 non-profit organizations and have coached nearly 2500 staff in helping them to use leadership skills that they have but do not use consistently. As I have listened to them and their problems, a collection of common themes begin to emerge; factors that they will have to overcome in order to become more successful. Here they are, not in any particular order of importance:

1. They will have to develop a much deeper sense of inter-dependence and trust amongst the team of persons that they work with most closely. The level of trust, as noted team builder Patrick Lencioni points out, will enable them to share not only their strengths but their weaknesses too. Until this happens they will not be able to help each other move toward success.
2. They must learn to prioritize their work and focus on the tasks that will benefit the organization the most. Too many times, they will do whatever they “feel” like doing, or what they think they have the energy to complete. This is usually not what is most important to do.
3. Their attitudes are too negative; they expect their efforts to fail, just like they have seen happen to many initiatives. There is always a reason to be negative. What will allow their success is their ability to be positive and learn from adversity.
4. Communication is a real challenge to most. As senders of messages, they are frustrated when the message receivers don’t “get it”. Marketers tell us that in order for someone to remember a message, they need to hear it seven times. Yet many in leadership positions want to have people comply with the instruction after only one time.
5. Goals have to be seen as a something more than New Year’s resolutions, that are largely forgotten by Jan. 15. They will achieve their goals only if they have an action plan to do so which drives their behavior on an hour-by-hour basis.
6. Leadership is about influence and it is not about title or position on the table of organization. Just because you have a leadership title does not make you a leader. John Maxwell has some great tips on what leaders need to do to develop influence with their peers, their subordinates and their boss. Great reading!
7. Leaders must learn how to develop a culture of accountability. A major ingredient is the stipulation of a performance plan (not a job description) and then effectively providing feedback on the employee’s performance. That is feedback which is timely, specific, understandable and oriented toward problem resolution.
8. Most leaders are creative enough to solve problems but most do not take the time to truly understand what is the root of the problem. Solving the wrong problem is putting a band-aid on the situation and does not get to the real issue. This sets the stage for blaming individuals when things go wrong as opposed to looking for issues in the system which made the problem possible or likely.

Even people who are born with a lot of leadership skill can improve their ability. Malcolm Gladwell, in his book, The Outliers, the Story of Success, concludes that most persons whom we regard as being an expert in their field got to that level after some 10,000 hours of “practice”. So, if you’re in a leadership position but not successfully meeting some of the challenges I have identified above, harness your determination to become better today than you were yesterday and learn from your experiences. Practice your craft.