Boost Your Results with the Leadership Contract. What it is And How to Develop One.

One of the crucial challenges of leadership is motivation.  How do we motivate people to be ardent supporters of our cause?  Most leaders I’ve encountered struggle mightily when it comes to the “M” word.

Here’s a fundamental building block of motivation that most leaders miss.  Why more leaders don’t realize it and put it into action, I don’t know; for it involves a simple change of thinking and easy actions flowing from that change that can quickly lead to big increases results. 

I call it the Leadership Contract.  It’s a great leadership tool, one you can use daily for the rest of your career.  It’s based on this principle: There’s a crucial difference between doing a task and taking leadership of that task that makes a world of difference in results.  

For instance, if one is a floor sweeper, one does the best floor sweeping, not simply by doing it but by taking leadership of floor sweeping.

Such leadership might entail:

-- taking the initiative to order and manage supplies,

-- evaluating the job results and raising those results to ever higher levels,

-- having floor sweeping be an integral part of the general cleaning policy,

-- hiring, training, developing other floor sweepers,

-- instilling a “floor sweeping esprit” that can be manifested in training, special uniforms and insignias , behavior, etc.

-- setting floor sweeping strategy and goals.

Otherwise, in a “doing” mode, one simply pushes a broom. 

You may say, “Brent, a job is a job is a job.  This leadership thing is making too much of not much!”

But my point is that applying leadership to a task changes the expectations and the execution of the task. It even changes the task itself. When we ourselves are challenged to lead and not simply do, our world is, I submit, changed. 

Because of the many benefits accruing from a doing-to-leading change in mind set -- manifested by the Leadership Contract -- you’ll see that its frequent application can create seismic transformations in your job and career.

The Leadership Contract is simply an agreement between you and the people you lead that spells out the specific actions they’ll take to be your cause leaders. 

Keep in mind three things:

One is that you and they recognize the important difference between doing and leading. 

Two is that they do not necessarily have to be reporting to you.  They can be your clients or customers, members of your team, even your boss ... or even your teenage son or daughter! 

Three, this is a “contract”, not an “agreement.”  An “agreement” ranges from a mutual understanding to a binding obligation. It’s nice to comply with.  A contract, on the other hand, carries with it the force of law. It must be complied with. Describing your activities as compelled by a contract underscores the significance of the commitment you and they undertake. This contract is not law, of course; but its enforcing dynamic in being described as a contract endows your relationship with your cause leaders with added expectations and actions.   

Here’s a 5-step process for making the Leadership Contract happen.

Step 1: Understand.  Know and have the people know precisely what the Leadership Contract is -- and isn’t.  

* It is an unwritten or written understanding (usually informal) between the leader and the people that details specific leadership actions that will achieve increases in results.

* It cannot be drawn up and implemented unless the people agree to take leadership for the task. 

* You can veto any of its terms.  In other words, the people cannot take actions you disagree with.  

Implementing this step may entail some education and persuasion.  For instance, if the people do not believe there is a difference between doing and leading, you cannot develop a Leadership Contract with them.  You must first educate them as to what the Leadership Contract is then persuade them to join you in developing the Contract.       

Step 2: Develop.  The process of developing the Contract is vital. That process is always the same. 

First, have your cause leaders propose what leadership actions should be taken to accomplish the increase in results.  Otherwise, if you tell them what actions they should take, you are engaged in an order-giving situation; and in terms of getting big increases in results, the order is the lowest form of leadership.

Second, once they have made their proposals, come to a tentative agreement as to which of them will be implemented. 

Again, they cannot take any leadership actions they see fit.  You can veto actions you think won’t work.  In all the leadership contracts I have witnessed, I have seldom seen a leader veto a proposed action the people wanted to take.  On the contrary, leaders are usually pleasantly surprised by the effectiveness of the actions the people propose. And often, the leaders would not have thought of such actions until the people did.   

Step 3: Test.  Once you have agreed upon their actions, apply a testing methodology to the results, such as the SAMMER test.  Are the results Sizable, Achievable, Meaningful, Measurable, Ethical, Repeatable. 

Review the actions you’ve tentatively agreed upon.  Do they meet your criteria for getting increases in results?  If they don’t, get new actions.   

Step 4: Support:  Agree with them as to how their leadership will be supported.  This support can take the form of additional training, logistics, administrative, communication, and “air cover” if they need to be protected from the scrutiny and interference of higher authorities in your organization.    

Step 5: Monitor and evaluate.  Agree with them as to how and when the actions will be monitored and evaluated.  This step is critical to creating lasting change.  I suggest that in the first stages of activating the Contract, you meet every week or so. Later, you can switch to semi-monthly, monthly, and even quarterly evaluations.  The idea is to hold your cause leaders accountable for their actions and the results they achieve or fail to achieve. They will be especially accountable if you have made sure you take Step 2 of this process.  I call it interior accountability – it comes inside from them not just outside from you. 

A good way to evaluate the results they’re getting is with the SAMMER test.

The Leadership Contract will take the guesswork out of motivation.  Apply it consistently, and you’ll have people eager to work with you.

Copyright © The Filson Leadership Group, Inc.

The author of some 40 published books, Brent Filson’s latest two leadership books are: “The Leadership Talk: 7 Days to Motivating People to Achieve Exceptional Results” and “107 Ways to Achieve Great Leadership Talks.” A former Marine infantry platoon and company commander, he is the founder of The Filson Leadership Group, Inc., which for 40 years has helped thousands of leaders of all ranks and functions in top companies worldwide achieve sustained increases in hard, measured results. He has published some 150 articles on leadership and been a guest on scores of radio/tv shows. His mission is to have leaders replace their traditional presentations with his specially developed, motivating process, The Leadership Talk. www.brentfilson.com and theleadershiptalk.com.

Besides having lectured about the Leadership Talk at MIT Sloan School of Management, Columbia University, Wake Forest, Villanova, Williams, Middlebury, Filson brought the Leadership Talk to leaders in these organizations: Abbott, Ameritech, Anheuser-Busch, Armstrong World Industries, AT&T, BASF, Bell Atlantic, BellSouth, Bose, Bristol-Meyers Squibb, Campbell Sales, Canadian Government, CNA, DuPont, Eaton Corporation, Exelon, First Energy, Ford, General Electric, General Motors, GTE, Hartford Steam Boiler, Hershey Foods, Honeywell, Houghton Mifflin, IBM, Meals-on-Wheels, Merck, Miller Brewing Company, NASA, PaineWebber, Polaroid, Price Waterhouse, Roadway Express, Sears Roebuck, Spalding International, Southern Company, The United Nations, Unilever, UPS, Union Carbide, United Dominion Industries, U.S. Steel, Vermont State Police, Warner Lambert — and moreou