Leadership: Five 'Absolutes' for Getting High Performance

By Wes Friesen

10 Tips for Justifying Resources

An ongoing challenge for all operational leaders is justifying the resources we need to excel and add value to our organizations. Let me share some tips that have proven useful.

1) Identify important goals and business needs of your organization, then figure out how to help meet them.

2) Find ways to save your organization money.

3) Know your costs and how they compare to the external market.

4) Work with vendors for creative ideas to improve your operations and justify resources.

5) Partner with other departments in your organization.

6) Develop positive relationships with internal service providers who influence decisions.

7) Take the budgeting process and other “bean counting” tasks seriously.

8) Understand your organization’s capital budgeting and approval system and process.

9) Track your volumes and document increases.

10) Excel in operations and enhance your team’s reputation.

I HAVE the privilege of having one foot in the “real” world and one foot in the “academic” world. Since my primary job is to manage a variety of operations for Portland General Electric, I’m always looking for research that identifies what really works in the everyday work world. One of the most exhaustive and practical research projects I’ve come across was conducted by Clinton O. Logenbecker and Jack L. Simonetti and documented in their book entitled “Getting Results.” Their project included one survey of more than 5,000 managers across many industries, and a second survey and interview of more than 1,600 high-performing managers (as labeled by their organizations). When they analyzed the results they discovered that there were “Five Absolutes” for getting high performance and great results. Embedded in these Absolutes are the best practices of high-performing leaders.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 All Next »

0 Comments

View Comments

Wes Friesen Author's page

Wes Friesen is a proven leader and developer of high performing teams and has extensive experience in both the corporate and non-profit worlds. A former in-plant manager, he is also an award-winning university instructor and speaker, and is the president of Solomon Training and Development, which provides leadership, management and team building training. His book, Your Team Can Soar! contains 42 valuable lessons that will inspire you, and give you practical pointers to help you—and your team—soar to new heights of performance. Your Team Can Soar! can be ordered from Xulonpress.com/bookstore or wesfriesen.com. Wes can be contacted at wesmfriesen@gmail.com.