1. What you will learn
This lesson helps you set three measurable outcomes for your first ninety days as a chief executive and run a diagnostic of your current leadership habits. You will score six areas, hear the view of two colleagues, find your weakest area and turn it into outcomes with owners and dates.
2. The idea explained
Outcomes for a leader are easy to write badly. Goals such as be more strategic, delegate better or grow the business sound sensible but cannot be checked and do not say what to do on Monday. Better outcomes describe observable changes in how the business runs without you doing everything: leading share of your time raised from a baseline to a target; the number of decisions reaching you cut by a stated count; three priorities written, shared and reviewed every month; a cover plan for your absence tested for one week; a leadership team meeting held every week with actions recorded. These can be started this month, and each makes the business less dependent on you.
The diagnostic asks about six habits. Do you know where the business is going and can your team say it? Do you spend enough of your time on leading rather than doing? Do decisions get made at the right level, with clear rights? Does the leadership team meet and work as a team? Do you watch the numbers and risks with a simple routine? Do you develop yourself and others? Score each from zero to three: zero for never, one for sometimes, two for usually, three for always and written down. The total is out of eighteen, and it is a conversation starter, not a verdict.
Evidence keeps scores honest. Beside each score, write the artefact or example that supports it, such as the strategy page, the time record, the decision rights list, the meeting notes, the dashboard or the development plan. If you cannot show anything, lower the score. Ask two colleagues to score you on the same habits separately and without seeing yours. Leaders tend to overrate their clarity and availability and underrate how often they overrule people. Differences between your view and theirs are the most useful information you will get.
Then choose outcomes that fit your business and time. A business of five may choose two outcomes; a business of fifty may need more structure. Keep them finishable. Remember that outcomes are steps, not promises: most new ventures do not succeed, some good businesses are better kept small, and no leadership habit guarantees growth. Nothing here is advice on law, tax or funding.
Be ready for the discomfort of the outside view. It is normal to feel defensive when colleagues score you lower than you scored yourself. Write down their comments word for word, thank them, and wait a day before reacting. Most of the value lies in the examples they give, which you can check against your own memory of the week. A leader who can hear, without argument, how they are experienced has already made the most important change in the programme.
Apply it
3. How to apply it in your own business
Write the six habits on a page and score each from zero to three with evidence. Add the total and date it. Ask two colleagues to score you separately and compare. Note the biggest differences and ask for an example each.
Choose the three lowest scores after adjusting and turn each into an outcome with a baseline, target, owner and date. For example: by day sixty, decisions reaching me will fall from 45 a week to 30, measured by a weekly tally; I am the owner. Test each outcome against your time and information. Reduce the target if it needs more hours than you have, and identify anyone whose help you need.
Put review dates at day thirty, sixty and ninety in your calendar. Share the outcomes with your leadership team and ask for their ideas. At day ninety, redo the diagnostic and compare. Write what improved, what did not and why. If a score did not move, ask what blocked you: time, habit, fear of mistakes, unclear rules or lack of the right people. Keep both versions, thank your colleagues, and tell them what you changed because of their feedback.
Worked example
4. Worked example
Take Harshad, who runs a small commercial printing company with twenty staff and two managers. He scores himself: direction 2, time on leading 1, decision rights 1, leadership team 1, numbers and risks 2, development 1. Total: 2 plus 1 plus 1 plus 1 plus 2 plus 1, which is 8 out of 18.
His two managers score him separately. Manager one: direction 1, time 1, decision rights 0, team 1, numbers 2, development 1, total 6. Manager two: direction 2, time 1, decision rights 0, team 0, numbers 2, development 1, total 6. The average of theirs is 6, against his 8. The gap is largest on decision rights: he gave 1, they gave 0 each. They both say that prices and schedules change after they have decided and they learn afterwards.
He adjusts his own score for decision rights to 0 and for the leadership team to 0, so his total becomes 6 out of 18. His three outcomes: first, a written decision rights sheet for prices, schedules and purchases, agreed with the two managers by day thirty; second, a weekly forty-minute leadership meeting with recorded actions, held in at least 9 of 13 weeks; third, raise his leading share from 7 per cent to 15 per cent by day ninety.
Feasibility. In a 56-hour week, 7 per cent is about 3.9 hours and 15 per cent is 8.4 hours, an increase of 4.5 hours. He can free that by handing over purchase approvals, which take about 4 hours a week, and dealer calls that a manager can take. He writes that the outcomes are steps, not promises. He asks the managers to check in at day thirty, sixty and ninety, and thanks them for candour.
Harshad shares his revised score and the managers' view with them at the next leadership meeting, and asks each what he could do in the coming month to make decisions clearer. One manager suggests writing the price approval limits on a card; the other suggests a rule that any change to a schedule after it is issued must be announced in the group by the person who makes it. He adopts both and notes the date. Turning a hard conversation into two small rules is the practical result of a candid diagnostic, and it shows the managers that their honesty produced action.
5. Common mistakes and how to fix them
The first mistake is vague goals such as be more strategic. State observable results with baselines and dates.
The second mistake is scoring yourself without evidence. Attach an artefact or example.
The third mistake is scoring alone. Ask two colleagues to score you separately.
The fourth mistake is choosing outcomes that need more time than you have. Test each against your real week.
Key takeaways
6. Board summary
Score six leadership habits from zero to three with evidence. Ask two colleagues to score you and compare. Turn the three lowest into observable outcomes. Fit outcomes to your real week. Outcomes are steps, not promises.
Check your understanding
7. Practice and self-check
- Why is be more strategic a weak outcome? Answer: it cannot be checked and gives no next step.
- Harshad's scores are 2, 1, 1, 1, 2, 1. What is the total? Answer: 8 out of 18.
- What totals did his managers give? Answer: 6 and 6.
- What is the average of theirs? Answer: 6.
- On which habit was the gap largest? Answer: decision rights.
- What is his adjusted total? Answer: 6 out of 18.
- What is 7 per cent of 56 hours? Answer: about 3.9 hours.
- What is 15 per cent of 56? Answer: 8.4 hours.
- What is the increase? Answer: 4.5 hours.
- How many meetings out of 13 weeks is the target? Answer: at least 9.