INsight/ Small Actions Matter

Photo by Sportograph.com — Alicia Loveless reviewing and reflecting on her experiences while running.

Manila, 20 October 2021 — Small actions matter when executed consistently.

“You habits decide your future.”

Story

It happened in 2021. Alicia Loveless, a program coordinator in the Government of Queensland in Australia, has a passion for the environment, including the Great Barrier Reef, and long-distance running. This year, as she worked on growing her leadership, she discovered the power of executing a small action consistently. In her case, it was doing a weekly review. 

Here is what Alicia said about her experience. “Building a weekly habit of review, in which I reflect on achievements and think about priorities for the week ahead, required steady practice and consistency. But once in place, the process allowed me to observe patterns of productivity across different work areas over time. This has helped me to be effective across a range of leadership behaviors, supported by the consistent review and reflection process and knowing that leaders don’t have to try to tackle everything at once.” 

Notice how executing her review action opened the door for Alicia to observe patterns in her work that she hadn’t seen before. That, in turn, allowed her to become effective in several leadership behaviors in the workplace. One good thing led to another, starting with a small action and building a strong habit around it. Executing consistently is what made a big difference.

Challenge

Transforming your vision and passion as a leader into better results in the workplace is easier said than done. It requires a lot more than your good intentions. When Alicia and I started collaborating, we worked through consecutive phases of assessment, challenge, and execution. Followed by more execution work to move to excellence.

Such a transformation takes time, starting with collecting information and making sense of it, finding the challenge focus on, and then executing on that challenge while continuously getting feedback, learning out loud, and celebrating progress along the way. 

I often compare the process of leadership development to learning a martial art. What makes the difference is your commitment, focus, and consistent practice. I also use the metaphor of mastering golf, which is all about practicing consistency in one action: your swing. Or think of Alicia’s running and focus on each next step as you go the distance. 

Question

Over the years, I have enjoyed working with leaders to build strong habits around many small actions. Some are about awareness, reflection, and celebration. Others are for effective communication, teamwork, influencing, resolving conflict, and many more.

Regardless of whether your current developmental priority is on leading yourself, leading your team, or leading in your organization and network, it’s often the small actions that will make a big difference. It’s your habits that will help you to show up more frequently with effective leadership behaviors. As they say, your habits decide your future. 

My question for you this week is this. What small action, when executed consistently, will help you to become a leader who makes a difference in your workplace, like Alicia?