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Lead with Speed: Fire Up Your Team, Power Your Engines of Development, and Make Your Organization Soar
256Overview
One of the most important questions a leader can ask themselves is: “How do I get my teams, my organization to move faster?”
That is the challenge that all leaders face. This challenge grows more intense every day. Lead with Speed is the answer. This problem of speed is often disguised by other symptoms, such as “my projects cannot make an accurate prediction of when they will be done” or the stated need of “my teams need to take more risks.” The real need is not reckless risk-taking that will lead to even more problems and finishing even later. The real need is for speed.
An organization can only move as quickly as its leaders. Lead with Speed shows you how to get your ideas, plans, and needs disseminated quickly from the top down. Innovation, or genius, is 1 percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration. Alan Willett provides a comprehensive guide on how to sweat faster. You will learn how to:
- Develop the mind-set required for leading with speed
- Discern the critical differences between slow and fast projects
- Notice what you as a leader need to do to create those differences
- Create a targeting system for speed
- Get whole groups of people working together to create organizational speed
- Lead the exceptional few to be the catalyst for accelerating your organization
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Product Details
ISBN-13: | 9781632651662 |
---|---|
Publisher: | Red Wheel/Weiser |
Publication date: | 05/01/2020 |
Pages: | 256 |
Sales rank: | 1,085,342 |
Product dimensions: | 6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.70(d) |
About the Author
Table of Contents
Introduction 1
Part 1 Exceptional Leaders Own the Accelerator
1 Is Your Organization Getting Faster? 5
A Tale of Two Organizations 5
A Closer Look at Team X from the Red Organization 7
The Transformation of the Red Organization 12
Measuring Improvement 13
What Can You Do Right Now? 16
2 Find the Alternatives to Trying Harder 19
Faster to Where? 21
The Beauty of Useful Data 24
Quality Rules Speed 25
Design, Design, Design 26
Prevention 27
Theory in Practice 28
The Key Steps to Sustained Improvement 29
What Can You Do Right Now? 31
3 Master the Mindset for Speed 33
Key #1 Focus on Speed to Value 34
Key #2 Tame the Dragons of Risk 35
Key #3 Create Speed from Failure 38
Key #4 Maintain Balance 39
Key #5 Master Shifting Gears 40
Key #6 Adjust Methods for Context 42
Key #7 Own the Game Clock 46
What Can You Do Right Now? 47
Part 2 Lead Projects with Speed
4 Start Projects with a Foundation for Speed 51
The Guidance System for Speed 53
Planning as a Model for the Work 54
Executive Sponsors and the Speed to Value 56
The Right People and the Right Skills 57
A Leadership Team for Speed 58
Defining Winning 59
Prioritize 61
Organize the Work and the Team 63
Right Tools, Right Training 66
The Keys to Your Preparation 66
What Can You Do Right Now? 67
5 Lead Teams to Create Plans for Speed 69
Project Sponsors 70
Teams that Own Their Goals 73
The Creation of Rational Plans 75
The Dragons of Risk Tamed 78
Turning Over Every Rock to Find More Speed 82
Follow-Through! 85
The Commitment Ceremony 86
What Can You Do Right Now? 89
6 Lead Teams to Win 91
The First Project Status Meeting 92
The First Failure 93
Finding Insight from Mistakes 95
Onboarding New Project Team Members 98
Personal Ownership of Project Problems 101
External Pressures 103
Crunch Time 106
What to Do Every Day 111
Finish with Style 111
What Can You Do Right Now? 113
Part 3 Lead Organizations with Speed
7 Remove the Sand from the Gears 117
Meetings Drive Speed 118
Rust: The Enemy of Speed 124
Types of Rust 126
Methods to Manage Rust 128
Gifts of Conciseness 131
What Can You Do Right Now? 132
8 Curate a Portfolio of Speed to Value 135
The Value of a Portfolio of Speed 136
The Worst Frustrations 136
The Capacity Problem 138
The Portfolio Management Team 139
Idea Clouds 143
To Explore or Not Explore the Ideas 144
Estimating Customer Value Gains 146
Estimating Speed Gains 149
Estimating Costs of Transforming Ideas to Reality 149
Decision Time! 151
Relentless Focus on Speed to Value 153
What Can You Do Right Now? 155
9 Shape Your Organization for Speed 157
You Own Project Outcomes 159
The Center of Organizational Speed 160
High Expectations Required! 162
Expert-Level Training and Coaching 165
The Proper Response to "Bad News" 167
The Spotlight Shines on Your Expectations 172
What Can You Do Right Now? 174
Part 4 Create a Leadership Force for Speed
10 Nurture the Exceptional Few to Drive the Speed of the Whole 179
Relentless Focus on Value 180
Master Your Skills 182
Drive to Win 183
Make Those Around You Better 184
Lighthouse Courage 186
Tell the Truth and Make a Positive Difference 187
Master the Laws of Speed 190
Step into the Bright Lights 191
Your Secret Ingredients 192
Choose the Exceptional Path 193
What Can You Do Right Now? 193
11 Amplify Your Leadership Force 195
Your Mission If You Choose to Accept It 197
The Serendipity Lottery 198
Extraordinary Responsibilities 199
Mentors that Make a Difference 201
Extraordinary Experiences 203
Powerful Connections 204
Leadership Force Summits 205
Seeking the Courageous for the Exceptional Journey 207
What Can You Do Right Now? 209
12 Create Your Culture of Speed 213
Case Study Background 215
Exceptional Difference #1 Know the Culture Around You 215
Exceptional Difference #2 Focus on Speed to Value with Your People 216
Exceptional Difference #3 Focus on Speed to Value with the Stakeholders 217
Exceptional Difference #4 Take Clear Personal Ownership 218
Exceptional Difference #5 Lead Your People to Success 220
Exceptional Difference #6 Make Those Around You Better 224
Exceptional Difference #7 Lead with Joy from Start to Finish 226
What Can You Do Right Now? 227
Alan Willett's Twenty-One Immutable Laws of Speed 229
Acknowledgments 233
Index 235