Success impulse: When do you eliminate your personal bottlenecks?
There are various bottlenecks to overcome on the road to success. A first step in eliminating them is to recognize them, as our current Success Impulse shows.
You are probably familiar with the "Theory of Constraints", which is all about uncovering and eliminating the biggest bottlenecks. The effects of this can be manifold, but always lead to more success in the end. This theory also works in our personal behaviors as leaders.
Find the real bottlenecks
The reason for this is the unproductive habit that we often improve those things that have little significant impact on results. Conversely, we care too little about what is really the bottleneck to our success.
Why is that? Here are two reasons:
- Lack of awareness. Many people are not even aware of their biggest bottlenecks in life and work. A coach helps with the clarification.
- Eliminating our biggest bottlenecks is often unpleasant. Namely, it is our dear habits that stand in our way. Here, too, a coach helps.
What stands in the way of your success
To make it a little more concrete, here are three typical bottlenecks for you as a leader that stand in the way of your success:
- Letting go of fear. After all, it's good if we reinforce what makes us successful. The only thing is: over time, the parameters change so that the very thing that made us successful now gets in the way. It could be managers in certain positions, habitual meetings, cumbersome processes, or too much hedging. I see again and again that the targeted letting go of old things releases real energy leaps in the team.
- Poor communication. Yes, it's simply important that you can clearly convey messages in an emotionally convincing way, regardless of the platform. If you're a leader these days who struggles to express yourself in front of a video camera, for example, you need to practice it. Otherwise, your communication will be a bottleneck.
- Too little learning. It's an ongoing issue, but most managers do far too little for their own personal development. One rule of thumb is to read a book or do something similar for your development at least 30 minutes a day. If you keep that up, you'll manage the equivalent of about 20 books per year. That would certainly take you a lot further and help eliminate your bottlenecks.
As mentioned earlier, the first step to eliminating personal bottlenecks is to realize that you have them in the first place and that they are relevant to your success. This is where someone who holds up a mirror to you can help.
To the author:
Volkmar Völzke is a success maximizer. Book author. Consultant. Coach. Speaker. www.volkmarvoelzke.ch
