Step 1. Way Two People Development. The first desired result of a Way One is People Development. People development consists of mentoring. Mentoring by a Way One consists of developing their direct reports to be effective, qualified Way Twos and maybe even the next great Way One one day. This is a personal result over a position result. Way Ones lead. Way Twos manage but they both have to prioritize mentoring over leading or in the Way Twos case, mentoring over managing. Mentoring is a one to one; leadership is a one to many. When each person is mentored individually, they will be more likely to follow your lead. The second desired result of a Way One is Business Results. But, business results are the last step in the overall process. Yes, that’s right, last. Not first. Let’s continue;

Step 2. Way Three People Development. The first desired result of a Way Two is People Development. See a trend here? Again, people development consists of mentoring. Mentoring by a Way Two consists of developing their teams of people to be effective, qualified Way Threes. Way Threes who are subject matter experts with their tools so they can produce better position results. Furthermore, for the Way Three teams to be truly engaged, they must know why they are doing what they do. Way Twos have larger teams of people than Way Ones. The Way Twos bridge the Way One’s vision to the Way Three’s actions with the strategy. Therefore, each Way One should take mentoring their direct reports very seriously because otherwise the strategy will be ineffective and therefore have a negative consequence on the business results. The second desired result of a Way Two is strategic results. But that is not until Step 5. The plan also bridges ideas to action. A strategic result however is a position result of a Way Two. Human capital training is the key component to ensuring the tactics are being performed on time, on budget and with a high level of quality assurance.

Step 3. Personal Development. The first desired result of a Way Three is Personal Development. If someone has a low desire to develop themselves then mentoring that person becomes very difficult and a Way Two then must rely on managing alone. This requires the manager to expend precious energy. So anything that you can measure from Way Threes tasks become a management target. The Way Three feels micromanaged and becomes disengaged which hurts not only the strategic results, but ultimately the business results the strategy is tied to. If the organization hires on the quality to learn, grow and improve…on a personal level, the people performing those tasks will be subject matter experts. Opposed to simply going through the motions never knowing why they are doing what they do. The Way Two mentors Way Threes to know why they are doing something. The Way Twos how bridges the Way Threes what to the Way One’s why.

Step 4. Tactical Results. If a Way Three has a desire to be personally developed, either by their manager or by their own initiative, then the tasks they perform will have a better impact on the strategy. It’s only then that step four can be successfully accomplished; successful tactical results performed by a qualified engaged Way Three who sees the bigger picture. The big picture is the strategy; the bigger picture is the vision. To use an analogy, they asked the bricklayer building the cathedral in Milan, “What are you doing?” The bricklayer responded, “I am building a brick wall.” They asked the second bricklayer, “What are you doing?” That brick layer replied, “I am building a cathedral!” The big picture is the strategy, the brick wall, the bigger picture is the vision, the cathedral. What are your people building? What is your cathedral? Strategy bridge vision to tactics. When a Way Three thinker knows why they are doing what they are doing, the game changes.

Step 5. Strategic Results. Tactical results are tied to strategic results. The best plan in the world will fail if it is not executed properly. If a Way Two is doing the work, they either don’t have a Way Three or they are micromanaging either because the Way Three is not qualified, they have lost confidence in the people on their team, or the Way Two is actually a Way Three thinker in a Way Two seat! A qualified Way Two thinker will develop the plan to accomplish the business objectives and manages the plan managing the people performing the tasks. It is very difficult to manage a plan and do the work. Plan development and plan management is itself a full time job. A major reason businesses fail (especially in the first five years) is not due to lack of great ideas or lack of action, but lack of effective planning. If you desire an effective plan, mentor your team. They will return the mentoring with strong strategic results.

Step 6. Business Results. I told you we would get here, sales, cost of goods, expenses, profits, etc. Do you see the journey we took to get to business results? Did it make you uncomfortable to put measuring business results, last? If you take care of the little things, the big things take care of themselves. Mentoring people, developing people is difficult and even more difficult if they do not value personal development. If someone does not value personal development, they will not only not value being mentored, but they will not mentor others very well either. If a Way Three finds himself in a Way Two seat one day having never been mentored, will they be inclined to mentor? Business results is the name of the game. But if we can make the work environment and lives more pleasant on the journey, then it is our responsibility as leaders to try and accomplish both.

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