Actions and Behaviors

Audience: Leadership, CEO’s, Founders/ Owners

Overview: This article highlights how leaders drive growth by closing the gap between knowing and doing through consistent behaviors like communication, trust, and accountability. It shows how disciplined execution, not just data, improves performance and long-term value.

Source Article: Achieving growth with leadership mindsets | McKinsey

I read a post the other day on some research conducted by McKinsey that caught my attention. Mostly because it spoke to leadership traits that apply not only to their mega clients, but to every size organization who has people running it!

One of the components was organizational growth. 

Their research showed 10% of the leaders they polled ‘feel strongly they have sufficient data and insights to support their growth decisions’.  

They found that growth leaders close the gap between knowing and doing something about it. Consistently.

The last segment of the report is entitled: ‘Derisk growth by executing with excellence’. The first sentence outlines what lists 3 important behaviors needed to gain excellence:

• Manages growth activities

• Communicates growth strategies

• Ensures accountability.

Managing and communicating are important and critical steps for any organization. The ability to ensure accountability is one that is often a subject of discussions.

The four dimensions of culture we review are Communication, Trust, Alignment and Accountability. It seems the discussion with clients around accountability and how to assure success are varied and concerning for some leaders.

Think about what closing any type of negative gaps could mean towards improving operational efficiencies and company value for any size of organization.

I stopped to think about the difference between actions and behaviors and found these two definitions that seem to sum it up:

1. Actions – to achieve an aim

2. Behaviors – the way in which one acts or conducts oneself, especially towards others.

It involves both actions and behaviors, and to achieve #1, you need to consistently practice #2! No better time than now to begin practicing!

Cynthia Kyriazis is the Chief Experience Officer at The Culture Think Tank. Her experience includes executive coaching, consulting, and training. Book a 15-minute chat to discuss your people, performance, or profit challenges.