Effort, Success and Effectiveness

I want to compare/contrast (mostly contrast) several approaches and outcomes of leadership.  The post will look at the topic of Effort (trying ones best) that results in failure, Success that accomplishes the job and Effectiveness which accomplishes the job but has added bonuses.  I believe that to become the leader you are called to be, the leader that your team needs you to be, requires you to become effective in your leadership.  Let's look at each term as I define them.  More importantly than the term, understand the definition, examples used and the attitude and mindset behind each one.

Tried, but Failed - In this leadership outcome you have tried your best (I don't have a category for leaders who fail to give 100% effort  because it is hard to consider them leaders at all) but come up short of reaching the goal.  It could be winning a game/championship, making a sale, or whatever applies to your situation.  Like everyone else in this category you probably have a few really good excuses why the goal couldn't be reached.  Maybe you didn't receive enough resources, enough support or encouragement, maybe you had some negative people who actively worked against you.  Whatever the circumstances were, you didn't get the job done.  You didn't lead your team to victory.  Obviously this is not a great place to be as a leader.  Ultimately, your job is to get results.  The Army General has one job "Get Stuff Done" and you failed to live up to that expectation.  We have all been in this category before.  Let's move out and find a way to get results.

Success - My definition of success is that you got the job done.  See the Army General above.  Whatever the obstacles you faced you found a way to accomplish your mission.  You led your band to districts, you completed a tough race, you inspired your students to achieve a passing grade in Calculus.  Whatever the job was that needed done, got done because you made it happen.  To me success is a very "Me" oriented word.  I know successful people.  They can be counted on to get the job done, but how they do it is not always pretty.  People get run over, people get hurt, people get ruined.  This is the attitude of "my way or the highway" the mantras are "get out of the way, the train is coming through" and "your either with me or against me."  These people get stuff done.  They get results.  You are just glad when they leave.  Yes, they are successful at accomplishing tasks, but the toll is large.  People are soured towards them, their victories are hollow.  At the end of the day their success is all they have.  They have ruined relationships and companies as they pursued their victory.

Effectiveness - I am definitely biased towards the concept of effectiveness.  It takes success to another level.  In effectiveness leaders return results, but do it in a win-win way.  Leaders who strive for effectiveness find ways to win and make sure their followers win as well.  When leaders effectively lead a group to the top of the mountain that group cannot wait to take on another challenge with the same leader.  Effective leaders use their organizations to build people, never use their people to build their organizations.  Get results, build people in the process.  Effective leaders will never wear out their followers.  They will attract new followers.  Everyone wants to be on a winning team, especially when they get to partner with an effective leader.