Mindset

Leadership comes from the TOP, which means that partners must be the change they want to implement throughout their practices and in the industry before they can expect to manifest it for themselves. This Thought Activator examines the mindset required and includes six questions to ask yourself about your leadership style.

Comparison of two mindsets

Let’s compare the two mindset side-by-side in order to see how they differ.

Old mindset for Compliance	New mindset for Value Add Service
Do and Charge Service Deliver Bill	Price Delivery Service Scope and Price Deliver on Scope only Services to extract; first the value and secondly opportunities
Scope Creep	Variations and new projects
Uncertainty	Certainty
Doesn’t drive: System development Automation Better ways?	Focus on: System development Automation Better ways

The Compliance Model just doesn’t cut it for Value Add Work as clients want: certainty, clarity and confidence. This makes the intangible tangible in their minds and it’s then an easier decision for them to proceed with value add services.

Thus if you want to move into this area, your approach has to change.

Are you an Operational Boss or Strategic CEO?

Use these questions to determine your leadership style.

Rate your leadership style (Scale of 1-5 indicated in brackets)	Scale
How involved in client day-to-day are you? (1 = 100%, 5 = 0%)	1 2 3 4 5
If you are away for a month, does your practice stop (1) or are clients serviced and everything signed off (5)?	1 2 3 4 5
How much time do you spend working on strategic planning with your Team & Practice? (1 = less than 50%, 5 = 100%)	1 2 3 4 5
Are you a bottleneck in your practice process? Does your Team need to wait for you to give answers?	1 2 3 4 5
Is your Team self-driven in ensuring clients are serviced and that they are offered the right additional services?	1 2 3 4 5
Do you find yourself frustrated and annoyed (1) or motivated, inspired and challenged by your daily workload?	1 2 3 4 5

Would love to hear your personal score and thoughts, email them through and if you like I will respond with specific tactics for transitioning your leadership style.

‘Critical Mind’ is the mindset required for VAS Practice Models

The ‘Critical Mind’ is the very foundation of VAS Delivery Models, and involves developing the sort of Partner mindset required to evolve practices, and build teams that can take care of the day-to-day, thus freeing you up for more strategic work.