The SAMMER Test: Leading People To Get The Right Results At the
Right Time In The Right Way
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Word count: 648
Summary: The author asserts that most leaders get the wrong
results or the right results in the wrong ways. He offers the
SAMMER Test to help you align the results you need to achieve
with the results that you actually do achieve.
The SAMMER Test: Leading People To Get The Right Results At the
Right Time In The Right Way by Brent Filson
As a leader, you do nothing more important than get results. But
simply getting results can be easy.
What's not easy is getting the right results ... to the right
degree ... at the right time ... for the right purpose ... in
the right ways.
It's been my experience consulting with thousands of leaders
worldwide during the past two decades that the vast majority of
leaders get the wrong results -- or the right results in the
wrong ways.
Here's a tool to help you get the right results. It's called the
SAMMER Test, and you can use it continually throughout your
career.
The SAMMER Test is simply a way of testing the results you
intend to achieve, or the results you actually achieve, to
insure they are the right results.
SAMMER is an acronym. Results should be:
S - Sizable. Whatever results you are getting now, you can
always get more. Not only can you get more; but as a leader, you
MUST CONTINUALLY STRIVE TO GET MORE. Sizable is not an option.
Sizable is a necessity.
A - Achievable. Many leaders impose unrealistic expectations on
people and so lose their trust and confidence. People must be
challenged to do what they don't think they can do, but they
must also be able, ultimately, to do it.
Here's a tip for making achievable happen in the realm of
sizable. Say to whom you are challenging: "I know you don't
think you can meet the challenge I set for you. But I know you
can, and I'm going to support you in every way possible."
M - Meaningful. Leaders who find little meaning in their jobs or
the results associated with those jobs, shouldn't be leaders, or
they should change jobs and/or results. Most leaders understand
this. But few leaders understand that meaning also involves the
jobs of the people they are leading and the attitudes of those
people toward those jobs and the results the jobs aim to
achieve. These leaders stumble on what I call the Leader's
Fallacy.
The Fallacy operates when leaders believe that their beliefs are
automatically reciprocated by the people's beliefs.
The fact is, because leadership is challenging people to do what
they would not otherwise do, leaders' belief is seldom
reciprocated. Automatic reciprocity is an illusion. If it
happens, great. But for the most part, leaders have to work at
making reciprocity happen.
M - Measurable. There is no value in business without
measurements. Measurements link disparate things, organize
activities, and help unify those activities. Apply precise,
meaningful measurements to the results we want before we
challenge others to get them. Without measurements, we can't
make consistent improvements. Make sure your measurement system
conforms to four attributes, that they are RELIABLE, REPEATABLE,
ACHIEVABLE, and CONTROLLABLE.
E - Ethical. As a leader, you not only have to get results, but
you have to get the right results. Results only happen when
people take action. To get the right results, they must take
right action. Ethics help promote right action.
Ethics, then, are not traffic lights, they're running gears.
Ethics shouldn't impede your getting results, they should help
you get more results.
R - Repeatable. Evaluate your leadership and the leadership of
others not only on the results you achieve and don't achieve but
on the results that you REPEATEDLY achieve.
When we talk about repeatability, we must deal with process. A
process is a series of mental or physical steps leading to
results.
Often, results are not as important as the processes you develop
in getting the results.
Repeatability is promoted when you identify the steps that
helped you get those results then apply those steps as a process
to get more results in that area or get additional results in
other areas.
In that way, you make repeatability a driving force of your
leadership.
Just because you're getting results doesn't mean you're being
successful. Success hinges on getting the right results in the
right ways. Whenever you must lead people to achieve results,
apply the SAMMER Test to clarify, prioritize, and give direction
to the actions that must be taken to achieve right results.
2005