Great insights…Improving confidence levels, using a project management framework for accountability and focusing in on the "right" activities will all enhance performance levels. Following are the two items that jumped out at me from your post:
1. Confidence – All leaders must continue to develop, stretch, and grow. Personal & professional development doesn't end when a title is bestowed.
2. Accountability – Manage promises like projects by having a framework for accountability, transparency and collaborative feedback. Whether it's milestones or inch-pebbles measure, verify, refine and keep moving forward.

Great thoughts Meredith. Thanks for adding to the conversation.

I believe a key reason leaders don't take action is a combination of fear and low self-esteem. The fear of failure and looking bad to others can paralyze some people, so no matter how compelling the objective, it's safer to spend more time analyzing options and considering what to do. The solution here is to work on building a stronger self-image (Maxwell Maltz's classic The New Psycho-Cybernetics is excellent IF the ideas are acted upon!). Leaders who are confident and not afraid of making mistakes inspire others just by their attitude and behavior – and make it safe for their direct reports to take action because they know it won't be the end of the world if they make a mistake.

The second point relates to the responsibility-accountability issue. One thing we do in my company when we've agreed on a project and defined the outcomes is something very simple (some tech wizards may call it primitive..) that works very well. We set up a spreadsheet with columns for task, person responsible, date due and date completed, and it's placed where everyone on the team can access, check and update their tasks. We've found that it motivates each of us to get our part done because we don't want to be the bottleneck and our performance (or lack of it) is VISIBLE to everyone else.

I also agree with Mark's keen observation that activity does not equate to performance. At the end of the day, I check what I've actually accomplished that I could SHOW to someone else. On the days I have a lot to show, I know I've performed well. I think that's a key piece that's often overlooked. "Busy" does not necessarily contribute anything meaningful to the organization and its goals.

The topics of incentive compensation, contribution margin and incentive compensation finally enter the fray…While some would argue whether incentive compensation is effective, I would not be one of them. The issue is not incentive compensation, but rather creating the appropriate incentives and liked to the correct outcomes, and as you so astutely pointed out having said incentives connect on the right emotional level. Great food for thought Bridget. Thanks for sharing…

Thanks for sharing such an important lesson. I'm a huge believer in playing to strengths. When leaders understand how to leverage their strengths good things tend to happen, but when they learn to leverage the strengths of the overall organization by deploying the best talent to the greatest opportunities or the biggest challenges great things tend to happen. Thanks for surfacing this issue Erin…

Thanks so much for your comment and I love this thought…It reminds me of the old military adage that observes the futility of attempting to win a battle when in retreat. Great leaders are always problem solving, innovating, adapting, but most importantly they are always committed to making forward progress. Leaders who allow apathy to get a toe-hold in their organization are simply breeding obsolescence and hindering performance. Great comment Bert…

Great comment…there are few things as unproductive as executives who choose to sequester themselves from the reality that is their own company. There is no such thing as ignorant bliss when you're a leader. Not being aware of what key stakeholders and other sources of feedback and input will most certainly cause organizational blind spots that will hinder performance.

Thanks for the great input. I noticed some commonalities between your observations those that Dave and Elliot put forth. I guess the old saying great minds think alike is alive and well. The area that stands out for me is the one about resourcing. Acquiring, developing and deploying the right resources, at the right times and for the right reasons will always generate high performance results. Thanks Scott…

For me, the requirement is a knowledge and execution of strengths. When an organization embraces a strengths culture, it's a true win-win. An employee will be engaged and motivated by levergaing their natural talents that they enjoy doing (and do best!) An organization benefits because the employee will be much more productive, efficient and effective.

If a leader wants performance, they can most quickly and effectively accomplish it by leveraging strengths – his/her own and that of the team. Performance comes when people are doing things they love and making their greatest contributions. When your head and heart are in it, it's hard to beat that combination!!!