Confession: I have never played the game of dominoes. I mean, I have played around with them by standing them up to watch them knock down, but the actual game, nope.. never. Welcome to my example of organized leadership.

In a leadership position, our number one responsibility is to give our teams the tools they need to get their tasks completed. Leaders are only as good as their team. It’s our job to get the details (dominoes) in place through decisions, scheduling, and ideas; letting everything else fall into place. Process and procedures flow the best when the preparation becomes as important as the execution. Set up your dominos first, then sit back and watch an effortless flow of excellence.

How do leaders set up the details of life like dominos?

1  Decisions:

Leaders decide. It’s an action that only leadership can carry out. The level of decisions will be your choice based on the level of management you prefer. Decisions become dominoes that are converted from ideas to information. They place people on the right path of purpose. No longer are people just aimlessly waiting around for productive things to do; now they have a plan of purpose. Great leaders make the decisions.

[clickToTweet tweet=”Decisions become ‘dominoes’ that are converted from ideas to information. #blog #leadership” quote=”Decisions become ‘dominoes’ that are converted from ideas to information. – Andrew Burchfield”]

2  Schedules:

Most people hate schedules because it keeps them accountable. #WhatAnIdeaHuh? It’s a written, visual, accountability partner to your productivity. When leaders make schedules, we are putting an expectation on productivity. There was a time when I wouldn’t put due dates on anything for my media team. It was a season of creativity for us, and it was more important that it was perfect than completed. After a period of time, I started noticing that we weren’t producing as much as we use to, which affected momentum in the department greatly. Scheduling put a demand on our gifts and pushed us to produce.

3  Ideas:

Some of my favorite parts of seeing the domino trails on the web are how creative some of the shapes are. When’s the last time to you tried to do the same thing a different way? Leaders need to make things exciting and fun. Instead of providing food for the main event, have something for the setup crew. No one likes to eat something that isn’t fresh; team members are the same way. Keep providing fresh ideas to help your team members do what they do.

When leaders take the time and energy to prepare the details, at the right time, they all domino into place. During this busy December take some time to try a few of these ideas and see what works for you.