Are You Leading or Just Maintaining?

When I first started my career in learning and development, I ran a lot of sales training for teams. That’s where I came across one of the few acronyms that has actually stuck with me over the years: SISI. 

SISI stands for: 

• Save 

• Improve 

• Solve 

• Increase 
  

It was powerful for salespeople because it provided a simple way to demonstrate value to their customers. If they could show how their product or service saved, improved, solved, or increased something that mattered, they were one step closer to a sale. 

But SISI isn’t just for sales. It’s also a practical lens for leaders who want to make a meaningful impact. Used well, it can help you break free from maintenance mode and step into true leadership. 

From Sales to Leadership Impact 

At Neon, we’ve seen first-hand how leaders drift into maintaining the status quo. They work hard, but their effort doesn’t always translate into measurable impact. Using SISI as a self-check creates clarity. It helps leaders focus their time and energy on actions that move the needle. 

Here’s how to apply SISI to your leadership. 

1. Save: Create Space and Efficiency 
   

High-performing leaders consistently find ways to save time, money, or other resources  –  not just for themselves but for their teams and customers. 

• Time: Streamline workflows, remove unnecessary approvals, and shorten meetings to free up hours for deeper work. 

• Money: Find efficiencies that reduce costs without sacrificing quality, such as smarter procurement or more effective use of technology. 

• Talent: Reduce employee turnover by improving engagement and keeping your best people in the business. 

• Environmental Impact: Cut waste and emissions to improve your organisation’s sustainability credentials. 
  

Leadership Lens: “Where am I creating space – time, energy or resources – so my team can do their best work?” 

2. Improve: Raise Standards Everywhere 

Leadership isn’t only about preventing problems – it’s about making things better. Improvement can happen in systems, culture, and decision-making. 

• Systems and Processes: Refine how work gets done to remove bottlenecks. 

• Culture: Elevate the experience of working in your team – make it a place people are proud to belong to. 

• Decision Quality: Use proven frameworks to make faster, better decisions and set the tone for your team. 

• People Management: Delegate effectively, empower your team, and coach them to succeed. 
  

Leadership Lens: Improvement compounds. Small gains across multiple areas add up to big advantages over time. 

3. Solve: Tackle the Right Problems 

Leaders who solve the most important problems create outsized impact. This means moving beyond firefighting to address root causes. 

• Mission-Critical Issues: Focus on the few problems that really matter to your organisation’s success. 

• Cross-Team Silos: Break down barriers that slow collaboration between departments. 

• Outdated Rules: Challenge unnecessary processes or hierarchies that block progress. 

• Continuous Improvement: Build habits that encourage your team to surface and solve issues early. 
  

Leadership Lens: Don’t just be a problem solver – be a systems solver. Ask “What’s causing this?” before “How do we fix this?” 

4. Increase: Grow What Matters Most 

Growth is one of the most visible signs of leadership impact. Leaders who increase key metrics shape the trajectory of the entire organisation. 

• Revenue and Margin: Develop new offerings, improve customer retention, or add value that justifies higher pricing. 

• Capability: Invest in recruiting and developing your team’s skills so the organisation’s capacity grows over time. 

• Learning: Model lifelong learning by upskilling yourself and encouraging others to do the same. 
  

Leadership Lens: Increasing impact isn’t only about numbers – it’s about expanding possibilities for your people and customers. 

Bringing It All Together 

SISI gives you a simple, memorable way to measure and increase your leadership impact. It transforms “being busy” into “being effective” by focusing your energy on the actions that matter most. 

• Saving builds trust and credibility. 

• Improving raises standards. 

• Solving unlocks growth. 

• Increasing creates momentum. 
  

Used consistently, this framework can help you see where you’re already effective – and where you have room to grow. 

Next Steps for Leaders 

If you’re serious about becoming a more impactful leader, don’t leave your growth to chance. Hold up the SISI lens to your own leadership and use it to identify one area where you can take action this month. 

At Neon Leadership, we’ve helped thousands of leaders move from maintaining to leading with impact. Our workshops and coaching programs show leaders how to translate ideas like SISI into real-world results. 

If you’d like to explore how to apply SISI and other powerful leadership tools across your organisation, get in touch. We’d be delighted to show you how our workshops and coaching programs can help your leaders save, improve, solve and increase where it matters most.