Leaders Must Know What They Want To Achieveby Richard Brody 5/6/2012 It is amazing and somewhat sad to note how many individuals attain leadership positions without having a clear cut and easily explainable concept of what they hope to achieve. Often, they use all the politically correct, right sounding rhetoric, that is often worth less than the amount of oxygen stating it consumed. Before anyone should seek a position of leadership, he should examine his reasons for doing so, and be certain that he has a plan to add value to his organization and its constituents.True leaders do not think about personal gain, or ego gratification. They only consider how their goals for the organization will meaningful impact the group in a positive, constructive manner. There is an ancient Seneca saying, "When a man does not know what harbour he is making for, no wind is the right wind." In my over three decades of working closely will well over a thousand individuals in these types of positions of leadership, I have come to realize that far too few clearly visualize or can articulate what they wish to achieve. 1. Incoming leaders must realize that their term of office is a finite one, and comes to an end far more quickly than they initially believe. Most worthwhile endeavors take continuous effort, motivation, explanation, and articulation before they even have a chance to become a reality. When someone begins his term of office without his goals clearly in place, he wastes much precious time and effort at the beginning of his term. ... |
Successful Leaders Make The Timeby Richard Brody 5/6/2012 One of the most overused explanations that inefficient individuals in leadership positions use to explain away why they failed to accomplish something is that they did not have the time to get it done. After all, they often explain, the amount of responsibilities assigned to leaders, is often overwhelming. After more than three decades of close association with leaders, potential leaders, and wannabe leaders (those in a leadership position who simply talk about leading but never lead), I’ve observed that one of the main differentiations between successful and effective leaders, and the rest of the pack, is how they approach, look at, and utilize time. Charles Bruxton concisely summed this up, when he wrote, "You will never find time for anything. If you want time, you must make it." In leadership reality, someone in a leadership position either uses time wisely and effectively and acts as a leader, or he uses time as one of his fall- back excuses for failures. 1. Everyone who has ever served in a leadership position of any importance has faced challenges in terms of managing and utilizing time efficaciously. If one hears someone say that they’ll try to find time to do something, this is almost always a tell- tale sign that it won’t get done. A major component of true leadership training must be in the area of time management. This means understanding the art and science of effectively creating one’s schedule, planning proficiently, always being prepared, gathering sufficient and the right type ... |
Listen Up! Listening Skills in High Demandby D. A. Bis 5/6/2012 To be clear, this article describes not how to listen nor ways to improve your listening skills. Let’s be honest folks, if you need to learn the how of listening, perhaps this career thing is not for you. Rather, let’s focus on what are the surrounding implications of listening and why is listening important in advancing and maximizing your career. Listening is ... |
The Four Seasons of Leadershipby Joel Garcia 1/22/2011 Autumn: This season represents the beginning of the end of your leadership cycle. In this season you begin to notice the leadership paradigm you once embraced is all the sudden becoming obsolete. Therefore, it’s time to shed the old through a process known as pruning. A good example of this season is found in John 15:2, where Jesus notes, "My Father cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful." The process of pruning is often times a painful process because what we used to know and ... |
Leadership: Five Effective Listening Skills for Small Groupsby Maria Egilsson 1/22/2011 Communication is more than stating thoughts. It is listening too. When we listen, we take in information while remaining non-judgmental. Effective listening invites the speaker to continue. If we are formulating thoughts in our mind while another person is speaking, we are not listening. As a leader, it’s important to be a good listener, so I’m learning to develop and encourage the following basic skills for effective listening among small groups: * Listen carefully to the full response of the group member. * Look at group member as they are speaking. * Acknowledge the speaker in a way that invites them to continue. (e.g., smile, nod, leaning forward) * Listen to understand and be respectful of their thoughts. * Permit one person to speak at a time. But how do you teach and demonstrate these skills to the group as a whole? Here’s what I do. Bring a beach ball to the first gathering. With everyone seated, I explain that I’m going to throw the ball to a certain person. When she has the ball, I’ll ask her a question, and she will answer while holding the ball. Once her answer is complete, she throws the ball back to me, and if anyone would like to respond, I throw the ball to them, they offer their response while the rest of us listen. Then they can throw the ball back to me or to another person who wishes to ... |
Why The Most Effective Leaders Often Hesitate to Delegate Responsibilitiesby Richard Brody 11/3/2010 It is often said that an effective leader must be able to delegate both responsibilities and duties. In practice, however there are a number of obstacles to this actually working. Before one is capable of delegating confidently, a leader must have an individual or individuals in place that are both willing and able to do the task or tasks delegated. Since there are so few effective leaders, it is even more delegate for a "leader" who is himself not "up to the task" to have the ability to identify who and what can and should be delegated. The next obstacle to effective delegation is that if one is fortunate enough and skilled enough to have those rare leadership qualities, it may often not be feasible to identify an "up-and-comer," or a past-leader, that one can confidently delegate responsibility to. Quite often, less effective "leaders" delegate responsibilities, duties and tasks, not for the intended management effectiveness reasons of improving overall effectiveness, but rather to avoid doing certain things themselves. A major flaw in the "delegation" concept is the belief that delegating means it’s one less thing you have to do yourself. Unfortunately, I have observed an ever- increasing tendency by ineffective leaders to often delegate responsibilities in order to "pass the buck" and absolve themselves of personal responsibility. However, as President Harry Truman said, "The buck stops here," and effective leaders understand that true leaders always have the final responsibility and oversight. It is important to understand and recognize that delegating does not ... |
Leadership Development: Learning From Your Leadersby Bob Mason 11/3/2010 One of the most common ways new leaders learn is to observe those who lead them. We can see how they handled certain situations and problems, how they motivate people, how they deal with stress, and the multitude of little techniques available for the careful observer. (A side note for those currently in leadership positions is that people are observing you...all the time. Most likely, much less than you think gets by your subordinates and they are keeping score.) But, back to the main point; using what a new leader has observed through the years. Here’s a simple exercise I suggest for new leaders. Using a clean sheet of paper, draw a line down the middle. On the left side of the paper list all the techniques or behaviors you’ve observed from leaders you thought were good. Go back in your work history as far as you can remember. When you’ve exhausted your memory, start again on the right side of the paper. This time list all the things leaders have done that you thought were bad. When you’ve finished you’ll probably have a good list on both sides. The obvious next step is to do ... |
Organizational Culture and Its Influence on Organizational Successby Cary Win 11/3/2010 Many organizations are successful because they have a strong culture in it and everyone understands its culture, the processes, systems, service expectation, etc. It is very interesting to find out how culture is formed, how it makes an organization successful and what associates with it. This article will explore organizational culture and its influence on their success. Chinese beliefs and values tell us that Red is the color of celebration and luck. Black and White is the color of funeral; Pink and Yellow are the colors for prosperity. That’s why, in the Chinese Traditions and Customs, it is important to have red eggs during the 1st month of the newborn and red during weddings because it is time for Celebration. During death, only Black and White colors must be worn. Their behaviors and Actions will automatically react if someone wears Red during a funeral. It is how culture is formed. From the Values and Beliefs, it is translated into their Tradition and Customs and as a result of that, they behave and act accordingly in their daily life. It is almost the same in any organization, their beliefs and values translate into their character which reflects their behaviors and actions. McDonalds is successful because they have fast service, standardized portions, fixed price, same taste, same equipment, similar dining setting and same advertising; on the other hand, Starbucks is successful because they have good coffee, trendy dining setting, standardize portion and fixed price. T.G.I Friday is successful because of their trendy setting, friendly ... |
Collaboration in Leadershipby Chris Young 11/3/2010 The leadership model developed by L. Michael Hall Ph.D. is a detailed and measurable model of leadership consisting of seven criteria based on studies of successful leaders. This article will explain the fifth of these criteria, Collaboration, in detail and describe specific steps you can implement to improve your own leadership. What is Collaboration? Collaboration is a process where two or more people or organizations work together towards achievement of common goals. A collaborative leader understands the importance of supporting other members of the team. As a team player, we are able to shift from focusing on ourselves leaders and instead concentrate on participating as part of the team for the benefit of all. Key Questions for Collaborative Leadership The following key questions will help you to apply this criteria in practice to become a great leader. Are you a team player? Do others describe you as a team player? Collaborating with others means cooperating and operating as a team player. If your team sees you as being an active and supportive member of the team and relevant community they will be more willing to respect and support you in return. Conversely, if you are seen as remote and disconnected then it will be difficult to build trust and to ask for individuals to perform at their peak. Do you operate from a sense of abundance? Individuals who see themselves as being in competition - for resources, money, status, praise - will have difficulty letting go of control and allowing others to step up. If you have a robust and ... |
Leadership: What’s Your Reputation Rating?by Tim Pascoe 11/3/2010 You can still be a star in the brave new world of personal scores and elected leaders not becoming obsolescent on the basis of default styles and believing what the gurus say. Recently, a friend sent me a note about the "2020 Workplace" book* - highlighting three themes. First, by 2020, every leader will have a reputation score. Second, leader-led learning will be embedded at work. Three, teams will elect their own leaders. Well, which side are you on: the revolutionaries or conservatives? It probably doesn’t matter. The tide will sweep you away if you don’t keep up. But, how do you build that leadership score? Below are six dimensions to consider, as you plan your journey to the world of 2020 leadership. Before starting though, let me comment on the third trend. People already elect their leaders. Not by voting but via individual decisions (day to day) as to whether they fully commit or just coast along - or worse, resist. The formal vote will be just that - a formalisation. So, let’s check those leadership metrics that might determine your score: 1. Vision power: do your people know where you’re taking them? Do your leadership actions help to lift their sights? Across the team, is there goal alignment? 2. Energy quotient: do people have that Nike "just do it" drive and deep organisational willpower? Is each person fired up? 3. Culture quality: do people know how they’re expected to behave? Have you modelled appropriate behaviour? ... |
How "Thank You" Evolves Your Leadership Eleganceby Mike Krutza 11/3/2010 An elegant leader realizes that success is never of himself or herself as an individual, but it is always on account of the efforts put forth by the whole team. That is the reason elegant leadership says that you, as a leader, should express your gratitude to your team in whichever way you can, whenever you can. At the same time, the thanks have to be justified or it could be misconstrued by the team as a manner of putting them on. This could backfire. Strategies have to be implemented sometimes when thanking your team members too. Here are some ways that you can use. One of the best ways of appreciating your gratefulness to your team is to respect their intelligence. You could do this by asking them for their opinions on matters that concern the progress of the team. You might not accept all of these suggestions, but the team members will be happy that you got them involved. And, you might actually get some good suggestions on the way. Knowing your team members’ strengths and weaknesses is another way to acknowledge your gratitude to them. Every team member has potentials and liabilities and when you are giving them tasks according to what they can do and what they like to do, you are respecting them for what they are. They feel happier about it and this will create a positive organizational culture as well. The verbal acknowledgment in the form of words of praise always works too. Leaders focus too ... |
Leaders Shouldn’t Have Expectationsby Stephen Huston 11/3/2010 I see reps that experience some anxiety and stress because their expectations are set too high. They are not getting the sales volume they want, or experience anxiety because their members fail. Regardless if these people express their feelings to others or not, they want to see something in return for their efforts. We don’t have control over what happens in our down line’s business, but we can teach them ways to get better results from their efforts. If you are ready to find ways to decrease your anxiety, and relieve the stress, then give away more responsibility. When you take this approach to coaching members, you’ll feel happier, motivated and excited about what you do. This is how it works. When you find a promising new recruit, with all the qualities and skills needed to work in the business, think about how you can support your member without you feeling stress and disappointment. Separate yourself from the outcome of the member’s efforts. By making no assumptions, you will want to find out what your members’ business goals are, asking a few questions like: o What kind of future do you see for your business and yourself? o What are your dreams, and what commitment are you willing to make to achieve it? o How much time are you willing to give to build your business? o What can I do to help you build a strong business? By learning what your team members want from their business; you can stay focused on their goals instead ... |
Pro Activity Paysby Kamal K Kapoor 11/3/2010 Leadership means exciting, enabling, educating and empowering the team to deliver across the full range of activities in a swarmed manner, happily & willingly. The acme of leadership’s deliverance is in producing results by each member of a team in such an egoless manner that every activity generates multiple options for the leadership to exploit to active the organizational goals. Creating this win win situation for the organization, leader and the led remains the basic art of leadership. Articulation of Intent When each member of the team pushes the envelope to the best of his capabilities, the combined synergy that is produced far outstrips the imagination. A leader has perforce got to be the visionary who articulates his intent unambiguously and leads from the front in each endeavor of the team. He has to have the third eye to "see" situations and conflicts arising well in advance and take corrective measures in time to propel the team. Proactively pays! Calling the Calling An essential component of leadership function is to convert each member of the team to be a self starter. Initiative, innovation and experimentation are the key to exciting and empowering the team. However, the leadership has to be acutely conscious of putting the "right peg in the right hole". Each person finds his mean in certain specific activities. If positively energized, that becomes the person’s calling. A progressive and enabling leadership works towards discovering this calling in each member of the team and assigning him requisite missions. An empowered team member working in ... |
The Three Secrets of Leadershipby Bob Mason 9/17/2010 My operations leader and I were standing in the parking lot after a meeting discussing a couple of issues when he asked, "What would you say are three secrets to good leadership." I thought for a moment before giving an answer. I have a fairly lengthy list of things that I think are essential for leadership success. The list has been built over the years through observation of others as well as my own experience, but I’d never tried to boil it all down to just a few points. I’ve considered that question through the intervening years and the following three points always seem to be at the root of everything I teach and counsel about leadership. Is this oversimplified? Perhaps, but a leader who understands and embraces these three points will be successful. 1. Leaders have a vision - at all levels. Whether a first-level manager or a corporate CEO, I’ve observed that the most successful leaders have a vision of what can be. That vision drives them and, when properly expressed, provides motivation for subordinates. People are more likely to be loyal to leaders who know where they’re going and have a big dream of what can be. Even at the lowest levels of leadership, that vision can make the difference between a leader who is adequate, and one who is dynamite! 2. People make leaders successful. Leaders may have the vision, see the bigger picture, and have the larger investment or the most experience in some aspect of the organization. ... |
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