Skip to main content

Posts

Showing posts from December, 2018

How Teams Can Provide Value Beyond The Ordinary

"It takes more than encouraging words to get a team thinking beyond the ordinary," explains  Jackie Barretta , author of the book,  Primal Teams . She suggests you must help team members to redefine the purpose of their work with broader and more expansive thinking. Use certain pointed questions to guide a team toward a loftier view of their purpose. Specifically, Barretta recommends you as the leader ask the following purpose-broadening questions to encourage the team to think of providing value beyond the ordinary: What major contributions can our team make to the company's success? What do we do that makes our colleagues and customers happy? What does our work do to give our company a competitive advantage? What do we do that no one else can do? What legacy do we want to leave? What future possibilities excite us? What difference does our work make in the lives of others?

How To Create A High-Performance Culture

In his book,  The Responsible Leader ,  Tim Richardson  explains that to create a  high-performance culture , you need to  plan and prepare  for the following moments to ensure the conversations surrounding them are both meaningful and intentional: recruitment and induction of new team members performance management discussions promotion interviews and talent management discussions coaching discussions customer sales presentations handling customer complaints and problems briefings to the press, analysts and wider market senior leaders' contact with, and briefings to, teams across the organization internal presentations with executive committees team meetings and management meetings Richardson's advice to  improve the quality of these conversations  is to consider: How clear is the principal message for the conversation?  How can you ensure that the content of the discussion is focused on the key message(s)? How can you ensure the quality of the listening

70 New Year's Resolutions For Leaders For 2019

With less than two weeks before 2019, it's time to identify your New Year's Resolutions for next year. To get you started, how about selecting one or more of these 70 New Year's resolutions for leaders? Perhaps write down five to ten and then between now and January 1, think about which couple you want to work on during 2019. Don't micromanage Don't be a bottleneck Focus on outcomes, not minutiae Build trust with your colleagues before a crisis comes Assess your company's strengths and weaknesses at all times Conduct annual risk reviews Be courageous, quick and fair Talk more about values more than rules Reward how a performance is achieved and not only the performance Constantly challenge your team to do better Celebrate your employees' successes, not your own Err on the side of taking action Communicate clearly and often Be visible Eliminate the cause of a mistake View every problem as an opportunity to grow Summarize group consens

Don't Hog All The Credit

Insecure managers hog the credit for a job well done . Or, they hide the credit and don't give credit where credit is due. These managers are afraid to let their employees be in the limelight. Secure and successful managers  talk up their employees, highlighting the good performance they've done, and are eager to give credit where credit is due. They promote their staff to their supervisor and to others within their organization. Successful managers know that they look good when their employees look good . Giving credit where credit is due is a sign of a manager who is wise and confident . It's a sign of a manager who  demonstrates  good leadership skills. So, when your employees excel, allow them to take the spotlight.

Flashback To Best New Leadership Book Of 2016

Originally published in December 2016: After reading nearly 30 new books about leadership this past year, my pick for  2016's best new leadership book  is,  Mastering the Challenges of Leading Change , by  H. James Dallas . Technically, the book came out in the fall of 2015, but gained its popularity and momentum in 2016, hence my selection as my 2016 pick. Virtually every business is undergoing change. And, one of the most difficult things for a leader to do is to successfully lead a change initiative. And, change is what most employees fear most. That's why, says Brown that on average nearly 75 percent of change initiatives fail. What's more... When the rate of external change exceeds the rate of internal change, the end is in sight. Fortunately, Brown has written what I consider to be one of the most straight-forward, practical and timely books on how to lead a transition through change effectively. H. James Dallas More specifically, Brown covers

A Boss Versus A Leader

"A boss creates fear, a leader confidence. A boss fixes blame, a leader corrects mistakes. A boss knows all, a leader asks questions. A boss creates fire, a leader creates passion." -- Russell H. Ewing, British Journalist.

How To Listen Effectively

Here are some great tips from Michelle Tillis Lederman's book,  The 11 Laws of Likability . They are all about: what to do and what not to do to be a leader who's an effective listener : Do : Maintain eye contact Limit your talking Focus on the speaker Ask questions Manage your emotions Listen with your eyes and ears Listen for ideas and opportunities Remain open to the conversation Confirm understanding, paraphrase Give nonverbal messages that you are listening (nod, smile) Ignore distractions Don't : Interrupt Show signs of impatience Judge or argue mentally Multitask during a conversation Project your ideas Think about what to say next Have expectations or preconceived ideas Become defensive or assume you are being attacked Use condescending, aggressive, or closed body language Listen with biases or closed to new ideas Jump to conclusions or finish someone's sentences

10 Ways To Improve Your Connection Skills

"Connection is what transforms a dog-eat-dog environment into a sled-dog team that pulls together," says  Michael Lee Stallard , author of the book,  Connection Culture . "Connection builds an emotional bond that promotes trust, cooperation, and esprit de corps among people in the workplace." Based on  shared identity, empathy, and understanding , connection moves primarily self-centered individuals toward group-centered membership. "Without that sense of connection, employees will never each their full potential," states Stallard. The  10 ways you can improve your connection skills  are to: Recognize varying connection needs Be present in conversations Develop the ability to empathize Develop the habit of emphasizing positives Control your tone of voice Negotiate with the mindset to solve a problems rather than to win Provide autonomy in execution Learn to apply the five languages of appreciation  Apologize when you make a mistake Deve

How To Become An Accountable Leader

"Truly accountable leadership is the only way to build an organization that can survive and thrive in our increasingly complicated world," says  Vince Molinaro , author of his revised and updated bestseller,  The Leadership Contract . More specifically, Molinaro believes that a new set of leadership expectations is redefining how each of us will need to lead in the future. He explains that as a leader you will need to take accountability to: Align and engage Take an enterprise-wide perspective Build relationships Master uncertainty Develop other leaders Model the values And, to be a truly accountable leader, Molinaro says that you must serve the  five core obligations of leadership : Yourself Your customers Your organization Your employees Your communities One of my favorite parts of the book are the  Gut Checks for Leaders  at the end of each chapter. The Gut Checks list critical questions to ask yourself, such as: Do you lead every day with a

Leadership Quotes That Inspire Me

These quotes truly inspire me : “The three common characteristics of best companies -- they care, they have fun, they have high performance expectations.” -- Brad Hams “The one thing that's common to all successful people: They make a habit of doing things that unsuccessful people don't like to do.” -- Michael Phelps “It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit." -- Harry S. Truman “The leader of the past was a person who knew how to tell. The leader of the future will be a person who knows how to ask.” -- Peter Drucker “Leadership: The art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it.” -- Dwight D. Eisenhower “Good leadership isn't about advancing yourself.  It's about advancing your team.” -- John C. Maxwell "People buy into the leader, then the vision.” -- John C. Maxwell “Great leaders have courage, tenacity and patience.” -- Bill McBean