Eric Jacobson On Management And Leadership

Back by popular demand... The  70 tips  below make for a good list for learning how to become a better leader when you don't have a lot of time to read books about leadership. And, if you've been a leader for a long time, how about taking a few minutes to run through the list and scoring yourself on how well you carry out each leadership skill? 1. Don't micromanage 2. Don't be a bottleneck 3. Focus on outcomes, not minutiae 4. Build trust with your colleagues before a crisis comes 5. Assess your company's strengths and weaknesses at all times 6. Conduct annual risk reviews 7. Be courageous, quick and fair 8. Talk more about values more than rules 9. Reward how a performance is achieved and not only the performance 10. Constantly challenge your team to do better 11. Celebrate your employees' successes, not your own 12. Err on the side of taking action 13. Communicate clearly and often 14. Be visible 15. Eliminate the cause of a mistake 16...

"Customers fall in love with or hate brands because of customer service," explains Flavio Martins, author of the book,  Win the Customer . Customers call it quits when brands neglect them and fail to deliver what they need and want. If you are leading a company, focus on these six key ways to make your customers fall in love with what you do , says Martins: Deliver awesome service with awesome value. Make sure your product or service is at its best. Create interesting, engaging content that matters. Participate in interesting, engaging conversations that matter to your customers. Overdeliver on your promises. Encourage feedback, do something about it, and then let the customer know what you've done.

As explained in  John Baldoni 's, book,  Lead With Purpose ,  Marshall Goldsmith  suggests all leaders make it a habit to regularly ask their employees these  six questions : Where do you think we should be going? Where do you think you and your part of the business should be going? What do you think you're doing well? If you were the leader, what ideas would you have for you? How can I help? What suggestions or ideas do you have for me?

Here's a good definition of the  difference between a  mission and a vision  by leadership book authors George Bradt, Jayme A. Check and Jorge Pedraza: Mission  - A mission guides what people do every day. It informs what roles need to exist in the organization. Vision  - A vision is the picture of future success. It helps define areas where the organization needs to be best in class and helps keep everyone aware of the essence of the company.

From  Sydney Finkelstein 's book,  Superbosses: How Exceptional Leaders Master the Flow of Talent , comes these great questions you should routinely ask yourself as a leader: Have you answered the "why do we exist" question for your team? Could all of your team members share this answer with you right now? Do you have people on your team who have followed non-traditional paths to their jobs, or do you find yourself attracted to cookie-cutter backgrounds? Are people on your team energized to come to work in the morning? How would you even know? Are you inspiring people to believe that they can achieve great things? Are you removing the bureaucratic barriers and hierarchy that get in the way of meaningful interaction and getting the job done? How often do you actively teach people how to do something, as opposed to just telling  people what to do?

Set a good example for your employees and follow through on everything you say you are going to do. If you promise to get an employee an answer, get it for him or her. If you say you'll send a team member a report, do so. As the Nike campaign/slogan so aptly says, "Just Do It." Too many leaders don't follow through. Perhaps they get busy. Perhaps they forget. However, following through is critical to keeping your team effective and efficient. And it's necessary for gaining respect from your employees. Following through also means doing so in a timely fashion. If you take too long to follow through, it's as bad as not following through at all.

From the book,  Mastering the Challenges of Leading Change , comes this useful checklist from author H. James Dallas for how to  identify and develop emerging talent  in your company/organization. Dallas recommends that each question should be graded on a scale of 1 to 3, with 3 being the best. Use the questions and the scoring for you and your employee to work together toward the highest ratings across the board. Has the person demonstrated a "getting lost with confidence" mind-set? Does the person communicate with authenticity? Has the person created a strong personal brand that is recognized by colleagues of all levels? Does the person know his or her blind spots and have people watching to prevent him or her from crashing? Is the person getting exposure to executive management? Does the person seek out and seriously consider advice? Is the person building an inclusive team and sponsoring others? Is the person proactive in finding opportunities to initiat...