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Leadership

Leadership Starts With Tough Decisions – Five Leadership Skills For Outstanding Team Building

Let me share with you my recent leadership challenge and the leadership secrets you can use in any team building situation for great leadership results.

I have the honor and pleasure of volunteering for many groups causes. In many situations, I am called upon to lead as chairperson or co-chairperson. Recently, I had the honor of co-chairing an event that involved leading and motivating a team of volunteers to work together for a successful result. Overall, the team volunteers areand  leaders in health care, education, business, media, the arts, and faith-based organizations, etc. In other words, this team of volunteers consisted of very motivated and accomplished people who wanted to make a difference.

One committee member became increasingly negative in her communication and actions at the expense of the other committee members. She behaved in a manner that was not in line with our overall mission. After a coaching session agreeing on what was expected from her in relationship to our mission, her behavior became increasingly worse. The final straw was a very negative e-mail that stated she was the only committee member who was doing anything and personally attacked the other committee members.

After consulting with the event organizers to gain agreement on a plan of action, I called this person to let her know that this was not acceptable behavior and invited her to meet with me to discuss how we could bring her behavior more in line with the mission of our project. She rejected my invite, and I let her know that by not excepting my invite, she was no longer a participant in our event. I followed up with an e-mail and letter reiterating my verbal statement. She made the choice to “fire herself.”

As leader of the event, I made telephone calls to committee members to explain the committee change, let each committee member know the wonderful job they were doing, and shared with them where we were in relationship to our mission and goals. While making these calls, I soon found out that some committee members were not as involved in the project because of the one negative committee member. Some members had stopped attending meetings, stopped communicating, and weren’t giving 100% for the event. After assuring them that they were valuable team members of the project and that this “negative member” would not be involved in the project’s going forward, we experienced a new level of motivation and participation that took our event to a new level of success and broke a record for attendance.

You may be in a similar leadership position whereby the success of the organization, project, or team depends on how well and how fast you make decisions when faced with challenging situations. The following five leadership skills will keep you on the leadership track during challenging situations, no matter whether your organization is for profit or non-profit, so that you can achieve your goals:

1. Live the Mission When Making Leadership Decisions

Live the mission by constantly communicating the mission so that everyone of the team understands the mission and acts to live the mission. Ask team members the following question, “What did you do today to live the mission and achieve the goals of the mission?” Develop clear and concise team member descriptions so that everyone understands how they make a difference. Motivate and reward team members based on how well they lived the mission.

2. Maintain Standards When Making Leadership Decisions

Once you and your team understand the mission, it is easier to create and live up to the standards of the mission. In the above story, when a team member began to act in negative way, I coached her on what the standard was for acceptable team behavior. I let her know both the consequences for continuing to exhibit negative behavior and rewards for being a positive team member. In this way, the choice becomes that of the team members, and you can make the leadership decision based on their future actions.

Remember, you must, as a leader, maintain a consistent standard level when interacting with all team members.

3. Seek Consensus When Making Leadership Decisions

When in a leadership position, we sometimes feel we are all alone when making tough leadership decisions. You should never feel that way because in most cases you can rely on other leaders in your organization that can share with you the information, experience, and tools to making a successful leadership choice. In the story, I consulted with the event organizers, board members, and my co-chair before communicating with the problem team member. By consulting with the other leaders in your organization, you gain a group understanding of the challenge, discuss a plan of action with the rewards and consequences, and develop a follow-up plan if needed. In other words, you are all in step when it is time for any action to be taken.

4. Quickly Take Action When Making Leadership Decisions

Now that you have gained consensus, quickly take action. The quicker you can take action, the sooner you can eliminate any further potential challenges. The faster you can make your leadership decision, the faster you can set a positive course for the behavior you want to correct. Also, when you make decisions quickly, your employees will see you as a strong, decisive leader they can trust and want to follow.

Note: Once you make the leadership decision, never regret taking action.

5. Communicate to Your Team When Making Leadership Decisions

Communicate to your team why you are making a leadership decision. This will allow your team members to be involved in the decision. Eliminate any concerns they may have while communicating how important your team members are in accomplishing the mission. You will gain valuable insight from your team members on how and why to proceed with your leadership decision.

Remember, as a leader, you will need to make tough decisions. Follow these five leadership secrets for making your leadership decisions much easier and for gaining outstanding team results.

Ed Sykes is a highly sought after leadership, motivation, stress management, customer service, and team building expert, success coach, professional speaker, and author of Jumpstart Your Greatness You can e-mail him at esykes@thesykesgrp.com, or call him at (757) 427-7032. Go to his web site, http://www.thesykesgrp.com and sign up for the free success newsletter, OnPoint.

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Ed_Sykes/4458

 

Leadership

Good Leadership is Essential to the Success of an Organization

Effective Organizations are Created Through Effective Leadership

Accountability for winning and losing in sports always falls to the top leadership – the head coach. That’s why he gets fired when the team isn’t successful. Likewise, accountability for company success falls to the top leadership. Leadership will make or break an organization. Leadership can create a solid future for a company through vision, planning, morale building, and teamwork. Leadership can also destroy a company’s future.

General Hap Arnold, Chief of Staff of the Air Force during WWII, engaged technical experts to look into the future. This was not an over the horizon look but an in-depth estimation of what was needed 10-20 years in the future. Some of the things planned: supersonic flight, long range missiles, air to air homing rockets, long range bombers, air refueling, etc. All these were to arrive on the scene, even though the prognostication took place before the end of the war. He established early a sense of direction that long outlived him. Industrial leaders could learn much from Hap Arnold.

Morale – Those in leadership positions must create an environment for good working relations in business. Good leaders identify good talent, give them direction, and then get out of the way. Employees will perform when the prevailing feeling is that they are trusted and confidently expected to deliver. Morale is encouraged when employees are supported by management in their requirements, and they are treated as members of an important team. Periodic newsletters from leadership give the foundation of good communications. Highlight good performers and timely accomplishments in the newsletter. This is also the place to include pertinent news relating to the business. Good communication is key to good leadership.

Financial Decision Making – It should go without saying that those in leadership positions should be able to make good financial decisions. Managers should be coached to make financial decisions such as periodic budget allotments, future facility improvements and expansions, hiring plans to meet work goals, and testing requirements. Testing can occur on a small scale or a grand scale, depending on the progress of product development. Some testing can engage large facilities, and this requires long range planning. Long range planning requires leadership and vision.

Motivation of Sales Force – Effective leadership means knowing that the sales force is the point of the interface with the customer. Sales should be technically adept to speak the language of the industry and the customer in particular. Sales should be partnered not only with the customer, but also with internal resources. Responsive to the needs of the customer, the company salesman has an important role to play in the progress of the company and he must be supported by those in leadership positions. Salesmen convey needs of samples to the customer, technical performance information, and cost estimates in various quantities. The adept salesman finds ways to help cut costs rather than sell the highest cost product. They will offer configurations A, B, and C, and then let the customer decide. All pertinent information for the various configurations will be made available. Service to the customer is high on the salesperson’s agenda and it should be high on the agenda of those in leadership positions.

Motivation of Operations to be Cost Effective – Operations can be labor intensive or truly automated to achieve economical production. Good business leadership requires knowing the balance. It takes courage on the part of management to decide that resources should be expended to automate the line. The best way to invest in automation is to make it flexible for present and future needs. This takes experience and talent in operations and support from leadership. Stepwise automation of the manufacturing processes will give confidence to operations and cause minimal disruption. Automate the most obvious applications, and then proceed to other processes. If one plant has proven the benefits of automation, then the process can be duplicated for additional efficiencies. Good leadership will enable operations to make a solid plan for the future.

Cohesiveness of the Organization – Sometimes leadership means that the organization has some fun. The organization needs exercises in partnering to gain mutual respect among the various operating functions and gain cohesiveness of the organization. An annual meeting in a resort location will give them a chance to learn about each other in morning meetings, and then they can relax together in the afternoon and evening. A northern operation can benefit from a meeting in a warmer climate especially during a winter meeting. These can be memorable events for all and the company leadership can learn a lot by interacting with people in a fun environment.

Working Together – An expert in interpersonal relations has said that the one thing that unifies a group is adversity. The difference between good leadership and bad leadership is how well a group works together when adverse adversity strikes. When trouble arises, as it may, leaders must get people to work together to plan for recovery. Learning to work together under adverse conditions can be a gratifying experience. How well employees work together is a direct reflection on the organization’s leadership.

Christine Casey-Cooper is a leadership coach and the author of the satirical book The Crass Captain’s Quick Guide to Management Dysfunction. Visit [http://www.CrassCaptain.com] for leadership and management advice and for some bad boss [http://www.CrassCaptain.com] advice from the Crass Captain.

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Christine_Casey_Cooper/190526

 

Leadership

Not Everything is Leadership – Part 1 – Power Wielding Vs Referent Power

Imagine for a moment you are standing by the side of your house and doing some work on it. Your Neighbor Bob comes over to see how you are doing. As Bob approaches you say: “Hi Bob, can you do me a favor?” “Sure” Bob replies. “Can you hand me that hammer in the toolbox?” You ask. Bob reaches down and pulls out a small jeweler’s screwdriver, the kind jewelers use to repair a watch and hands it to you. “Bob,” you say, I asked you for a hammer. Bob replies, “This is a hammer!”

Welcome to the world of leadership studies where, by some counts, there are over 300 different definitions of leadership. Sound confusing? It is. Imagine a toolbox filled with 300 different tools all labeled “hammer”. How can this be? Because leadership may be one of the most powerful and consuming words in our dictionary and is used categorize every human interaction, deed, assertive thought or business function when in fact it may very well be something else. Why is that? Leadership scholar John Gardner said it best “Leadership is such a gripping subject that once it is given center stage it draws attention away from everything else.”

The simple fact remains that if we have no clarity about the nature or purpose of leadership, then how can we choose to use the capability leadership provides? How many times do we hear in the news that what this country needs, what this industry needs, what this company needs is strong leadership? But what does strong leadership really mean? Are we speaking about Power as authority; command and control; detailed management; strength of character; take charge persona or a collaborative movement for change? Moreover, which of these ideas are we willing to accept as the kind of solution to our most challenging issues?

If you were to choose power or authority, my advice is, be careful. There are different types of power and as the patriarch of leadership thought in America James MacGregor Burns writes in his 1978 intellectual blockbuster LEADERSHIP “power wielding is never leadership.” Power wielding is when someone acts primarily with self-interest in mind whether or not the purposes of the followers are realized writes Burns. We have witnessed this notion of power as a select few on Wall Street suffered the disdain of the populace having crossed the line between sensible risk taking to narcissistic self-interest, power wielders short and simple.

Yet power is an essential part of leadership. Power is a relationship, writes Burns, and perhaps its more relevant state is better described in the idea of an enhanced or shared referent power. Dorwin Cartwright and Alvin Zander describe referent power as when one person wishes to establish or maintain a satisfying self defining relationship where the reward to the person in these instances is not so much a matter of gaining social recognition or monetary rewards as of establishing his self-identity and confirming the notion of the sort of person he or she sees himself or herself to be. From this author’s perspective an enhanced or shared referent power is when each person in a transformational leadership relationship establish and maintain not only a self defining relationship but a relationship with each member where they themselves become transformed by their united actions.

One of the most notable shifts in the idea and concept of leadership in the 21st century is a significant movement towards leadership as an influence relationship where diverse groups of people exert a collaborative force to make significant change. Consider the words of Harvard Professor and former Medtronic CEO Bill George, “their approach to leadership is entirely different … They don’t care about position, power or status or organizational hierarchy, or even having followers. Instead, they are superb networkers who find collaborators to create opportunities and businesses. They are on line 24/7 always networking, always in touch.” For these emerging super-networkers leadership becomes an interlocking network of relationships where people work together to make significant change. For them–leadership is what people do together!

Dr. John Dentico works with organizations that want to develop leadership capacity at every level. He is the creator of the LeadSimm leadership development simulation method. He writes about leadership, strategic thinking and simulation learning. http://www.leadsimm.com. Your comments are appreciated at [http://www.leadsimm.com/blog].

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/John_Dentico/379790

 

Leadership

The Essentials of Leadership

The question of who and what is a leader has vexed most people, as a leader can mean many different things, to many different people. It also has cultural implications as well. Another aspect not considered, is the environment that the leader has to operate within, which also determines the style and form of leadership required. Leadership has also changed over a period of time as well.

If you look in most management books on sale today, as well as those no longer in print, they all have their own their definition of leadership.

Tom Peters is the management guru’s, management guru and in his book, “In Search of Excellence” stated that; ” Leadership is about discovering the passion, persistence and imagination to get results, to be able to find the Wow factor and to be able to think the weird thoughts necessary to learn and thrive in a disruptive age”.

Peter Druker does give the simplified version, “someone who has followers”, but defines leadership as a means to an end and he details the foundations and requirements of effective leadership. Effective leadership for Drucker is thinking through the organisation’s mission and defining it. Then, establishing the mission and visibly though effective communication. It is the leader who sets the goals and priorities with total clarity. Likewise it is up to the leader to define and maintain standards.

Welch is probably the best known “big-businessman” of his generation (CEO and Chairman of General Electric for over 20 years). The Welch leadership way is typified by clarity of thought and forthrightness of direction. For Welch, business leaders who treat change as an enemy will fail. They need to be aware that the very survival of their corporation rests with their ability to adapt – this is the reality they are working in – and to prepare their workers for change. The faster this can be accomplished the better. Welch believes leadership is about Vision not supervision! The Leaders should set a general framework for their team, the vision should be congruent with the overall goals of the organisation but they should avoid too detailed (and therefore restrictive) plans; this can stifle the ability to change. Trying to keep tabs on detailed plans is not the best use of time: Control slows you down! If an employee can’t live up to the values – get rid of them.

John Adair was a Senior Lecturer and Leadership Training Advisor at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. He believes that leadership matters deeply, that good leadership is good leadership irrespective of whether it is within a business, charity, sports team, political party or army regiment. He also believes that good leadership can be learnt and that everyone can improve their leadership ability. Great leaders exemplify the qualities that they expect from others. They do not have to be “experts” in their subordinate roles rather that they should personify the qualities desired. He highlights a core list: enthusiastic, energetic, calm in a crisis, warm and tough yet fair. For Adair, leadership is a privilege – a leader is there to serve his followers.

Rudolph Giuliani is a political leader who came to world attention during the 9/11 attack on New York where he was Mayor at the time. His actions and conduct during this period cemented his reputation for great leadership. His leadership advice is a mix of home-spun common sense coupled with simple practical tasks and advice. He founded Giuliani Partners, a consulting firm offering leadership advice in 2002. The publication of his book “Leadership” in the same year confirmed his reputation as a leadership thinker of our age. Giuliani’s leadership style is very reminiscent of Churchill although he tries to distance himself from him. He states that a daily routine, starting with a morning meeting means that things are routinely followed-up; resulting in early wins that encouraged subordinate staff to drive projects towards successful completion. This allowed him to oversee the big picture, while researching other topics that needed his attention. Once a decision was made, it would be “All Go” with total confidence in ultimate success. In getting on with things, especially in times of crises, instils further confidence in others. If he got it wrong, he insists that the leader has to accept responsibility for the teams’ actions and not blame others. Conversely, give praise where praise is due, you honour those who have done well under your stewardship. Have public values and beliefs in place, give subordinates responsibility, giving team members the benefit of the doubt (at least initially, then if they continually fail in expectations, they can be removed), and stand by your people when things get difficult. Doing this enables and empowers the group and encourages them to be bold in whatever they have been charged with.

Peter Scholtes shared the platform with W. Edwards Deming educating corporations about the “new” philosophy of the Quality movement. His view on leadership concentrates on systems thinking. He believes in transforming leadership from hierarchical command and control into a style of inspiring leadership. System thinking requires leaders to understand their organisations as if it was a system, rather than an entity, therefore leadership is a process or set of processes. The leader has to understand system variation, understanding the difference between common cause variation and special cause variation. Common cause variations are dealt with at the strategic level, while special cause variations are mastered tactically. He states that leaders have to understand people, particularly how people learn, interact, develop and communicate. They also need to understand how poor leadership can de-motivate their staff. The Leader of any organisation must show leadership by providing a totally clear meaning, direction, mission, values and focus, which must come from the heart (not be meaningless slogans and wordplay). Staff need to know what to measure and how to measure it.

My understanding of Leadership is as follows. A true leader acts as a catalyst; by galvanizing people or groups to a common purpose though use of their oratory power to convince others to a stated cause, by practicing what they preach. One definition is that a leader has an instinct to lead those around them, using their skills and knowledge. They are prepared to lead from the front (by example), showing utmost care for those who follow them. These leaders will not hesitate to admit mistakes, ask advice and learn from it. They continually keep re-inventing themselves. They are open to new challenges and are ready to adopt unconventional methods and approaches to achieve their objectives. These leaders also have the ability to take large risks, but they are invariably heavily calculated in their favour. In addition to this I personally include mentoring. I take some people that work for me, who have that indefinable spark of “something”, provide them with guidance, advice, encouragement and responsibility. They in turn, as they develop, generally do the same with those around them. They become advocates, allies and your change agents

I believe that personal conviction, communication, confidence, compassion, skill and knowledge, when taken together, make that person a hero to their followers.

Today David is a Management Consultant, who works at executive level with C Type Officers. He also has business interests in the Equine, Internet and Communications Industry. He speaks on “Business Contingency Planning & Disaster Recovery” and “Project Management” to business groups.

If you need any guidance, assistance of help, please visit

http://www.global-mgmt.com

It does not hurt you to talk in confidence to him.

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/David_G_Snell/257283

 

Leadership

Why Use Golf to Develop Leadership?

There’s a surprising similarity between playing the game of golf and leadership. Once the analogies are made clear to you, you’ll wonder perhaps why you didn’t see it before. By the time you’ve finished reading this, you’ll know the major connections and feel compelled to find out more.

35% of registered golfers in the UK are senior managers, professionals or executives , according to Mintel. This rises to 43.3% of London Golfers. And 12.8% of all golfers in the UK are senior managers, executives or professionals – that’s about 1.8 million golfers are senior managers, executives and professionals in the UK alone! (Source: GB TGI, BMRB Quarter 4 2006/Mintel) 44% of senior managers executives and professionals in the UK have played, do play or would like to play golf. (Source: BMRB/Mintel) Add another 1.4 million managers (Source: GB TGI, BMRB Quarter 4 2006/Mintel) and you realise just how big a sport golf has become – and it id predominantly ABC1 who play the game, and still predominantly male – 83%!

In part, business leaders, particularly those with some marketing or sales role, play golf to network with prospects and clients. There’s certainly some social status about being a golf club member, and for sure, in part there’s the ‘coincidence’ of playing golf and being a business leader.

The characteristics of those who play golf and those who are business leaders shows considerable similarities. For example, the desire to score well (even win) a round of golf. To be concerned about one’s personal performance and strive to improve it relates to a strong personal ‘Achievement Orientation’. I want to do well because I want to do well!

There are differences too, and important ones. On the golf course, the golfer is playing against the course. It is one of very few sports where the play of others has no effect on the golfer’s performance at all… unless he (and it is predominantly still ‘he’) allows it. This is not the case for the majority of business leaders where personal performance can be impacted by the performance of others. So the golf course is the place where a player can assuredly adopt the attitude, it’s MY performance that matters and only their actions change the result. This suggests the desire for control – or Directiveness.

76% of golfers play for social reasons (GMI/Mintel) – this demonstrates a desire, if not ability, in the competencies of influence and communication.

So why use golf to develop leadership?

The game of golf attracts business leaders more than other groups – & perhaps the conclusions above suggest why. So it became increasingly obvious to our team that golf could be both an attractive idea for development within this group, and that the game of golf itself could be deliberately used to develop the competencies and behaviours associated with great leadership. Indeed, many of our clients confirm the attraction of golf for our senior management training programmes by requesting training to take place at golf clubs.

Our research into using simulations has shown that given a truly safe environment to practice the tools and techniques of leadership and management, participants not only learn more (23% greater learning) than using more traditional methods like case studies, they enjoy it more (17% greater) and demonstrate greater transfer of new behaviours to the workplace (26% greater transfer).

Not only this, but studies in societies where females are considered disadvantaged in management showed a greater improvement in demonstrated management and leadership competencies after a simulation based programme than a traditional programme over their male counterparts 16% greater improvement in demonstrated competencies. The key to the success of using simulations is that they provide a realistic, safe environment to practice the tools, techniques and behaviours of great leadership (Kenworthy 2005)

Is golf a safe, realistic environment?

The great thing about golf is that it is one of the very few activities that provides a genuinely level-playing field – through the well-established handicapping system. It may not be perfect, but it’s very close. This means that a scratch golfer competes fairly with a complete beginner. There are also rules within which the game must be played – these represent the constraints of doing business. There are established game rules that encourage pairs or foursomes to work together, and there are rules to foster individual competition -sometimes in business we want our leaders to be entrepreneurial and ‘go-getters’ – leading by example, at other times, we want them to be team leaders, or team players.

Caddies, provide a perfect metaphor for coaches and mentors. The course itself provides a varied environment, shifting according to things beyond the control of the player, but observable by them. The hole provides a target, the course provides for a strategic plan to achieve the real goal. The points scored can directly relate to revenue or profit. The clubs and balls are resources – even the golf pro can be a consultant resource.

The game of golf provides a fantastic platform to learn leadership – its safe and fair, it’s as realistic as you need it to be and it’s fun!

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