Category Archives: Leadership

Leadership

Leadership – Do You Have It

If you could improve your results by 25-30% what would that mean to you?

There is no magic formula or product to offer. However, sustainable, measurable results of 25-30% increase in productivity IS possible–the answer lies in one word…leadership. Sales are important, marketing is important, PR is important, but without leadership they will all eventually fall short.

Leadership is a word frequently misunderstood and misused. Dr. Creflo Dollar has said “If you don’t know the purpose of a thing, abuse is inevitable.” The same holds true for leadership. Leadership is not based on position or even job function. There are often people who are in positions of “leadership” that do not exhibit leadership skills. Likewise, there are “leaders” throughout an organization who, because they lack the “title,” are not given the opportunity to lead. Everyone has leadership potential; however, it must be developed and true leadership must be understood.

Of all the definitions of leadership, Peter F. Drucker says it best,

“Leadership is not magnetic personality, that can just as well be a glib tongue. It is not “making friends and influencing people”, that is flattery. Leadership is lifting a person’s vision to higher sights, the raising of a person’s performance to a higher standard, the building of a personality beyond its normal limitations.”

Why is leadership so important? John Maxwell calls it the “Law of the Lid:” a business or organization can only grow to the limits of its leadership. If the leadership is weak, it doesn’t matter how great the concept, product or service, it will never achieve financial greatness or market dominance. Fail-Safe Leadership authors Linda Martin and Dr. David Mutchler identified symptoms of ineffective leadership, some of which are listed below (take the full leadership test to see how your organization fares):

 

  • Excessive meetings
  • Lack of personal accountability
  • Difficulty terminating poor performers

Other symptoms include:

 

 

  • Unclear (or complete lack of) organizational goals
  • Cliques (among management/leadership team)
  • Declining customer/membership base

An organization that reflects any combination of the above symptoms may have a leadership challenge. That is not to say there are no leaders, or that you, the reader, are an ineffective leader, it does mean a leadership challenge exists. While these symptoms have dire consequences if not corrected, they can be changed.

 

HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR LEADERSHIP

Before you can expect improved results, there must be a positive behavior change. Any change in behavior is a result of goals that are set (the best goal setting process includes the five critical core elements of goal setting). However, the key to achieving goals rests in our attitude. You may have heard this poem:

Watch your thoughts, they become words.

Watch your words, they become actions.

Watch your actions, they become habits.

Watch your habits, they become character.

Watch your character, it becomes your destiny. (Unknown)

You can not expect sustained, measurable improvement in your results without first changing the attitudes of your leaders. The many “New Year’s Resolutions” that have been set and failed is a perfect illustration. Goals were set, intentions were good but two things happened: 1) you didn’t change your attitude about the habit being changed, and 2) you failed to use all five of the critical elements of goal setting, primarily the consideration of obstacles. Think about it, nothing truly changes until we change our attitude about it.

Continue reading →

Leadership

Strategic Leadership

Mission, vision, values, goals, objectives, and strategic planning are just some of the leadership buzzwords of the late 20th Century. Virtually all professional executives have attempted to understand what all the buzzwords mean and make them a reality. Few have succeeded and most continue to search for what bridges the gap between leadership theory and leadership reality. That bridge may well be the new buzzwords for the 21st Century. They are “Strategic Leadership”.

Strategic Leadership is a process that is simple in its basic form, easily applied, and has the potential of yielding significant results. Leading strategically means having a comprehensive strategy for the immediate future. Unlike strategic planning, which is long term for the whole organization, Strategic Leadership is short term designed for the executive and staff.
Since September 11th, “doing more with less” has been the theme of many organizational budgets. With the economic instability, stock market uncertainty, the war on terrorism, and additional military conflicts on the horizon, many organizational priorities have changed. Many organizations are just trying to survive, as budgets have not increased or, worse yet, some have decreased. As a result, leaders are again called upon to be creative as they strive to accomplish their goals. Having to accomplish more than the available resources will allow, many leaders will be forced to try and accomplish more by doing more. Strategic Leadership offers the professional executive the solution too not only accomplishing more with less but by doing less.

“This short passage describes how an early CEO, CFO, HR Director (Moses) is being overwhelmed while leading the children of Israel toward the Promised Land. Help arrives one day in the person of Jethro, the Priest of Midian (who also happens to be Moses’ father-in-law). After a few days of observing Moses in action, Jethro takes him aside to offer some friendly advice. The following is a very loose translation of the conversation between what may well be the first management consultant-client relationship in recorded history.

Jethro: “Moses, your doing it all wrong! You’re wearing yourself out, as well as your people, by trying to do to much.” (i.e. accomplish more by doing more?)

Moses: “You may be right. I’m putting in very long hours and working harder and harder; but what else can I do? My people expect a lot from me, and I don’t want to let them down!”

Jethro: “Here is a better way to get the job done: Select some trusted subordinates, and instruct them to deal with all but the most important issues your people bring to them for judgment. In that way you may actually accomplish more for your people than you can by trying to do everything yourself.” (i.e. accomplish more by doing less?)

Exodus 18:24-27 picks up the story:

So Moses gave heed to the voice of his father-in-law, and did all that he said. Moses chose able men out of all of Israel, and made them heads over the people; rulers of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens. And they judged the people at all times; hard cases they brought to Moses, but all the small matters they decided themselves. Then Moses let his father-in-law depart… to his own country.” (Lasagna)

Moses took the first of several steps required to implement Strategic Leadership. Strategic Leadership, similar in some respects to strategic planning, is about action, not just a written document that all to often sits on a shelf or in a drawer and is very rarely reviewed. Strategic Leadership is a daily process that should be reviewed at staff meetings. Effective Strategic Leadership is a fluid, dynamic process that requires constant vigilance. Integral to the success of Strategic Leadership is the P.O.L.I.C.E. Leadership Methodology:

P: Planning

O: Organizing

L: Liability/accountability

I: Information/communication

C: Control/accountability

E: Ethics/integrity

The P.O.L.I.C.E. Leadership Methodology ensures that the Strategic Leadership process is grounded on a foundation of accountability. With all of the scandals surrounding CEO’s of both public and private organizations, accountability to all stakeholders has come to the forefront and should make Strategic Leadership very attractive to the professional executive.

Like Moses, the professional executive must take that first step and come to the conclusion that there has to be a better way to accomplish the mission of the organization. The implementation of Strategic Leadership requires an introspective assessment of the programs, goals, and tasks of the organization. Many executives are biased in their assessment, which can degrade the effectiveness of Strategic Leadership. An outside review offers the best, unbiased assessment, to make educated decisions from.

In the second step, the executive is introduced to strategic thinking. “Strategic thinking means asking, Are we doing the right thing? Perhaps, more precisely, it means making that assessment using three key requirements about strategic thinking: a definite purpose be in mind; an understanding of the environment, particularly of the forces that affect or impede the fulfillment of that purpose; and creativity in developing effective responses to those forces.” (Bryson) In assessing those forces that can affect or impede the success, the executive and staff will determine the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (S.W.O.T.) to each strategy. In particular, the executive must be cognizant of the budgetary restraints and political implications (threats) to certain strategies and initiatives. The executive will participate in the “I want” brainstorming session. Every executive in every organization has a vision of what they want to accomplish. Some are more realistic than others. “Fewer have a clear, succinct, and useful vision of success.” (Bryson) Sadly, many of their “I want” to accomplish will not come to fruition. Not because their goals are unrealistic but because so many executives are bogged down with the minutia of leadership (Moses) and can’t get many of the important (critical) things done.

During this session the executive is tasked to list the “I want” to accomplish for himself and the staff within the next year. The executive is encouraged to “shotgun” his ideas for the organization regardless of how unrealistic they may be. At this point, Pareto’s 80/20 Rule is introduced. Count Vilfredo Pareto (1848-1923) was an Italian economist who observed that 20% of his fellow countrymen owned 80% of the country’s wealth. He concluded that their success was dependent upon focusing on the critical few (20%) and they did not waste valuable time on the trivial many (80%). “The Rule and Its Corollary: Pareto’s rule states that a small number of causes is responsible for a large percentage of the effect, in a ratio of about 20:80. Expressed in a management context, 20% of a person’s effort generates 80% of the person’s results. The corollary to this is that 20% of one’s results absorb 80% of one’s resources or efforts. For the effective use of resources, the manager’s challenge is to distinguish the right 20% from the trivial many.” (Hafner) “The leader of an organization must remember that 80% of his problems come from 20% of the workforce; when 80% of your events are not within your control, focus on the 20% you can do something about. Utilizing the 80/20 Rule in tandem with strategic thinking, the executive determines what are the critical few (20%) on the list that he will need to concentrate on. The number of critical few will vary depending on the size of the organization. In addition, the P.O.L.I.C.E. Leadership Methodology is introduced into the process. A major component to the success of Strategic Leadership is the accountability factor. When the critical few and trivial many are established, then who is accountable for the achieving these goals, along with a reasonable timetable, is established.

In the third step, the facilitator will hold a meeting with the executive and the staff. The facilitator will explain Strategic Leadership, the 80/20 Rule, and S.W.O.T. to the staff. The executive will outline his critical few and a roundtable discussion should take place. All of the interactive sessions are informal and directed at achieving consensus through teamwork. All participants will discuss the pros and cons of the critical few. The end result, with the input of the staff, may be that some of the critical few are not feasible. Once a consensus has been reached, the executive will be assigned the task of writing out a strategy (plan) for accomplishing the critical few assigned to him.

In the fourth step, the facilitator will meet individually with each member of the staff. This is the “I will” accomplish development session. “I will” is an action statement. It is not, “I might, maybe, I think so, or I probably can.” The staff member will review each of the critical few that he is assigned and during discussion with the facilitator come up with a strategy (plan) to accomplish the goal. Staff members are not only responsible for their “I will” statement. They are encouraged to be future thinkers and empowered to state what they want to accomplish during the next year. The staff member will be assigned the task of writing out a strategy, and timetable for accomplishing the assigned tasks and the tasks they see as significant to their area of responsibility for the next year. Staff members will have the opportunity to discuss their strategies with the executive.

Continue reading →

Leadership

Businesses Benefit from Leadership Programs

If you are planning to build a wonderful career, maybe you should first go through some preliminary training. Nowadays, there are very successful leadership programs being developed. Leadership programs will help you to acquire some very necessary skills. Leadership programs will give you the needed power to achieve the best both in your career as well as in your personal life. Leadership programs will be the management-training program you are looking for. As well as good professional training, they will help you gain self-confidence and self-respect, things that are very helpful in your private life. These programs are undoubtedly a very effective way to gain the assurances that you will need to be ready for a prosperous career and life.

I know from experience that a leadership program can easily improve and perfect a person because I have been teaching leadership courses for years. If you go to a leadership program with the right attitude, confident that you desire success, you will become a perfectly changed person. Naturally, there are people who challenge the necessity of the leadership programs. The success of the leadership programs depends usually on the way they are taught. As people who teach leadership programs are different, as different are the profits you can take from leadership programs. From young people to older, all of them make the best use of any type of leadership programs. You can choose between practically different leadership programs, although almost all of them have some fundamental elements in common.

One of the key components of all leadership programs is that they are aiming to build up abilities to work in a team. Some leadership programs even acquire this building of team-working abilities as the center of the whole leadership program. As an example, I will tell you that I have heard about leadership programs which center on the fulfilling of physical tasks as lifting every member of the group over a wall.

Of course, the point of this is not to gain muscle mass but to learn how to work as a team. This part of the leadership programs will teach you how to seek each member’s strengths and weaknesses. Leadership programs will teach you how to leave behind the egotism you have and to put all your strengths into the group work. This is probably the most important lesson that the future leader will learn from the leadership program.

The second fundamental component of leadership programs is that leadership programs usually tend to emphasize on self-confidence and self-esteem. A leader should be first of all self-confident. A leadership program has to teach you how to be convinced that everything you say is important. The leaders have not become leaders because they are more capable, or more intelligent than other people are. Surprisingly, it may turn out exactly the opposite thing. The leaders have become leaders because they more confidence than the other people to contend that what they say is important.

Morgan Hamilton offers expert advice and great tips regarding all aspects concerning business. Learn more at Leadership Programs [http://www.generalbusinessinfo.com/business-information/business-news/businesses-benefit-from-leadership-programs.html]

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Morgan_Hamilton/45413

 

Leadership

Collective Leadership and Dysfunctional Leadership Teams

In my experience most leadership team members spend a day a month meeting together and the other 29 days complaining about what a waste of time it was and how they aren’t talking about the ‘real issues’.

Almost everyone I say that to cracks a wry smile. We’ve all seen it. Most of us have suffered the effects of it. Many of us have even been part of it. It seems to me that most organisations seem to survive in spite of the fact that their leaders don’t work effectively together – and yet few organisations are actually doing much about it!

But, before we get too smug, aren’t we all members of ‘leadership teams’? Whether it’s the team that heads our part of the organisation, things we’re involved in outside work or being part of the team that runs our household and family – we all have leadership roles which we share with others.

I call this kind of leadership Collective Leadership and I think it is a vital area that is little written or spoken about.

Levels of leadership

Essentially, collective leadership is where we need to lead together to achieve things that we cannot do alone.

It has been said that ‘nothing very significant in life can be achieved alone’ and it is easy to agree. Collective leadership, however, challenges our ideas of leadership.

Generally, when we talk about leadership we are talking about an Individual with some sort of positional power or authority whose role is to set direction first and then mobilise people towards it second.

This model is increasingly flawed in the modern world. However senior we get, we keep discovering that we don’t have direct or complete authority over the people we need to influence to accomplish things. Even where we do, our ability to exercise that authority is significantly diluted by the agendas of others and their ability to find creative ways to achieve their ends whilst doing the minimum possible to help us meet ours.

So why is it so hard to make leadership teams work?

The core of the problem is in the division of responsibilities. Ever since Henry Ford invented the production line, we have been ever more keen to divide up work and give people individual accountability for elements of it.

The big advantage of this is that each person can focus and specialise on their part of the jigsaw and, over the years, we have become more and more creative at ways of reinforcing that focus through measurement, performance management and reward of all kinds.

The challenge that this brings is that when groups with different responsibilities come together they become representatives for their agendas rather than members of a collective team. This in turn leads to meeting agendas that are typically full of items from each department seeking the support of the heads of other departments.

In this way the leadership team’s time together becomes crowded with decisions on marketing or operations or HR etc. Limited time means that, as a result, the big issues like strategy, customer service, processes, people and leadership are either not discussed at all or don’t get enough time.

Because they affect everyone they can only be progressed by the leadership team working together so they tend to remain unresolved as running sores. These in turn create a series of problems and symptoms in Marketing and HR and Operations that require top team agenda time…….

So what can we do to get our team working?

The first thing to do is to clarify what the big, collective issues are. My experience is that there is rarely a consensus on this and the way to begin is to talk to each member of the team to find out their views before presenting a consolidated view back to the team for discussion and agreement.

Once this is clear and agreed, meeting agendas can be changed to reflect these priorities. This will involve some debate and creative thinking about where the decisions that the team were previously making should be dealt with.

The team is likely initially to need help to work together in new ways. Typically these will be more ambiguous than the tactical content that dominated previously and will require new ways of preparing, discussing and listening in order to make progress.

It is also common for there to be relationship issues which need to be addressed (see ‘Have you ever wondered why… leadership team members don’t seem to get on’ on the website or in this newsletter.)

Continue reading →

Leadership

Leadership Training

Leadership training is of paramount importance to those who aspire to be good leaders and stand tall among others. Leadership training improves communication skills and other qualities that are key to becoming a successful and confident leader.

Effective leadership training also entails helping individuals form an enterprising and immensely focused group. The leadership qualities assist an individual in making sure that members of the group function jointly in an efficient and constructive manner. Leadership training helps a leader to imbibe a sense of optimism in the group to which he belongs. The group’s members are guided by the leadership virtues of the key man.

A majority of times it has been observed that, despite possessing leadership skills, a person cannot flourish. This inability to come out in flying colors stems from the fact that the person is not conversant with the subtle techniques that help bring out the leader in him.

Individuals aspiring to be successful leaders may at times find that their efforts are undermined despite their best efforts. This is due to the fact that the individual lacks the motivation to overcome his obstacles. A proper and suitable training in leadership skills often helps one to overcome these barriers.

Leadership training generates the motivation that is otherwise lacking in individuals with potential leadership skill. It helps an individual in formulating a dependable, tough and admirable foresight of the future. This will make the persons associated with him regard him with deference and have faith in his capability. This would ensure that they would be eager to actively pursue the guidance provided by their leader. Leadership training helps one to convey his goals effectively to others so that they are reasonably influenced.

Leadership training helps be a composed and self-assured guide, and also instills in him the confidence to inspire trust in other persons.

Leadership Training [http://www.WetPluto.com/Corporate-Leadership-Training.html] provides detailed information on Leadership Training, Leadership Development Training, Corporate Leadership Training, Leadership Skill Training and more. Leadership Training is affiliated with Leadership Development [http://www.WetPluto.com/Leadership.html].

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Thomas_Morva/44492