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Grow Your Business Through Your Employees Not Your Customers
by Liz Weber, CMC
You’ve cut prices, you’ve refined your target customer base, you’ve increased your advertising and still — business is so slow it’s dangerous. The economy is not good, but other companies seem to be selling similar products and services. How are they able to survive (and yes, thrive) while your sales are tanking? They’ve focused on growing their businesses through their employees, instead of through their customers alone.
Successful companies have realized that if they better educate, train, and communicate with their employees on ‘the business’, their organization’s bottom line will likely improve. Why? Better informed and better trained employees are able to generate sales. They’re able to identify ways to improve processes, and to discover ways to reduce costs. Regardless of title or position, everyone in the organization can now contribute to growing ‘the business’.
Every employee, at every level of your organization is a potential sales person. Every employee is a potential manager and leader. Every employee is a potential process engineer. But your employees can’t reach their potential, until they’ve been given information, training, and guidance to make that potential a reality.
Who better to learn the entire production process than the people on the line? Why not teach them how enhancements to their process can positively impact the rest of the line?
Who better to learn project management than the people who have been gathering the data for the project? Why not teach them how to marry the data with real- world applications?
Who better to study the deep demographics of your customers than your front-line tellers? Why not teach them how to quickly identify customer segments and then use the appropriate cross-selling techniques?
At a bare minimum, if your employees wear company shirts, jackets, or uniforms, recognize that they are your passive sales team. They’re walking billboards for your organization. Therefore, it’s critical these employees understand ‘the business’ and can explain it to others.
I recently suggested to one of my clients that he and his senior staff wear their company shirts to any Rotary, Chamber, Lions, business or community function. The owner thought the idea was rather weak. However, that night he wore his company shirt to an after-work community fund-raiser. The woman he sat next to commented on his shirt. My client explained what his company provided, and walked away with her card. The next day, he followed up with her — and received a large purchase order. My client has since scheduled more training for all of his employees, he now includes product and services briefings in his regular production meetings, and — he’s ordered more shirts!
Don’t limit your growth by focusing exclusively on your customers. Leverage your business through your employees. ‘Grow’ your employees, and they’ll grow your business.
8 Ideas for Navigating Your Leadership Mistakes
by Art Petty
Newsflash: all good leaders make mistakes. A great number of them. Everyday. After all, there are people involved, and this would be really easy without the people. Fortunately, people are all that we have.
The true test of your leadership character isn’t measured by the number of mistakes you make, but rather, by what you do moving forward once a mistake is recognized. You have a few choices: ignore it, deflect it or tackle it head-on in front of everyone and kick it in the teeth. With all due respect to my dental friends, I opt for the latter.
8 Ideas for Navigating Your Leadership Mistakes:
1. Admit the mistake. Quickly. While speed kills in most situations, it’s your friend here. Get out in front of the mistake immediately.
2. Resist your natural reflex urge to make excuses. Blaming the weather, competitors, the market, sunspots, lack of resources or anyone else on your team is only going to exponentially compound the damage to your leadership credibility.
3. Describe the architecture of your strategic mistakes and missteps. These are learning opportunities for everyone…not just for you. What were your assumptions? What data did you rely upon? How did you frame the issue? This re-evaluation is mental fitness for strengthening future decision-making.
4. Apologize. Too many leaders equate an apology with a sign of weakness. To the contrary, it takes genuine strength to look at an employee in the eyes and admit you were wrong and apologize. (Note the two parts…an admission and the act of apologizing!)
5. Don’t wallow in your mistakes. If you’ve executed on numbers 1-4 above, everyone else is moving on and so should you. Translation: once you’ve processed on the issue and captured the lesson learned, let it go!
6. Accept that you can’t fix people…but you can fix talent selection mistakes. Talent selection mistakes are some of the toughest leaders face. We all make them…but the best leaders strive to minimize these issues on both sides of the decision. Improving your pre-hire assessment skills is critical. And so is recognizing and dealing with a selection mistake quickly, fairly and with full transparency. This is too important to do anything less.
7. Seek out and stomp out chronic mistakes. The chronic ones tend to be communication, interpersonal or commitment blunders. From our annoying quirks…looking at our e-mail during a team member’s status meeting to giving short shrift to someone who is obviously seeking help, or, worse yet, committing do doing something and then failing to do it, those are visible, measureable and curable. The key to success: you’ve got to want to learn about these habits and you have to be willing to hold yourself accountable to improving.
8. Accept the implications of your mistakes. If you can’t handle the accountability heat, get out of the leadership kitchen. It’s part of the job.
The Bottom-Line for Now:
Good leaders make new mistakes all of the time. It’s the old ones that they face-up to, address and learn from that prepare them for those yet to come.
How to Be an Elegant Leader
Plenty of leaders seek to boost their performance by becoming stronger, more agile, more forceful. Matthew E. May has a whole different strategy.
Most leaders seek to boost their performance by becoming more: more decisive, more communicative, more masterful of complexity. Matthew E. May prefers the opposite approach. A former consultant for Toyota, May sums up much of what he learned there about the art of simplification in the word elegance, which he applied to products, processes, and problem solving in his 2009 book, In Pursuit of Elegance. (A new book, The Laws of Subtraction, will be published this fall.) In a recent conversation with editor-at-large Leigh Buchanan, May discussed how elegance applies to leadership.
Let's start by defining elegance.
Elegance is the ability to achieve the maximum effect or impact through the minimum means. One of the best examples is the Google interface. There's a box; there's a lot of white space; you enter a term and search for it.
What's the leadership analogue of the Google interface?
Elegant leaders would be very accessible and easy to connect with. There would be nothing excessive about them. They would do nothing wasteful. Someone asks a simple question, and they get a simple, meaningful answer. Bill Bratton had an elegant way of leading at the New York Police Department. Doug Conant, who recently stepped down as CEO of Campbell's Soup, had the strategy of using small, informal points of daily contact to deliver meaningful messages about the company.
How does one become an elegant leader?
Elegance requires that you subtract. Leaders should ask themselves two questions: One: What would the people in my organization like me to reduce or stop doing? Two: What would my competitors hate for me to reduce or stop doing?
This is challenging, of course, because adding is a human inclination. A couple of days ago, my wife and I were at Costco, watching people walk out with big, happy smiles because they got 36 rolls of toilet paper and enough meat to feed an army. We love to accumulate. That's what business leaders do in terms of staffing and building their companies. And all of a sudden, growth becomes the strategy, and you wake up and, lo and behold, you realize we're a lot slower than we were a few years ago.
What kinds of things might leaders subtract?
In the case of what employees want you to stop doing, subtract anything that complicates an organization or how its people work. Leaders like to put structures in place, but a very structured organization can be extremely inelegant. Small companies tend to be much more elegant than large companies, because they are simple, agile, and resourceful, with a clear focus. Entrepreneurs often start out as quite elegant leaders.
What about in terms of competitors?
Competitors would hate it if you stopped doing things that get in your own way. Google's leaders would hate it if Microsoft's leaders stopped adding features the engineers think are cool but people have no use for.
What does elegant leadership look like in action?
It's the difference between karate and aikido. Karate is hitting and kicking. It's meeting force with force. Aikido is using the momentum of your opponent to your advantage. It's meeting force with give. If you were to watch aikido in action, you would see very, very little movement on the part of the aikido master. You would see a lot of movement on the part of the attacker. So it's the ability to use external forces in a way that moves us forward. Yes, the world is getting far more complicated. Things are changing faster than ever. How do you exploit that? How do you make it invisible to customers?
Are there things leaders are told to do that are inelegant?
Immediate action is supposed to be a sign of a forceful leader. But I remember what Boyd Matson, a longtime journalist for National Geographic, once told me: If the hippos charge at you, stand still. If you're on a safari and come across a watering hole with Mama Hippo and her calf, and she doesn't like the way your camera sounds and decides to charge, you can't fight her, and you will die if you run. The only way to survive is to stand still.
Leaders of businesses face 2,000-pound beasts every day—they're called competitors or the economy. When they're pressing down on you, doing something isn't always better than doing nothing.
Surely doing nothing is dangerous.
It's not dangerous if you develop a skill set around two important things: observation and reflection. In the Western world, we are driven by short-term cycles: the 10-day sales report, the monthly close, the quarterly stock report. In the East, they take the long view. First, you observe the problem and try to understand it from the perspective of others: the user, the employee, the customer. Only then do you begin the design or the decision-making process. If you don't take time to observe and reflect, you risk making things worse.
Is it possible to be a Zen leader?
Did Steve Jobs qualify as a Zen leader? He was certainly into it. I don't know how he came out to be such a toxic individual. A Zen leader would embrace the notion of masterful work and constantly get better at it. He would do what he did for a worthy reason and in a noble way. That constant pursuit of perfection while understanding perfection will never be achieved flies in the face of how we think. If we can't achieve something, then why pursue it? Well, because we have to. That's what Jobs did so well and Jeff Bezos does so well.
Leaders are always being told to communicate. Is too much communication antithetical to elegance?
You have to think about where that advice comes from. Some leaders don't communicate at all. Study after study shows that the two extremes—radio silence and TMI—don't work. So instead, use the Goldilocks principle of straight down the middle. Communicate just enough, just in time, and in such a way that you intrigue employees enough that they want to learn more. You want them leaning forward rather than sitting back with their arms folded.
Should the CEO also be a CSO—chief simplification officer?
No. Because, though all elegant things are simple, all simple things aren't elegant. You could make the case that "Chainsaw Al" Dunlap was all about simplicity, because all he wanted to do was cut, cut, cut. Jack Welch wanted to neutron-bomb businesses that weren't one or two in their markets. A leader must bring artfulness and emotional intelligence to how he thinks about simplifying.
Leigh Buchanan is an editor at large for Inc. Magazine. A former editor at Harvard Business Review and founding editor of WebMaster magazine, she writes regular columns on leadership and workplace culture, and she contributes Inc.'s capsule book reviews, "A Skimmer's Guide to the Latest Business Books." @LeighEBuchanan
3 Ways to Think Like an Innovator
Most people struggle to do what innovators excel at: connecting the unconnected. Here are three ways to get in the habit of making new associations:
Just do it.
Force associations across different ideas when they don't come naturally. Ask yourself: What else could this idea be connected to?
Shake it up.
When associations don't emerge, try forcing them to surface. Put seemingly unrelated ideas or words together and see what comes to mind. The creative combinations may spark a new idea.
Repeat.
Research shows that if you practice associational thinking long enough, the task will energize you rather than exhaust you.
12 Non-Negotiables To Leading By Example
Angels 1B Albert Pujols is the best player in major league baseball and an Apex Leader. On March 3rd, Mark Saxon of ESPNLosAngeles.com wrote an incredible piece on the leadership qualities of this incredible man who recently signed a 10-year contract for $250 million.
Pujols does not lead others by words, but by example. His style and approach are something all other leaders can learn from. The following are 12 quotes and principles I gleaned from Saxon’s piece. To read the full article, click here.
A.Leading By Example Requires Production – Angels pitcher Dan Haren says, “When our team comes to town, you know Albert Pujols is coming to town and we’re coming with him,”
B.Leading By Example Requires Proven Character – Before investing $250 million in an individual, GM Jerry Dipoto and his team did extensive background checks into Pujols’ past. They needed to ensure that Albert would not only be a superstar on the field, but off of it as well.
C.Leading By Example Means Valuing Everyone’s Contribution – Dipoto said, “Is it ex-teammates, is it people you know on a coaching staff, is it guys who played with him and are now out of the game? You start building the pieces.”
D. Leading By Example Requires Generosity – Pujols is well-know for his charity work and foundation that helps young people.
E.Leading By Example Means You Are Approachable – While Pujols can come across as gruff during interviews, to his teammates, “he is viewed as a surprisingly humble superstar, an approachable veteran.”
F.Leading By Example Means Setting The Emotional Tone – Pujols brings an intense playing style that team officials hope will rub-off on the team.
G.Leading By Example Means Hard Work – Pujols said. “When you’re here, you’re working. This is what gets you ready. If you want to have a championship ballclub, this is where it starts.”
H.Leading By Example Adds Value To Others - When referring to his younger brother Yadier, Angels guest instructor Benjie Molina says, “Albert showed my brother how to get ready for the game, how to work out after the game, the way you take losses so hard, the way you go at it during games, all that. My brother is a really, really good player because he had Albert to show him.”
I.Leading By Example Requires Responsibility – Pujols says, “If you show up at 9:30 when they’re supposed to be there at 8:30, what are you teaching your employees? You can show up one day late and, even though you’re the boss, you’re showing your players to do what you do. Believe it or not, our minds as humans want to do what the leader does.”
J.Leading By Example Affects The Next Generation – Pujols’ every move will be watched by all the young players on the Angels roster. He will be able to teach them the nuances of the game like patience at the plate, base running, and defense without saying a word.
K.Leading By Example Means Breaking Down Walls And Crossing Barriers – There are many nationalities represented on the Angels. Haren says, “The good thing about him is he really relates to Latins and Americans so well. He speaks perfect Spanish and perfect English. He’s quiet, but he makes an effort to reach out and try to make everyone feel comfortable.”
L.Leading By Example Means You Were Once Led Well – Haren also points out that, “When he (Pujols) was an up and comer, I think Jim Edmonds and Scott Rolen taught him the right way to be.”
Production, Character, Valuing The Contribution Of Others, Generosity, Approachable, Setting The Emotional Tone, Hard Work, Adding Value, Responsibility, The Next Generation, Breaking Down Walls, and Learning From Other Leaders. If you are focused on these 12 things, you are probably leading by example.
If not, what do you need to work on as a leader?
Leadership in 3 P’s
Three P’s of Leadership:
PEOPLE
My leadership philosophy revolves around the core understanding that PEOPLE are the most import asset in any organization. PEOPLE are inherently good. PEOPLE want to do a good job, and given the proper conditions PEOPLE will do all that they can to EXCEL. A good leader always assumes best intentions and creates an environment in which her employees are positioned for success. A good leader acknowledges and rewards the accomplishments of her employees, and embraces a “servant leader” philosophy. Simply put, a big part a leader’s role is to make her employees are successful.
PATH
I have often heard it said that a leader “…must be interesting enough to make others want to follow.” A good leader sets clear expectations. This includes communicating the crystal clear vision of an organization’s end state. A leader must be able to clearly articulate the definition of success for the organization, and provide for employees a clear path. Once the PATH is set, a good leader will work to ensure that the end goals remain top of mind for employees.
PROCESS
A good leader must establish and communicate the “rules of engagement”. As the PEOPLE progress along the PATH, they must have a clear understanding of their boundaries and guidelines. A good leader avoids micro-managing, instead he defines the processes by which the organization will function, then steps away, empowering employees to perform while providing support and “air cover” where required.
3 Bad Habits of Fake Leaders — and How to Avoid
There was an interesting movie that came out last year called “The Adjustment Bureau” starring Matt Damon and Emily Blunt. In it, Damon plays a rising young congressman named David Norris. He’s headed for a big victory in a campaign for the U.S. Senate until a picture comes out of him mooning his fraternity brothers at a college reunion. He loses big and starts giving his supporters the big, inspirational, we’ll-be-back concession speech. He says things like, “Where I grew up, it wasn’t that you got knocked down, it was about what you did when you got back up.”
The crowd initially cheers loudly, but then settles down when Norris tells them what he just said was total BS. They didn’t say that in his neighborhood. His pollsters told him it would play well. Same thing with the striped tie he was wearing and even the amount of scuffing he had on his dress shoes. He pulled back the curtain on how the game was played. It was about learning how to fake being real.
As we enter the height of the political season in the U.S., that speech comes to mind. All of the candidate debates and speeches seem to offer a symposium in how to fake being real. Here are three common habits I’ve noticed so far:
■Put your game face mask on. When you enter the debate arena or step up to make that big speech, never let them see you sweat. Get that alpha dog body language going and smile so they see all your teeth. Above all else, don’t show any vulnerability.
■Stick to the poll research. Touch all the bases that appeal to the base. Cover so many things that nothing means anything.
■Follow the formula. There’s an accepted and expected formula for giving the big speech, so stick to it. At this point, you’ve done it so many times you could do it in your sleep. Of course, there’s a pretty good chance that your audience is asleep with their eyes open. If you’re lucky.
Needless to say, I’m not seriously advocating those techniques. I do, however, see a lot of them showing up in leadership settings outside of politics. Here are three ways to avoid showing up as a leader who’s only pretending to be real:
■Say how you really feel. Try honesty. It can be so rare that it will set you apart. I’m not arguing for unchecked volcanic eruptions or depth-of-depression soliloquies, but you should share your take on the truth.
■Draw on your life experience. Stay away from fake or clichéd stories and tell some of your own stories. Tell real stories about real people you know who have overcome challenges, done great work or inspire you in some way. Make a connection that people can relate to.
■Explain the behaviors behind the clichés. There are lot of clichés that show up in organizational mission statements and values lists. They’re so bland and familiar that they often don’t mean anything and feel fake. Don’t just stop with ”Excellence” or “Commitment.” Share what those words mean to you in terms of real life behavior and outcomes.
What’s your take on leaders who fake being real? How do you see them doing it? Better yet, what tells you a leader is really real?
9 Steps to Creative Leadership & Loving Life
The mind’s ability to develop, even as an adult, is incredible. Often the process of genuine self discovery leads to the development of a greater sense of what creative leadership means in our daily lives. Creative leaders don’t just want to live their dreams, they want to fully experience every juicy moment of their lives. Consciously creating and living your dreams is the height of the creative process. But if your creativity has been feeling vague to you lately or you’re feeling blocked in this vital area of self-expression, here are 9 keys ways to connect with your creative mind and boost your awareness as to its power in all aspects of your life.
1) Be curious
If you want to keep nimble & creative, it’s essential to continue to explore: new perspectives, experiences and situations; whether by reading a book, volunteering, talking more with your children, or just examining your judgments. Notice what you are beginning to be curious about and then follow where it leads you.
One of the fringe benefits of being creatively fit is how easy it is for you to generate new ideas and travel from one to the next because of how flexible and adaptable your mind is in its associations. Innovation requires the reframing of a thought pattern and exchanging it for a series of other possibilities before deciding on which one is most compelling. What if your latest idea is completely outrageous? Maybe to those who are not that creative…confidence + action = wonderful creations.
2) Crack the books
Old school? Sure, but nothing else I know beats the results I get from reading a book (not a screen). People who take and create the time to read at least 10 books a year are more imaginative, reflective and able to associate at a faster pace then those who don’t. Can you achieve personal and artistic growth without reading? Sure, but why would you want to? Reading a book for a minimum of 10 pages a day spikes your creativity to the adjacent possible without fail. What about blogs, ezines, etc? Nutritional frosting, but the act of holding a book is a different level of focus and holds a more potent creative juice. Skimming does not yield the same results.
3) Get messy
A true sign of creative mastery? Being comfortable in a range of intense experiences. What defines intense for you is anything out of your equilibrium. Being present when others are highly emotional, or situations become out of alignment is a choice that allows a leader to adapt no matter what the “mess.” Messy business is like traveling through a bad storm at night, not often fun but easy terrain for anyone who knows their direction and is sure of their ability to navigate their way there clearly. Best initial strategy upon experiencing a mess? Meet it openly for what it is, an opportunity for growth.
4) Embrace fun more seriously
Make a business out of your hobbies. Don’t push your passions off to the side just because you *can’t* find enough time for anything but your job. Your real job is living up to your potential and your potential is always flirting with you. Follow it where ever it takes you, it has your best interest at heart. With so many great and inexpensive options around town or on the internet, sign up and take a podcasting class or check out the gallery talk series at your local museums. Whether you are there to network, ease your curiosity or just get out of your routine once a week: pushing yourself to grow is the best way to invite your creativity and personal fulfillment.
5) Karma over drama
Have you noticed that there are some people who attract drama and distraction more than others? Continually focusing on what you want in your life yields those results. Choose to opt out whenever drama invites you to dance, and instead to develop your health and compassion. In moving against drama you are able to share more of what you were put here to create. The more you practice this, the more your awareness and appreciation increases your creativity as well as reduces unnecessary drama so you can focus and continue to achieve the results and fulfillment you desire.
6) Take Risks
The most deeply satisfying experiences in life are often the ones that appear impossible from the start. Creativity calls forth not just your courage to extend beyond your comfort zone, but your willingness to imagine walking on ground that may not even exist yet. Risk is a different way of experiencing change, the adrenaline response is just the beginning of the journey ahead. Saying yes to what may be possible is the first and crucial step to creating it in your life and more.
7) Listen
Whether you are taking a walk, listening to music, or catching a yoga class, meditation is a great way to rejuvenate and encourage your creative self. Being at creative choice means ensuring that you are providing one of these caring acts of relaxation daily. Whenever one of my clients complains about writers’ block this is the first place I get curious about and usually the first area in need of attention. Listen to your needs and your needs suddenly are met.
8) Flip the bird
Conformity is worse than death. Conformity is being on life-support. Finding your voice and living your life according to that voice is what being a creative leader is about. Don’t trick yourself: your voice changes over time, so finding it varies for each of us and you have to be up on your game to recognize the opportunities for personal growth and expansion. Find your passion and then flaunt it. Are others going to roll their eyes, walk away or call you names? Sure. Pleasing yourself is not selfish it is your purpose.
9) Move
Physical activity stimulates your imagination, encourages your creativity and broadens your ability to make connections from one idea to another. Aside from relaxing us, lowering our stress levels and increasing our self-esteem; a daily routine of exerting your body more than anything else helps to consistently maintain and exceed your goals. How? Often times we over extend ourselves to meet our commitments to others at the expense of the ones we make (and break) to ourselves. Maintaining a self-care through physical exercise makes it nearly impossible to let your conscious choice go on automatic when it come to your well-being. As a creative leader, keeping fit is a key strategy to keeping open and flexible to new ideas, opportunities and experiences.
Leadership Qualities -Do you have what it takes
Practice makes us better in our behavior and in the daily acts that we do. For example, when we learn yoga, ballet, gymnastics, piano, tennis …..we consciously practice the relevant movements, repeatedly in a deliberate way. Thus by these conscious repeated practice, we become better each day at these acts. Our entire life is like this, but we more often than not, are less conscious of the practice that goes behind the acts and the behavior.
Each day if we consciously practice good habits we will excel at it and they will become a natural way of our life.
I believe that credentials on the wall alone do not necessarily make you a decent human being. A LEADER can be any of us, one with NO TITLE. It is important to be human & what is more important is One’s disposition. Each of us can inspire others by the way we conduct ourselves on a day to day basis and be inspired by others.
So what are these qualities that each of us can have to inspire others in whatever we do
1. GRACIOUSNESS – Be gracious in all situations no matter if you are dealing with your subordinate or supervisor. Many forget their graciousness if they feel their power is lost. We are benevolent when our status is unchallenged. But if it comes to a power-play situation, very few of us can tolerate being upstaged, even for a fleeting moment.
“Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.”
Viktor E. Frankl
2.LEARN FROM MISTAKES – Don’t judge somebody by the mistakes they have made. In fact, the greatest virtue of mistakes is that they show us a path to new discoveries and open our mind. The key is to learn from one’s mistake and move forward rather than not having tried at all. One of the things that defines our character is how we handle mistakes.
I read in a blog post How To Make A Brilliant Mistake by Paul Schoemaker about how a mistake can be viewed positively by a company and how they can reap benefits from the same. Relevant extract from the blog below
“The president of an Ann Arbor, Michigan business concocted what he calls the Golden Egg award to make sure his people would extract as much learning as possible from failures. He asks managers to share their mistakes at a monthly meeting not unlike the mortality and morbidity reviews hospitals hold to learn from medical errors. At first participants were reluctant to open up, but eventually these confessionals became a favorite part of the session.
The manager who presents the best mistake of the month gets the Golden Egg trophy—a spray-painted L’eggs pantyhose plastic egg. Initially, the trophies stayed in the desk drawer of the (un)lucky winner. But over time, winners became proud enough to place the trophy on their desk for the entire month. This naturally prompted conversations with visitors about with how managers were able to convert egg on their face into omelets rich with insight and learning. In short, the president managed to change the culture from one that hides mistakes to one that celebrates them.
3. MULTICULTURAL LEADERSHIP Starts from within. Just like each of us would like to be respected, we need to understand the values of different cultures whilst dealing with people on the global front. Only through knowing and understanding the sensitivity of other cultures deeply can a person link different people to a common cause and influence them to achieve the goal.
4. ENCOURAGE< CRITIQUE BUT DO NOT CRITICIZE/JUDGE - it is way too easy for us to criticize someone because of our perceptions of them. When I hear and see a kid screaming in a café, my first thought may be “can’t the parent teach the kid to behave well and be better mannered.” That thought is being too judgemental without even knowing the kid or the parent or what each of them has gone through. A leader tends to walk a mile in another’s shoe before criticizing or judging first. The following lyrics from one of Elvis Presley’s song Walk A Mile In My Shoes resonates the message well
Walk a mile in my shoes,
just walk a mile in my shoes
Before you abuse, criticize and accuse
Then walk a mile in my shoes
5.LEAD BY EXAMPLE – The story here (Source) highlights the qualities of authenticity, honesty, daring to live one’s dreams, listen to understand, encourage and empower those around you
The first day of school our professor introduced himself and challenged us to get to know someone we didn’t already know. I stood up to look around when a gentle hand touched my shoulder. I turned around to find a wrinkled, little old lady beaming up at me with a smile that lit up her entire being.
She said, ‘Hi handsome. My name is Rose. I’m eighty-seven years old. Can I give you a hug?’I laughed and enthusiastically responded ‘Of course you may!’ and she gave me a giant squeeze. ‘Why are you in college at such a young, innocent age?’ I asked. She jokingly replied, ‘I’m here to meet a rich husband, get married, and have a couple of kids….”No seriously,’ I asked. I was curious what may have motivated her to be taking on this challenge at her age.’I always dreamed of having a college education and now I’m getting one!’ she told me.
After class we walked to the student union building and shared a chocolate milkshake. We became instant friends. Every day for the next three months we would leave class together and talk nonstop. I was always mesmerized listening to this ‘time machine’ as she shared her wisdom and experience with me.
Over the course of the year, Rose became a campus icon and she easily made friends wherever she went. She loved to dress up and she revelled in the attention bestowed upon her from the other students. She was living it up.
At the end of the semester we invited Rose to speak at our football banquet. I’ll never forget what she taught us. She was introduced and stepped up to the podium. As she began to deliver her prepared speech, she dropped her three by five cards on the floor.
Frustrated and a little embarrassed she leaned into the microphone and simply said, ‘I’m sorry I’m so jittery. I gave up beer for Lent and this whiskey is killing me! I’ll never get my speech back in order so let me just tell you what I know.’ As we laughed she cleared her throat and began, ‘ We do not stop playing because we are old; we grow old because we stop playing.
There are only four secrets to staying young, being happy and achieving success. You have to laugh and find humour every day. You’ve got to have a dream. When you lose your dreams, you die. We have so many people walking around who are dead and don’t even know it! There is a huge difference between growing older and growing up…If you are nineteen years old and lie in bed for one full year and don’t do one productive thing, you will turn twenty years old. If I am eighty-seven years old and stay in bed for a year and never do anything I will turn eighty-eight. Anybody can grow older. That doesn’t take any talent or ability. The idea is to grow up by always finding opportunity in change. Have no regrets. The elderly usually don’t have regrets for what we did, but rather for things we did not do. The only people who fear death are those with regrets.’ She concluded her speech by courageously singing ‘The Rose.’
She challenged each of us to study the lyrics and live them out in our daily lives… At the year’s end Rose finished the college degree she had begun all those years ago. One week after graduation Rose died peacefully in her sleep.Over two thousand college students attended her funeral in tribute to the wonderful woman who taught by example that it’s never too late to be all you can possibly be.
Leadership is A Choice to inspire each other in all we do and something we practice day-to-day from within.
Hope you enjoyed the post, if you would like to add some more qualities please feel free to do so.
9 Tips to Proper Employee Counseling
by Extreme John
I recently received a request via email from a reader that wanted to know a few tips on proper employee counceling, this can be somewhat of a gray area because every business has it’s own best practices. Chances are you would find these same tips in any large retail corporation like Home Depot or Wal-Mart, however these tips are excellent tips for small business owners to follow as a “best practices” for handling employee issues.
1. Do Your Homework
The single most important part of properly counseling an associate is having your facts straight, take the extra time to review video or go through time cards and make copies of your findings, having them handily ready during the counseling process makes it easier to get results from the counseling session.
Another important factor in doing your homework prior to actually doing the counseling is that you don’t run the risk of counseling an associate that doesn’t deserve to be counseled.
2. Don’t believe everything you hear
It’s always best to keep things professional during the homework phase of the counseling process, don’t discuss employee issues with other employees unless they are employees that have something to do with the actual situation at hand. Interviewing employees in regards to other employee issues is tricky business, don’t believe everything you hear and keep in mind that you can re-interview someone you already interviewed. Doing so might expose inconsistencies that aid in the homework process.
3. Stick to the facts
When it comes to counseling notices or growing employee’s through the counseling process it is important to keep in mind that your opinion DOES NOT MATTER. Keep all opinions out of the counseling notice as well as the conversation during the actual counseling process, this is not about your opinion, it is about the actual issue at hand.
4. Document It
There should be phases to every documentation process in order to give every associate the same fair chance at succeeding, this means that with each counseling session a new phase should be entered. For more information about counseling phases please read “3 Phase Employee Counseling Process“.
5. Setup a Gameplan
One of the most important parts of properly counseling an employee and setting them in the right path is to provide a gameplan for the associate moving forward. Let’s assume that you are counseling Mary, an associate that has been late to work for her two previously scheduled shifts, a gameplan might look something like this:
Mary’s time and attendance will be monitored over the next 60 days to ensure that Mary follows her scheduled shift, if Mary has any more “No Call No Shows” Mary will be subject to further written documentation.
This would of course be the scenario if this was the first time Mary ever had an issue.
6. Keep it Professional
A counseling notice is a training tool for managers to use in addressing any business related issues, a counseling notice has nothing to do with your personal views on the subject or your personal views of the employee. In addition to keeping it professional and free of personal views it is also important to keep your counseling environment professional as well, no cell phones in the room, no interuptions from other employees, friends, or customers.
7. Have a Witness
When it comes time to administer the counseling notice you should have a witness present in the room, the witness should not be an associate of equal position to the associate being counseled, anyone would find that demeaning. Having a witness ensures that there are no “he said, she said” issues and it also reduces the chances of a sexual discrimination claim or anything along those lines.
8. Keep it Confidential
No one likes to be told they aren’t dong a good job and it’s safe to assume that most people don’t want to feel like failures or feel as if everyone knows their business, keep the counseling confidential and ensure the associate that you have no intention on making it knowledge for everyone.
9. Move Past it
If you properly counseled the associate and stuck to the facts and some of the very basic best practices for counseling an employee than you should feel confident that the situation is resolved. Don’t hold counseling notices or sessions over your employees head, at the close of the counseling session reassure the associate that your moving forward and you hope they do the same. There is no sense on holding grudges, whats done is done.
Here on Extreme John we have a pretty good community that brings a lot of people together, many who are very intelligent and focused on running a good business with a solid core set of rules. Take a moment to leave a comment and share any additional tips that you might have, you would be surprised how many business owners your tips can help.
Leading Is Following
By Sefu Bernard
This is a *great* video from Derek Sivers called “Leadership Lessons from Dancing Guy.” Loved it and had to share it. Powerful, yet simple.
It’s also timely… I had just met with my mentor last week while in Toronto and he was asking me whether I thought that leaders were born or could be made. To that, I responded: everyone can be a leader. You see my definition of leadership is influence. Simple.
You don’t have to be the ‘pack leader’ to create influence; instead, you just have to know when and who to follow. Leadership, as Derek shows in this short clip, is also followership.
If you’ve learned a lot about leadership and making a movement, then let’s watch a movement happen, start to finish, in under 3 minutes, and dissect some lessons:
A Leader Needs The Guts To Stand Alone And Look Ridiculous.
But what he’s doing is so simple, it’s almost instructional. This is key. You must be easy to follow!
Now comes the first follower with a crucial role: he publicly shows everyone how to follow. Notice the leader embraces him as an equal, so it’s not about the leader anymore – it’s about them, plural. Notice he’s calling to his friends to join in. It takes guts to be a first follower! You stand out and brave ridicule, yourself. Being a first follower is an under-appreciated form of leadership. The first follower transforms a lone nut into a leader. If the leader is the flint, the first follower is the spark that makes the fire.
The Second Follower Is A Turning Point
It’s proof the first has done well. Now it’s not a lone nut, and it’s not two nuts. Three is a crowd and a crowd is news.
A movement must be public. Make sure outsiders see more than just the leader. Everyone needs to see the followers, because new followers emulate followers – not the leader.
Now here come 2 more, then 3 more. Now we’ve got momentum. This is the tipping point! Now we’ve got a movement!
As more people jump in, it’s no longer risky. If they were on the fence before, there’s no reason not to join now. They won’t be ridiculed, they won’t stand out, and they will be part of the in-crowd, if they hurry. Over the next minute you’ll see the rest who prefer to be part of the crowd, because eventually they’d be ridiculed for not joining.
And ladies and gentlemen that is how a movement is made!
Let’s Recap What We Learned
If you are a version of the shirtless dancing guy, all alone, remember the importance of nurturing your first few followers as equals, making everything clearly about the movement, not you.
Be public. Be easy to follow!
But the biggest lesson here – did you catch it?
Leadership is over-glorified.
Yes it started with the shirtless guy, and he’ll get all the credit, but you saw what really happened:
It was the first follower that transformed a lone nut into a leader.
There is no movement without the first follower.
We’re told we all need to be leaders, but that would be really ineffective.
The best way to make a movement, if you really care, is to courageously follow and show others how to follow.
When you find a lone nut doing something great, have the guts to be the first person to stand up and join in.
12 Management Skills All Great Bosses Must Have
by Rachel Miller
What is the definition of a great boss?
As a rule, great bosses are excellent communicators. They use verbal and body language to motivate, educate and inspire. But what else qualifies someone as a great boss? I sat down and recalled all of the bosses I have ever had. The good, the bad and the kind that still show up in my nightmares. The list below outlines management skills all great bosses should have.
1. Look into My Eyes. Making eye contact is an under-rated communication skill. Even if your iPhone is surgically attached to your hand, take your eyes off the screen, and really connect with your employee. While you might be listening closely, if you are not making eye contact with the person speaking, you appear to be distracted or uninterested. Both have extremely negative effects on employee morale. Eye contact sends a message to the employee that he or she has your full attention and is important.
2. Small Things Matter. Remember names of your employees’ spouse, children, life partner, pets, etc. Knowing the difference between Fluffy and Fido will score you many points. It is well known that employees feel motivated and special when a higher up remembers their name. Remembering not only your employees’ names (not always easy to do if you work for a large organization) but something specific to their personal lives will win your employees’ respect and inspire them to perform better.
3. Even the Playing Field. Share funny or embarrassing work stories with your staff. Using humor in conversations is a great way to build rapport with employees and can also relieve tension to make the work environment more relaxed. Also, laughing at your mistakes is a great way to open the lines of communication and encourage staff to share their work success and failures. Conversations like these often lead to constructive process brainstorming.
4. Tell It Like It Is. Correcting is one of the most important parts of being a great boss. When offering feedback to employees, especially when giving constructive criticism, focus on the facts. Clearly point out the incorrect behavior, explain the effect of the incorrect behavior, and clearly state what you expect the employee to do differently next time. Do not add unnecessary emotion or examples of past incorrect behavior. Focus on the current issue and why it is important to correct it.
5. Show Your Flair. We are all unique beings. Maybe you are a crazy tie guy or maybe you like to wear bright rimmed eye glasses. Expressing your personal style makes you memorable and approachable. Bosses are human too. Display family photos, examples of your hobbies and interests in your office. Give employees opportunities to bond with you.
6. Crack the Whip. Address inappropriate behavior in a timely manner. Be sure to document the discussion via email. Written word carries a lot of weight and is permanent. Memories of a discussion will fade but email stays forever.
7. Hey, It’s Personal. Some coaching can be done in public, but be sensitive to issues of privacy. If you have something important to say, invite the employee into your office or go on a walk around the block. Correcting in public can be a blow to someone’s self-esteem, and bad leadership examples spread like wildfire. Remember the golden rule: treat others how you would like to be treated.
8. Walk the Walk. You may have made a lateral career move from a competitor a few years back and are very good at your job, but take the time to educate yourself on the job duties of the managers and supervisors who work for you. Nothing builds respect faster than getting down in the trenches and rolling your sleeves up for a few hours. Being able to fill in for someone in a pinch not only increases company efficiency, but makes you a more valuable leader.
9. Keep the Peace. All employees are susceptible to stress. To maintain a well-functioning team, keep your eyes and ears open. Each individual has his or her performance limits. One employee may be a great multi-tasker and another single project orientated. Keep the peace by optimizing each employee’s strengths and reassign projects to suit work traits.
10. Show Me the Money – Not! Do not make the rookie mistake of assuming that that human motivation is tied to economic outcomes. Sincere personal interaction with your staff and colleagues will get you much further.
11. Be the Squeakiest. Inexperienced managers need their bosses to tell them when their team is over– or under-resourced or unbalanced. Listen to your employees and be proactive. Do you need to acquire additional resources, newer technology or recommend process changes? Your employees are integral to your success. Listen to them and be their voice.
12. Spread the Love. Great bosses redirect kudos and credit onto their team, or ideally, individual team members. Be gracious and share the spotlight.
Great bosses attract talented people like Winnie the Pooh to a pot of honey. Taking time to get to know and appreciate your staff will not only improve their performance, but will dramatically improve the working environment. You know you have succeeded when working on improving your management skills is no longer work – it’s just who you are and what you do.
What is your primary leadership style?
by Dr. Rob Fazio
If You Build It, They will Engage: Develop Your Leadership Philosophy
Having a personal leadership vision and strategy is critical to excellence. Quite simply, clarity is king. A common mistake that executives make is not knowing how their values, interests, and motives impact their leadership success. Developing your leadership philosophy allows you to be strategic about how you approach your people and situations.
Developing a leadership philosophy is a process that needs to include your ability to leverage your strengths, enhance your areas of growth, and minimize your weaknesses. For new leaders, you don’t want to just reflect on what made you successful and what you need to do differently because so much of your success was based on your individual performance and not leadership effectiveness. This is an opportunity to differentiate yourself and accelerate your transition into becoming a credible leader.
Simple Strategy: Develop your Leadership Philosophy
1.Create your Leadership Philosophy (LP)
2.Collect feedback
3.Change your LP to meet your situation and success criteria
4.Communicate your LP
I know it sounds simple and it is, but it’s not easy. The challenging part is having the self-discipline to self-reflect and follow through on the all of the steps.
I. Create your Leadership Philosophy
We all lead, but very few of us lead with intention and a core philosophy. By creating clarity for yourself, you create clarity for others. A key component is to create a set of leadership principles that will encourage and guide your people.
Below are some questions that will help you define your LP.
■How do you know if a leader is successful?
■What are your core beliefs?
■What is your view on leadership effectiveness?
■What usually helps or hinders people from being successful at leadership?
■What are your leadership principles?
■What motivates people to succeed?
■What frustrates you the most?
■Do people change? If yes, how do people change? If no why?
■What do people need from a leader?
■What is your primary leadership style?(i.e. Direct, Relational, Visionary, Coaching, Delegating, Collaborative)
■What style do you need to use more frequently?
■What leadership approach have you taken that has been most successful? Most ineffective?
■What are your beliefs on what makes an effective leader?
■What do you want people to say about you as a leader?
■What style of leadership is important based on the culture of your organization?
■What quotes/sayings/phrases reinforce your leadership brand?
Once you answer these questions you will know what your preferences are and how you believe people are led. This is often a key insight into what motivates you and how you prefer to be led. The next step is to be flexible and incorporate the point of view of others. This will allow you to leverage your instincts and integrate the beliefs of others your respect.
II. Collect Feedback
While your leadership philosophy(LP) may be genius to some, it may impact people in ways that you do not intend. Take the time to share your LP with colleagues. Be sure to talk with people who are willing to give you honest and direct feedback and with some people who don’t always have the same view on things as you. A few key questions you can ask are:
1) What are your initial reactions?
2) Do you think my LP fits our culture? If not, how I can adapt my LP?
3) If you were in my role, what would you adapt?
III. Change your Leadership Philosophy to Meet your Needs and Success Criteria
Based on the feedback you receive and what your organization needs, make any necessary enhancements or changes. The development of your LP will be a versatile and ongoing process. Embrace the fact that how you lead, and teach others to lead, is dynamic and change is part of the process.
IV. Communicate your Leadership Philosophy
Now that you’re clear about what effective leadership looks like, give others the gift of clarity. Explain to your team highlights from your LP. This will close the gap between your intention and your impact. By giving people insight into how you plan to lead and what principles are important to you, they can better lead themselves and others.
What Companies Want
Over the past decade working with executives, HR departments, Boards, and a variety of Fortune 500 businesses, I have learned that organizations crave strong leadership. A colleague of mine, Dr. Paul Gaske, teaches as a principle: neutral leadership does no harm, strong leadership multiplies performance, and poor leadership divides productivity. Therefore if you can build a foundation for your leadership, people will be more willing and able to follow your lead.
The Bottom Line
The more you put into leadership, the more you will get out. Becoming an effective leader that inspires others and drives sustainable results takes time and energy. You will find that a little reflection, recognition, and regulation will yield you a lot of engagement. Who knows, maybe people will even do things aligned with your philosophy that you want done without you even asking…
—
Dr. Rob Fazio is a Principal with Leadership Research Institute (www.LRI.com). He specializes in partnering with senior level executives and high-potentials. Dr. Fazio areas of expertise include talent strategy, transitions/crises, and Executive Emotional Intelligence (EEI). Rob is the co-founder of Hold The Door For Others (www.holdthedoor.com), a nonprofit dedicated to teaching people how to grow through adversity and achieve their dreams.
www.successtelevision.biz
5 Leadership Lessons from Star Wars
Who has not heard of this movie series? Few, if any. It has been a great source of entertainment and frustration.
A beautifully crafted story. One that provides five great leadership lessons from a galaxy far, far away.
Watch on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1g3_CFmnU7k&feature=player_embedded#!
•Guard your thoughts: In the Star Wars universe there is a light side and a dark side. What leads to the dark side?
As Yoda would say “Anger, Fear, and Aggression. The dark sides of the force are they.” Anger, fear, and aggression come from your thoughts.
In Star Wars, this would lead to the dark side.|||In your life, these will lead to frustration and failure. Continuously guard your mind against these thoughts.
•Good leaders can go bad: We find out that Darth Vader was not always evil. He once was a young boy who had great potential.
During the prequels, we are shown he had the potential to be a great leader. Slowly we see his great skills used more and more with evil intent.
The change from the light side of the force to the dark side did not happen overnight. It was a slow turn.
Be vigilant in your leadership and make sure the choices you are making will benefit others. Do not let your leadership skills lead you to the dark side.
•Do or do not, there is no try: We hear Yoda tell this to Luke when he is trying to raise his spaceship from the swamp.
Luke is frustrated and tired. He has tried to use the force to raise his ship and is unable.
This is when Yoda tells him to either do it or not. Trying does not matter.
Stop using trying as an excuse.
By saying you will “try” to do something, you are already limiting yourself. You have given yourself an escape. You can say “I tried it. It did not work.”
Either say you will do the task or you will not. Do not give yourself the easy way out by saying you will try.
•Put your fear into words: Yoda says “Named your fear must be before banish it you can.”
“What does this mean to you?”
It means you need to be clear on what you fear. Give it a face. Make sure you know exactly what it is.
With what you fear clearly defined, you can step forward and conquer it.
•Have a bigger cause: Luke Skywalker was just a farm boy. Han Solo was just a smuggler.
Yet throughout the movie you see them become more than just a farm boy or a smuggler.
Luke and Han could have denied the bigger cause.
They could have turned away and let the alliance fight the empire without their help. They could have let their needs and desires lead them elsewhere.
But no, they stepped up and fought for a bigger cause.
They become heroes. They get to save the galaxy. They get to defeat evil.
You must have a bigger cause. Without it your skills will not be fully utilized.
Don’t Be A Status Quo Leader
I have never liked status quo, any status quo leader. Maybe someday when life is perfect; when there is no disease or conflict and I am all knowing and want for nothing……maybe then I can accept status quo. Of course at that point I will be so prideful, arrogant and annoying that I will have to change my status quo. So I guess I will never like it.
As we all know, status quo is to “keep things the way they presently are” (Wikipedia). As business leaders we can rarely if ever be accepting of “keeping things the way they are.” It is our job to succeed and achieve, in fact it is our responsibility. It is our responsibility because there are so many people depending on us. Employees depend on us, colleagues depend on us, vendors, partners, suppliers, customers, heck even our country and the world economy depend on our success; but most of all, the well-being of individuals and families of everyone we can touch depend on our ability to succeed.
This topic has always been a sore spot for me. I see people immigrate to the United States from other countries and be here 20 years and still cannot speak proper English. I see people stuck in dead-end jobs that stay there for years and years because they do nothing to increase their knowledge or training. We have all seen people with annoying habits or weaknesses that they never put any effort into changing.
We all have our “some-day’s” and “tomorrow’s”. You know, that excuse that pulls us back and drags us down, sometimes for our entire lives. Someday I will learn to be a better sales person. Someday I will learn to speak in front of large groups. Someday I will learn how to communicate better. Someday I will learn how to manage my money. Someday I will take a vacation with my family. Someday I will show my employees how much I care for them. Someday I will write that book. Someday I will overcome such and such bad habit or someday I will spend more time with my kids. Tomorrow I will tell my spouse how much I care for them. It seems they never stop.
Status quo is something we often think of as a kind of “environmental” problem that is happening around us, something that is caused by others or caused by the “system”. But bring it back and bring it closer to the individual level, to the personal level. If we could foster this value of progression in ourselves and in those that work for us, think about what could be achieved. If every employee had a learning mentality and a mentality of overcoming their weaknesses and learning new skills, how much more powerful of a culture could we have at our companies? We would not just have a lone leader progressing, but we would have an army of people going the extra mile and improving every day. How much greater profit and greater happiness could be produced in this scenario? How many more people could we positively touch?
I mentioned that this is a sore spot for me, because changing our current state does not necessarily have to be hard. Learning a new language is hard, but if you learned 10 words a day or 5 words a day, how much greater could you learn to speak that language, than if you had done nothing? Dr. Nido Qubein, said: “I learned English by memorizing ten words a day. Each day, I would review the words I had learned the day before and then study 10 new ones. By the end of the week I had added 70 new words to my vocabulary. It was this consistent effort, that enabled me to achieve fluency in English.” Nido is a self-made raving success.
This is not some rant on immigrants. What I am driving at is that small consistent effort is the key to overcoming status quo. There are thousands of stories like this, where someone took small consistent steps and were able to overcome great challenges, setbacks or weaknesses. By only reading about 5 pages a day, you can read an average business book or self-improvement book a month. There is a wealth of information in books that will help us overcome just about any challenge we face, although more effort is often spent searching for the remote control.
The biggest excuse I hear is “lack of time”. It really is an excuse. What you are really saying is: “I enjoy staying in my miserable state and I cannot prioritize what I do so I will just stay miserable and keep making excuses.” ”Miserable” might be a strong word, but there is almost always some level of suffering by not progressing. That could be missing out on a better salary, a healthier lifestyle, amore loving relationship, a more profitable business, etc…. People will do what is most important to them. If you find yourself watching TV a couple hours a week and not working for 5 minutes a day on something that could help you, then obviously the TV is more important. If you spend your time always doing menial tactical work, and never strategizing to grow the business, then obviously business growth is not that important.
There is always a better way to do something or squeeze more time in somehow. Great leaders know this and do not make excuses; they focus on what is important to them and their organization. They will make time.
No matter if you are a CEO or a high school drop-out, I invite you to look at your life and to consider what small and consistent effort you could work on that might have an impact on your current situation. Then start acting. Don’t be haunted by “some-day’s.”
Leadership Competencies
I don’t think there are two people in the world that would think the same about which competences are the most important for leadership. That is why I decided to write this article about leadership competences. I will try to explain which leadership competences are the most important and explain them a little.
Goal and people oriented
Every good leader should be goal oriented and people oriented as well. It is very important that he or she has a good balance between these two. If the leader is too task oriented, forgetting on people is very likely to happen therefore making people he is leading unhappy and bad workers. But on the other hand, if he is too people oriented he might have problems getting things done, which is of course not good either.
Self motivation
Every good leader should be able to motivate himself. There are many situations when people are down and unhappy, when tasks are boring and hard and in this situations, leader must be able to motivate himself in order to continue to work great.
Full of energy
Not this one might seem little strange, but we all know that some people are more active than others. Well leaders have to be the ones who are more active. I don’t think there can be a good leader if he is a passive person. Always being alive and ready to work is very important for every good leader.
Great speaker
Leader also has to be a good speaker in order to convince people in his ideas and lead them through them. Making people believe is very important!
Good looking
One might laugh, but looking good is important when you’re leading people. If you’re not dressed well and if you stink for example, it is very unlikely that people will like you and follow you. So always try to look neat.
Dimensions of Change
by Pettigrew Whipp and R.Whipp
A.M. Pettigrew and R.Whipp distinguished between the three dimensions of strategic change in their book Managing change for Competitive success published in 1991. The three dimensions were:
1) Content: It refers to the objectives, purposes and the goals. It aims at what is to be developed and what is to be achieved.
2) Purpose: It is the implementation of procedures and methods to achieve the goals. It means “how”.
3) Context: It refers to the internal and the external environment. It aims at where the process is to be placed.
Both of them emphasized on the continuous interplay between the three dimensional changes. The implementation of change is an iterative and a cumulative process. The interaction between the content, the process and the organizations context leads to a successful change.
On the basis of the substantial empirical research they also prevent the five interrelated factors that belong to the successfully managing strategic changes:
1.Environmental Assessment: It refers to the continuous monitoring of the internal and the external environment within the organization with the help of open learning systems.
2.Human Resources as Assets and Liabilities: The employers should realize that they are considered valuable and must be felt as trusted by the company.
3.Linking Strategic and Operational Change: The intentions are executed and transformed with the passage of time. Building of operational activities becomes powerful and leads to new strategic changes.
4.Leading Change: These changes move the organization forward thereby creating the right climate for the change by coordinating the activities. The situation not only demands setting up of the agenda for the direction of change but also for the right vision and the values.
5.Overall Coherence: The strategy of change must be consistent with clear goals and constant with respect to the environment, must provide a competitive edge and must be feasible.
Theory of Planned Behavior
TPB is an acronym for this. It is a theory related to the attitude and behavior. This theory was given by Icek Ajzen. It explains why a person behaved in some particular manner at some particular time. It also explains the reasons of the actions being performed by people. This theory is an extension of another theory given by Ajzen related to reasoned action. The need for TPB emerged because people had little control on some of their behaviors. TPB can be used to change the behavior of people and also to predict their deliberate behavior. It says that a person’s behavior can even be planned. According to TPB, there are 3 considerations which guide human behavior. They are:
1.Behavioral beliefs: It is associated with the behavior of an individual in particular situations. For example: Some people believe that eating potatoes would add up to their fat and continue to follow it without actually knowing the fact. Such a belief can produce a favorable behavior or an unfavorable one too.
2.Normative Beliefs: These are the beliefs related to the normative expectations which other people have. This belief gives rise to social pressure.
3.Control Beliefs: It is a belief that some factor is present which may have an impact on the behavior of an individual. If an individual has available resources to perform an action, then he would intend to do it in very possible manner.
An individual’s behavior is governed by the intentions he has in his mind. And the intentions are a result of the beliefs described above. A person always does what he believes is right. Thus, TPB helps control the behavior of a person and predict the outcomes of that behavior
Contingency Theory
The Contingency theory, given by Fred Fiedler, is a theory on leadership. Contingency theories explain that there exists no single best way that can be used in organizing or leading. An organizational style that can be very effective in one situation may prove to be the worst way of leading in some other situations.
Fred Fiedler, by giving this theory, helped the leaders to improve their personality and characteristics. He said that the effectiveness of a leader depends on the situation and there is no leadership style that can be called “The Best”. Thus two factors should be considered to judge a leader’s effectiveness:
1.Leadership style
2.Situational favorableness.
Contingency Theory gives the following ideas:
1.No universal or single best way to manage, organize or lead exists.
2.An organization should be designed in such a way that it along with its subsystems , fits the environment.
3.Not only with the environment, should an effective organization fit well between its subsystems also.
4.Needs of organizations could be better satisfied if it has a proper design, the management style should properly take care of the tasks undertaken and it should be appropriate for the working group’s behavior and nature?
Working of the Contingency Model
The following three steps are to be followed to apply the contingency model
Identification of your Leadership style
1.Identification of your situation.
2.Determination of the best leadership style suitable for your situation.
Disadvantage of the Model
Lack of flexibility: It did not allow for flexibility amongst the leaders. He believed that a leader has his own natural style of leadership that is fixed and so to handle different situations the most effective way is to change the leader. Thus his model didn’t permit flexibility in leaders.
Implementation Management
The changes that occur in an organization are visualized by Change Implementation Management. This was first explained by Wilfried Kruger. The model was named as Iceberg model.
It is important for an organization that it deals with the barriers in an efficient manner. What kind of implementation management is to be applied depends on following:
1.The type of change which is needed, i.e. if change is to be made in hard things like information system and processes or soft things like mindsets etc.
2.The strategy which is used to apply that change, i.e. revolutionary or evolutionary.
In the iceberg model the managers are concerned only with its top layer. The topmost portion of iceberg emphasizes on issue management which deals with the cost along with time and quality management.
There are two more dimensions associated with iceberg which are below its surface. They are:
1.The management of beliefs and how people view things.
2.The management of the politics and power.
Following are the people involved in this:
1.Opponents: These are the people who are against some particular change. They need to be controlled by the management of perceptions.
2.Promoters: These are the people who are in favour of the change and will support it in every possible way.
3.Hidden Opponents: These people pretend to support the change whereas actually they are against it on individual level.
4.Potential Promoters: They are not against the change. They do support it as well, but they do not find something very convincing in this change.
All these people lie below the surface of iceberg in iceberg model.
Proper Management of changes in an organization is of utmost importance. All the changes should be made in a transparent manner and with the consent of all involved.
4 basic functions of management
Management is a job with a very wide spectrum of duties. But every manager should always stick to the principle of 4 basic management functions when achieving his goals. I will shortly describe which are this four functions basic functions of management. I belive this is something everybody should know. Also if you are not a manager, following this four steps will help you achieve your goals in life much faster and much easier.
Function number one: Planning
No matter what you are doing, you have to plan it out first. You have to set your goals straight and decide how you are going to achieve them. You have to decide how much money or time you will invest and how many people will you employ. On this step you are doing simply what the name of the step means, you are planning.
Function number two: Organizing
On this step, you have to organize yourself to achieve what you have decided to achieve in the first step. You need to start gathering the resources, to decide who will do what (in case more people are involved) and basically prepare everything so you can start working.
Function number three: Directing
Since you know what you want to do and since you know how you gona do it and you’re ready to do it, let’s do it! On this step, you need to start leading people to your goal. You need to motivate them and yourself as well, to achieve your goal. On this step, it is very important to communicate with people who are helping you (directly or just with informations). Also in big companies, department dynamics, and department leadership are very important. You need to set “sub-leaders” or so called lower management and make sure that smaller teams under you work as a team and communicate with each other good enough. It is very important to set up teams correctly, that means to put the right person into the right team.
The final function: Control
I love this one the most (not always though). On this step, you need to control how people are working. You need to make sure that everyone is doing their best and you need to replace them if their best is not good enough for you. You sometimes need to re-do step number 3. On this step, you need to check if you have planned well and if you have managed to achieve your goals. And as the last thing to do, you need to buy a champagne or you have to resign. I hope you know which one to choose based on your situation, hehe.
As i said on the beginning, try to always follow this 4 functions/steps in your life and you will maximize your performance. No matter what project you are working on, do this four basic management functions and you will do it better.
Written by: Matt
Leading From Within
Much like the lighthouse that provides guidance and direction for sea-bearing vessels, leaders must become the beacon of light in their own lives before they can effectively lead others.
As we have come to learn, true leadership is not about a title or a position in an organization. Nor is it about a person’s genetic make-up, level of education or socio-economic status. Leadership is a way of being. Effective leaders are those who lead by a set of core values that reflect who they want to be in the world as well as the contribution that they want to make. These leaders show up in all endeavors as the same person guided by the same principles. They lead with integrity, passion and an unresolved commitment to making a difference in the lives of those they touch. This to me is truly leading from within. As author Kevin Cashman says in his book, Leadership From The Inside Out, “Who we are says as much about us as a leader as the act of leading itself.”
The following steps are critical in leading from within:
1. Define It!
Leaders need to first identify their core values, purpose and personal leadership visions. These three components together form the road map which guide and direct leaders on a daily basis and in all facets of their lives. Once identified, leaders can then transform these foundational principles into their values, purpose and leadership visions at work.
2. Get Behind It!
The next step involves creating accountability and support around these important principles. To do this, it is critical for leaders to share their values, purpose and visions with those around them, whether at work or at home. By enrolling people in this process, leaders are able to not only create a support system for themselves, but also create a feedback loop that empowers people to let them know when they have gotten away from their visions.
3. Exemplify It!
It is vitally important for leaders’ everyday actions to be in alignment with their values, purpose and personal leadership vision. Being inconsistent or “ho hum” about their vision will very quickly sabotage any previous efforts made towards self-improvement. Inconsistency can also breed distrust, both internally and externally. Therefore, it is of the utmost importance for leaders to consistently show up as the person they have declared themselves to be.
4. Learn From It!
Leadership development is an ongoing process that involves a continuous improvement plan. Continuous improvement could involve seeking out feedback on a regular basis or taking skill-based classes and workshops. Leaders need to revisit their personal leadership vision bi-annually and make any necessary revisions. The point is that continuous improvement is a never-ending component of personal leadership. Remember, when leaders stop learning, they also stop growing.
5. Refine It!
Finally, leaders must hold themselves accountable. Since actions speak louder than words, it is essential for leaders to continually assess and reassess how they are showing up in the world to make sure they are in alignment with who they say they are. The following questions, if asked on a regular basis, should help.
* If I was to die tomorrow, would I be remembered for the things I want to be remembered for?
* How am I a better person today than I was a month ago?
* What is the feedback in my life telling me about how I am showing up in the world right now?
Leading from within is not about turning a switch on or off in order to show up as the leader you want to be. It is about leading your life authentically and purposefully in everything you do.
Written by: Ggiesen
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