Friday, September 23, 2011
Improve Your Relationships: Improve Your Leadership
Here are some facts: Leadership is about people. Without people you don’t have anyone to lead. Without anyone to lead you are not a leader. If we can acknowledge that these are true statements, then we can acknowledge how critical relationships are. Since leadership is all about people, then to be a successful leader you have to be able to build relationships.
Building relationships with your staff comes down to two main attributes. The first is Be Personable and the second is Be Credible. Here are practical suggestions of how you can become personable. It starts with being friendly and proactive. You have to commit to going out of your way to make contact with your team. Visit them, stop by to say thank you, shake their hand, and ask them how they’re doing. It doesn’t matter what it is, but it does matter that you proactively make contact with them for non-work related items.
To truly connect with your team you also need to get to know them. Make it a habit to learn as much about them as you can. Ask questions about their family. Ask questions about where they grew up. Ask questions about what they like to do in their free time. Ask questions about how they relax. Do you get the theme? By asking questions you let your team know you care about them as individuals. It also helps you learn what makes them tick which typically helps explain certain habits at work.
As you begin to learn about your team and their families, make sure you follow up with them about anything unusual you may have learned. This shows your team that you care. Not only did you ask them about themselves and their families, you also engaged and truly listened to what they had to say.
As a leader you have to be able to introduce some form of humor into the workplace. Work can become monotonous so you have to try and break the routine. You have to be conscious of creating interruptions but a moment to laugh is usually much appreciated. It teaches your team that fun is part of their work environment. This has to also include the ability to laugh at yourself. Your team needs to know you are human, you make mistakes, and you can laugh about it with them.
The last aspect of being personable has to include you opening up and sharing personal things. Reference all of your close relationships. What do you do when you are together? You discuss personal things happening in your lives. Same concept applies to building relationships with your team, your boss, or for that matter, anyone.
The second attribute is being credible. I won’t elaborate on this extensively since I recently wrote about it in the series titled 4 Keys to Leadership. The 4th key was Do What You Say You Will Do. Simply put, being credible is getting things done. As a leader, if you are only made up of the promises of the great things you will do, you will lose credibility with your team very quickly. Teams look to their leader to lead the way. Leading the way means getting things done—otherwise you’re just in the way.
The bottom line is that without your team there is very little if anything that you can do. And the only way your team will be productive and driven to help you succeed as their leader—is if they believe in you as a person. And the only way for that to happen is for you to build solid relationships with those that you need the most—your team!
Friday, September 16, 2011
Cultivate Your Gift
Life is not stagnant and either is leadership. It is always changing and developing around you. If you’re reading this article it’s probably because you desire to be a leader, or you already are. In either case, if you want to succeed as a leader you have to cultivate your gift.
A farmer is always working the land; he spends a tremendous amount of time and dedication from preparing his land to harvesting his fruits. A bountiful harvest does not happen without hard work and care. Leadership is no different. If you desire to have a successful department or organization under your helm, then you have to invest in yourself.
Developing yourself comes in many forms. It may include furthering your education, attending conferences, fellowshipping with other leaders, becoming a part of an association relevant to your industry, and reading books about great leaders or on the topic of leadership. Whichever way works best for you it is critical that you commit to it and expand your knowledge base, skills set, and perspective.
It always astonishes me how many individuals who claim to want to be better leaders do nothing about it. But when it comes to committing time to activities that create zero value in their lives it accounts for majority of their time. I challenge you, if you want to improve your skills and gifting for leadership—invest in yourself. I guarantee it—you will see a return on your investment. It may come in the way of a promotion. It may involve you having the ability to change the environment for your team. Increasing your ability to develop and motivate your team may lead to increased creativity and productivity resulting in higher profits. The list of benefits from investing in your ability is endless.
I personally love to read books and gain insight from great leaders or credible experts on leadership. I love to learn and identify new ideas and bounce my own thoughts off of their perspective. It excites me to expand my knowledge base which in turn allows me to practice new concepts with my team in my work setting. This process changes my work setting from a monotonous job to an exciting playground where I get to apply and test new theories. But what I enjoy the most is the feedback I receive from my staff. It overwhelms me to hear them say or write in an email how much they appreciate the environment I create. To hear comments that I am an amazing leader while in the midst of a grueling meeting where we are working to overcome severe obstacles—is indescribable. It chokes me up just thinking about it as I write this. I’m not sharing this with you to brag on myself. I’m sharing this with you to show you that investing in your leadership ability has amazing returns—some that are priceless.
Here is a list of books I have read in the past 3 months:
• Today Matters by John Maxwell
• The Goal by Dr. Eliyahu Goldratt
• Leadership Wisdom of Solomon by Pat Williams
• The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (again) by Stephen Covey
• Winning by Jack Welch
• Good to Great by Jim Collins
• A Man’s Guide to Work by Patrick Morley
• The God I Never Knew by Robert Morris
• Everyone Communicates Few Connect by John Maxwell
And the next book on my agenda is Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done by Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan. What do you say we read it together?
A farmer is always working the land; he spends a tremendous amount of time and dedication from preparing his land to harvesting his fruits. A bountiful harvest does not happen without hard work and care. Leadership is no different. If you desire to have a successful department or organization under your helm, then you have to invest in yourself.
Developing yourself comes in many forms. It may include furthering your education, attending conferences, fellowshipping with other leaders, becoming a part of an association relevant to your industry, and reading books about great leaders or on the topic of leadership. Whichever way works best for you it is critical that you commit to it and expand your knowledge base, skills set, and perspective.
It always astonishes me how many individuals who claim to want to be better leaders do nothing about it. But when it comes to committing time to activities that create zero value in their lives it accounts for majority of their time. I challenge you, if you want to improve your skills and gifting for leadership—invest in yourself. I guarantee it—you will see a return on your investment. It may come in the way of a promotion. It may involve you having the ability to change the environment for your team. Increasing your ability to develop and motivate your team may lead to increased creativity and productivity resulting in higher profits. The list of benefits from investing in your ability is endless.
I personally love to read books and gain insight from great leaders or credible experts on leadership. I love to learn and identify new ideas and bounce my own thoughts off of their perspective. It excites me to expand my knowledge base which in turn allows me to practice new concepts with my team in my work setting. This process changes my work setting from a monotonous job to an exciting playground where I get to apply and test new theories. But what I enjoy the most is the feedback I receive from my staff. It overwhelms me to hear them say or write in an email how much they appreciate the environment I create. To hear comments that I am an amazing leader while in the midst of a grueling meeting where we are working to overcome severe obstacles—is indescribable. It chokes me up just thinking about it as I write this. I’m not sharing this with you to brag on myself. I’m sharing this with you to show you that investing in your leadership ability has amazing returns—some that are priceless.
Here is a list of books I have read in the past 3 months:
• Today Matters by John Maxwell
• The Goal by Dr. Eliyahu Goldratt
• Leadership Wisdom of Solomon by Pat Williams
• The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (again) by Stephen Covey
• Winning by Jack Welch
• Good to Great by Jim Collins
• A Man’s Guide to Work by Patrick Morley
• The God I Never Knew by Robert Morris
• Everyone Communicates Few Connect by John Maxwell
And the next book on my agenda is Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done by Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan. What do you say we read it together?
Saturday, September 10, 2011
4 Keys: 4th Key—Do What You Say You Will Do
The 4th key of our 4 critical keys to success is simple common sense—do what you say you will do. Lets discuss what happens if this principle is not followed, how to apply this principle, and the impact of following through on this concept.
Not following this principle is the fastest way to lose credibility with your team. As a leader your team looks up to you to set the example for the rest of your department or organization. You are responsible for setting the tone. As a result, when you fail to do what you say you will do your team loses faith that action or change is real and possible. They find themselves working on an island without any support. Communication will decline since your team will not see the value of involving you in their obstacles because you have made it very clear—you are not interested in their problems. Your team has no choice but to feel that you don’t care because if you did, you would do everything in your power to change their circumstances.
Do not promise things that you can’t deliver. This is important because I often see leaders over promise in hopes that when they are over promising their team will respect them. Unfortunately, no team member has ever found respect for their leader for his words. I cannot stress this enough—words are empty. Action is where respect is achieved. It is wise to under promise (words) and achieve results that surpass your team’s expectations (action). In his book Today Matters John Maxwell highlights a quote from Arthur Gordon who wrote in his book A Touch of Wonder, “Nothing is easier than saying words. Nothing is harder than living them, day after day.”
To ensure that that you follow through on what you commit to, it is important to be well organized. You have to find a system that tracks your commitments so that your promises are not lost. By utilizing a tracking system for your commitments you can communicate back to your team on the status of your commitments. In reality, you will never be able to meet all of your deadlines or be able to achieve all that you hoped you could. But your team needs to be in the loop at all times—this lets them know that you have not forgotten about them. It’s okay to let your team know that you need more time or you didn’t get the results you hoped for. The fact that you’re communicating this to them lets them know you value them and that you’re still working towards your commitment. Doing what you say does not necessarily equal accomplishing every single thing you set out to accomplish. But it does mean you involve your team in your progress and clearly communicate to them what you did and what the results were. The ability to follow through with your team always starts with your level of organization and your commitment to your team.
Following through with your team builds camaraderie, commitment, and loyalty. It creates an environment that you care about your teams obstacles and ultimately about them. It ensures that you and your team are engaged in the overall objective of your department or organization. The impact on your overall department’s or organization’s productivity will be substantial. And of course we know when commitment and productivity increase, costs usually decrease, which equals increased profits.
If you desire to be a successful leader and you commit to the four critical keys to leadership that we have been discussing—I guarantee you that you will succeed. First, acknowledge each of your employees no matter what. Second, listen and truly engage with them. Third, hold your team accountable. And fourth, do what you say you will do.
Not following this principle is the fastest way to lose credibility with your team. As a leader your team looks up to you to set the example for the rest of your department or organization. You are responsible for setting the tone. As a result, when you fail to do what you say you will do your team loses faith that action or change is real and possible. They find themselves working on an island without any support. Communication will decline since your team will not see the value of involving you in their obstacles because you have made it very clear—you are not interested in their problems. Your team has no choice but to feel that you don’t care because if you did, you would do everything in your power to change their circumstances.
Do not promise things that you can’t deliver. This is important because I often see leaders over promise in hopes that when they are over promising their team will respect them. Unfortunately, no team member has ever found respect for their leader for his words. I cannot stress this enough—words are empty. Action is where respect is achieved. It is wise to under promise (words) and achieve results that surpass your team’s expectations (action). In his book Today Matters John Maxwell highlights a quote from Arthur Gordon who wrote in his book A Touch of Wonder, “Nothing is easier than saying words. Nothing is harder than living them, day after day.”
To ensure that that you follow through on what you commit to, it is important to be well organized. You have to find a system that tracks your commitments so that your promises are not lost. By utilizing a tracking system for your commitments you can communicate back to your team on the status of your commitments. In reality, you will never be able to meet all of your deadlines or be able to achieve all that you hoped you could. But your team needs to be in the loop at all times—this lets them know that you have not forgotten about them. It’s okay to let your team know that you need more time or you didn’t get the results you hoped for. The fact that you’re communicating this to them lets them know you value them and that you’re still working towards your commitment. Doing what you say does not necessarily equal accomplishing every single thing you set out to accomplish. But it does mean you involve your team in your progress and clearly communicate to them what you did and what the results were. The ability to follow through with your team always starts with your level of organization and your commitment to your team.
Following through with your team builds camaraderie, commitment, and loyalty. It creates an environment that you care about your teams obstacles and ultimately about them. It ensures that you and your team are engaged in the overall objective of your department or organization. The impact on your overall department’s or organization’s productivity will be substantial. And of course we know when commitment and productivity increase, costs usually decrease, which equals increased profits.
If you desire to be a successful leader and you commit to the four critical keys to leadership that we have been discussing—I guarantee you that you will succeed. First, acknowledge each of your employees no matter what. Second, listen and truly engage with them. Third, hold your team accountable. And fourth, do what you say you will do.
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