Browse Category: General

A leadership style that works

Some managers just don’t seem to be able to resist getting involved or giving advice, even when it’s not really needed or wanted. It’s a counterproductive leadership style that screams lack of trust.

One of the most empowering things you can do as a leader is provide your people with the space to manage their own priorities.

After you have clarified priorities and responsibilities with your people, your next priority should be to ensure they have all the skills and resources necessary, and then leave them to it.

Demonstrate trust and you’ll achieve a leadership style that works much more effectively.

For more great ideas on how to develop your leadership skills join us in the Leadership Coaching Club which starts in mid September.

School and Industry Leadership

A visitor to my website, recently asked me a good question and I thought you might like to hear my answer. Ange asked:

“I teach leadership to secondary students. Can I take that knowledge to industry?”

I guess the answer is somewhere in between Yes, No and It Depends!

The fundamental principles of leadership that you are presumably teaching your secondary students will still apply and translate well into industry (- so Yes).

However, in my experience (I was a chemistry teacher many years ago) adults are very sensitive to anything that seems to be school related so you will need to develop quite different examples and explanations to the ones that you use with your students and that may be difficult for you if you do not have industry, business or office experience (- so No).

Thirdly, industry and business leaders who want to learn about leadership will usually seek out people who have actually held leadership positions themselves, rather than those who just know about leadership but have never really applied what they know. So It Depends – on whether you have actually lead a business, group or team, and can demonstrate the success you have had as a leader.

A really good first step is to volunteer to join the board or management group of a charity or community group and apply what you know there. That will enable you to recognize some of the gaps that exist between knowing about something and being able to put it into effect. And the end of the day that’s what people really want to know about – How to do it! And that’s one of the big things we look at in the Leadership Coaching Club which starts in mid September.

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If you have a leadership question you want to ask, you can Ask it here.

How can I motivate my staff to better results?

One of the simplest ways to motivate people to better results, is to believe in them.

If you are sure that they know exactly what needs to be done, and how to do it properly to the standard you require, you should have confidence they will complete the task properly.

So demonstrate your confidence in them by what you do and what you say. Say you are available if needed, but don’t peer over their shoulders looking to find fault.

Help build their confidence by having confidence in them.

The Manager’s Mission: Your Invitation

How to take all the complexity out of management and replace it with simple success

Your Invitation to a free Leadership Teleseminar

Join me as I interview the author of Success with Simplicity, David Brewster, for a free live teleseminar next week. You’ll discover:

* Why management doesn’t have to be so complex and how to make managing people look (and feel) easy, even when it isn’t
* The secret to dramatically improving your performance as a leader and manager and feeling better about what you do by understanding the role of reality and the control continuum
* How to apply the three critical dimensions of the Manager’s Mission so you can relax and start managing ‘in the zone’ from tomorrow
* The top 3 mistakes 99% of people make and how you can avoid them.
You can get more details, and register here right now.

There are only a limited number of phone lines available for the teleseminar so don’t delay your registration.

If you are not sure what a teleseminar is, it is simply a seminar by phone. All you have to do is dial in to a special phone number that you receive when you register. And you can join us from where-ever you are located, whether you are in Bourke Street or the bush, on Fifth Avenue or an island in Fiji, all you need is a phone. For more details about teleseminars read our Frequently Asked Questions.

The four things all leaders know

After a long life spent observing and studying leaders and managers, Peter Drucker decided there was no one leadership style, personality or character that marked an exceptional leader.

He observed that amongst the most effective and successful leaders he worked with or knew, some were shy and others were gregarious, some were excruciatingly vain and others were self-effacing to a fault, some were warm and friendly while others were aloof and stern disciplinarians, some rarely ventured out of their office and others were ultra-gregarious, some were quick and impulsive and others took forever to reach a decision, some were ostentatious and others were austere, some he knew were good listeners while others listened only to their own inner voice.

If there is no one personality, style or character required to be an exceptional leader, what is it that marks someone as a good leader? Peter Drucker believed that all the effective leaders he had ever observed or worked with all KNEW four things. As he said in the forward to the book, The Leader of the Future

1. The only definition of a leader is someone who has followers. Some people are thinkers. Some are prophets. Both roles are important and badly needed. But without followers there can be no leaders.
2. An effective leader is not someone who is loved or admired. He or she is someone whose followers do the right things. Popularity is not leadership. Results are.
3. Leaders are highly visible. They therefore set examples.
4. Leadership is not rank, privileges, titles or money. It is responsibility.

So how do you measure up? Do you accept the responsibility of your position as a leader? Are you setting the right example? Are your people generating maximum results? Do your people resist or follow your lead?

How well do you know, and do, these four key things? Please let us know what works for you.

More on what leaders know in the Quick Tips below:

QUOTE OF NOTE

‘Knowledge is the action of the soul.’
Ben Jonson (1573-1637)

QUICK TIPS

* Drucker was also a believer in action. He hoped to inspire every leader to ask ‘What in my organization could I do that would truly make a difference?’ and ‘How can I truly set an example?’ And then he hope you would do it! I hope you do too.
* Peter Drucker also firmly believed that while there are some ‘born leaders’, they are too few to rely upon, and for most of us, leadership not only CAN be learned, it MUST be learned!
* If you want to learn more about how to fulfill your leadership potential, have a look at our brand new online Leadership Coaching Club starting in mid September. It is the outcome of months of work translating our highly regarded live leadership programs such as Mentor Magic’ into a format that is available to leaders around the globe, thanks to support from the Victorian Government’s Telematics Foundation. Sign up now and reserve your place at a special discounted rate. We guarantee you will be glad if you do.

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YOUR FREE TELESEMINAR INVITATION

The Manager’s Mission: How to take all the complexity out of management and replace it with simple success

Join me as I interview the author of Success with Simplicity, David Brewster, for a free live teleseminar next week. You’ll discover:
* Why management doesn’t have to be so complex and how to make managing people look (and feel) easy, even when it isn’t
* The secret to dramatically improving your performance as a leader and manager and feeling better about what you do by understanding the role of reality and the control continuum
* How to apply the three critical dimensions of the Manager’s Mission so you can relax and start managing ‘in the zone’ from tomorrow
* The top 3 mistakes 99% of people make and how you can avoid them.
You can get more details, and register here right now

There are only a limited number of phone lines available for the teleseminar so don’t delay your registration.

If you are not sure what a teleseminar is, it is simply a seminar by phone. All you have to do is dial in to a special phone number that you receive when you register. And you can join us from where-ever you are located, whether you are in Bourke Street or the bush, on Fifth Avenue or an island in Fiji, all you need is a phone. For more details about teleseminars read our Frequently Asked Questions.

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Leadership Tip – What are we supposed to be doing now?

Assigning tasks can be one of the more difficult parts of leading your team.

It’s easy to assume your team members understand the task much better than they really do. Your team members need to understand what they are supposed to be doing, and why, if they are going to function well.

That means that, as their leader, you need to ensure they are clear about the context of any task you assign, what the purpose is of the task, why it is important, any background information that’s available and how it fits in the bigger picture.

Remember to convey any constraints on what they can do, when or how, as well as what resources are available to them to complete the task.

By consistently explaining the context, purpose and constraints, and checking that individuals understand these three things, assigning tasks to your team will go much more smoothly.