Leadership Skill Center Blog

HOW YOU CAN BUILD A MORE MOTIVATED TEAM

Imagine this scenario: You have just bungled your latest project…

You have so much work you need to do. You are becoming a workaholic, you have tensions at home, these new kids at work are getting smarter by the day and your next presentation deadline is looming large. Any normal person can make a mistake, but you know you should have known better.

You are sitting at your computer wondering if this major disaster will cost you your job, when your boss just happens to walk by. You are scared stiff, fearing the worst. But what does he do? He gives you an encouraging smile and says “I understand. Don’t worry. I know you will do better next time. You will get another chance”.

VOILA! Your whole world opens up for you. You feel the tension oozing out. You get the drive, the enthusiasm to give the project all your attention again and vow never to repeat your mistakes.
This is what good leaders do. They understand us and give us support when we need it. They understand the human psychology of motivation.

Imagine another scenario…

You boss comes up to you while you are with your colleagues and friends and gives you a tongue lashing in front of everyone, detailing everything you did wrong and trying to shame you into performing better the next time.

How angry, upset and embarrassed does that make you feel? Maybe you even feel like leaving your job then and there, just to show that you have some self-respect?

This is what bad leaders can do to us. They belittle and embarrass us, and criticize us in public. When people are treated this way it is de-motivating. Rather than being inspired to work harder and better, they are more likely to start looking for a new job.

To get good results as a leader, you need a motivated team.

As a leader, it is your responsibility to motivate your team. If your subordinates are not giving 100% then you need to look at how well you are motivating your people each time you interact with them. Are you lifting them up to new heights, building their enthusiasm and boosting their resolve to do better next time? Or are you dragging them down by diminishing their self-confidence and self-esteem?

We get more of the behavior we recognize and reward. If the only feedback you are giving your team is about the things they have done wrong, you may be unintentionally de-motivating your people. Look for learning opportunities, rather than problems to be corrected.

Your own outlook and attitude as a leader must be confident and positive, if you radiate a positive energy and create an exciting environment by your enthusiasm, you will not only get your own work done, but your team will be more motivated to help you get all the results you need.

There are many ways you can motivate people to do what you want them to do. One of the simplest is to just pass on all the praise you get for their work.

Everyone likes to be recognized and appreciated. This motivates us all to do better. When you motivate everyone on your team you will find it easier to get great results as a leader.

More on how to do this in the Quick Tips below:

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QUOTE OF NOTE

“A little knowledge that acts is worth infinitely more than knowledge that is idle”

Kahlil Gibran (1883-1931)

Don’t just think about becoming a better leader. Take action. Join us for the Leadership Coaching Club today.

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FREE TELESEMINAR

Do you want to:
* motivate, influence and inspire others to produce better results
* get your message across every time
* make a good impression whenever you meet someone new
* get that job you want
* overcome resistance to change
* maximize sales while you minimize complaints?

Join me next week as I interview Australia’s expert in the Art of Influence, Paddy Spruce, for a free live teleseminar next week. You’ll discover:

* How to make a positive first impression so you connect with people and open up the way to a positive outcome right from the start.
* What the five different Styles of Influence are and when you would use each one.
* The four Stages of any Negotiation and how to apply them, even in a corridor conversation.
* The top mistakes 99% of people make and how you can avoid them.

Register now

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

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QUICK TIPS FOR MOTIVATING YOUR TEAM

* People are motivated by the needs they have and the values they hold. If someone’s values are not aligned with the values your organization actually demonstrates, they will never be motivated to support you. If you are struggling to motivate people on your team have a close look at whether your organization demonstrates the same values you talk about.

* People are motivated when they see the opportunity to fulfill their own goals. Look for those times when a team member’s personal goals can be enhanced or expanded to align better with your goals for the whole team or organization.

* The things that motivate you will not always be the same things that motivate your staff. The better you get to know the people on your team, the easier it will be to ensure you are motivating them in a way that is best for them.

The Leading Well Bottom Line:

You don’t have to do it all on your own. Join us in September for the next Leadership Coaching Club and leverage off all the wisdom, insight and experience of other participants plus your mentor Kerrie Mullins-Gunst.

Share Your Tips With Us:

* What are you doing to motivate your team to better results? Please let us know by adding your comments to this posting

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AND DON’T FORGET THE COMPETITION just for Leading Well Subscribers:

Enter now and you could win FREE registration in the Leadership Coaching Club Ten Week Intensive. All you have to do is sign up for Leading Well then email us and tell us in 100 words or less:
1. What is the best thing about our Leadership Coaching Club Ten Week Intensive?
2. Why YOU deserve to win?
*** Please don’t enter unless you will be able to participate in the ten week program, starting September 13. See the full Teleseminar Schedule for details.

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Services directory:

FREE MARKETING PLAN WORKBOOK - Have a look at this: One of the best resources on the web for marketing your services is Action Plan Marketing. Check out the website and download your free Marketing Plan Workbook and the first chapter of the InfoGuru Marketing Manual.

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Sometimes leading and managing people can seem quite overwhelming with all the different things you need to do and problems you need to solve. At times even experienced leaders and manager can feel driven to distraction by all the details, decisions and dilemmas. Yet you needn’t be.There are proven ways to rise above the confusion and complexity and some leaders succeed, even making it all look easy.

In my many years of coaching, mentoring and working with some of the best and most dynamic leaders and managers - plus some who struggled daily - I have made a deliberate and detailed study of what works and why.

I was curious about what it was that made leadership easy and effortless for some, while others - frequently even with similar qualifications or experience - struggled constantly to overcome all the challenges.

I’ve distilled all my research and survey results, all the observations I’ve made of the many leaders I’ve worked with over the years and all the feedback from participants in the seminars and programs I’ve been running across the country and around the world since 1993, and found there are five key areas that all the best leaders constantly focus on.

That’s right - just five! With some of the most outstanding leaders managing thousands of people, hundreds of projects and a myriad of details, there are still just five key areas they focus their attention on to achieve exceptional results.

These five key areas of leadership focus offer you the power to simplify and prioritize your efforts as a leader. When you focus your actions and attention on just these five key areas you will discover how easy, effective and effortless leadership can be.

These five key areas of leadership focus are the foundation on which I have built our exciting new Leadership Coaching Club 10 Week Intensive because, when you focus on them, they really do become your fast-track to easy, effective and effortless leadership success. You can begin to focus on these areas today. So what are they?

Your Five Key Areas of Leadership Focusâ„¢ are:

1. Gathering support
2. Setting direction
3. Getting your message across
4. Getting things done, and
5. Getting results.

When you focus your actions and attention on just these five areas, you will be amazed at how much easier and more effective leading and managing people can be. And I know you probably already devote some time to each of these areas.

But the key to their power lies in HOW you focus on them and exactly what actions you take step by step as you lead and manage your people. That’s what we concentrate on in the Leadership Coaching Club 10 Week Intensive. So I really do hope you will join us in September to discover how easy, effective and effortless leadership can be.

But whether you join us for the Leadership Coaching Club 10 Week Intensive or not, please focus your actions and attention on these five key areas and I know you will reap the rewards.

If you would like to print out a small poster to remind you of what your Five Key Areas of Leadership Focus should be, I have left one for you to download free here.

Please feel free to pass on a copy to everyone you know who would benefit.

More on your Five Key Areas of Leadership Focus in the Quick Tips below:

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QUOTE OF NOTE

“I am not interested in the past. I am interested in the future, for that is where I expect to spend the rest of my life”

Charles Franklin Kettering (1876-1958)

When you invest in your own future you can avoid the failures and disappointments of the past. If you are a leader or manager the best investment you can make will be to join us in September for the Leadership Coaching Club 10 Week Intensive.

What results can you expect to see if you do join us in September?

When you work with us you can expect to see rapid, positive and sustainable changes in your capacity to mentor, manage and lead, even difficult team members.

You will quickly become aware of just how powerful the tools we teach you are. You will more easily influence and motivate not only those who report to you, but also those to whom you report. Your enhanced leadership skills will result in your team’s improved performance and productivity.

Your confidence grows as you see consistent results when you apply what you learn.
You not only become more effective at what you do, but your productivity grows when you focus on the fundamentals that make all the difference to your success as a leader.

Your new insight into how to handle the problems and challenges that come the way of every leader begins to pay dividends. You learn how to encourage your team members to embrace change, contribute willingly and participate more actively. Conflict is reduced and real results come with a lot less struggle and effort.

It’s not that all the problems and challenges which are a part of leading and managing people magically disappear. They don’t. But you now know the best way to tackle them. Instead of feeling drained and exhausted at the end of your day’s work you are energized and satisfied knowing how much you have accomplished. Your enthusiasm is refreshed and everyone around you is revitalized and stimulated by your energy and motivation.

Leading people CAN be easy when you know how! Join a dynamic network of like-minded leaders, build your skills and learn how to maximize your results as a leader and manager easily and effectively through the Five Key Areas of Leadership Focusâ„¢.

You can move from ‘just managing’ to effortless and effective leadership and management in only 10 weeks with the Leadership Coaching Club’s new 10 Week Intensive.

But you have to know how and you have to be decisive.

HERE’S YOUR AMAZING INVITATION TO CELEBRATE THE LAUNCH WITH US

Look I’m so keen to have you join us in September that I will make this amazing special offer - just for the next 24 hours.

If you register in the next 24 hours you can bring a friend or colleague for free! AND you will still only pay the super-special introductory rate!

But you will need to be decisive. I mean it when I say this special offer is only for the next 24 hours. I really shouldn’t be making it at all because it is already at a heavily discounted introductory rate, but I feel like celebrating the launch of the Leadership Coaching Club. So think of this amazing offer as being a celebratory launch party and you are invited! Good leaders are decisive. Are you?

If I receive your registration in 25 hours you will still get the super-special introductory rate, but you will not be able to split the low rate in half by sharing with someone else. Don’t delay or you will miss out! This really is an amazing invitation.

Be decisive. Register for the Leadership Coaching Club 10 Week Intensive within the next 24 hours and you can bring a friend for free.
Register now.

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QUICK TIPS for focussing on your Five Key Areas of Leadership Focus:

* One of the keys to effective focus is to make sure our actions align with our intentions. Each time you are about to undertake a task, ask yourself which of the five key areas it is critical to. If it isn’t critical for one of the five key areas it may be something you should set aside or delegate to one of your team.

* You will find it difficult to focus effectively on these five key areas unless you have the core knowledge and skills that you require. Invest your time and effort in acquiring and honing your skills and understanding. Ensure you have identified and developed just the central ideas that deliver real value in each of these five areas for maximum results.

* When you are learning new skills it is important to practice in a safe environment. Don’t set yourself up for failure by trying out a new skill in a critical situation. Work things through with a mentor, coach or a trusted colleague before you apply a new skill in a critical situation.

The Leading Well Bottom Line:

You don’t have to do it all on your own. Join us in September for the next Leadership Coaching Club and leverage off all the wisdom, insight and experience of other participants plus your mentor Kerrie Mullins-Gunst.
Share your own tips with us:

* What are you doing to focus on these five key areas? Please let us know by adding your comments on the Leadership Skill Center Blog below.

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FREE TELESEMINARS

We will notify you when the date for our next teleseminar is finalized but you can keep an eye on what’s available (including details of how to access recordings of past teleseminars) click here.
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Services directory:

FREE MARKETING PLAN WORKBOOK - Have a look at this: One of the best resources on the web for marketing your services is Action Plan Marketing. Check out the website and download your free Marketing Plan Workbook and the first chapter of the InfoGuru Marketing Manual.

ADD AUDIO TO YOUR WEBSITE FREE - At the moment Sonic Memo Lite is free. The catch? You have to agree to join a mailing list (but you can always unsubscribe) and you will be offered a one-time opportunity to upgrade to the Pro version (but you don’t have to accept the offer). My suggestion is, if you do your own website, grab it while you can. You may even decide to buy the full version, which is what I use. Unlike other web audio systems that you have to pay for every month, this is great value at full price as it’s a pay once and use for ever deal anyway. Grab it while it’s still free.

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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SERVICES WE RECOMMEND

FREE MARKETING PLAN WORKBOOK - Have a look at this: One of the best resources on the web for marketing your services is Action Plan Marketing. Check out the website and download your free Marketing Plan Workbook and the first chapter of the InfoGuru Marketing Manual.
ADD AUDIO TO YOUR WEBSITE FREE - At the moment Sonic Memo Lite is free. The catch? You have to agree to join a mailing list (but you can always unsubscribe) and you will be offered a one-time opportunity to upgrade to the Pro version (but you don’t have to accept the offer). My suggestion is, if you do your own website, grab it while you can. You may even decide to buy the full version, which is what I use. Unlike other web audio systems that you have to pay for every month, this is good value at full price as it’s a pay once and use for ever deal anyway. If you want it for free visit.

One of the hardest tests of your leadership can be how successful you are in managing change. Recently there has been some discussion at the Leadership Forum about how to create the sense of urgency that helps to embed change in your organizational culture.

I think some of the most practical suggestions for how to do this come from John Kotter. In his book Leading Change, he says that establishing a sense of urgency is the first step in his eight stage change process, and it’s a critical step.

To push up the urgency level, he says that the first task is to remove all sources of complacency, or to minimize their impact. He gives examples such as:

* eliminating signs or symbols of corporate success, excess or largesse (eg. sell the executive jet, move to more humble premises, cut back on lavish events for staff and clients and start counting the paper clips)
* set higher standards both formally in the planning process and informally in day-to-day activities
* review and tighten internal measurement systems
* vastly increase the amount of external performance feedback people receive (eg. ask for real feedback from customers and listen to their complaints)
* reward and encourage honest talk in meetings and genuine problem solving (this usually requires an external facilitator or consultant as it can be very confronting)
* cut out ‘happy’ talk from the top and replace it with ‘this situation is serious’ talk.

To really create a sense of urgency demands bold actions, many of which are risky and even unpleasant. Kotter would say if you are serious you should be doing all these things, and more, to ensure your message that things are serious just can’t be ignored. Many of these actions need to come from high up in the organization.

In general, people like to feel complacent and comfortable and will always resist your attempts to make changing more urgent. As the situation becomes more urgent, conflict will arise and people will become anxious and uncomfortable. You need to be prepared for this when you try to implement changes.

Many organizations find that it is difficult for the old leadership team (which has presumably had a role in creating the current situation) to shake people out of their complacency and create a new sense of urgency.

This is one of the key reasons why you might need to bring in an external consultant to help with a change program. And remember, we’ve helped dozens of leaders implement effective change programs. If you need to make sure the changes you are introducing to your organization are successfully embedded in your culture, call us on 03-985 3924 or email me kmg@kmgconsulting.com.au for details. You can download a brochure about one of our change management programs here.

More on how to successfully implement change in your organization in the Quick Tips below:

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QUOTE OF NOTE

“If you want things to stay as they are, things will have to change.”
Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa (Italian Writer, 1896-1957)

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JOIN ME AT OFFICE 2006

You are personally invited to join me for the following seminars at the Office 2006 Exhibition at the Melbourne Exhibition Center:
* The MAGIC of Leadership - How to lead so people will want to follow you on Sunday 21st May
* Everyone Needs a Mentor on Monday 22nd May
* Seven Things You Can Start Doing Right Now to be a Better Leader on Tuesday 23rd May

When you register yourself as a visitor to Office 2006 you will receive a free ticket to these seminars, which would normally cost at least $35 each to attend. Take advantage of the free registration on the website now and save. I hope to see you there.

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QUICK TIPS FOR SUCCESSFUL CHANGE

* To overcome complacency, make sure you are not giving out any mixed messages about how serious the situation you are addressing is. Actions, signs and symbols, processes and procedures all communicate as much as words do, and sometimes even more.
* Watch out for individuals who grasp the urgency of your situation quickly and understand what has to be done. Enlist them as allies in spreading the word to others who may still be resisting your changes.
* If your changes are critical, don’t try to do it all on your own. Bring in experts to guide you and help you avoid the mistakes that could cost you dearly if you make them.

The Leading Well Bottom Line: Don’t assume your change program will just stick automatically. You need to be deliberate and determined in what you are trying to achieve.

SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS AND EXPERIENCES WITH US

* How do YOU make changes stick?

* What are you doing to overcome complacency, create a sense of urgency and make change stick in your organization?

Please share your ideas with us by adding a comment. Just click the comments link at the end of this article.

There’s no doubt it’s important for a good manager to be available. When you delegate a project or assign a task you probably go to great pains to ensure you receive regular reports and updates. I’m sure you make it quite clear that you are available if help or advice is needed.

Maybe you’ve even used the words:
“My door is always open …”

Perhaps it’s part of the culture or just company policy. In some organizations an open door is more than encouraged - it’s mandatory! Sometimes it’s even institutionalized and structural: all the doors are eliminated and everyone works in an open plan area.

But does having your door always open, work? One of the most common complaints I hear from managers and executives is that they are so busy, yet they never seem to get anything done.

The problem? Constant interruptions.

If people are constantly bringing you their issues, reports and concerns all day every day, how do you ever get any of your own work done?

Some managers cope by coming in early or staying back late to get the uninterrupted time they need to do their own work. That’s clearly unfair. And typically, it’s not very long before someone starts arriving early or staying late to catch you.

Others might work with their doors open, but everyone know about the invisible barrier. That’s the one with ‘Keep out!’ splashed across it in invisible ink. Cross it at your peril! The door might be open, but they’re not really accessible.

The fact is that if your door is ALWAYS open, it’s never really open.

If your door is always open, your people don’t have any way of knowing if now is a good time for you to talk to them - without interrupting you. And once you have been interrupted, you have lost your focus and might as well handle the problem. Then it can take you ten or even twenty minutes to get back into the swing of that critical problem you almost had sorted out … In fact sometimes, we never quite manage to capture the flow again and an opportunity is lost forever.

Lots of the tasks we do are routine and an interruption doesn’t matter too much. But if you are in a senior role, some of them are not. Some of your work really deserves your focus and full concentration.

If you explain to your people that you need some quiet time when you have work to focus on and deadlines to meet, therefore you plan to close your door occasionally, they will understand.

More than that, they will appreciate that, when your door is open, you truly are available and they really are welcome to talk to you about something that’s troubling them.

More on how to close your door in the Quick Tips below:

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QUOTE OF NOTE

“When you become quiet, it just dawns on you.”

Thomas Edison (1847-1931)

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QUICK TIPS FOR CLOSING YOUR DOOR

• The key to successfully closing your door occasionally is to ensure that the people who report to you, and those you report to, all know what you are doing and why it is so important you not be interrupted. Talk to them about it.
• Try setting and sticking to a regular time when you close your door to focus on your own work. If your people expect that from 11-12 each day your door is closed, they will get into the habit of speaking you before or after that time. And you will be amazed at how much you can achieve in an uninterrupted hour.
• Don’t forget to divert your telephone and turn off your email while your door is closed.
• If you work in an open plan office and don’t have a door to close, agree on some other signal for your ‘no interruptions’ time. I know of one office where people display a green or red flag over their desk depending on whether they are available or not. Even a hand written sign would do, if you explain what it means and ask your people to respect it.
• Be prepared to clarify what constitutes an emergency exception to your new ‘no interruptions if my door is closed’ policy. You may need to be firm about this a couple of times before you are happy that people share your view of what can and can’t wait an hour for your door to be ‘open’ again.
• Talk to your people about whether they might benefit from introducing the same system. (And make sure you respect their ‘no interruptions’ time, if you want them to respect yours.)

Welcome to this issue of Leading Well where we explore the power that purpose has to motivate action. In the article that follows I will show you how you can draw on this power quickly, easily and instantly to overcome resistance when you assign tasks, even unpopular ones, to the people you lead and manage.

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Do you remember that question you drove your parents crazy with when you were a child?

“Why?”

It was the most important, meaningful question you ever asked and nothing happened until you got a satisfying answer.

As we grow up our subconscious still asks the same question every time we are set a task or given an instruction. But as adults, usually we ask it subconsciously. And, unless we have been told the purpose for doing a task, we silently provide our own answers to that question “Why?”.

In the workplace, when we ask ourselves why we should do something, our subconscious response is based on our past experiences or our understanding of the situation or the person setting the task.

Our response might range from positive reasons why we should do something, such as “because I’m the expert at this” or “because it’s critical for successfully completing this project”, through to reluctant reasons such as “because I’ll lose my job if I don’t”.

If someone can’t instantly come up with a good reason to complete a task they may not bother. It may just continually slip to the bottom of their list, no matter how important you might think it is.

When everyone feels so busy all the time, the worst thing a task can be is pointless. If there is no purpose behind a task you can expect to meet resistance. It’s the same if something’s purpose is not clear.

For example, you will notice a huge difference in response between: “Please pick up the rubbish near the front entrance” and “Please pick up the rubbish near the front entrance because we want everyone to feel welcome.” The second includes a simple statement of the purpose behind the task and is much more likely to be complied with than the first one.

There is power in spelling out the purpose behind a simple task, just as there is in making the purpose of a major project, and even your whole organisation, clear and explicit.

Some reasons are much more satisfying or motivating than others. But any reason at all is better than no reason.

The point is that if someone is unclear about your purpose they are unlikely to make your task a priority. By explicitly stating the purpose behind any task, project or your very existence, you help people understand why it is important and they are far more likely to act in they way you want.

So spell your purpose out. Don’t leave it up to them in case they can’t immediately work it out. Every time you give an instruction or assign a task or establish a project or start something new, make your reason for doing so clear and explicit. Answer the question “Why?”.

(More ideas on the Power of Purpose in the Quick Tips below.)

QUOTE OF NOTE

“Treat people as if they were what they ought to be, and you will help them become what they are capable of becoming.”

Johann von Goethe (1749-1832)

QUICK TIPS

* As a leader the ultimate purpose of all work is to realize your vision of a better future. Explain to your people how any task you are assigning, or new project you are starting, links in to this vision.

* Being explicit about the reason why you are holding a meeting will help keep everyone focused on the outcomes you need. A simple statement such as “The reason why we are meeting is to decide who will do what at the trade exhibition next week.” makes the purpose for your meeting clear and guarantees better results.

* Use the word because… For example: “I have asked Lee to help you with this because I want you to teach Lee how to do it. I want either one of you to be able to do it on your own next time because it is such a critical part of what we do.”

* Use the phrase so that… For example “Next week we will all have to use the stairs so that the elevator can be repainted to match our new decor.”

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You are welcome to use our articles in your publication or on your website. Just make sure the following credit is attached:

“Kerrie Mullins-Gunst is an expert in all the knowledge, skills, attitudes and behaviours leaders need to lead, manage and mentor their people, and one of Australia’s leading female business speakers. For free leadership tips, tools and resources visit http://www.kmgconsulting.com.au or http:leadershipskillcenter.com or you can call on 61-3-9859 3924. Copyright © Kerrie Mullins-Gunst”