Leadership Skill

Leadership skill is something that you can develop. Reading the following three articles is a great place to start learning the skills of effective leadership.

To Be an Effective Leader, Do A Check-up from the Neck Up

Check Your Vision

As a leader you need to have vision of what you want your team to accomplish. A vision is more than just a statement; it is a complete picture with all the details of your accomplished goal. During my leadership skill workshops, the participants do an exercise during which they write a paragraph that describes the vision they hold for their organization. As I watch them complete this exercise, the one thing that strikes me is that most of the participants are not smiling. If the vision they are creating does not inspire them, how can they possibly expect it to inspire others?

When you create a vision, do not be held back by perceived limitations. When your vision is exciting enough, you and your team members can find a way to overcome them. When our country’s leaders had a vision of putting a man on the moon, there were many apparent limitations, including not having the technology available to make the vision a reality. However, when the vision came alive to the individuals who worked on the NASA team, they discovered the technology that was required to make the vision happen.

Make sure your vision excites you if you want it to excite your team.

Check Your Attitude

As leaders, we must deal with many stresses and challenges on a daily basis. Sometimes they can cause us to feel overwhelmed. If we are not feeling positive we must do whatever is necessary to change our attitude before we meet with our team. Our team looks to us for encouragement. Part of our role as a leader is to help our team members move forward with a positive attitude.

As leaders, we must be diligent about our attitude so we stay motivated. It is the only way we can possibly motivate others.

Check Your Behavior

Everyone looks to the leader to determine what he or she should do. In order to have effective leadership skill, your behavior must match your message. You must model the behavior you want your team members to follow. If you say one thing and do something different, your team will follow what you do and not what you say.

If you want your group to meet their commitments, make sure you meet yours. If you want your associates to do whatever it takes to get a project done on time, then roll up your sleeves and pitch in to do what you can to help them meet their deadline. Like it or not, your behavior is the benchmark that everyone will look to and use as a guide for their own. Demonstrate what you want them to do by modeling the appropriate behavior for them.

This check-up from the neck up is not a one-time event. Just as we need to take our cars in for periodic check-ups to assure they run effectively, we need to do periodic check-ups to make sure that we have effective leadership skills.

About The Author

Della Menechella is a speaker, author, and trainer who inspires people to achieve greater success from the inside out. She is a contributing author to Thriving in the Midst of Change and the author of the videotape The Twelve Commandments of Goal Setting. She can be reached at della@dellamenechella.com. Subscribe to free Peak Performance Pointers e-zine by sending a blank e-mail to subscribe@dellamenechella.com.

10 Ways to Beef up Your Leadership Skills

Have you ever heard someone say, "Actually, I have to admit that I think I am really bad at managing other people. My staff all hate me and I’m incapable of doing my job".

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Finding out what others think of our leadership style can be real eye-opener, and is often the most powerful driver for change. Using a survey where you receive feedback from your staff, peers and manager, gives you some concrete information on a sometimes intangible subject. Use an existing tool (and there are some highly regarded ones out there) or else simply let your staff know that you are seeking feedback from them in order to improve your style.

A word of caution though, your staff may not feel safe in giving feedback if they believe you are going to use it against them, or become defensive about what they say. It’s up to you to create a safe environment so they feel comfortable in being open and honest with you.

Leadership Skill #2: Don’t use the power of your position to get things done.

If people are questioning why certain things are done, or the logic of decisions, never pull rank in response. A critical component of effective leadership is getting the buy-in from your team and colleagues. You don’t get buy-in by telling them that the decision is the right one because you are the boss and you made it. Your team may not always agree with what is being done, but they are more likely to respect you if you take the time to explain your rationale.

Leadership Skill #3: Don’t think of employees as things that need to be controlled or managed.

Instead, give them the latitude to take actions and make decisions. Trust is a vital component of leadership. If you can’t trust people to do their jobs well, then you either have the wrong people in the jobs, or you have the right people but you haven’t trained them sufficiently. Let them do what they are there to do, without leaning over their shoulders all the time, or demanding to know how they spend each minute of their time.

Leadership Skill #4: Listen, listen, listen.

If there are unhappy or disgruntled people in your business, you can guarantee that at some stage they’ve tried to tell you what the problem is. It’s likely you weren’t listening (or didn’t want to listen), or perhaps your initial reaction made the person think twice about bringing the problem to you. Truly listening is one of the greatest skills to develop, regardless of your role. Good listeners are genuinely interested, convey empathy, and want to find out what’s behind the conversation. Great leaders are great listeners –without exception.

Leadership Skill #5: Stop providing solutions.

Managers often achieve their positions after being technical specialists, and so will have an opinion or view on how to "fix" situations or problems. They believe that it's faster to tell someone what to do, or do it themselves, than give their employees an opportunity to figure it out. By always providing the answers, managers take away opportunity for their employees to learn and come up with alternative (and potentially better) ways of doing things.

Leadership Skill #6: Always be constructive – always.

Language and communication skills set great leaders apart from mediocre ones. Don't patronize or be critical of others - take complete responsibility for how you are heard. If you catch yourself about to make negative remarks, take a breath and rephrase your words to get your message across without the emotional attachment. Great leaders always find a way to say things calmly and constructively.

Leadership Skill #7: Judge your success by the success of your team.

The true success of a leader can be measured by the success of the people that work for them. As a manager of others, your prime responsibility is to ensure the success and development of your team. If they are successful, you will automatically be successful. Focus on building their skills and removing obstacles in their way. If you can achieve this, you will see the results in the productivity, motivation and satisfaction of your employees. This in turn filters through to bottom-line results.

Leadership Skill #8: Don’t do things just because they will "look good."

Nothing is more transparent than managers who make decisions and behave in ways simply to look good to their superiors. If you want to improve as a leader, one of the qualities you need is integrity. The integrity to make decisions because they are right, and the integrity to stand up when you truly believe something is not in the best interests of the business. Whether or not it is in your personal best interests is much less of a consideration.

Leadership Skill #9: Include humor in your diet.

Nobody likes to work in an environment that is devoid of any fun. People are more productive when they are enjoying themselves. Creating a workplace where fun is permitted and encouraged can make a significant difference, and it’s even more effective when the boss participates. It increases team spirit, and encourages people to see you as a person, not simply as the boss.

Leadership Skill #10: Let people get to know the real you

Being open about yourself helps to break down the barriers that hierarchy puts in place. When your employees know the person behind the façade, that’s when you start to build the foundations of good leadership - trust and respect.

Megan Tough, director of Action Plus, is passionately committed to helping people move their businesses & careers forwards. She works internationally with enterprising professionals to accelerate their development and create more financially & personally rewarding professional lives.

The Seven Secrets to New Age Leadership Skill

Did you ever notice that in our American culture, we have the tendency to look outside of ourselves for leadership? That’s a trap. Isn’t it time we looked inside ourselves to see how we can be the leader we want and need to be in the 21st century? I certainly think so.

Leadership skill used to be about telling people what to do. We saw the manager as "hero." Managers were needed to solve problems, needed for their technical expertise and their know-how. They were needed to keep the ship running in tiptop shape!

All our old leadership skill models came from the military, where people took their command from a few people at the top. These models don’t work in today’s world. As the industrial age models rust, the power has shifted from the people who sell, to the people who buy.

Today’s business leader needs to a master juggler and a compassionate listener. She needs to be savvy and intuitive and sharp as a tack in business matters. Most of all today’s leader needs to be able to mobilize HUMAN energy, align it and direct it towards a single goal – creating more value for the customer. This, in turn creates a more profitable company. Companies that have high levels of customer happiness and employee happiness outperform those who don’t. It’s pretty simple.

I believe there are seven traits of leaders with successful leadership skills for the 21st Century.

Creative Thinker

Einstein said, "The world we have created is a product of our way of thinking" Nothing will change in the future without fundamentally new ways of thinking.

If we want to create a new world, we have to first change our thinking and thinking patterns. 80% of the population thinks reactively. They take action to make something go away (usually a problem.) The other 20% are creative thinkers – they take action to make something come into being (the creation.)

Creative thinkers thrive on the question "What’s Possible?" Reactive thinkers ask, "What’s wrong?" or "Who’s to blame?" Reactive thinkers live in reaction and response to circumstances. Creative thinkers go beyond circumstances.

Change Readiness

The change-ready individual embraces change. They understand the process of change and how it affects most people, and is skilled at enrolling people in it with a minimum amount of fear.

Most people do resist change – that’s because it forces us right out of our comfort zones. An effective leader knows how to move people out of their comfort zones with dignity and respect. He helps people share a "common understanding" of the past and why they need to change it and then provides them with a positive image of their future along with actions they can all agree will move them in the right direction.

Architect

A leader is a landscape architect. It’s her primary job to build a living environment – called culture. Culture is the soul of the enterprise. Today’s leader is a master "culture-crafter." He or she sculpts and crafts an environment that stimulates, excites and invites people to be the best they can be.

The architect leader knows that the ability to create a nourishing and challenging environment for people to grow in is more important than any technical skill she can possess.

Continuous Improvement

The leader of tomorrow will regularly challenge old beliefs and be passionate about learning and about applying that learning in the real world. She will often ask my favorite question "Who is doing something differently then I am and what can I learn from them?"

Authenticity

Effective leadership skill is authentic. How and who you are is just as important as what you know! Hold yourself to the highest standards – don’t talk the talk unless you are prepared to walk the walk. Don’t expect of others what you don’t expect from your self. Be real, tell the truth. The leaders that are the most revered are those that let the light of who they are shine through in all they do. They are honest, forthright and clear.

Coach/Facilitator

A leader needs to be a coach not a commander. He needs to hold space open for things to happen. It is said that when leaders do their job properly people believe they have done it themselves. Leaders are there to help people see things from a different perspective, to provide questions that encourage learning and to help turn work experiences into learning experiences.

Visionary

It’s clearly documented that visionary leaders are successful at mobilizing human potential. A vision provides focus. It’s a tool for aligning energy. Clear vision and purpose provide people with a framework from which to make decisions, it organizes action and effort.

Clearly a need for new leadership skill exists. Take a good look at your style and see if you are prepared for living and leading in the 21st century.

Want to find out more about how to be a powerful and compassionate 21st century leader? Check out our weekly leadership skill training program at www.customercarecoach.com.

Copyright 2000-2004 JoAnna Brandi & Company, Inc. All rights reserved.

About the Author

JoAnna Brandi is publisher of the Customer Care Coach (tm) a weekly training program. She is the author of Winning at Customer Retention, 101 Ways to Keep 'em Happy, Keep 'em Loyal and Keep 'em Coming Back and Building Customer Loyalty - 21 Essential Elements in ACTION. She writes a free e-mail tip on customer caring. You can sign up at www.customercarecoach.com.



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