Leadership Techniques: Seven Secrets to Being the Leader Everyone Wants to Follow
Leadership Techniques: Seven Secrets to Being the Leader Everyone Wants to Follow
1. Decreased productivity
2. Increased turnover
3. Increased absences
4. Increased human resources mediation situations
5. Increased customer service complaints
The following are seven secrets to being the “perfect” leader everyone wants to work for:
1. Create a Vision
The best leaders not only assign tasks or monitor performance. They plan for the future and motivate others to see the same vision so they can all thrive to accomplish that vision.
Instead of dwelling on limited problems, the perfect leaders look at the big picture. They live the organization’s mission and implement, motivate, and dedicate all their efforts to accomplishing the mission.
During hundreds of team building and leadership workshops, I have asked the following simple question:
What is your organization’s mission statement?
If there are forty participants in the workshop, thirty-seven will look down at their desk, one participant will make a feeble attempt at reciting what he/she “thinks” is the mission statement, one participant will make a pretty good attempt and recite the first one or two sentences of the mission statement, and finally one student will volunteer to run to the office (or car) to grab a copy of the statement to bring back to the workshop. Out of the thousands of workshop participants I have asked this question, only three knew their mission statement word for word. The amazing part of this is that many of these workshop participants have been with their organization 5-10-20+ years and, they still didn’t know their mission statement. So my question is this:
How do you lead your employees to accomplish your organization’s mission if you (as a manager) don’t know what the mission is?
The perfect leaders live, eat, sleep, and shower with their mission statement. They know exactly what the mission is and understand its importance to the team they lead and to the organization. Most importantly, they communicate the mission statement to their employees at meetings, coachings, feedback sessions, and even corrective actions. Their actions are related to accomplishing the goals of the mission statement and can communicate the vision of the organization.
Action Step – Take the mission statement out of the dark corner in the office. Print the mission statement and its vision on the top of your meeting agenda and recite it at the beginning of the meeting. Then talk about how the employees are helping to realize the goals, values, and vision of the mission.
2. Understand employee needs
As the old saying goes, “You can’t please all of the people all of the time.” However, the perfect leaders realize that to be effective, they must cater to the needs of most of the team. Good leaders realize that the work environment is not a popularity contest or, as I say, “Leadership is not Pleasership.” Perfect leaders treat all employees with respect and are consistent in their actions and words.
At the same time, they recognize the unique needs of their employees and use that knowledge for motivation to achieve a common goal.
3. Communicate concisely and clearly
Poor communication skills are probably the Number #1 reason managers fail. If they can’t talk to and connect with their employees, they are not serving the needs of the staff.
What is good communication? The following are some examples:
* Communicate job expectations and standards
* Give ongoing feedback to employees.
* Seek and acknowledge feedback from employees on decisions that effect them (and take the time to listen to them).
* Communicate the mission (see Secret #1) on an ongoing basis.
* Communicate “bad news” in an honest and timely manner.
* Communicate using language that shows a positive expectation.
* Communicate through a combination of methods: person- to-person, e-mail, phone, and meetings.
4. Find common ground
Some managers don’t understand they are in the people business and lack the patience to work and develop their team members. I even had a supervisor during a coaching and mentoring workshop make the following statement to me at break:
“If I had known that I had to communicate with my team, I would have never taken the job.”
What did this person think? True leaders understand that their employees’ success is their success. They comprehend during this journey that some employees will need assistance, coachings, motivation, feedback, and discipline. Good leaders will work to find common ground with each staff member so that everyone wins. Perfect leaders will understand that some employees will need consistent managing, and others will need less managing; some employees need refocusing, while others will be very focused, etc. Perfect leaders recognize the need to find common ground with each person.
5. Take others to a new level
Perfect managers are concerned with their staff’s professional advancement and do everything possible to help staff members develop their capabilities. These leaders “see the employees for what they can become, not what they are now.” These leaders’ actions might range from improving specific aspects of job performance, to delegating special assignments, to developing an action plan for promotions. Perfect leaders must have the ability to assess the strengths and weaknesses of employees and use that to coach for continuous improvement.
Ideally the basis for improvement combines the best interest of the organization and the employee. Many times I am brought into organizations to assist them with this need:
“I have managers retiring, and we have no one to replace them.”
These organizations have created a “talent black hole,” because they didn’t implement a plan to “help others improve” and be ready to step up when needed. Remember, you can always replace a chair, a desk, a computer. But you can’t always replace a talented employee if you don’t have a plan in place to develop others to take their place when the time comes.
6. Believe in your staff
Recently, I was presenting the concerns of an employee workshop to management of an organization at their staff meeting. One manager looked at the report and questioned me as to whether the employees really mentioned the items in the report. I assured the manager the employees did. To that the manager answered in the meeting, “This must mean we have smart employees.” Little did this manager realize that he had a negative attitude toward his employees. Through his subconscious mind, he is showing his employees, through words and actions, that he doesn’t believe in his staff.
Perfect leaders believe in the best qualities of their employees. They believe their employees are smart enough to handle tasks and find solutions to challenges if given the correct guidance and opportunity.
This comes with earned trust from past performances and the investment by the leaders to ongoing shared coachings and feedback to give the employees the experience and skills to succeed in the future.
7. Integrity is best
It is important that employees feel they can trust the managers’ words and actions. This means honesty, fairness, and consistency when interacting with employees. If employees share in private a confidential and sensitive subject with their managers in the morning, this must not be known throughout the organization that afternoon. Or, if managers promise to give employees an answer by the end of the day and never get back to the employees, the managers’ integrity is destroyed.
The best leaders realize that their word is their bond and that actions speak louder than words. Perfect leaders work at being honest, open, and reliable everyday.
Take the time starting today to apply these seven secrets; and you, too, can be a “perfect” leader.
Leadership Techniques Seven Secrets to Being the Leader Everyone Wants to Follow - To learn more about this author, visit Ed Sykes's Website.
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In this changing, challenging, and competitive workplace, we can’t overestimate the importance of good management. Good managers will consistently motivate you to perform at higher levels of productivity. Bad managers will drive you crazy and eventually out of the organization. Managers with poor skills will frequently produce the following results:
1. Decreased productivity
2. Increased turnover
3. Increased absences
4. Increased human resources mediation situations
5. Increased customer service complaints
The following are seven secrets to being the “perfect” leader everyone wants to work for:
1. Create a Vision
The best leaders not only assign tasks or monitor performance. They plan for the future and motivate others to see the same vision so they can all thrive to accomplish that vision.
Instead of dwelling on limited problems, the perfect leaders look at the big picture. They live the organization’s mission and implement, motivate, and dedicate all their efforts to accomplishing the mission.
During hundreds of team building and leadership workshops, I have asked the following simple question:
What is your organization’s mission statement?
If there are forty participants in the workshop, thirty-seven will look down at their desk, one participant will make a feeble attempt at reciting what he/she “thinks” is the mission statement, one participant will make a pretty good attempt and recite the first one or two sentences of the mission statement, and finally one student will volunteer to run to the office (or car) to grab a copy of the statement to bring back to the workshop. Out of the thousands of workshop participants I have asked this question, only three knew their mission statement word for word. The amazing part of this is that many of these workshop participants have been with their organization 5-10-20+ years and, they still didn’t know their mission statement. So my question is this:
How do you lead your employees to accomplish your organization’s mission if you (as a manager) don’t know what the mission is?
The perfect leaders live, eat, sleep, and shower with their mission statement. They know exactly what the mission is and understand its importance to the team they lead and to the organization. Most importantly, they communicate the mission statement to their employees at meetings, coachings, feedback sessions, and even corrective actions. Their actions are related to accomplishing the goals of the mission statement and can communicate the vision of the organization.
Action Step – Take the mission statement out of the dark corner in the office. Print the mission statement and its vision on the top of your meeting agenda and recite it at the beginning of the meeting. Then talk about how the employees are helping to realize the goals, values, and vision of the mission.
2. Understand employee needs
As the old saying goes, “You can’t please all of the people all of the time.” However, the perfect leaders realize that to be effective, they must cater to the needs of most of the team. Good leaders realize that the work environment is not a popularity contest or, as I say, “Leadership is not Pleasership.” Perfect leaders treat all employees with respect and are consistent in their actions and words.
At the same time, they recognize the unique needs of their employees and use that knowledge for motivation to achieve a common goal.
3. Communicate concisely and clearly
Poor communication skills are probably the Number #1 reason managers fail. If they can’t talk to and connect with their employees, they are not serving the needs of the staff.
What is good communication? The following are some examples:
* Communicate job expectations and standards
* Give ongoing feedback to employees.
* Seek and acknowledge feedback from employees on decisions that effect them (and take the time to listen to them).
* Communicate the mission (see Secret #1) on an ongoing basis.
* Communicate “bad news” in an honest and timely manner.
* Communicate using language that shows a positive expectation.
* Communicate through a combination of methods: person- to-person, e-mail, phone, and meetings.
4. Find common ground
Some managers don’t understand they are in the people business and lack the patience to work and develop their team members. I even had a supervisor during a coaching and mentoring workshop make the following statement to me at break:
“If I had known that I had to communicate with my team, I would have never taken the job.”
What did this person think? True leaders understand that their employees’ success is their success. They comprehend during this journey that some employees will need assistance, coachings, motivation, feedback, and discipline. Good leaders will work to find common ground with each staff member so that everyone wins. Perfect leaders will understand that some employees will need consistent managing, and others will need less managing; some employees need refocusing, while others will be very focused, etc. Perfect leaders recognize the need to find common ground with each person.
5. Take others to a new level
Perfect managers are concerned with their staff’s professional advancement and do everything possible to help staff members develop their capabilities. These leaders “see the employees for what they can become, not what they are now.” These leaders’ actions might range from improving specific aspects of job performance, to delegating special assignments, to developing an action plan for promotions. Perfect leaders must have the ability to assess the strengths and weaknesses of employees and use that to coach for continuous improvement.
Ideally the basis for improvement combines the best interest of the organization and the employee. Many times I am brought into organizations to assist them with this need:
“I have managers retiring, and we have no one to replace them.”
These organizations have created a “talent black hole,” because they didn’t implement a plan to “help others improve” and be ready to step up when needed. Remember, you can always replace a chair, a desk, a computer. But you can’t always replace a talented employee if you don’t have a plan in place to develop others to take their place when the time comes.
6. Believe in your staff
Recently, I was presenting the concerns of an employee workshop to management of an organization at their staff meeting. One manager looked at the report and questioned me as to whether the employees really mentioned the items in the report. I assured the manager the employees did. To that the manager answered in the meeting, “This must mean we have smart employees.” Little did this manager realize that he had a negative attitude toward his employees. Through his subconscious mind, he is showing his employees, through words and actions, that he doesn’t believe in his staff.
Perfect leaders believe in the best qualities of their employees. They believe their employees are smart enough to handle tasks and find solutions to challenges if given the correct guidance and opportunity.
This comes with earned trust from past performances and the investment by the leaders to ongoing shared coachings and feedback to give the employees the experience and skills to succeed in the future.
7. Integrity is best
It is important that employees feel they can trust the managers’ words and actions. This means honesty, fairness, and consistency when interacting with employees. If employees share in private a confidential and sensitive subject with their managers in the morning, this must not be known throughout the organization that afternoon. Or, if managers promise to give employees an answer by the end of the day and never get back to the employees, the managers’ integrity is destroyed.
The best leaders realize that their word is their bond and that actions speak louder than words. Perfect leaders work at being honest, open, and reliable everyday.
Take the time starting today to apply these seven secrets; and you, too, can be a “perfect” leader.
Leadership Techniques Seven Secrets to Being the Leader Everyone Wants to Follow - To learn more about this author, visit Ed Sykes's Website.
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Joe DagerJoe Dager is President of Business901, a progressive coaching company providing no-nonsense direction in areas such as Lean Six Sigma Marketing and organized referral marketing. What others say: In the past 20 years, Joe and I have collaborated on many difficult issues. Joe’s ability to combine his expertise with “out of the box” thinking is unsurpassed. He has always delivered quickly, cost effectively and with ingenuity. A brilliant mind that is always a pleasure to work with.” - James R. If you want to learn more about Business901, start a conversation with us. We can be found @ Web/Blog: Business901.com Web/Blog: FundingYourNonprofit.com LinkedIn Profile Follow me on Twitter - Visit Joe Dager's Website |
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Dave KurlanDave Kurlan is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the industry leader in sales assessments and sales force evaluations, and the CEO of David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in sales force development. Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc. Magazine's Conference on Growing the Company, the Sales & Marketing Management Conference and the Gazelles Sales & Marketing Summit. He has been featured on radio and TV, including World Business Review with General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc. Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine and Incentive Magazine. He is the author of Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball. He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary recruiting process for hiring great salespeople, and he writes Understanding the Sales Force, a popular business Blog and is a contributing author to The Death of 20th Century Selling and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2. - Visit Dave Kurlan's Website |
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Linda RichardsonLinda Richardson is the Founder and Executive Chairwoman of Richardson, a global sales training and performance improvement company. As a recognized leader in the industry, she has won the coveted Stevie Award for Lifetime Achievement in Sales Excellence and she was identified by Training Industry, Inc. as one of the “Top 20 Most Influential Training Professionals.” Ms. Richardson is credited with the movement to Consultative Selling and is the author of ten books on selling and sales management, including Sales Coaching — Making the Great Leap from Sales Manager to Sales Coach, and Stop Telling, Start Selling. She teaches sales and management at the Wharton Graduate School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton Executive Development Center. Linda is a frequent speaker at industry and client conferences, has been published extensively in industry and training journals, and has been featured in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Nation’s Business, Selling Power, Success, and The Conference Board Magazine. Learn more about Richardson's sales training and performance improvement solutions at http://www.richardson.com web - Visit Linda Richardson's Website |
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Dianne CramptonDianne Crampton is an executive leadership coach, team culture consultant, author and president of TIGERS Success Series, Inc. Dianne has been helping CEO's and Executives connect their employees to their core values and goals for over 20 years using the trademarked TIGERS team culture process, which stands for trust, interdependence, genuineness, empathy, risk and success. To download a free white paper on behaviors that build strong teams and behaviors that will predictably tear them down go here. Dianne's contribution to the 2010 Pfeiffer Consulting Journal (an imprint of John Wiley and Sons Publishers) entitled TIGERS Hearted Teams is available in November 2009. Her new book TIGERS Among Us: 5 Winning Business Team Cultures And Why, Three Creeks Publishing will release in March 2010. To receive publishing discounts, subscribe to the free TigerTracks Newsletter here. - Visit Dianne Crampton's Website |
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