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3 Dynamic Techniques To Boost Your Executive Leadership!
Here's a really simple way to measure the strength of your executive leadership skills. Ask your people to name 3 important reasons why they enjoy working with you. Most leaders find it acceptable to be viewed as a "nice", "friendly" or "clever" person. Others prefer to be "hands-off" - you know the type of boss who lets us do our work the way we choose to do it - the leader who wants our work done and doesn't care to be bothered with the hows or whys of our doing it. Some or all of the above traits may fit into your patterns of leading but are those leadership attributes and styles being fair to your people or helping your mission? The real question is this: How is your leadership adding value to, improving the quality in and nurturing the growth of your organization? Here are 3 potent steps you can take in your leadership practice to become a value-oriented, quality-focused, growth-driven leader. First Action-Step - How Do You Know? As Professor Thomas Davenport points out, "...if you want your economy [or organization] to grow, your knowledge workers had better be doing a good job." If your people are doing good work, how do you know that they are? So your first leadership action is one of discovery - you must explore ways to find out => How are your people performing their work => What tasks, activities, objectives and priorities are people working on => Why are people doing what they are doing => When are people doing their work, and => Where your people are focusing their best efforts during the performance of their duties. When you take the time ask, challenge or inquire with questions that demand open-ended answers, you will get a clearer picture of the value, quality and competence of your group's actions. "Approach each new problem not with a view of finding what
you hope will be there, but to get the truth, the realities
that must be grappled with. You may not like what you find.
In that case you are entitled to try to change it. But do
not deceive yourself as to what you do find to be the facts
of the situation." Second Action-Step - What Do You Draw When You Picture Your Mind's Eye? "Everything you can imagine is real. I paint objects as I think them, not as I see them." - Pablo Picasso Executive leadership constantly strives to envision, imagine and conceive images of what comes next - what many of us call "tomorrow". Give yourself permission to ask: "What kinds of future outcomes do we think will produce the best things for ours, yours and mine?" In your visioning pursuits and statements, you may wish to include any and all of the following items: => Ways to inspire your people to seek higher ideals => Ways to unite your people in their efforts towards making the world a better place => Ways to encourage, empower or engage your people to confidently and persistently act with integrity => Ways to reap the benefits of working in fellowship, harmony and peace with others => Ways to establish, expand and enhance your "frameworks of possibilities" [where meanings, visions and environments of possible outcomes are considered, spoken and practiced - adapted from "The Art of Possibility" by Rosamund S. and Benjamin Zander] Third Action-Step - How Much Did We Create Today? Innovation, ingenuity, invention are the new currencies in our highly competitive Knowledge Economy. Being creative for creativity's sake is not the object of the exercise. Rather, your creations should translate themselves into products of greater efficiencies, effectiveness or resourcefulness. One company's slogan is: "where do you want to go today?" Instead of that question, you might ask yourself: "where did our creativity lead us to today?" Author Mark Twain [Samuel Clemens] observed: "A person with a new idea is a crank until the idea succeeds." Without putting your ideas into practice, your creative efforts will be in vain. Follow the lead of another Twainism: "Name the greatest of all inventors. Accident." Use your failures, missteps, mistakes and misunderstandings to innovate, intuit or invent new approaches and more appropriate solutions. ------------------------------------------------------------ "A truly good book teaches me better than to read it. I must
soon lay it down, and commence living on its hint. What I
began by reading, I must finish by acting." If you take Thoreau's advice to heart, you will find ways to employ this article's actions and suggestions in your daily exercise of leadership. After 35-years worth of grappling with Information Technology projects and operational challenges, I have discovered one cardinal rule about leadership: learn how to do it better or resign yourself to getting lost! So are you ready to begin your executive leadership adventure? Will you commit your energies, ideas and heart to the pursuit of excellence? "Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower. You can't just ask customers what they want and then try to give that to them. By the time you get it built, they'll want something new." - Steve Jobs Be the leader who pushes the bar higher while making it worthy of taking a "quantum leap" beyond its limits for good of all your people. Copyright © 2005, Mustard Seed Investments Inc., Bill Thomas energizes, empowers and enhances the leadership
skills of thousands using in-depth, cost-effective, 100%
guaranteed performance improvement workshops, programs,
books, tools and educational services.
Pick-up your free copy of his Leadership Power-Tips, online
e-book and become the best leader you are willing to be.
All-the-Tools-You-Need-to-Lead-&-Succeed!
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Coaching The Defining Moment: The Straw That Stirs The Drink Of Motivational Leadership (Part One) Decades ago, as a rifle platoon commander in the Marines, I saw leaders who could motivate troops to do extraordinary things -- and leaders who could not get the troops to do much at all. I wondered what was the difference between the successful and unsuccessful leaders; and if that difference be taught. Leadership and Power - Being the Boss Doesnt Guarantee Either of Them Some people mistakenly associate supervisory positions, or seats of power, with leadership. They presume that these two things are synonymous. While this may be the case sometimes, leadership and power are wholly separate. In reality, the boss may not have all of the power, and in fact, may not be capable of handling it, even if he did possess all of it. What do I mean? What is leadership, and what is power? How do they inter-relate? How are power and leadership obtained? Let's take a look. Leadership and The Dirty Work The airline, Jet Blue, has been featured in many magazines as a new company that has hard great results and success so far. A lot too has been mentioned about the challenges they face ahead and about the culture they created at the start and are working hard to foster now. One of the many things that sets Jet Blue apart is their focus on teamwork. Here's one example. They have no cleaning crews - every employee on the flight (including pilots and those not working but on the flight) cleans up the plane. This saves time and money - both things very important to any business. 5 Tips to Help You Win Big & Become a Village Hero A few years ago, I returned to my impoverished village in Haiti. Many in the village came to see me-the tiny and diseased child they did not expect to make it. Some of them used to call me Souyen and kokobay-words that mean "crippled." A man from the village, Alfred, reminded the people how they treated me. "Today" He said, "He returns as our village hero." On Being A Born Leader "Leaders are born, not made." Right? Let me ask you a question: do you believe that? Supervisor Training: Helpful Tips to Lead Your Pack A new supervisor is hired to anchor a gardening project that has fallen apart. The last supervisor walked out on the job because he was overwhelmed with the high expectations of the project. The new supervisor is in charge of ten teenage workers, five young women and five young men, all of whom are not thrilled to be working on a summer day. As the new replacement, the supervisor is in charge of landscaping the lawn and garden areas that garnish a business complex. The complex manager has informed the supervisor that he has a three hour time limit to mow and trim the lawn areas, weed out the old plants and dead greenery, and replace them with a fresh array of tulip bulbs. By the day's end, the supervisor has a $20 food budget to feed the 10 workers on their lunch break. The summer heat is burning, and the teenagers would rather be out by the pool. Instead, they are required to sacrifice this day at work. The supervisor is overwhelmed with the task, but motivated to assist with all the responsibilities of his ten employees for the next three hours. Evil, Hostile Grumpy Listeners? Think Again I hated Kyle Sisk*. A notorious bully, Kyle punctuated my grade school years with misery. He would tease me about my weight, purposely rattle me with shocking language, delight in making me look foolish at every opportunity. Kyle had scary, penetrating eyes and sharp, jagged teeth that looked, appropriately, like fangs. He even had his own evil henchman named Eddie who would follow him everywhere, laughing a conspiratorial little laugh asking, "Heh, heh, what are we going to do next, Kyle? Heh, heh." (All Eddie was missing was a hump.) A typical encounter was the time I was walking home from school and Kyle and Eddie pounced from behind some bushes, grabbed my books and threw them in the mud. Even worse, they snatched my precious, brand new little purse and threw it into the branches of a tree, far out of reach. They then ran off cackling in triumph. I, purseless, limped home in tears. Leadership For Deep Results: Without Them Are You Wasting Your Leadership And Your Life? (Part One) I've challenged all leaders I have worked with during the past two decades to achieve "more results faster continually." Cub Scout Leader Outdoor Experience Recently I attended Cub Scout Leader Outdoor Experience training. This was a 24 hour course starting Friday evening. If you are a leader whose Council officers this kind of training, I would highly recommend it. To Be An Effective Leader, Do A Check-up From The Neck Up Before we can effectively lead anyone, we must take an introspective view of ourselves. We must do a check-up from the neck up. We must be certain that the thoughts and attitudes we hold are in alignment with the role we perform. The Three Essential Attributes of a Leader: The Demonstrated Abilities Leaders need to: Leadership Skills - 10 Ways to Beef Up 10 Ways to Beef Up Your Leadership Skills How To Party Like Leonardo Da Vinci After studying scores of great thinkers like Leonardo Da Vinci, I think I've stumbled upon what really set them apart from the rest of the folks living (and thinking) at the same time. Sometimes Leaders Need to Get the Boot Today I stood up to a guy right in front of his boss. I challenged him, the former leader, to change his position and give up his position of power. He had fallen from that position though no fault of his own, yet, he did not deserve the power that he desired. What Every Manager Should Know About How to See the Talents of Effective Leaders An organization of any size, from the family to the department store, the neighborhood grocery store to the largest international corporations, is a reflection of its leadership. The Four Laws Of Leadership (Part Two) In Part One, I described the laws of motivation. In Part Two, I'll examine the laws in more detail. Leadership - Passion, Purpose, Profit - Its Not That Hard Go to any educational institution, look at airport bookshelves, shopping centres and open your eyes to the myriad of products available today and you could be forgiven to thinking that the art of leadership was beyond mere mortals. Managing Monsters in Meetings - Part 6, Deadlocked Discussions Although a meeting is a vehicle for resolving differences, it can break down when the participants become mired in a disagreement. The Goals of Leadership Coaching and Partnerships Webster's Dictionary describes a "partner" as an ally or an association built around common interests and goals. Stand Out as a Leader, Do 5 Things Better! Number One: Improve the Quality of Your Decision Making! The manager administers, the leader improves; the manager maintains, the leader develops; the manager relies on systems, the leader relies on people; the manager counts on controls, the leader counts on trust; the manager does things right, the leader does the right thing. -Fortune Magazine
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