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| Leadership Information |
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8 Questions to Ask if You Want to be a Better Leader
Those that have successfully made the transition from manager to leader have found the importance of continuously asking questions. Constantly receiving feedback from front line workers enables aleader to understand what is going right and where improvement is needed. At the same time, the leader is showing interest in the front line workers through these questions. However asking questions can become harmful if two key steps do not follow them. First, it is important that the leader acts on what was learned from the questions. If a front line employee offers information about a problem they expect to have the issue addressed. Effective leaders have been able to eliminate unnecessary paperwork, streamline operations, improve customer responsiveness, and many other positive results. The employees that make these suggestions translate these changes as an indicator of their value to the organization. Second, the employee needs to be provided with recognition once the leader has implemented a solution to the employee's suggestion or complaint. Although traditional leaders believe this has to be monetary, the reality is that employees are very happy with verbal recognition. In the event a solution was not possible, the employee should still be acknowledged and provided with details about why the policy or procedure change, or the suggestion could not be enacted. Here are some sample questions to ask in your daily contact with your employees. Notice the questions take a positive aspect to focus the employees on what is going right. An effective leader practicing active listening skills will listen to the hidden message and then probe for underlying frustrations from a positive point of view. 1. How are we providing the support you need to accomplish your work? 2. What are you finding most rewarding about your position? 3. What is your favorite part of your work? 4. Do you have any ideas to improve processes or procedures? 5. What customer interaction was most pleasurable today? 6. What is the most productive use of your time? 7. Do you have any ideas of how our organization might save money or time? 9. What is the silliest thing we have asked you to do? Remember: Ask the questions, listen to the answers, enact solutions where possible, and value the employee with verbal acknowledgement of results. This is just one of the best practices of today's most effective leaders. Max Impact offers a seminar for leadership team reviewing this and other great ideas and tips with an emphasis on things participants can put into immediate action. For more information call 248-802-6138 or send an email to info@getmaximpact.com. Rick Weaver is an accomplished business executive with a wealth of experience in retail, market analysis, supply chain enhancement, project management, team building, and process improvement. Building on a strong retail background, Rick moved to full supply-chain involvement, working with hundreds of companies to improve sales, processes, and bottom-line results. As Rick's interaction in varied industries expanded, he became troubled as he increasingly noticed that people and companies had untapped or unfocused talent. Coupled with Rick's passion for training and development, popular style of interactive workshops and seminars, and strong desire for continuous improvement, he founded Max Impact Corporation to be singularly focused on helping individuals and organizations achieve high performance. Rick is a popular speaker at seminars, workshops, and conferences. He has spoken in 43 states, including Alaska and Hawaii, and in Canada and Puerto Rico. He is available to speak at groups of all sizes.
Leadership - Google News |
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Coaching Reveal the Leader Within A Leader is not a certain type of person or position of power. It is not the one at the top of the golf leader board at any specific time or the person at the top of an organisation. It is YOU. In this article we want to show you how to reveal the leader within. To give you some ideas, methods, tips that will make you think and, if you want to, enable you to reveal the leader within you. The Three Faces of Leadership This article was published in the Nov. 2003 edition of Hamilton, Ontario's BIZ Magazine under the title "Leadership's Triple Crown" LM Ten Qualities Of A Great Leader - Plus 1 Great Leaders are optimists first and foremost. Their tendency is to interact according to Henry Ford's observation, "whether you think you can or think you can't - you are right." Because the buck must stop somewhere and because the dynamic of authority dictates that all delegated authorities are themselves subject to authority, they understand that being a leader is far more than a title. The ten qualities listed herein are based on these assumptions and are just the beginning of developing the character of a great leader. Here's to a great beginning! 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. Who Is Randy Gage and Why Is He One of My Mentors and Heroes? Who is Randy Gage? I first read about him in a newsletter by his friend, and another of my mentors and heroes, Stuart Goldsmith. Leaders ARE; Are you? Identity Crisis Leadership Training and Character The vast majority of leadership training available to managers focuses primarily on skill and behaviors: how to delegate, how to communicate, how to manage conflict. These skills are unquestionably important and necessary. However, we maintain there is another important ingredient that has been severely neglected in leadership training, that ingredient is "character." Leadership character and its qualities is the focus of our new book and workshop: "Qualities of Leadership." The Sink Or Swim Approach To Leadership Looking around in most corporate environments today you'll find mission, vision and values statements proudly displayed on the walls, in print materials and even engraved in granite. Often, they've invested a great deal of time; effort and expense in crafting just the right message to best describe the foundational principles of the company. I can't help but stop, take notice; and then wonder how this foundational wisdom is incorporated into the day-to-day operations. What's in it for the operational leaders to carry out the mission in ways that align with the vision and values? How are they taught to walk the talk? Partnership: Choose It or Lose It Charlotte decides to do good. Charlotte is a highly motivated worker. Something has been bothering her lately, something about the structure of the work flow that's causing redundancy, misallocation of resources, costly errors, and diminished productivity. On her own she does a careful study of the situation and convinced that she is on to something, she spends her evenings writing a detailed report that includes her observations, the apparent costs to the system, evidence of mismanagement (she is a bit caustic here), her vision of how the work flow should be structured, along with the steps she feels would turn things around and assure success. In the end, this is a detailed report, meticulously done, twenty-five single-spaced pages, with charts and graphs. Charlotte is proud of her work, the fact that she did this at her own initiative and on her own time, and she is truly excited about making a positive contribution to the organization. Charlotte finishes her report and sends it to the company president. And then she waits. And she waits. Certainly there will be a phone call, a meeting, some acknowledgment of her contribution, a bonus maybe, even a promotion wouldn't be out of the question. Something. But nothing comes. A week goes by. Two weeks. Still nothing. Hope wanes, and a bitterness begins to settle in. Those executives, she thinks, they go off to these programs on partnership or leadership or empowerment; they learn all the right words, but in the end it doesn't mean anything. It's more of the same old arrogance of top management. They really don't care. And this marks the end of Charlotte as a highly motivated worker. She is angry; she has her evaluations (all negative) of the president; she is feeling very righteous -- I did the right thing and what did it get me? -- and she has lost interest in pursuing her productivity project. What's the point? she asks. That's the last time I'll go out of my way for this company, 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. Coaching a Leader One of my favorite memories growing up as a child was making trips with my family to my sister's volleyball tournaments on the weekends. Those memories are filled with being a part of an exciting atmosphere, sitting in the stands and watching the action-packed games. Along with watching my sister play, I recall two other players by the names of Christy and Liz, who stood out to me because of their athletic talent on the court. Over the four years of my sister's high school career, I followed their volleyball careers as well because Christy was my sister's teammate, and Liz was a player from a rival school. Leadership for the Successful Entrepreneur! Why talk about leadership?" 3 Cs Leaders Must Communicate! "Of every noble work the silent part is best, Of all expression that which can not be expressed" - William Wetmore Story Characteristics of a Good Leader It's interesting to hear the responses from executives when I ask them, "What are the characteristics of a good Leader?" The Qualities of Skillful Leadership If you want to be a leader who attracts quality people, the key is to become a person of quality yourself. Leadership is the ability to attract someone to the gifts, skills, and opportunities you offer as an owner, as a manager, as a parent. I call leadership the great challenge of life. Shades of Grey: Government, Religion, & People Some think that everything is black and white. I'm beginning to see everything as different shades of grey. The Leadership Strategy: An Unmined Comstock Lode of Results During the Second World War, Winston Churchill had a framed inscription on his desk that said, "It's not enough to say we are doing our best. We must succeed in doing what is necessary." The Compassion Paradox Effective leaders are comfortable with paradox. They can call on skills and work in ways that seem to be contradictory. Using Your Intuition "Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure." -Nelson Mandela, Inaugural Speech, 1994 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.
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