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Effective Leadership
Leadership is like athletic achievement. Natural ability helps, but coaching is needed for peak performance. Whether you are a new supervisor or experienced manager, our free coaching tips can strengthen your leadership skills.
EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP TOPICS
Your company can make you a manager, but your employees determine whether or not you are a leader. Sadly, many managers fail to see that true leadership has nothing to do with the position they hold. Here’s a definition to remember if you want to excel at leadership: A leader is someone that people choose to follow. Follow, not obey. You can mandate compliance through the power of your position, but only your personal influence will inspire people to go the extra mile and contribute their best efforts. So here are some suggestions for increasing your influence.
You’ve undoubtedly heard many suggestions for improving your leadership skills. But all those high expectations can be so tiresome! Perhaps you should just accept that employees will always hate you and that no more promotions will be forthcoming. So if you want to relax, forget self-improvement, and insure failure in your leadership role, simply follow the suggestions below.
Successfully motivating your employees can result in improved morale, reduced turnover, and an increase in production and profits. The problem is that motivation does not come in a “one size fits all” package. Different people are motivated by different things. In other words, what motivates you will not necessarily motivate your employees.
So, in order to be a successful motivator, you need to know your employees. Learn what their interests are and what is important to them. Show a genuine interest in their lives – not only will you learn more about what motivates them as individuals, you will be building a relationship with them and they will appreciate your efforts.
As a manager, an important part of your job involves addressing the problems and concerns of your staff. The following suggestions may help to make these discussions more pleasant and productive.
Many people become managers without really understanding what management is all about. Maybe they just liked the idea of having a bigger paycheck and a nicer office. Or perhaps they never sought the job, but got promoted anyway. Whatever the reason, they are suddenly faced with unexpected and uncomfortable requirements.
This is often the case with Wimpy Managers, who are extremely uncomfortable making tough decisions and having difficult conversations. As a result, they become increasingly ineffective. To assess your own wimpy tendencies, check out the statements below.
On the “Newlywed Game” television show, husbands and wives had to guess how their spouse would answer various questions. If you had to play a similar game with your employees, how would you do? All too often, we work with people every day, yet have no clue about their goals, interests, pet peeves, or life outside of work. Thinking about your own employees, try to predict their answers to the questions below. Then gradually work the questions into your actual conversations. You are guaranteed to learn a lot. And become a better manager.
o find out what makes a management team effective, we studied more than 500 members of 72 management groups in both business and government. The teams were surveyed using the Team Effectiveness Assessment for Management (TEAM), an instrument developed specifically to assess management groups. Teams rated in the top 25% on these effectiveness measures were compared with those in the bottom 25% to determine which characteristics differentiated successful from unsuccessful teams.
More and more people are working with colleagues that they never see. In a recent study of U.S companies having more than 5000 employees, Brandman University surveyed 135 key managers about their use of virtual teams (http://www.brandman.edu/research/), finding that 40% of the companies already use them extensively and 56% expect their use to increase.
Instead of communicating face-to-face, these widely distributed employees are collaborating computer-to-computer, creating some predictable challenges. The following tips for making virtual teams work include suggestions from Susan Gerke, adjunct professor at Brandman and author of “Working Remotely”.
The advice for employees is followed by suggestions for their managers.
Do you really need to do strategic planning? Only if you care about the future of your organization. As an old saying states, “If you don’t know where you’re going, then you’ll probably end up somewhere else.”
Great speakers have three things in common: (1) something useful to say, (2) a well-planned presentation, and (3) the ability to keep people’s attention. You’ll have to figure out the first one for yourself, but the suggestions below can help you become more organized and interesting.
Because so many meetings are disasters (or at best a waste of time), managers who can “do a good meeting” are both appreciated and respected. To become a Meeting Master, you must do four things well:
This quiz provides a general idea of how you prefer to lead meetings. Two different styles are described at the end of the quiz.
Secrets to Winning at Office Politics
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