Posts Tagged ‘leader’

As a leader, you can be pushed, pulled or cajoled in many different directions.

One of the big challenges is to know what you stand for as a leader.

Take the time to determine:

• What really matters to you as a leader?
• What do you want to have a reputation for as a leader?
• What boundaries do you set on what you will or won’t do as a leader?

Becoming a leader is not about selling out but taking a stand for what matters to you.

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps accountants and health professionals to achieve success and realize their professional potential through being highly effective leaders and managers. For more information and to sign up for his free audio e-course click here

As a leader, I guess that you ultimately want to achieve success. At the same time, you know that success as a leader is definitely not guaranteed.

So what traits do you want to avoid if you want to achieve success as a leader?

1. Trying to rely on status or seniority to get things done.
2. Never allowing others to have a go and try things out because of fear of failure.
3. Avoiding taking key decisions that need to be made.
4. Trying to do it all by yourself.
5. Failing to trust others in the team.

I wonder what else you would add to the list?

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps accountants and health professionals to achieve success and realize their professional potential through being highly effective leaders and managers. For more information and to sign up for his free audio e-course click here

We commonly hear that people are seeking challenge in the work place.  Without doubt, your success as a leader you will be greatly influenced by your ability to bring out the best in others.  So as a leader what can you do to grow people?

Tip 1: Create the right environment

As the leader you can either create an environment where you encourage people to prosper and contribute or one where you keep everything fixed.  Which do you think would be more motivational for your people?  If you want people to grow, create the working environment where they can.

Tip 2: Set a vision and encourage others to do the same

So often in organisation’s people focus on what’s not possible to achieve.  In reality no matter the situation there are always possibilities available.  Clearly articulate your overall vision and encourage others to come up with their ideas on how they can make it happen.

Tip 3: Make some investment

When times are tough in organisations, developing people is often the first thing that is removed from the budget.  If the organisation is truly stuck for cash this might well be a necessary short term action.  However, as a leader, seek ways of providing opportunities for developing others.  Even low cost group events can make a big difference.

Tip 4: Provide opportunities for shadowing

If you have up and coming and talent in the organisation, why not provide them with opportunities to shadow someone at a more senior level for a day or even half day.  This can be a really effective way of giving someone the real opportunity to get some insights into a more senior level role.

Tip 5: Create a system of mentoring

Mentors are essentially experienced people who have achieved what you want to achieve and help you achieve it. They act as advisors, buddies and supporters who help others to get where they want to.

Bottom Line – There are many advantages from talent retention, to motivation of growing your people.  So what steps could you take as a leader to get better at growing your people?

One of the biggest challenges you will face as a leader is staying motivated and motivating others.  People often believe that there is some magic potion around motivation but the reality is that it can be tough.

Self Motivation

Self motivation is key as a leader, so how might you do it:

1. Set yourself personal goals for each day
2. Stay in a positive frame of mind
3. Try to avoid long discussions with people who are negative
4. Get use to looking at different perspectives
5. Celebrate successes – you could even record these

Being self motivated is not about wandering about with a huge smile on your face but having the determination to keep pushing on even when times are tough.

Motivating Others

If you think that cracking the whip is the way to motivating then you are way off the mark.  Some of the simplest things are the most powerful:

1. Make time to interact with others
2. Listen to their concerns
3. Help them to explore different perspectives
4. Acknowledge a job done well
5. Say thank you!

A good rule of thumb is to ask yourself how you would like to be treated as this will often guide you in difficult times.

Working with clients, one of the things that continually surprises me is that many people in leadership and management roles lack clarity on how they are measured.  If you are a leader or manager, are you really clear on what determines whether you are viewed as successful in your role? 

Why it is important to be clear on your success criteria

Determines your rewards

Most organisations have some form of performance appraisal process.  During your appraisal you present your views on what you have contributed to the business and have the opportunity to get feedback.  The results of this process will have a significant influence on your salary increase and potential bonuses that you receive.  If you are not clear on what your success will be measured you are less likely to maximise rewards.  Take the time to get clear on what your performance will be measured by asking your boss directly.

Helps you focus

One of the most common challenges facing many leaders and managers is a perceived lack of time.  When they review how they are spending their time they often discover that the bulk of their time is spent on activities that do not directly contribute to their success.  If you have not measured how you are spending your time recently start doing it for a 4 working week period.

Helps you to plan

Your success as a manager or leader is significantly influenced by your ability to inspire and get results through others.  Getting maximum benefit from others is all about planning.  You need to know where people perform best and then allocate work to them that plays to their strengths.  It also stops you from doing things that you are not the best at.  Make the time to plan so that you get the best results from yourself and others.

3 steps to determining your success criteria

1. Review your job description

2. Determine your key results through discussion with your boss

3. Have objectives and the basis of measurement clearly defined

Bottom line – If you want to achieve success as a leader, you need to be clear on your success criteria.

What type of leader are you?

The one who sets up the organisation and people for sustained success or

The one who applies sticking plasters and then moves on before they become unstuck?

Delivering short term success by acting on all the easy stuff is simple.  Trouble is that if you are not careful you find that the organisation is back to square one 12 months later or worse still ends up going backwards.

If you look at organisations that achieve sustained success, in most cases this was as a result of tacking the short term changes and at the same time laying the foundations for longer term success.

So why might you be avoiding delivering sustained success?

1. It is too tough
2. It takes too long
3. It requires too much effort
4. You are only interested in using the organisation as a stepping stone to something bigger
5. You need to adrenalin rush of achieving lots

Bottom Line – If you are series about achieving long term success, focus on trying to create sustained success in those organisations that you lead.

As a leader you face many challenges.  There are however some top challenges that you need to address to achieve success.  So what are they and what can you do about them?

Challenge 1: Human resources management

Attracting, retaining and managing talent is one of the biggest challenges you face as a leader.  The best people are becoming more conscious of the choices that they make when deciding which organisation to join.  They want to be sure that the organisations they work with take their development seriously and have a structured approach to developing and growing people.   Take the time to look at how effectively you and your organisation are when it comes to recruiting, retaining and managing your best talent.

Challenge 2: Change resistance

Change in business is inevitable.  Even if you have had a period of reasonable stability, it won’t be long before you need to take some action to move your business forward or stay competitive.  Change can only be accomplished through others and yet people are often resistant to change.  As a leader it is important that you recognise that resistance is part of the cycle of making change.  You need to allow the time and space for people to come to terms with the change and then support them to make the change.

Challenge 3: Short term focus

In organisations there is a tendency to focus on the short term.  Leaders are expected to deliver results at rapid speeds and if they don’t they can find themselves relieved of their role.  While it might be tempting to focus on short term, quick wins, the outstanding leaders are those who created long term sustained success.  As a leader, commit to long term success and develop a compelling strategy to achieve that long term sustained success.

Challenge 4: Finding good managers

You might have the best team of leaders around but unless you also have good managers you will struggle to get results.  Managers are the key bridge between the strategy, action and results.  They are the people who make things happen on the ground on a day to day basis.  As a leader you need to find and develop your managers so that they deliver the performance levels that you need.

Challenge 5: Surviving the downturns

The economy and market place will not always be thriving and there will be downturns from time to time.  As a leader you need to put in place plans so that you can survive and continue to prosper during downturns in the economy.  This includes making sure that you are creating some reserves, that you have a portfolio of different offerings and having a structured and systematic approach to risk management.

Bottom line – Being a leader is demanding and success is never guaranteed.  So what challenges do you need to address to thrive as a leader in your organisation?

Stepping into a leadership role is a significant step in just about every profession.  Initially you feel excited and energised and appear to be going along on a crest of a wave.  Sadly, much as we would like this feeling to last for ever, the realities of leading is somewhat different. So what are some of the realities of leading?

Reality 1: It is stressful

If you are leading, chances are you will experience pressure, worries, anxieties and maybe even stress.  As a leader you need to look after yourself if you are to perform at your optimal level.  Part of taking care of yourself is taking regular exercise and eating sensibly.  I know from experience just how difficult it can be but it is up to you to make powerful choices.

Reality 2: People will look to you

As the leader, people will look to you for a whole host of things.  These might include, for example:

• To provide clear direction
• To sort out problems
• To reassure people when they are worried or concerned
• To make things happen
• To communicate with them regularly and effectively

The question you need to be asking yourself is whether you are willing to take on this role.

Reality 3: The buck stops with you

Your job as a leader is to deliver results, consistently.  If you do you will be rewarded well and progress in your career.  If you don’t, chances are that you will find that you come under a lot of pressure to stand down or are may be removed from your post.

Are you happy with this level of risk?  If not, then you need to think about whether leading is for you.

Bottom Line – Leading at any time is challenging.  In the currently tough economic climate it is even tougher.  The big question you need to ask yourself is whether you are ready for the challenges of leading.

If you are reading this blog, I am guessing that you are probably someone who wants to achieve success as a manager or leader and have a successful career.  When it comes to our career and setting goals , very few have a clear idea of what they want and why they want it.

Think about your career 10 years from now and ask yourself the following:

What level do I want to be at 10 years from now?

If I was in my perfect job I would be ……?

I want to be known as a manager and leader who……?

Now think about why you want it.  The obvious answer is the financial rewards that come with success.  Yet in truth, money alone is not the long term driver. 

So what is it that makes you want to achieve career success?

Pick up any newspaper, trawl the internet or turn on your TV or radio and you are probably hearing a lot about the economy.  At times like this, leaders really earn their salary.  In many ways times like now really set apart the best from the rest.

If you are in a leadership role right now, you are probably having to make some tough choices or calls.  This might be about:

• Reducing the headcount
• Putting investment projects on hold
• Selling part of the business
• Getting into new markets that are holding up better in the current economy
• Gaining new skills to manage major change

The question is are you ready and willing to make these tough calls.  If you are you might be unpopular for a little while.  If you don’t, you are risking the long term future of the organisation you lead which ultimately could mean that you are not there for the very people you exist for- your customers and clients.

In your experience, what is it that gets in the way of leaders making the tough calls?