Posts Tagged ‘leadership’

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

Most people working in major organisations follow a pretty defined climb up the career ladder. As a result, people are often promoted to leadership and management roles based on what they have done in the past rather than future potential.

So do you really have what it takes to lead? Check out the following 10 questions to find out.

1. I am able to create a long term vision.
2. I am able to get others to buy in to my vision.
3. I can set specific objectives and milestones to achieve the vision.
4. I empower people to deliver and then get out of the way.
5. When I communicate, I listen as much as I speak.
6. I treat people well and help them to achieve.
7. I bring out the best in others.
8. I put results first, ahead of how I am seen or perceived by others.
9. I have the personal resilience to bounce back from setbacks.
10. I focus on what I do best.

I you can say “yes” to most of the above, you have the foundations for success as a leader in my view.

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

Sign 1
• You look for scapegoats when things don’t go according to plan.

Sign 2

• You look for external factors to justify lack of delivery such as the economy, the competition, lack of funding, to name just a few.

Sign 3

• You hear yourself saying, “If only they would……”

Sign 4

• You are failing to recognise or accept that things need changing.

Sign 5

• You never say, “I am responsible and the buck stops with me”.

What else would you add to the list of 5?

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, you have certain expectations in what others will deliver. The chances are you will write these down once agreed. The trouble is that often there is a missing link in the process and that link is ‘follow up’.

If you don’t follow up, a number of things will happen:

1. Those that you lead will not take you seriously.
2. People will fail to deliver what they have agreed to because they know that there will be no consequences.
3. Others who have a habit of making sure that they always deliver will stop bothering as they will become demotivated.

Follow up sets your stall out as a leader, shows that you are serious and provides that vital feedback that so many people are crying out for. So what changes do you need to make to follow up more effectively?

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

One of the biggest transitions that you will face in your career is successfully transitioning to a leadership role.

In this short video I will be sharing my tips on successfully transitioning to leadership.

If you have some great tips to add to make the transition successful please go ahead and leave a comment.

As anyone knows who is in, or has been in, a leadership role, it can often be hugely challenging and at the same time rewarding.

Over the years, I have been fortunate to have the opportunity to work with some great and not so great leaders.

For me, the things that differentiated the leaders who stood out included the following:

Genuine interest in others
• All of the leaders that I admired when working in big organisations genuinely had an interest in others. They were often people who made the time to help others progress, learn, grow and develop. At the same time, they still set and expected high standards of performance.

Inspiring

• I worked with one leader who, whilst highly driven personally, really inspired me and others to do what it took to get the best results. Their upbeat, ‘can do’ attitude really acted as a real source of inspiration. At the same time, they took the time to acknowledge when you had done a good job.

Sense of balance

• Most people who are in leadership roles have a certain level of drive. At the same time they are able to keep some sense of balance. They are often people who work hard and smartly when in the workplace but also make time for things outside work.

Do what they do best

• Good leaders don’t try to be great at everything. They know what they do best and build a team of people around them who complement the leader.

So what in your experience makes leaders stand out?

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

Read one of the many excellent leadership books and you might think that it is a breeze. The reality is quite different.

So what are some common leadership myths that you need to avoid?

Myth 1: Leaders are born

Truth is we are all born and I am not aware of any distinction being made at birth so don’t buy into this way of thinking. If you do, you are sunk before you get started.

Myth 2: There is a right or wrong style

We all have our natural preferences or what I call ‘default style’. At the same time, the type of leadership style that you adopt depends on the circumstances you face. Be willing to adapt your style to fit the circumstances.

Myth 3: You need to be charismatic and an extrovert

Being a bit of an extrovert might help but people are generally good at looking below the surface. Truth is some of the most successful leaders in some of the biggest organisations are introverts. Again, don’t buy into the mindset trap.

Myth 4: You need to be smart

Yes, you need a certain level of intelligence but that in itself is not enough. What you do need to be smart about is how you invest your time and energies and to know the impact you have on others. Build all of your competencies, not just your IQ.

Myth 5: You need to be the fountain of all knowledge

Gone are the days when, as the leader, you know everything in detail. After all, that’s not what you are employed to do. What’s important is to recognise where you are weaker and then build a team around you with complementary skills.

The Bottom Line

If you want to prosper as a leader, make sure you don’t limit yourself by buying into some of the common myths.

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

I am starting a brand new series of blog posts on the A to Z of Leadership Success.

So what about the letter A? For me it is about:

• Action focus
• Acknowledging the contribution of others
• Acting with integrity
• Applying what you learn
• Accepting that you cannot be great at everything

What else would you add?

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

A report by the Chartered Management Institute, published in December 2009, entitled, Innovation For The Recovery, identified the following 10 Barriers To Innovation:

1. Excessive financial constraint
2. Lack of time
3. Lack of resources
4. Risk aversion and fear of failure
5. Organisational hierarchy
6. Unclear leadership
7. Insufficient incentives
8. Insufficient training
9. Insufficient talent
10. Lack of autonomy.

To overcome the barriers to innovation, it is suggested that:

1. There is more management support.
2. Leaders model behaviours.
3. The right team needs to be set up.
4. Autonomy and freedom need to be encouraged.
5. Failure needs to be tolerated.
6. Opportunities to network.
7. Allocation of dedicated resources.
8. Appropriate incentives and reward.

At a time when the UK and many world economies are facing real challenges, innovation is surely part of the solution. An executive summary of the report is available at CMI’s website.

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

1. People want to see results.
2. People want to be effective and want to do well.
3. People want to be kept in the picture about what is happening and what is on the horizon.
4. People want to be appreciated for what they are doing and are trying to achieve.
5. People want feedback on how they are doing.

So what other top tips would you add to those in team leadership roles?

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps accountants and health professionals to become highly effective leaders and managers. For more information click here