Although the importance of building trust as a leadership tool is discussed in any number of books, many managers do not view trust as a problem-solving tool because of two factors: workplace priorities and pressure
In today’s complex and fast-paced business world, the ethics of the leader cannot be overstated. A leader’s ability to inspire trust and integrity is not only crucial for the success of their organization but also for the overall well-being of their team and stakeholders. Ethical leadership goes beyond merely following rules and regulations; it encompasses
Goal setting is an essential skill that separates exceptional leaders from the average ones. It is the art of envisioning a future outcome and then strategically planning the steps to achieve it. But mastering this art is no easy task. It requires a combination of clarity, focus, and determination. In this fast-paced world, where distractions
Increase Team Accountability Increasing team accountability is easier than you might think. It’s worth the effort considering how often most leaders are frustrated because people on their team are not practicing it. The chatter in the breakroom is that people are in disbelief the manager is not holding people accountable. And why aren’t they? Isn’t
I’ve had the opportunity to work with several leaders on having candid conversations and their overall leadership skills. One of the trends that I have noticed is there’s a tendency for leaders to put off having crucial conversations with people that are critical to organizational success. Examples include: If you are experiencing some of these
I get the opportunity to help people develop their decision-making and leadership skills across a broad spectrum of industries. Their jobs are different, and their responsibilities are diverse, but one thing is the same everywhere I go: Leaders want more guidance on effective decision-making. Avoid Extremes The decisions we make and how we communicate in
Communicating effectively when interacting with customers, people at work, and family members, you want to communicate with them in the style of communication language they process and understand. But how are you supposed to know which communication approach to use to improve your results? In How to Get People to Understand Your Message, we reviewed the
The success story of an effective team is one where the members operate as a self-managing team. The leader allows the members of the team to establish teamwork, modify their own work processes, and serve as a communication channel to the rest of the organization. I followed up with one of our customers to see first-hand what
It’s essential to understand that all leaders’ communication styles are not their personality; it’s simply the way they deliver and process messages. One of these four communication styles is your language. Can you spot it? The 4 Communication Styles Usually, only two out of ten people are fluent in all four communication styles. Most of us tend
Effective leadership is all about being consistent, both in what you say and what you do. Do you ever get frustrated with those around you being inconsistent? Recently, I was visiting with several employees about the changes that they would like to see in their organization. They said, “I would just like to come to
I once talked to a group of employees about the one leadership skill they felt was absolutely essential to be an effective leader. They said, “Handling the tough stuff – the situations that keep us from doing our job.” This immediate feedback was amazing. I was thinking, okay, the tough stuff, as the challenges managers
Do you have leadership skills? Are you a know-it-all? I hope so because people that are really good at what they do have a passion for learning and sharing information about what they know. We, know-it-alls, love to tell others what we just discovered and the latest tip or secret that would make their life
In a previous article, I introduced an upcoming article series titled the Top 10 Barriers to Leadership. This first installment is about Listening Strategies. By minimizing and/or eliminating the most common barriers to leadership, we can easily accelerate the growth of our personal and professional leadership skills and leadership qualities. With this goal in mind, here is
Each of you, as a leader, has a passion for achieving your leadership goals and aspirations. As a member of the About Leaders community, you see the importance of taking the time to learn about other leaders and how to refine your leadership skills. With this in mind, I want to share some of the extremely
Think of a time when you just read a great leadership book or attended a fantastic leadership workshop and immediately put into action what you learned. Isn’t it a great feeling to uncover a solution to a problem or situation and then take action? Yes, it is fun to continuously learn and improve as leaders!
Getting buy-in on tough decisions from team members is a challenge for many leaders when the change initiatives may be unpopular. For example, let’s say that a company’s owners have made a tough decision to change their employees’ health insurance carriers. This could be a real hassle for many workers—it might mean having to change
The game of life rules provide a key and immediate benefit—one that many people do not realize—is that increasing your leadership skills will help you win. And I don’t know anyone that doesn’t like to win! It doesn’t matter what you do for a living – if you exude leadership qualities, you will outperform others.
There will always be employees whom you cannot reach—team members with goals that do not match those of the organization and who are unwilling or unable to change. What is a Saboteur? It’s important to point out here that a saboteur is not an employee with bad habits such as chronic lateness or inconsistent follow-through
Are you familiar with the term “nomophobia”? Nomophobia is what happens to people when they don’t have access to their cell phones. It stands for No Mobile Phobia. Is this real? People actually get nervous when they are out of touch and will experience anxiety if they don’t have a way to communicate with others?
We are all familiar with the leadership skills needed for engaging our employees, the principles of motivation, and the power of great leaders. Additionally, I think people are in agreement that great rewarding performance is crucial to achieving excellence and sustaining organizational success. However, there are some misconceptions about celebration – celebration myths, if you
When working with people on their leadership skills, it is interesting to notice that they tend to work against their motivational needs. As a result, they lose motivation and running out of gas. Working with people takes considerable patience. So we need to reverse this trend in order to stay energized and keep the tank
Are there people on your team whom you haven’t been able to reach? You don’t know why, but they are adversely affecting productivity. A clear solution to this issue has not yet presented itself to you. You’re certain you don’t have a communication skills issue between the people in question, and you’ve resolved any conflict
The leadership skills of the entrepreneurial leader are significant to those of a business leader or organizational manager. Research indicates that entrepreneurs have the propensity to take on more challenges, be more persistent, and engage in a higher level of risk-taking than managers. The purpose of this article is for the leaders of tomorrow to
Lighten up! Leaders are proactive. And if you want to keep good employees, that is what you have to become. Building leadership skills is a way for managers at all levels to have more fun getting things done, influencing others to do their best, and genuinely enjoy working with people. What Keeps Managers from Becoming
When we meet with potential clients, the first thing we hear is, “If we could all just communicate effectively, we could accomplish anything!” Most people feel the same way— that the number one problem they have in their organization is a lack of communication skills. But what people think is a lack of communication is
Employee motivation is one of the most common leadership skills leaders struggle with. How do leaders with organizations get things done with fewer people? Job involvement is one of the primary factors for ensuring employees maintain a high level of job satisfaction and commitment to the organization. What is Meant by Being Involved in One’s
Have you ever presented a potentially unpopular idea to your team, and the reaction you received across the board was, “this will never work!”? If you are like most of us, you forget your leadership skills and try to convince your team members immediately why the change is a good idea. But instead of being reactive
In today’s competitive world, an organization that is successful is a learning organization—they invest in employee engagement and in leadership development. Toward this end, progressive leaders use a learning curve when working with their teams to present priorities and tasks so that the information will stick. Doesn’t it drive you crazy when you discuss a
What is the real purpose of a leader? To control a situation? To prevent “people problems”? To resolve issues? Over the last several months, I have found that quite a few people are confused about what a leader is and why leadership skills are not just for managers, so I thought I would define leadership
To be a great leader, we generally hear advice like you must be competent and have the ability to apply both people skills and technical competencies. Now that we have finished this Top 10 series, we understand what leadership is and realize that great leaders exude special talents and abilities. Here is a twist on
Think back to a great teacher you’ve had in your life. Maybe he or she encouraged you and helped you explore future career opportunities that would incorporate your talents. Maybe you had a coach who not only taught you how to do a perfect lay-up but also reminded you about the importance of getting good
Ethical leadership is a fundamental characteristic that any successful leader must have. In one of my previous articles, I discussed that 1 in 10 Americans believe their company’s leaders are ethical and honest. Let’s explore what ethics are, what a code of ethics is, and how great leaders practice ethical leadership. Valuing employees, respect, and
Great leaders use inspiring leadership principles and believe that their employees determine a company’s success or failure. It is not the size of the building, how cool the product is, or even having the best equipment or process that determines success. What propels and sustains a successful organization is its diverse team of talented, motivated
Many people have studied the correlation between leadership skills and leaders’ ability to create organizational change. The findings of these studies conclude that leaders who are successful at leading change, the movers and shakers, have both the intelligence quotient (IQ) and the emotional quotient (EQ) to successfully initiate and complete a needed change. Here is
Trustworthy leaders are some of the best bosses to work for. That said, the most common phrase I hear when working with managers is, “We have a leadership skills deficit here!” Most of the time, people say this is because they feel the manager may not be trustworthy. So what are the “Top 10 Leadership
Employees won’t speak up when they are fearful of doing so. I’ve noticed that people say, “The number one factor for people not speaking up is TRUST.” Really? If trust is so important, why do people not eagerly study and learn everything about trust and then make it happen? I’ve actually documented those articles that
When you don’t have clear conversations with employees, work performance declines. Many people tend to just give in to the stress of poor performance and complain that “people don’t work the way they used to.” Part of the problem here is that team members don’t know what is expected of them—and often do not get
Leaders are teachers and coaches. Leaders influence people every day through their behaviors, words, and actions. What are the steps to becoming a master at coaching? Masterful coaching can be accomplished by first making sure the coach loves working with people. This may sound simplistic; however, some people that classify themselves as coaches are more
Sometimes leadership is not about making extreme changes but coming up with a compromise that works for all parties involved. What is the payoff for developing leadership skills in your team? This was the case in a high-profile, international professional services firm. We were asked to help them with what they thought was an unsolvable
People have different ideas of what “holding people accountable” means. Some believe it is employee discipline; others simply say, “I’m holding you accountable,” but do little to follow up. As I have observed leadership qualities associated with accountability, effective leaders create a culture of commitment by defining accountability as making your own Choices and being
To be successful, leaders must take a personal leadership check-up. This isn’t something that is boring or time-consuming. A leadership checkup involves taking a few minutes to reflect and understand your leadership skills, your opportunities, where you’re going, and where you want to be. It’s like preventative care and maintenance for leaders. Check Your Vitals
If you don’t send your message in the right way, people will not be able to understand you. Many people grasp the concept of adjusting their communication style to other people by either: What they don’t get is just how much it can improve performance levels and make a difference in results. It Feels Phony
Leadership and communication skills are the two most important things to successful leaders. Symptoms of low levels of leadership and communication skills in the workforce are unhappy and unproductive employees. Symptoms are easy to identify and remedy with leadership training. Over the last few months, have you noticed a lack of communication skills between people at work? Are
Here are some ways to recognize whether you are a manager or a leader. Are You a Manager or a Leader? Whether you are a new supervisor or a CEO, leaders establish productive relationships with all people: their employees, their bosses, their spouses, and their children. In all aspects of their lives, they have developed
Difficult employees are the most difficult to reach and are often the eccentric ones, the extremely talented ones, or the rainmakers who bring in the customer base. People who are often labeled “difficult people” are the ones that become our best leaders. Too many managers run off their best people under the guise that the
Have you at times wondered if there is such a thing as an unmotivated person? Most people haven’t thought about what motivates them. They reach a burnout level and don’t understand why. Only after understanding the different types of motivation do they gain insight into how to motivate themselves as well as set the stage
Most companies are run by CEOs who can best be described as the alpha male or alpha female of the organization – they are smart, demanding, not averse to risk-taking, and have little patience for talking about people and their feelings. They’re tough, and that’s how they’ve gotten themselves—and their companies—to the positions they’re in
Recently, I was working with a team of managers on their organization’s leadership culture when one of the participants received an urgent call from his manager, who told him to fly back to corporate headquarters right away. There had to be an emergency meeting about an issue at one of the company’s plants that were
Effective leaders know how to motivate people to want to do what needs to be done by effectively using these three motivational factors. Many people are surprised to discover that money is not one of the top three. Motivating people in the workplace is often linked to money, and with good reason. Getting a paycheck
A transformative experience in my leadership development was with a client that dismissed me from his organization. Here’s What Happened Several years ago, I was conducting a leadership program for a prominent ad agency in the United States. It was clear to me once I started working with the senior leadership team that they did
Why do you do your job? For leadership and management opportunities? Something makes you get out of bed every morning and go to work, ready for another day of challenges and accomplishments. Is it the money? Bills that you need to pay? Prestige? Or have you followed a career path that truly interests you, and