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Do You Have The Skills to Lead?

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Whether you run a large corporation or one of the smallest businesses in town, how would you rate your leadership skills?

There are probably a large number of individuals who would have trouble answering that question, with some being too modest to even take a stab at it. Either way, knowing what kind of leader you are, especially how effective you can be in leading your employees, is important.

You have probably read a book or two, perhaps perused an article or two, on what it takes to be a great leader.

So, did you learn anything from those readings? If the answer is no, don’t feel like you wasted your time. In fact, having what it takes to be a great leader really varies from person to person.

Keep in mind that not everyone is blessed with or born with leadership skills. Some acquire them over time, while others never seem to quite get to that point of having what it takes to lead a team of one, dozens, hundreds or even more.

In order to be a great leader for the company you own or the one you work for, consider these following attributes:

* Commitment – First and foremost, do you have the commitment to lead others? Leading others on a daily basis means that not only are you responsible for overseeing your work, but also the work of others. The key here is to be able to do that without being a micro manager, someone who can’t help but literally stand over others while they do their work. Keep in mind that you were chosen or chose to be a leader not to babysit other individuals, but to help guide them so that your company is second to none. Being a leader means going past the normal day-to-day duties, working harder than everyone else, and making sure the buck stops with you. Ask yourself, are you committed to this principle?

* Responsibility – Being a leader often means you get the better salary, some extra perks, and lots of commendations. It also requires that you hold yourself accountable for the performance of others. Some leaders like to take all the perks that go with being a leader, but they are missing in action at times when it comes to accepting responsibility when others make mistakes or flat out fail. In order to be a true leader, stand up and take responsibility if you report to someone higher up than you when one of your workers fails. It is easy to let them take the hit, but a true leader is a team player, not willing to throw someone else under the bus.

* Vision – Leaders should always be thinking about how to take their companies to the next level. Whether it involves improving customer service, being more active online with social media and blogging, or finding the right employees to fill each seat on the company bus (meaning each individual has a talent, finding where their seat is to best serve your company is the challenge), leaders are always required to think ahead. It is easy as a leader to sit back and just go with the flow, but that will ultimately spell doom for the company you own or work for. Always be thinking about the next day and the next day, giving you and your business the opportunity to stay one step ahead of the competition.

* Character – Lastly, what would people say about your character as a leader? Leaders need to set the tone for their offices, showing others that hard work does in fact pay off. Are you a leader who is the last one to go home at the end of the day or the first one to arrive in the morning? Are you a leader who looks for solutions to problems and does not create more problems for those around you. Finally, are you a leader who wants people to like you for being a strong but caring leader, not someone who tells people what they want to hear or does what they want them to do?

So, are you a leader or a follower in the business world?

Photo credit: task.fm

About the Author: With 23 years’ writing experience, Dave Thomas covers a variety of business and consumer topics, including the rise and fall of gold and silver prices.

On Being the Kind of Boss People Want to Work With

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By Stacey Thompson

More often than not, the average employee views management in a negative light. Feared, resented, or even reviled, bosses are seen as cruel, unfeeling taskmasters that care only for the bottom line and will readily sacrifice any of the rank and file to attain their objectives.

This culture of hating on the management can go two ways: either employees aspire for these positions in order to propagate the perceived cycle of tyranny, or they will not make the effort to become better workers, seeing that promotion will only turn them into the same monsters they so despise. Neither of these attitudes does justice to the employees, the management, or the company they work in, for that matter.

Are you a boss people like to work with?

In the case of companies, I firmly believe that the culture is propagated from the top down. This places the responsibility of maintaining a prosperous and positive work environment squarely on the shoulders of the managers and supervisors. Just as bad habits and mentalities spring from negative examples provided by the people on top, productive and motivational attitudes are spread by good bosses.

Many people have plenty of theories on what managers should be doing to keep their people motivated, happy, and productive. In my own experiences as both a subordinate and as a manager, I can summarize all these lessons into four pieces of advice:

Open Lines of Communication

No amount of mutual understanding and teamwork will happen if the boss doesn’t even talk with his/her subordinates. This isn’t limited to meetings or official office correspondence; the ability to be able to shoot the breeze with the troops at the water cooler is an important ability to have, if you want to be an exemplary manager of people. It will give you more insights on what motivates (and de-motivates) your people, and in turn, it will humanize you in their perceptions. You’ll cease to be a cruel monster in their eyes, and that can’t be all bad.

Try smiling a little more, too

Though you want to appear a tad more friendly and approachable, do not overdo this, either. Being too chummy with your subordinates will often result in them respecting you less, and your ability to reprimand or correct them will be severely hindered. This does make things lonelier at the top, but remember, this is for the sake of all of your livelihoods.

Give Them a Chance to Shine

You shouldn’t be taking all the glory and credit for yourself, either. This is probably one of the fastest ways to lose favor with your constituents. When they do something above and beyond the call of duty, or have stayed consistently productive and cooperative, give them due praise, and possibly even a material bonus. Let the entire team know when one or more of them have done well, and if your own boss recognizes your team’s accomplishments, let them know where the credit should go.

Allowing them to take the lead and enjoy the benefits of their own achievements will inspire them to work more effectively, and it will give them lessons that will be of use to them when they become managers and supervisors themselves.

Be The Final Word

The two previous bits of advice portray a softer, more yielding kind of management strategy. One cannot be a boss without putting one’s foot down, however. The final lesson on being the boss your people can respect involves being the authority within the team or organization. You are the go-to guy/gal when they want a decision made, the King Solomon that will decide who gets the baby, so to speak.

As a leader, it is on you to set clear goals for you and your team, and you have to be firm when it comes to these things. It doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be able to change your mind; it means that you will only do so if your colleagues make a strong enough case for an alternative, or if you yourself have evaluated the factors and have found that a course alteration is in order.

Are you an effective boss? What are your strategies for leadership?

Author’s Bio: Stacey Thompson (@RedHotStacey) is a professional writer, marketer, entrepreneur, and a lover of weird little animals. She is based in San Diego, California, and aspires for her own little company to grow successful enough for her to qualify in entering an elite CEO peer advisory group, one fine example being The Sage Executive Group.

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How to apply military leadership skills to your business

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By Ben Morton

The last four years have unquestionably been difficult times for business and the public. In a short space of time we have witnessed the banking crisis, phone hacking and political scandals and the demise of many familiar big brand names such as Blockbuster and Woolworths to name just a couple.

All of these things have brought leadership into sharp focus once again and led us to ask many questions. Two of the most common questions I have heard are ‘Can we trust our leaders?’ and ‘Are our leaders equipped to lead us through these times?’

Linked to these questions are a couple of phrases or buzz words that I have heard more and more lately; Innovation and VUCA (Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity). It is VUCA that particularly interests me.

The term VUCA derives from the military vocabulary and they have been training their leaders to operate in this world for many, many years. In fact, it’s one of the cornerstones of military leadership.

Here are some of my favourite techniques, taken from the military, that you can use to help you be an effective business leader whilst operating in a VUCA world.

Provide Stability

A leader’s role is to create stability and an air of calm – these tools can help by ensuring that teams are not reliant on particular individuals.

  • Train your team to understand and be able to carry out other peoples jobs.
  • Don’t allow a Job Description document to constrain what your people do – give them freedom to act.
  • Recruit for flexibility, intellect and team ‘fit’ – not just skills in a narrow job role.

Provide Clarity

In times of uncertainty it is important for leaders to communicate and provide clarity where they can.

Ensure that everyone in your team or organization fully understands the vision or end goal as opposed to just their individual task. This means that if the situation changes, they still know what the team or organisation is ultimately trying to achieve.

Tell people what they need to achieve – not how to achieve it.

‘Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do and they will surprise you with their ingenuity.’ General George Patton

These two points will empower your people to act and handle change quickly with the end goal still in mind. The military call this ‘Mission Command’.

Communicate

It is easy to stop communicating when under pressure but the impact on the team can be huge.

  • Communicate regularly and build it into your processes.
  • When teams are under pressure, individuals will often retreat inwards and team meetings stop taking place – this is the worst thing that can happen in difficult times.
  • Establish a routine for team meetings and communications and make them sacrosanct. This gives you confidence that the team knows what is happening and it gives the team confidence in you and the plan.

Communicate early

The military have the concept of a ‘Warning Order’ which tells subordinates early on what little information is available about forthcoming operations. This allows for concurrent activity and provides a faster response time to challenges. Critics will say, ‘But this could waste time if people start working on the wrong things.’ Not so if you have provided clarity and everybody understands the end goal.

Plan for the Risks

The military have a great phrase – ‘no plan survives contact with the enemy’. So what can we learn from this?

  • Consider the ‘threats’, ‘risks’ and ‘what if’s’ that may affect your plan – create a simple Issues and Risks register.
  • Once you have considered the risks – plan for them. Don’t just have a plan B, have a plan C as well.
  • Communicate the risks and plans. It will allow people to act quickly when things change and once again, it gives them confidence.
Author’s Bio: Ben Morton is a Consultant at TwentyOne Leadership specialising in the provision of high quality leadership training, mentoring and coaching. He has approaching two decades experience in leadership, learning and management along with a wealth of expertise in strategic Human Resource management drawn from experience as a Board Member in small entrepreneurial organizations and working in large multi-nationals such as Tesco and TUI Travel.

Having led expeditions around the globe from the Alps of Europe to the Steppe Country of Mongolia and served two operational tours of Iraq as an Officer in the British Army, Ben understands what it takes to lead people in the most difficult of conditions. He’s passionate about sharing his knowledge, experience and expertise. Connect with Ben on Twitter: @benmorton2

When The Boss Is Away, Are Leaders Missing An Opportunity?

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by Brian Hackerson

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When the Boss Is Away

We all know the old saying, “when the cat is away, the mice will play!” In recent weeks I have been pondering this idea, as my own boss has been gone for an extended period of time. As I did that, I found myself asking the question, “am I missing a big opportunity?”

In my experience, the presence of the boss creates a level of overhead on a day-to-day basis. He/she may schedule meetings, have “drive-by” conversations, send emails, delegate items that come up. When that energy source is temporarily out of the picture, much of that overhead is subsequently temporarily relieved. So, I ask again, is there a golden opportunity available to leaders when their bosses step away for vacation?

I say, absolutely, yes!

The Leadership Opportunity

In my situation, my boss’ absence allowed me to create a very detailed execution plan for my #1 key strategy for the year (the strategy, by the way, had just been authored a few weeks prior). The extra (overhead) time I picked up allowed me to free my mind from clutter and see the plan clearly, and begin executing it. By the time he gets back, I will have been well on my way to delivering on the strategy, and the momentum will be hard to stop. The advantage here is that the energy and direction was directed my me, not the boss’ day-to-day agenda.

My advice: when the boss is away, do something important that moves the rock. Moving the rock implies activities intended to impact the bigger picture for the good, as opposed to checking off items on the everlasting to-do list. Strategic plans, personal goals, developmental planning and idea generation and examples of activities with that broader type of implication.

Remember, the opportunities only come around a few times a year, so leaders should take advantage of this down time. I think your boss will be delighted if you do.

How do move things forward when the boss is away.

Author’s Bio:
Brian Hackerson is a software engineering manager in the Corporate Research Laboratory at 3M Company in St. Paul, MN. He is responsible for driving development of new and innovative products and systems for the company. He writes about his experiences and observations at thebigplaysblog.com. You can find him on Twitter at @bhackerson.

Online Surfing and Depression. Is There a Connection Between Them?

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by
Jack Samuelson

Depression is hard to diagnose, but the earlier symptoms are discovered, the better.

That is why a new study of Dr. Sriram Chellappan of Missouri University of Science and Technology could be a turning point in fighting depression. Dr. Chellappan and his associates found that students showing signs of depression use the Internet differently than other students.

Online Surfing and Depression. Is There a Connection Between Those Two?

According to Dr. Chellappan, his research could be a real breakthrough. That is because this is could be the first study based on actual Internet data, not surveys. Using surveys to retrieve the information about Internet usage was the main problem of previous studies. People usually forget the course of their online activity (especially if it was random), and even if they remember what they did — errors are common. Another problem is the so-called “social desirability bias” (i.e., the tendency to answer survey questions so they would be viewed positively by others). Using “real” Internet data gave researchers the advantage of analyzing empirical, undeniable, totally accurate facts.

The study itself should be considered as the first step showing new, possible ways in recognizing signs of depression (or other mental/social disorders). It was conducted on 216 Missouri students, collecting their Internet data for a month.

Students received pseudonyms so they would remain anonymous to the researchers. But first, all participants were tested for symptoms of depression. Having gathered and analyzed all the data, researchers found that the online activity of students with no signs of depression differed from that of participants with signs of mood disorders.

The differences in the two groups were significant.

Researchers managed to identify nine fine-grained patterns of online surfing that may indicate surfer’s depression. Identifying nine patterns on such a relatively small group is a remarkable finding, showing how much our mental health can influence every part of our life and change the way we perform even the most mundane activities. A longer research could help better recognize symptoms of depression.

What are these differences?

Depressed students tend to surf online much more randomly, frequently changing sites and applications. They also are more likely to use file-sharing sites and services, chat online, send messages and emails, watch online videos and play online games. Which pattern really stood out? The randomness. Dr. Chellappan connected this finding with the fact, that people suffering from depression have trouble concentrating, which would help understand reasons behind such activity patterns.

How Would Knowing This Connection Help?

According to the Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression (CES-D) between 10 and 40% of all American students suffer from depression. It could almost be called an “epidemic”. Findings of Dr. Chellappan’s group could help deal with the pressing problem of depression among students.

This kind of study could help develop a new, effective tool to identify symptoms of depression. Software monitoring online activity could send an alert when Internet behavior patterns indicate signs of depression. It could also be installed in campus computer networks to help trained counselors detect students with mood disorders, and help them deal with their problems as soon as possible. I doubt that such software could be created before new studies are conducted on much bigger student groups. But the right idea is there, and it could only encourage further research.

If future studies confirm Chellappan’s findings, it would open the doors to analyzing Internet usage patterns of people suffering from other forms of mental disorders — for example anorexia or schizophrenia. It might also give a strong push for studies on other groups with high risk of depression such as war veterans or single elderly people.

Why Not?

The only disturbing thing about this research is concern about online privacy. If it were possible to diagnose depression through Internet usage patterns, then eventually it would be possible to create a “psychological profile” based only on an individual’s online activities.

Such profiles would be valuable for commercial companies and for public institutions. Employers could predetermine psychological profiles of future employees, and hire only those matching their expectations (or fire employees who showed undesirable psychological traits). Companies could tailor their advertisements for specific target groups (and those advertisements would work every time). To be honest – just the idea of an outside entity having my full psychological profile makes me a bit anxious. It seems Orwellian. But maybe I’m just paranoid – what do you think?

Author’s Bio:
Jack Samuelson is a contributing author who writes articles on numerous subjects. He has a wide range of interests, and a soft spot for weird news and funny stories. He has been an insightful observer of the world but always tries to balance his commitment to serious issues concentrating on some less serious, funny news. You can find him on Facebook

How to Build Something You Can’t Build Alone

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The Power of Community Focused in the Same Direction

Whether you count yourself in huge corporation, a small team, or feel you’re the only member of an entirely unique group. If we hope to move forward, we all could use a more strategic view. We can chase our dreams. We can hire an evangelist. We can put our noses to the grindstone. Still the truth of the matter is we’re social beings and we build better things together than we’ll ever build alone.

The best dreams are built with insight from a variety of viewpoints. The best ideas and innovations are fleshed out with minds and voices that approach a problem from differing points of view. The best communities come together around participation and personal investment. And we’ve all seen the power of a community focused in the same direction.

Leaders want to build something we can’t build alone.

How to Build Something You Can’t Build Alone

When we think of social business, the tools may have changed, but the people haven’t. We’d still like our lives to be easier, simpler, and more meaningful than just getting up each day to go to work. Invitations attract us. Aspirations move us forward. Focus brings us to a clear path. Relationships well-chosen lighten our load. Quality raises our investment. True collaboration brings out our better selves.

Great leaders who build great things understand that human nature and engage it to fuel their goals. If you want to be that kind of leader — one who attracts, inspires, guides, focuses, connects, and unites — here’s how to build something you can’t build alone.

  1. Be a Magnet, not a Missionary. Quit converting and start attracting. Understand and respect our different, yet symbiotic purposes. The community needs the goods, services, and economic contributions of growing businesses. Growing business need the support and patronage of loyal communities.
  2. Have and Share a Vision. To make a thriving business, start with a long-term loyal, internal community of employees. They will build and protect a healthy innovative culture, promote the values of the business, stay with the company, develop expertise with coworkers, and live to serve customers.In any community, it’s not the how or what of work that builds connection and loyalty. It’s vision and mission. The underlying vision that unites us toward building something that we can’t build alone. A community needs leadership to set and invest that vision and so that they can feel smart, safe, and powerful in investing too.
  3. Know How to Choose the Easiest, Fastest, Most Meaningful Next Move Strategy is a realistic plan to advance a position over time by leveraging your unique opportunity. Recognizing opportunity and getting where you want to go is impossible if you don’t know where you are now. Position is informational — It’s part part property and packaging, part size, scope, and systems. Position is relational — it’s part values and relationships, part mission, vision, and perception. The most advantageous next positions look only slightly different than the place we already are. Deeply study your position and you understand the true value proposition of your brand.
  4. Lead with Relationships Choose the people around you — employees, vendors, partners, customers — wisely with deliberation and intention. They are the people who will build your business with you. Likewise, choose your sponsors and the businesses you support with equal thought to how they build your community and your life.
  5. Even Cheap Is Expensive When the Model Is Doesn’t Work Start a new business and you’ll soon see, that numbers reflect history. Without history, questions are what we use to generate the numbers we use. Numbers are important and useful, but they are as deep as the questions we ask. When we aggregate the numbers into a graphic they become shallow and flat. What I just saw will forgotten in an hour. What I just bought won’t win you my next dollar. Haven’t we figured out yet that impressions, circulation, and hits in general are short-terms goals and NEVER have been attributable?
  6. Understand the Power of Collaboration If communities and corporations, align our goals and head in the same direction the results could be amazing. But first we each have to know where we’re going and negotiate from the SAME SIDE of the table, recognizing that we’re stronger together.

Leaders make work and life easier, simpler, and more meaningful. Sometimes we do that simply by letting folks see what they see, know what they know, and do what they do … because other people see, know, and do valuable things that we can’t see, know, or do.

Leaders who need no one, lead no one. Don’t hire a staff, engage people who contribute. Don’t build a coliseum, raise a barn.
It’s irresistibly attractive to build something you can’t build alone.

How will you be a leader this week?

Be a leader.
Be irresistible.
–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz on your business!!