Below is an article by Jill
Geisler. Jill talks about 10 key
skills. Other recent examples of "10's":
10 big rules of leadership
10 ways to market your business with
foursquare
10 quotes of managers in my network
10 quotes that can change your life
10 tips for a successful phone
interview
And this is only from my LinkedIn network in the
last day. While in most cases it takes a
lot more than ten steps to ensure success, often it takes a lot less, if you
have the right skills and people around you.
I discussed “The three elements of a great leader” after an article by
Hiroshi Mitikani (http://leanimprovement.blogspot.com.au/2012/10/the-three-elements-of-great-leader.html),
and “Inside the mind of a great manager” after an article by David Di Salvo (http://leanimprovement.blogspot.com.au/2012/11/inside-mind-of-great-manager.html)
The key for me in leadership is to,
just as Jill says, create a strong strategy and vision, and live it. Build a team around me with the necessary
skills of implementing the strategy, but also to challenge the ways in which
the strategy is implemented or even go as far as to highlight possible
improvements and opportunities in the strategy.
A leader is generally in charge of a team,
department, branch or whole company. In
any case it is most likely that the leader will have responsibilities and KPI’s
that can only be met if the team meets theirs, no matter how skilled,
intelligent and hard working the leader is.
There are many skills the leader needs
to have to understand the people in the team, notice issues and act
quickly. One of which is decision
making. Someone has to be the one to
decide which path to take, and if the leader hesitates, it will most likely
create a feeling that there is uncertainty in the direction.
I like that Jill states emotional
intelligence. If you read my earlier
post “Leadership and the three levels of intelligence”, you will know what my
thoughts are in regards to EQ (Emotional Quotient), CQ (Change Quotient) &
SQ (Social Quotient). (http://leanimprovement.blogspot.com.au/2012/05/leadership-and-three-levels-of.html).
What do all the above come down
to? Communication; again Jill hits the
nail on the head with this one. If you
are a poor communicator, you will struggle as a leader. If you cannot listen and are not willing to
take advise from your team, you set yourself up for failure.
Motivation is certainly another key
element, and I have gone into much detail, referring to a book by Daniel Pink
called “Drive” in a previous post entitled “Motivation and Rewards”: http://leanimprovement.blogspot.com.au/2012/07/motivation-and-rewards-discussion-as.html
All in all Jill’s ten points further
emphasise key criteria of successful leaders, and it’s well worth hanging on to
remind ourselves from time to time on what is onvolved.
What sets the most successful managers apart from
others? You might be an expert in your field, even the smartest person in the
room — but that’s no guarantee of success. You need an array of skills
that are particularly well-suited to times of change and challenge. Here are 10
I recommend.
1. Strategic Thinking
Don’t just immerse yourself in today’s tasks. Think big picture. Step back from the dance floor from time to time and take the balcony view (Hat tip for that great metaphor to the book, “Leadership on the Line.”) Review systems. Set priorities aligned with major goals. Learn new and scary things. Encourage innovation by backing good people who take smart risks.
Don’t just immerse yourself in today’s tasks. Think big picture. Step back from the dance floor from time to time and take the balcony view (Hat tip for that great metaphor to the book, “Leadership on the Line.”) Review systems. Set priorities aligned with major goals. Learn new and scary things. Encourage innovation by backing good people who take smart risks.
2. Collaboration
Overcome the four barriers to collaboration I’ve written about before.
Overcome the four barriers to collaboration I’ve written about before.
·
Distance: Stay on the radar with people
you don’t see regularly.
·
Dominance: Change assumptions about the
importance/subservience of certain roles in your organization.
·
Discomfort: Educate yourself and your
staff about the work of others.
·
Dissonance: Check your demands and
systems to make certain they aren’t undercutting collaboration.
Be a role model for effectively networking by
showing the value of spanning old boundaries and busting old silos.
3. Emotional Intelligence
Your IQ alone can’t fuel the group’s success. Emotional intelligence is critical. Build your self-awareness, self-management, social awareness and relationship management. Recognize that as a leader, you are contagious. Be a source of energy, empathy and earned trust, proving optimism and realism can co-exist. Understand that resilience is key to leadership, especially in stressful times. One of my favorites reads of the past year, “The Emotional Life of Your Brain,” lays out the neuroscience of resilience and underscores that we can consciously build our capacity.
Your IQ alone can’t fuel the group’s success. Emotional intelligence is critical. Build your self-awareness, self-management, social awareness and relationship management. Recognize that as a leader, you are contagious. Be a source of energy, empathy and earned trust, proving optimism and realism can co-exist. Understand that resilience is key to leadership, especially in stressful times. One of my favorites reads of the past year, “The Emotional Life of Your Brain,” lays out the neuroscience of resilience and underscores that we can consciously build our capacity.
4. Critical Thinking
Critical thinkers question conventional wisdom. They are vigilant about identifying and challenging assumptions that underlie actions or inaction. They are automatically wary of generalizations, inferences and unproven theories. Among their favorite questions is: “How do we know that?” They strive to independent thinkers, careful to check how their own biases might color their decisions. They do this automatically to speed up good decision-making, not to cause “paralysis by analysis.”
Critical thinkers question conventional wisdom. They are vigilant about identifying and challenging assumptions that underlie actions or inaction. They are automatically wary of generalizations, inferences and unproven theories. Among their favorite questions is: “How do we know that?” They strive to independent thinkers, careful to check how their own biases might color their decisions. They do this automatically to speed up good decision-making, not to cause “paralysis by analysis.”
5. Communication
This one seems so simple, yet it comes up continually in my seminars as a deficit in organizations — and it’s managers who point out the problem! Bosses who don’t communicate effectively get in the way of their team’s effectiveness. Make it your goal to master every form of interpersonal communication and make it powerful: one-to-one, small group, full staff, email, social media, and of course, listening.
This one seems so simple, yet it comes up continually in my seminars as a deficit in organizations — and it’s managers who point out the problem! Bosses who don’t communicate effectively get in the way of their team’s effectiveness. Make it your goal to master every form of interpersonal communication and make it powerful: one-to-one, small group, full staff, email, social media, and of course, listening.
Become an expert on framing, storytelling and
finding the master narrative in a situation. If you don’t, others will — and
the others may be your internal critics or your external competitors.
6. Motivation
Telling people “You are lucky to have a job” in no way qualifies as motivation. Nor does fear, unless it is fear of letting a great boss down. Nor, interestingly, does throwing money at people. Pay them fairly, of course, but don’t stop there.Understand the key intrinsic motivators: competence, autonomy, purpose and growth. Determine the prescription for each of your employees.
Telling people “You are lucky to have a job” in no way qualifies as motivation. Nor does fear, unless it is fear of letting a great boss down. Nor, interestingly, does throwing money at people. Pay them fairly, of course, but don’t stop there.Understand the key intrinsic motivators: competence, autonomy, purpose and growth. Determine the prescription for each of your employees.
7. Feedback
Commit to wearing what I call “feedback glasses” — new lenses through which you look at people and their work. Through these lenses, you are always on the alert for opportunities to deliver specific, helpful information to people about their performance and their value to the organization. Upgrade the quality of all of your interactions by using them as opportunities for customized, effective feedback. In my new book, “Work Happy: What Great Bosses Know,” I devote a chapter to feedback as the key to performance management, with a complete tool kit of options.
Commit to wearing what I call “feedback glasses” — new lenses through which you look at people and their work. Through these lenses, you are always on the alert for opportunities to deliver specific, helpful information to people about their performance and their value to the organization. Upgrade the quality of all of your interactions by using them as opportunities for customized, effective feedback. In my new book, “Work Happy: What Great Bosses Know,” I devote a chapter to feedback as the key to performance management, with a complete tool kit of options.
8. Tough Conversations
Don’t avoid tough talks. Learn to do them deftly, avoiding the many pitfalls they can present. Become an expert at addressing challenges and problems early and often. Don’t let problems fester or bullies prevail. Build trust as a leader so people recognize your good intentions even in the midst or wake of challenging conversations.
Don’t avoid tough talks. Learn to do them deftly, avoiding the many pitfalls they can present. Become an expert at addressing challenges and problems early and often. Don’t let problems fester or bullies prevail. Build trust as a leader so people recognize your good intentions even in the midst or wake of challenging conversations.
9. Coaching
Are you among the legions of managers who habitually fix the work of others? Are you the non-stop answer machine for people who are overly reliant on you for decisions? And at the end of the day, do you wonder why you’re frustrated and exhausted and employees aren’t getting better on your watch? You need to learn to coach their growth.
Are you among the legions of managers who habitually fix the work of others? Are you the non-stop answer machine for people who are overly reliant on you for decisions? And at the end of the day, do you wonder why you’re frustrated and exhausted and employees aren’t getting better on your watch? You need to learn to coach their growth.
Coaching is an entirely different skill from fixing. It
helps people learn to improve their work and make decisions for themselves.
Don’t just take my word for it; a2012
study from the National Bureau of Economic Research says the
most important tasks of effective managers are teaching skills that endure and
fueling the motivation of employees.
10. Making Values Visible and Viral
Let people know what you stand for. Make those conversations a part of your daily work. Lose your fear of coming off as corny or holier than thou. Tap into the great reservoir of commitment and care that people bring to their work lives, but often fail to talk about unless they’re at some professional seminar (like ours), where it pours out. Why? Because we make it safe to talk about values like integrity, diversity, community, and service. All we have to do is start those conversations, and they always take off organically. It should happen in the workplace, too. If you don’t inspire, who will?
Let people know what you stand for. Make those conversations a part of your daily work. Lose your fear of coming off as corny or holier than thou. Tap into the great reservoir of commitment and care that people bring to their work lives, but often fail to talk about unless they’re at some professional seminar (like ours), where it pours out. Why? Because we make it safe to talk about values like integrity, diversity, community, and service. All we have to do is start those conversations, and they always take off organically. It should happen in the workplace, too. If you don’t inspire, who will?
Each of these is a skill you can learn. I know,
because I teach them! And there’s nothing more rewarding than seeing careers
improve as people grow from being okay managers to being great bosses who
understand the key skills of leadership.
