Leadership Tips For Hotel Managers

Posted on 12. Apr, 2010 by admin in Leadership

As a person who guides or directs others in the hotel management field, it is important to understand what leadership requires and what some of the different styles of leadership are. If you can understand what kind of leadership style you have, it will become easier to take on the role of leader and change your style based on the needs of your employees.

Effective leaders look at the office environment and listen to their employees in order to ensure that the end result, the customer, is satisfied. Employees are watching those who are put in charge of them, so here are some tips to help you as a hotel manager to show impeccable character and earn the trust and respect of your employees – by giving it back.

Leadership Tips for Hotel Managers #1.

Saying “No”, Hostility Free. This is a true talent. Neutralizing hostility when denying the request of an employee is a necessity to keep order in the work environment. The key to reducing hostility in this situation is to show concern and be sincere as you explain in detail the reason for the denial. Your employees will respect you for being honest and for showing concern.

Leadership Tips for Hotel Managers #2:

Leadership is About Relationships – But Not the Dating Kind. Build relationships with your employees that show care and concern about their employee relationship with you, but do not date in the office. Interoffice dating is unprofessional and has been proven to only cause problems sooner than later.

Leadership Tips for Hotel Managers #3:

Consistency and Fairness. Treating your employees fairly and consistently will give you respect and will build your character as a fair and equitable leader.

Leadership Tips for Hotel Managers #4:

Show Camaraderie, Don’t Become “Buddies” With Your Employees. Sharing your thoughts and providing feedback to your employees is an excellent way to open up and show camaraderie. It is important not to become “buddies” with your employees because it could give the false impression of favoritism and tarnish your credibility.

Leadership Tips for Hotel Managers #5:

Acknowledge and Take Care of Complaints. When employees complain, their issues are very important to them. They do not know that to your world of bigger issues, their issues are not so big. Make your employees feel important by handling their complaints in a timely manner.

Leadership Tips for Hotel Managers #6:

Make Commitments That You Can Keep. Making commitments to employees in the form of promises can make or break your employee respect of you. Do not make commitments without allowing yourself the fail-safe of explaining that unforeseen circumstances may occur that are out of your control. Respect and confidence in your leadership is very important and can change abruptly when commitments are broken.

Leadership Tips for Hotel Managers #7:

Never Stop Learning. Continue to be a part of trainings, life enrichment courses, seminars and workshops on building your leadership qualities. The more you learn, the more you will grow as a leader, and your employees will admire you for continuing your education.

Leadership Tips for Hotel Managers #8:

Hire Experts to Motivate Your Employees. Your employee morale is important and their attitudes carry over to the attitudes of the customers that you serve. Enrich your employees by sending in experts to motivate them to produce. This will super-charge your work team’s efforts and give you more respect because it shows that your employee’s motivation is important to you.

Leadership Tips for Hotel Managers #9:

Provide Opportunities for Training and Growth. Employees want to advance and take on more responsibility. Providing training for your employees will allow them to take on more complicated tasks and have a sense of fulfillment.

Leadership Tips for Hotel Managers #10:

Lead with a Varying Style. If you have a diverse team of employees who have different needs, it is important to vary your style of leadership for your particular group. If your team is consistent in their needs, then it is okay to adopt one leadership style but only if it meets the needs of your team effectively.

Make sure that all the leadership tools you are using will be beneficial to not only yourself but also to your employees, this in turn will make your business successful.

Be The Full Jigsaw! How to Solve the Leadership Jigsaw

Posted on 10. Apr, 2010 by admin in Leadership

BE THE FULL JIGSAW! How To Solve the Leadership Puzzle

By Alan Cutler, Leadership Writer, Speaker and Mentor

“There is no such thing as a perfect leader, either in the past
or present, in China or elsewhere. If there is one, he is only
pretending, like a pig inverting spring onions into his nose in
an effort to look like an elephant”. Liu Shao-Chi

It may be true that there is no such thing as the perfect
leader – leaders are human, after all. However, that is not to
say that people who hold leadership positions should not
continually seek to improve their leadership skills.

Some managers hardly set an example for others to follow. They
may have a badge on their office door or overall that pronounces
them ‘Head of Service’; ‘Area Manager’; or ‘Unit Supervisor’ but
do these ‘badge holders’ display all the necessary qualities to
inspire others to follow them? It is unlikely that people are
promoted to senior positions without any leadership skills, but
they may lack one or more essential ones.

In order to measure managers’ leadership capabilities we need to
identify what are the essential qualities of an effective
leader. In my view they are six in number:

 A Leader is a visionary  A Leader sets an
example  A Leader understands what motivates each team
member  A Leader builds supportive relationships
 A Leader empowers others to reach their potential
 A Leader understands the power of communications

These are the six components that each leader must work hard at
continually and consistently applying and, most importantly,
demonstrating in all he or she does. Think of it as a jigsaw -
The Leadership Jigsaw®

Unless all six pieces are in place, the leader will not achieve
his or her potential, nor will those looking to following their
leader. No one aspiring to lead a high-performing team can do so
if they are ‘one piece short of a jigsaw’! Let’s consider each
piece in a little more detail.

VISION. Leadership involves taking people on a journey, but if
people are to follow it must not be a journey into the unknown.
Such destinations may work for Captain Kirk of the Starship
Enterprise but they will not work for modern-day leaders with
their feet placed firmly on terra-firma! A person holding a
leadership position without a clear vision, or the ability to
communicate one effectively, will be heading into darkness
(probably alone!).

Creating a vision must, by its very nature, be one of the
foremost roles of a leader – as it sets a positive theme for the
future. A leader’s vision – which he or she personally
associates themselves with – should appeal to people at an
emotional level, as well as a practical one. It should be
meaningful, relevant and inspirational: encouraging people to
buy into it willingly. When leaders express their vision in a
way that touches their followers, they invite strong commitment:
a common purpose that focuses people on a shared, mutually
beneficial objective.

“A leader shapes and shares a vision which gives point to the
work of others” Charles Handy

EXAMPLE. One of the most important and effective qualities
leaders can display is consistently and visibly to link the
values they stand for with their everyday actions. Indeed,
consistency and visibility are the keys. People respect and
follow leaders whose behaviour mirrors their words; they have no
respect for leaders who say one thing and do another. “Do as I
say, not as I do” is simply not good enough.

Leaders should, therefore, look hard into the mirror and
consider what they see. They should ask themselves: “Do I lead
in such a way that I would willingly follow myself? Do I
consistently demonstrate leadership qualities that I would
recognise in leaders that I, myself, respect?” You can be sure
of one thing: you may not be continually assessing your
performance as a leader, but your followers will be! They will
be watching your every move and taking a lead from you.

The leaders acts as though everyone is watching, even when
no-one is watching” Brian Tracy

MOTIVATION. Having a vision is one thing: selling it in a way
that others want to realise it is quite another. The leader’s
role is to focus the energies of followers on shared goals and
to encourage them to achieve those goals. Yet everybody is
different and responds to different stimuli. Truly great leaders
understand their followers: they understand their needs, their
dreams, their fears, their emotions – what ‘makes them tick’. It
is an understanding of the impact of differing needs on
different people that is vital for effective leadership.

One of the greatest motivators is to believe that you are
contributing to your team’s success and, hence, to the success
of the overall vision. People need to believe that they are
playing their part and successful leaders ensure that they
receive the recognition their efforts deserve. In my experience
of working with junior managers across the country, a belief
that they are not valued for their efforts is one of the most
commonly found demotivators.

“Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something
you want done because he wants to do it” Dwight D
Eisenhower

RELATIONSHIP. It is axiomatic that a leader needs followers – a
team of people working together towards a common aim. To be
effective, a team working across an organisation requires
supportive relationships not only between leader and followers,
but between followers themselves. A culture of trust must exist
between all members, at all levels, with the leader providing
the shining example for all to follow.

Notwithstanding the fundamental changes forced upon
organisations in recent years (down-sizing and delegated budgets
for example) some departments are still led by ‘badge-holders’
who busy themselves interfering in the work of their
subordinates; are unwilling to share information; and insist on
sanctioning every decision. Yet if the modern leader’s challenge
is to make optimum use of fewer resources (and it is!) this will
only happen if people are encouraged to participate in an open,
positive environment based upon mutually-supportive
relationships. ‘Mushroom management’ must be replaced by a
culture where everyone is prepared to give and receive trust.

“All your strength is in your union. All your danger is in
discord” Henry Longfellow The Song of Hiawatha

EMPOWERMENT. Enlightened leaders understand that most people
naturally want to better themselves and, given the appropriate
support and encouragement, will grasp the opportunity to acquire
new skills and knowledge. They also realise that the key to
getting the best out of people is to give them responsibility
for their own actions, rather than creating an environment of
control and mistrust.

Such leaders are willing to delegate aspects of their role to
their subordinates when the situation allows and, moreover, are
prepared to empower them to take decisions themselves, within
parameters, without recourse to higher authority.

Empowerment is based upon the belief that, given the
opportunity, people are preordained to think for themselves and
will generate ideas that benefit their workplace, their
organisation and, hence, by extension – themselves. Following
orders robotically produces robots; allowing invention and
inspiration produces ideas and a pride in individual and team
achievements.

“Treat people as if they were what they ought to be, and you
will help them to become what they are capable of being”
Goethe

COMMUNICATION. Whilst all those holding the badge of
leadership, without exception, would preach the importance of
effective communications, not all practice what they preach.
But, yet again, it is the leader who should lead the way by his
or her example.

Productive communications are built upon understanding between
all parties. A leader who is prepared to get out and ‘walk the
talk’ will be in a far better position to both reinforce the
vision, and hear how it is being received, than one who remains
desk-bound. There are few more potent motivating actions a
leader can take than to make the effort to speak to front-line
workers and to ask “how are things going?”, and mean it!

We live in the ‘communication age’. Yet with the previously
unimaginable powers now at our fingertips come inherent dangers.
Communications is not only about the ‘what’ – just as important
is the ‘how’. Wise leaders balance the efficiency of technology
with the impact of the human touch. They are well aware that
they cannot shake a hand, pat a back, or even smile via email!

“A leader is someone who knows what she wants to achieve and how
to communicate it” Margaret Thatcher

THE MESSAGE? The message is that true leaders need to be
proficient in a wide range of essential skills that can be
represented by The Leadership Jigsaw. Those holding leadership
positions should measure themselves against this model of
excellence to ensure that they are not ‘one piece short of a
jigsaw’.

The Leadership Jigsaw is a model of leadership best practice
created by Alan Cutler, a leadership writer, motivational
speaker and mentor. For more details of how Alan can develop the
leadership skills of your managers see www.leadershiptalks.com,
or contact him on alan@leadershiptalks.com. Full details of The
Leadership Jigsaw are contained in his book, ‘One Piece Short of
a Jigsaw’, obtainable from www.leadershiptalks.com

Leadership and Chaos

Posted on 08. Apr, 2010 by admin in Leadership

“Treat people as if they were what they ought to be, and you will help them to become what they are capable of being.” — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

There are many theories that attempt to account for leadership excellence. The opening quote is, perhaps, the most widely accepted foundation of leadership excellence. If one expands beyond excellence to leadership more generally, a close examination of the various theoretical constructs discloses that they are consistently developed either from the perspective of the leader or from that of those who follow.

If developed from the perspective of the leader, the theory emphasizes the traits and characteristics, strengths and weaknesses of the leader. Leadership excellence is primarily a product of leaders who exhibit more of the desired traits and characteristics and avoid the less desirable traits and characteristics.

If developed from the perspective of those who follow, the theory emphasizes leadership strategies and techniques that encourage and maximize the strengths and individual talents of those who follow. Leadership excellence is primarily a product of leaders who are able to fully actualize the excellence potentials and capacities of those who follow.

Careful attention to these apparently opposing perspectives quickly reveals that they are not separate perspectives. Rather, the second is merely an extension of the first. Excellence leaders are leaders who exhibit traits and characteristics that motivate those who follow to fully participate in and contribute to the shared enterprise.

Leadership behavior then combines with associated thought processes that support and focus the desired perspective. For leaders who believe that leadership excellence primarily depends on personal traits and characteristics, strengths and weaknesses, thinking focuses on how to personally and more specifically manifest those traits and characteristics thought to be associated with leadership excellence.

How do leaders behave in various situations? How do they interact with those who follow? How do they approach and handle problems and challenges? What traits and actions differentiate leaders from non-leaders?

A commitment to leadership excellence is, then, a commitment to thinking about and answering these and similar questions. Excellence leaders ask, successfully answer, and in turn, implement the resulting directives implicit in the answers.

For leaders who believe that leadership excellence primarily depends on strategies and techniques that encourage and maximize the strengths and individual talents of those who follow, thinking focuses on how to encourage those who follow to personally and more specifically manifest the behavior thought to be most clearly associated with the success of the enterprise.

How does a leader motivate those who follow to accept and actively pursue the articulated mission of the enterprise? What needs to happen in order to assure that those who follow commit their full energy and capacity to the success of the enterprise? What techniques and strategies are necessary to maximize the contribution of each follower in relation to his (or her) individual skills and talents? What environmental and situational factors need to be manipulated to minimize avoidable loss of energy, skill, and follower focus and to maximize the actualization of the productive potential of those who follow?

Again, a commitment to leadership excellence is a commitment to thinking about and answering these and similar questions. Excellence leaders ask, successfully answer, and in turn, implement the resulting directives implicit in the answers.

On the one hand, the answers and associated directives are in terms of definable traits and characteristics of the leader. On the other hand, the answers and directives are in terms of factors and conditions related to the performance of the followers and associated strategies and techniques needed to optimize those factors and conditions.

Increasing leadership excellence is, thus, thought to depend either on improving the performance of the leader or on increasing the participation and commitment of the followers. Although both approaches are separately productive, leadership theory has moved to combine the approaches. Current theory posits that leadership excellence is best achieved when the leader concentrates on maximizing personal leadership traits and characteristics while concurrently implementing strategies and techniques to increase the participation and commitment of followers.

Considering this dichotomous understanding of leadership excellence as it applies to decision-making is instructive. How are decisions made and who makes them? At one extreme, decision-making is autocratic. The leader has absolute authority and makes all decisions. He (or she) may ask others for advice, information, and suggestions, giving the impression of participation. Nonetheless, the leader decides. The quality of decisions thus depends exclusively on the judgment of the leader.

The opposite extreme is not consensus or some other type of group decision-making, as one might at first think. Rather, the opposite extreme is chaos. All participants in the enterprise act on their individual judgment and initiative. Even if each participant makes all decisions from the perspective of the perceived best interest of the enterprise, and they likely will not, the resulting chaos is, at a minimum, counterproductive.

If one looks at decision-making with autocracy at one extreme and chaos at the other, leadership excellence falls within a fairly narrow range between the extremes. If the leader moves too far toward autocracy, psychological theory suggests that the followers will become alienated and functionally constricted. Their performance will be less productive than it might otherwise be. Alternatively, if the leader moves too far toward chaos, sociological theory suggests that the enterprise will become fragmented and increasingly dysfunctional.

Defining the excellence limits within the decision-making range is certainly open to debate and disagreement. Even so, the reality of the range is obvious and the importance of leaders thoughtfully functioning within the range is clear. Excellence leaders do not move outside the range toward either extreme.

One could debate the relative benefits of intentionally shifting leadership behavior toward one end of the excellence range or the other. For example, is it better for the leader to be more autocratic or less autocratic? Is it better for the leader to defer more to the judgment of the followers or for him (or her) to defer less to the followers? Should the leader delegate more decision-making responsibility to the followers or less?

The debatable aspects here not withstanding, excellence leaders maintain their leadership behavior within a relatively narrow range of actions and approaches. Exactly where they function within the acceptable range likely depends on the individual leader’s personality, individual strengths and skills, personal preferences, specific circumstances and conditions, and on a mix of other factors. The reality is that the effectiveness of the leader is unrelated to where his (or her) functioning falls on the excellence range so long as the leader does not move outside that narrow range.

Just as there is a fairly narrow excellence range with respect to decision-making, there are acceptable excellence ranges for other aspects of leadership functioning.

For example, strategic planning for the enterprise needs to proceed within fairly narrow limits. At one extreme, planning can be so conservative that there is no real change or growth over time. Alternatively, planning can be so unconstrained that change becomes non-sustainable and chaotic. The success of the enterprise depends on the capacity of the leader to pursue strategic planning within those excellence limits, although that success likely does not depend on the leader’s position within the excellence range.

Competent leaders understand and function within the multiple excellence ranges related to the success of the enterprise. Their competence level is not related to where they function on any specific excellence range. Rather, it is derived from their demonstrated ability to continuously maintain their behavior and functioning within acceptable limits on all of the relevant excellence ranges concurrently.

If leaders are judged in terms of current theoretical constructs, most people in positions of leadership are very successful. The reality is that, for the most part, leaders do stay within the excellence ranges associated with the enterprises they lead. Their styles and approaches vary significantly but nonetheless only vary within fairly narrow ranges. The apparent variety is mostly a product of the multiple excellence ranges, individual variations within and among the ranges, and the personalities and individuality of the leaders.

How Executive Leadership Training Programs Enrich Strategic Leadership Visions

Posted on 06. Apr, 2010 by admin in Leadership

Executive leadership training programs can sharpen and focus your strategic vision.

By acquiring the skills, expertise and processes of visionary leadership you will magnify and telescope the effectiveness of your leadership behaviors.

In today’s globally competitive economy, all professionals, supervisors, managers and entrepreneurs should participate in executive level leadership training.

Because executive leadership training programs should prepare you to create strategic leadership visions that will meet the challenging demands of leading your projects, operations, employees and the activities of other stakeholders.

The principles and concepts of strategic leadership enables executives to formulate, communicate and execute on their powerfully compelling visions.

What ingredients give your visions energy and inspire people to take positive actions?

Engage Them!

Your strategic visionary leadership challenge is to discover ways of blending together three essential ingredients for added spice and flavor in the aroma of your vision:

1) Map It – show them the avenue leading to bountiful opportunities and hidden treasures

2) Model It – reveal how all the moving parts will work together when you flip the switch

3) Diagram It – draw out the specs, structures, synergies and signposts behind the vision

Empower Them!

Most executive leadership training, coaching and development programs need to invest more effort and devote additional time to teaching the fundamentals and strategies of human capital enrichment.

Executive leaders should train themselves to focus their attention and concentrate their energies on:

=> Constantly tweaking and using a dependable, potent system for empowering their employees, associates, partners and key stakeholders;

=> Discovering and deploying some type of failure-resistant system for producing successful individuals and outcomes;

=> Turning their management-dominated strategic planning exercises into a “total employee involvement program”

In this Age where imaginative applications of Knowledge are the primary source of competitive advantage, it is foolish to rely on anything less than executives who expertly inspire and leverage their people’s potential through strategic, visionary leadership practices.

Encourage Them!

The acid test for executive leadership training programs reveals itself through these criteria:

1) Do leaders exhibit the kinds of desirable personal, organizational and societal traits, values and work patterns within their strategic leadership behaviors?

2) Are visionary leadership attributes – such as, continuous learning and growth, an eagerness or greediness for new things and a unshakable commitment to embrace broader perspectives – embedded in this executive leader’s DNA?

3) Which components, if any, of your leadership agenda are driven by the human capital developmental priorities of your strategic visions?

Without a vision, the people perish but without the hope supported by:

- Behavioral models which honestly reflect a set of high ideals,

- An open exchange of, interactions with and search for new ideas,

- A daily agenda that actively promotes excursions into self-discovery, professional education and community enrichment,

Without all the seeds containing those forms of hope, your organization will find itself bleeding the emotional, spiritual and psychological strengths it needs to survive, flourish and thrive.

So the question remains: how will design your executive leadership training program to help you develop your strategic leadership skills, visionary leadership competencies and proficiency in enabling, educating and enriching your human capital assets?

Copyright © 2008, Mustard Seed Investments Inc., All rights reserved.

Effective Leadership Traits That Will Make Your Company Successful

Posted on 05. Apr, 2010 by admin in Leadership

Your leadership traits will tell the manner in which you will lead your followers. Effective leadership traits will make that company successful. Leadership traits will convince voters, wins negotiations and overcomes objection. Leadership should have the potential to lead others to accomplish goals.

Leadership traits build excellence but do not command excellence. To achieve excellence, you should be a leader having good qualities. A leader must be of good character. Your leadership should honestly perform the tasks and set an example for his or her followers. The leader should set a goal for the organization and strive hard to achieve it. An important leadership trait of a good leader is the flexibility to changes without compromising his or her morale principles.

It should be most adaptive to any change in the organization. Leadership should be able to build to motivate and inspire the followers to reach common goals. Your leadership should keep on motivating the followers to accomplish the desired task. It should guide the followers in the right direction. Leadership should be such, that it energizes and activates the followers. It should develop enthusiasm and passion among its followers to achieve the desired goal. It should be aggressive and risk taking to accomplish certain tasks. 

It should be practical and be comfortable with criticism low Leadership should demonstrate a determination to achieve the required goal of the organization. Your leadership should instill sense of responsibility among your followers. It should train your employees as a team. Your leadership should ensure that job to be done by the employees is well understood and supervised. His or her leadership should be a source of enthusiasm. Your leadership should not be emotional and should not hesitate to take tough decisions. Your leadership should be tolerant and should handle stress and frustration effectively. Overall, a leader should have the maturity to handle anything in an organization.

It should have the dominance, positive attitude and assert ness to overcome any obstacles. It must be optimistic and should be open to any change. Your leadership should inculcate a soaring standard of excellence among its followers. It should make timely decisions. Leadership should be compassionate but should also take tough decisions at the right time. It should also listen to its followers patiently if they want to give any suggestion regarding the task allocated to them. Leadership should try to develop a friendly relationship with its followers. That is, it should develop a team spirit. It should have the self-confidence to guide anyone who is going wrong. It should be unaffected by failures or prior mistakes. It should always look out for the welfare of its employees and keep them well informed.

It should employ candidates according to its capabilities. Your leadership should take responsibility for your wrong actions. It should also seek self-improvement. It should also be technically profient. Your leadership should at times be offensive if your follower is not at all listening to you.  At times, it should arouse emotions to captivate and unite them to achieve the desired purpose.

A Look at the Benefits of Transactional Leadership Style

Posted on 03. Apr, 2010 by admin in Leadership

Leadership style plays a crucial role in the development of an organization. Transactional leadership is of the leadership style that is often used by many companies. Transactional leadership believes that punishment and reward motivate people. This leadership also assumes that when people agree to do a particular assignment, a part of that agreement is that they give up all authority to their boss. The leader holds control and power over the subordinates. The main goal of the employee is to obey the orders of their managers. The idea is that when a subordinate takes up a job, he or she agrees to obey their manager totally. The ‘transaction’ is the money or any other award that the company pays to its subordinates for their compliance and effort. The relationship between the subordinate and the leader becomes transactional. In transactional leadership the leader has the right to punish his or her subordinates if their performance is not according to the predetermined standard. 

Transactional leadership makes clear that what is required and expected from their subordinates. It also mentions that subordinates will get award if they follow the orders seriously. Sometimes punishments are not mentioned but they are understood. In the early stages of transactional leadership, subordinate is in the process of negotiating the contract. The contract specifies fixed salary and the benefits that will be given to the subordinate. Rewards are given to subordinates for applied effort. Some organization use incentives to encourage their subordinates for greater productivity. Transactional leadership is a way of increasing the performance of its subordinates by giving them rewards. Transactional leadership is also called as ‘true leadership style as it focuses on short term goals instead of long term goals.

In Transactional leadership, when the leader assigns work to its subordinates, then it is the responsibility of the subordinate to see that the assigned task is finished on time. If the assigned task is not completed on time or if something then punishment is given for their failure. But if they accomplish the task in time then the subordinates are given reward for successfully completing the task. Subordinates are also given award and praised for exceeding expectations.  A subordinate whose performance is below expectation is punished and some action is taken to increase his or her performance.

Transactional leadership has more of a ‘telling style’. Transactional leadership is based on the fact that reward or punishment is dependent on the performance. Even though researchers have highlighted its limitations, transactional leadership is still used by many employers. More and more companies are adopting transactional leadership to increase the performance of its employees. This approach is prevalent in real workplace.

The main limitation of this leadership is that it assumes that people are largely motivated by simple rewards. Under transactional leadership, employees can’t do much to improve job satisfaction. Transaction leadership has been ineffective in providing skilled employees to their organization. This style of leadership is least interested in changing
the work environment. Experts do not recommend this approach. Transactional leadership focuses more on management of punishments and rewards.

Leadership Teams – Building an Effective Leadership Team

Posted on 01. Apr, 2010 by admin in Leadership

Introduction

An executive is only as effective as the leadership team she or he puts in place.  Whether you’re building a team from a clean start, or working with one you’ve inherited, your job is to evaluate that team and make sure they are able to work with you and carry out your agenda. 

This article provides valuable guidance on the most important roles on a leadership team.  Use it to your benefit!

Don’t Make the Biggest Mistake

When you’re putting together your leadership team, or evaluating the one you’ve inherited, watch out.  Most of us have a blind spot.  We really like it when we find leaders like ourselves.  We know we’ll get along with them.  We know they’re likely to agree with many of our ideas. 

After all, the only reason I need a leadership team is that there are too many people and too many tasks for me to oversee it all myself.  If I could clone myself that would be perfect, right?  Well the next best thing would be to find people just like myself to fill out the leadership team. 

Wrong! 

First of all, you don’t have all the answers.  Don’t believe that?  You need an ego check.  And if your leadership team consists of clones (or worse, sycophants) then they have the same limitations collectively, as you do individually. 

Second, there are roles to be played on any leadership team.  It’s possible and desirable for one person to fulfill more than one role.  It’s also desirable to have the same role be a strength for more than one person.  For example, it’s great if there are two or three people on a team who are all strong in customer relationship management. 

But if you stack the leadership team with people like yourself, then the team will be strong in your strengths, but magnified in your weaknesses.  (You do have weaknesses, don’t you?)

The 5 C’s

Let’s explore the roles on a leadership team.  I call them the 5 C’s.  I mentioned the first one above:

Customer Relationship Manager – If you’re leading a customer service organization this won’t be a problem.  But if you’re running an IT organization, as I have, this might be your biggest challenge!  I’ve met CIO’s with absolutely no customer skills at all.  They load up their “leadership team” with technology experts whose customer skills are worse than their own.  CEO’s and COO’s need to guard against letting this happen. 

Communicator – It’s a cliché, but that doesn’t mean it’s not true.  If you want to keep people on track, you need to keep communicating with them.  Leaders who know how to speak and write effectively are critical to your success.  Enough said.

Challenger – Executives who stack the leadership team with their own clones overlook the importance of the Challenger.  Whether you’re setting out a strategic plan or dealing with day to day tactics, there are decisions that the leadership team needs to make.  If they were easy decisions somebody else should have made them.  So you’re decision making responsibilities can’t be taken lightly.  The decision making process should involve debate and challenge.  You’ll want to time bound the discussion so you’re not paralyzed by debate.  That’s your job.  But if members of a leadership team don’t challenge one another, decision making is less effective.

Commando – You need a leader or two whose greatest strength is getting things done.  I was on a leadership team where this role was called the 800 pound gorilla.  We rolled it out when we were in trouble, or thought we were about to be in trouble.  The guy we relied upon for this role didn’t really care if anyone liked him (though he was, all in all, a very likeable guy).  He cut through the you know what and got people fired up and focused.  Big projects don’t always go smoothly, and distractions can really bog you down.  The commando gets you back on track.

Celebrator – I had a boss who called this person the Vice President of Fun.  He or she may not have the same scope of responsibility as others on the leadership team, but this person is constantly thinking of the employees.  The celebrator isn’t just about parties and recognition.  In this role you’ll want someone who people trust, who can let you know when you’re wearing people out or losing their support.  This is someone who can remind you and your leadership team that Susie deserves a pat on the back or the production team feels its concerns are being ignored.   This person helps you listen to your organization.

What’s your role on this leadership team?  Build it, and hold it together.  Help the people in the different roles appreciate one another’s strengths, since that may not come naturally to all of them.

Elevate Your Leadership by Immersing yourself in a Wide of Leadership and Organizational Tools

Posted on 30. Mar, 2010 by admin in Leadership

There are so many books, seminars, coaching, and consulting practices based on leadership and organizational development. The Barrett Center focuses on personal leadership and organizational development, however there are many other forms of leadership and organizational development models such as transformational leadership, executive coaching, Six Sigma, TQM (Total Quality Management), business process improvement, learning organizations, and systems thinking to name a few. Some of you may feel overwhelmed by the sheer volume of authors, seminars, coaching, and consulting practices claiming to have the answers for improving your leadership and/or organization’s performance.

I used to be one of those individuals, as I too was initially overwhelmed by the number of books, speakers, and seminars pertaining to leadership and organizational development. However, I soon realized that life, learning, and leadership is all about taking in knowledge from multiple sources and then deciphering for yourself what works best for you and your particular situation. Whatever improved my personal leadership, I incorporated in my repertoire. Whatever did not work, I allowed to fall into the recesses of my subconscious so that I could retrieve it in case I ever needed it in the future.

There is so much knowledge available in the world in regards to leadership and organizational development. However, all of this knowledge may not be beneficial to our particular situation or life. Therefore, we must obtain this knowledge with a discriminating eye, assessing multiple leadership models from multiple sources, looking for those tid bits of information that can improve and shape our lives and organizations to be what we want them to be. However, for this to occur, we must overcome our intimidation and immerse ourselves in the vast genre of leadership and organizational development for optimal absorption.

Personally, I try to read as many books and articles on leadership and organizational development as my time allows. In addition, I still attend leadership and organizational development workshops and seminars because even though leadership and organizational development is what I do, I can always learn more.

The Barrett Center is the result of all of my years of academic study coupled with my ongoing appetite for learning about leadership and organizational development. The books, coaching, seminars, and blog are expressions of what I have learned and continue to learn. I am sharing my insights with you because I know that leadership and organizational development does not occur overnight, rather it consists of a continuous immersion of both your conscious and subconscious into the depths of who you are and how you relate to the challenges of the world you live in.

By actively partaking in the services offered by The Barrett Center along with those offered by other leadership and organizational development firms, you will provide your conscious and subconscious with a steady diet of ideas that you can then pick and choose from. Immersing yourself in multiple leadership and organizational models will afford you the ability to pick and choose the ideas that work best for you. It is important to note that one model may work for one individual and not another. Also, a combination of ideas from several models may work better for you than someone else. Therefore, do not limit yourself to any one model, as there may be something you can learn about yourself, or your leadership from another. Always remember that leadership and organizational development is a life long learning process. If you truly want to develop your leadership, don’t be intimidated by the vast amounts of knowledge in the field. Immerse yourself with a discriminating eye and come out a leader.

Good Leadership is Essential to the Success of an Organization

Posted on 30. Mar, 2010 by admin in Leadership

Whether an Organization will be Effective is Determined by Leadership -

In sports, accountability for winning is borne by the top leadership. That’s why the head coach gets fired when the team isn’t winning. Likewise, accountability for company success or failure is borne by top leadership. Leadership will make or break an organization. Leadership can create a solid future or destroy the future.

General Hap Arnold, Chief of Staff of the Air Force during WWII, engaged technical experts to look into the future. This was not an over the horizon look but an in-depth estimation of what was needed 10-20 years in the future. Some of the things planned: supersonic flight, long range missiles, air to air homing rockets, long range bombers, air refueling, etc. All these were to arrive on the scene, even though the prognostication took place before the end of the war. He established early a sense of direction that long outlived him. Industrial leaders could learn much from Hap Arnold.

Morale – Those in leadership positions must create an environment for good working relations in business. Good leaders identify good talent, give them direction, and then get out of the way. Employees will perform when the prevailing feeling is that they are trusted and confidently expected to deliver. Morale is encouraged when employees are supported by management in their requirements, and they are treated as members of an important team. Periodic newsletters from leadership give the foundation of good communications. Highlight good performers and timely accomplishments in the newsletter. This is also the place to include pertinent news relating to the business. Good communication is key to good leadership.

Financial Decision Making – It should go without saying that those in leadership positions should be able to make good financial decisions. Managers should be coached to make financial decisions such as periodic budget allotments, future facility improvements and expansions, hiring plans to meet work goals, and testing requirements. Testing can occur on a small scale or a grand scale, depending on the progress of product development. Some testing can engage large facilities, and this requires long range planning. Long range planning requires leadership and vision.

Motivation of Sales Force – Effective leadership means knowing that the sales force is the point of the interface with the customer. Sales should be technically adept to speak the language of the industry and the customer in particular. Sales should be partnered not only with the customer, but also with internal resources. Responsive to the needs of the customer, the company salesman has an important role to play in the progress of the company and he must be supported by those in leadership positions. Salesmen convey needs of samples to the customer, technical performance information, and cost estimates in various quantities. The adept salesman finds ways to help cut costs rather than sell the highest cost product. They will offer configurations A, B, and C, and then let the customer decide. All pertinent information for the various configurations will be made available. Service to the customer is high on the salesperson’s agenda and it should be high on the agenda of those in leadership positions.

Motivation of Operations to be Cost Effective – Operations can be labor intensive or truly automated to achieve economical production. Good business leadership requires knowing the balance. It takes courage on the part of management to decide that resources should be expended to automate the line. The best way to invest in automation is to make it flexible for present and future needs. This takes experience and talent in operations and support from leadership. Stepwise automation of the manufacturing processes will give confidence to operations and cause minimal disruption. Automate the most obvious applications, and then proceed to other processes. If one plant has proven the benefits of automation, then the process can be duplicated for additional efficiencies. Good leadership will enable operations to make a solid plan for the future.

Cohesiveness of the Organization – Sometimes leadership means that the organization has some fun. The organization needs exercises in partnering to gain mutual respect among the various operating functions and gain cohesiveness of the organization. An annual meeting in a resort location will give them a chance to learn about each other in morning meetings, and then they can relax together in the afternoon and evening. A northern operation can benefit from a meeting in a warmer climate especially during a winter meeting. These events can be memorable for all and leadership can learn a lot through interactions in a more casual environment.

Working Together – An expert in interpersonal relations has said that the one thing that unifies a group is adversity. The difference between good leadership and bad leadership is how well a group works together when adverse adversity strikes. When trouble arises, as it may, leaders must get people to work together to plan for recovery. Learning to work together under adverse conditions can be a gratifying experience. How well employees work together is a direct reflection on the organization’s leadership.

The Importance Of Leadership Development

Posted on 30. Mar, 2010 by admin in Leadership

It’s easy to discount the importance of leadership development, assuming that corporate leaders either have what they take or they don’t and if they do they’ll learn as they go. If they don’t…well, if they didn’t have what it took they wouldn’t have been given a leadership role to begin with, right?

Not necessarily. Sometimes all that’s needed is a little leadership development.

There is no such thing as a natural born leader, which is why leadership development is so important. Anyone can have the fundamental requirements necessary for the leadership role. It’s how they develop them that matters.

Leadership development is defined as an effort to enhance a learner’s ability to lead, an endeavor focused on developing the leadership abilities and attitudes of the individuals sitting at the top of the chain of command. Successful leadership development requires a lot more than the ability to give orders. It also requires diplomacy, top of the line people skills, a certain level of ruthlessness and an understanding of how much space there is and there isn’t between the executive suite and the mail room. A good leader doesn’t just lead. He or she leads by example.

Leadership development within a company should be addressed at both the individual and group level. Individual leadership development can be undertaken in both a hands-on and a classroom environment, and which method your organization chooses is entirely up to you. Through various exercises the individual learns to identify their strengths and weaknesses, using both to shape and mold their successful leadership style.

Individual leadership development is very important for individuals first entering the field and those who are having a difficult time taking up the reins of command. Additional leadership development offers them the opportunity to hone their skills, smooth over their weaknesses and learn to make the most of their current position rather than finding themselves stuck on the bottom rung of the ladder to success because of a lack of knowledge and personal resources.

Group leadership development is absolutely vital in any company, regardless of industry, because it teaches an executive team how to look, think and act like a team. For a business to run smoothly it’s essential that the executive team be able to operate like a well oiled wheel, cognizant of each other’s patterns, strengths, weaknesses and goals and able to work together to achieve success. Any leadership team that is rapidly “slapped” together and tossed into the ring is going to fail almost instantly. It takes time and practice, and leadership development offers the opportunity for both.

Leadership development through books, activities, conferences and classroom studies is a vital part of any company’s success, which is why there are hundreds of books, seminars, conferences, workshops, boot camps and personal coaches devoted to that very goal. Never underestimate the importance of the team of people holding the reins in an organization, and don’t discount the need to allow those individuals to develop their leadership skills both inside and out of the office.

Leadership matters.