Tag Archives: Leaders

The importance of humility in leadership

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By Cheryl Williamson

Rick Warren once said, “True humility is not thinking less of yourself; it is thinking of yourself less.” In leadership, it can be tempting to become enamored with status. However, it is crucial that leaders focus on their staff more than they focus on themselves.

I have learned that the best leaders are selfless and more concerned with the well-being of their team than with their personal titles. You cannot be an effective leader if you feel that you are better than your subordinates. Furthermore, teams under said type of leadership become hostile and experience low productivity and high turnover.

I have worked with my team for many years and am grateful for their loyalty. My team never ceases to amaze me, and I feel like they go out of their way to make my days run smoothly. When I sat down to ask them why they work so hard and remain loyal to me, they had lots to say.

From their responses, I created some helpful hints for others who are seeking to lead with humility:

  • Be willing to get in the trenches. Your team needs to know that you are willing to work together with them. They cannot feel as if you aren’t willing to work for and with them. A true leader supports his or her team in any and every way. If your secretary is out sick, be willing to answer the phones for the day. There is no job beneath your pay grade when you lead with humility. If your team knows that you are willing to work side by side with them, there is nothing they won’t do for you. They will be fiercely loyal, and their appreciation will be evident in their productivity.
  • Think like a leader, not a manager. A wise person once said, “When I talk to a manager, I get the feeling that they are important. When I talk to a leader, I get the feeling that I am important.” This quote is the perfect example of what it means to lead with humility. Each person on your team should walk away from a one-on-one with you feeling empowered, valued, important and appreciated. A team member who feels this way will undoubtedly be a strong player on your team. A leader views his or her team members as human beings. A manager views his or team members as a means to an end. Know the difference and lead your team accordingly.
  • Remove your ego from the equation. When faced with a challenging decision or difficult personality, this can be a hard rule to follow. Maintaining objective judgment is one of the biggest ways you can show humility as a leader. If your team can count on you to check your ego at the door and make decisions that will be for the equal benefit of your entire team, they will have a great deal of respect for you. On the other hand, if they feel that you do what is best for yourself as opposed to what is good for everyone, they will have a hard time trusting you. People don’t want to work for someone they can’t trust. One good way to remove your ego from the decision-making process is to get a trusted colleague’s opinion. Hearing a neutral party’s perspective will help you to see the situation clearly.
  • Be the change. We have all heard the famous quote, “Be the change you wish to see in the world.” As it relates to your team’s culture, this means to lead by example. As leaders, we must remember that our team looks to us to set the standard. Make sure they see a good standard when they look at your own personal work habits. For example, you can’t be upset about tardiness if you tell your team that your office hours are 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. but you stroll in at 10:00 a.m. I challenge you to take a few moments and examine the changes you would like to see on your team. Next, find ways that you can lead and inspire your team to make a change by seeing you in action.

When you decide to lead with humility, your team will immediately see a difference. As a result, you will also immediately see a difference. Not only will leading with humility impact your business, it will also impact you personally. You will feel better about yourself, your work and your team. Needless to say, it will have a positive impact on your bottom line.

Keeping humility as a priority in my leadership style has greatly impacted my business and my brand. I am excited for you to experience the same great results in your business.

 

Source: Forbes

The Portable Leader Is the New “Organization Man”

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by Gianpiero Petriglieri

Gianpiero_Petriglieri-200x200 I met Tanya years ago, at a global corporation where she led a business unit and enjoyed a reputation as a formidable mentor. “The thing I always keep in mind,” she told me with obvious pride, explaining her approach to management as we walked through a bustling open office, “is that these people are the best talent in the business. They could be working elsewhere, if they so chose. And I am sure that many will, eventually.”

I knew that to be true. Competitors poached people in Tanya’s unit regularly. And yet there was no trace of cynicism in her tone. “Each of them is valuable and hard to replace,” she continued, “but I can’t preach them loyalty. They’d laugh at me. I can’t pay them more, either. All I can promise is that while they work here, they’ll grow more than they would anywhere else. And when they leave, they will be leaders wherever they go.”

Some version of Tanya’s promise — working here today will make you a leader elsewhere tomorrow — is at the center of many companies’ talent management strategies. Its popularity has led to the rise of corporate universities and to the corporatization of universities, all promising to turn talent into leaders. It is more than a promise of learning. It is a promise of transformation — that a stint at the organization will change your substance and value, not just your leadership style, in ways that will outlast your tenure in it. Continue reading →

F&A Account Leader-West Coast

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Drive both short and long term growth through up-selling, profitable delivery and client satisfaction. Work closely with the Operating Groups to maximize outcomes and value to the client and profitability, acting as a single point of contact for the organization and building trusted advisor relationships at the client. May have accountability for a single tower on a medium-to-large account, or for multi towers on a small-to-medium account, or for multiple small accounts.

iStock_000017757523LargeLead account Development and Sales
•Deliver revenue target and CCI plan
•Conduct account planning and reviews, and collaborate with the Operating Groups and Growth Platforms to bring best of  innovation, analytics and industry insight to clients
•Achieve profitable growth and new sales through upsell, extensions, renewals and cross-selling across offerings over a portfolio of accounts (understanding client needs and industry trends to sell transformational solutions)

Account Management
•Manage overall client relationship & satisfaction, delivering world class service management for a single tower on a medium-to-large account, or for multi towers on a small-to-medium account, or for multiple small accounts

Develop Key Relationships
•Pursue and cultivate relationships with decision makers/influencers at the senior/middle management levels within the client organization
•Cultivate relationships with Client Account leaders within assigned account and provide expertise across client account team
•Manage account team members below the Managing Director level, setting the tone from the top for our people and sustaining culture and values

Demonstrate Thought Leadership and Market Profile
•Demonstrate functional expertise in the offering delivered on the assigned account
•Gain internal recognition in area and start to develop external recognition of growth platform relevance and expertise

If you are interested or know someone who is, please let me know. Thank you!!

Sincerely,

Larry Janis I Managing Partner I Integrated Search Solutions Group, LLC

P-516-767-3030

E-janis@issg.net

www.issg.net

follow me on twitter @issgheadhunter

5 Ways To Tell Your Boss No Without Actually Saying No

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iStock_000027814907Small - Copyby Lisa Rabasca Roepe

Managers often ask us to do things we don’t want to: work late, work on a weekend, attend a conference the same weekend we have concert tickets, help a difficult colleague finish a project. While it’s important to be a team player, it’s equally important to stay happy at work.

In fact, it might even be good for your career to occasionally say no, says Suz O’Donnell, founder and CEO of Thrivatize LLC. “You may worry a boss may be mad if you don’t stay late or work over the weekends, but at the end of the day, you are much more innovative and productive when you’ve had some time to relax,” she says.

Most employees worry that setting boundaries gives the impression that they aren’t a dedicated worker, but in reality the opposite is true, O’Donnell says. She recalls a coworker who consistently worked extra hours because he didn’t have pressing weekend plans and it made him feel important. However, his reputation in the office didn’t improve because he worked every weekend. “It made him seem less powerful and more like someone people could push around,” O’Donnell says. In fact, she says, everyone on the team who consistently declined weekend work was promoted, while the coworker who repeatedly put in extra hours didn’t get a promotion. Perhaps, she says, it was because those who took a break came back to work refreshed and ready to produce.

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Account Leader- New York or Raleigh

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iStock_000004877664XSmall - Copy

In this role, you will be responsible for evaluating existing processes, systems and solutions, and development of improvement plans. You will leverage relationships with key internal team members (e.g., managers, functional leaders, process owners) to facilitate the implementation of continuous improvement and operational excellence mindset, management practices and monitoring of processes to achieve the objectives set forth for one of our largest accounts. This role requires leadership and change management skills, problem solving, technology expertise, and extensive experience in operational excellence, process improvement and delivery of complex business processes to external clients.

This role requires leadership and change management skills, problem solving, technology expertise, and extensive experience in operational excellence, process improvement and delivery of complex business processes to external clients.

The person in this position will:

  • Identify, lead and drive opportunity identification for changes, process improvements, transformations and transitions for one of our most exciting clients
  • Drive development of standards across teams, build upon our practice methodologies and provide requisite training as appropriate
  • Lead and contribute to altering and developing new internal workflows to accommodate new service offerings
  • Oversee the implementation of large, complex projects or multiple, smaller scale projects contributing to building Axiom’s proprietary Intellectual Property in the rapidly changing Managed Contracts Services business area.

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