Tag Archives: Mentoring

7 Ways Outstanding Leaders Do Things Differently

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By Lolly Daskal

It may feel as though we’re in a crisis of leadership, but if you stop to look around it’s not hard to find examples of CEOs, middle managers, elected officials, public servants, neighborhood watch organizers, team captains and coaches, teachers and countless others who are doing a good job as leaders. Most of us are either in that group or working toward it.

Much rarer are the exceptional leaders whose qualities truly shine, the ones who practice the kind of leadership we all aspire to.

In my years of leadership consulting, I’ve learned that most of what makes outstanding leaders outstanding lies not in the things they do but who they are when they take action.

Here are seven of the most important:

1. Outstanding leaders lead with consistency of character.
At the center of all great leadership are two interconnected qualities: consistency and character. Those who lead with character do the right thing 100 percent of the time, even if no one is watching and the benefits of cheating are great. They understand that their actions set the standard for their entire team, and that their influence reaches far beyond themselves.

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Qualities that make great leaders from A to Z

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What does it take to be a great leader?

We thought it might be interesting to share the attributes valued by senior leaders in our network.  The contributors are recognized leaders in a variety of enterprises: two global professional services firms; healthcare software; law; world leader in enabling connected commerce; private equity; and, multinational foods. We hope you find inspiration and an insight or two from their words.

 

Ability to Guide-A good leader should be able to guide his/her team to be able to perform well in all scenarios. Leadership does not mean dominating people. It means encouraging them such that they work to the best of their abilities and produce positive results.

Building a Great Team-Team building is not the easiest things to accomplish. Great managers are really measured in their ability to build great teams. For a team to perform efficiently, their leader should be able to motivate his/her team.

Communications-Great leaders are great communicators. He/she must be able to effectively and regularly communicate to deliver the expectations of company’s leaders have set as the groups goals. Great leaders communicate frequently, provide context and ensure employees can tie decisions back to corporate goals and objectives. Be a great communicator and learn how to make and deliver a good pitch

Decision-Making and Problem Solving are necessary skills. As a leader sets his/her they need to be able to recognize problems and issues and figure out the best approach to resolve the issues and move his team forward.

Direction-Leaders not only show the path, but are able to dive in and solve for challenges along the journey!

Enablement- Strong leaders trust their people and work hard to ensure their teams have what they need to succeed, and clear the hurdles out of their way.

From the Front-Lead from the front, live it, breathe it!

Goal Oriented-Leaders should also have a visionary sight for the benefit of the company. He/she should plan the future steps for the growth his/her team and of the company.

Gratitude–Thanksgiving does not happen just once a year.  Even the weakest rower in a race keeps the boat balanced, keeps the rhythm, and enables the strongest rowers to pull ahead.  Thank every member of your team for their contribution.  Make it personal.  Make it sincere. There is always another race, and you will need all those rowers.

Integrity-Have integrity & strong values-know who you are.

Innovation-If you are not thinking about what is next, you will not be unique for customers so you will not grow and it will be hard to take care of your people.

Knowledge-A great leaders is aware of changes that are occurring in their industry, aware of innovations in their firm and their competitors. This is necessary so that he can use the knowledge and make positive contributions to the goal.

Life-Keep Life in Perspective-Work / Life Balance……………….Have fun!!

Look-Great leaders look forward and look outward.

Market-You have to be always taking market share so you need to know your competitors and your customers…You have to drive what makes you unique so customers want to buy from you and not your competitors.

Measure-Leaders understand what the goal line is, communicate it to their teams, and how to work towards that goal.  Without clarity in what the objective is, individuals will be confused on the goal and have different views of success.

Mentor-Seek wise counsel – know who has an interest in YOU.

Numbers-Business is about making money so a strong leader has to understand the activities that are going to drive growth and keep the costs down…

Open Mind-Treat your mind like a parachute.

Outcomes – never mistake action for outcomes.  Nothing is more de-motivating than have a team working hard and not getting the results – guide them towards the right target so the action matches the expected outcome.

Overwhelm-Overwhelm Problems before they overwhelm you.

Road less traveled-Fix /Build / Grow Something. Take the road less traveled–take risk & build skills not titles.

Visibility-For a team to be successful, their leader needs to bring visibility to the team of how / why each member of the team is there. What skills, experience, or knowledge do they bring to the team?

We-Leadership is about advancing others, not you. Good leaders often always use the term “We” instead of “I”.

Zeal-Leaders have to be the most energetic, focused, determined people on the team because everyone else will draw on that.

Many thanks to all of the leaders who contributed to this blog for their time and wisdom. Hopefully we have added to your perspective on leadership. If you would like to share a thought or two for a follow-up post, please let me know.

Thank you,

Larry Janis, Managing Partner, ISSG E-janis@issg.net  

 

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 →

Organisational Politics Can Be an Asset to Strategy Execution

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michael_jarrettby Michael Jarrett

Identifying the types of political behaviour in your organisation is the first step to using it for positive change.

Dysfunctional politics can sink an organisation, but it can also be a force for good. This makes many executives frown, but the reality is that politics is normal – and too often a hidden barrier to effective strategy execution. In fact, without it, some strategic changes may not be possible.

Political behaviour allows differences to be shared and methods to be employed in strategy execution that go beyond the rules and norms of the organisation. Thus it’s important for leaders to understand the forms it can take and how they can harness it.

While we would be naive to ignore the potentially destructive nature of politics, when deployed effectively it can actually help the company meet its strategic goals and live up to its values, especially during change efforts.

Defining politics

Organisational politics refers to a variety of activities associated with the use of tactics to influence or improve personal or organisational interests.

Studies have shown that those with political skills do tend to outperform their politically naive counterparts. However, political behaviour is relative. It is implicit in many cases. For example, it may be the case that a manager or leader needs to exert a large amount of pressure on a team to get something done by using the power of their position over others. It is also occasionally necessary for employees to work behind the scenes to build coalitions of believers in a new vision. Politics is driven by the conditions of scarce resources, social and structural inequalities and individual personal motivations.

Thus, the first step to using politics requires executives to map their organisation’s political landscape and understand the sources of political capital they have.

 

The political terrain

Most organisational maps are characterised by four metaphoric domains; the weeds, the rocks, the high ground and the woods. Each has a different set of rules for skilful navigation.

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Five behaviors you must practice to cross the leadership threshold

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by Jared LafitteJared-Lafitte

Leadership is not defined by a title or a position, a record of experience or an accumulation of knowledge. That’s why there are many in positions of power who have great expertise and experience, yet are poor leaders.

Leadership is a practice that requires mastery of several key behaviors that transfer vision and motivate action. Like any behavior, they are meant to be learned, practiced, repeated and sharpened. Leadership should be pursued primarily as a set of practices to be developed and not as a position to be attained. When leaders learn to make this distinction between position and practice, they are crossing what I call the leadership threshold: a conceptual line that divides leadership grounded upon expertise, experience and authority (positional leadership) from leadership grounded upon behaviors and practices (behavioral leadership).

One way to nuance this is to say that experience, expertise and authority serve as crucial supplements to leadership, but generally do not themselves create leadership. Like logs in a fireplace, an accumulation of knowledge and experience provides fuel for the fire of leadership, but it is only behaviors such as conviction, communication and influence that provide the spark to set it ablaze. Crossing the leadership threshold means learning to view expertise, experience and authority as supportive but not primary. Continue reading →