Why a leader says ‘Let’s go’ “A boss says ‘Go!’ A leader says ‘Let’s Go.’” This well-known quote by author E.M. Kelly succinctly identifies the difference between boss and leader and it requires us to ask of ourselves: Which am I? In the morning, when we look in the mirror, do we see a mentor, an enabler, a team builder, the leader we need to be to move our people and our organization forward in today’s challenging marketplace? A leader shares a vision Leaders create a detailed picture of the possibilities, options and opportunities to come – and then share that vision with people so clearly that all who bump up against it are inspired and drawn to it. They communicate what needs to be done – and why. Great leaders are not born – they are made. The philosopher and founder of Taoism, Lao-Tzu, characterized outstanding leadership 2,500 years ago, in the following way: “The superior leader gets things done with very little motion.
He imparts instruction not through many words but through a few deeds. Little has changed. Interview style probes past to predict future. It's the day of your big interview. You've recited your strengths and parlayed your weaknesses into major accomplishments. But just as you're imagining a corner office with a view, the interviewer asks a question you hadn't counted on. "Tell me about a time when you had to work with someone who wasn't pulling their weight. What did you do about it?
" You're stymied. Suddenly, you realize that in this interview, your past portends your potential. Welcome to the "behavioural-based job interview," in which the interviewer predicts your future behaviour based on the way you've reacted to situations in the past. Developed in the 1970s by industrial psychologists, behavioural-based interviewing is an increasingly popular method of evaluating potential job candidates. "Companies have streamlined their work forces. "More [people]are having the behavioural interviews than not," says Linda McDonald, an employment adviser with the Humber College Career Centre. A military approach to business.
For many years, Richard Martin was an infantry officer with the legendary Van Doos, the Royal 22nd Regiment of the Canadian Armed Forces. These days he’s a management consultant, based in Île-Perrot, just west of Montreal. But he’s still in many ways a Van Doo, since he applies his strategic and operational knowledge from his years of service, as well as his reading of military history, to organizations with which he works. And he feels that seven kernels of military wisdom might help you: An offensive mindset is essential In warfare, you can’t win on the defensive. You can buy time or protect vital ground. It’s the same in business, where seizing and maintaining the initiative is critical.
Decide what not to do Organizations always have many choices. Exercise mission command Mission command is the process to ensure everyone through the ranks is aligned with the goal of the mission and their part in achieving it. Manoeuvre for maximum advantage Probe for advantage Assess and maintain morale. Leadership blunders to avoid. A good deal of what we think we know for sure about leadership, and how good leaders behave, often turns out to be wrong. On Linked 2 Leadership, Leonard Doohan, a professor emeritus at Gonzaga University in Spokane, Wash., offers these fallacies about leadership to beware of: Leaders empower others Leaders who seek to empower others are well-meaning, but they are taking a rather limited view of the individuals they work with.
People actually come to their jobs with many abilities and skills. Leaders must avoid entrapping these naturally empowered individuals, and set them free to use the power and skills they have. Leaders lead others This has long been viewed as the main function of a leader, and easily becomes the first instinct when promoted to leadership. The key is to recognize that inherent self-leadership as one of your organization’s greatest untapped resources and allow it to blossom. Leaders don’t tolerate dissent People can learn collaboration Leaders control development.
Eight tips to sharpen your leadership game. Rodger Dean Duncan, author of the recently published book Change-Friendly Leadership, has worked for the past 40 years as a leadership coach with a host of top executives, including U.S. cabinet members and CEOs of large companies. On Change This, he shares eight elements of their approach to strong leadership: 1. Relinquish power At company retreats, the usual ritual is that titles are supposed to be checked at the door.
In reality, every member of an organization is always aware of status differences. 2. As a leader, you will serve yourself and others best if you can resist coming to immediate conclusions. 3. He likes a bumper sticker he saw which read: “Don’t believe everything you think.” 4. Be open to serendipity. 5. Simply listening to others is not sufficient, Mr. 6. Acknowledge the undiscussables in the room, and then deal with them. 7. When having a conversation, make sure your inquiries do not come across as interrogation. 8. Special to The Globe and Mail. ‘We’ versus ‘I’: the language of leadership. A former boss once felt it important to tell me that an accolade I received at work was not mine alone, but belonged to the entire team. I found this information puzzling, since I had already assumed that, and had always felt more inclined toward the “we” versus the “me.” The subtleties of language can easily escape us as we try to digest thousands of words every day, whether they’re spoken, printed or on a screen.
Yet the way we use words affects our image, and can help or hinder advancement. In a business environment, there’s a language of leadership that remains more masculine in nature and an expectation persists that women must learn that language to get ahead. I often catch myself talking about my role at work in pluralistic terms, even when I’m the only person involved in a project. “I saw this as one of a range of ways of speaking in which women used language to avoid seeming too big for their britches, or too self-promoting,” said Ms.
Luckily, Ms. 10 hard truths about leadership. Tough Truths By Deirdre Maloney (Business Solutions Press, 104 pages, $7.95) Effective management is not as simple as you might think. Most leaders learn some tough lessons in their early days on the job – or fail to learn, to their detriment. In observing her own managerial skills and those of others, San Diego consultant Deirdre Maloney has collected what she calls “the 10 leadership truths we don’t talk about.” “I paid attention to people I consider to be great leaders and learned what to do. 1. Great leaders know that every single interaction involves influencing and persuading others to obtain what the leaders want. 2. New leaders often assume they can galvanize others to follow them toward improving the collective situation. 3. As much as a leader’s life may be fascinating and seem worth relating to others, smart leaders shift the focus off themselves and onto the people they are talking with. 4. 5. 6.
Top leaders know what –and who – gives them energy, and schedule more of that. 7. Delegate effectively: Ensure there's a proper handoff. We’re told that the key to lightening our burden at work and being successful is to delegate tasks and responsibilities to others. But all too often we find the delegation goes awry. On the Dumb Little Man blog, consultant Bill Zipp offers warning signs to indicate when you are delegating poorly, including: Delegating too much at once Often, we wait until we are overwhelmed to delegate, and then we throw things over to others too rapidly. Expecting people to read your mind We also mess up when we aren’t clear about what we want done. Not giving a due date If you don’t give a due date for the delegated task, it will go to the bottom of the person’s lengthy to-do list.
Not following through Delegating tasks doesn’t end when they’re handed off. Delegating to the wrong person Sometimes the first person you see is the person you hand the assignment to. Viewing delegation as an event Mr. Not changing leadership style Not explaining the why Special to The Globe and Mail Special to The Globe and Mail. The management vs. leadership debate. Management vs. Leadership One of the long-running debates among business experts is about the difference between management and leadership. Consultant Jesse Lyn Stoner, on her blog, offers an interesting perspective from her mid-1980s dissertation at the University of Massachusetts. She got 500 employees to rate their bosses on how much they demonstrated visionary leadership skills and management skills, and was able to relate that to the team’s performance. She found, not unexpectedly, that teams with high vision and strong management skills had high performance; while teams with low vision and low management exhibited low performance.
The surprise came with the fourth group, in which visionary leadership was high and management skills of the bosses were poor. “Teams need management skills and visionary leadership skills but the issue is where is it coming from. She adds that we have gone overboard in valuing leadership and devaluing management. What does it take to be a good team player? Are you a good team player? If you think the answer is yes, check to be sure, using these prerequisites drawn from the qualities that consultants Joel Garfinkle outlines on his Career Advancement blog and Marty Brounstein shares on Dummies.com: Always reliable This topped the list for both writers.
“A great team player is constantly reliable day in and day out, not just some of the time. Communicates constructively Good team members know when to quietly get the work done and when to speak up. Listens actively As well as knowing when to speak up, good team members know when to listen. “Such a team member also can receive criticism without reacting defensively. Shares willingly Good team players don’t hoard information and ideas, in order to feather their own nest, but give willingly to their teammates and put the overall cause above their own individual interest. Does more than asked As well as being reliable, strong team members go the extra mile. Shows flexibility In addition, Mr.