This is perhaps the misconception about team leadership that is the most damaging. It is damaging because so many people believe it and it discourages people from taking on team leadership roles.
Anybody type of personality can be an effective team leader. You do not have to by funny or confident speaking in front of people. You do not have to be tall and handsome or beautiful.
Effective team leadership is not about those types of things. Effective team leadership is founded on your honest efforts to help those around you be successful. You can do this no matter what type of person you are.
There is a common phrase about team leadership that we think does not get the respect it deserves; “He/She leads by example” You absolutely do not have to be charismatic to lead by example, yet it is one of the most powerful ways to lead.
People will follow you based on your actions, not how you look or what you say.
Click here to search our article and newsletter archives for dozens more team leadership tips.
Friday, August 15, 2008
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Old Growth Forests and .... Leadership?
We're just back from a few days of tramping around old growth forests near Sisters, Oregon. To show you how weird our brains are it all got me thinking about leadership qualities that are all too scarce in today's business environment.
Some of what you can't escape as you experience the wonder of an old growth forest is the reality of time. The hundreds of years it takes to develop the glorious resource that is around you is obvious and humbling in a way. But what one also can't escape is the impact of man's decisions on this precious resource. I don't just mean pre-meditated crime.. that's obvious. But what we learned about was the impact on this environment over the years from well intentioned decisions by people, by caretakers, by politicians, by business, and by government.
We learned of scores of decisions and actions that seemed right at the time but also caused unintended consequences that resulted in major problems. Unintended consequences... if they had only known.
And that's when my brain started thinking about Leadership. It is simply not enough to do the research, to perform the analysis, to run the numbers, and let the bottom line give you the answer. The most effective leaders we see are those who exhibit leadership qualities that search for full understanding. They search because they know it is likely that every solution also carries some unintended consequence.
They may still make mistakes but the most effective leaders dig deep to see what unintended consequence might be lurking within a solution. They exhibit a leadership style that both questions and listens, especially to those with a different point of view. They insist on additional tactics to mitigate possible unintended negative consequences.
In short, they exhibit a leadership style that goes beyond the obvious and they don't assume they know all the answers. They don't just guess to see if it will work. And they show a responsibility to the overall, not just to solving a narrow problem.
Try it yourself. When your team has concluded a problem study and has a solution in hand, take the extra time to test your brains and uncover and manage "unintended consequences".
Some of what you can't escape as you experience the wonder of an old growth forest is the reality of time. The hundreds of years it takes to develop the glorious resource that is around you is obvious and humbling in a way. But what one also can't escape is the impact of man's decisions on this precious resource. I don't just mean pre-meditated crime.. that's obvious. But what we learned about was the impact on this environment over the years from well intentioned decisions by people, by caretakers, by politicians, by business, and by government.
We learned of scores of decisions and actions that seemed right at the time but also caused unintended consequences that resulted in major problems. Unintended consequences... if they had only known.
And that's when my brain started thinking about Leadership. It is simply not enough to do the research, to perform the analysis, to run the numbers, and let the bottom line give you the answer. The most effective leaders we see are those who exhibit leadership qualities that search for full understanding. They search because they know it is likely that every solution also carries some unintended consequence.
They may still make mistakes but the most effective leaders dig deep to see what unintended consequence might be lurking within a solution. They exhibit a leadership style that both questions and listens, especially to those with a different point of view. They insist on additional tactics to mitigate possible unintended negative consequences.
In short, they exhibit a leadership style that goes beyond the obvious and they don't assume they know all the answers. They don't just guess to see if it will work. And they show a responsibility to the overall, not just to solving a narrow problem.
Try it yourself. When your team has concluded a problem study and has a solution in hand, take the extra time to test your brains and uncover and manage "unintended consequences".
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Leaders Must Have All the Answers
Most management training teaches that the leader must have all of the answers. They are the “go to” person to solve all problems. This is a misguided belief about team leadership.
The leaders with the best team leadership know that no single person can always have the best answer. They instead hone their skills in asking the right questions. They ask questions that allow people to open their minds to more effective thinking. This is effective team leadership.
Doing this allows people to solve their own problems which is much more effective team leadership than being told what to do.
Click here to search our article and newsletter archives for dozens more team leadership tips.
The leaders with the best team leadership know that no single person can always have the best answer. They instead hone their skills in asking the right questions. They ask questions that allow people to open their minds to more effective thinking. This is effective team leadership.
Doing this allows people to solve their own problems which is much more effective team leadership than being told what to do.
Click here to search our article and newsletter archives for dozens more team leadership tips.
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
A Key Team Leadership Quality: Give People Room to Work
Here is a rarely understood team leadership quality. At the detailed operational level you can earn trust and show respect to your people by not micro-managing their work. Allow your people to decide how they will accomplish their responsibilities. The best team leaders understand that there are many paths to any destination. They allow others to select their own path while still holding them accountable for reaching the destination.
But, an important factor in this team leadership quality is to not get too far away. Stay close and follow up with your people. Ask them how you can help them accomplish their objectives. It is common for leaders to get so busy that they are not available to help. Those who are best at team leadership can be relied on to respond thoughtfully and timely when people ask them for assistance or perspective.
Click here to search or article and newsletter archives for dozens more team leadership tips.
But, an important factor in this team leadership quality is to not get too far away. Stay close and follow up with your people. Ask them how you can help them accomplish their objectives. It is common for leaders to get so busy that they are not available to help. Those who are best at team leadership can be relied on to respond thoughtfully and timely when people ask them for assistance or perspective.
Click here to search or article and newsletter archives for dozens more team leadership tips.
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Management Training Tip - Remove Barriers to Performance
Every organization is filled with projects and processes. Left untended these always become cumbersome and convoluted. This wastes your and your staff’s time and hurts everyone’s morale.
Management training rarely addresses this. But, those with the most effective team leadership styles take accountability for removing the barriers that block effective performance. There are many facets to meeting this responsibility.
One of these critical leadership qualities is collaboration
Start by asking your people what they need to do their work effectively and efficiently. Listen closely. Ask questions to clarify your understanding. Also, seek out the perspectives of people from outside of your department. Your objective is to gain broad and deep perspective on the circumstances that affect the issue you are dealing with.
This simple act of collaboration is one of the key components of a highly effective leadership style. Click here to search or article and newsletter archives for dozens more team leadership tips.
Management training rarely addresses this. But, those with the most effective team leadership styles take accountability for removing the barriers that block effective performance. There are many facets to meeting this responsibility.
One of these critical leadership qualities is collaboration
Start by asking your people what they need to do their work effectively and efficiently. Listen closely. Ask questions to clarify your understanding. Also, seek out the perspectives of people from outside of your department. Your objective is to gain broad and deep perspective on the circumstances that affect the issue you are dealing with.
This simple act of collaboration is one of the key components of a highly effective leadership style. Click here to search or article and newsletter archives for dozens more team leadership tips.
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Open Minds.... and the Right Questions
We often run across senior executives who think they alone know the answer to their organization's problems. They usually want help in masterminding an approach to team leadership that gets their lower level people to do just what they want. Sometimes they ask for the magic bullet of management training with the mistaken hope that it alone will create all the change they want. Well, we will have to confess we don't have a very successful record of helping these types of senior executives very much.
But thankfully we also run across another kind of senior executive. We find some with wide open minds. We find some whose leadership style emphasizes getting the best thinking out of the people that they lead. We find some who seek the answer from those closest to the problem and where the actual work really gets done. We find some who have become very skilled (or want to be) at asking the right questions in order to unlock the wisdom of the team.
Instead of just trying to show how smart they are or deciding every crucial issue, this second group of executives display leadership qualities that allow them to combine their own experience and knowledge with that of the people they lead.
Can you guess which group consistently gets a higher percentage of successful outcomes? Ask yourself today where you stand. Consider building your leadership style to include a wide open mind and asking the right questions.
But thankfully we also run across another kind of senior executive. We find some with wide open minds. We find some whose leadership style emphasizes getting the best thinking out of the people that they lead. We find some who seek the answer from those closest to the problem and where the actual work really gets done. We find some who have become very skilled (or want to be) at asking the right questions in order to unlock the wisdom of the team.
Instead of just trying to show how smart they are or deciding every crucial issue, this second group of executives display leadership qualities that allow them to combine their own experience and knowledge with that of the people they lead.
Can you guess which group consistently gets a higher percentage of successful outcomes? Ask yourself today where you stand. Consider building your leadership style to include a wide open mind and asking the right questions.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Where Did The Time Go?
The leadership skill of managing your time and the time of your team is critical to success. I want to reveal to you one of the worst "black holes" that suck time away from you...meetings.
Meetings are the life's blood of a business, but only if they help move work forward. How many meetings do you waste time in? A lot I'll bet.
An excellent leadership skill to develop is determining which meetings are really worth your time and which one's you should avoid. Be discriminating with your time, it is valuable. Only spend it in meetings that add value to your results.
We wrote an article a while back about this critical leadership skill of time management. Click here to read more.
Meetings are the life's blood of a business, but only if they help move work forward. How many meetings do you waste time in? A lot I'll bet.
An excellent leadership skill to develop is determining which meetings are really worth your time and which one's you should avoid. Be discriminating with your time, it is valuable. Only spend it in meetings that add value to your results.
We wrote an article a while back about this critical leadership skill of time management. Click here to read more.
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