|
|
|
2007-07-18 13:59:11
|
 |
Article by Larry Wenger |
 |
|
Leading an organization or a work team in today's environment calls for special skills and abilities. This requirement applies to every industry and all areas of society. No longer is it good enough to lead by your "instincts". We know that the skills exhibited by successful leaders are not ones that they were born with; we learn leadership skills, and regardless of how we might evaluate our present skill level, we can always learn new, more effective leadership behaviors.
As we think about leadership development, the skills to which we might aspire fall into four categories. After reviewing them you will be able to clearly identify areas where you need to improve or you will realize that they are useful concepts that you may have not thought about or used in some time.
1. Keeping staff is about positive relationships. Being a leader today means keeping staff turnover at or below what is regarded as normative for your industry. Reducing staff turnover is not about bonuses or special recognition; it's about improving the relationships between leaders and followers...reducing the number of negative interactions which occur in any work day. Leaders must make the transition from being a dictator of supervise behavior to creating a work environment of mutual growth and development geared toward meeting the mission of the organization. John Maxwell outlines how positive relationships amongst persons at all levels in the organization ensures the organization's success.
2. Accepting Personal Responsibility. This means being better at everything you do...better today than you were yesterday. We cannot expect our direct reports to be committed to self-improvement if we ourselves do not exhibit the same commitment. Secondly, personal responsibility means looking at your role in every "mess" that happens. This does not mean that you don't review the role of others too, but that you don't start the investigation assuming that it is "their" fault exclusively. Ben Zander in "The Art of Possibility" talks about the mutual dependence between leaders and followers.
3. Improve Teamwork. Organizations often suffer because teams don't complete their assigned tasks satisfactorily. Patrick Lencioni says that leaders must make sure that their work teams perform in an atmosphere characterized by: honest, unambiguous communication, a high level of trust, the constructive use of conflict, and accountability for decisions made.
4. Use Goals to Reach a Higher Level of Performance. Social science research tells us that at least 95% of all Americans have no clear goals for their lives; they thoroughly plan a two week vacation but leave the other 50 weeks a year to chance. Out of this part of the population come many of today's alleged leaders and so beginning to use goals will mean a significant behavioral change for them. Achieving goals is not a matter of chance or wishful thinking. Rather it is a specific, detailed process designed to lead your organization to the successful realization of it's mission.
As you think about your own leadership performance, place the four "big ideas" on a sheet of paper and evaluate your performance in each of those areas on a 1 to 10 scale. Any number 7 or below suggests an area in which you need to significantly improve your performance. Being a leader today necessitates a continual self-reflection and evaluation, and as we have said, a commitment to self improvement and learning. When we are always focused on "getting through the day" we run a high risk of loosing our sense of direction and focus.
Larry Wenger is the President and Founder of the Workforce Performance Group. located in Newtown, Pa. He is a graduate of the University of Kansas School of Social Work and has led human service organizations of various types for over 40 years.
Larry Wenger is a leadership development expert. For more information on Executive Tune-ups or other organizational and staffing issues, contact Larry at
http://www.workforceperformancegroup.com
|
| Specialized in: |
Consulting
-
Teleconferences
-
Human Services
-
Performance Improvement
-
Staff Retention
-
Turnover
-
Leadership Development
-
Strategic Planning
-
Goal Development
-
Team Building
-
Meeting Management
-
Customer Relations
-
Diversity
-
Management Coaching
|
| URL: |
http://www.workforceperformancegroup.com
|
|
|
Related Articles |
|
21st Century Management - Where everyone manages (Popularity:  ): In the 20th century, management was largely handled by managers and supervisors who communicated with the people doing the work. In most cases, workers were responsible for managing their own time to get work done.Near the end of the 20th century, globalization, developments in technology and outsourcing caused managers to start looking for management solutions that can operate both within and beyond their organization. At lot of solutions were proposed, ...
Work Management is now available to everyone (Popularity: ): Work management is an essential subset of management used to get work done. Typical work management activities are:
• Managing goals
• Sorting out relevant tasks
• Planning tasks
• Organizing work
• Managing meetings
• Involving people outside your work teams
• Keeping stakeholders informed
• Coordinating work and teams
• Creating ToDo lists
• Reporting Progress
• Managing personal and team timeMajor constraints on Work Management
While intensively studying how people actually (naturally) work together to get work done, we ...
Roles in Business Continuity and Contingency Plans (Popularity: ): Business Continuity and Contingency Plans provide an effective means to implement a plan when little time is available and the price of failure is high. Plans need to be developed well before the event and where possible be rehearsed to ensure that nothing critical has been forgotten.
One of the greatest challenges is that many of the people who need to implement these plans change over time. Consequently keeping plans and ...
Efficient Meeting Management (Popularity: ): The efficiency of meetings directly affects an organisation's efficiency and people's stress levels. When participants come from different parts of an organization, or from a number of organizations, the complexity rises; so integrated, efficient meeting processes are essential.
Stakeholders need to be able to freely participate in agenda development and the completion of agreed actions, from wherever they are located. It is also desireable that other stakeholders who are not ...
Why Do People Resist Change in Their Personal Life? (Popularity: ): "Inflexibility is one of the worst human failings. You can learn to check impetuosity, overcome fear with confidence, and laziness with discipline. It carries the seed of its own destruction"-Anonymous• Ask a lady who lives in Perth to wind up her business and move to Cairns. Unless the reason to move is tempting, she is likely to say 'no'• Ask a man to wind up his business of marine products ...
|
|
Related Business |
|
Business Executives for National Security (Popularity: ): BENS is a national, nonpartisan organization of business leaders who apply the lessons of their successful businesses to making our country safer and more secure.
HRNow - Building Community for Leaders (Popularity: ): HRNow provides coaching for executives and business leaders to promote leadership assessment, development, growth and learning.
Performance Unlimited (Popularity: ): A company in the UK that helps executives modify their behaviours and fine-tune their skills for success, through personal coaching in emotional intelligence.
Marcia Daszko & Associates (Popularity: ): Provides consulting, training and coaching for leaders and executives.
IdeaShape (Popularity: ): Coaches executives and other leaders to higher levels of professional achievement and personal fulfillment.
Executive Visibility (Popularity: ): Specializes in placing corporate executives as speakers at events that attract business and government leaders.
Driving Lessons Sutton & Pass Plus Courses (Popularity: ): Driving Lessons Sutton & Pass Plus Courses for new & experienced drivers throughout Kingston and Surrey. Learn & Pass in a BMW Mini with Mini Driving School today! We offer Driving Lessons Sutton and our instructors are some of the most experienced within the UK. We now offer pay as you go Driving Lessons in the Epsom area. Our lessons start from an hourly rate of £23 or £35 for ...
Guitar Lessons Information For Seekers (Popularity: ): Guitar lessons are private individual lessons, students determine the time of the guitar lessons classical guitar lessons dershanemizde, bass guitar lessons, electric guitar lessons, acoustic guitar lessons, guitar sales people who are professional educators specialized in male or female guitar teachers provide assistance for purchase of the guitar is for children guitar guitar lessons to children applying for the age at onset of training must be at least five.
Classical Guitar Lessons (Popularity: ): All Guitar Lessons Private lesson times are as individual students who choose to sell guitar lessons once a week are being implemented in a classical guitar lessons guitar lessons, electric guitar lessons, bass guitar lessons, acoustic guitar lessons in the form.
Lessons In Guitar, Piano, Vocals, Drums and Bass (Popularity: ): We are London's longest running specialist rock and pop teaching agency. Established in 2005, we continue to offer the highest quality music lessons at home and in schools, for children and adults alike. We specialize in music lessons, piano lessons, guitar lessons, drum lessons, bass lessons and singing lessons in London.
|
|
|
|
Print article
Bookmark this page