leadership development – Page 19 – Doug Dickerson on Leadership

Leadership Minute: Filling In The Gaps

Posted July 7, 2014
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What are the gaps in my knowledge and experience? – Charles Handy

Are you experiencing intentional growth as a leader? We all want to grow, stretch, and learn all that we can. But is that enough? In order to be most effective as a leader it’s important to be growing in the right areas. Strong points are strong points and they will always serve you well. But if you really want to grow and increase your effectiveness and influence then you need to identify your gaps and learning curves. What are the areas you need to strengthen? What actions can you take today to increase your knowledge? Who can help you? It’s when you fill in the gaps that you begin to grow. Don’t just identify the areas in which you need help; take the needed actions that will give you the necessary knowledge and experience. Your growth as a leader depends on it.

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Leadership Minute: An Eye For Potential

Posted July 1, 2014
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Do you see more potential in people than they do in themselves? – Adam Grant

This is one of the hallmarks of a good leader. Seeing more potential in others than they do in themselves can turn into a life-changing moment for the other person when you act on it. When you can help another person discover a talent or skill and help awaken that gift it can be a most rewarding experience. Having an eye for such potential requires looking beyond the surface. Now you are focusing on the other person’s passions, skills, talents, and giving voice to your recognition of it. Chances are the other person is aware of it also but perhaps hasn’t been ready to step out and act on it. Maybe fear has held them back. You can’t motivate them beyond what they are willing to do themselves, but you can encourage, challenge, and inspire them to put their gift into action. You could very well be the encourager someone needs today.

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On Becoming Better at Failing

Posted June 28, 2014
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1 Comment on On Becoming Better at Failing

Am I failing different each time? – David Kelley

In his book, “The Power of Optimism”, Alan Loy McGinnis wrote of the great fire Thomas Edison experienced at his lab. Edison’s manufacturing facilities were heavily damaged by fire one night in December, 1914. Edison lost almost $1 million worth of equipment and the record of much of his work. The next morning, walking about the charred embers of his hopes and dreams, the 67-year old inventor said, “There is value in disaster. All our mistakes are burned up. Now we can start anew.”

Edison’s attitude in the face of his disaster serves as a reminder and as encouragement to those who have ever experienced a setback or failure. As a leader the question is not whether you will have failures, but when you do, how will you respond? As you grow as a leader the types of failures and the way you fail will grow with you. Are you getting better? Here’s how you can tell.

You fail better when you are not afraid to take risks

Taking risks is part of your growth as a leader. Without risks you are in a rut and the view will never change. It’s as you dare to venture out and try new things that you can maximize your potential and reach new goals. Failures will come when you take risks but anything worth having will require it.

You fail better when your dreams are big

This is where you put your risks into action. Failure in pursuit of a big dream is much better feeling than the feeling of complacency where you are. You have big dreams for a reason. And big dreams require action. And along the way of fulfilling those dreams you will experience setbacks. Failure is a part of your growth and through every difficulty along the way you are one step closer to seeing your dream fulfilled.

You fail better when you do your very best

Big dreams and goals require more out of you than what you gave a year ago or five years ago. It’s the payoff of your growth and the reward of your hard work. A failure at this stage in your life is still many steps ahead of where you were in the past. Each step, each setback, and every failure is the result of putting your best foot forward even if you stumble.

You fail better when you fail with others

Your path to success as a leader will be easier to navigate when you have others to share it with. Smart leaders understand the power of teamwork and the rewards of collaborative effort. You can enhance and accelerate your work, dreams, goals and aspirations when others are involved. Setbacks and failures hurt less when shared by others and your recovery will be quicker. There’s nothing like sharing a few failures with your team and there’s nothing like the celebration at the end when together you achieve your goals.

You fail better when you don’t give up

Churchill said, “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” When failures come your way don’t give up. Failing successfully happens when you get up, dust yourself off, reassess, and get moving. You wouldn’t be where you are today if deep down you didn’t already know this. But perhaps you just need the reminder so here it is; don’t give up!

You fail better when you show others how

There is no failure or setback that you go through that is in vain if you react the right way, learn from it, and care enough to help others. Your life lessons – all of the bumps and bruises along the way can serve as invaluable teaching moments. The way you fail today is not the way you failed five years ago and it will not be the way you will fail five years from now.

The way you fail is important. As you come through your failures you are learning, applying new lessons, being more creative, and making wiser decisions. What you learn you should share. Show others that failure is not fatal, that there is triumph in adversity, and most of all it is worth it if you don’t give up.

What do you say?

I welcome your feedback:

1. Does failure look different to you now as compared to five or ten years ago?

2. What additional advice would you give to aspiring leaders who have experienced failure or a setback?

3. What life lessons have you learned though failure?

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Leadership Minute: The Value of Respect

Posted June 18, 2014
by admin

I firmly believe that respect is a lot more important, and a lot greater, than popularity. – Julius Erving

In keeping with establishing leadership priorities, be careful not to fall into the trap of prizing popularity over respect. Many had rather enjoy short term popularity than pay the price for respect that is earned over a greater span of time. But popularity, like beauty, can be fleeting. You are never more than one unpopular decision away from the tables being turned and learning that being popular is not all it’s cracked up to be. Choose to be popular more than respected and you will be respected little. Choose to be respected more than being popular and in due time you will enjoy both. It’s all a matter of priority. The greatest compliment you can earn as a leader is the respect of your people. The bonus? People tend to like whom they respect.

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Leadership Minute: Be Careful Where You Sit

Posted June 16, 2014
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The world is full of cactus, but we don’t have to sit on it. – Will Foley

As a leader you will encounter your fair share of prickly people. Sometimes there is no escaping them. But how the behaviors and actions of others affect you is your choice. It’s a given that we all can have a bad day now and then and be a little prickly ourselves. But then there are those “special” people- you know the ones, they are just not happy unless they are unhappy. When life handed them a lemon instead of making lemonade they planted more lemons. But that is their choice. You will run across these people now and then. My advice? As best you can, keep running. You don’t have to sit there with them. Your happiness and disposition is one of the most important leadership decisions you will make so don’t surrender it to anyone. Be careful where you sit.

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Six Ways to Enhance Organizational Structure – with guest co-author Elizabeth Stincelli

Posted June 13, 2014
by admin

The productivity of a work group seems to depend on how the group members see their own goals in relation to the goals of the organization. – Ken Blanchard

When was the last time you took a hard look at the effectiveness of your organizational structure? While most organizations have one, do the people in your organization know it or understand it? The time may be ripe for you to take a fresh look at yours and consider these six ways to enhance it.

Empower your leaders

Regardless of what your present organizational structure looks like its functionality should empower its leaders. Successful leaders thrive in an organizational structure that fosters creativity, unleashes potential, and doesn’t stifle progress. This happens when less emphasis is placed on hierarchical structure and more emphasis is placed on empowering the right people in the right places. Empowerment elevates the performance of leaders and encourages behavior that earns the respect of followers. This respect allows leaders to build partnerships within the organization that encourage open, two-way communication and foster a sense of loyalty.

Give ownership

Ownership occurs within your organizational structure when there is buy-in from the bottom up and system wide. If ownership is not shared then the structure is self-serving and not empowering. People want ownership and sense of belonging to a great cause. Without ownership that can’t happen. Ownership holds everyone on the team accountable for their decisions and actions. In order for employees to take successful ownership of their work they must clearly understand expectations. They must also have milestones where progress is evaluated. Ensure that employees are serving in the right roles, give ownership, and celebrate their victories.

Expand borders

Organizational structures don’t define you, you define them. As such, your organizational structure should not be a document of containment but a blueprint of open boundaries to grow and succeed. It should not box people in but should free them to do what they do best. As your organization grows so should your structure but in a way that facilities your growth and not in ways that impede it. Provide employees with the opportunity to be more flexible about how, when, where, and with whom the work gets done. Employees want to be involved in designing and managing their work tasks. Offer employees choices and the ability to personalize work. Allow employees to share ideas and be involved in the implementation of these ideas. As you expand your borders, provide opportunities for employee growth and focus your energies on the results that really matter.

Think lateral

Employees need to have a level of control over their work tasks. A top-down organizational structure hinders the ability of decision-making at the lowest level possible. Decision making on the front-lines allows issues to be identified and addressed quickly. In a lateral structure, employees understand where they fit and how they impact the success of the organization. A flat organizational structure allows employees at all levels of the organization to be empowered and given autonomy over their work. This less rigid structure allows for flexibility and promotes a feeling of equality and inclusiveness. When lateral thinking is put into action it allows for swifter response times that can translate into happier customers, gratified clients, and a healthy bottom line. Lateral thinking is empowering, efficient, and very effective.

Build trust

The support needed to successfully achieve organizational goals is gained by developing relationships based on trust and commitment. The organizational structure can enhance or impede factors such as open communication, management follow-through, accountability, consistency, and concern for employee interests all of which foster a sense of trust. Therefore, building trust is a deliberate action, not something left to chance. It happens as relationships are given priority, it grows in an atmosphere of community, and it pays huge dividends when everyone is engaged. Without trust you have nothing. With it your potential is unlimited.

Find common ground

Employees prefer to work with others they see as similar to themselves. When the organizational structure provides an inclusive environment with common goals a sense of community is developed. Finding common ground helps in the successful pursuit of these shared goals. The organization must foster a shared purpose so that employees understand why the organization exists and why they do what they do. Finding common ground is a fundamental condition of your success. You need to define, share it, but most of all; your team needs to own it. Common ground is your path forward.

Does your organizational structure support the goals you trying to reach? The continued success of your organization is dependent on your ability to continually evaluate and enhance your organizational structure. You can enhance your effectiveness by taking these steps to ensure that your organization is ready to succeed in the 21st century.

* Elizabeth Stincelli is passionate about recognizing and inspiring the leader in each of us. She is the CEO of Stincelli Advisors where she focuses on helping organizations engage employees and improve organizational structure. Elizabeth holds a Doctor of Management degree with an emphasis on organizational leadership. Learn more about Elizabeth by visiting her websites, www.stincelliadvisors.com and http://lizstincelli.wordpress.com/

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Leadership Minute: Do You Trust Your Instincts?

Instinct is the gift of experience. The first question you have to ask yourself is, ‘On what basis am I making a judgment?’… If you have no experience, then your instincts aren’t any good. – Malcolm Gladwell

For the leader there are few things as important as good instincts. Your instincts are those gut feelings or intuitions that can save you a lot of grief and heartache. Instincts can be a tremendous asset that helps you make great decisions. But instincts are not theoretical. They are born of experience. Experience is a great teacher. It’s through successful experiences that we appreciate the good times. It’s through our failures that we grow and where most of our learning takes place. There are no short cuts for experience and therefore no other tangible way to hone the skill. Experience is your teacher, present challenges are your tests, and sound judgment is your reward. Do you trust your instincts?

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Leadership Minute: Channeling Your Anger

Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned. – Buddha

You’d be hard pressed to find a leader who hasn’t been angry or doesn’t get angry at some time or another. It’s part of the human emotion and therefore is something you will deal with. It’s not that you won’t get angry; it’s more about what you will do when you are. Anger, like any emotion, can be positive if channeled the right way. How you direct your anger is important. Are you in control of it? Vented the wrong way it can be mean, hurtful, and counterproductive. When you are in control of your anger you can direct that energy and those passions in a way that motivates and raises expectations. Don’t ever let anger get the best of you. Even when angry you can be in control, you can channel it the right way, and you’ll never have to worry about apologizing for doing something dumb when you were.

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Leadership Minute: Do What You Can

Posted May 30, 2014
by admin

Do what you can, with what you have, where you are. – Theodore Roosevelt

One of the great joys of leadership is giving. It’s about adding value to those around you and making your world a better place. It’s true; one person can’t do it all. But, one person can make a difference if he or she gets involved. Look beyond your own circumstances and consider what you can do. Through your words and actions you can be the answer to someone else’s prayer. Do you know of a colleague who has struggled this month? Why not write her a note of encouragement? Your local food bank could use some donations. Why not organize a food drive? There will always be needs and opportunities and leaders with a servant’s heart will always come through. You can’t change the world but you can change your world one random act of kindness at a time.

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Lighten Up!

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