Management Skills – Page 10 – Doug Dickerson on Leadership

Leadership Minute: Happy Trails to You

Some of the best views are found at the end of the most challenging trails. – Mark Sanborn

The trails for leaders are seldom easy. They can be hard and treacherous. Sometimes you will walk alone when others take the path of least resistance. After all, if being a leader was so easy everyone would be one. But if you will stay focused, committed, and disciplined you will reap the rewards others only dream about. Don’t worry when the trail seems too hard or too long. You are not where you are by accident. Have faith that you are the right person, in the right place, doing exactly what you were destined to do. At the end of the trail your view will be uniquely yours and all of the sacrifices made along the way will be worth it. Happy trails!

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Leadership Minute: Value Added Leaders

Few things will increase the credibility of leaders more than adding value to the people around them. – John Maxwell

Adding value to the people around you is one of the privileges of leadership. But value can only be added where respect is given. It’s easy to add value to those we like and are friends with. But what about that difficult person whom you had rather avoid? Until we begin to recognize and give value to everyone regardless of how difficult it may be we are marginalizing our credibility. There is good to be found in everyone and everyone needs to be lifted up. Look for tangible ways to add value to the people around you and watch your credibility rise. Don’t withhold that compliment, that affirmation, or that word of encouragement. Your one word of encouragement could be all it takes to turn things around for a struggling friend. Be a leader of added value.

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Five Signs You Might Be a Jealous Leader

The jealous are troublesome to others and a torment to themselves. – William Penn

From Moody’s Anecdotes comes a fable of an eagle which could out fly another, and the other didn’t like it. The latter saw a sportsman one day and said to him, “I wish you would bring down that eagle.”

The sportsman replied that he would if he only had some feathers to put into the arrow. So the eagle pulled one out of his wing. The arrow was shot, but it didn’t quite reach the rival eagle; it was flying too high. The envious eagle pulled out more feathers, and kept pulling them out until he lost so many that he couldn’t fly, and the sportsman turned around and killed him.

The moral of the story is not lost on good leaders and it serves as a good reminder about being a good sport. How you interact with your colleagues in your place of business or organization is essential to your success.

John D. Rockefeller said, “Good leadership consists of showing average people how to do the work of superior people.” It’s also showing that you can celebrate the successes and hard work of those around you without being jealous. Are you a jealous leader? It’s time for some honest soul searching. Here are five signs that might indicate you have a jealous streak.

You can’t be happy for someone else’s success.

When you find it hard to celebrate a colleague’s success this could be a red flag for you. It could be that you are resentful that they achieved a particular success that you haven’t or they attained it sooner than you did. It would be good to try and identify the root cause of these feelings and see if you can come clean about why you feel this way. A good leader should be out front celebrating the successes of his team because when one wins the whole team wins.

You have misplaced fears about your colleagues.

Jealousy has a way of elevating fears and suspicions. It causes you to buy in to the notion that everyone is against you and it causes you to question other people’s motives. This is a horrible posture for a leader. It renders your leadership ineffective and will ultimately cause more harm than good. Morale will be undercut. As a leader it is imperative to lead from a position of trust and loyalty. Misplaced fears will destroy both. The answer here is to step up communication and build solid relationships.

You are vindictive and a gossip.

Personal jealousy is one thing but professional jealousy can be devastating. Unfortunately, office politics is an issue that far too many have to contend with. A vindictive leader who uses his or her position to undermine the efforts, work, or reputation of another is certainly behaving like a jealous leader. To keep this type of jealousy from taking root is to put forth a shared vision and by exploiting the skills, talents, and resources of every team member. When a leader is elevating team members instead of tearing them down everyone wins.

You resent other people’s popularity.

This strikes a chord on a personal level for many leaders. After all, who doesn’t like to be liked? So when a colleague happens to stand out because of their magnetic personality it can touch a nerve with a jealous leader. A jealous leader wants to be the center of attention and is resentful of the competition and having to share the limelight. But leadership is not a popularity contest and shouldn’t be made one. A smart leader is content to let others shine and can appreciate all personalities that comprise his team.

You are possessive of information and resources others need to succeed.

The ultimate act of jealousy in your workplace or organization is exhibited by the leader who acts in vindictive ways against his or her people. It’s done by omission as much as it’s done by commission. It’s done by withholding information and resources that can cause them to move ahead and succeed. It’s the pulling out of the feathers like the jealous eagle and in the long run is a self-inflicting wound from which there is no recovery.

Be the type of leader that rises above jealousy to celebrate the achievements of those around you. Build a culture of trust and respect. Be comfortable in your own skin and delight in the success of your people. Life is too short to be so little.

What do you say?

I invite your feedback!

1. How have you seen the effects of jealousy in your place of work?

2. Have you identified any hot buttons of jealousy you need to work on?

3. What are some first steps you can take to keep jealousy from hurting your influence as a leader?

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Leadership Minute: Your Big Opportunity

Your big opportunity may be right where you are now. – Napoleon Hill

One of the pitfalls for many aspiring leaders is the temptation to look for greener pastures and not appreciating where he or she is at the moment. Having a desire to improve and move up is certainly not a bad thing, but there is something to be said for excelling right where you are. While it is true that leadership is not about your position the same can be true about your location. Why not make it a practice to bloom where you are planted and make the best of your present situation. Why not learn all you can, do the best you can, and become the best you can – right where you are? Your next big opportunity will come, but don’t neglect your present one.

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Four Ways to Build a Culture of Courage

Only those who risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go. – T.S. Eliot

Author Leo Buscaglia tells this story of his mother and their ‘misery dinner.” It was the night after his father came home and said it looked as if he would have to go into bankruptcy because his partner had absconded with the firm’s funds. His mother went out and sold some jewelry to buy food for a sumptuous feast. Other members of the family scolded her for it. But she told them that “the time for joy is now, when we need it most, not next week.” Her courageous act rallied the family.

Courage is an essential leadership skill. It inspires confidence and promotes a healthy work environment. The lack of courage in a leader can have devastating consequences. Forbes contributor Glen Llopes wrote a column entitled 7 Reasons Why Employees Don’t Trust Their Leaders (http://onforb.es/J72Xej). He cites the lack of courage as the number one reason. Llopes adds, “Leaders who don’t stand up for what they believe in are difficult to respect and trust.”

If you were to assess your courage quotient as leader how would you measure up? Are you instilling courage in your organization or by default are you promoting a culture of weakness? Here are four questions to reflect on as you consider how well you promote a culture of courage.

Do your words project courage?

How you speak to your organization is just as important as what you speak. If your words don’t inspire confidence then it will be hard for your team to believe your words. If you want to instill confidence then you must speak with confidence. To do anything less is sending the wrong signal. But make no mistake; what you believe and what you communicate to your team forms the basis of belief from which they will work, produce, and deliver. Courageous words will inspire tremendous results.

Do your actions reflect courage?

Your words and your actions are key indicators as to your own courage quotient and will be reflected throughout your organization. If you have low expectations in your team’s ability to reach their goals then it will be hard for them to overcome that negative perception. If on the other hand you speak courage and act with courage it will be the signal your team needs to go above and beyond and deliver. If you want your team to be courageous then you need to model courageous leadership.

Do your policies and procedures promote courageous behavior?

There can be times when your words and actions may bend toward courageous behavior but it’s being held up by obstructing policies. As a leader it’s your responsibility to make sure that your team’s courageous culture is not being choked out by restrictive procedures that kill creativity and their ability to get the job done. Review it. Change it. Streamline it. Do whatever is necessary to make sure that a courageous culture thrives.

Do you have courageous goals and dreams?

The question here is important because we tend to think we are courageous when we are pushing for goals and dreams from the confines of our comfort zones. Anyone can be courageous while promoting a small dreams or idea. But how courageous are you when it comes to goals and dreams that scare you to death because they seem too big, too costly, or beyond your ability to achieve?

I’d like to encourage you to speak new life into old dreams and dare to speak with the same authority and passion to those larger-than-life sized dreams as you do to the ones you know you can easily achieve. Don’t allow what scares you to keep you from what inspires you. Be courageous and inspire courage!

What do you say?

I invite your feedback!

1. How can you inspire or promote more courageous attitudes in your workplace?

2. What changes in your mindset do you need to overcome to be more courageous?

3. What wrong attitude or belief is holding you back and keeping you from achieving your goals and dreams?

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Turning Complainers into Contributors

Complaining not only ruins everybody else’s day, it ruins the complainer’s day, too. The more we complain, the more unhappy we get. – Dennis Prager

The story is told of a cowboy out West driving down a dirt road, his dog riding in the back of the pickup truck, his faithful horse in the trailer behind. He failed to negotiate a curve and had a terrible accident.

Sometime later, a highway patrol officer came on the scene. An animal lover, he saw the horse first. Realizing the serious nature of its injuries, he drew his service revolver and put the animal out of its misery. He walked around the accident and found the dog, also hurt critically. He couldn’t bear to hear it whine in pain, so he ended the dog’s suffering as well.

Finally, he located the cowboy who had suffered multiple fractures, off in the weeds. “Hey, are you okay?” the officer asked. The cowboy took one look at the smoking revolver in the trooper’s hand and quickly replies, “Never felt better!”

The story is a light-hearted way to remind us of the power of being positive in a negative world. Whiners and complainers have a way of sucking the oxygen out of the room and creating an environment for others that is less than desirable. Do you know any chronic complainers?

Inc. contributor Minda Zeltin interviewed Trevor Blake, author of Three Simple Steps: A Map to Success in Business and Life (http://bit.ly/IOJWMQ). Blake says that being around so much negativity can in turn make you negative, and that keeps you from actually solving problems. So forget the annoyance factor; the issue runs deeper than that. So what is a leader to do with whiners and complainers in the office? How do you deal with the person who is not happy unless they are unhappy and making life miserable for everyone else? Here are a few tips to get you started.

Raise Expectations.

The working environment in your office or organization must be a place where creative minds are free to explore, where the exchange and free flow of information and ideas is welcomed and encouraged, and where the tolerance level for whiners and complainers is low. A chronic whiner or complainer is detrimental to that environment. To be sure, there must be room for disagreements and as a leader you shouldn’t turn a deaf ear to genuine concerns. But your expectations must be high and they must be consistent. Complainers must be turned into contributors. But how?

Expect Solutions.

As expectations are raised the responsibility shifts back onto those complaining. If there is a concern that needs to be raised then there should be freedom enough to express those concerns without fear of repercussions. There is however a big difference between a gripe session and a solution session. Anyone can complain, but can they bring solutions? You should make it a rule that for every gripe or concern someone brings to the table they also come with an equal or higher number of solutions. This gives them ownership of the problem and increases their commitment. This is how they move from being complainers to contributors.

Hold people accountable.

As you raise expectations and expect solutions you are setting the tone for a productive work environment. No office or leader is immune from complainers and there will always be room for improvement. As a leader it’s important that the lines of communication always be open between you and your team even if at times you don’t like the delivery of the message. You shouldn’t discard what the complainer has to say simply because you don’t like their delivery. But it is your task as leader to help turn them from being complainers to being contributors.

Let’s be clear. You should never sacrifice the integrity of your office environment because of the actions of one or two people. If a complainer refuses to come on board as a contributor then it is going to create wide spread problems with morale and productivity. You owe it to the contributors to not tolerate that type of behavior. Nor should you apologize for high standards. On the bright side, the most valuable team member you can potentially have is the one who transitions from being a complainer to a contributor.

What do you say?

I invite your feedback!

1. How do you deal with complainers in your office?

2. Have complainers in your office or organization been tolerated? If so, what has been the effect?

3. What other possible solutions can you give to effectively handle chronic complainers?

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Leadership Minute: Have Fun

Posted March 28, 2014
by admin
3 Comments on Leadership Minute: Have Fun

Fun is good. – Dr. Seuss

For all of the important and serious things that occupy a leaders day one thing worth mentioning is the need for fun. The price of leadership is great responsibility. And yet your temperament as a leader is important. It’s important not just for those around you but for yourself. Are you wound too tight? Would your colleagues agree? The decisions you make are serious but try not to take yourself too serious. Don’t forget to laugh. Remember that the troubles you have today are preparing you for better things tomorrow. Your ability to have fun along the way is just as necessary as any other decision you make. At the end of the day, whether good or bad, let it be said that you find it all most rewarding and fun. Life is just too short for you to be miserable as a leader. Lighten up!

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Leadership Minute: Who’s Your Mentor?

Because mentors see our potential, they believe in us and help us believe in ourselves. – Joe Land, (Lessons from a Dream Maker)

An essential component of your growth and development as a leader is to have mentors. Mentors can give wise counsel, encouragement, correction, and affirmation while being an invaluable resource in your life. The truth is, leaders never stop learning and growing. When you get to a place where you think you know it all then you are in a dangerous place. One absolute truth I’ve learned in leadership over the years is this: the more I learn the more I realize how much I don’t know. When you surround yourself with mentors you can draw from their knowledge and experiences and apply them to your own life. The secret to your growth as a leader is to never stop being a student.

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Taking ‘No’ Out of Your Playbook and Why it Matters

Nothing will ever be attempted if all possible objections must first be overcome – Samuel Johnson

Leaders understand that obstacles are a part of the landscape on the road to success. But how many leaders are self-aware enough to realize that some of the obstacles blocking their desired success are self-inflicted?

When what stands between your employees or volunteers and potential success is a constant drum beat of no or the good ole standby of, “We’ve never done it this way before,” then you are capping your talent and are hindering your chances of success.

In his book, It’s Not About the Coffee, past Starbucks International president Howard Behar writes of the necessity of taking ‘no’ out of your playbook. His thought was that we can grow so accustomed to saying no to our customers or employees that soon these roadblocks take on a life of their own and become the unspoken rules, the No Book, that stands between you and your potential success.

One example Behar shared about Starbucks turning an everyday no into a yes was by opening the door early in the morning. Customers would come by ten minutes before the store opened and they were routinely turned away. The message the prospective customer would get was, “No, we’re not open yet.” When they realized they could say yes they began to open ten minutes before the posted opening to serve their customers.

To be sure, not every yes will guarantee success and not every no will deny it. But what you must realize is that until you release the power of possibilities in your people they will never have a chance to find out. Taking no out of your playbook will unlock their potential and give them much needed freedom to grow. That is critical to your success. Here is why taking no out of your playbook matters to you as a leader.

It empowers your people.

There is no better way to empower your people than to release their creative ingenuity with a yes attitude. It signals that you believe in them and want them to reach their full potential. Empowered people are driven people and are more invested in the product and outcomes. When you remove no from the playbook and replace it with a yes then you elevate everyone to a new level.

It puts the focus where it belongs.

When no is replaced with a yes then the playbook becomes a different document. The paradigm shifts. You go from paying defense to playing offense. Now instead of an inward focus it’s an outward one. Where once it was all about you, now it’s about those you serve. When your purpose revolves around a “yes we can” mentality then there is no room for “no we can’t” detractors. When your people are free to focus on what they can do instead of what they can’t do it will make a world of difference.

It creates momentum.

Some leaders exert a lot of energy and waste a lot of time trying to figure out the secret to creating a culture of momentum. Sadly what some do not realize is that they are the reason why it’s lacking. Why? They haven’t taken no out of their playbooks and consequently their much needed momentum lies dormant.

What would it take to motivate you? Former Miami Dolphin’s great Bob Kuechenberg shares how he got his. He tells the story of his father and uncle who were human cannonballs in carnivals. His father told him, “go to college or be a cannonball,” said Kuechenberg. Then one day his uncle came out of the cannon and missed the net and hit the Ferris wheel. It was then that Kuechenberg decided to go to college.

As a leader you can either take no out of your playbook and put in a resounding yes, or you can be shot out of a cannon. Why not release the potential of your people, focus on those you serve, and generate the momentum you need? Say yes!

I invite your feedback!

1. What “no’s” are the most demoralizing for you or your office?

2. In what practical ways can you learn to say yes and empower others?

3. How would your office or organization benefit by taking no out of the playbook and replacing it with a yes?

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