Friday, September 20, 2013

Three Major Elements To Improving Leadership

By Daniel Carlson


Great leadership is the key to success. Great communication is the key to great leadership. Think of any great leader in modern time: Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr, and John F. Kennedy are evoked right away. They were potent leaders because they could evoke people to follow them. It was their ability to articulate their vision that made them successful in achieving their goals.

In your organisation you need to be the leader who caninspire the team to great levels. To get them to follow you, be sure they are listening to your values and your vision, and then establish the right environment for them to prosper and grow.

Values

When I mention values, everybody nods their heads as if naturally, Daniel, that is obvious. But , when I check on this piece, I find the last time they spoke about their values - personal and professional - with their team, was sometimes in the interview before their folk were even hired.

You need to obviously know your private values and your organization values to lead effectively. As an example, do the answers to these questions come quickly to mind?

Personally:

1. What do you stand for?

2. What is most important to you?

3. What do you want your life to show?

4. What's your private mission in life?

Professionally:

1. What do you stand for?

2. What are you pleased to do to get new business?

3. What are you not content to do?

4. Have you got a professional mission statement?

Quality leaders don't change their values over time or to gain short-term success. Consistent core organizational worth systems form the strong base for long term success.

A straightforward definition is that your values are the guidelines by which you play the game. A well defined value system makes all choices less complicated and encourages your team to go where you lead.

Vision

It's easy to say you have a vision for your business. It is your lifeblood. You know it inside out. Writing it down is the following step. Sharing it widely with your team is important as well. Rather more seriously, your vision for the business must supply a unifying picture so that everybody on the team - irrespective of job function - can see precisely where you're going and the importance of their role in getting there. Therefore , the more clear the concept and the clearer (i.e, short and simple) the message is, the more probable you, and your team, can achieve the goal. Your vision desires to answer three questions. And it must answer those 3 questions for everybody on the team.

1. What do we do?

2. How can we do it

3. For whom do we do it?

As Jim Collins demonstrated in his book, From Good to Great, this isn't a 30 minute, one meeting exercise. This requires 100% collusion. It can't be a top-down call. It has got to be iterative and inclusive.

Environment

Andrew Carnegie said: "You must capture and keep the center of the first and fantastically able man before his brain can do its best." When you understand what's at the core of your team members, you can serve them and allow them to reach their full potential. Value their uniqueness. Your team members are your internal shoppers. You need to treat them at least as well as your external buyers. This is the highest level of customer service.

Shape the right workplace environment and you may have trustworthy team members to guide. That suggests, you have to create a workplace environment that has respect for each person, appreciates them and rewards their effort, and inspires an openness to switch. Make it a secure environment, one which inspires trying original ideas. When you unleash private creativity, each team member has a stake in the outcome. It?s an environment that promotes growth at each level. Blend all 3 elements and you've a formula for electrifying eminence and leading to breakthrough success. Do it now!




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