BAM! You’re A Leader

Courage is the main quality of leadership, in my opinion, no matter where it is exercised.—Walt Disney

Many of us were promoted into leadership positions because we were great at what we did. We excelled in our role, we executed tasks with precision, and we met or exceeded goals and deliverables.

All of a sudden “BAM”; you’ve become a leader with direct reports and are not sure what all is involved. It doesn’t matter that you’re unclear on what’s required in your new role, or that your “people” skills needed to be developed, refined and/or refreshed.  Sound familiar?

Some of us have had the opportunity to have a mentor and be afforded career development opportunities.  Some of us have not had a smooth transition into our new leadership role, and quite honestly have difficulty moving forward.

The good news is that we can help ourselves by learning new tools, and acquiring techniques and methods that are considered to be essential for leadership effectiveness. This can be humbling, and it takes courage for successful professionals and technicians to admit they have gaps to fill.

A good starting point is to increase awareness levels; what’s working well, what is not, what skill-sets need to be updated, and are customer/client needs being met?

We have a complimentary self-assessment that we think you’ll find helpful. You (confidentially) rate yourself in the areas of Awareness, Magic Dust, VMGM = B, Communication, Clarity, Accountability, Conflict, Influence, Relationships, Feedback, Inspiration, and Continual Learning. To request the assessment click here.

After scoring yourself on a ten-point scale (from poor to superb), you will document your strengths and target development areas, and provide names for those you feel can provide you with developmental assistance. It will conclude with you determining “next steps” and timings.

Leadership development requires courage and commitment – and, it’s a process not an event. (We know; you’ve heard this before. Numerous times!)

Why not utilize this leadership roadmap to update your development plan? Take your first step towards courageous leadership today!

LEADERSHIP IS ONLY COURAGE AND WISDOM, AND A GREAT CAREFULNESS OF SELF.
—John Buchan

Workplace Learning – Poor or Strong?

What happens culturally throughout an organization is linked to what happens with learning and career development and vice-versa.
— Sian Musial, an L&D specialist

How engaged are you with career development, both for yourself and for your staff/colleagues?

Studies have shown that workplace learning is a proven way to ensure that employees keep their skills current while contributing to the growth of the company (it also reduces attrition and improves satisfaction levels).

Based on current studies, the top 4 training and development priorities are:

  • 25% – Leadership and Management Development
  • 12% – Communication Skills
  • 9% – Customer Service
  • 7% – Information Technology

Given that we all have different skill-sets, styles, and preferences, it’s no surprise that the top 3 development priorities are related to “people”.

Times have changed; leadership has assumed many roles formerly done by HR and Talent Management groups. It’s often up to the leader to maximize and recognize each employees’ contribution, to inspire engagement, drive performance, identify growth areas, and facilitate career planning.

KEY TAKEAWAYS From the U.S. L&D Benchmarking Survey: 2018 –Abby Guthrie, Emily Simpson, Shane Adams

Companies who support their staff with quality learning and development are twice as likely to keep employees three years and more likely to report employees are engaged.

Top-performing organizations are five times more likely to have learning cultures, suggesting that a culture of learning is a key component of business success.

90% of companies with strong learning cultures said senior executives were actively engaged in L&D initiatives.

Effective leadership includes fostering a culture of learning, collaboration, and inclusion. Take the time to evaluate what’s working well and what is not, and learn from failures as well as successes.

Would you rate learning in your workplace poor, strong, or in-between?  What can you do to strengthen it?

Developing leaders in the organization is top-of-mind for L&D professionals in 2018.

Divisive or Inclusive?

The effect of leadership failure on any organization of people is the same: Polarization, instability, and if left unchecked, destruction.
–Steve Tobak

We continually provide tips and share stories about becoming a more effective leader, and we also discuss optimal behaviors and skill-sets that the strongest leaders possess.  Why?  Because if we don’t continually work at being our best, we may find that we have unintentionally created instability or uncertainty, and find that our team is floundering.

Effective leaders set the tone for their entire team/organization. They share their vision, mission, goals, and strategies, and they create and communicate a roadmap for reaching the desired point of destination.

They focus on inclusiveness. They communicate. They clarify how each colleague can contribute to achieving shared goals. They help everyone understand how and why they each have a role, helping minimize obstacles within the roadmap.

In Deloitte Insights, Juliet Bourke and Bernadette Dillon published The Six Signature Traits Of Inclusive Leadership:

SIX SIGNATURE TRAITS

  • COGNIZANCE – Bias is a leaders Achilles heel
  • CURIOSITY – Different ideas and experiences enable growth
  • CULTURAL INTELLIGENCE – Not everyone sees the world through the same cultural frame
  • COLLABORATION –  A diverse thinking team is greater than the sum of its parts
  • COMMITMENT – Staying the course is hard
  • COURAGE – Talking about imperfections involves personal risk taking

These concepts should sound very familiar.  We equate them to:

Awareness  – of self and others and the value provided
Continual learning – never get complacent or lose the desire to improve and listen to differing perspectives
Emotional Intelligence – understand the difference between IQ and EQ and leverage the strengths
Collaboration – working together to find a solution is a win-win
Accountability, persistence and commitment – don’t give up despite barriers or failures
Courage – We coined the term CourageAbility™ (and wrote a book!)

Is inclusive leadership part of your work culture?

QWIKTIPS – click to read why FEAR IS A BARRIER TO SUCCESS

Sources of Pain

For good ideas and true innovation, you need human interaction, conflict, argument, debate.
–Margaret Heffernan

Sources of pain.  We’re talking about at work.  Do you know people that complicate your ability to delivery and achieve goals? Do they deflate the energy of those they work with?

Perhaps they are:

  • Disruptive
  • Antagonistic
  • Over committers
  • Under performers
  • Not reliable
  • Lacking accountability
  • Finger pointers
  • Not accepting of differences or change
  • Exhibits dictatorial behaviors

Some refer to these difficult individuals as sources of pain, and the situation/behavior that creates the difficulty must be managed (and the sooner the better).

Here are a few tips that can help:

  • Evaluate whether you could have misunderstood the behavior
  • Try to understand the intention behind the action
  • Be respectful and factual – share your perception with the “source of pain” using facts
  • Assess whether you are the only one experiencing the issue
  • Don’t focus only on the negative; could it just be a bad day or is it a consistent problem?
  • Don’t wait; address it immediately

Human interactions often include conflict, (simply a difference of opinion/perspective) and this can be inspiring, energizing, and thought provoking.

Just remember that it’s up to us as leaders to address any actions/behaviors that negatively impact our ability to obtain desired results.

Are there any sources of pain you need to address?

QWIKTIPS – click to read about 5 Common Leadership Mistakes