July 18, 2020

Three Must-Have Leadership Skills

brian smith-pld, Coaching, Entrepreneurship, Leadership Development, management, Mentorship, Personal Development, Personal Values, Personality Types, Professional development, Reformed Control Freak, Self-Help, small business owner, Soft-Skills Training, Teacher, Uncategorized

If you do a Google search for the top ten traits of great leaders more than likely you will find having the ability to make quality decisions, able to pass work on to others and being exceptional communicators on that list. Managing and leading others is a learned behavior. For my money, if I had to pick my top three must-have leadership skills they would be communication, decision making and delegation. Of those three, which one do you need to get better at?

Worth Remembering … “Before you become a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others.” – Jack Welch

Communicator: If the essence of communication is to send the message and have it received the way it was intended, then you must keep in mind that you are not the most important person in the conversation. If you can’t communicate in a style that others will understand, then what ever you say will mean absolutely nothing. You must be able to communicate your vision in such a way that others will want to go there.

Decision Maker: Autocratic vs. Democratic. Inclusion not exclusion is the only way to truly get buy-in. Success is a team effort. If they’re not buying what you are selling you are going to look pretty silly trying to do everything by yourself. If you want to get the buy-in you must allow others to be part of the process. It must be Our plan – not just Your plan.

Delegator: Great leaders give up control to get control. If you are not delegating some of your responsibilities to others on your team then you are robbing them of their opportunity to grow. Great leaders develop more leaders not more followers. Great leaders don’t spend their precious time doing tasks that others are more than capable of doing.

Worth Remembering … “Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.” – Benjamin Franklin

Copyright (c) 2020. Brian Smith – Power Link Dynamics. Not to be reproduced without permission. To find out more about Brian and what he can do for you and your organization visit: https://briansmithpld.com or email: brian@briansmithpld.com

July 4, 2020

Learn to Delegate or You Will Die a Slow Death

brian smith-pld, Coaching, Enduring Principles, Entrepreneurship, Leadership Development, management, Mentorship, Personal Development, Personality Types, Planning, Professional development, Reformed Control Freak, Self-Help, Soft-Skills Training, Teacher, Uncategorized

You’ve got to give up control to get control. Great leaders understand that they can’t do it alone. Great leaders understand that they need to teach others what they need to know and then get out of their way and let them do it. Great leaders understand that if they don’t delegate some of their responsibilities to others, they are robbing them of their opportunity to grow. Learn to delegate or you will end up with a group of people who can’t do anything on their own.

Worth Remembering … “Never learn to do anything. If you don’t learn, you’ll always find someone else to do it for you.” – Mark Twain

Eight Effective Delegation Steps

1 – Decide what you want to delegate: You need to be very clear on what task you are going to delegate and make sure you give them all the tools they will need to complete it.

2 – Decide who you are going to delegate to: Who is capable, and more importantly, who is willing to take on more responsibility?

3 – Create a teachable moment: Demonstrate the task – have them perform that task while you observe them – and once you think they can perform the task satisfactorily – have them do it one more time for good measure.

4 – Ask questions so you know learning has taken place: You need to ask some good open and closed questions to make sure they know what needs to be done.

5 – Monitor their performance: Make sure you follow up with the person shortly after leaving them on their own for the first time. People do what you inspect not what you expect. Follow up – follow up – follow up.

6 – Keep the lines of communication open: Let them know that you are there to support them in any way you can. If they have questions , concerns or issues that need to be addressed let them know that your door is always open.

7 – Hold the person accountable for the results: Standards, like quality, are not open for debate. Hold them accountable for the results, but give them some latitude on how they do it. Resist the urge to micro-manage.

8 – Be a cheer leader: Praise performance. Be quick to acknowledge what they have accomplished.

Worth Remembering … “If you are having as much fun running a big corporation as you did running a piece of it, then you are probably interfering too much with the people who really make it happen.” – James Burke

Whenever you pick up a piece of paper or go to take on a task, I want you to ask yourself, “Is there anyone else who should be doing this besides me?” If the answer is yes – learn to delegate or you will die a slow death.

Copyright (c) 2020. Brian Smith – Power Link Dynamics. Not to be reproduced without permission. To find out more about Brian and what he can do for you and your organization please visit: https://briansmithpld.com or contact him directly – brian@briansmithpld.com

June 21, 2020

Are You Asking The Right Type of Question?

brian smith-pld, Coaching, Customer Service, Dealing with Difficult People, Entrepreneurship, Leadership Development, management, Mentorship, Networking, Personal Development, Professional development, Reformed Control Freak, Self-Help, Soft-Skills Training, Teacher, Uncategorized

Are you looking for answers? Not getting the answers you are looking for? Maybe it’s because you aren’t asking the right type of question. If you learn to ask the right type of questions and listen, really listen to the answers, chances are others will tell you everything you need to hear.

Worth Remembering ... “I listen to understand – not necessarily to agree” – Dale Carnegie

Depending on what you want to know, you have four basic types of questions that you can ask.

Open Ended Questions – If you are wanting to promote dialoge then you need to ask an open ended question. Ask a question that requires more than a one word answer from the other person. – Example: “What kind of options are you looking for?”

Closed Questions – When a one word answer will do. A closed question gives the person limited options as to how to respond to your question. – Example: “What colour?”

Clarifying Questions – A non-judgemental question when you want to verify what was said. – Example: “So if I heard you correctly you said …..”

Problem Solving Questions – Sakichi Toyoda, the Japanese Industrialist, inventor, and founder of Toyota Industries, developed the 5 Whys technique. If you are looking to solve a problem try asking “Why”until you discover what problem, or problems need to be solved before you get the desired results. Some solutions may be simple, while others may be more complex. You might uncover more problems then you think you had. – Example: “The shipment didn’t get delivered on time – Why?”

Worth Remembering … “I know you believe you understand what you think I said, but I’m not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant.” – Robert McCloskey

Are you asking the right type of question?

April 16, 2020

Why Women Should Rule The World

brian smith-pld, Coaching, Leadership Development, management, Mentorship, Personal Development, Reformed Control Freak, Self-Help, Soft-Skills Training, Teacher, Uncategorized

Why Women make better leaders can be summed up in just one word – “Empathy”. Empathy, the ability to be able to see a situation from another persons point of view. Women seem to be come by it naturally, while most men have to work at developing it. If there ever was a time for true leadership, it’s now. Dee Dee Myers, author of “Why Women Should Rule The World” believes that women are more successful running businesses because women can make people accountable for their actions, but they are also there to support them.

Women around the world are rewriting history. It’s easy to argue that men haven’t been doing such a great job lately. That’s not meant to be a political statement, I’m just stating the facts. Anna Crowe, CEO and Founder of Crowe PR believes that most women have a strong understanding of what drives and motivates people to perform at their personal best, and how to acknowledge different people for their performance.

“Many women, especially moms, are trained caretakers and know how to deal with crisis situations at home with compassion and patience. These attributes become very relevant when a women leader is dealing with crises situations whether this is related to HR or Clients.” – Huma Gruaz

Putting gender aside. Do you have what it takes to be a world class leader?

True leaders understand themselves and how their attitude affects others.
True leaders understand that they must communicate in a way that others will understand.
True leaders understand that every situation is different, so they know they must behave and respond differently. One leadership style does not fit all.
True leaders realize that they need their people more than their people need them. They understand that success is a team effort.
True leaders know they don’t have to have all the answers, so they need to surround themselves with people who do.
True leaders above all, understand that they must lead by example.
True Leaders park their ego at the door and do what they need to do to complete the task and to reach the goal.
True leaders understand that it doesn’t have to be just their way.

“Women make great leaders because we are flexible and agile. We can see the direction we thought we should take and we regroup and change course for the better. ” – Danita Harris

I could go on, but I think you get my point. Women deserve far more credit then they have been given. Gender shouldn’t be a factor in whether a person has what it takes to be a true leader. True leaders must master the ability to connect with others and build collaborative teams. True leaders must master the ability to communicate in a way that others will understand. True leaders must master the ability to teach others what they need to know and delegate successfully. If you’re looking to develop 21st Century leadership skills, then take a page out of their play book. You’ll be better for it and so will the people you lead.