I will use today’s posting to continue to answer the questions I was asked as part of our 2006 annual newsletter survey.

The question was:

How can you help me become a more effective Leader/Manager?

It’s a great question. But one that is a little difficult to answer. Difficult simply because there are so many considerations that need to be taken into account, but let’s see what we can summarise for you.

1. What is Better?

Before we can even to begin working on the process of being better, we need to ascertain what is better?

Better as it relates to:
• Your role
• The needs of those you lead
• The levels of predefined outcomes
• What the competition is doing
• What your marketplace is about
• The culture within your team/organisation

So we first work hard to truly define and understand the needs of the position and then we start to look at how you stack up against that definition and understanding.

Once we have a better understanding of the needs of the position, we then start to look at the specifics of you and where you are at. Areas such as:

2. Philosophy of Leadership/Management

This is all about you and who you are as a Leader/Manager. What you are about, what you stand for, what you are prepared to stand up against.

These are insights of you that need to be defined, outlined, understood and evaluated.

Defined in as far as what are the qualities, values and standards that make up your style and philosophy as a Leader/Manager?

Outlined so that we know each area and what is the rationale behind each aspect. Understood so that we truly know them front to back and all points in between.

Evaluated in that we look at what you have. How it works for the situation you are involved with?

Then from that evaluation what we go forward with. What needs to be changed? What needs to be removed and what needs to be added?

All of this allows you to know you as a Leader/Manager and through this how you will do what you do and in doing so, allow those you lead/manage to know and understand you as a Leader/Manager.

Your philosophy will bring a consistency of approach to those you lead.

3. Where are you heading

Vision, plans, goals, strategies. We need to work out where you are heading, what is it you want/need to achieve.

Basically we break it down utilising the goal-setting model I outlined in an earlier posting.

Outcome-The what
Process-The how
Reason-The why

By going through this we identify a blueprint from which to work toward.

4. Influence

We take our time and pay due diligence to evaluate how it is you influence those you are entrusted to guide.

Is your influence there because:
• You are the boss
• You are a good person
• People trust you
• You coerce people into doing things
• People commit to you and where you are heading

There are many reasons why people will be influenced by those that are entrusted to lead/manage them. Some are more successful than others and this success could be for many reasons. Our job is to find out why and then how we can improve on how, why and when you influence those you lead/manage.

5. The person you are

You will be at your best when you are being you. We need to find out the person you really are.

What are you personal?
• Values
• Standards
• Ethics
• Morals
• Traits of Character

We make sure you are the person you think you should be and if not, we create a plan to start working towards the person you want to become.

But at the same time, we don’t make you into something you are not. We make sure we are making the best that you can be and at the same time, we develop confidence in you to be you.

So that is a quick five-point insight to some of the areas that I would work with you on to allow you to become a better Leader/Manager.

But as final comment, remember:

Leadership is what you do with somebody, not what you do to somebody. It is not about you it is about the people you lead. So there would be an entirely other set of considerations we would need to outline, understand and evaluate.

The Journey Continues!

This entry was posted on Sunday, May 20th, 2007 at 9:27 am and is filed under tpc, leadership, Ask Bill a Question. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.