How To Unleash All Your Leadership Potential

 

There is a steady flow of information in the form of books, articles, white papers and training all in the context of [ "what is leadership" or "how to develop a leader"]?. In this issue, I will avoid those two questions and write about two others that I believe might be on the minds of a lot you readers and they are:

Why does better leadership make a difference? and

How does better leadership achieve those differences?

Leadership is a highly unique form of human behavior that requires the integration of character, knowledge and experience. So what can you do if you step up and unleash your leadership potential? Change the world.

Your journey to unleashing your leadership potential begins with a great understanding of self. Discover your personality traits and how they relate to leadership. When we know ourselves, we can maximize our positive traits, and become aware of our weaker areas, which help us to achieve our leadership potential. Once you understand and know yourself, next you must hone your communication skills. These are not limited to your public speaking skills either. This includes your writing style and your body language. Your ability to communicate effectively enhances your ability to improve interpersonal relationships. Another important skill is to learn how to learn. Examine different teaching methods and learning styles to identify how you and those you may lead learn best. This skill will greatly enhance your ability to make decisions and give clear instructions.

An Exceptional Leader is one that recognizes the value of harnessing the skills and abilities of team members and leads them toward greater efficiency and effectiveness.

...And so leader is not a title and leadership is not something you are born into. Leadership is something you develop.

This is what Dr. Ken Blanchard, in his book "The Heart of A Leader" had to say about good leaders; "If you want to know why your people are not performing well, step up to the mirror and take a peek."

How To Turn The Dream Into A Reality

 

The first step is to understand that in order to achieve success you must take action.  Inertia is the most common reason for lack of success!

What is your dream?  Your goals for the future?  What do you want to achieve in your life in the next week? month? year? 5 years? What would you like people to remember you for after you have left this world?

Think big - challenge yourself.  Reach for the stars!

Be clear about where you are now.  Audit your strengths and areas for development

What needs to be done to eliminate the gap between your dream and the reality?

Prioritize – Look for quick wins, consider those things which will have maximum long term impact.  Build solid foundations, think of sustainability!

Set challenging but realistic targets. Aim high.

Communicate your vision, and keep doing so.  Ensure that all stake holders understand and subscribe to the same vision.

Who do you need to involve?  How will you ensure they sign up to and stay committed to the vision?

Think about the language you use – sound positive, if others think you are confident it can be achieved they will gain confidence too.  Develop a “Can do” mentality within your staff.  For every problem there is a solution, encourage others to see themselves as problem solvers not problem givers.

Create clear lines of communication which operate at every level and in all directions.

Break each priority down into small achievable steps, involve your team.  

Who needs to do what – by when?  Set a timetable

Identify the roles and responsibilities for all staff; ensure that staff take ownership without creating a “jobs worth” approach. 

Ensure that people are appropriately trained and that training is constantly updated.

Build in the monitoring and review process from the start so you can evaluate performance and be prepared to adjust as necessary.  (By creating a culture of development rather than blame huge potential will be released.)  

Celebrate success! and remember to thank people for their contribution, give credit where it due and be generous with it.

Develop professional honesty within your staff, constructive feed back can be invaluable.  

Finally leave your ego behind as it will simply get in the way of your success.

How To Overcome Nervousness When You Speak In Public

 

Even if the speech you have is already prepared and you know everything about it, public speaking can be difficult. Many people are very nervous when they speak in public. Here are some tips for you to overcome your nervous feelings when you speak in front of many people.

Preparing your presentation

1. Center on yourself. Try practicing standing properly – with your feet under the hips directly. This position is the best and most stable for speaking in public. Rehearse this position with somebody or in front of your mirror.

2. Your shoulders should be relaxed. The muscles in the shoulders support directly your larynx, so it has a fast effect on your voice. Shoulders should be rolled out.

3. Warming up the voice. You should treat all your presentations as if they were performances. Prepare yourself by rehearsing. Deeply breathe into the bottom part of the lungs. You feel your rib cage is expanding slightly higher than the navel. You should thrice sigh. Sighing is your signal to the body that everything is okay and it is just perfect to relax. Then make a siren sound, starting from a high note to a lower note at the bottom part of the voice range you have. With enough practice, you will be able to find the low note connecting to the place located right above the navel. This is the natural voice pitch that you have.

Managing meeting skills

1. Directing your voice. Every time you speak, imagine that each word you say is like a beam of laser traveling from your mouth to the end person listening to you. Practice this outlook to be able to reach to many people at the same time.

2. Directing your thoughts. Pay attention to your thoughts, especially their beginnings and endings. Make your communication complete and fully rounded.

3. Diction as well as articulation. Convey clearly your message.

During questions

1. Give yourself time and space in breathing.

2. Before answering, slightly breathe out first. When you are flustered or nervous, you usually take in more additional air than you need, and you hold onto that air while you try to think. However, this is not helping you. Usually, this method causes you to panic. Remove this habit by breathing air first before you speak, allowing you to relax and thoughts to come in clearly and more logically.

Ask Don't Tell Leadership: Why Do I Need A Business Plan?

Why you need a business plan!!!

Q: In last week’s column, you gave advice about starting a business, and you kept preaching about writing a business plan. I own a business, I don’t have a plan, and I’m doing just fine. What’s the big deal?

A: How do you know your business is doing “fine” if you do not have a business plan? This is like a runner stating that he is “fast” when asked his running pace. Quality and success cannot be measured without having benchmarks and goals. A business plan provides both, allowing you to compare your outcomes to your goals. Without a plan, it is all too easy to keep moving the bar for yourself.

In the words of Alan Lakein, “Failing to plan is planning to fail.” Business owners may neglect planning for a variety of reasons. They may dislike making decisions, or they may worry about how the plan will reflect their success. An owner may feel anxious about documenting (and making “official”) job descriptions, lines of authority, budgets, and marketing plans. An entrepreneur may dread such control measures, feeling that a business plan is just like having a boss! If you build a house without a plan, however, you may find yourself living in what looks like a child’s play fort. Every stage is based on a sudden inspiration, and your new home becomes “curiosity run wild.” A quality architect begins with his or her final product in mind. To build a secure business, you must plan. 

According to the Small Business Center at Bradley University, 70 to 80 percent of new businesses fail in their first year, and of those that continue past a year, only half survive to five years. Similarly, statistics from Dun & Bradstreet reflect that only 37 percent of businesses with fewer than 20 employees will survive four years, and only 9 percent will survive ten years. In light of such daunting statistics, it seems foolish to take unnecessary risks – like failing to plan.

You may still be thinking, “I can’t make a plan, because things change too quickly.” Although constant change is inevitable in any business, a good plan can be your key to dealing with change. As a sailor, I view a business plan as similar to a centerboard on a small sailboat. Thanks to its centerboard, the boat can continue moving forward, as the winds shift direction; without its centerboard, the boat would flail around and eventually crash. A good plan keeps you consistently moving forward – sometimes slowly, sometimes quickly, but without crashing!

While writing your business plan, you may feel frustrated. After all, you will be writing your goals, without taking immediate action to reach them. You must understand where you are and where you are going, before going anywhere. Writing a plan can be exhausting, too. I guarantee, however, your listless feelings will disappear, as your business transforms from “doing just fine” to “doing very well.”

I hope my response to your question is sufficient and gives you an understanding of why I believe a business plan is critical. Below are some questions to consider while developing your plan:

• Why do I want to start my own business?

• Have I found the right business for me?

• Who are my customers?

• What do these customers need that the market is not currently providing?

• How will I reach them?

• What will it take to reach them?

• How much will it cost to provide for their unmet needs?

• How much are they willing to pay to meet these need?

• Can I make money at this business?

Ask Don't Tell Leadership: When To Start Your Own Business?

 

When to start your own business?

Q: After working at one company for 10 years, I would like to begin my own business. What issues do I need to consider, and how do I know when it is the right time to take the “big step?”

A: Almost 20 years ago, my roommate asked me to spend a day of my vacation in New York spying on his competition at a tradeshow. I made up a story to tell the vendors at the show -- I was planning to start a fundraising call center for politicians and wanted to implement the most advanced technology in the industry. Eighteen years later, my business partner and I were running one of the largest outsourced call center operations in the world!

With a bit of luck and a lot of hard work, we made it, but there is no way to eliminate the risks of entrepreneurship. There are, however, several key questions you can ask yourself to determine whether you are prepared.

1.) Do I have a business plan?

A clear business plan is essential, and the lack of a plan is a frequent cause of business failure. A business plan helps you assess, in advance, how you are going to address key issues. I have found planning software, such as BizPlan, to be very helpful. It may take weeks or even months to develop a quality plan, because your ideas may need a gestation period before fully coming together. Throughout planning, it is important to find a source of objective feedback -- ideally, someone who clearly understands the process.

2.) Do I have the energy and physical stamina for the venture?

Owning your own business typically requires long hours, and stamina is essential. It is common to work 12 to 16 hours a day, particularly during the first several years. Be prepared, and be honest with yourself. If you do not already have an exercise regimen, begin one now.

3.) Can I get the money I need to support the business and myself?

If your business plan is interesting and enticing, money will be available. Although most banks have little interest in financing a start-up these days, they can help you secure an SBA (Small Business Association) loan. An SBA loan can be valuable, even though it may require repayment before you can raise money elsewhere.

Another approach for financing your business is the “family and friends” model. If you go this route, do not overlook the strings attached. Your family dinners and get-togethers can quickly turn into shareholder meetings, particularly when your business is struggling!

There are numerous other options. Couples with two incomes may be able to independently afford the transition of one spouse into business ownership. You may be able to fund the business yourself, especially at the outset. Several years ago, I left my call center business, because it no longer filled my passion. I began my new business, executive coaching for entrepreneurs, by using money earned from my first venture.

4.) Does my family support this?

It is important that your family truly understand the demands of business ownership. There are subtle differences, for example, between working long hours for someone else and working long hours for yourself. "My boss needs this done by tomorrow; I have to miss Johnny’s game" becomes "I need to get this done by tomorrow; I have to miss Johnny’s game." Before writing your plan, make sure all your stakeholders are aware of the details.

5.) How do I feel about making critical decisions and being responsible for others?

Owning a business requires constant decision making, often with no time for self-reflection or opinion gathering. Depending on the business, you may become responsible for other people’s livelihoods. Their families will count on their incomes, and your decisions and behaviors will significantly influence their lives. You will no longer be responsible for your family alone, but for all families supported by your business. From experience, I can tell you that this is more stressful than you might imagine!

6.) Am I willing to do things I have no business doing?

Owning a business may force you to learn subjects and perform tasks that have never been your forte. Aside from French, accounting was my worst subject in school. Today, I am quite good at understanding numbers, purely because accounting skills are critical to successful business ownership. Similarly, I quickly learned to repair computers when we could initially not afford a service contract. If you resist doing things that you do not know how to do, reflect hard on your decision to start a business.

7.) Is your soul calling you?

I have always admired those who just “knew” it was their time, almost as though their souls were calling them. They reached a point when they could no longer work for someone else. Your soul may be calling you. Have you begun arriving to work with your body, but not with your mind? Are you working to earn money, but dreading every moment of it? These are potential signals that it is your time. Just remember, however, your soul does not give a “Get out of writing a business plan” pass. Remember, your business plan is essential.

Ask Don't Tell Leadership - What If I Lose Control Of My Staff As A Leader?

 

Question: I am a sales manager for a business services firm in Minneapolis. I am responsible for all new business revenue for my company and I have 5 sales people that work for me. Of the 5 sales people only one is a star performer. The issue I am having is he breaks all the rules and creates really bad relationships with all the other people in the company. I am on the senior team and the rest of them are angry that this keeps happening. While I don't like to hear the comments from the senior team, I am aware that I cannot make my numbers goals and the company can't make there's for the year without him. What do I do?

Answer: I call this a terrorist! A terrorist is someone who knows what they have on you and they use it to hold you and everyone else in the company hostage to their behavior. I like to take my clients through an exercise of understanding the Goal, Position, and Strategy Questions to determine what actions need to be done.

The first question I ask is, "What is the goal around the problem?" This is to ensure that we are aiming at the right issue. What I invite my clients to do is to first reflect on the organization's overall goal. Then link that to the current situation. This way what ever you do, you will be in total alignment with what is best for the business overall.

In this situation you have identified the fact that in order to make your business unit's goals and the company's, you need this employee. That is a big step and oftentimes leaders become so emotionally charged by such situations they act before they consider the goals and objectives of the company or the department. I commend you for your forethought. Typically leaders who do this are considered high in emotional intelligence. This has been shown to be one of the key components in assessing one's long term success in their career.

The next step is to understand the position you and your company are in. Elevate to 50,000 foot level to see the whole situation. Go beyond yourself and ask, "How did this begin to happen? Sometimes we might find the root cause built into the culture of the organization. Is this type of behavior is tolerated here?

In the case of Enron when the CEO learned that two of the traders were stealing from the company he did nothing and then soon after said, 'keep making us money.' What they were stealing was minor compared to what they were making the company. He knew that if he took action, he would stop his revenue machine that he needed because it was his end goal. It also gave permission to the others that if they were that good at making money for the company they could steal from the company as well. It was the outcome they got, should not have been a surprise. This is the extreme case of the terrorist working for the company - and it was exaggerated by a lack of moral compass by the leadership. In the case you present, it is apparent that this behavior is contrary to what the leadership tolerates is searching for from a behavior.

Once you go up to the 50,000 foot level and see if the company has had complicity in the situation, then it is good to come down to 10,000 foot perspective and see if "you" have complicity in the situation. To be frank, and I hate doing this in a column where I can't ask qualifying questions, but it is hard to imagine that you did not allow this to happen. It is not about absolving the terrorist from his behavior because that is wrong, however, if you had stopped the behavior cold, this would never have happened. I say this because the solution, whatever one you choose, will need to involve your being mentored or coached into creating boundaries for your team. Without these boundaries you will be faced with this issue again.

The third part of our position investigation is to go to ground level – the situation itself. When we find ourselves in this type of situation with an employee we only have two choices, we can either fire or teach. If an employee makes a mistake, it is because we did not teach them correctly or because they are not capable to do the function. Ask three questions to determine what choice to make. The first, is the employee capable of learning? Secondly, does the organization or I have the time and resources available to train this employee? Lastly, is this employee motivated to learn and change? If you answer anyone of of these questions is NO, the decision is chosen, you need to let this person go. The decision is, as Donald Trump would say, You're Fired!

It is unclear from your description if the employee has the capacity to change behavior, so I will assume that he is rather good at what he does for your organization and likely has the ability to change. It is clear that for your number one producer you should have the resources and time to help him come into alignment with the company. The bigger issue is that of motivation. Often times a terrorist does not feel the threat of what can happen to them if they don't start falling in to line. They have become fat, and happy and arrogant! This arrogance is what blocks their ability to realize that they need to change. The company has reached a point where it can no longer tolerate this kind of behavior.

Unlike Donald's TV Drama we live in the real world, and just letting him go is not a great first choice given the company's dependence on his revenue.

In almost all other circumstances the move would surely be to fire, but because this employee mean so much to the organizations health as far as revenue.

The last part of understanding our position is to understand whose decision is it to make, and what needs to be done. If the consequences of your actions will compromise the strategic direction of the company, I would invite you to consider involving the senior team and that the responsibility is yours to deal with it, and the final decision may actually be the team's or the CEO's call, given its importance to the organization.

This is truly a strategic decision then, it is not simply letting one person go, it is letting many people go, if one presumes in a service firm, lower revenue means fewer employees needed to service the customers.

At this point I would coach you to have a conversation with your CEO and the rest of the strategic team and tell them the steps that you are considering and ask these strategic questions: At what point as an organization are we willing to take a principled stance on the issue over that of revenue? Are we clear what the outcome of this will be to our other employees? Will we need to do cost cutting to compensate for this move? What will the industry see from losing our most talented sales person? Will he go work for our competition? What impact will that have on your company? By working through these strategic issues as an organization and lifting this issue to its proper place the senior team - you will be aligning everyone to be part of the process and stop complaining about it.

By going through these questions the conclusion you may arrive at the end of this process is that you use a three pronged approach to dealing with this situation. Executing three plans simultaneously.

Plan "A" You will need to continue coaching the employee towards the behavior that is in alignment with the firm’s values, beliefs, and rules.

Plan "B", at the same time I would highly recommend moving the rest of the sales team to a higher level to loose your dependence on this terrorist, and operationalize Plan "C" and start the recruiting process for the possible if not probable replacement of the employee.

It is important that the others on the senior team and your sales team know that you are coaching this employee in these areas of behavior and that it is not sitting OK with you. But no more information than that - it is inappropriate to say more than that in a public setting. It will build your credibility as a leader and not allow one persons behavior sink the culture the company wants to build.

Ask Don't Tell Leadership - How Do I Create Accountability As A Leader?

 

Dear Coach,

Question: I own and run a company, but my leadership skills are sometimes lacking. My Senior Team refers to me as “Mr. Softy,” because I fail to discipline those who breach company policies. I am having particular difficulty with my VP of Sales. While he does bring in new accounts, he consistently enters them incorrectly and causes all sorts of problems for production staff. My team keeps telling me to “let him have it,” but I am not sure what to say. How do I make him accountable without simply firing or threatening to fire him?

Answer: Congratulations! You are already demonstrating great leadership wisdom by seeking solutions aside from threatening job loss. The accountability you want would never develop from firing or threatening to fire, anyway. Exceptional leaders build accountability and empower their employees by asking them questions. My philosophy of leadership is “ask, don’t tell.” Although you have identified the VP of Sales as causing the current problems, make sure you have all the facts. This could be a great opportunity for you to build accountability – not just in this employee, but in all your employees.

I suggest holding a company-wide meeting, focused on the big picture of how sales orders are processed. Use the situation with the VP of Sales as an example, and ask, “Is this order representative of how this company functions?” Either everyone will agree, or an interesting discussion will ensue between the disagreeing parties. Sometimes, your role as a leader is to stay out of the middle and simply facilitate. The managers of your various departments likely understand the facts better than you do, and it is perfectly ok to admit this. Enter the meeting with an open mind. Even if your employees begin by arguing and finger-pointing, they will eventually work through to the facts. You may need to pepper the conversation with questions, but try not to give answers.

Once the group has pinpointed the actual problem and the individual(s) involved, begin discussing solutions. Ask simply, “How would you like to solve this?” Even if you have solutions in mind, great leadership requires you to trust others to develop their own answers. Given this is the first time you have undergone this process, I suggest you stay in the meeting. Continue to only ask questions, and if asked your opinion, refrain from giving it. Remind your managers that you trust them to run their departments and make money for your company, so surely you trust them to solve issues, such as this one. Initially, this entire process may be extremely time-consuming and frustrating for everyone involved. Be confident that you are moving in the right direction! Your employees will soon become more energized as they feel empowered, and the time will prove well worthwhile. By the end of this process, you too will find your power and realize you built accountability by merely asking questions. Remember: Ask, don’t tell.