You are here: Home / Archives for The Leadership Challenge

The Offsite – A Book Review

By 2 Comments

“The offsite” is s self-proclaimed fable of the Leadership Challenge (By Kouzes and Posner), an engrossing “fable” offering an insight into the thoughts and actions of a few industry individuals struggling with the mindful implementation of the leadership principles and how they perceive the leadership values in today’s corporate world.

The stage is set at a company offsite meeting in Arizona with seminars and presentations lined up by executive coaches discussing and interacting with those present on the five practices that form the heart of The Leadership Challenge:
-Model the Way
-Inspire a Shared Vision
-Challenge the Process
-Enable Others to Act
-Encourage the Heart

The key thought the author Robert H. Thompson shares with the readers is that leadership is not about position. It’s a personal choice that created a new way of being. The potential resides at our core, only revealed by a spark of passion.
What is unique about this book is that instead of discussing the theoretical aspects of leadership, it takes you through a learning process through examples, stories and objective behavioral analysis.

The characters in the book struggle with real life problems, work-life balance, clashing egos, and relationships at work and of course the struggle in being efficient leaders at their workplace. A point well emphasized in this book is on the difference between management and leadership; “Management is usually defined in terms of getting stuff done; process, structure, control and planning. Leadership, meanwhile, is usually defined as inspiring, encouraging, challenging, and growing people.”

The book presents us with some great learning by example of how human relations and people skills form the basis of a good leader. Though, it would have been great to see some technical and industry based examples on the application of the five practices at work, the whole book focuses more on how entwined and complex we are when it comes to managing and leading people. But again, and as always, human relations often are the most complex to manage – be it at work or in our personal lives, so perhaps maintaining the focus on people management and rising above one’s ego is a good idea to hone those skills which many managers lack.

The Leadership Challenge needs no workbook or supplement, and definitely it is not those “must-read” books once you have completely imbibed the message from the “leadership bible” by Kouzes and Posner; but for sure Robert H. Thompson provides us with an interesting reading of an offsite meeting which is very aptly quoted by the author as “that sometimes-agonizing vacation … the company offsite.” The characters in the book can be easily visualized and very much present in a corporate environment. The struggles to be a good leader with effective peoples skills is relevant to today’s upper management and learning by business illustrations and stories is the new trend that will be quite prominent in this century.
Also the brevity of a message and having a clear focus are essential to catch the readers attention, both of these goals are well accomplished by this book.

Share
Filed Under: Book Reviews Tagged With: , , ,

Do you want to be a Good Boss? Here’s How

By 2 Comments

If you want to retain good talent in your company, managers need to be trained on some basic aspects of managing constituents from time-to-time. See some points here; if you are a manager do you have it what it takes to be a good boss?

You are the Leader, the Guide and a Mentor
Employees look up to you lead the group, to show the direction not only in technical aspects but personality wise as well. Be accessible to your employees questions and needs, be compassionate to their personal problems as well, of course keeping the company interests first but at times flexibility repays better in the long-run. Acting as a coach and a mentor to your constituents will instantly result in more confidence, respect and trust towards your leadership skills. And to be trusted you must first learn to trust your employees. If the employees feel valued and empowered in the organization, they are sure to be stay on longer and with a deeper sense of loyalty towards work and the company.

Show Appreciation
Showing appreciation at work must be part of integral policies of a company. And even if your company does not have specific policy doing so regularly take on the responsibility to show appreciation to your team on a regular basis. In general meetings or through group emails, acknowledge and appreciate a job well done. Bosses usually are good at telling others what is not going well take time to tell them what you are doing well. Boosting employee morale is directly proportional to increased productivity.
The bottom line is: reprimand in private and appreciate publicly.
Never berate your employee in front of others.

When Expectations fall short
All employees do not work at same performance levels there are quite a few that you would come across falling short of expectations. It is not just a reason to dish out a bad performance review but it is your responsibility to help them and try your best to encourage them to talk about their struggles. A compassionate one-on-one meeting will enable them to open up and discuss the reasons of poor performance, also helping in boosting the employee self-confidence. Do not wait until the employee performance review to do so.

Periodic and Meaningful Communication
Schedule regular one-on-one meetings with your employees where they feel more comfortable to discuss their workplace issues or share new ideas for future projects or personal development. Employees perform better when they feel they feel counted in the organization, especially the new Millennials in the workforce would perform better when given initiative to lead a task and being counted in an organization’s progress, but hey, don’t we all?

During the one-on-one meetings with your employees, try your best to derive SMART goals from your employees. Ensure they understand what your and company’s expectations are from them and also inform them of employee appreciation, recognition and compensation programs on a job well done.

THE LEADERSHIP CHALLENGE – The Essential Guide for the Leaders of the 21st Century

The few points above might be just an outline towards helping you be a good manager, but one of the most comprehensive and “the most trusted source on becoming a better leader” can be found in the book titled THE LEADERSHIP CHALLENGE, by Kouzes and Posner. If you wish to be a better manager or a boss you must first learn to be a better leader and this book is packed with words of wisdom, it offers an essential road map for the leaders of today and tomorrow – wherever they live and work.

On expectations and goals, Kouzes and Posner say, “Being clear about what’s expected of them, and what you’re trying to accomplish, is essential to helping people stay the course, especially when the going gets tough. Leaders should absolutely make sure they affrim the worth of everyone of their constituents; that goes without saying. But for recognition to be meaningful and for it to reward appropriate behaviors, you have to have an end in the mind. Goals help people keep their eyes on the vision. Goals and intentions keep them on track. They help people put the phone in do-not-disturb mode, shut out the noise, and schedule their time. Goal-setting affirms the person and whether you realize or not, contributes to what people think about themselves.”

Are you a good boss or a Bad Boss?
Answer these questions on the nfib.com article and judge for yourself.

What have you liked about your boss’s managing style? Or if you are a manager, how do you empower and encourage your employees?

Share
Filed Under: Career Self-Help, Work Smarter Tagged With: , , , , , ,

How Good are you at Connecting with your Team? – An Essential Tip for a Successful Leader

By 1 Comment

No matter how many ideas are shared on good leadership skills, I believe a good leader is one who can respect, connect and also influence the people he/she leads. And of course how well you can articulate your thoughts and future actions to your team, good communication skills and good people connection are fundamental qualities of a good leader.

There’s nothing more demoralizing than a leader who can’t clearly articulate why we’re doing what we’re doing.
- James Kouzes and Barry Posner

Have you heard or read Martin Luther King’s speech “I Have a Dream”? The speech is remarkable and what makes it truly remarkable was that Dr King was able to present the thoughts of millions together articulately and all the listeners had the same thought that day – “That is exactly what my dream is.” He appealed to the common man’s thoughts and dreams and he was able to emphasize this one thought effectively.
These are the elements of an impressive, persuasive, and influential speech.

Kouzes and Posner in their brilliantly inspirational book “The Leadership Challenge” articulate these thoughts so well. I quote them here, “Dr. King’s “I have a Dream” speech illustrates how the ability to exert an enlivening influence is rooted in fundamental values, cultural traditions, personal conviction, and a capacity to use words to create positive images of the future. To enlist others, leaders need to bring the vision to life. Leaders have to animate the vision and make manifest the purpose so that others can see it, hear it, touch it, feel it. In making the intangible vision tangible, leaders ignite constituents’ flames of passion.
And there is something else you can learn when you actually listen to King’s speech. What you’ll hear is an audience that was participating. The people in the crowd that day were clapping and shouting back, “Yes,” and “Oh, yes,” and “um-hmm,” and “Hear, hear.” They were fully engaged. It wasn’t a one way street. King was in a conversation with them about their lives and about their dreams. They could see the dream he was envisioning and they were affirming it. They were telling him with their shouts and nods and claps and responses, “You have heard me, and you are talking to me about what I long for. You are saying what I am feeling.” Their shouts and claps prove that Dr. King’s dream was not his dream alone. It was the people’s vision. It was a shared vision.”

Some Tips towards Successful Leadership
If you are in a leadership position in your company, can you recall when was the last time you truly connected with your team, not in team meetings but when your team was able to share with you their thoughts and ideas on a larger scale, towards the main vision of your company or towards their career enhancement goals?

  • If you are not doing it frequently, perhaps it is time for a resolution – to make time to inspire and admire your team, spare time routinely to motivate your group but first get to know them.
  • If you wish to be a good leader, think first about your role model, list the reasons why you admire him or her. Evaluate how you can emulate the qualities that you marvel at and use them in your daily leadership roles.
  • Always put your team first; never hesitate to give your people the credit they deserve. Give them the best and in return they shall give you their best. Develop strong peoples skills and encourage two-way communication and you shall see exemplary results in all fields.
  • Do not execute performance reviews as a task to be checked off your list at the end of the year. Involve two-way communication and frequent meetings to analyze your team’s performance.

The leaders who work most effectively, it seems to me, never say “I.” And that’s not because they have trained themselves not to say “I.” They don’t think “I.” They think “we”; they think “team.” They understand their job to be to make the team function. They accept responsibility and don’t sidestep it, but “we” gets the credit. This is what creates trust, what enables you to get the task done.
- Peter Drucker

Share
Filed Under: Career Self-Help, Communication@Work Tagged With: , , ,