Are You a Perfect Leader ?

You’re a leader.

You build relationships with those you are leading.

You articulate regularly the shared vision for the team.

You enable the others in the team to perform beyond what they believed they could.

Together with the team, you achieve all the annual objectives.

You practice leadership every day.

And were you told that practice makes perfect?

Sorry but practice makes improved practice. Not perfect. Close, maybe.

So what is 'perfect' when it comes to leadership?

In The Leadership Challenge, first written nearly 40 years ago, by Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner and is one of the most widely recognized books on leadership globally does not contain the magic formula for perfect leadership.

In The Leadership Challenge the word ‘exemplary’ is often used: The Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership are the cornerstone of Jim and Barry’s forty years of on going, evidenced-based research.

Guess they didn’t find any perfect leaders.

One of the most important aspects of lits behaviors is authenticity.

Leaders who are authentic are relatable: they make mistakes just like us mere mortals.

They build relationships, particularly through the trust and credibility which they live every day.

Exemplary leaders will ask themselves: “How can I be a better leader tomorrow than I was today?”

They will ask team members “How does what I do affect your performance?”

these don’t sound like the sort of questions that a perfect leader would ask. Why would he or she need to ask, anyway if they’re perfect?

So I’m sorry, no 10 out of 10

No “practice makes perfect”, either.

Just every day practicing to be a better leader than you were yesterday.

Then at the end of the day, you can genuinely reflect on the amazing performance of your team in the day just passed.

You can say “Yep, THEY did it…with a little help from me.”

And tomorrow I’ll be a better leader than I was today.

Aristotle said ‘courage is the first virtue’.

But where does courage have a place for leaders?

We could say that courage has a place very much in our daily lives. The decisions we make even simple ones often require a deal of courage.

Of course, the opposite of courage is fear. Some people are so fearful of making a decision that their life is impacted negatively - regularly.

Managers, often cloak their fear when making decisions or giving directions by asserting themselves, as assertiveness has become a default behavior.

Implied in their assertiveness is “do it my way, because I said so “.

Likely, the team of developed an entrenched response, not to challenge the manager’s assertiveness.

Many of the very successful decisions in the corporate world – let alone in our daily lives - has required courage.

We look to our leaders to live their values. Sometimes leaving your values, deeply held values, can require courage. This can occur when the leader is required to do something as a directive from senior management, which may compromise his or her values.

When this occurs, it can require courage to explain to senior management why their directive is challenging for them.

Courage is required when exploring the vision with the team - inspiring a shared vision. Any worthwhile vision, one that is hopefully going to embolden the team, to and inspire them requires courage.

After all, the vision may well involve overcoming the doubts of the team as likely it will involve uncertainty from the team members.

Through their courage, there maybe times when their courage inspires others to be courageous, to not be held back by their fear.

Leaders may even encourage team members to make decisions which were beyond the usual parameters.

Aristotle may well be tight, proven so by the decisions taken as history shows considerable impact by those who had the courage to ‘take a big step forward’.

#Leaders #Leadership #Courage

Contagious or contagion in the English language is usually used to describe an infectious illness or disease.

We know, even the common cold passes from one person to another, so therefore is contagious. Of course, more serious health issues are also contagious.

But the use of the word is not always confined to negative consequences.

We could say a laugh or even a smile is contagious, as it passes from one person to others.

Enthusiasm also fits into this behavior. Just as laughter will often lead to laughter in those around enthusiasm is characterized by tone of voice, facial expressions and even hand gestures.

Others who see this. will likely mirror this behavior.

The human species is like that.

We ‘copy’ what others are saying, their tone of voice and body language.

And usually we don’t realize we’re doing it.

When it’s a behavior, we enjoy, we’re more likely to copy that, to share it with others.

That’s obvious.

"Leadership behavior. The words we use, the emotions that impact on others positively - even the body language we might be using will, at first unconsciously, be adopted by the person who’s picking this up.

When the leader clearly shows that he is living the values by his words and behavior, the team, seeing that will begin to replicate what they’re saying from the leader.

When the leader talks positively about the future, the team will also begin to talk positively about what we’re going to achieve in the future. After all, that’s exciting and it’s motivating.

When the leadership encourages individual ‘to find a better way’, to challenge what may have been long-standing practice, the individual is likely to do this with others.

When the leader encourages a team member to go beyond what that team member believed here she was capable of, the result of this and genders such a positive feeling in the individual, but most likely they will pass this on for others to be able to do the same.

Just as recognizing and celebrating the good, positive actions of the team or the individual will be done genuinely and often, create positive feelings in those receiving this, and those on the receiving end, will want to pass it on - because of how they felt when they received this.

Each of The Five Practices of Exemplary in The Leadership Challenge create positive opportunities for contagious behavior.

Just like a ripple can go around the world (metaphorically) so can the positive outcomes of your leadership.

They can certainly go around your world.

#Leadership #Leading #LeadingByEmpoweringment#ChangingTheWorld

We all have it.

It’s with us during our waking hours.

It’s like an observer, internally silently observing what we’re doing, what we’re saying, what we’re thinking.

Until we learn the value of this silent observer, and how to work with it, we are deprived of One of the most important tools in our communication arsenal.

Self-awareness is the foundation of emotional intelligence. We can’t tap into the impact emotions are having on us in the moment, by developing the skill of self awareness.

Self-awareness brings us in touch with the emotions we’re feeling. Once we understand the emotions in the moment, then you can control or manage those emotions.

When leaders develop self-awareness, the impact is reflected in positive relationship management. This is achieved by recognizing how the other person is feeling in the moment, when it’s occurring.
And they can modify their responses accordingly.

Self-awareness can have the leader dialogue internally when he observes if he is living the his values ‘right now’. “Is what I’m saying right now consistent with my values?” Mmm… maybe not.

When self-awareness is attuned to The Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership, the leader is guided by the ‘inner voice’, subtly keeping leadership behaviors ‘on-course.

The leader’s self-awareness is the unseen observer which can be an instant, discreet and powerful element in the leader’s communication framework.

Self-awareness as always with us – the best leaders have learned how to listen and act on what the ‘observer’ is telling him or her.

What’s yours telling you now?

#Leadership #Leader #Leading #Self-awareness #TheInnerVoice#

Leadership and a Happy Team

Happy ?
You should be happy you’ve got a job, now get on with it.

Working in a happy team is like working with friends.

Aaagh… but friends will be easily distracted. We must always focus on the job at hand.

Do you remember when you’re in a class at school and the teacher brought happiness to the learning environment?

Did you look forward to that class ?

Of course. Likely you’ll remember that, more than the classes and the teachers where time spent was not enjoyable, and the learning experience struggled.

Do you remember a team – I hope you’re in one now – where the thought of going to work with those people brings a smile to your face, looking forward to being back with them, knowing that the work you’re doing has meaning, that working together, through the difficult times as well as the easy times brings a positive feeling of wanting to perform at your best.

Who creates this? The leader.

it’s like working with a dear friend, working with someone who cares working with someone who wants to to establish an atmosphere of real enjoyment, whatever the work is.

We know that happiness not only improves well-being to individuals, but also creates an environment where happiness pervades. It will reduce stress and anxiety, and will lead to improved productivity and engagement.

Of course the leader creates this. His or her actions drives a culture where team members WANT to perform at their best, where they WANT to stay in this team, where they WANT to come to work every knowing that despite pressures, happiness will be an underlying driver.

Despite what some managers might think, creating an environment of happiness will increase productivity and engagement.

Leaders can - and should - create an environment of happiness.

As a leader, regardless of your level, and regardless of the number of people you are leading, you are never too important not to connect with the people you are leading – and to make them happy.

Why wouldn’t YOU? (after all, you are a leader.)

There was a time – and it’s in the recent past, and in some cases still exists - when mental health was a subject which was ignored.

Stressed? We all have that, just get on with your job.
Stressed? Take a day off.

Because of these and other similar responses, and even a feeling of shame in the workplace, staff avoided talking about what broadly referred to as mental health.

There was also a time when we were told not to bring issues from home into the workplace.

Mental well-being of staff is critical.

Leadership plays an important role in easing and even preventing mental health issues.

As we keep saying, leadership is a relationship. The best leaders, because of the relationship they have with their team, can check in individually where he suspects that could be a problem.

This is not done in an intrusive way, but rather in a manner which displays concern and care for the individual.

”How are you doing? I know you’ve been under pressure lately. Do you want to talk about it?”

Leaders can also make clear the importance of mental health, by talking about it in team meetings. And doing this for the team, the leader indicates he or she is encouraging openness, and the importance of talking about mental health.

Leaders should also encourage discussion about mental health, either one or one and also in team meetings.

Of course, mental health issues can have a significant impact on productivity and performance.

Leaders take mental health issues personally. The impact on productivity and performance is important. Leaders know that when they prioritize mental health, productivity and performance flow more easily.

Mental health is also analogous to the oxygen mask when we’re a passenger on an aircraft.

Put the oxygen mask on you first. You can’t help others unless you first help yourself.

Self-care for leaders cannot be avoided.

Leaders can’t help others manage mental health if they’re not managing their own.

Simple strategies like taking time out during the day, taking a walk around the office or better still to a quiet, calm place to regroup and re-energize can bring benefits.

One important strategy, for leaders at all levels, is to have someone they can talk to when the need arises.

Leaders often believe that they are above all of that, that they can “cope “, that they can’t let others know that they are having self doubts, feeling stressed and overwhelmed.

The reality is that leaders DO have these feelings, that they can be susceptible to mental health issues?

Do we remember just a few years ago when, at the top of the game, the women’s tennis champion Naomi Osaka pulled out top level competition, announcing that mental health was an issue for her.

Unbelievably, there was criticism in the press for her taking this action.

Mental health – yours, your team members, your family members – and even mine – cannot be dismissed.

The first step is to talk about it, then develop a habit of regularly checking in with people around you.

Are you ok ?

Leadership and Laughter (You’re joking !)
This is serious.
We have objectives to meet.
We have our eyes fixed on the vision, of where we are going.
We are empowered to perform at our best, better even than we thought we could.
We are leading our team, fully engaged and focused.
Of course, we recognize and reward performance which ‘goes beyond’.

After all, this is serious! And it’s why we come to work.

Managers are really good at bringing in seriousness.

“This is no laughing matter.“

Leaders who create a culture, where laughter permeates, an otherwise dreary, humorless environment develop a deeper connection with all staff, and especially those in the team. Laughter is a key element where people WANT to come to work every day and to perform their best.

It is a key element in high-performing teams.

No, it’s not about lining up to see who can tell the best joke. In fact, it’s not about jokes at all.

When the leader encourages humor, that one liner which is appropriate, where we can laugh at ourselves and the situations we may have created, he, or she builds a deeper sense of authenticity with the team members.

No, it’s not about laughing at other people.

Humor which is derived at the expense of another person‘s misfortune, is not only inappropriate, but quite often can be at odds with the values of the team and the team members. Just don’t do it.

We know about stress in the workplace, we know about the cost of mental health issues and we know these issues need serious attention because of the impact on individuals - and organizations.

It’s estimated that children laugh somewhere between three and 400 times a day, especially young children.

As adults – working hard, meeting objectives, coming in under budget and on time – the laughter of these people may not even get to double figures in a day.

And that’s sad.

Leaders who encourage laughter, find opportunities, to “lighten the moment” we have a far more productive, committed, engaged team than the manager who shrouds himself and everyone around him or her in a cloak of seriousness.

How many times can you and your team genuinely laugh in every working day?

The answer most likely is - Not nearly enough.

No, I’m not joking.

He's the Podcast
It may not make you laugh (Come on, lighten up) but it will make you smile.

#Leadership #Leading #TeamEngagement #Laughing

Leadership and the Impact of HR

HR : Human Resources

HR: Human Relationships

HR: Hire Right (Thanks to Jim Collin’s book ‘Good to Great’)

HR: The most important department in any organization (Sorry Sales. Sorry Finance.)

More than any other department and any individual apart from the CEO, the HR department has the ability to positively influence a culture of the organization, and therefore the culture of leadership.

Because of the importance of the HR department, some organizations have the HR director on the board of the organization.

Years ago, HR typically recorded the days due to staff for annual leave or the individual’s sick leave.

Or at least that was all the staff thought they did. And the office doors were usually closed.

The HR department is where new employees are first exposed to the culture of their new employer. It’s where the values of the organization are clearly, or should be, lived by the HR staff.

It is the crucible of the organization credibility.

HR directors should build relationships …as leaders do… as should the HR staff also do.

Leadership is everyone’s business – and at an organizational level, it starts with HR.