TheLeadershipNotebook

The Truth About Leadership

 

“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more,

do more and become more,  you are a leader.”

~John Quincy Adams 

 

Great leadership doesn't require a diploma or a degree. It's not reserved for some elite group of people. Leadership can be something for everyone to embrace, from administrative assistant to janitor to manager to CEO.

Leadership is about so much more than strategy, operations and marketing. It's about discovering and understanding each team member's potential (as well as your own) and finding ways to tap into that resource, something many managers neglect to do.

On leaders, wise man, Lao Tzu suggests:

"A leader is best when people barely know he exists. When his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves."

It sounds simple and it is. But no one said it was easy. For many people, leadership based on inspiring and encouraging others requires a shift in mindset and perspective. It requires a shift to a mindset and perspective that fundamentally believes in their employee’s capability, value and ability to positively contribute to the organization.

And it also requires a focus on channeling their employee's intelligence and passion to engage them in accomplishing their goals; goals that are aligned with the goals of the organization.

Whether you’re the boss or the employee, in order to inspire leadership, try these simple (but not easy) suggestions:

 

1. Establish trust. Leaders need to create it and employees need to, well, trust. If your words and actions are just lip service, employees will know and steer clear. Do what you say you will do. It is the foundation for all leadership. When trust is built, employees can move forward with confidence knowing that they are on a solid foundation.

2.  Build understanding. Employee empowerment is not an event. It’s a philosophy with specific strategies that allow staff to make decisions that directly affect their job. Employers need to be in it for the long term and employees need to consider how their decisions may affect the company.

3. Establish clear boundaries. When the leader is away, what decisions can staff make? Remember, assigning responsibility without authority can be a leadership killer. Make sure everyone knows who is leading whom. If you're an employee, make sure you get clear direction before assuming responsibility. Knowing your boundaries allows you to be proactive in your actions and decisions.

 

4.  Encourage. Second guessing the decisions of staff that have been given the authority to make those decisions undermines the entire process. Will mistakes be made? Of course. But shoot down an employee and see if anyone ever steps up with a critical idea or decision that takes the company's success to the next level.

Empowering employees is a powerful way to motivate staff. It allows them to get passionate about challenges and inspires them to step up with new ideas. It's a win-win situation. Left uninterrupted, this cycle repeats, encouraging passionate and skilled people to step up and make decisions about how to best serve customers or clients, which ultimately benefits the bottom line.

Knowing and believing you can lead regardless of your level is an incredibly powerful feeling. What do you think? How do inspire those you lead to lead as well?

To your success,

Mary

 

Finishing Strong: Seven Key Behaviors of a Leader Who Gets Results

 

“All endeavor calls for the ability to tramp the last mile,

shape the last plan, endure the last hours toil.

The fight to the finish spirit is the one characteristic we must possess

if we are to face the future as finishers.”

~Henry David Thoreau

 

My CPA friends and clients have gone “radio silent” for the last month. They are firmly entrenched in their “busy season” and looking forward to that magical April 15 deadline. SIX MORE WEEKS.

I remember those days vividly, digging down deep in the cold winter months to finish my engagement responsibilities, lead my team to finish strong and make sure our clients were happy and well served.

Whether you’re a CPA in busy season or a corporate leader charged with delivering results, leading projects to successful completion is one of the hallmarks of an effective leader. Zenger and Folkman in their book, The Extraordinary Leader, identified 7 key behaviors in a leader who gets results.

Do these describe you?

High performers:

1. Do everything possible to meet goals and deadlines and pursue the project until completion
2. Maintain high standards of performance
3. Set measurable standards of excellence for themselves and others in their work group
4. Promote a spirit of continuous improvement
5. Take personal responsibility for outcomes
6. Can be counted on to follow through
7. Go above and beyond what needs to be done without being told

 

Or do you find yourself…

1. Missing project goals, deadlines and agreed upon deliverables
2. Failing to build high commitment among the team to stated goals and objectives
3. Blaming others for failures
4. Not following through to your project’s completion

 

Successfully driving for results goes hand in hand with possessing excellent interpersonal skills. The two are a powerful combination that is essential to inspiring and motivating your team and collaborating to make a difference for your clients.

 

With six more weeks to go and lots to get done, take a moment to step back and assess your current state.

• What steps are needed now to finish on time with a satisfied set of clients and an inspired and motivated team?
• What obstacles do you face in achieving your goals? How can you effectively overcome them?
• What would your team say about what it needs to come together and finish strong?

 

Six more weeks and counting. I’d love to hear from you and learn how you plan to go the distance.

To your success,

Mary

 

 

Go For It!

 

 

Focused and driven.  This little girl knows where she’s going and how she’s going to get there. (Ok I know, she’s only 5 and “racing” on a Merry-Go-Round) but when I look at this picture, I see a young child who believes that nothing can hold her back.

 

How about you? Are you focused on your purpose and your vision? Do you have a plan for how you’ll reach your goals or aspirations? What is the future that you want to create for yourself? What obstacles might you face on your journey?

 

“Go For It” is Phase One in The Cycle of Renewal developed by Frederic Hudson, an expert in adult development and founder of The Hudson Institute of Santa Barbara. “Go For It” is a time in our lives when we feel “in sync,” excited about building our future, evaluating possibilities and new opportunities.

 

Coaching for clients in the “Go For It” phase focuses on helping them develop their vision, understand and get clear about their purpose and being a sounding board who can stretch and challenge them to achieve their goals.

 

If you’re in this phase and find yourself needing focus, clarity of vision, purpose or plans, a skilled coach can help you target your passion and your energy to achieve your goals.

 

My middle daughter, Lisa, took the picture this summer on a trip with her sisters to France. She’s fully in the “Go For It” phase, just beginning year 1 of her MBA program at UVA.’s Darden School of Business.

 

The Cycle of Renewal is just that, a cycle, and we know if we’re in the “Go For It” phase we won’t be in it forever. Burnout, work life balance issues, other change in circumstances or vision can move us out of “Go For It” and into the next phase. But if you’re there, enjoy it and be certain to make the most of it!

 

To your success,

 

Mary

 

 

 

To-Go Thinking: A Simple Strategy for Finishing Strong

 

“Never, never, never, never give up.”

~Winston Churchill

 

Last night I was on a run with my 26 year old daughter, Lisa. We set our sights on a 4 mile route, a distance that was definitely a stretch for me, (not so much for her.) Midway through our run, I was slowing down, huffing and puffing. I wondered how I would find the motivation to keep going and finish the run.

Thinking about finishing, reminded me of a recent blog post I saw on Harvard Business Review: How to Become a Great Finisher. What could I draw from the research on “finishing” and motivation that would help me finish strong?

The author of the post, Heidi Grant Halvorson, is a motivational psychologist. She shares the research describing how people pursuing goals were affected by focusing on either how far they had already come (to-date thinking) or what was left to be accomplished (to-go thinking). People routinely use both kinds of thinking to motivate themselves. For example, a marathon runner may choose to think about the miles already traveled or the ones that lie ahead. (I could relate to that example.)  A dieter who wants to lose 30 pounds may try to fight temptation by reminding themselves of the 20 pounds already lost, or the 10 left to go.

So what was the affect of each different type of thinking? Is it better to focus on the 2.5 miles I’ve already run or the 1.5 miles I have left to go?

What the researchers found was that “too much to-date thinking, focusing on what you've accomplished so far, will actually undermine your motivation to finish rather than sustain it..... Often a premature sense of accomplishment takes over and we begin to slack off.”

“If, instead, we focus on how far we have left to go (to-go thinking), motivation is not only sustained, it’s heightened. Fundamentally, this has to do with the way our brains are wired. To-go thinking helps us tune in to the presence of a discrepancy between where we are now and where we want to be. When the human brain detects a discrepancy, it reacts by throwing resources at it: attention, effort, deeper processing of information, and willpower.”

Ok then. I focused on 1.5 more miles to go. And I finished strong.

As you can imagine, this simple strategy, focusing on “to-go thinking” rather than “to-date” thinking, is applicable in all sorts of business and personal situations. Audit engagements, legal cases, goal completion are just a few that come to mind.

What do you think? How do you motivate yourself to “finish strong”? How do you motivate your team to finish strong? Do you focus on “to-go” thinking or “to-date” thinking?

To your success,

Mary