How Effective Are You As A Leader?

How well do you think you are doing as a leader? How do you know how well you are doing and what you need to be doing more or less of. The best feedback you can get is from the people you lead, but how many of us ever think to ask them?

These questions provide a great tool for leaders to "check into" the true experience of their employees. If you are honest with yourself, you’ll recognize areas that you can improve on.

1. I understand the mission/vision of my organization. Yes or No

Please explain answer. ___________________________________

2. I know what I am accountable for. Yes or No

Please explain answer. ___________________________________

3. I know how to measure my progress. Yes or No

Please explain answer. ___________________________________

4. I have the tools, knowledge and support I need to do my job well.
Yes or No

Please explain answer. ___________________________________

5. At work I have the opportunity to succeed daily. Yes or No

Please explain answer. ___________________________________

6. I receive regular constructive communication from my supervisor. Yes or No
Please explain answer. ___________________________________

7. I feel my supervisor cares about me as a person, not just as an employee.
Yes or No

Please explain answer. ___________________________________

8. I am encouraged to continually develop my skills. Yes or No

Please explain answer. ___________________________________

9. My opinions are valued by my supervisor. Yes or No

Please explain answer. ___________________________________

10. I would encourage anyone who is qualified to work for my organization
and for my supervisor. Yes or No


Yvonne Bleakley is the manager's mentor, director of http://www.coachuk.ltd.uk and creator of The Silent Motivator System, the proven step-by-step programme to maximise staff and gain true respect and commitment.

Download your free e-book "How to Maximise your Staff and Gain Respect" at http://www.silentmotivator.com

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Are You Delegating for Success?

Have you ever noticed that great leaders are also excellent delegators? Delegation saves time, develops and motivates people, and makes an organization more productive. Therefore, it is fair to say that this is one of the most critical skills for any leader or manager to acquire. For this reason, I encourage every leader to become a master delegator.

On the surface this seems like an easy task. Give your work to someone else; sounds nice, doesn't it? So why are so many leaders so reluctant to delegate? And when they do, why do so many leaders delegate so poorly?

The problem is that many leaders have acquired the skill of delegation through on-the-job learning. There is no course in school and only minimal reference to delegation in textbooks at school. Delegation is not easy and is a process that has a sequence of steps. Like any process, if you miss a step, it does not work properly.

There are Seven Steps in the Delegation Process:

Defining What to Delegate - There are really three reasons to delegate work: to better control our use of time, to build our people, or to motivate our people. So the first question you will need to answer is: why are you delegating? When looking through these three lenses, we usually find a reason to assign most of the work on our desks to others. The higher you are in the organization, the more your role should be growing and developing the organization and less "doing." Delegation is the primary tool!

Selecting the Individual or Team - Too often leaders go to the same people over and over again. They get too comfortable with specific individuals or teams. This is usually a mistake as it de-motivates other team members in the organization and may even compromise the performance of your best team members. Your team usually depends on support from the rest of the organization to get things done. If you are not using other members, this may prevent the organization from coming together to its fullest potential. While I think we should always give our most important projects to our best players, we need to involve and delegate to the entire team at some point. With each person, consider why you are delegating (motivation, growth, or time management) a task, and match the appropriate tasks to that person's capabilities.

Assess Appropriate Level of Delegation - Typically, leaders delegate using the same style for every person on their team and this is a mistake. The level of delegation should be adjusted based on the task and the person being delegated to. Delegation is not just telling people what to do and expecting them to do it. There are many different degrees of supervision and involvement required of the person who is delegating the task. The more experienced and reliable the other person is, the more freedom you can give. The more critical the task, the more cautious you need to be about extending a lot of freedom, especially if the company's financial future or reputation is on the line.

Communicate Tasks In Specific Terms - This is where most delegation fails. Many leaders and managers do not do a good job of expressing what they want. People are not mind-readers. Many hours have been wasted doing re-work because leaders failed to explain what they wanted up front. If you want something done a specific way, tell them. If you are not clear about what you want, take the time to brainstorm with your colleague before they start working. Ask for feedback to ensure that your instructions have been understood.

State Measurable Results - Explain how a task fits into the overall organizational picture, describe the measurable results you are looking for, and let them know how you will rate their performance.

Agree on Deadlines - The deadline is the most underappreciated part of delegation. Too many leaders give people tasks without asking what else they have on their "to do" list. This is a motivation killer. Not only is it disrespectful to the recipient, it is disrespectful to anyone who is depending on the person you just delegated to. Most people are trained to never say "no." They have been wired to say "yes," even when they know they already have too much on their plate. Often, the delegator already knows this, but chooses to take the position of "not my problem," which in the long run destroys trust and respect for the delegator and decreases employee morale, organizational productivity, and profitability. When you delegate a task, you must sit with the person you are delegating to and make sure that realistic deadlines are being created. It is your job as the delegator to help your people be successful and not set them up for failure. If you are delegating to someone who has a history of over-committing, it is important to help reconcile commitments to make sure that the most important things get done first.

Follow-up and Feedback - It is essential that you have a feedback system in place so that you know that things are on track. Provide support should they need help in getting the task accomplished. It is essential to let the person know how they are doing and whether they did a good job. In the end, as the leader, you should take the blame for failure and pass on the credit for success.

Delegation is one of the most important tasks as a leader. When done correctly, it develops your succession, increases your personal productivity, and motivates your people. Many leaders develop excuses not to delegate that include: they can do things faster themselves; they like doing things themselves; their people are not ready. These excuses and others all have short-term benefits but long-term adverse consequences. However, the investment in delegation is usually worth the positive long-term benefits.

Actions

1. Start keeping a time log. Record everything you are doing every 15 minutes. Be completely honest with yourself. You will be surprised at how much time you are spending doing simple tasks.
At the end of each day look down your log and make a note of all the tasks that you could have got someone else to do.

2. If they are regular tasks, create a system or instruction sheet. This allows you to delegate the same task to different people at different times without too much effort. You may have to put in a little effort with this at first but it will save you heaps of time in the long run and means that you always have a contingency if your regular assistant is unable to complete the task, or indeed, leaves the company.

3. Delegate!

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How to Lead a Team and Gain Respect

Most of us start at the bottom of the career ladder and work our way up. We become so proficient at our job, earning respect of the management and becoming a valued member of our team. Eventually promotion is offered, usually within the same team and we can find ourselves leader of the team we were once part of.

This does have its advantages, however, doesn't come without its problems. There is nothing that can gain respect more than people knowing that you have been there and done the job for yourself. You know the systems and procedures, what is expected and the problems that your team may encounter. You can see things from their point of view. This can be a great advantage when leading a team. You know when to cut the slack because of genuine difficulties, but you also know an excuse when you hear one.

The problems arise though when some of the team members may have been there much longer than you, may be older with more experience, or may feel that they were the ones that deserved the promotion. You may find it difficult to be assertive and to feel that you are taken seriously as a manager. Since you were once in their position,you will know how hard the job is and may feel guilty for enforcing deadlines. So how can you gain respect from your team and get them to do what you need them to without them thinking that power has gone to your head?

Firstly, stop beating yourself up and congratulate yourself on your promotion. It is quite normal to feel this way when you have been used to working on the other side ofthe fence, as it were. The dynamics of your team have now changed so now you need to embrace this change and take control. In order to gain respect, you have to give it. Show your team that you value them and support them by listening to how you can help them. Listen to any ideas that they may have. Think back to when you were in their position. If you had a problem, how would you have liked your leader to have handled it? Remember that the only way to get what you want is to ask for it. Never assume that anyone in your team knows exactly what is expected of them. When enforcing a deadline, explain to them when it has to be done by and why, then ask how they think they can achieve it, what do they need to make this happen, how can you best help them?

Once they know that they have your full support, then they will do whatever they can for you.

How to Get the Respect You Think You Deserve

Well actually you don't get respect, you earn it.

Respect is earned by words, and by actions. Things like keeping your promises or proactively providing service. Things like becoming more personally involved with the success of your customer, or taking responsibility when responsibility is not really yours. It's the extra effort. It's the extra mile.

One of the keys to respect is the word personal. How personal are you in your actions? How personal are you in your communication? The more personal you are with others, the more respect you will earn.

But there is a secret to respect. The secret is: In order to earn the respect of others, you must first respect yourself.

This means you have to have confidence in yourself. You have to like what you do. You have to be willing to serve. You have to like yourself. And you have to love yourself. Like and love are two separate issues. You may like yourself for how you look, or how you sell, or how you communicate, but you love yourself for who you are, what you believe in, and what or who you seek to become.

Try writing a list of all the good things that you've done for yourself, and all the good things that you've done for others. Be real enough with yourself to admit what you like about yourself, and what you love about yourself.

Then list what you need to change about yourself that will make you better and stronger. Maybe your self-respect suffers from the way you see yourself in the mirror, or some of the personal choices that you make. Maybe it's your environment. But whatever it is, if you don't acknowledge it, you will never be able to change it or enhance it. You'll never be able to grow in earning respect from others until you grow in respecting yourself.

The secret is easy. Do the right thing all the time and respect will be yours. Say the right words, take the right actions, and believe in your heart that you're doing the best you can do -- for yourself first, and for others second.

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Time Management - How to get more done in less time

When you run your business and work from home, the day really does just seem to go nowhere and the weeks even faster. It is so important to keep your focus and not get distracted. This system is as effective for sole practitioners as well as business owners and managers. It really is so simple, as all the best systems are. The important thing is that you USE IT!

1. Spend a few minutes thinking about where you loose your hours. What do you get distracted by?
   Get a blank piece of paper and note the things and times you get easily distracted. What uses
   your time? Are these things moving you forward in your business?


2. 
   Every job, piece of paper, e-mail, etc. apply the rule of the four D’s
   Dump it
   Delegate it
   Diarise it
   Do it
   Ask yourself – Does this need doing? Is it taking me towards my goal?
   If the answer is no then DUMP IT. If the answer is yes then:-
   Ask yourself – Does this need to be done by me or can somebody else do it?
   If it can be done by somebody else, then DELEGATE IT. It it needs to be done by you then:-
   Ask yourself – Does it need to be done today?
   If the answer is no then DI ARISE IT.
   If the answer is yes then either DO IT or


3. 
   Set up a diary system so that you schedule blocks for specific tasks. Treat these as appointments
   as you would if you were having a meeting. For example, I only check my emails 3 times per
   day, first thing in the morning, lunch time and just before I sign off. I book my clients in for
   specific days and schedule days when I am going to complete other tasks such as newsletter,
   working on courses etc. This keeps me in the flow rather that having to stop and start and try to
   remember where I was and what I was thinking. I would rather fill my day with back to back
   clients so that this frees another day to work on tasks.


4. 
   Schedule time each day, either first thing in the morning or last thing at night to make your To
   Do List. Once you have your list, grade them A,B,C in order of priority. Never move onto a B
   task until you have completed all the A tasks and never move onto a C task until you have
   completed your B tasks.

In Brian Tracy's book 'Eat that Frog' Brian uses the concept that if you had to eat 10 frogs every day, always eat the biggest, ugliest frog first and then the day can only get better. So when you grade your list, all the A's should be the things you really don't want to do. Do these first then reward yourself with a cup of coffee or whatever your preference is. Remember, once they are done, the day can only get better!