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April 7, 2020

How to Spot a Bad Leader

Having a strong leader to effectively run a team or business can make or break success. Leaders are what drives a business forward, but they can also be what holds it back. This is why it is so important to know how to spot a bad leader. While there are definitely obvious ways to know when someone is a bad leader, there also characteristics or habits that can fly under the radar. Here are the best ways to spot a bad leader:

Without Vision

An effective leader will always have their mission in mind and know exactly how they want to portray that to their team. Bad and ineffective leaders often lack vision. Without vision, there is nothing driving them forward. A leader without a vision is often aimless and will ultimately fail. In order fo the team and the business to be successful, it’s important to have a clear vision or purpose in a place that everyone is aware of.

Too Fearful

In business, you have to know when to take a risk. Without taking any risks, there is no way to ultimately find success. A leader who fears too much is not going to be able to lead the business. There are certain decisions that need to be made by a leader and if they are lead by fear, nothing will ever move forward. While a leader shouldn’t be completely fearless, it’s important to sometimes take a risk to reap the rewards.

The Know-It-All

One of the worst things a leader can do is thinking they know everything. No matter how high you are up in the business, there is always something that needs to be learned. Whether it is a new leadership strategy and a business theory, it’s important for a leader to recognize they do not know everything. A know-it-all leader will never be willing to learn which can lead to their ultimate failure.

March 12, 2020

How to Build a Successful Team

Being put into a leadership role comes with a lot of responsibility, especially if you do not even have a team first. When building a team as a leader, it’s up to you to find the most qualified individuals to be successful. Even though there is a lot of pressure and the task may seem daunting, there are a few tips you can follow to help build your team:

Letting Others Lead

This may sound counterproductive but, this is a great way to build a strong and successful team. If you already have one or more members on your team, let employees make their own decisions and take the lead on projects. By doing this, you are encouraging them to become more self-sufficient and productive. Giving them the independence to develop their own problem-solving and analytical skills helps you as a leader take on the bigger tasks and trust them to carry out their work.

Determine The Leader in You

Think about what type of leader you are while developing your team. Try to really look into yourself to determine whether you are empathetic, kind, strict, laid back, or anything else that affects the way you lead. Once you know the type of leader you are, you will have a better chance of understanding the type of team members that will thrive under your leadership.

Establish Team Values

When building a team, it’s important to remember what your core values and goals are. Think about the purpose of why you are building this team and what you want to accomplish. Hire members that share the same values and who will work hard to see the team’s goals fulfilled. As your team builds, make sure they are staying true to these values and how they’re job performance effects this.

Focus on Communication

Once you have your team assembled, it’s important to do all you can to keep it functioning like a well-oiled machine. The best way of doing this is through effective communication. Make sure there questions, comments, and concerns are always heard, welcomed, and honored. When a team feels that they are heard, they work much better, On your end, don’t be afraid to voice what needs improvement or to give credit where credit is due. Effective communication can make or break a team’s strength.

January 17, 2020

Leadership Strategies to Grow a Small Business

A leader’s work is never done, especially in a small. There are always new and undiscovered ways to improve your team and your business. As a leader, it’s important to always be open to new strategies that can boost productivity. If you stick to the same ways and routine, it can quickly lead to unengaged and unmotivated. Here are the greatest leadership strategies to grow a small business:

Honest Vision and Communications

Honesty is always the best policy, especially when it comes to improving the performance of your team. When you start a business or are helping to lead one, there is always a vision in mind. To be a great leader, you have to express that vision every day through your work and how you communicate with your team. This means always staying on message and communicating with your how their work is a crucial part of this vision. Be honest when they have questions about their work and always stay on message.

Always Be Realistic

Some leaders will make the detrimental mistake of setting very unrealistic goals for their team. They think shooting for such high standards will motivate them to try harder. It can actually have the opposite effect and lead to employee burnout which can have a negative impact on performance and productivity. Instead, keep the goals achievable, but also a bit challenging. When your team knows the goal will take hard work but isn’t impossible to achieve, they will work harder and improve their performance to help grow your small business.

Give Them Space

The last thing your team needs is a micromanager. Instead of delegating every detail down to the very last memo, give them the chance to prove their work on their own. Your team is not incompetent and they know how to do their work. By giving them space to perform their job, you are empowering them to be great. Of course, always be there for help, questions, comments, and concerns, but at a safe distance to help them flourish on their own. In the end, it can lead to better workflow and a stronger business.

January 10, 2020

Time Management Tips for Leaders

As a leader, one of the greatest tools you can have for better performance and productivity is time. Time can make or break the success of your team. The more responsibility you take on as a leader can easily lead to the loss of time management skills. Going through daily tasks and some things taking more precedence than others, it’s easy to fall behind and get caught up. These are some easy ways to improve time management as a leader:

Set Your Goals First

The first and most important step to managing your time better as a leader is setting your goals first. Think about how you want to improve your team and what tasks need to be done first. Choose the goals that are top priority and stick to those. Not only will this help put a lot into perspective, but it will also help you keep track of your progress and track what needs to happen next.

Create a System

With goals in mind, it’s time to think of a proper system. A good system for time management is the quadrant time-management system. This system divides your tasks into four quadrants based on urgency and importance. Things that are not urgent or important must take the back seat, while other tasks that need your attention first. By creating a system for managing your time, you will have a greater chance of succeeding.

Plan for Interruptions

When planning out your next weeks, days, or months, be sure to set aside time for speed bumps and interruptions. One big mistake many leaders tend to make is not preparing for setbacks, especially when it comes to managing their time. It’s important to not jampack your schedule and leave room for any mishaps along the way. If there happen to be no setbacks of interruptions, then you’re ahead of schedule.

Delegate Your Attention

As a leader, there are many people and tasks that require your attention. When getting back on track and making an effort to manage your time better, delegate your attention. It’s important to get a sense of things that need your immediate attention and what can wait. If your team in bombarding you with questions and interruptions, make it clear that some of the questions will have to wait until you and the rest of the team are back on track. Know what needs your immediate attention first and what can wait. This will make you a master of time management.

December 11, 2019

Why Leaders Can Feel Overwhelmed

Many people think of leaders as invincible, that they know all of the answers, and never become overwhelmed. But when it comes down to it, leaders can become stressed just like any other team member. From feeling incompetent to not having accountability, there are many reasons why a leader may be feeling stressed. Today we will be looking into why leaders can feel overwhelmed in the workplace.

Leaders can be reluctant to ask for help.

As a leader, you are usually the go-to person when it comes to answering questions and most of the time you are expected to know the answer. But sometimes leaders have question and feel hesitant about asking for guidance. Many leaders feel that by asking for help, they will seem incompetent in their role. So instead they internalize their stress as they struggle to come up with the right answer.

Leaders feel like they can’t be authentic.

Many leaders feel like they can’t be themselves while at work. They feel as though they have to “fit a mold” or portray an ideal image. Thinking about your every step and constantly analyzing how you are saying something can be quite draining.

Leaders try to hide their fears.

Leaders have many fears and anxieties. People on the outside looking in, don’t think of leaders are afraid of anything, but they couldn’t be more far from the truth. Leaders are often afraid of change, failure, and upsetting others.

Leaders can feel defeated by challenging personalities.

Not everyone in the workforce is looking out for you. Sometimes leaders have to deal with people who purposely keep them out of the loop. Without the right information, wrong decisions can be made, making you look bad. Someone who is sabotaging your work and blocking you out can easily make you feel overwhelmed.

Leaders can become exhausted.

When you are put in a leadership role, in addition to carrying your own weight, you carry your entire team’s. This can be both physically and mentally exhausting. Exhaustion can claim even the strongest leaders and make them want to quit.

Leaders feel like they can’t count on anyone.

When there is a lack of accountability with your team, a lot of stress can form. If team members are not finishing their work, a leader may feel like it’s up to them to finish everything that needs to be done.

Remember that as a leader, you are never alone. When you are feeling stressed or overwhelmed, don’t be afraid to reach out for help.

July 30, 2019

Tips on Recovering from Failure

When we think of leaders and successful people, we usually just picture them in their successes. Seldom do we think of their failures. Failure can cause emotional pain and embarrass us, but the silver lining of failure is that it is an opportunity to grow and enrich our lives both personally and professionally.

The first gift of failure is humility. Acknowledging a mistake and/or failure takes us to a place of vulnerability. Admitting to it is powerful and helps us to affirm that we want to do the correct thing, in the case of wrongdoing, or to do better if we fell short. Humility is also a reminder that as humans, we are social and need to rely on one another.

Another gift of failure is compassion. Admitting to mistakes can be unbearably embarrassing, painful, even, but that embarrassment can increase our compassion for others. Research has shown that we tend to focus more on ourselves when we are successful and have achieved a higher status. The vulnerability of failure opens us up to connecting with others. Sally Blount, a contributor to Forbes, puts it best: “It turns out that engaging in the small joys and comaraderies of everyday life is one of the best ways to soothe a chastened ego.”

One of the best ways to recover from failure is to keep an openness to learning. Many people find they learn best through experience, and that includes experiencing failure. Of course, this isn’t easy, as we tend towards safety and comfort. The combination of humility and compassion helps us learn and better connects us with others. While success may increase confidence, it is failure that builds wisdom.

May 16, 2019

What You Can Learn from Great Leaders

The old paradigm of leadership that prizes title, office size and formal authority is quickly fading away. The major shift is taking place on the mental plane – that is to say – leadership is increasingly becoming more of a mindset and less about package of over bloated prerequisites commonplace among some circles of senior executives.

This model seeks to incorporate a balance of strategic and emotional intelligence. As of late, active influencers in all industries across social media platforms are preaching the gospel of what really helps individuals and brands succeed through progressive forms of impact. These leaders express sincere devotion to simple principals like empathy, integrity, trust, compassion, service, and an urge to see others succeed.

Leaders Bring Out The Leader In Others

Titles of nobility are less important than franchising a leadership model based on mentorship at work, with family, and in the respective community. The best leaders on the planet practice growing other leaders at a much quicker pace than the competition. Doing more to create and innovate optimizes every facet of the balance between the professional and the personal. This might look like extending credit to winning team members they excel. Seeking opportunities to collaborate encourages an atmosphere of trust – the building block for growth.

Great Leaders Are Inspired And Instill Inspiration

A glance at the profiles of Steve Jobs, Elon Musk, Nelson Mandela, Rembrandt, and Picasso illustrates the value of truly being inspired by a passionate pursuit of higher ideals. As a result, they became incredibly inspiring to those around them. Former employees at Apple attest the fact that Steve Jobs wasn’t exactly a “nice” person. However, many will agree that his dedication to innovation with Apple’s products and services created die-hard reverence for the company’s internal culture, prompting many to seek employment at the corporate giant. The position of CIO should be reworked to mean Chief Inspirational Officer. Leaders teach us to be inspirational in all undertakings.

Making study of the characteristics common to great leaders can reveal a wealth of practical insights useful across a vast array of talents, skill sets, and professional endeavors. Leadership is about recognizing that crisis is the norm and not exception. They teach us to address problems from a position of fearless strength.

January 11, 2019

Why Entitlement Is The Ultimate Leadership Derailer

Entitlement has become something of a buzzword that gets tossed around and even mistakenly applied in a number of erroneous ways. Many times, we think of someone as being “entitled” when they simply have something we do not have, but want. In truth, entitlement is the belief that you have earned (or are entitled to) something that you have not earned. Therefore, in many cases, the person who labels someone else as “entitled” is often actually the entitled one. Because they believe they deserve something someone else has, but have not actually done what it takes to earn the thing the other person has. Entitlement is a particularly destructive quality in leaders. Here are three reasons why.

Entitlement literally keeps you from leading

By its very nature, leadership is embodied by movement. You can’t follow a parked car. Entitled leaders generally see their role as one of giving orders or making demands, rather than of setting an example for others to follow. They believe their job is to tell others what to do. To speak something means to dictate. The person that does something that enables others to follow them is a leader. The person that tells others what to do is – quite literally – a dictator.

Entitlement undermines your own authority

One thing that entitled leaders fail to understand is the difference between position, title and leadership. A business or company can give you a title and a certain amount of authority to make certain decisions. The authority to lead, however, can only be given by those that choose to follow. Like the old saying goes, if you think you’re leading, but no one is following, you’re just out standing in a field.

Entitled leaders create entitled cultures

“Do as I say, not as I do” leadership rarely (if ever) succeeds. About the only time entitled leaders don’t create an entitled culture is if they are not actually the leader and the real leader is setting a better example. If you feel like your workplace is riddled with entitled behavior and you are the boss, the first place to start addressing it is with the “man (or woman) in the mirror.”

November 6, 2018

Best Podcasts to Improve Leadership Skills

Leaders have the role of leading their organization to success. While effective leadership is heavily dependent on one’s personal qualities, a lot of these qualities can be learned or improved with intentional training. Leaders looking to grow in their roles should look into the following podcasts for personal and professional development.

Dov Baron: Leadership and Loyalty

Dov Baron focuses on inspiring leaders that want to find more purpose in their lives. Dov hosts speakers and leaders from different industries to talk about a leadership model that engenders loyalty in leaders as well as their followers.

Strickland Bonner and Doug Sandler: The Nice Guys on Business

Stickland and Doug’s podcast invites leaders to participate in conversations on how founders can grow their business based on ethics and values. The podcast highlights the importance of trust, integrity, and professional relationships to modern businesses.

Dave Stachowiak: Coaching for Leaders

According to Dave, no one is born knowing how to be an effective leader. This is why he focuses on teaching leaders the essentials of leadership, including how to lead by example, how to draw the best qualities out of others, and more.

Richard Rierson: Dose of Leadership

Dose of Leadership is a series of interviews between Richard and leaders from various industries and areas in life including business, military, and religious organizations. Listeners can expect to learn how to better themselves and how to improve the organization that they are responsible for leading.

Jesse Lahey: Engaging Leader

Jesse Lahey’s show teaches that communication is one of the most important aspects of modern leadership. Jesse invites his interviewees to discuss different tactics that help to foster better communication among teams.

Andy Paul: Accelerate

Andy started his career working in sales. Though he wasn’t initially successful, he found his bearings as a leader. In his podcast. Andy shares his life experience to help listeners find their own success and grow successful teams in their organizations.

It is up to leaders to work on their own personal development. Anyone hoping to reach their full potential as a leader should be sure to take a listen to these six podcasts to gain better insight into what makes a successful leader.

December 20, 2016

The Importance of Improving Leadership

Unfortunately, leadership development can sometimes be limited to only top level officials and positions, while many times this can actually create a level of stagnation for employees altogether.

The bottom line is that without a consistent training program that improves how leaders function in accordance with changing workflows, etc. Without a training program, some results can include employee satisfaction, turnover rate, and employees who simply do not want to engage further in the company.

Decreased employee engagement
A study conducted by Corporate Productivity found that half of managers across U.S. companies have to keep their best employees in their current positions (as a means to talent hoarding).

The most efficient of companies across the U.S. were more than twice as likely to prioritize the movement of talent to either different departments or moving upwards internally. On the other hand, companies with the lowest efficiency are 2.5 times more likely to prioritize other goals focused on talent movement or management.

When employees move on

Poor leaders also negatively affect talent management. The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) has also confirmed that solid leadership directly contributes to factors such as turnover and employee retention rate.

The lack of leadership training opportunities can cause employees to not only get bored, but also develop negative feelings towards the institution they work for. If employees don’t feel valued or believe there is an upward trajectory of job growth internally, the good employees will without a doubt find opportunities elsewhere.

Many leaders are not “natural” and without proper training, there is a slim chance they will succeed. Investing in effective leadership programs to grow employees will have positive long term results for the company. Leaders at all levels need the right training to guide their employees to succeed in the workplace.

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