eTip #640 - What Top Leaders Do Consistently

When you come across a great leader, you know it. You can almost feel their presence as if they take up more space in the room than anyone else. Somehow their greatness spreads to others.

Great leadership is tough to articulate, but we all know it when we see it. The best leaders find ways to introduce an empowering and inspiring dynamic. Problems become challenges. Complaints and apathy seem to fall away.

How do you become a leader? You can start by emulating the habits of the world’s top leaders. Here’s how they behave…

Top leaders play to their team’s strengths. Forcing people to do something they aren’t suited for is a recipe for disaster. Great leaders identify the strengths of each person on their team and assign work based on those characteristics. They don’t force square pegs into round holes. This comes from an ability to see people as people, not as numbers or titles.

Top leaders don’t need to be liked. They’re happy to be friends with their team, but they don’t need it. They make tough decisions if they have to. They aren’t everyone’s drinking buddy, but they are respected on some level. Like an army’s general, leaders inspire their troops to go to battle. (This isn’t to say a leader can’t be liked. In fact, many are quite likable, but it’s not necessary.)

Top leaders take responsibility. They know where the buck stops. If the team doesn’t come through, great leaders don’t point fingers. If they must take a beating from upper management, they do it standing up without complaint. They accept responsibility swiftly and begin taking steps to clean up the mess and fix the problem. They don’t throw their staff under the bus.

Top leaders are concerned about results. They create clear goals, communicate them to the team, and measure the team based on their performance. They don’t care about how many hours their teams work or how they got the job done, only that the work is quality.

Top leaders focus on the long term. They don’t stress about “urgent” tasks. They identify the tasks that address the team’s long-term goals and direct everyone to put their effort into what really matters. They don’t get caught up in petty politics, gossip, or company silos. They focus on what matters.

Top leaders like seeing their teams achieve. They want their staff to grow and accomplish great things. They don’t worry that their job is at stake. Great leaders lift other people up and take pride in other people’s accomplishments.

Top leaders exhibit their own good advice. They live by the values they preach. If they expect their team to behave a certain way, they do it as well. If they require communication, they communicate. If they demand world class customer service, they serve. They become role models.

Top leaders are transparent. They aren’t ashamed of their leadership style, so they don’t mind explaining their thoughts. They don’t fear their staff as rivals, so they share all the information they have. They don’t undermine their team; they give tools freely.

To become a better leader, it’s important to learn from your own team. How do they work best? What leadership style do they prefer? What works for one team might not work for another. The top leaders of the world know how to use the tools in front of them.

Is your quest to become a better leader? What do you need to improve?

Bob Dickson

For more information, visit our website!

eTip #639 - Busting Department/Team Silos in Your Organization

Every business needs some type of structure, but that’s especially true for larger companies. Once a business reaches 15+ employees, the team is usually broken into departments by role.

In many cases, these divisions turn into silos. Business advisor Michela Quilici defines silos perfectly: “Organizational silos are when individual people, departments, or companies, conduct business in a vacuum, without taking into consideration the impact their actions have on the entire organization. The term silo literally means a ‘storage tower’ – a tall, cylindrical building that separates and stores material on a farm.”

There are a few types of silos you should look out for:

• Hierarchical silos – When people stick to their own level within the company and communicate poorly with superiors or subordinates.
• Virtual silos – When remote workers don’t integrate with your office staff.
• Geographical silos – When people limit communication to their own branch/office/region/time zone.
• Departmental silos – When people limit themselves to their team or teams with the same purpose. This is the most common type.

Silos can handicap your business in several ways:

• Time and resources are wasted.
• Information isn’t shared so needless mistakes occur.
• Learning isn’t shared. Multiple teams fight the same learning curve.
• Investment dollars are wasted because knowledge/solutions/tools are trapped in one part of the company.
• Staff morale fails because people don’t feel like their work has much impact.
• Tasks/tools/solutions are duplicated in different teams.

In the worst cases, siloed organizations experience a failure to collaborate so tragic that teams actively work against one another. For instance, a marketing team who is measured by their generation of leads might pass leads to the sales team they know won’t convert. If there is no communication or cross-measuring between departments, marketing would have no ability or incentive to properly qualify their leads. The result is an ineffective sales team.

Breaking through silos can only happen at the top levels at the company. Their insulation prevents them from working together on their own, so only the top dogs can break the barriers.

1. Encourage mistakes for the sake of learning. One of the reasons silos develop is because people want to protect their jobs. It’s easier to blame another department when things go wrong. Create an environment where failure is permissible if it creates learning for the organization. Instead of focusing on who was responsible for mistakes, spin them into opportunities to prevent them in the future.
2. Direct competitive personalities externally. Healthy competition is good for an organization, but not if teams are competing against one another. No team is truly working in a vacuum, so leadership should help teams understand how their work is interconnected. This is best done by creating a set of shared values for every team to follow.
3. Provide greater flexibility and autonomy. Do you encourage innovation and creativity? Can your employees find better ways to do their jobs? Processes and workflows are important, but the people who use them should have the autonomy to make them better. Growth and new ideas come from testing the status quo.
4. Build trust throughout your entire organization. In medium and large businesses, employees aren’t fully aware of the contributions of people in other departments. You might hear talk like “Sales throws out our leads,” “HR takes forever to respond,” or “Product never uses our recommendations” even though you know those teams are doing their jobs. This is because teams can’t see into the operations of other teams in a siloed organization.

Build trust across teams by making everyone’s job transparent. If sales is disregarding leads, make it clear why. If HR is busy, explain their priorities. If product teams disregard ignore feedback, have them educate the organization as to why so feedback can improve.

Silos don’t form overnight and they can’t be busted in a day either. They require deft leadership (which is something we teach in our Leadership Training for Managers course). But with a little vigilance, they can always be broken.

Bob Dickson

For more information, visit our website!

eTip #638 - Hello Millennials, Goodbye Cubicles

Millennials are the largest generation yet, and most of them have entered the workforce. A study by Forbes predicts that by 2025, three out of four workers will be from the Millennial generation. Even if we hadn’t begun seeing the signs already, there’s no doubt a generation that size would have some effect on our working environments.

What’s different about a Millennial?

Millennials are creative and ambitious. They prefer to create processes and automate portions of their job so they can focus on tasks that require a human mind. They love to use technology, especially solutions that are specifically designed for their needs. They are extremely comfortable with social media and mobile technology, and often incorporate both into their work as much possible.

This new working generation considers work/life balance an absolute priority. They are happy to give 100% of their effort to their job, but they won’t allow it to sacrifice their health (physical or mental). This is good for your business because they don’t burn out as easily as Generation X or the Baby Boomers.

You’ll also have to accept the fact that your Millennial team members won’t want to be at their desk from nine to five, Monday to Friday. Millennials prefer flexible schedules that allow them to enjoy life experiences. You’ll get their 40 hours, but it has to happen on their schedule. If you’re a micromanager, you’ll find Millennials to be challenging.

Millennials in your office

Most interestingly, Millennials prefer non-traditional workspaces. They like to work in open work environments that allow for maximum collaboration. They like to have informal, impromptu meetings and lots of communication. They don’t want offices of stuffy professionals; they want communities.

There’s no doubt that communication between team members is a boon for any business, which is one of the reasons we teach effective communication skills in our Dale Carnegie Course. It’s a big part of our Leadership Training for Managers course as well.

Now, that doesn’t mean open spaces are right for every company. There’s evidence that open office plans can be distracting and create pressure to look busy. The newest offices are using a layout called “hoteling,” where the work space is mostly open, but small, isolated workstations are put in place for quiet, uninterrupted work.

The best thing you can do for your millennial employees is be there. Millennials are looking for a coach, not a boss. They are entrepreneurial minded and expect great accessibility to their leaders. Research shows that the number one reason millennials leave their job is because of a poor or insufficient relationship with their leader.

Let’s not generalize

While you can make some changes to appease millennials, it’s never smart to generalize a group. The best way to lead your team is to create a set of values for your company, hire people who respect and abide by those values, and then create a work environment and culture that meets their needs. That means you’ll have to put yourself on the front lines and talk to your team anyway (which, fortunately, is exactly what millennials want).

Check out our leadership training course to learn the skills you need to lead the next generation of workers.

For more information, visit our website!

eTip #637 - Off-site Meetings and Training: A Boon for Your Team

Let’s be honest – 8 hours is a long time to be thinking, sitting at a desk and constantly being “on.” Keeping your team motivated AND productive isn’t easy. A simple solution:  LEAVE!  I’m not suggesting closing up shop and heading to Bora Bora for a month.  How about taking a day or even a half-day for some offsite work?  Trust me; the team will LOVE it!

The Effects of Off-site Meetings

An offsite meeting can have profound effects on your team. It puts the focus on them, making them feel important.  Team members who feel appreciated and valued are open to learning new skills and more often than not, are willing to work harder. (We know that happy employees outperform their competitors.)

Off-site meetings or training also help people focus. When they’re in a new environment, they are actively paying attention to their surroundings, instructions, and tasks. A fresh perspective can also help them come up with new ideas. The excitement of a new environment (and a bit of fun) can get them to speak up when they normally wouldn’t.

If you need your team to learn something new, sometimes taking them for a walking meeting around the block can help the lesson sink in better. Spring is almost here, and cabin fever has probably taken its toll on morale. When the temperature hits 60 – take it outside!

Going on Retreat

If you want to supercharge your team’s learning, creativity, and bonding, take them on a work-cation. The Team will consider it part vacation and part work if you do it correctly! You may want to get your money’s worth out of the trip by instructing your team to work or learn 12 hours a day, but they need time to decompress and enjoy the location. Use your imagination – if budget allows, head to a destination spot or resort, a spa or even a health themed location where you can combine brain training with Yoga!

Richard Moran, CEO of Accretive Solutions and a longtime venture capitalist, thinks you have to strike the right balance with off-site retreats. “Don’t close the windows,” he says. “Why go someplace beautiful if there is no time for the pool or golf, and people are locked in dark rooms from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.?” If you take your team to a nice place and deprive them of its enjoyment, they’ll be even more distracted than if you’d left them at the office.

The trick to getting the most out of retreats is to recognize shared leisure time and fun as assets to your company. Let your team regroup from months grinding away at work. Put them in an environment that is slightly challenging, but still comfortable.

That said, you want to get the most out of the retreat, which means scheduling activities and training that support your business. You’ll get more productivity and learning out of your team because (like I said before) the new environment will help them focus.

If you run any team-building exercises, don’t make the proverbial mistake of having your team members compete against one another. That’s a quick way to build a shadow hierarchy into your office. Instead, orchestrate problem-solving tasks where everyone works together, which will foster a team atmosphere.

Retreats are effective for leaders too. One of the things we teach in our Leadership Training for Managers course is the important need to engage with your team to turn them into allies, not whipping them to work like a boss. On an off-site meeting or a retreat, you have the opportunity to lead them to improve themselves.

(The course also teaches how to effectively communicate, listen well, and make better decisions. Check it out.)

Bob Dickson

For more information, visit our website!