eTip#665 How Great Leaders Develop Confidence

How Great Leaders Develop Confidence

September 25, 2017

By Bob Dickson

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When you think of an ineffective leader, a lack of confidence may be one of the first characteristics that comes to mind. A confident leader instills confidence in their team. Their assertive nature and ability to make decisions with conviction is what makes their subordinates trust them. That level of confidence can help you build your own career by leaps and bounds too! Developing a self-assured rapport can start far before you ever enter leadership role. Without confidence, you can expect uncertainty across the board. The good news is, self-assurance is something that can be learned.

Start by recognizing the difference between arrogance and confidence

Most people feel put off by huge egos. Boastful behavior may look similar to confidence but it often translates as nasty case of overcompensation. A haughty attitude can actually shake the confidence of your subordinates, and leave a sour taste in the mouths of peers. Neither of these outcomes are conducive to a healthy team dynamic. Confidence is a feeling of self-assurance from your appreciation of your own qualities. With true confidence, external reminders aren’t required because it is a belief that comes from within.

Stop overvaluing others while undervaluing yourself

Do you have the tendency to assume that everyone in the room has it together more than you do? You may live silently live with the belief that everyone knows more, or is smarter than you are. This mentality is not uncommon. However, if not remedied, it can and will shake your confidence. Never underestimate your own intelligence or overestimate the intelligence of others. When it comes to reaching success, interest and enthusiasm can take you much further than any level innate intelligence. Concentrate on your assets and your own talents instead of focusing on where you fall short. Learning to effectively manage your thinking this way will equip you with confidence in any setting.

Work on your weaknesses

It’s easy to tell someone to focus on their strengths, but when we have weaknesses that hinder our performance, our confidence takes a blow. Don’t allow your shortcomings to define you. We all have weaknesses! Instead of merely obsessing over what you don’t do well, acknowledge your weaknesses but take the necessary strides to improve upon them in the process. Feeling prepared, competent and capable will evoke confidence in how you carry ourselves instead of allowing your shortcomings to cripple you.

Give yourself kudos

Agonizing over our failures is natural part of human nature. Shake things ups and keep track of your daily successes by creating a check list of tasks you complete each day. This will act as a visual reminder of your productivity and your value. Start to create a narrative in your head that shows you how well you perform. This will enable to you have more confidence in your decisions.

Finding a healthy level of confidence requires a great deal of self-awareness. The Dale Carnegie Training Courses can bring you closer to acquiring the self-belief that can move your career forward.

www.westernct.dalecarnegie.com

eTip#664 Good Leaders Lead with Listening

Good Leaders Lead with Listening

September 17, 2017

By Bob Dickson

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A Harvard Business Review study identifies a good listener as one who goes with the flow of the conversation, periodically asks questions, offers feedback and remains positive. This same study breaks down the difference between an average listener and a good one. There are definite correlations between strong listening skills and strong leadership. As a leader, you must know how to keep the lines of communication open between everyone on your team through good listening.

The Dale Carnegie Leadership Course offers training that addresses exactly what’s needed to effectively lead a team in the workplace and beyond. The training can help you learn to better process information and assess how well you’re listening to others. The focus of the course is to strengthen your leadership skills with a proven 8-step delegation process. You can learn more about how this is done in the course itself. Here are some qualities good leaders practice that you can start to apply today.

Value the Views of the Entire Team

A team is constructed of multiple participants who fulfill different roles. This is why it’s so important for team leaders to be tapped into each team members experience. Staying abreast of what issues your team may be facing and creating an open dialogue, closes gaps in how your team operates and streamlines workflow. Not only does it help from an operational standpoint, it also strengthens trust between you and your team. When employees feel like they’re able to talk to you about their experiences and needs, you’ll see a boost in overall productivity and team morale.

Ask the Right Questions and Engages

Before beginning any conversation, good leaders are clear in their minds about what they want to gain from each correspondence. They also enter the situation with a willingness to understand all perspectives. This mindset prepares them to ask productive questions. Cathy Welling from Business 2 Community wrote that “Successful listening skills are driven by a genuine desire to listen, to understand and to respond.” People become poor listeners when they hear what another person is saying, but fail to comprehend beyond their own view. This happens often when the listener is distracted by self-interests. By giving a person your undivided attention, engaging and asking the right questions you can learn much more about your team and your business.

Address the Good, the Bad and the Ugly

When you are in a position of power, it becomes important to know when things are going awry or customers are unhappy. Oftentimes, employees fear the potential consequences when reporting to their supervisor. For that reason, they may be reluctant to relay bad news. This can be changed by implementing a true open-door policy.  A good leader works to find solutions to problems but if they are in the dark about what’s going on, they can’t fix things. A great leader encourages transparency through listening themselves.

Our Dale Carnegie Leadership Training Course can help you communicate change and become an effective listener in a leadership capacity. Through this program you’ll have hands-on training to help you close the gap between team members and upper management!
www.westernct.dalecarnegie.com

e Tip#663 How to Get Things Done on Friday Afternoon

How to Get Things Done on Friday Afternoon

September 10, 2017

By Bob Dickson

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The tendency to check out early around 3:00 pm on a Friday afternoon is more common than you think. In fact, experts say that our bodies naturally release hormones known as melatonin which causes us to feel sleepy around 2:00 pm. That groggy feeling is amplified on Fridays. The people who are the most effective in the office tend to approach Friday a little differently however.  Since there’s still valuable time left in the day, they choose to make use of it and power through the funk. Here’s what they’re doing after lunch. You may want to take notes.

Creating the BEST to-do list for the following week

A great Friday afternoon starts with an even better to-do list. Use this time to get ahead by creating a master to-do list of what you want to do next week. Then categorize that list by time sensitivity and priority. From there, schedule each task by urgency. Prioritization is an instrumental part of execution.

Tracking their progress on projects

Pull out your current to-do list and start to check things off and update the status of each task. When executing any project, taking some time to plan will greatly minimize issues in the future. This will help you feel better prepared to execute that master list on Monday morning, instead of feeling overwhelmed by all the things you have to do. Who wouldn’t want to enjoy Mondays a little more?

Tying up the loose ends

 Now it’s time to get a move on some of those outstanding tasks from your to-do list. Two hours left in the work day may not be enough time to complete everything, but it certainly is enough time to start. Refer to your current to-do list and begin to tackle the tasks that take the least amount of time so that no assignment is left behind. Avoid developing the habit of pushing projects to the following week when they can be completed today.

Organizing, deputizing and Supervising

This tip comes straight from the mouth of Dale Carnegie. That master list you made should help you create a delegation roadmap. Use those last few hours of Friday afternoon to delegate, deputize and supervise your team. Check in with them and see where they need help.

Developing the habit of using Fridays to get organized will make a world of a difference in productivity throughout the week. Start to view your Friday afternoon as a time dedicated to writing things down, creating timelines and meeting deadlines.  Our Dale Carnegie Training Courses can show you ways to be more productive at work. Through the program you’ll be provided with hands-on training that’ll help you make your work week easier. If you’re ready to conquer Fridays, check one more thing off your to-do list and get registered!

www.westernct.dalecarnegie.com

eTip#662 It’s Never Too Late to Be Successful

It’s Never Too Late to Be Successful

September 4, 2017

By Bob Dickson

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Technology

The new wave of young professionals tends be technologically in-tune. They have a luxury that most seasoned professionals didn’t when they began their careers.  For baby boomers, resources like YouTube and Google weren’t at their fingertips when they wanted to start their companies or launch their careers. The greatest sales and business people ran storefronts and successful multilevel marketing businesses the traditional way. You were considered well-off if you had access to a computer. Today, even children young children and up can power on, download and fully operate computers and cell phones.

When you’re an industry veteran, sometimes it can feel like you’re running behind the pack if you haven’t made it a point to keep up.

Modern-day technology has broadened the way people communicate and experience things. We are now able to FaceTime friends and family anywhere and communicate with customers who are time zones away. There are more ways to sell to, engage with and market potential consumers all over the world than ever before.

Although some members of older generations can feel left behind, they are hardly dinosaurs! They are the sharp-witted founders of some of the most successful companies we know today. While the younger generation tends to be more innately computer savvy, older generations are still effective communicators! They understand the value of being able to speak and engage with people on a level that is often overlooked in today’s communication model. That genuine connection in their communication style gives them an equal footing against millennials.

Age and experience can be on your side! There are countless ways to board this communication train if you are feeling out of touch. Dale Carnegie Training provides students with access to experts who can help them sharpen their communication skills in today’s digital age. With Dale Carnegie Training, learning to improve human relations skills and becoming a persuasive problem solver can be simple. With a format that varies from a three day to an eight-week module, there is always time to strengthen and adapt your communication skills across any channel.

In a study conducted by our experts, it was found that graduates of the program left feeling more confident, enthusiastic, empowered and inspired than employees who didn’t. Seventy-two percent of Dale Carnegie graduations agreed that their communication skills improved since enrolling.

Go ahead and sign up for the courses to see results for yourself. Use that take-charge attitude and show the world that age really is nothing but a number.

www.westernct.dalecarnegie.com