Developing Leadership Skills Through Your Community By Barbara White

If you want to progress in your career, and get promoted to a leadership role, it is important to be developing your leadership skills on an ongoing basis.

One of the most essential indicators of good leadership skills is the most obvious – the ability and willingness to take the lead and to motivate the team to follow.

This article will explore how you can develop experience in leadership and how your leadership skills can be developed through becoming a volunteer in your local community.

Generally speaking everyone falls into one of three categories:
1. People who make things happen
2. People who watch things happen, and,
3. People who ask “What happened?”

The role of a leader is to make things happen. A leader is the person, who not only develops the skills and abilities to make things happen, but makes them part of their lifestyle.

The role of a leader plays out, not only in the work environment, but in every area of life. A leader takes the lead at work, at home, with family, in their church, in their community, and often this is in a volunteer position.

Leaders are the ones who step up to the plate and do what it takes to get the results that are needed.

Here is a story about four people named Everybody, Somebody, Anybody, and Nobody. There was an important job to be done and Everybody was sure that Somebody would do it. Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it.

Somebody got angry about that because it was Everybody's job. Everybody thought that Anybody could do it, but Nobody realized that Everybody wouldn't do it. It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody when Nobody did what Anybody could have done. Who took the role of the leader?

It was Nobody

Part of the leader’s role involves leading by example. A leader is not just the person who takes charge or wears the “leader’s” badge. True leadership is about serving, and making sure the job gets done.

The role of a leader is to be a role-model for those who follow. You are there, setting the example by being part of the team. You start a little earlier, you work a little harder, and you stay a little later. You never ask anyone to do something that you wouldn’t do yourself.

As the head of the team, you continually look for ways to make it easier for your team members to do their jobs. You accept complete responsibility for the achievement of the overall goal, You are a leader because you continually lead.
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Barbara White is an author, speaker and trainer in leadership development. You can visit her site at LivingBeyondBetter.com.

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How to Design a Great Leadership Team Off-site Meeting By Dan Mccarthy

1. What's the overall purpose of the meeting? To develop a 3 year strategy? Improve teamwork? Solve a big hairy problem? Sometimes it's a combination of a few things, but try to keep it to just a few. A great off-site agenda should not look like an extended staff meeting. This is an opportunity to take the time needed to strategize, brainstorm, debate, reflect, and learn.

2. What's the "desired outcomes"? Desired outcomes are a tangible set of deliverables that describe what a successful meeting would look like at the conclusion. Examples: "A list of 3-5 three year goals", "A shared vision", "a shared understanding of each other's concerns".

Desired outcomes give you a target to shoot for and a way to evaluate the success of the meeting. It also helps drive the creation of the agenda - a way to screen out the clutter that everyone always seems to want to bolt on.

3. Determine participants and roles. Usually there's one meeting leader, participants, maybe a facilitator, and sometimes guests.

4. Do a "stakeholder assessment". Who are all the key stakeholders for this meeting and what would a "win" look like for them. Stakeholders may be attending the meeting or they may not. For example, the manager of the meeting leader is a key stakeholder. You won't be able to pleased all stakeholders but it helps to least be aware of their needs.

5. Consider the context. What's going on in the environment that may influence the participant's behavior, mindset, or participation? For example, is their a pending downsizing? A new team member? A restructuring?

6. Establish the dates. Three days is often ideal, two is OK, and anything more than four can turn into a death march.

7. Notify the participants - just have them hold the dates for now.

8. Select an overall "theme" for the meeting. The theme will emerge based on the purpose, desired outcomes, and context. The theme could be "Leading change", or "A winning team", or "playing to win". Having a central theme allows you to creatively tie all of the meeting elements together: agenda, venue, activities, gift, etc...

9. Find the right venue. Work with your corporate meeting planners, your meeting facilitator, or do your own search. Most resorts and hotels cater to corporate meetings and can help you select the best room, meals, and activities. You'll probably work with a conference planner. Make sure you specify AV needs, room set-up, meals and breaks, and any other details.

10. Begin to work on the key design elements. This is a creative process, where you begin to come up with ways to accomplish the desired outcomes. There could be teambuilding activities, strategy or problem solving sessions, training, and/or presentations.

11. Design the high level agenda. The pieces begin to fit together like a puzzle. I often write the key agenda pieces on post-its, and move them around until they begin to form a nice flow.

12. Confirm any outside speakers or other guests.

13. Develop the detailed agenda. For each major agenda segment, determine the what, who, how, when, and how long.

14. Select activities. Activities are a great way to informally build the team and keep the energy high. Pick activities that support your meeting purpose and theme.

15. Send a high level agenda to the participants and any invited guests, including all of the logistical information, including maps, dress code, pre-work, and any activities.

16. Select a parting gift - some kind of special memento that supports the theme and creates a lasting anchor for the experience.

17. Fine-tune the agenda, trouble-shooting potential snafus and making the inevitable last minute adjustments.

Once the meeting starts, be prepared to make adjustments. Things never go as planned, but if you follow these steps, you'll improve you chances of having a great leadership team off-site. Good luck!
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For advice and information on leadership and leadership development, visit Dan Mccarthy's blog at GreatLeadershipByDan.Blogspot.com.

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Managing to Improve: 10 Areas or Emphasis for Workplace Leaders By Bill Blades

About 85 percent of all managers in North America became managers without prior education to become one - I'm sure you can imagine how well that often goes. Time spent away from the office at trade shows offers a good chance to review what makes a good manager. The majority of traits I see in need of improvement usually include the following.

Look in the mirror

The CEO is too easy: Leadership is sometimes hard and sometimes soft, but I find most CEOs are far too lax on the next layer of management down. The various reasons include not being gutsy enough, don't know how to counsel professionally and even promoting favoritism. Tell them the truth when you should. If you don't, it's called conflict avoidance, which may be construed as weakness. Then the executive group might do the same with everyone else. It starts at the top. As Harry Truman said-the buck stops here.

Communication: Whether in our personal or business lives, the first thing that causes divisiveness is a breakdown in communication. Communication either just stops or becomes short and to the point. It comes with no coffee, no sincerity and very little contact with the person. Seven of 10 people lose their jobs due to a lack of communication. It's not what you say, but how you say it.

If a co-worker stops talking to you, you should immediately visit the person and ask if you've done something wrong, and always ask for the truth. Also, remember that people are more relaxed when they're either lying down or sitting over a beverage or meal. Since you don't want the person lying down in your office, I suggest you conduct the meeting over coffee. Even Lipton employees have meetings with coffee.

Absolutes: Once a decision has been made, share with your group that "this is an absolute. By that, I mean failure is not an option." From that day forward, using the word "absolute" -will have a profound effect. From Gen. Eisenhower's D-Day "We go," President Kennedy's "We will place a man on the moon and bring him back safely to Earth" or Gen. Schwartzkopf's briefing on Iraq, "We will cut its head off," there was no question as to who was in charge and an all out effort was required by everyone. What's the one big absolute you need to share with your group-now?

Micro-managing: If you want to kill creativity and enthusiasm, don't let your group "get on with it" without your approval on every piece of the puzzle. Micro-managing is similar to the newspaper headline that read "Red Tape Holds Up New Bridge." Oh, the mediocre people won't mind your meddling, but the really good ones will hate it-and probably leave you twisting in the wind eventually. It's smart to follow-up, but dumb to control everything carefully.

Make the time to think

Brain challenge: Most of us can do our jobs with one arm. Perhaps even with one arm and one leg. Yet, the No. 1 thing that managers, and their staff, have to offer is their brain. Yet, I hardly ever see anyone really thinking enough? They are too busy just "doing." And very little creativity comes through high-speed motion. Slow it down by taking at least four hours a week just to think.

I suggest you challenge every person that reports to you to provide a monthly report. It can include the following topics: what am I doing that I shouldn't be doing, what am I not doing that I should be doing and a minimum of one high quality, creative idea to boost sales, teamwork, morale and whatever else that might be a challenge or priority. Plus, help them implement the suggestions.

One-on-one development: Every person reporting to you can become a minimum of 25 percent more effective. Often, they don't know how to, so it becomes your responsibility to pinpoint their areas of improvement and arrange for any necessary assistance.

If improvements require an outside resource, they can become either an expense or a great investment. It will be a cost if you don't hold the individual accountable for acting on the new skills she received. Hold her accountable and it will become a great investment.

Personal growth: I'm talking about you here. Your dedication to personal growth earns you the right to ask others to improve. The first area to conduct an assessment is communication. It's still the No. I reason why very bright leaders flounder. Ask a few people who will tell you the truth on how well you are communicating.

Then, what's the next area to assess? What's after that? Even with you, it's still called continuous improvement. Even schoolteachers seek improvement according to a recent headline that read: "Sex Education Delayed, Teachers Request Training."

Time utilization: Time is our real currency and we need to treat it as such. The average executive is interrupted 50 to 80 times daily. Let's just use 50 and say each interruption is only 5 minutes. That's four hours that's lost a day. We're paid to think and you cannot effectively do so if you don't block out quiet time. I suggest you pick certain hours where no interruptions are allowed and instead designate it as time just to think.

My best thinking time is when I first wake up in the morning because there's nothing else to interfere with my thoughts. Here's an idea: Stay home one day a month just to think and plan. No interruptions. It's the same as going to the office on Saturday for four hours. You get two days of work done, right?

Taking stock of inventory

Favorites: One of the worst mistakes a manager makes is a bad hiring decision. The error is then compounded by allowing that person to remain on the payroll. This is also bad for overall morale. The only thing worse than employee turnover is when there's none of it when there should be. I recently suggested an employer discharge an employee for non-performance. He said, "Bill, I would but I am afraid he would go to work for our competitor." Duh! "That's where you want him to go," I replied. Still, the CEO liked him, regardless of performance.

Even Nordstrom's marks down slow moving merchandise-and does it fast. It doesn't matter how much they like the outfit. No one else does, so move it at any price.

Culture: Some see this as a fluffy area... an option at best. It's anything but that. In fact, it's almost everything. The best culture calls for the business to be the funnest place in town to work. When work becomes fun, teamwork improves, productivity is elevated, turnover is reduced and creativity is unleashed. Of course, sales are also elevated.

Here's a quick check to perform. is everyone eating, sleeping and breathing your mission statement? I have had more than one CEO in the last few years who couldn't tell me his mission statement. When the CEO doesn't embrace greatness, no matter the size of the organization, the deathbed is already being packed for shipment.

Conclusion ...

We often use "management" and "leadership" as if they were the same. They are not. For you military veterans, think about the roles of drill sergeant and general. For you non-military veterans, the difference in the two of them is the former barks orders while the other thinks, plans, strategizes and rallies troops. Don't stop payment on your reality check. I suggest you rate yourself on the above 10 skill sets and figure out which ones you'll need to address immediately. Plus, don't forget to be totally honest - another important leadership trait.
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Bill Blades, CMC, CPS
William Blades, LLC
1240 Red Tail Way
Cheyenne, Wyoming 82009
307-635-1989
www.WilliamBlades.com

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The Key to Leadership By Brian Tracy

The Foremost of the Values ...
Winston Churchill once said, "Courage is rightly considered the foremost of the virtues, for upon it all others depend." The systematic development of the deep down quality of unflinching courage is one of the fundamental requirements for leadership in any field.

Fear, or the lack of courage is more responsible for failure in management, and in life, than any other factor. It is always fear that causes people to hold back, to sell themselves short, to settle for far less than they are capable of!

Eliminate Fear and Doubt ...
I firmly believe that you can do, have or be far more than you now know if only you could eliminate the fear, doubts and misgivings that consciously and unconsciously interfere with your realizing your full potential.

Unlearn Your Fears ...
If there is anything positive about fear, it is that all fears are learned, that no one is born with fears, and that having been learned, they can be unlearned.

If you want to understand the role of fear in shaping the course of your life, just ask yourself, if you had a magic wand that would absolutely guarantee you success in any one thing you attempted, what goal would you set for yourself.

The Great Question ...
"What one great thing would you dare to dream if you knew you could not fail?" If you had no fears at all with regard to money or the criticism of others, what would you do differently? Most people can think of all kinds of changes they would, or could, make in their lives if they had no fears to hold them back.

The Origins of Fear ...
The development of courage begins with understanding the psychological origins of fear. The newborn child has only two fears; the fear of falling and the fear of loud noises. All other fears that we experience as adults are learned as we are growing up, primarily as the result of well-meaning but destructive criticism from our parents.

How Fears Develop ...
When the curious child gets into things and makes a mess, the parent scolds and punishes the child, eventually building up a pattern of fear connected with trying or getting into anything new or different. As adults, we experience this as the fear of failure, the fear of risking, of making a mistake, of losing.

Action Exercises:

Here are two steps you can take immediately to put these ideas into action.

First, imagine that you had no fears at all. What would you set as a goal for yourself if you were guaranteed of success?

Second, decide exactly what you want and then act as if it were impossible to fail. You may be surprised at how successful you are.
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Brian Tracy is one of the world's leading authorities on personal and business success. His fast-moving talks and seminars are loaded with powerful, proven ideas and strategies that you can apply immediately to get better results in every area. Visit the Brian Tracy web site.

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Trust Withheld; Micromanagement Unveiled By Eileen McDargh

Micromanagement and lack of trust are cries often heard in today's business arenas. In this age of accountability, downsizing, larger spans of control, complex global competition, and job uncertainty, all managers are faced with getting results through people. Managers preach empowerment and yet, if the results are not right, who gets the blame?

And so, I think, the issue of trust resembles a crystal with four facets. The first facet has to do with that term "empowerment". Too often management throws out the term without clarifying what are the limits or parameters in which employees may make critical decisions.

When boundaries are not clear employees naturally think the manager is sending mixed messages. When employees feel micromanaged, they're basically saying, "Stop looking over my shoulder I can do this. Stop checking upon me. Why must I report in every step of the way?"

Good question. Why? Clarify for yourself first, and then with the employee, what is the performance outcome you need. The more quantifiable, the better. Note the word "outcome". This is not the same as "do it MY way". As long as you get the outcomes and results keep the team and ethics intact, who cares HOW they got the job done.

Ask yourself what are your "twitching" points. That's my term for those areas in which you have special sensitivity, where you get a knot in you stomach or the hairs stand on the back of your neck. The sensitivity might be caused by demands which your manager has placed on you. Share these demands and then find out how your colleagues can help you meet them.

You might have other "twitching points". For example, I value relationships. Form letters, bored telephone voices, disregard for returning phone calls, and impoliteness drive me crazy. These are all things which I think show a lack of concern for the relationship. If I micromanage in these areas, it could be that I have not either trained my support staff well, have hired wrong, or have failed to explicitly state my sensitivity.

Another facet of trust has to do with authenticity. "At the core of becoming a leader is the need to connect one's voice with one's touch," wrote Max Dupree, former chair of Herman Miller. Is what you say and what you do in line? I am constantly amazed at the systems, practices, and behaviors found in corporate America which send mixed messages.

...like the manager who claimed he had an "open door policy" but greeted anyone who entered with the statement "and this better not be a dumb question."

...like the company which touted itself as "innovative" and yet used a one-size-fits-all budget scheme for its diverse operations.

...like the vice president who sent around articles on TQM but refused to allow employees to go for training.

...like the executive who wanted her managers to learn leadership, communication, problem-solving, team-building, and visioning in a two-day training because "learning is important."

...like the vice president who sent around articles on TQM but refused to allow his employees off the job to attend TQM training.

And the list goes on. Never, I'm convinced, intentional. And always detrimental.

The third facet of trust has to do with fear. Of what are you afraid? What is your worst fear and what's the chance of it really happening? Are there checkpoints or fail safe measures which you and your employees could put into place to short- circuit a negative outcome? And once done, relax and enjoy. As Mark Twain said, "I've had 103 catastrophes in my life, only two of which actually occurred."

The fourth facet of trust rests in self-reliance. We all have heard the dictum that a strength overused becomes a weakness. Perhaps our life's experience has taught us that we depend solely by our own wits and wiles. Too many people have let us down. Or perhaps we take great pride in Frank Sinatra's mantra "I did it my way".

Our world is too complicated and interdependent to live solely by our singular guts and brain power. We need the insights and ideas of others. Too much now lies out of our control and coronaries await for those who attempt to do it all.

In the final analysis, trust is also a four-letter word; love. When people know we care about them, they respond in kind. Easy to say. Harder to do. Practice in action is the only key and trust blooms as a result.

© Eileen McDargh, McDargh Communications. All rights reserved.
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Eileen McDargh, CSP, CPAE is head of McDargh Communications, a training and consulting practice founded in 1980. She's also an award-winning author, radio commentator, and on the Board of the National Speakers Association. Eileen can be reached at www.EileenMcDargh.com.

* read more business leadership articles from Eileen McDargh ...
- Lessons In Leadership - What NOT to Do from A Canoe!
- From The Cockpit: Lessons in Leading Through Crisis

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