“Communication is to leadership as the swing is to golf; everyone can do it, but few do it well.”
Consistently, “being in the know” ranks near the top of employee satisfaction surveys. People want to know what’s going on around here. They want to know what their part is. They want to know how events, both good and bad, are impacting the company.
Imagine an assembly line worker at an automobile plant. His job is to insert the same size bolt into the same hole for each part that comes down the line. He doesn’t know what the part is, doesn’t know why it needs to be in the car, and doesn’t know how the car would perform without it. All he knows is that he’s supposed to put the same size bolt into each and every part that comes down the assembly line.
Now let’s assume our worker knows that the part coming down the assembly line is part of the braking system. He also knows if he inserts the bolt incorrectly, the braking system could fail and cause a collision. And let’s assume he understands that the company wants to position itself as making the safest car on the road. Doesn’t it stand to reason that under these circumstances, our worker would be more careful and more diligent in doing his job?
Your employees will help you reach your goals, but only if they know what they are. They need to know what the company is trying to do and where it’s trying to go. They need to know why their job is important and how it fits into the overall company objectives. So if the job of leadership is to get everyone efficiently and effectively pulling in the same direction, then good communication is key.
Good communication is accurate, complete, and truthful. It’s frequent and sends a consistent message. It invites feedback. And it’s offered in a variety of formats . . . newsletters, memos, all-company meetings, departmental brown bag lunches, individual 1-to-1 meetings. Longer term issues such as the company’s annual goals or its overall direction need to be constantly and consistently repeated, not only to make sure new employees get the message, but also to make sure the message is top-of-mind for existing employees. If we’re exceeding our goals, tell me so I can help celebrate. If we’re falling short of our goals, tell me that too and tell me how I can help get us back on track. If the company’s direction needs to change, tell me what the change will be, why it’s necessary, and how the change may affect my job.
There’s a temptation to withhold bad news or worse, to sugar-coat it. Always a bad idea. When you’ve got bad news to deliver, deliver it straight up. Don’t over-dramatize it, don’t dress it up. Just tell it like it is and describe how the company intends to respond. Invite suggestions and feedback. Your people can’t help you if they don’t know what’s going on.
It’s all about building trust. Employees need to know that you trust them with important company information. They also need to know that they can trust the information they are getting. If you nurture, protect, and validate that trust, you will have created a powerful leadership resource. If you have their trust, your employees will follow you almost anywhere.
For more small business blogs, visit my webside at www.rocksolidbizdevelopment.com.
Showing posts with label Leadership. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Leadership. Show all posts
Monday, March 29, 2010
Monday, March 8, 2010
Develop Your Own Leadership Style
“The result of leadership is a group of people working toward a common goal because they want to, not because they have to.”
This is only one quote on leadership among hundreds, or more likely, thousands. There is probably no other concept in business that’s gotten as much attention as leadership. But what is it? Most of us think we know it when we see it, but it shows up in so many diverse situations and in so many different styles that it’s difficult to give it a succinct, one-size-fits-all definition.
My trusty dictionary defines leadership this way:
the position or function of a leader
the ability to lead
an act or instance of leading
the leaders of a group
Not really very helpful, is it?
I think the quote at the top is correct in terms of an outcome of leadership. The outcome has to be to give people the confidence and desire to work together toward a specific goal. But what does it look like in action? As it turns out, it has hundreds and thousands and millions of looks. That’s why it defies definition.
I believe true leadership means being authentic, being yourself. You can’t fake it. You can’t imitate someone else’s leadership style. You develop a style of leadership that reflects who you are . . . your personality, your values, your way of communicating. Great leaders come in all sorts of packages. Some are quiet and thoughtful, some are brash and commanding, some are humble, some are arrogant. They all can work. So don’t try to fit into somebody else’s package. Work on developing your own.
For more small business blogs, visit my website at www.rocksolidbizdevelopment.com.
This is only one quote on leadership among hundreds, or more likely, thousands. There is probably no other concept in business that’s gotten as much attention as leadership. But what is it? Most of us think we know it when we see it, but it shows up in so many diverse situations and in so many different styles that it’s difficult to give it a succinct, one-size-fits-all definition.
My trusty dictionary defines leadership this way:
the position or function of a leader
the ability to lead
an act or instance of leading
the leaders of a group
Not really very helpful, is it?
I think the quote at the top is correct in terms of an outcome of leadership. The outcome has to be to give people the confidence and desire to work together toward a specific goal. But what does it look like in action? As it turns out, it has hundreds and thousands and millions of looks. That’s why it defies definition.
I believe true leadership means being authentic, being yourself. You can’t fake it. You can’t imitate someone else’s leadership style. You develop a style of leadership that reflects who you are . . . your personality, your values, your way of communicating. Great leaders come in all sorts of packages. Some are quiet and thoughtful, some are brash and commanding, some are humble, some are arrogant. They all can work. So don’t try to fit into somebody else’s package. Work on developing your own.
For more small business blogs, visit my website at www.rocksolidbizdevelopment.com.
Monday, February 1, 2010
Embrace Change
“If there is no change, there’s no need to manage.”
What would happen in your business if one day your managers just didn’t show up? What would their subordinates do? Well, they would probably just do what they did yesterday. And if the managers still didn’t show up the following day, the subordinates would just continue doing what they had done all along. This could go on for quite awhile, and actually, things would probably run pretty smoothly.
Until something would change.
It might be a new technology, turnover of personnel, something different in the marketplace, or a new competitor . . . it could be a lot of things. But something changes and suddenly we can’t simply continue to do what we’ve been doing. We’ve got to adapt to the change, and that’s the job of management.
It’s tempting to blame outside factors when a company doesn’t perform as it should. We say, “It’s the economy,” or “It’s the high cost of energy,” or “It’s unfair competition from China,” or we make some other excuse that our company’s poor performance is somehow not our fault. But it is our fault. As business managers, it’s our job to anticipate, respond to, and adapt to change. It’s what we’re paid to do.
If we can’t compete with the Chinese on mass-produced products, maybe we change our focus to short-run, custom-made products. If the high cost of energy is hurting us, we look for conservation opportunities or introduce more energy-efficient equipment or come up with a pricing strategy to pass that cost through to our customers. The point is, it doesn’t matter whether change-induced problems are caused by external forces or not, it’s still our job as managers to solve them.
We can’t complain that it’s unfair this is happening to us and say, “Woe is us. We’re doomed!” That’s a recipe for going out of business. We need to accept change as a constant in our business lives, acknowledge our responsibility for dealing with it, and welcome it as a challenge.
For more small business blogs, visit my website at www.rocksolidbizdevelopment.com.
What would happen in your business if one day your managers just didn’t show up? What would their subordinates do? Well, they would probably just do what they did yesterday. And if the managers still didn’t show up the following day, the subordinates would just continue doing what they had done all along. This could go on for quite awhile, and actually, things would probably run pretty smoothly.
Until something would change.
It might be a new technology, turnover of personnel, something different in the marketplace, or a new competitor . . . it could be a lot of things. But something changes and suddenly we can’t simply continue to do what we’ve been doing. We’ve got to adapt to the change, and that’s the job of management.
It’s tempting to blame outside factors when a company doesn’t perform as it should. We say, “It’s the economy,” or “It’s the high cost of energy,” or “It’s unfair competition from China,” or we make some other excuse that our company’s poor performance is somehow not our fault. But it is our fault. As business managers, it’s our job to anticipate, respond to, and adapt to change. It’s what we’re paid to do.
If we can’t compete with the Chinese on mass-produced products, maybe we change our focus to short-run, custom-made products. If the high cost of energy is hurting us, we look for conservation opportunities or introduce more energy-efficient equipment or come up with a pricing strategy to pass that cost through to our customers. The point is, it doesn’t matter whether change-induced problems are caused by external forces or not, it’s still our job as managers to solve them.
We can’t complain that it’s unfair this is happening to us and say, “Woe is us. We’re doomed!” That’s a recipe for going out of business. We need to accept change as a constant in our business lives, acknowledge our responsibility for dealing with it, and welcome it as a challenge.
For more small business blogs, visit my website at www.rocksolidbizdevelopment.com.
Monday, January 11, 2010
Instill Self-Confidence in Your People
“A good leader inspires other people with confidence in the leader. A great leader inspires them with confidence in themselves.”
Over the years, I’ve been on a lot of “plant tours.” Usually, our guide is the owner or CEO or plant manager, and the focus is usually on the systems and equipment being used in each step of the manufacturing process. But awhile ago, I was on a tour that was fundamentally different in that the focus was on the people doing the work. In this case, the owner was our tour guide, and at each work station, he introduced us to whoever was operating that station. He would always introduce that person as a consummate professional saying something like, “I’d like you all to meet Harry James. Harry has been with the company for 15 years, and not only can he take this machine apart and put it back together blindfolded, he can make it do things it was never designed to do.” Then he would ask Harry to explain his work and how it fit into the overall manufacturing process. This routine was repeated again and again at each work station, and in each case, the employee spoke with authority and easy competence.
It was obvious that the company had invested a lot in training its people well. But it was also obvious that the culture in that company made people feel important, honored, and trusted. Of course, the owner was leading our tour, but I have no doubt that his people would have performed just as efficiently and effectively whether he was present or not.
If you make people understand the importance of what they do, train them to do it well, and give them positive feedback so they know they are performing at a high level (and that their performance is noticed), self-confidence inevitably follows. Self-confidence plays a huge role, not only in the employee’s effectiveness, but also in the employee’s job satisfaction. It seems to me that if the result is a more effective, content employee, then the effort to promote self-confidence in your work force is well worth the effort.
For more small business blogs, visit my website at www.rocksolidbizdevelopment.com.
Over the years, I’ve been on a lot of “plant tours.” Usually, our guide is the owner or CEO or plant manager, and the focus is usually on the systems and equipment being used in each step of the manufacturing process. But awhile ago, I was on a tour that was fundamentally different in that the focus was on the people doing the work. In this case, the owner was our tour guide, and at each work station, he introduced us to whoever was operating that station. He would always introduce that person as a consummate professional saying something like, “I’d like you all to meet Harry James. Harry has been with the company for 15 years, and not only can he take this machine apart and put it back together blindfolded, he can make it do things it was never designed to do.” Then he would ask Harry to explain his work and how it fit into the overall manufacturing process. This routine was repeated again and again at each work station, and in each case, the employee spoke with authority and easy competence.
It was obvious that the company had invested a lot in training its people well. But it was also obvious that the culture in that company made people feel important, honored, and trusted. Of course, the owner was leading our tour, but I have no doubt that his people would have performed just as efficiently and effectively whether he was present or not.
If you make people understand the importance of what they do, train them to do it well, and give them positive feedback so they know they are performing at a high level (and that their performance is noticed), self-confidence inevitably follows. Self-confidence plays a huge role, not only in the employee’s effectiveness, but also in the employee’s job satisfaction. It seems to me that if the result is a more effective, content employee, then the effort to promote self-confidence in your work force is well worth the effort.
For more small business blogs, visit my website at www.rocksolidbizdevelopment.com.
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