Leadership Thought #484 – Regaining Leverage in The Employer-Employee Relationship
Employee engagement doesn’t mean coddling or succumbing to every employee’s need or whim. Employers, you will always have more leverage in the relationship. Lately, I’ve watched as many of you have allowed the power dynamic to shift upside down. Given the dearth of talent and supply of qualified candidates, you are slowly letting the “inmates […]
Leadership Thought #346 – Are You Listening?
Most people I know aren’t good listeners. They are more focused on what they think and what they have to say about something rather than actually listening to what’s being said. I have a colleague who states that as a leader you need to “listen until it hurts” and I completely agree with him. It’s basic human nature that the level of satisfaction any of us have with a given conversation is directly related to how well we feel the other party was actually listening to what we had to say. Except when we are in a classroom no one actually enjoys being lectured to or talked at.
Leadership Thought #345 – Focus on What You Do Well
Focus on what you do well and then delegate everything else you possibly can. Many leaders spend far too much time on things they aren’t good at. Leadership is about effectively growing, leveraging and deploying assets. If the top personnel resource in the company is being used inefficiently or ineffectively what does that say about the organization as a whole? Time is finite and once it is wasted it is gone.
Leadership Thought #299 – Leveraging Other People
When in doubt ask good questions and leverage the knowledge and experience of other people. There are few things less attractive about a leader than someone who acts like they know the answer when they don’t. Confidence can be a good attribute but hubris is not. People ultimately see through your words and pick up pretty quickly if you simply make it up as you go along. More importantly, those around you who do have the answers lose respect for you and begin to question everything you say.
Daily Leadership Thought #166 – Leveraging Others Makes A Big Difference
was meeting with a colleague the other day and he seemed utterly exhausted. There was just too much work to get done and not enough time to get in done in, or so he thought. Most of us are our own worst enemies when it comes to time management and setting work priorities.
Daily Leadership Thought #132 – Identify And Cultivate What Makes You Special
We all have something unique about us that makes us special. The Gallup Organization claims that everyone has special talents they can do better than 10,000 other people. The key is to find out what this talent/ability/characteristic is then tap into it. I’ve heard other thought leaders refer to this as your uniqueability. Organizations are no different than people. There is always something special about a high performing business or nonprofit that makes them who they are and good at what they do.