There are eight signs that are leading indicators for a project that can be expected not to reach its goals and targets in a timely manner. These eight signs are:
1.The project-team appears to be dealing with a very broad range of issues
2.The project team does not seem to be spending much time together
3.The team is spending a lot of time carrying out “interviews”
4.The team does not appear to be doing any meaningful analytics
5.The team has very limited interaction with you(and other sponsors )
6.Key stake-holders, who’s by-in will be required for the project to be a success, are not aware of the project
7.The project is not meeting agreed deadlines
8.It is difficult to pin the team down on any meaningful conclusions
This article will highlight how best to deal with the fourth of these signs, a project a team that does not appear to be doing any meaningful analytics.

Why is it a problem that a project-team does not appear to be carrying out any meaningful analytics? There are two main reasons why this should worry you. The first is that it is extremely difficult to conceive of a complex and important project that does not require any analytical activities to arrive at the required conclusions (if the answer was easy, it would not require a project). Therefore, if the team is not carrying out these types of activities, you and the other stakeholders are very unlikely to get the conclusions and recommendations you require. In the best case, you are likely to get a “data-dump” and a set of options to choose between.

The other reason why this is a worrying symptom is what you tend to see such teams doing instead of analytics. What I have often seen is that such teams seem to be working hard, but are spending their time carrying out a large number of interviews, collecting as much data and information as they can lay their hands on, and, often, doing a lot of travel. The consequences of these activities are that project costs are too high, and that it is very unlikely that the key project milestones will be met.

Why do project teams typically not carry out the required analytical tasks? Often this is caused by the team having an unclear picture of what is required from them, and therefore thinking that preparing a “data-dump” is the goal of the project. Often I see project-teams that are unable to carry out the required analytical tasks. While analytics is second nature to many people (consultants, etc), there are many capable and smart people who are not good at structuring and analyzing (new) problems. Finally, I also see the teams that are unwilling to go beyond data-collection as they are uncomfortable with the possible conclusions and are not willing to deliver unpopular recommendations.

What can you do to help the project team carry out the required analytics? The first step is to recheck the project plan to understand how much analytics are required. The next step is to sit down with the project team to understand why they are still in the data-collection phase. The next steps will depend on the answers given by the team. If they do not understand that they are required to do the analytics, you will need to ensure that the team understands the true goals of the project and how the required deliverables depend on analytics. The same steps will help to push the team that is unwilling to go beyond data-collection to come up with uncomfortable and/or unpopular conclusions. In this situation it will also help to explain to the team why they (as individuals) have been asked to carry out this project.

If the missing analytics is due to inability, then the team composition is wrong, and you will need to consider what you can do about this. One solution is to add analytical capacity to the team, but keep in mind the resulting team-development issues. The second solution will be to push the team to do their best, possibly combined with a workshop on specific analytical techniques (spreadsheets, statistics, etc). This is the best solution if keeping to deadlines is more important than optimal quality.

Rune Aresvik is a consultant with more than twenty years of experience in project management training and project management consulting. Go to Rune’s project management blog for more articles.

[tags]project management, project success[/tags]

Working with the largest, smartest, and fastest companies in the world, like Johnson & Johnson, Abbott Laboratories, and Microsoft, has taught me that these companies do two things better than their competition: 1) they have greater focus on their strategic objectives, and 2) they use far greater discipline in executing the tactics necessary to reach those objectives.

The intersection of a laser-like strategic focus with flawless discipline in tactical execution forms what you might call the “sweet spot” for creating extraordinary results.

In order to achieve excellence, people (and companies) must focus on only one thing (or at best a very few) at one time. Suppose you have an 80 percent chance of achieving any particular goal with excellence. Add a second goal to that first goal, and research shows your chances of achieving both goals drop to 64 percent. Keep adding goals and the probability of achieving them plunges steeply. Juggle five goals at once, for example, and you only have a 33 percent chance of actually getting excellent results on all of them.

It becomes critical then to focus only on the crucial goals. Great companies, and leaders, learn to prioritize their objectives-they learn to distinguish between goals that are “merely important” and those that are “mega-important.” Failure to achieve the “meg-important goals” carries serious consequences and renders all other achievements inconsequential.

Picture an air traffic controller at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport. At any moment, hundreds of airplanes are in the air, and all of them are important-especially if you happen to be on one! But the controller cannot focus on them all at once. Her job is to land them “one at a time” and to do so flawlessly. Every company is in a similar position. Few can afford the luxury of “divided attention”; they must focus on those goals that bring the greatest results, both economically and strategically, and provide the greatest benefit to all stakeholders (customers, employees, and shareholders).

The second key principle of great companies is flawless discipline in the tactical execution of their strategic objectives. A company may have an “A+” strategy, but if its discipline in tactical execution is a “C or D”, then the company is still a “B” player at best. Outstanding companies, on the other hand, develop procedures and systems that foster discipline, and are fanatical about hiring extremely “self-disciplined” employees.

Let’s use another flying analogy. Picture an airline pilot. She settles into the cockpit, surrounded by a zillion complicated switches, levers, and sophisticated instrumentation, sitting atop a $100 million piece of equipment. She always starts with her pre-flight checklist and step-by-step moves through every required item. No matter how routine or “boring” the checklist is, the pilot must complete it every single time. She can’t afford to be in a hurry and rush through or skip some of the items. She must demonstrate flawless discipline in executing her checklist thoroughly every time-our lives depend on it.

In the same way, great companies establish systems and procedures for execution that lead to world-class results. They identify and implement the best practices for all their employees to follow. And the employees are “self-disciplined” enough to not allow themselves to ever skip, rush, or gloss over any tactical detail that would adversely effect the company’s ability to deliver outstanding results to its customers, employees, or shareholders. This fanatical discipline to execute flawlessly is what moves companies and people from merely being effective to becoming truly outstanding.

The greatest companies in the world have a laser focus on the strategic objectives that are crucial to their success, and they execute the tactics to achieve those

George Ludwig is a recognized authority on sales strategy and peak performance psychology. An international speaker, trainer, and corporate consultant, he helps his clients improve sales force effectiveness and performance. George is the best-selling author of Power Selling: Seven Strategies for Cracking the Sales Code and Wise Moves: 60 Quick Tips to Improve Your Position in Life & Business. Visit George’s Website!

[tags]sales strategies, sales techniques, sales leadership[/tags]

Your company’s leaders are responsible for managing and directing others. Their success can have a tremendous impact on profitability. This article will provide information about developing leaders for mid-size businesses and how you can create a team of effective managers who can get the job done. Whether you’re an executive, manager or team leader, the following information will be beneficial to you.

Mid-size business leadership development solutions will help your leaders become more effective in their roles.

Improving the leadership and management skills of managers within an organization is becoming increasingly important. Managers who are able to perform their jobs better and work toward the goals of the organization can improve productivity with fewer “people problems,” increased employee retention and greater profits.

Mid-size business solutions for improving and developing leaders from Profiles International combine the process of evaluating powerful organizational information with a personalized leadership development system to help managers improve the critical leadership skills that are most needed by your organization.

Mid-size business solutions help managers quickly become more effective. The approach is based on two elements:
1. Help managers understand and develop their own leadership competencies.
2. Provide useful insight to managers about the employees they manage, along with specific coaching advice on how to develop the employee and increase their productivity.

Improving and developing leaders starts by collecting input from several sources in the manager’s work environment to provide a truly honest assessment of how their performance is viewed by a variety of constituents. Combining direct feedback from direct reports, peers, supervisors, as well as customers, creates a personalized program for developing specific leadership skills based on that feedback. By starting from the real experiences of the people around the leader you can identify and capture both the leader’s strengths as well as areas that require development.

Mid-size business solutions for improving and developing leaders address specific leadership skills identified as requiring improvement, enabling managers to pursue self-improvement in the areas most essential to improving their job performance.

Mid-size business solutions provide you with objective, quantifiable data about individual managers so that you can make the best possible decisions. Leadership development solutions will help you identify managers who need improvement, the areas in which they need further development and the progress they have made toward improving the necessary skills.

Additionally, leadership development solutions for mid-size businesses give managers critical insight about the employees they manage, including measuring employees’ attitudes, motivations and beliefs toward their employers, current managers and job functions. This is a critical first-step toward building a high-performance workforce and improving the engagement levels within your organization.

Mid-size business owners need reliable tools that provide information and insights about how to be successful by doing the right things, the right way. It is impossible to know that right way without having the right information and a customized roadmap to get you there.

Your employees are the most valuable asset in your company. Keeping them engaged and motivated is the key to improving employee performance and a successful, highly productive business. While some employees produce to their highest capability regardless of the incentive, others need an occasional jump-start. When handled effectively, the result can be greater productivity and increased employee morale. This leads to greater job satisfaction and improved morale because your business is staffed with people who are highly productive, skilled and committed to doing their very best.

Jim Sirbasku is co-founder and CEO of Profiles International, a leading provider of human resource management solutions and employment assessments for businesses worldwide. For more information about developing leaders for mid-size businesses, visit our website.

[tags]developing leaders mid-size business, leadership development mid-size business[/tags]

Your behavior as a manager as well as your approach to life in general will greatly affect your success or ultimate failure. That is why it is important to have various styles of behaviors and a wide range of approach. This gives you flexibility and increases your choices in your everyday dealings with other people. It will also help you in the long run in achieving success.

For most managers, they usually prefer to use the natural style of influence. But for the flexible managers, they usually resort to the fall back style of authoritative influence when the natural style isn’t working or is not bringing in good results. But did you know that there are many more variations of influencing style other than the natural and fall back? And these don’t include force or manipulation influence and aggression.

Being a force of influence to people with varying personalities, you need to be proficient in a wide range of influencing styles in order to attain success. Sometimes, we need to get out of our comfort zone and temporarily abandon our natural style. We need to be flexible and practice new ways of influencing in order to achieve greater success. However, it is important that you think first which influencing style you will be more effective in. But you have to be careful not to overdo it. If you vary your styles many times, you may be viewed as an unpredictable person.

So what are some of the types of influence?

One of the types of influence is the collaborative approach, which is one of the most preferred by many. In this style, you include your team members in the process of decision making. As the saying goes, two or more heads are better than one. In a collaborative approach, all views and ideas are considered and are respected. This is a great way to make your members feel their importance to the team. Keep in mind that each member’s contribution even if it is small is valuable to the group as a whole.

In the collaborative approach, you don’t have to make use of your power or authority in order to be successful. Giving your team members the go signal to contribute is beneficial enough for the team’s road to success. But you have to remain collaborative consistently throughout the process. In case of failures, don’t just simply give up. But you must also avoid enforcing too many conditions to your members. They may become frustrated if you do so and their level of efficiency will be affected as well.

Another type of influence is the emotional approach, wherein you simply make use of your natural charm and enthusiasm. This type of approach works really well in the event that you want your members feel excited about an upcoming project. You can also use this approach if some of your members are a bit down and you want to fire up their motivation. But sometimes, it just goes off naturally if you are really enthusiastic about a new idea. This type of approach in influencing others is effective if it is really what you feel. It should really reflect your natural emotions and beliefs.

Take note of why type of influencer you are, try on different approaches and see what feels right to you.

Debora McLaughlin: Executive & Business Coach, Speaker, Consultant & Mentor. Works with executives, business owners & managers to optimize profits, people & performance. Author of several books including Blueprint for Success with Stephen R. Covey & Ken Blanchard. http://www.OpenDoorCoaching.com
Get your free World Leader Report here.

[tags]leadership, management, coaching, empowerment, influence, executive, business[/tags]

There are eight signs that are leading indicators for a project that can be expected not to reach its goals and targets in a timely manner. These eight signs are:
1.The project-team appears to be dealing with a very broad range of issues
2.The project team does not seem to be spending much time together
3.The team is spending a lot of time carrying out “interviews”
4.The team does not appear to be doing any meaningful analytics
5.The team has very limited interaction with you(and other sponsors )
6.Key stake-holders, who’s by-in will be required for the project to be a success, are not aware of the project
7.The project is not meeting agreed deadlines
8.It is difficult to pin the team down on any meaningful conclusions
This article will highlight how best to deal with the third of these signs, a project team that is carrying out too many interviews.

Why is it a problem that a project-team is carrying out too many interviews? This does not have to be a problem, as there are projects that require collecting information from a wide range of people (internal and external) in the form of interviews. However, I have often seen this becoming a problem, because it often is a symptom of a team that is avoiding getting to the conclusion phase of the project. This is usually due to the project team being uncomfortable with the overall goals of the project and the recommendations that they need to deliver (i.e. improving the effectiveness of a process and being able to do things with less people and costs). Another situation that often leads to teams avoiding the conclusion phase is if the team is dealing with a very difficult political situation, and is unable to “bite the bullet” and make a choice that will, by definition, make some people unhappy.

If this type of situation is left unchecked, it is almost guaranteed that the project team will not make its milestones and key deadlines. In fact, the most likely reason that you as a project sponsor are reading this article is that the team has already missed deadlines. In addition, the chance that the project team will come up with meaningful conclusions and recommendations is also fairly small as fear related to this is what is driving the excessive interviews.

What can you do if you believe that one of your teams is using this tactic to avoid moving towards meaningful conclusions? The first action you need to take is to check the original project-plan to sanity-check whether the number of interviews being carried out makes sense. If you are still uncomfortable, you then need to talk to the team about why they are doing all the interviews. In this process you should force the team to show you the goal of each meeting/interview that has been carried out and those that are still in the planning phase.

If you at this stage still have doubts about the validity of the interviews, you will need to revisit the background and goals of the project and reinforce the requirement to the team to come up with strong, focused, and structured conclusions and recommendations. You will also need to explain to the team that meeting agreed deadlines is a key part of the commitment that they have made to the overall project. You will also probably need to give the team a “level of comfort” that they will never be able to collect 100% of the data and information that they theoretically would like to have, and that you (and the rest of the stakeholders) trust them to do well with the time and resources that they have.

Finally, it is likely that you will need to help the team to develop a structured plan for carrying out the interviews and other data-gathering activities that you have agreed are required within the available time. It will need to be a judgment call from your side whether it is possible and/or required to give the team more time to carry out these activities. The final recommendation to you as the sponsor is to closely follow-up on the team as they move forward, as it is unlikely that their wish to avoid unpleasant conclusions and recommendations has disappeared.

Rune Aresvik is a consultant with more than twenty years of experience in project management training and project management consulting. Go to Rune’s project management blog for more articles.

[tags]project management, project success[/tags]

The three elements of any successful Knowledge Management(KM)effort are: people, process, and technology. While people are the most important element, there must be solid processes and technology enablers that allow knowledge workers to complete their work using the tools necessary for mission accomplishment. Future success of any KM program requires building the foundation of people (KSAs, performance management, culture) with the processes (SOPs, business rules, data management), and supported with technology enablers. The challenge is to implement the right blend of all three elements given the generational differences of today’s workforce.

In his book, Generation Blend, Rob Salkowitz describes in great detail the generational differences in technology usage and business processes. He states:

“There is a gap that exists between generational workers and enabling technologies. Leadership will be tested in their ability to manage the transition needed to narrow this gap in ways that empower rising workers without sacrificing the accumulated knowledge and wisdom of veteran contributors. This leadership dilemma is one of the crucial challenges facing business, governments and society.”

Developing a KM program will challenge organization leadership and whether it can transition to a culture that is more inclusive with other stakeholders for future initiatives. Today’s work force expect its employers to provide them the best processes and tools to do their jobs, and the days of silo thinking, hoarding, and yesterday’s technology are quickly dissipating.

Here are three useful definitions to assist leaders, organizations, businesses and their KM teams as they travel on their KM journey:

Integrated Planning Strategy

This means that reliable and consistent methodologies should be used to create and support Web and Internet services. Businesses use Internet Web sites, Intranet
Web sites, and other internal Web portals. These sites have provided timely and important communications to stakeholders and the customers.

Investment

Investments in technology should be treated as a portfolio, with information available on measurement, results, and return on investment. This approach will allow senior managers to access up-to-date information on program performance from a top-to-bottom view of business.

Information technology portfolio management is implemented within the context of business unit information technology programs, which are strongly integrated with the corporate Enterprise Architecture program to ensure that information technology investments proposed for portfolio inclusion are effectively aligned in support of organizational strategic goals and objectives.

Governance

Business or organizational web sites exist to empower stakeholders, its business and service partners, and its employees by providing information, work processes, services,and opportunities in an effectively, efficiently, and timely manner. Therefore, they can improve their lives, solve their problems, and accomplish their objectives. To that end, successful businesses develop Web governance principles, strategies, and recommendations so that their Web presence will be more consistent and coherent across the entire organization.

Web governance principles maximize the creative use of people,policy, and processes to manage short- and long-range goals, mitigate ambiguity, and resolve conflicting cross- organizational needs and priorities. They will provide a framework for establishing clear Web management responsibilities, identifying and allocating necessary resources,
promoting organizational standards for best practices, and providing recognition and support for the organization’s Web community.

I invite you to learn more about knowledge management strategies by watching my free Knowledge Management Leadership Video. To claim your Free Video, visit
my website at www.conversiongeneral

[tags]leadership, strategies for, knowledge management, teams, kevin bushey[/tags]

Your company’s leaders are responsible for managing and directing others. Their success can have a tremendous impact on profitability. This article will provide information about improving leadership skills and how you can create a team of effective managers who can get the job done. Whether you’re an executive, manager or team leader, the following information will be beneficial to you.

Small business owners need reliable tools that provide information and insights about how to be successful by doing the right things, the right way. It is impossible to know that right way without having the right information and a customized roadmap to get you there.

Your employees are the most valuable asset in your company. Keeping them engaged and motivated is the key to improving employee performance and a successful, highly productive business. While some employees produce to their highest capability regardless of the incentive, others need an occasional jump-start. When handled effectively, the result can be greater productivity and increased employee morale.

Unfortunately, many small companies don’t understand how to motivate their employees. They are under constant pressure to increase productivity, profitability and revenue growth and it often overshadows the importance of how an unengaged workforce can negatively affect performance.

What causes poor performance among your employees?
It could be a number of things! Each employee is an individual and the things that affect them negatively in the workplace are unique. They could be poorly matched to a job in which they don’t have the skills to be successful. It could be poor work ethic, extreme job dissatisfaction, substance abuse or difficulty with a poor manager. They may be guilty of employee theft or fraud. Whatever the factors may be, you must understand how to identify the root of employee behavior and how it relates to low productivity so that you can establish strategies for improving employee performance.

How can you improve employee performance?
Fortunately, employee productivity increases can be achieved by knowing more about your employees and what motivates them. As a business owner, you must find ways to understand what drives each individual employee within the context of their respective roles in the workplace. Every employee has a different reason for working. Some employees may be motivated by things like performance-based bonuses, an opportunity for a promotion, personal satisfaction, flexible working conditions or additional paid time off. Others work to accomplish goals and feel as if they are contributing to something larger than themselves. Whatever their reason may be, employees must find some satisfaction in their work or they may become unhappy and unproductive.

Many companies use small business solutions to help them find ways to motivate employees as individuals and improve employee performance.

Small business leadership development solutions can also be used to match people with the work they do. By measuring the essential factors that mark the difference between success and failure in specific jobs, your company can put the right person into every position, allowing them to utilize their talents without limitations. This leads to greater job satisfaction and improved morale because your business is staffed with people who are highly productive, skilled and committed to doing their very best.

Jim Sirbasku is co-founder and CEO of Profiles International, a leading provider of human resource management solutions and employment assessments for businesses worldwide. For more information about developing leaders in small businesses, visit our website.

[tags]improve leadership skills small business, improve management skills small business[/tags]

I often talk about the ability of the ego to sabotage our success. It interferes with relationships, decision making, our ability to perform in all sorts of situations and our general peace of mind. It makes us overly sensitive, self-indulgent, selfish, fearful, materialistic and likely to exploit others for our own personal gain.

In this article I want to focus on the tendency of our ego to get hung up on what other people think of us: our reputation. For leaders, in particular, this can have a huge impact on performance.

The error in focusing on reputation is that it is completely beyond our control and that at the same time we are making our own happiness dependent upon it.

As people become more successful in business (or life), the likelihood that they will experience rejection increases. Really successful leaders are routinely rejected even by people who have never met them. Plus, we all know that it is impossible to please all of the people all of the time - and attempting to do so a recipe for failure.

Worrying about what other people think about them leads people away from being authentic in towards saying and doing things just to get the approval of others. They start to ask themselves, “What will they think? “, “Did I say the right thing?”, or “What would others do now?”. And this kind of thinking becomes habitual.

An example of how badly questions like these affect us can be observed in the common fear of public speaking - said to be greater for many people than even the fear of death! I know from working with my clients that it definitely holds back even people who are already highly successful.

The problem with public speaking is that it holds the very real possibility that we may “say the wrong thing” or “cause others to think badly of us” with a large number of people all at the same time. Most people learn to become effective communicators one-to-one, but what gets in the way of them doing the same thing to large groups is their ego fears relating to their reputation.

Like so many of our habits, we become so used to these types of thoughts that few people stop to realise how much they shape their behaviours. The only way to eradicate them effectively is to understand the root cause then to remove it.

So why does having others think well of us have such a powerful control over us?

The answer to that question lies in childhood. Sadly, it is extremely common for parents to have completely unrealistic expectations of their young children. Expecting them to keep quiet, to sit still, to concentrate for extended period, or to keep their rooms tidy are good examples. This is not how most youngsters naturally behave.

The problems begin when a parent gets upset or angry with their child because they fail to meet their expectations. They get told, “Be good or I’ll get angry.” It is a natural conclusion, therefore, that when their parent gets angry the child thinks it must be because they are “not good enough” (it is thought that we all hold this belief to some degree at the subconscious level).

At the same time, every child wants to be loved. Before long, parents or some other authority figure in their life come along and provide the solution. They teach the child that it can get approval by doing what they want by giving a very positive response to “good” behaviour. The child feels happy - good about itself - and seeks to please more often.

Eventually the subconscious belief system forms that “what makes me good enough is having people think well of me.” So when others aren’t thinking well of us we feel bad about ourselves.

Any time anyone doesn’t like us, rejects us, or thinks poorly of us, the underlying belief “I’m not good enough” is uncovered and stares us in the face, raising self-doubts and producing anxiety. So we end up depending on something outside ourselves in order to feel happy, and we devote an enormous amount of our energy to making it happen. We feel good only as long as we can maintain it.

I had one client who was so controlled by this need that it was almost like a drug to him. He would attend meetings even when he knew that he would make no useful contribution if by doing so he would get some positive feedback or other evidence that he was accepted and valued by other people. He was addicted to the need for others to feel good about him.

The solution for him was the same as it is for anyone else with a similar problem - to remove the limiting belief at its core. This is most likely some variation on, “I’m not good enough.”

If you’ve ever experienced the “Impostor Syndrome” you almost certainly have this belief. The Impostor Syndrome refers to people who are unable to internalise their accomplishments. Regardless of what level of success they may have achieved or what external proof they may have of their competence, they remain convinced internally they do not deserve the success they have achieved and are actually frauds. I am constantly surprised by how many of my clients suffer with this problem, so you are very much not alone if you get this too.

Attempts to maintain reputation will at best provide temporary relief from the self-doubt that drives this behaviour. This is why I believe that the development of self-confidence and self-esteem is a vital part of leadership development and training. As self-belief grows it is accompanied by a huge sense of freedom and a reduction in stress as the need to attempt to control external conditions diminishes.

Michael Nicholas is a UK based author, coach, corporate trainer and professional speaker specialising in leadership development and team effectiveness. Get a FREE copy of his 2nd book, The Effective Leadership Guide, with no obligation, at www.leadershipdevelopmentnow.com.

[tags]leadership development, leadership training, leadership skills, reputation, self-confidence[/tags]

Yahoo’s new CEO, Carol Bartz, when asked about the organizational structure of Yahoo and its history, understands that it’s a mess. The complicated layering of Yahoo’s management has been a hurdle for the innovative and younger elements working with Yahoo. However, Carol Bartz is aiming to change that.

In a recent interview with the Wall Street Journal, she said,

“Organizations can get in the way of innovation, because if people are all bound up, and if they don’t know if they get to make the decision or somebody else, and if they do, what happens to them, and so on and so forth. There’s a freeing when you organize around the idea that you’re clearly in charge and go for it. It’s really a fantastic group of people, and just cleaner lines and cleaner responsibility, and freedom to make mistakes, and have some fun. This whole business that there’s no innovation side of Yahoo is just the craziest thing I’ve ever heard.”

Clearly, she’s working to mix things up. However, Yahoo’s problem is one that many internet start-ups are now facing.

Before the dot com bubble burst in the late 1990s many start-ups were run in an extremely facilitative manner, with an emphasis on teams rather than a hierarchy and an overflow of resources for R&D. When the bubble burst facilitative managerial structure was thrown out the window in favor of hierarchical control, fiduciary responsibility and mundane job descriptions. In other words, these new companies adopted a directive-based approach when re-tooling their organizational structure.

Facilitative organizations invest in exciting projects and innovation in hopes that creativity will beat out the competition. However, there is no guarantee return on investment the innovation may never come, the exciting project may be out-dated. On the other hand directive leadership, perpetually focused on short and long term cost reduction, will suppress innovation and creativity in the long run. However, that said a directive leadership style does at least go a long way in guaranteeing accountability, coordination, and control. So the trick is knowing how to balance the two. It’s easy to be facilitative when, as we said the other day, you can accommodate experimentation and failure. It’s easy to be facilitative when you are playing a non-zero-sum game. It’s tempting to be directive when resources are scare, when time is pressured, and when you’re playing a zero-sum-game.
The trick is how to be both facilitative and directive.

Carol Bartz, taking the helm of Yahoo in January of this year, did what any good CEO should do: she implemented both a facilitative and directive organizational leadership so Yahoo could continue to innovate without taking dangerous leaps of faith. She is both establishing a clear chain of command and asking her employees to innovate and make mistakes.

Creating a facilitative and a directive leadership style is great for companies who need to push innovation and who need the stability a solid upper management can offer.

Samuel Bacharach is the Professor of Labor Management at Cornell University’s ILR School. He is the Director of ILR’s New York City-based Institute for Workplace Studies and the director of the New York City-based Master of Professional Studies. He writes about proactive leadership on his blog. Check out: http://bacharachblog.com

[tags]yahoo’s leadership, leadership styles, yahoo’s leaders[/tags]

It’s impossible to pinpoint every skill a leader must have to be successful. Different organizations and businesses require different skills and traits. That said, the following four leadership skills are necessary in any corporate culture:

1. Sincerity: Fake greetings, forced smiles, and feigned attention are the tools a poor leader employs daily. It’s easy to be fake–however it’s even easier to notice when someone, smiling at you with set teeth, is pretending. A good leader must always try to be sincere and earnestly believe in what she says and does. Anything less and people will begin to pick up on your lack of respect for the team and the project at hand.

The only way a leader can become sincere, or work towards sincerity, is by speaking the truth and acting in accordance with his true feelings at all times. However, we live in the real world and sometimes people can’t afford, at times, to be completely forthright with their ideas and thoughts. In other words, a leader is forced to be plastic and fake on occasion. Fine. Just make sure you know when you’re doing it, why you’re doing it, and know when to turn it off. Faking understanding and listening can be easy but it will only lead to bigger problems down the road. So the next time someone asks you how you’re feeling, don’t be afraid to say, “Like hell.”

2. Empathy: Face it. As a leader you wake up, get dressed, and commute to work with a unique set of problems revolving around your head. No one else on your team has your identical problems but that doesn’t mean they don’t have their own universe of difficulties and troubles. As a boss it’s hard to be pick up on the problems your staffers are having since you’re busy. However, as a leader it’s your lot to try to understand every angle.

In some retail organizations corporate managers are forced to work on the sales floor for a week or two before they are allowed to sit behind their new desks. The practice is repeated throughout various organizations because it’s supposed to force managers to be empathetic toward the problems a regular staffer confronts daily. It works.

A leader should know the nuts and bolts of every job that is being performed by her staffers in order to relate to its difficulty or recognize when an employee is incapable of his duties. Empathy can only come from understanding the true nature of the work and the difficulties it creates. Next time you get upset with your employee for taking his time keying in 100 pages of email addresses–ask yourself, “How long would that take me?”

3. Loyalty: Leaders aren’t worth anything without their team. For that statement to make sense in reverse, leaders must be loyal to their staff.

Loyalty comes in different sizes and when managers are told to be loyal to their staff they aren’t expected to dramatically take bullets for their co-workers. Instead, leaders should protect their team from other departments and companies with vigor. Such loyalty will breed a sense of importance within the staff and compel employees to work harder for a larger good. Loyalty creates an irreplaceable bond that will, in most situations, ensure the reciprocation of loyalty.

Loyalty forces, in a way, a manager to look at his team as a condensed family and the mental analogy works on many levels but it should be used with caution. Slow team members must be cut and others must be trained rigorously. Don’t force your loyalty unto a team that doesn’t yet deserve it. Loyalty doesn’t mean letting people off easy. Loyalty has to be earned and should only come after time, hard work, and patience.

4. Follow Though: The act of following through sounds easier than it really is. Everyone, at one point or another has solid ideas, plans, and goals that they want to implement professionally. The truth is only a handful of people actually follow through on their agendas.

A good leader needs the ability to follow through on ideas in order to add value to her organization or team. A leader incapable of following through, continually, won’t be able to enlist support from his team or chase after bigger, more interesting, projects. Follow through is the one ability that makes leaders leaders; it’s a leaders true skill because it requires the organization of many different elements and the ability to get them all on your side in order to complete a goal. A leader who can’t follow through is a like a tennis player without a racket. It’s crucial that you are able to hit an idea home so that everyone on your team can feel a sense of accomplishment and success.

However, it’s worth noting these traits are all meaningless if you don’t know your business! Good luck.

Samuel Bacharach is the Professor of Labor Management at Cornell University’s ILR School. He is the Director of ILR’s New York City-based Institute for Workplace Studies and the director of the New York City-based Master of Professional Studies. He writes about proactive leadership on his blog. Check out: http://bacharachblog.com

[tags]leadership skills, leadership basics, team building leadership[/tags]