Project Management Online

If you are a project manager, then you know that your time is spent racing around after the individuals who work on that task. You have to ascertain what time they labored on what aspects of the task, who they talked to, what assemblies were held, etc. Although, utilizing project management online courses of study makes your job much easier. Some of these programs have divisions that allow staff to record hours worked on an area of the assignment. There are also places that meetings can be planned for all the project workers through the software. The software will do all the processes of determining a compatible moment for everyone, and take care of sending out notes, releasing your valuable time to do other tasks.

Some project management online programs will work for any company in any sector. Others are field specific. Many of them are able to be individualized enough to work for any establishment at any time. Just initialize it the way that will work best for your organization and requirements. When you are single out project management online programs, you must to make sure that the one that you want actually works for your establishment. There are programs fashioned for larger firms and some that are for little companies. There are also some that are geared for certain fields. You do not want to acquire one particular program for telecommunications if you are in the aviation engineering industry.

There’s more involved in turning a profit than income alone - it’s important to be making money cost effectively. One of the easier ways of doing this is through performance management software. Once you know what the specific strengths of your members of staff are, it’s possible to adjust your procedures to optimize their effectiveness and consequently make the most of the business as a whole. Learning about and making this data ready for use is often where things become challenging.

Simply tracking employee appraisal and identifying development in that performance rapidly becomes a significant hassle. First, you use employee appraisal techniques to assess and track all work done by each member of staff. If this was done with established methods, you’ll need to assess all of that data manually in order to set goalposts, and track future progress. Employing performance management software you’ll find that this assessment is taken care of and you need only examine the various metrics to find what the right set of goals for this staff member would be. It also makes charting the staff member’s development much less effort. Thus you ease a significant time commitment and probably also receive more useful information into the bargain. If you choose to you can instead carry out your own analysis, merely utilizing the software to produce and keep up a record to work from.

And making your employees more efficient is simply one thing you can do using performance appraisal software. Both clients and suppliers can be analyzed using the appropriate software, providing you with more performance management tools. You’ll have a clear record that will point out who provides higher grade products, for the best prices as well as identify those with bad loss records or poor delivery times. Turning our attention to affiliates, clients, and retailers, it’s possible to determine who sells the most of each product if there are payment issues, which one experiences the highest loss percentage, and more. This information is useful in minimizing expenses and boosting profits. Who wouldn’t take advantage of that? As well as this, the better understanding of your market will permit easier planning of your marketing. You can study your suppliers to reduce costs and watch your market so that you can maximize profit employing performance appraisal software. It renders employee performance management a breeze and far more effective in addition to helping you encourage staff by giving them unambiguous targets extremely. There may be no upper limit when leveraging performance management software!

While the economy is in the state it is now, minimising outgoings and optimizing your assets is the most effective method of increase profitability. One asset often overlooked is superior performance management software and all of its benefits.

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It is well known that an efficient business will tailor its workflow to the strengths of each member of staff in order to get the best from them. Learning about and making this data ready to use is often where it may get difficult, however.

Simply keeping track of staff evaluation and determining development in their performance is a huge task. First, you set up employee appraisal systems to evaluate and track all work done by each staff member. The assessment of this information comes next. After all, before you can put it to use determining goals and checking further progress it’s key to know what the data means in practice. Employing performance appraisal software you know that this analysis is taken care of and you need only scrutinize the various analyses to know what the right targets for this employee would be. It also renders following the employee’s progress much simpler. Providing as it does more useful information in less time, this is a major saving before putting these findings to use. Should you want to it’s possible instead to perform your own analysis, merely using the software to create and keep up a full record to use as a basis. Performance appraisal software can do more than help staff. It’s also worth studying clients and suppliers to better pace your purchasing and conserve money. For example, when looking at suppliers you can demonstrate their weaknesses like slow delivery times, high loss rates, etc. Clients have their own measurements to be scrutinized, and once again it’s possible to streamline your business practices and help your bottom line. With this information at hand you become able to tailor your system of orders and supplies to boost profits and reduce expenses. Who couldn’t benefit from that? This information will allow you to identify a priority demographic. With this demographic in mind marketing is free to become more effective and easier to plan. Performance management software can track your sources to save money and analyze your market to tailor plans and develop your profit margin. In tandem with a program of regular employee reviews such tool can streamline employee performance management decidedly. How much you can achieve almost seems unlimited when using performance management software…

Nowadays numerous human resource managers feel that, if all of their employees have the required level of health and safety education, they are sufficiently prepared to manage any situation. Realistically however, an education in health and safety regulatory affairs just isn’t sufficient. You must supply your employees with competent supervision, the proper equipment, and the chance to practice.

Someone in a supervisory capacity has a larger role to play than just overseeing the floor. Whomever you choose as the supervisor needs to understand the necessity of health and safety training and have the ability to encourage other employees to share their excitement about it. On top of observing health and safety legislation, the employee supervising also needs to ensure that each employee performs well. Naturally it isn’t easy to do all this at once. Good product knowledge is fundamental in a supervisory role not to mention a very high level of comprehension of the latest legislation with regard to safety, risk appraisal and emergency assistance techniques.

Simply having health and safety training is not sufficient for your workers. To successfully discover a hazard they need practise. They in addition require insights into the steps necessary to remedy the situation and also how to act if something unforeseen happens. Only when these processes have become routine are staff totally protected.

Instruction is ineffective if you don’t have the necessary safety gear. Without the proper supplies or alternatively if they discover that equipment is damaged when they actually need them, then all the education your employees have undergone is in vain. You have to check regularly to make sure you possess all the gear you need and to ensure it is functioning correctly as well. When you have a problem with your equipment, make sure that it is fixed as speedily as is feasible and put it back in the appropriate location.

Health and safety instruction is essential to the well-being of your staff, however they also require the right gear, the opportunity to practise, and an educated supervisor who can get everyone excited about working safely. And then observing the safety regulations be part of the workforce’s working habits instead of something everyone has to attempt to remember.

Effective people management skills are crucial in achieving the best in your business success. You may gain and improve these skills. It may be an advantage to have a natural affinity for people, but there are numerous skills you can do to facilitate the process. Developing relationships: Addressing employees by name should be a beginning. Encourage conversation; look employees in the eye during a conversation. Be respectful, and be sure to listen to what the other person says, even if you disagree or have another viewpoint. Paying attention to what employees have to offer is one of the most critical people management skills in your arsenal. Encourage any contributions from your co-workers. Keep your promises: Keeping your promises is really important. When your word is broken, it can destroy trust, and if they do not trust you employees won’t perform at their best. Everytime you make a statement or make a promise about something, do be sure you can deliver or don’t bother giving your word at all. You’ll find, when your people can’t depend on your word, you can be certain they will behave in the same fashion.

Encourage any observations: Feedback should be a two-way process. Having an open mind regarding other’s opinions is an important skill in effective talent management. If you can prove that you are accessible and open, you establish that your co-worker’s thoughts count, and they should appreciate your ideas. Bona Fide discourse in addition encourages fresh ways of thinking, new ways of accomplishing goals, and strengthens the company dynamic. By giving the staff some input, the success of the company will become important to every employee.

Encourage all sorts of communication: Managing staff boils down to the same thing — good communication. Keeping an open door policy, listen intently to other people, keep an open mind, and allow each of your team to express their opinions. Staff must be inspired to communicate with each other not only with you. The creative process relies heavily on the interchange of ideas, and if the team members communicate efficiently, you can spot any problems at an early stage, permitting corrective action to be taken to prevent further problems. This may require some work, however the rewards are worthwhile. By inspiring a good team dynamic and developing good listening techniques, a thriving business can be yours.

Most of you have read or even listened to me talk about The Leadership Challenge and how I sing the praises of the Five Leadership Practices:

• Model the Way

• Challenge the Process
• Inspire a Vision
• Enables Others to Act
• Encourage the Heart

I usually speak to groups using the early space program and the Apollo 13 mission as an excellent example of these practices. We show clips from the movie and audios of JFK, but this time it was different.

This time we got first hand accounts of the mission and the trials and tribulations that were involved in the actual mission. This time we partnered with the commander on the mission Captain James Lovell.

At a conference in Las Vegas, NV commander Lovell shared with an audience of 260 the first hand accounts of his ordeal in space. TeamBuilders was honored to partner with one of America’s greatest hero’s tying back his experience to the Leadership Practices. As I listen to listen to him I could not help, but connect a lot of what he was saying to the books on business that we have all been reading to make ourselves successful.

When describing the situations and the outcomes of the mission he said that success was depended on three key factors.

1. Dealing with change - any organization or its members that cannot deal with, adapt to, and take advantage of change will not make it today. They obviously where not happy with change during that mission, but they also knew that complaining about it and hoping it goes away wasn’t going to fix it. Change is inevitable and change requires different solutions and different processes. As TeamBuilders has shared with many of you it’s about doing different to do more. We must Challenge the Process - The Leadership Challenge

2. Understanding the situation and doing something about it. - Hope is not a plan and when adversity strikes we have to dig dip and hit it head on. How many times in our business are we approached with challenges that impacted our business? We don’t hope to improve market shares, we don’t hope the economy is going to get better, but we Confront the Brutal. Yet Never Lose Faith - Good to Great

3. Commitment to a Common Goal - Regardless of rank or job function everyone new what had to be done and no one questioned when they were asked to do something. The goal was clear and the commitment was strong. Ego was checked and every action, decision and behavior was for the success of the Mission, which by the way changed…drastically. Commitment and Attention to Results - The Five Dysfunctions of a Team

So, what am I babbling about? We read, we go to self-improvement seminars, we go to team development and in house training, but do we understand why? I actually was asked in a session by a gentleman, “can we hurry up and get through this teambuilding stuff and get back to work”? All of this stuff is what makes us better when we get back to work and if it doesn’t then shame on us.

As I close this month’s letter I would to say how proud and impressed I am with our clients and the hard work you have out into just being better. I have seen so many of you grow over the past eight years and we at TeamBuilders are proud to have been part of that. I will leave you now with one simple thought and hat is the definition of a TEAM. Ask yourself if this is your group? Until next month…

A team is members of a diverse group of people who struggle for shared aspirations (a common goal) with measurable performance and accountability.

About the Author:

Nicholas D. Conner is Vice President of Program Development and COO of TeamBuilders. For nearly twenty years he has enjoyed sharing his experience and expertise with organizations that include small business to Fortune 20 Companies. His unique facilitation style combining humor with knowledge creates workshops that are both entertaining and insightful. Nick is one reason why TeamBuilders’ client list reads like a Who’s Who of global business.

EXPERIENCE AND EXPERTISE

Nearly twenty years of designing and facilitating sophisticated workshops in Team Synergy - High Performance Teams, Mergers and Acquisitions and Change, Leadership Synergy, Leading & Coaching for High Performance Teams and Self-Managed/Self-Directed Work Teams.

• Myers Briggs Type Indicator Level Eight Facilitator-MBTI, MBTI Step II, MBTI Executive Coaching

• Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership-Kouzes and Posner
• The FiveStar Team Performance Indicator
• Key Note Speaker

http://www.teambuilders.com

Most managers simply herd some people in a room with a flip chart and call it a brainstorming session. Yet there is a definite process that maximizes the size and quality of the idea pool. While there are hundreds of valid techniques for doing this, below are just some of the important concepts leaders should consider.

a) The sum of ideas produced by individuals acting alone is greater than the sum of ideas produced by those individuals acting as a group. Further, the diversity and novelty of ideas produced by individuals acting alone is greater than produced in a group. This means that asking group members to think of a set number of diverse and novel ideas before the session and then repeat the process during the session results in greater total output. Be sure to insist that individuals think of new ideas in the group session.

b) Individuals are prone to competency traps and path dependency. This means that it is hard for them to rapidly frame break unless new experience, stimuli or knowledge is introduced. One solution is to import competencies. Bring in new and dissimilar individuals. Try and ensure these new individuals score high on expression, tacit knowledge and status.

c) Brainstorming usually implies that the solution to a problem is being sought. Thus one good principle is to break the session into three parts - problem identification, idea generation and idea selection. It is amazing how many different perceptions of a problem often exist. Each problem definition generates its own set of ideas. This stage-process allows the separation of creative from critical thinking. Writing and editing are two very different processes.

d) Set incremental goals. Incremental goals produce more output than “do your best.” Further, they trigger prolific production; it can be said with great certainty that quality is closely connected with quantity - the single best creative product tends to appear at that point in the career when the creator is being most prolific.

There are at least two types of incremental goal: 1) short term - this forces production of output and 2) longer term - this allows problems to incubate at various cognitive levels and results in the required insight.

e) Foster collaboration instead of competition. Competition causes people to shut down, restricts the flow of information and creates core and peripheral groups. On the other hand, collaboration allows the intellectual cross-pollination that is the raw material for the idea generation process.

f) One of the top idea generation killers is slow or non-existent implementation. People just will not take idea generation seriously if nothing tangible resulted from the last brainstorming session. Ensure direct links to decision makers and visible progression through the innovation process - idea selection, development and commercialisation.

g) Don’t rely on “creative types.” Everyone can generate large numbers of diverse and novel ideas. Whilst there are assertions that there are creativity traits such as lack tolerance for conformity and tolerance for ambiguity, these theories are questioned on the basis that traits are hard to identify, isolate and are not stable or transferable across situations. Further, other criteria such as motivation and competencies are critical.

h) Think beyond brainstorming. The concept of brainstorming as the only effective method of good idea generation is questionable. Some brainstorming negatives include: 1) dilution of ideas, 2) lower rates of participation from individuals who score low in expression and 3) evaluation apprehension. Idea boxes, idea intranets and knowledge bases are just some methods of maximising the contribution of every individual.

These and other topics are covered in depth in the MBA dissertation on Managing Creativity & Innovation, which can be purchased at http://www.managing-creativity.com

Kal Bishop, MBA.

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You are free to reproduce this article as long as the author’s name, web address and link to MBA dissertation is retained.

Kal Bishop is a management consultant based in London, UK. He has consulted in the visual media and software industries and for clients such as Toshiba and Transport for London. He has led improv, creativity and innovation workshops, exhibited artwork in San Francisco, Los Angeles and London and written a number of screenplays. He is a passionate traveller.

The second in a series of 2 articles giving a slightly different viewpoint on effective team building, condensed from an original seminar presented by the author, John Roberts. John is a Freelance Training Consultant and director of JayrConsulting Ltd. Part 1 ( Another Brick in the Wall ) dealt with selecting and building the initial team. Part 2 deals with the culture that need to be in place to run the team really effectively. The ideas expressed are personal opinions built up from many years of experience in the Electronics/Aerospace industry, the Armed Forces, the Telecoms industry and the Training industry. There is no suggestion of this being a 100% solution applicable to or workable in all situations, but it is aimed at getting people to think outside of the norm and question the ‘normal’ way of doing things.

1. Honesty - The Key!

It really is that simple! The basic foundation of building and running REALLY successful teams is TOTAL honesty! Sounds simple, but it can be one of the hardest things to implement due to existing workplace cultures and peoples long-term conditioning to them. If you are not prepared to implement this culture change, you will only ever have functional ‘teams’ that are purely paying ‘lip service’ to the whole idea of team building.

Being honest starts here! You cant pretend to be honest, or only implement some parts of it, either as a team member or as a team leader. If you are not going to give it 100% - Give it up, because the rest depends on this to work properly!

There are two separate parts to honesty within the team scenario and both are equally important:

(a) Being honest with other people

You have to learn to be honest with everyone. If someone is not performing properly-Tell them as soon as possible, and help them to overcome the cause. If someone is performing well-Tell them as soon as possible, and help them to do even better.

If there is good news about the project/team/company-Tell people as soon as possible, without hiding things and deliver praise where appropriate.
If there is BAD news about the project/team/company-Tell people as soon as possible, without hiding things and discuss what can be done about it at a team and personal level-ask for input and ideas to resolve things. Most people can handle most situations well, as long as they feel they are being kept informed and involved.

Make sure that you are doing your share of the teams work, to the best of your ability. If the team are having to cover for you, you are not being honest with them.

If you make a mistake- admit to it, as soon as possible and if necessary get help to resolve it. If you try and hide your mistakes you are not being honest and it just leads to more work for others in the long run.
Don’t perpetuate rumours! It is one of the fastest ways to break down trust in a team culture. If you don’t know something is a fact-don’t repeat it!

(b) Being honest with yourself

For a lot of people this can actually be extremely difficult to achieve, due to long term conditioning in a competitive work place, but once started it tends to build on itself as long as everyone is really committed to long-term success of the team building process. You have to really look at yourself deeply and honestly and work at correcting your individual behaviour patterns and shortcomings.

If you can’t cope with something-tell someone and get some help with it. No one is perfect and we all need help sometimes. In a good team environment, nobody is going to think less of you for requesting help-just the opposite if it helps to get things done.

Be honest about your skills and abilities starting with your c.v. !). If not you will be found out eventually, but by that time, you may have let a lot of other people down!

Don’t steal credit/ideas from other people and put them forward as your own. Any gain for you is only short term and it is one of the quickest ways of destroying trust amongst your team.

Question your commitment and work ethos continually-Are you really giving 100% effort all the time? If not-why not -do you need to seek help or are you just being lazy?

Don’t lie! It’s infectious in a team environment. If you want a day off- take a leave day-don’t keep re-burying your grandmother!

Admit when you are wrong in a discussion-and apologise!

Don’t moan and grumble about work - if you don’t like being there -Leave!

2. Communication

Communication is one of the most important factors in successful teams. To be effective it must be continuous and completely OPEN - both between team members and between the team leader and their team. There should be no secrets. The team need to know how they are affected by corporate plans and decisions. Members need to know if they are doing things correctly. The team leader needs to know if their team members have any ideas or problems that should be acted upon. People respond better if they know the facts - even to bad news! (I had a team where they all volunteered to take a 10% pay cut to save a team member from redundancy, when the financial figures were explained to them openly!)

This DOESN’T mean that you need to have interminable ‘formal’ team meetings! People should be encouraged to talk to each other and to the team leader all of the time. A good team leader will set aside time every day, (YES, you can do it, if you are organised!), purely to get around and talk to their team. The better your communication is, the less meetings you will need to have!

3. Trust

Trust between team members and between the team and team leader MUST be absolute. If you don’t trust people to get on and do their job - why are they in your team? If you trust people to do a job, you have to relinquish power to them to make their own decisions - and they have to be responsible for those decisions! Team members must have trust in the team leader - that they have their best interests at heart and are working for team rather than individual success. In the ultimate team, people have to depend on each other for their lives - that can only be done with trust in your fellow team members.

4. Conflicts and Compromise

Teams are made of PEOPLE! You have to expect conflicts and confrontations. They should not be arbitrarily stamped upon - people have to be made aware that at some point they will have to compromise with other people in order to continuing functioning as an effective team. Members should be encouraged not to hide conflict, but to work it out and arrive at a compromise. The team leader should try and be aware of any conflicts and help to resolve them where necessary. Don’t expect your team to never argue - they are all different people, and just like in a family, there is nothing wrong with a healthy argument, as long as it is resolved

5. Chinese Councils

ALL team members should have an input to planning and decisions concerning the team. People in the team should be treated as equals. The team leader is not in that position because they are ‘better”, it’s just that they have different skills to the others. The team leader is not the only person that may have good ideas and should always be willing to accept input from others and where necessary amend plans and decisions concerning the team and its objectives. However, everyone should be aware that at the end, the team leader has the ultimate responsibility and therefore the final say in any decisions, having taken into account the input from other team members. This should be a regular ongoing procedure.

6. Assessment and reward

Forget ‘Annual Assessments’, Competency grids and pay rises based on individual performance! What matters is, “Is the TEAM successful?” The team leader should be constantly aware of how team members are performing and giving them feedback and assistance where necessary as the project progresses. It is no good leaving it until some later point to let people know if they are not achieving what is required or patting them on the back if things are going well. People need constant feedback -with honesty!
Reward should be based on the success (or failure!) of the whole team, not individuals, so that people are encouraged to make sure that everyone in the team is pulling together to achieve the team goals -not trying to score ’smarty points’ for their own individual advancement. (This would not work in a ’sales’ environment, which is why sales people tend to work as individuals rather than as teams!)

7. Buddies

Team members must all be ‘Buddies’ with each other. This doesn’t mean that you have to be close friends or socialise with each other! What it means is that team members have to support one another at all times. Everyone has ‘off days’, and team members should notice when someone else is not performing 100% and offer help and support to get them through this period. Sometimes all it will take is a joke or remark to buck someone up or they may need help with a particular task that is getting on top of them. All members should get into the habit of ‘watching out’ for each other. There is no shame in seeking or accepting help - we all need it sometimes. We all have different skills and abilities and team members should be encouraged to make use of each other’s skills to achieve the team objective as efficiently as possible. I was never very good at producing diagrams for presentations, but I had someone in my team who was brilliant at it, and I would always ask her to critique my work so that I could produce a better finished product.

8. No Blame - No Shame

EVERYONE MAKES MISTAKES! The secret is to have a culture where people are not ashamed to admit to having made a mistake! That way, mistakes can be rectified quickly, and more importantly, learned from! If someone makes a mistake (deletes a file or something), you don’t want them to feel that they will be penalised or marked down in some way. You need them to tell someone and if necessary seek help to rectify it as soon as possible. (Needs ‘honesty’, as above!)

Summary

You may have noticed something in reading the above? No jargon, no ‘hype’, no ‘games’, no ‘exercises’, no ‘concepts’! - NOT NECESSARY! Successful teams are all about PEOPLE, their natural skills, abilities and relationships. Running a successful team is very much like running a successful family and most of the values are the same - BUT, it will not work WITHOUT HONESTY as above! Remember that is probably the hardest thing to achieve due to human nature and the conditioning that people are subjected to in the normally competitive culture of most work places, but it is worth the effort if you really want to achieve effective team building.

Think about all of the above - how much of it currently applies to teams in your workplace? Could you implement this? Remember - unless you start with HONESTY, it will not work, and you will always just be going through the motions of team building!

As always I am completely open to any comments - the whole idea of this seminar is to get people thinking and discussing what they do in their teams and how it could be improved.

Acknowledgements

Adapted from an original article by John Roberts, freelance training consultant, Director of JayrConsulting Ltd., www.jayrconsulting.co.uk. John can be contacted at john.roberts@jayrconsulting.co.uk

This article may be freely reproduced / modified and used in any way, providing this acknowledgement is left in its entirety.

John Roberts is a freelance Training Consultant and Director of JayrConsulting Ltd, http://www.jayrconsulting.co.uk and can be contacted at john.roberts@jayrconsulting.co.uk at any time for comments or discussion.

If you remember black and white TV, you are dating yourself. Perhaps even carbon-dating yourself. But I remember sitting in rapt attention when color TV came to town. Your audiences will do the same if you add some color to your presentations.

Color - in terms of presentations - is mostly about the voice. Humans have a remarkable sound system, but most people don’t use 10 percent of their vocal ability. Vocal color is a guaranteed method of gaining - and holding - the attention of your audience.

There are four elements of voice you can control: breath, projection, vocal variety and diction. Let’s look more closely at diction.

No matter where you were born, you can improve your diction without losing your regional charm. Think Dr. Ruth. Not accent-free diction, but she is understandable and memorable.

Here’s an exercise that I learned early in my broadcast career that helped improve my diction, or the clarity of my speech. We were taught to spit out certain sounds, to create an explosion of sound. Practice emphasizing these letters the next time you prepare for a presentation:

B as in boy. C as in lurch. D as in need. G as in dig. J as in judge. K as in sack. P as in lap. And T as in boot. If you allow these sounds to erupt forth with a little extra force, you’ll be sharpening your diction and adding color at the same time.

So, practice your diction and start moving from black and white to color.

Ty Boyd, CEO of Ty Boyd Executive Learning Systems, is in the Broadcast Hall of Fame and the Speakers Hall of Fame. He has taught presentation skills to Fortune 1000 executives in more than 40 countries. His Excellence In Speaking Institute celebrates its 25th anniversary in 2005.

People who get results are high impact leaders. They are consistent, explicit and concise and they command a presence when they walk into a room. They have enough charisma to turn the dullest moment into a high-energy event. When they move on, others want to go with them. Their openness and honesty creates a legacy which people admire and look up to. They gain commitment and foster trust.

Most of us are not born leaders. However, a good percentage of us long to become leaders of men and make deep connections in our careers seeking that ultimate leadership position. It may be Sales Manager, Warehouse Supervisor, Vice President, CFO or even CEO.

To achieve our leadership objective understanding the Three C’s of Leadership is essential:

• Curiosity
• Creativity
• Commitment

Curiosity

Every successful leader demonstrates a curiosity that would not be satisfied without personal examination of what exactly were the causes of failure to meet expectations. This was validated through NAW’s (National Association of Wholesaler Distributors) research “Profiles in Wholesale Distribution Leadership. http://www.nawpubs.org/orderform.html In this project, individual leadership models differed in their specific approaches. The common thread that linked every model together was their respect for the individual and the willingness and ability to listen with an understanding that embellished their own leadership contribution to the organization. The most obvious similarity between these the seven exceptional leaders interviewed was the fact that they were all curious, creative and committed.

Leadership is about curiosity, scenario planning, strategic planning and calculated risk taking. Effective leaders are excellent listeners that have tremendous questioning skills. The power of influence is often in the question and not in the answers. Effective leaders understand this concept. A common trait found in every successful leader I have ever been associated with is unhesitant curiosity. Curiosity about their markets, their business, their industry, their employees and what it takes to grow, prosper and create competitive advantage.

These leaders have accepted the fact that they may not have all the answers. More importantly, they recognize that they don’t have to have all the answers. Changing a leadership style is not the easiest thing in the world to do. Development of their leadership skills is a continuous process. This process includes:

• Enhancement of their instinctive curiosity and a strengthening of their focus on being a customer driven organization. Service and quality become a way of life within the organization and it is used to support their competitive advantage.

• Taking their vision and redefining it as an end game which challenges their executive team to create a strategic plan to meet this end game.

• The recognition that employees are the most precious asset and backing up that recognition by the willingness to invest profits in the development of these employees.

• Empowerment that is accompanied by the resources necessary to succeed and accountability for results.

• Utilizing a board of directors as a resource while sharing management challenges seeking policy and guidance, incorporating contingency planning and scenario planning as a regular exercise.
Wholesale distribution organizations increasingly are characterized by a large and incredibly complex set of independent relationships between highly diverse groups of people. To be successful, today’s leader must determine how to get active involvement built on a platform of creativity, commitment and curiosity out of their employees.
Creativity

Successful leaders take the time to listen, imagine and investigate numerous alternatives. With the involvement of people they forge creative solutions to difficult problems. They challenge their people to stretch, go beyond their previous boundaries and think outside the box. Successful leaders feed off their people and allow their people to feed off of them. They give credit where credit is due. They give recognition as a means of gaining respect. They believe individuals can make a difference. Through these methods they learn to create new insights and possibilities.

Successful leadership means creating a sense of urgency, getting mutual commitment to action. Action steps are always clearly defined and precise. Often, due to the personification of the leader’s own personality and charisma, employees are eager to leap into action - without forethought. A successful leader recognizes this possibility and takes the necessary steps to avoid this pitfall by teaching precision in planning. They are clear and explicit. They communicate with encouraging clarity that commands ownership by everyone involved in the commitments made.

The successful leader is constantly building advantages into the organizations. The belief is that you don’t always have to be better than your competition but you must be different. This concept demands creativity and innovations.

Commitment

Commitment is critical element to success whether the company is in a growth mode, a stabilizing mode or an acquisition mode or any other type of circumstance. Failure to demonstrate commitment by the leader can have negative consequences that inhibit success. Commitment is essential to developing trust. Trust is necessary to get people to reach down deep inside and give everything they have under the most difficult circumstances.

The reason people follow any leader, especially in the business world, is due to trust. The only way to develop trust is by demonstrating personal commitment to success. Talking to people with respect to gain their respect and demonstrating your personal work ethic is part of your commitment. Their respect is a key ingredient to developing trust. Trust is gained when people think the company cares about their welfare and recognizes the role they play in creating a profit.. People have to think that the company not only cares about their problems but that the leader and the company is committed toward making every effort to solve them.

Employees want to take pride in their leaders. They are eager to give their trust but demonstrating the kind of commitment as a leader that deserves that trust can not be over emphasized. Don’t let the employees down. Commitment to the employees and the company is built around a true concern for the people within the organization. It is based on fairness and consistency.

The effectiveness of a true leader is not measured in terms of the leadership he or she exercises. It is measured in the leadership evoked. It is not measured in terms of power over subordinates but in terms of the power released in subordinates. Leadership is not measured in terms of goals and objectives but it is measured in terms of the accomplishment of others as a result of that leadership. Leadership is not measured in the decisions made, the costs cut, the plans made. It is measured in terms of the growth in confidence, sense of responsibility and acceptance of accountability of the employees that are a result of that leadership.

Leadership and commitment are intertwined. They go together. Leadership and commitment help create solidarity. Solidarity implies a unity within a group that enables it to manifest its strength and exert its influence as a group. Unity implies oneness, especially of what is varied or diverse in its direction or clarity. Unity describes the inner relationships of individual parts making up the whole. It is an achievement that demands the probability of action and leadership. That action, that leadership, if appropriate and precise, leads to trust. Demonstrate your commitment to the company, to your employees and to success in every possible way. Your employees need to know you are committed.

Once these principles are learned and practiced , leverage of these leadership skills to develop the management team is the next step.

“Leadership is easy, just find a bunch of people going in the same direction and jump in front of them”——–Willie Nelson

The true test of a successful leader is that he leaves behind the conviction, the will and the understanding to carry on.

Leaders must make emotional connections with the management team that surrounds them. They must encourage these people to open up, share dialog and reveal dreams. They must teach and mentor. It’s not as easy as Willie Nelson would have you believe. A good leader is not intimidated by the success of others. They encourage others to succeed and help them fulfill their wants and needs. Leveraging leadership helps determine the hidden factors in communication. Understanding inferences and assertions become a key component to understanding people. Curious leaders have high questioning and prospering skills that allow them to drill down to real facts and issues.

Leveraging their leadership allows successful leaders to establish emotional connections, which diminish fear and intimidation. This encourages enthusiasm and cooperation.

Excellence in what you do, continuous improvement aren’t words. They’re a way of life. When you understand that they’re a way of life, then the change that you have in the way you perform is beyond comprehension because you just wind up operating at a different level, and if you can find a way to capture that in the culture of your business, in the culture that you emanate to your people, then as this culture structure changes, you have an opportunity for a superior level of performance. Excellence, and that’s what in the end it’s all about. Excellence breeds a high level of profitability. Chuck Steiner (2003) his NAW interview,

Success depends on more than just “best practice” success drivers. Success demands a superior level of leadershipa level that requires deep commitment. This commitment will not flourish in workplace environments that are still dominated by the “slap & point” or the “carrot and stick” method of management often used in the past.

http://www.ceostrategist.com Dr. Rick Johnson (rick@ceostrategist.com) is the founder of CEO Strategist LLC. an experienced based firm specializing in leadership and the creation of competitive advantage in wholesale distribution. CEO Strategist LLC. works in an advisory capacity with distributor executives in board representation, executive coaching, team coaching and education and training to make the changes necessary to create or maintain competitive advantage. You can contact them by calling 352-750-0868, or visit http://www.ceostrategist.com for more information. CEO Strategist - experts in Strategic Leadership in Wholesale Distribution. Sign up for Rick’s monthly news letter - “The Howl” email rick@ceostrategist.com