Forgotten Fundamentals of Effective Leadership

Think of several major problems that you faced over the past three months. Where did you struggle when solving the problem? As your business grows, the types of problems that you'll face will become more demanding and complex. What can you do to be more careful about how you will solve problems and make decisions? What problems might you foresee in applying the seven steps presented in your materials for review?

What are the eight steps in the typical, basic planning process as presented in your materials for review? Where is the "real treasure" during planning? What might you foresee as your biggest challenge to learning how to delegate? Delegation is a critical skill in the effective management of organizations. What can you do to start overcoming these challenge s? What should be included in status reports according to the materials for review? How often should status reports be shared and with whom? Your wishes may disagree with those asserted in the materials for review.

That's fine -- just be able to specify your own terms for status reports, including what's in them, what's in them, how often they are shared with whom. What might you include in regular monthly meetings with all of your employees in attendance? Do you agree that you should have regular meetings with all employees in attendance?

If not, then how will you really ensure that employees are aware of activities in the organization? Do they know now? Are you really sure? Seriously consider holding regular meetings. These meetings can go a long way toward building a strong sense of community and ensuring effective communications throughout the organization. How do you ensure that all key employees are aware of important information and activities in the organization?

As noted in the materials for review, new managers and supervisors often assume that everyone else knows what they know.

This is a mistake. Seriously consider holding regular meetings with key staff. Don't just rely on good intentions to communicate or "working harder to communicate". Actually make some changes in policies and procedures to ensure effective communications. How can you evaluate the meeting process? How can you evaluate results of the overall meeting process? What challenges do you see in implementing the meeting-management recommendations in the materials for review? What do you dislike about meetings? What do you like? What are you hearing from others about the quality of the meetings in your organization?

What can you do to make your meetings more effective? How many hours a week are you working now? Is that a problem? What do those nearest to you think about the number of hours that you're working? How many hours a week do you think you should work on average? What is the largest number of hours that you should work in a week?

When you’re in need of a refresher of what good leadership entails, revisit these basics.

The number of hours that you work in a week can be a clear indicator of current or oncoming problems in your stress level and effectiveness as a manager. What measures can you take to ensure that you don't get so consumed by your job that you lose perspective and ultimately lose your overall effectiveness as a manager? Strongly consider involving someone else in helping to determine the total number of hours that you will work in a week.

How do you know if you're stressed? What are the signs? How might you recruit a mentor or coach? Think about this question very seriously. Having a mentor or coach can be the single, most effective measure you can take to ensure that you manage yourself and your job in a highly effective manner. What's the difference between matters that are urgent and those that are important? What should be your approach to handling each of these two types of issues?

What advice is given in the materials for review regarding these two types of issues? Give brief definitions for the following terms compare the terms with each other, noting how they are similar and different: See Basics -- Definitions and Misinterpretations in Management. What does the term "management" mean include in your answer, the four major functions of management?

Briefly describe each of the following four management functions. Coordinating or controlling activities. Of course, these functions are not carried out apart from each other -- they're highly integrated. New managers and leaders often struggle to find the one, best way to manage and lead.

Over time, they realize the "best way" depends very much on the situation, for example, the life cycle of the organization, the specific nature and needs of the organization -- and their own nature and needs, as well.

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A very basic understanding of theories and styles of management and leadership can help greatly when finding the "best way". Very briefly, what is the contingency theory of management? What are some of the major styles of management? What is the importance of knowing the life cycle of an organization when leading and managing an organization? Many management experts believe that we're coming into a "new paradigm".

What is this new paradigm? See New Paradigm in Management. What is the argument that some people put forth to explain their view that managing and leading are different? What do you think? By now, you might consider your own definition of "What is leading in an organizational setting?

See Definitions of Leadership. Conduct the following activities with each of the following practices: What problems did you encounter? Does the procedure need to be updated? Design a personalized stress management plan. In the plan, include description of: Include the number of hours that you want to average in work per week.

10 Principles of Effective and Authentic Leadership | HuffPost

You might suggest that they do the same plan and you can reciprocate by helping them, as well. Consider getting a mentor or a coach. Do you feel comfortable turning to these sources when you need help? If not, contact at least one source that you feel comfortable approaching when you're, for example, in need of suggestions for resources, feeling burned out, etc. You can learn a great deal about management by using a wide variety of informal methods. The following link is to many suggestions and materials you can use for informal training. Ideas for Activities to Learn About Management.

Usually, the most effective way to learn a topic or skill is through use of a formal training plan. The following link is to a detailed procedure and materials you can use to develop your own highly customized management development plan. The procedure includes use of the assessments listed in the following section "Assessments". Great leaders demonstrate empathy, show humility and genuinely care about others. Taking time to listen to associates and their ideas, learning something personal about subordinates and their families and asking for their opinions are wonderful examples of how to do this well.

Finally, getting degree feedback from your team about your leadership strengths and weaknesses is essential to creating good self awareness.

Outstanding leaders see the whole picture and do not get too focused on specific tasks or initiatives. They often have strong networks and consistently identify important trends early in their life cycle. They are very good at communicating a vision of the future and getting organizational buy-in. Strong leaders know their target customers, understand the organization's value proposition and also, its competitive weaknesses. They focus on enhancing core competencies of the organization and developing the skills and capabilities that will enhance their value proposition.

They are excellent at establishing clear goals and objectives for the organization, and for their direct subordinates. Importantly, they are also able to provide clear and convincing rationale that supports their vision of the future. To have courage requires confidence. The best leaders are very confident in themselves and their ideas, which allows them to be decisive.

But, they must be able to exude that confidence without conveying arrogance or intimidation! Great leaders have the ability to make tough decisions and are willing to take risks, even when conventional wisdom would dictate otherwise. They must be willing to stand alone if they believe in their convictions. This is directly related to their visionary skills, strategic thinking and their self confidence. They are also able to recognize when they need the expertise or knowledge of others and are not afraid to admit it.

Great leaders do not have to be great orators or exceptional writers. What is required is that they are inspirational and persuasive. They communicate in a way that generates buy-in and willing followers.

• "Oft Forgotten Leadership Fundamentals" by William R. Farrell.
• Japan And Asian Modernities (Japanese Studies Series).
• Encourage The Heart.

Good leaders must always be truthful, even delivering the bad news when appropriate. But, they generally exude a positive attitude and are seen as optimistic, even in the most troubling of times. Even if they do not have a professional background or training in sales, leaders often exhibit elements of effective selling skills.

They have the ability to advance their ideas in a logical and understandable way to all levels of the organization.

10 Principles of Effective and Authentic Leadership

Read Steve's Leadership Series. Great leaders must have outstanding team building skills. This requires first and foremost the ability to attract and retain top talent. Every great leader knows they cannot do it alone and that having the best talent enhances the opportunity for success. They know they need to build a team with complementary skill sets and experiences and constantly look to bring in people that know more than they do this is because they are confident.

A good leader is often more of a facilitator of the team, able to generate healthy discussions and generate consensus. Great leaders know that if the team believes in, and is committed to a strategy or plan, the chance of success goes up immensely. The team becomes passionate about doing what they said they would do. Conversely, when a team feels that the leader will force them to do what he or she thinks is best, innovation is lost and there is little passion.

The best leaders are highly organized and trust the team members to do their respective jobs. The leader becomes a delegator, setting clear expectations and providing on-going feedback. Finally, effective leaders regularly and publicly recognize others. They are quick to accept blame for failures, even when they may have not been directly responsible.