Management Excellence Updates for January 5, 2011:My latest e-Newsletter with subscriber-only content is out, and I've constructed a new bookstore (without harming any bricks or mortar), featuring my recommendations in leadership & management, strategy, innovation, marketing, history and biography. Back Thursday with my regularly scheduled blog content!
While it is natural for us to focus on resolutions as we approach the new year, the best leaders understand that improved performance requires an unrelenting, year-long focus on personal and professional development. Instead of joining the masses in pursuit of a ridiculous list of soon-to-be forgotten resolutions (along with those fitness goals), consider this approach to continuous leadership improvement:
The new world of marketing frightens many experienced marketing professionals. For those accustomed to believing that they have some form of inalienable right to control everything that is said or published about their firm in the name of “managing the brand,” these are difficult times, indeed.
Something funny happened on the way to producing and writing two blogs. I discovered that I am only capable of managing one competently. Oh, and I'm certain there are at least a few management lessons here in my blogging misfire.
Confidence is contagious. Arrogance will clear a room like rotting fish wrapped in newspaper and left to cure sans refrigeration. And lack of confidence is guaranteed to get you stepped on during most days. The perception by managers and executives of where you fall on the continuum of not self assure at all on one end to arrogant on the other is important. You of course, want to fall right in the sweet spot of appropriately confident. Here are 8 suggestions to help you develop and showcase your self-confidence.
Your decision-making style and pace directly impact your team’s performance. Wait for perfect clarity before putting your stamp on a key decision and you will have metaphorically held your team hostage. Jump too fast and make off-the-cuff calls and your errors and reversals will climb.
One of the most difficult transitions for any professional is moving from team member to formal team manager or leader. If you are on the receiving end of this positive acknowledgement of your capabilities, be prepared to deal with some unexpected headaches as you navigate these deceivingly treacherous waters.
After spending several years of my life dedicated to helping motivated professionals in a variety of fields (product managers, project managers, technical professionals, non-profit professionals, marketers, first-time leaders) discover and develop as leaders and senior contributors, I recognized that I needed to find a platform that enabled me to reach more people faster and more efficiently and affordably than the horribly inefficient and expensive traditional training model. And I did not want to sacrifice the personal contact.
Great project managers are also great leaders. The best of the project managers are senior contributors that understand their role is more about helping the group succeed than it is about conducting status meetings and revising and distributing reports. My new e-Book, Leadership and the Project Manager—Developing the Skills that Fuel High Performance, was written to serve as a “Quick-Start” to developing as a senior contributor for anyone (certified or not) that is charged with leading and managing projects.
Like bad coffee, I’m not particularly fond of leading by consensus or even seeking consensus as a decision-making tool. I’ve long viewed managing by consensus as a “Tyranny of Mediocrity” approach to leading and making decisions. In seeking consensus, compromises are made that eliminate the more radical, revolutionary innovations and settle on solutions that make as many parties as possible happy.
