Those who look back and reflect upon the start-up period in their first leadership role will frequently describe this stage as having been awkward or uncomfortable. The transition from individual contributor to supervisor or manager is abrupt for many and lonely for most. Building your priorities and daily activities around the mantra, Engage, Inform, Inspire, can help you cultivate the good habits of effective leaders.
There’s a must-read article that appeared at Fast Company a few months ago by Aaron Levie, entitled, The Simplicity Thesis. The short form is that in this world of increasing complexity, the best opportunities are for those firms, products and services that are minimally complex (simple). The same goes for those of us leading others and managing our organizations.
One of the most common tripping points of first-time leaders is to mistakenly assume that they are the geocentric center of their team’s universe. Adopt the misguided belief in a Ptolemaic view of the galaxy you lead in, and expect your team members to do everything possible to escape your gravitational pull.
Every professional faces important "moments of truth" as they navigate through their work days. Whether it's the invitation to speak at the board meeting, the opportunity to connect one-on-one with the CEO or, a tough feedback conversation with a team member, you need to be ready to succeed in these High Value/High Risk (HV/HR) situations. Here are 5 steps to helping improve your effectiveness:
When opportunity knocks, all too often our gut reaction is to hesitate. In more than a few situations, we might be better off telling our gut to shut-up and let our feet answer by moving forward.
Meetings are interesting beasts to deal with as a new leader. Some (OK, very few) are incredibly productive and many (most) are gigantic and misdirected time sinks. Here are 15 ideas to help you develop some effective meeting habits:
Nothing is as important to your success as a leader as the talent you bring to bear in support of the work of your organization. Here are 8 ideas to stimulate your talent acquisition thinking and promote action:
Senior leaders value employees who are proven operators AND who are capable of looking at the bigger picture and providing help in developing the way forward for the business. Your ability to cultivate both sets of skills will help you strengthen your professional value proposition and help differentiate you from your peers. This differentiation might just be the meaningful issue for that next promotion. Here are 6 Question Sets to jump-start your strategic curiosity:
I once inherited a team previously managed by a person who reportedly filled her days with conference calls and meetings, but somehow never seemed to have time to meet with her team members to hear about their ideas and concerns or to discuss professional development opportunities. Paying attention was not a part of this manager’s style. The process of engaging with this new team taught me some important lessons about leading, including how critical it is for us to truly pay attention to our team members... .
Whether you are responsible for the work of others or your “team” stares back at you in the morning mirror, there are many key skills that you must cultivate to help differentiate you from your internal competitors and to successfully grow your career. Professional Presence, is one of those slightly squishy to define but critically important topics. Professional presence is that amalgam of qualities…confidence, authenticity, positive body language, proper vocal management, empathy etc. that others perceive in you and about you. Here are 6 Key Questions and 5 ideas for assessing and deliberately strengthening your professional presence:
