The 3 C's for Leading in Tough Times

source : http://agentgenius.com/

As a Leader, you’re undoubtedly feeling pressure to get the most out of your team in these trying economic times. But it can be easy to push your people too hard or, worse, pass along your anxieties to them, causing a productivity backlash and lowering morale and motivation.

How to walk the fine line between getting everyone to pull their weight and keeping a cool head?

Professor Christopher Bones, dean of Henley Business School at the University of Reading in the U.K., suggests following three C's - communication, clarity, and commitment - to get through the recession both personally and professionally.

Communication:

Tell your staff what the current market conditions mean to your business and how big the problem truly is. If jobs or earnings are at risk, letting your team know the stakes can both explain the added pressure on them and encourage them to pull together to achieve success.

Clarity:

A clear plan of action is essential. As a Leader, it’s your job to look for new business markets or for opportunities to reduce operational costs. Depending on your organisational situation, you might even want to encourage brainstorming with your staff to help build engagement and allow employees a greater sense of control over their destinies.

Commitment:

When a plan is in place, allocate responsibility and accountability among all team members. Short weekly meetings allowing employees to report on progress and request help or advice can foster a common purpose and help reduce anxiety.

These guidelines form the sound basis for a management strategy even in prosperous periods, but they’re more critical as the financial forecasts become more gloomy.

Any other suggestions for leading in tough times? Share them in the comments.

Source : http://blogs.bnet.com/

"Tough times never last, but tough people do. "

Dr.Robert Schuller

Tip of the Month

How to Encourage Your Team Members to Stand Up and Lead
Source : http://www.nacada.ksu.edu/

To win in today's market, team members have to step up and be ready to take a leadership role. It is not easy to develop leadership skills in others. It's very important to also understand that some people do not share your goals and aspirations. Keep an open mind and learn to use different techniques to inspire different team members to stand up and lead.

Challenge

Issue a challenge. (In today's market environment, you probably have many challenges to issue!) Some people need a specific challenge to motivate them. By laying down a challenge, you also create a very clear and measurable goal for a staff member to achieve.

Appeal to noble motives

Many employees think that their work does not make a difference. By appealing to a team's noble motives, you can increase morale while also setting higher standards for your staff members.

Be empathetic

Always listen to another person's ideas and desires and be prepared to hear their point of view even when you disagree.

Evidence

Back up your ideas with proof. By providing evidence, you can give instant credibility to your ideas. If you have evidence, even staff members who have a different perspective will take notice.

Listen

Listen to what your staff members have to say. Some employees may not want to reach top corporate positions; instead, they may simply be content if their opinions and ideas are valued.

Ask questions

Instead of giving direct orders, ask questions to guide your staff members to think through the issues and come up with their own solutions.

Value your staff

Make your staff members feel genuinely important. Faced with the market challenges today, your employees must be reassured that their contribution and leadership DOES have a huge impact on the company's survival, stability, and growth.

"You have to water the flowers

you want to grow."

–Stephen R. Covey

Source : http://www.dalecarnegie.com/
The link provided by : Tania Roberts, TIL.

Leadership Fundamentals Action Plan

I am only one,
But still I am one.
I cannot do everything,
And because I cannot do everything
I will not refuse to do the something that I can do.

Edward Everett Hale

Dear Leaders,

As we all agreed during the session, the first fundamental of leadership is to BE FIRST and to be a role model to the people we lead. As leaders, we have the ability and authority to influence our people to greatness by setting the right pace, raising the standard and creating a conducive work environment.

Therefore, for things to change we as leaders must change the way we act, react, deal with our people and play our roles.

How do you make such changes happen? We know that ‘theory’ is neat and simple but to make it a reality is the hardest part. We also believe in incremental changes and know that change doesn't happen overnight.

In order to bring changes to the way we lead, we would like you to participate in the Leadership Fundamentals Action Plan by following the simple steps below :-

1. Identify at least 3 ideas from the list of ideas from the previous postings that you can implement immediately. (just click on the following links)

How to encourage people and create a good / conducive working environment?

How to be a Role Model and setting the right pace at workplace?

2. Please email them to zahidi.ishak@simedarby.co.nz for record and follow-up purposes not later than 14 March 2009

3. For the next 60 days implement your 3 chosen ways of setting the right pace or creating a positive environment, monitor the changes you see and then at the end of 60 days advise Zahidi what happened.

We believe that this initiative could be the first in a thousand steps to success. The choice is in our hands and as leaders, we need to be the first and lead by example.

Thanking you in advance for your participation in this programme and we look forward to hearing your success story.

Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.

LeoTolstoy

How to encourage people and create a good / conducive working environment?

Source : http://the-positive-manager.blogspot.com/

These ideas are focusing on how we as leaders can initiate activities that will help others to be positive, encourage staff to go extra mile willingly, recognise employee’s contribution and also create a happy and productive work environment.

Note : Ideas collected from Leadership Fundamentals sessions held in November / December 2008.

1. Recognise staff or team contributions / achievement such as Good Customer Feedback, additional effort by employees, etc. For example :-

- Give credit or thanks when it is due with reasons and explanations.

- Acknowledge and provide immediate encouragement for good work

- Share success to ensure the whole team is aware of the achievement and make everybody feel like they were part of the action. Let them know how it was achieved.

- Listen to the achiever as to how they achieved it.

- Congratulate all concerned and publish the achievements in notice board or Company Newsletter with employees photo and details.

“Many managers ignore or underestimate the power of praise.”
-Roger Flax,President, Motivational Systems

2. Constantly provide positive feedback to staff

3. Employee of the month award by staff members

4. Arrange for a team to present the results of their efforts to top management

5. Health & Safety Recognised

- Lunch shout for 3 months accidents free

6. Email acknowledgements of performance and cc to top management

7. Personalised birthday card from Manager

8. Organise Friday drinks – reflection of week events or could be organised on monthly basis

9. Merit Awards

10. Social event monthly – where were possible or tea talk for goal setting

11. Long service awards

12. Pat on the back

13. Welcome lunch for new employees

source : http://aquarius.lunarpages.com/

14. Celebrate small successes especially when the department / team achieve targets. In tight financial times, ongoing , meaningful rewards and recognition provide an effective, low cost way of raising morale and encouraging higher level of performance.

Here are the list of ideas on how to celebrate small success in the workplace.

- A personalised thank you card

- Allocate some budget and have a recognition event created by a peer group that decides on how they will celebrate the success. Invite the boss to attend the celebration

- Free lunch for a week

- $20 Voucher

- Fruit basket

- Favourite book or DVD

- A subscription to a magazine

- Extra long lunch break for a few days

- A mug filled with treats

- Morning tea shouts

- Drinks & BBQ Barbecue at end of month for a good month

- Time Off – finish early

- Tickets to sporting event or cinema

- Company merchandise, hats, t shirts , etc.

- Certificates of achievement

- Borrow vehicles

“Compensation is what you give people for doing the job they were hired to do. Recognition, on the other hand, celebrates an effort beyond the call of duty.”
- from How to Profit from Merchandise Incentives

How to be a Role Model and setting the right pace at workplace?

Ideas collected from Leadership Fundamentals sessions held in November / December 2008. These ideas are focusing on how we as leaders should carry ourselves and provide a good example to the people we lead.

1. Greet staff (immediate reports) every morning and thank them for turning up to work. Always greet staff pleasantly – be cheerful, with a warm smile and inquisitive.

2. Acknowledge the employee by their name instead of using a general greeting such as ‘Hi Buddy’, ‘Hi Mate’, etc.

3. Once in a while (once a month or fortnightly), welcome the employee at the entrance and thank them for turning up to work on time. Give them a snack bar or chocolate fish.

4. Demonstrate a positive demeanour. Always present a positive attitude and behaviour that is courteous, respectful, compassionate, and friendly. Make them feel valued. For example :-

- good personal presentation
- smiling
- take the time to talk to the employee (don’t rush)
- ignore negativity and promote positivity
- portray positive body language when dealing with employees : show interest in staff well being
- talk to all staff – don’t play favouritism
- be an advisor to staff – approachable
- provide support and guidance when required

5. Demonstrate effective communication . For example : -

- listen effectively – para phrase, seek clarification if necessary, give feedback
- don’t interfere when staff are talking
- maintain good eye contact
- use an appropriate tone of voice
- be highly observant – read moods

6. Lead by Example. For example :-

- show commitment : be punctual when you come to work or when attending meetings
- maintain work place and work area cleanliness and orderliness
- meet deadlines
- deliver on promises
- work hard – demonstrate additional effort in carrying out duties
- be organised – have a daily plan (goals) and prioritise work
- take responsibility
- show compassion
- share ideas
- be creative, innovative and always thinking outside the box
- admit when you are wrong
- be fair
- be an effective team player

7. Set objectives / goals which are realistic, attainable and achievable.

- share the objectives / goals with staff and get feedback to gauge their understanding
- Set a positive goal for the day.

8. Encourage sharing of ideas and open communication. For example :-

- ask for feedback
- listen to feedback
- encourage discussion with anyone
- be receptive and open with constructive criticism
- be willing to implement new and good ideas
- be prepared to change plan to suit unforeseen circumstances
- provide the outcome of discussion / implementation of ideas

Quotes of the Week :

“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more,
you are a LEADER”.

John Quincy Adams

Introduction - Leadership Fundamentals Follow - Up Programme

Source : http://www.extensor.co.uk/

Dear Leaders,

Firstly, it may not be too late to wish you a ‘Happy New Year 2009’ and hope that you had great Christmas and New Year celebrations with family and friends.

As you know, we completed a series of Leadership Fundamental Training at the end of last year and being one of the participants, we would like to thank and congratulate you for completing the programme. Obviously, your contribution has enhanced the learning process and benefited others.

As a continuation of our effort to encourage continuous learning in our Organisation, we are pleased to bring you ‘Leadership Fundamentals Follow-Up Programme’ and welcome you to our ‘Leadership Fundamentals Blog’, the main platform or communication channel for this programme.

The objectives of this follow-up programme are as follows :-

- To identify the key learning outcome from the session and encourage participants to establish an action plan in order to put things into practice.

- To identify further development required by participants.

- To support participants’ learning process in enhancing their Leadership Skills by providing learning material, tips, feedback, etc.

- To act as a platform for sharing best practices among the participants.

This blog is developed and managed by SDMG (NZ) Limited HR Department and will be updated on a fortnighly basis.We welcome any ideas and comments in order to make it more informative and effective. Should you have any comments or inputs, please leave your name and contact email or you may email directly to zahidi.ishak@simedarby.co.nz

We are looking forward for your continuous support and participation in this programme and thanking you in advance for visiting our blog.

As a start, we have compiled a lot of ideas which was contributed by the participants throughout the sessions and will be published in the next posting.The ideas are based on how Leaders can play their role in order to create a good working environment. We believed that the ideas are simple, cost effective, practical and could give positive impact to the people that we lead.

Till then,

Happy working and ...

source : http://www.extrememortman.com