Everyone has moments, or even periods, of insecurity.
Situation One:
Once, about 15 years ago, I was struggling to
Communication
Behavior and Feedback – Top Five + One
Several posts have had a focus on behavior and giving frequent specific feedback.
These things are among the wisest a leader can do, and yet they can be quite uncommon. Here are five posts that deal with these issues, and the “plus one” is one of my favorite sources on the topic…
Communication – Top Five + One
Communication solves problems; lack of communication causes problems.
Communication is arguably the most critical skill we need to survive in the world, and leaders must master it.
Here are five posts to help.
What Three Things Make the Biggest Difference? (Part Three)
This week, we look at the third concept of “The Big Three.”
This is not new ground for this blog, and I encourage you to check out related posts:
Effective Feedback is About the Future
Leaders Model the Behavior they Expect
Attitude is not everything. Listen to Batman and focus on behavior…
Effective Leaders Stand Out (part two)
Last week, we covered the first four of nine simple things that an aspiring leader can do in order to stand out. Here are five more – I’m anxious for your opinions! 1) Whenever possible, communicate by phone or in person. Is the person you need to visit with in the same building? Walk up … Read more
Effective Leaders Stand Out (part one)
In preparation for a breakout session at an upcoming conference, I developed a list of ten things a leader can do to stand out and get noticed. Not in a “look at me!” kind of way, but in a way that will help the leader connect more to others, and to enable others to connect as well.
While all ten pointers are applicable to all potential leaders, there are four that newer, more fast-paced leaders, might relate to more than the experienced. So, those four this week, the rest next week. Here we go:
Effective Feedback is About the Future
The title is lifted verbatim from the tenets of Manager Tools, and the brilliant minds of Mark Horstman and Michael Auzenne. I encourage you to go to the source if you want to go deeper.
But the short version is this:
Any feedback on any behavior is most helpful to the individual and the organization if it is
Things successful leaders avoid saying (part 3)
Don’t say don’t.
Really. Two reasons- one is pretty esoteric and provokes skepticism in me, but the second is nearly self-evident:
1) Some research shows that the use of words/phrases involving “not” or even “-n’t” (like don’t) are subconsciously turned into the positive by the listener, because negative talk is rejected. So if a person is told “don’t be late!” they actually perceive “be late!”, increasing the likelihood of non-compliance.
Nervous about speaking in front of others?
Not all leaders love to speak in public. Here are five quick tips to soothe your nerves, and two book recommendations.
Two tips that take no time at all, but make a huge difference in the confidence you project and in your effectiveness:
Beware acting while stressed…
Something we talk about in Group Dynamic workshops is this: 80% of decisions are made based on emotion, not ration. Also, we tend to act less mature when stressed. The lessons? There are many.
One is this; when stressed, see if you can delay acting, or speaking, or addressing a situation until the stress passes. This will increase the likelihood of a better decision, and (more importantly) better interactions and relationships. Be nice.