Lolly Daskal's Blog, page 113
February 4, 2017
12 Signs You Have the Mindset to Be a Great Leader
Becoming a great leader is a work in progress.
There are things that will accelerate your leadership and things that will hold you back. I believe that everybody has within them the potential to be a great leader. But it all starts, and ends, with mindset.
As a coach to top executives in leading industries, I’ve been able to observe the traits that the best leaders share. Here are some of the most significant. If this sounds like you, you could be on your way to greatness. And even if it doesn’t, you can get there—but you may need to adjust your thinking first.
1. Curiosity
Great leaders are always curious. They never turn down the opportunity to learn new things, and they know that an opportunity to learn can come at any time. A curious mind and love of learning are part of any great leadership.
2. Positivity
Great leaders know the importance of positivity. When you have to deal with the reality of life it can be easy to become pessimistic—but great leadership requires a mindset that can turn what is bad into good, what is negative into positive.
3. The ability to listen
A great leader is a great listener. Many of us who know the importance of communication focus on speaking and writing well but forget about the critical skill of listening. Great leadership means making yourself into a great listener and encouraging others to share their thoughts.
4. Openness
Great leaders are open—to people, ideas and opportunities. If you allow people to come to you with their thoughts and ideas and visions and you listen and you take it all to heart, you have the right mindset for great leadership.
5. Empathy
Empathy is among the most important leadership skills—it allows leaders to connect and quickly tune in to how others are feeling. Showing care and compassion to others is part of great leadership.
6. Resourcefulness
Great leaders know how to tap into resources. As John Quincy Adams said, “If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.” Leaders know how to use whatever’s at hand and make the best of any situation. If people look to you in times of crisis, you have the resourceful mindset of a great leader.
7. A good relationship with change
Great leaders know change is inevitable. They’re ready for anything the future brings because they embrace the very concept of change, and they never waste time trying to uphold the status quo. Great leadership means rolling with the changes.
8. Communicativeness
The best leaders communicate clearly and concisely. Whether it’s your long-range vision, your thoughts and opinions on a current situation, or even bad news, you need to communicate with sincerity, transparency and feeling.
9. Connection
Great leaders know the importance of connectedness. They work hard on creating and maintaining great relationships; they make it a priority to inspire, teach, support and encourage others. if you are a great networker because you genuinely love connecting with people, you have the mindset of a great leader.
10. Confidence
Confidence is important for great leadership. If you accept that you are accountable for your own actions and behaviors and you are not into the blame game, if you have the confidence to admit when you are wrong and stand up when you’re right, you have the mindset of a great leader.
11. Conviction
Values and convictions matter in great leadership. That means you know who you are and what you believe in, you’re committed to your values and you live your life according to those values. People feel inspired by your commitment and passion and will seek you out to connect.
12. Solution-seeking
Solutions are important to great leadership, because problems are everywhere. A future orientation will lead you to look outside the square to search for solutions, and when you find solutions you have the mindset of a great leader.
Lead from within:
Great leadership comes from having a great mindset, so pay attention to what you think before it becomes how you act.
Additional articles you might enjoy:
Why Great Leaders Expect Everyone to Be Great
These 13 Things Will Kill Great Leadership
The Best Free Leadership Advice You’ll Ever Get
How to Tell You’re Dumbing Down Your Leadership
12 of the Most Dangerous Leadership Mindset
Photo Credit: Getty Images
The post 12 Signs You Have the Mindset to Be a Great Leader appeared first on Lolly Daskal.
January 31, 2017
The Sobering Realities Every Leader Must Face
In leadership, as in all things, there are tough realities we all have to face.
We can wish it were otherwise, and we can work to make it otherwise to the extent we are able, but whatever the situation, you’re never well served by ignoring what exists now.
There are times when leadership feels like a problem to be solved and other times when it feels like a reality to be experienced.
Here are some sobering realities you’re likely to face at some point in your leadership:
You don’t always get the credit you deserve (or think you deserve). if you think leadership is about gaining recognition and glory for what you accomplish, think again. It’s far more often about giving credit to others and acknowledging their contributions. You may feel you deserve more, but that’s not how it works—and the faster you can face that reality, the less disappointed you will feel. It’s the leader who can lead just as passionately toward a noble cause or a compelling vision while getting little credit (but more than their share of criticism) who’s on track for success.
Leadership can be really lonely. To be a leader comes with great responsibility. Many people look up to you to always know the answers and provide direction. But who can you turn to when you need inspiration or motivation? The reality is that leadership is often a lonely and isolated experience. The antidote is to create for yourself a inner core group that supports you and is there for you.
The pressure is continuous, and it’s exhausting. A leader has to be on top of their game 24/7. You can hardly let your guard down, because people are counting on you and there is always a lot to get done. Sometimes the sheer pressure of leadership can be utterly exhausting. If you don’t want to burn out, learn to find a balance between your leadership and your private life— and be sure to make the things that are important to you a priority.
Your mindset affects not only you but also those around you. Keeping a positive outlook is not an option but a necessity. As a leader, you must keep a mindset that’s optimistic and positive, because people are relying on you. If your attitude is off, it will affect everyone around you. Do everything you can to maintain a positive outlook, because negativity causes unnecessary disruption and turmoil among those you lead.
Authenticity is strength. If you’re reluctant to embrace authenticity, you may have subscribed to the idea that it’s a point of vulnerability and therefore not a smart move. It’s certainly true that your authenticity will make you vulnerable, but here’s the surprising truth: that vulnerability can be the best thing you have going for your leadership. It helps you stand out of the crowd and shine as who you really are—not who others want you to be. Even in an environment where authenticity isn’t valued, the best leaders know that being real is a strength.
Sobering realities are a part of everyone’s learning, in leadership as in any other field. And at some point in the tenure of your leadership, you realize that it’s not the hard realities but what you do about them that truly matters.
Lead from within: Never try to escape your realities. Take them on and make them everything you want them to be. Because a bad leader can destroy good people.
Additional articles you might enjoy:
Why Great Leaders Expect Everyone to Be Great
These 13 Things Will Kill Great Leadership
The Best Free Leadership Advice You’ll Ever Get
How to Tell You’re Dumbing Down Your Leadership
12 of the Most Dangerous Leadership Mindsets
For coaching, consulting, workshops, and speaking. Please feel free to contact us.
Photo Credit: Getty Images
The post The Sobering Realities Every Leader Must Face appeared first on Lolly Daskal.
January 24, 2017
How to Be a Real Leader and Great Manager
From time to time through the years, I’ve written on the difference between leadership and management.
I am revisiting the subject now because it’s not enough to understand that leadership and management are two different things.
I believe that the two are complementary; to be truly effective, you need both.
Of course we do have defined tasks as leaders, and managers have a specific role to play too. But that doesn’t mean that the two functions are easily separated.
People look to managers not just to assign them a task but also to define a purpose for them—something that’s usually a role of leadership.
And managers organize workers not just to maximize efficiency but to nurture skills, develop talent and inspire results, again showing overlap with leadership.
Here are seven ways that management and leadership roles can complement each other:
1. Leaders focus on motivating people while managers focus on tasks, systems and structures to provide inspiration.
The success of leaders is measured by the relationships they develop and how they can engage and bond with people. The success of managers, on the other hand, is measured by how well they deal with daily tasks of running the business—budget control, customer service, deadlines, procedures processes. A balance of both is vital to motivating and inspiring people.
2. Leaders seek to challenge while managers try to maintain the status quo.
Leaders achieve success by consistently and continually challenging so they scale up, move the needle and place themselves ahead of their time. Managers work to keep things the same so they can have the space to grow and take chances. Some may view management as a controlling function, but the managers allow for new things to happen even as they maintain order. Different techniques but similar goals.
3. Leaders seek to innovate while managers look to copy.
Leaders work in the spheres of innovation and creativity—thinking outside the box, trying new things, taking risks. Managers make sure that the team can consistently repeat what they’ve done well. To maintain overall success, you need to copy with some as a backup when innovation and creativity may fail you.
4. Leaders take a long-range perspective while managers take a short-term view.
Leaders are oriented to think of the future and assess their plans, visions and goals in terms of where they want to take others. Managers ensure completion of the day-to-day tasks that allow organizations to reach the long-range goals. You can’t aim at the horizon if the stuff at your feet is out of control.
5. Leaders use emotional intelligence while managers are more concerned with intellect.
Leaders understand the value of emotional intelligence and self-awareness. They develop skills in empathy, motivation and self-control. Managers are more concerned with analytical thinking and technical skills. Of course, teams and organizations need both perspectives to thrive.
6. Leaders explore opportunities while managers avoid risk.
Leaders know how to seize an opportunity. They’re instinctively able to assess target markets, resources required and the level of risk, and they understand that even if they fail and they face hard times, each experience provides great opportunities. Managers tend to avoid risk. They’re much more concerned with making sure their objectives are met and risk is avoided, but they understand the importance of taking measured risks to scale and innovate.
7. Leaders inspire trust while the managers rely on control.
Leaders are all about earning trust, building trust and becoming trustworthy, if you are to follow someone into an unknown compelling future, you need to be able to trust and believe in them. Managers are focused on cultivating and maintaining control, making sure everything runs smoothly and according to plan and that nothing deviates off course. Managers believe that by relying on control they can organize people—not just to maximize efficiency, but to nurture skills, develop talent and get results.
As always, there’s a clear difference between real leaders and great managers. But with today’s new methods of business development and the ever-changing climate of our economy, there’s more room than ever for the roles of managers and leaders to complement each other, with a shared goal of respecting, appreciating, and validating those who work hard and bring their best to what they do.
Lead From Within: As leaders and managers, we have to understand that the differences in the two roles allow for the emergence of skills that will make each more successful.
Additional articles you might enjoy:
The Difference Between Leaders and Managers
Why Great Leaders Expect Everyone to Be Great
The Best Leaders Are Great Coaches
21 Things New Leaders Should Do
Your Leadership Requires You to Have Guts
Photo Credit: Getty Images
The post How to Be a Real Leader and Great Manager appeared first on Lolly Daskal.
How to Be a Real Leader And Great Manager
From time to time through the years, I’ve written on the difference between leadership and management.
I am revisiting the subject now because it’s not enough to understand that leadership and management are two different things.
I believe that the two are complementary; to be truly effective, you need both.
Of course we do have defined tasks as leaders, and managers have a specific role to play too. But that doesn’t mean that the two functions are easily separated.
People look to managers not just to assign them a task but also to define a purpose for them—something that’s usually a role of leadership.
And managers organize workers not just to maximize efficiency but to nurture skills, develop talent and inspire results, again showing overlap with leadership.
Here are seven ways that management and leadership roles can complement each other:
1. Leaders focus on motivating people while managers focus on tasks, systems and structures to provide inspiration. The success of leaders is measured by the relationships they develop and how they can engage and bond with people. The success of managers, on the other hand, is measured by how well they deal with daily tasks of running the business—budget control, customer service, deadlines, procedures processes. A balance of both is vital to motivating and inspiring people.
2. Leaders seek to challenge while managers try to maintain the status quo. Leaders achieve success by consistently and continually challenging so they scale up, move the needle and place themselves ahead of their time. Managers work to keep things the same so they can have the space to grow and take chances. Some may view management as a controlling function, but the managers allow for new things to happen even as they maintain order. Different techniques but similar goals.
3. Leaders seek to innovate while managers look to copy. Leaders work in the spheres of innovation and creativity—thinking outside the box, trying new things, taking risks. Managers make sure that the team can consistently repeat what they’ve done well. To maintain overall success, you need to copy with some as a backup when innovation and creativity may fail you.
4. Leaders take a long-range perspective while managers take a short-term view. Leaders are oriented to think of the future and assess their plans, visions and goals in terms of where they want to take others. Managers ensure completion of the day-to-day tasks that allow organizations to reach the long-range goals. You can’t aim at the horizon if the stuff at your feet is out of control.
5. Leaders use emotional intelligence while managers are more concerned with intellect. Leaders understand the value of emotional intelligence and self-awareness. They develop skills in empathy, motivation and self-control. Managers are more concerned with analytical thinking and technical skills. Of course, teams and organizations need both perspectives to thrive.
6. Leaders explore opportunities while managers avoid risk. Leaders know how to seize an opportunity. They’re instinctively able to assess target markets, resources required and the level of risk, and they understand that even if they fail and they face hard times, each experience provides great opportunities. Managers tend to avoid risk. They’re much more concerned with making sure their objectives are met and risk is avoided, but they understand the importance of taking measured risks to scale and innovate.
7. Leaders inspire trust while the managers rely on control. Leaders are all about earning trust, building trust and becoming trustworthy, if you are to follow someone into an unknown compelling future, you need to be able to trust and believe in them. Managers are focused on cultivating and maintaining control, making sure everything runs smoothly and according to plan and that nothing deviates off course. Managers believe that by relying on control they can organize people—not just to maximize efficiency, but to nurture skills, develop talent and get results.
As always, there’s a clear difference between real leaders and great managers. But with today’s new methods of business development and the ever-changing climate of our economy, there’s more room than ever for the roles of managers and leaders to complement each other, with a shared goal of respecting, appreciating, and validating those who work hard and bring their best to what they do.
Lead From Within: As leaders and managers, we have to understand that the differences in the two roles allow for the emergence of skills that will make each more successful.
Additional articles you might enjoy:
The Difference Between Leaders and Managers
Why Great Leaders Expect Everyone to Be Great
The Best Leaders Are Great Coaches
21 Things New Leaders Should Do
Your Leadership Requires You to Have Guts
For coaching, consulting, workshops and speaking. Please feel free to contact us.
Photo Credit: Getty Images
The post How to Be a Real Leader And Great Manager appeared first on Lolly Daskal.
January 17, 2017
21 Things New Leaders Should Do
It’s easy to find lists of all the things that leaders shouldn’t do. Here are the positive steps you can take to build successful leadership.
Especially at the beginning of a leadership journey, it’s easy to focus on all the things you’re not supposed to do—don’t be inaccessible, don’t play favorites, don’t build your authority on fear. And those things are important, but if you focus exclusively on the don’ts you may have a hard time moving forward.
Here are 21 positive steps that will help you become the kind of the leader you can take great pride in, the kind people will honor with their followership.
1. Keep tabs on expectations. As a new leader you shouldn’t take for granted your new title or your role for granted. Just because you are the leader doesn’t mean you have to have it all figured out.
2. Grow your competencies and develop your skills. As a new leader studying every day is important, if you are doing just enough to get by, the day will come that it’s no longer good enough.
3. Listen to learn. Odds are that many—if not all—of the people on your team know more about various aspects of the business than you do. As a new leader respect the expertise of others.
4. Humility goes a long way. As a new leader humility is a skill that must acquired and practiced over and over again.
5. Be the missing link. As a new leader recognize that although your team may be very capable, you were placed in that job for a reason. You bring a perspective that the team may lack. Know what it is, and make sure they know what it is too.
6. Speak well of everyone. As a new leader, don’t badmouth upper management to your team or your team to upper management. It won’t score points with either side.
7. Protect and shield. As a new leader guard your people from unnecessary hassles from upstairs or outside, and from any unnecessary drama.
8. Ground yourself in trust. As a new leader make sure your people know that trust—giving it, earning it and building it together—is a top priority for the team.
9. Gain a sixth sense. As a new leader tune into your perceptions enough to be able to walk into a room and sense the morale of the occupants.
10. Know what is and isn’t important. As a new leader ignore trivial infractions and let them go unless they are linked to something bigger. Never ignore major violations.
11. Be the meditator, the coach, the mentor: As a new leader act promptly to squelch dissension, disputes, discord and disagreements.
12. Speak with candor. As a new leader avoid sarcasm, dishonesty, or gossip. Don’t let anything you say in the moment interfere with your reputation as someone who’s unfailingly candid, honest, and kind.
13. Strive to build a workplace in which respect is the centerpiece. As a new leader it requires that you and everyone on your team focus on both giving respect and earning it.
14. Make character matter. As a new leader make integrity and character the foundation of your leadership. Remember that you’re always leading by example.
15. Measure your actions. As a new leader evaluate everything you do to determine whether you’re having the effect you want to. If you don’t already know, learn how to use data to better understand your wins and misses.
16. Know what is urgent and what is not. As a new leader give a sense of urgency to tasks that are truly important. If you don’t convey it, how will they know?
17. Be willing to admit you don’t know. As a new leader just because you are the leader doesn’t mean you have all the answers. When you don’t know, say so—then make it a point to inquire, study and learn.
18. Treat everyone with courtesy. As a new leader treat people as you want to be treated.
19. Stay focused on mission. As a new leader keep your mission at the front of everything you do, no matter what distractions and outside influences enter the picture.
20. Have a low tolerance level for intolerance. As a new leader don’t EVER put up with bigots, bullies, bastards, weasels, snakes, swine, slimeballs or sleaze balls.
21. Lead by example. As a new leader this is where your leadership will ultimately be measured. So lead by example always.
Lead From Within: Before you are a leader success is all about growing yourself, when you become a leader success is all about growing others.
Additional articles you might enjoy:
Why Great Leaders Expect Everyone to Be Great
These 13 Things Will Kill Great Leadership
The Best Free Leadership Advice You’ll Ever Get
How to Tell You’re Dumbing Down Your Leadership
12 of the Most Dangerous Leadership Mindsets
For coaching, consulting, workshops, and speaking. Please feel free to contact us.
Photo Credit: Getty Images
The post 21 Things New Leaders Should Do appeared first on Lolly Daskal.
January 10, 2017
5 Leadership Habits That Make You Look Unprofessional
Have you ever seen a colleague, a boss, or a leader display unprofessional behavior and wonder how they maintain their position?
It might make you wonder whether anything you do comes across that way.
No matter how much education and self-awareness you may have, it’s possible that your professionalism is being undermined by unconscious behavior.
If you’re not doing as well as you’d like, if your career hasn’t scaled to the heights you’ve always expected of yourself, it may be that unprofessional habits—even subtle ones—are limiting your success.
Pay close attention to your own behavior and analyze it as you would someone else’s.
Here are five of the most common unprofessional habits that damage promising careers:
1. Wandering eyes.
It’s one of those little cues that can happen to the best of us without our even noticing. When someone is speaking to you and going on a bit long, or when you disagree with someone you subtly avert your eyes, looking across the room, maybe glancing at a clock or watch or paying attention to something else going on in the background. Letting your eyes wander sends a unspoken message that your mind is wandering as well and clearly signals your disengagement, no matter what you say. Stay focused on the person who’s speaking to show you’re paying attention.
2. Always being the expert.
We all know someone who considers themselves an expert on every subject—even though it’s often clear to everyone that they don’t know what they’re talking about. It’s a great way to make sure your ideas are never taken seriously and you’re dismissed as someone who likes the sound of their own voice. It’s damaging in another way as well: if you’re always speaking, you’re never learning. Listen to what others have to say and acknowledge when you’re outside your range of knowledge.
3. Talking down to others.
There is no quicker way to earn mistrust and ill will than talking down to someone. In trying to elevate yourself, you instead create a huge divide between you and the person you’re talking with (and everybody else within range). Making others feel small goes beyond being unprofessional, it’s rude and morally questionable. Especially when you’re explaining a new concept to someone, take great care to keep your tone and word choice respectful and even.
4. Always being late.
Life is busy and time is fleeting. Few of us can honestly say we’ve never been late. But being known as someone who’s habitually late tells others that you respect only your own time, and not the time of others. Being on time, is a courtesy you give to others, and it says, I respect you. Being late is not a bad habit, it’s a choice one makes. if you are chronically late, you are chronically rude.
5. Using ”&*#$@!” language.
While this should be common sense, its surprising how many professionals also believe that the use of profanities is acceptable in a professional setting. the tongue has no bones, but is strong enough to break a heart, so we always must be careful of our words. Regardless of what line of work you do, who your colleagues are, it is never a good habit to use language that is inappropriate, and that is true in professional or personal life. sometimes the sheer use of a exploit language will take away from the essence of what you want to say. Speak with conviction then deliver what you have to say with passion, this has the same effect.
Lead From Within: As leaders it’s important to remember that your behavior is the mirror in which you either come across as professional or unprofessional.
Additional articles you might enjoy:
How to Build a Business That’s Good for Everyone
Why Great Leaders Expect Everyone to Be Great
These 13 Things Will Kill Great Leadership
The Best Free Leadership Advice You’ll Ever Get
How to Tell You’re Dumbing Down Your Leadership
12 of the Most Dangerous Leadership Mindsets
Photo Credit: Getty Images
The post 5 Leadership Habits That Make You Look Unprofessional appeared first on Lolly Daskal.
5 Leadership Habits That Make You Look Unprofessional
Have you ever seen a colleague, a boss, or a leader display unprofessional behavior and wonder how they maintain their position?
It might make you wonder whether anything you do comes across that way.
No matter how much education and self-awareness you may have, it’s possible that your professionalism is being undermined by unconscious behavior.
If you’re not doing as well as you’d like, if your career hasn’t scaled to the heights you’ve always expected of yourself, it may be that unprofessional habits—even subtle ones—are limiting your success.
Pay close attention to your own behavior and analyze it as you would someone else’s.
Here are five of the most common unprofessional habits that damage promising careers:
1. Wandering eyes. It’s one of those little cues that can happen to the best of us without our even noticing. When someone is speaking to you and going on a bit long, or when you disagree with someone you subtly avert your eyes, looking across the room, maybe glancing at a clock or watch or paying attention to something else going on in the background. Letting your eyes wander sends a unspoken message that your mind is wandering as well and clearly signals your disengagement, no matter what you say. Stay focused on the person who’s speaking to show you’re paying attention.
2. Always being the expert. We all know someone who considers themselves an expert on every subject—even though it’s often clear to everyone that they don’t know what they’re talking about. It’s a great way to make sure your ideas are never taken seriously and you’re dismissed as someone who likes the sound of their own voice. It’s damaging in another way as well: if you’re always speaking, you’re never learning. Listen to what others have to say and acknowledge when you’re outside your range of knowledge.
3. Talking down to others. There is no quicker way to earn mistrust and ill will than talking down to someone. In trying to elevate yourself, you instead create a huge divide between you and the person you’re talking with (and everybody else within range). Making others feel small goes beyond being unprofessional, it’s rude and morally questionable. Especially when you’re explaining a new concept to someone, take great care to keep your tone and word choice respectful and even.
4. Always being late. Life is busy and time is fleeting. Few of us can honestly say we’ve never been late. But being known as someone who’s habitually late tells others that you respect only your own time, and not the time of others. Being on time, is a courtesy you give to others, and it says, I respect you. Being late is not a bad habit, it’s a choice one makes. if you are chronically late, you are chronically rude.
5. Using ”&*#$@!” language: While this should be common sense, its surprising how many professionals also believe that the use of profanities is acceptable in a professional setting. the tongue has no bones, but is strong enough to break a heart, so we always must be careful of our words. Regardless of what line of work you do, who your colleagues are, it is never a good habit to use language that is inappropriate, and that is true in professional or personal life. sometimes the sheer use of a exploit language will take away from the essence of what you want to say. Speak with conviction then deliver what you have to say with passion, this has the same effect.
Lead From Within: As leaders it’s important to remember that your behavior is the mirror in which you either come across as professional or unprofessional.
Additional articles you might enjoy:
How to Build a Business That’s Good for Everyone
Why Great Leaders Expect Everyone to Be Great
These 13 Things Will Kill Great Leadership
The Best Free Leadership Advice You’ll Ever Get
How to Tell You’re Dumbing Down Your Leadership
12 of the Most Dangerous Leadership Mindsets
For coaching, consulting, workshops, and speaking. Please feel free to contact us.
Photo Credit: Getty Images
The post 5 Leadership Habits That Make You Look Unprofessional appeared first on Lolly Daskal.
January 3, 2017
The Best Leaders Are Great Coaches
Great leadership is made up of numerous different elements and roles, which come together differently in different leadership styles. One role that’s often overlooked is that of serving as a coach.
If you’ve ever played or trained under a great coach, you already understand how vast their influence can be.
The best leaders, like the best coaches, give those around them permission to succeed and know how to help them reach their potential.
Here are some of the most important coaching ideas shared by great leaders—ideas that can benefit anyone’s leadership in any field:
Communicate with wisdom. As a coach and leader, you need exceptional communication skills. Your words should make people sit up, listen and feel inspired to act.
Challenge the unchallenged. It’s important to know how to challenge others without making them feel criticized or scorned.
Raise the bar. Set and maintain high personal standards. Keep raising the bar so others can follow suit.
Invest in teamwork. Teach those around you to value great collaboration even more than individual achievement. Demonstrate the truth of TEAM: Together Everyone Achieves More
Encourage boldness. Encourage others to make mistakes and take bold moves. Nothing great was ever achieved by not being courageous.
Embrace diversity. Understand and take to heart the value of diversity and take advantage of every opportunity to demonstrate and attest to its importance.
View people in terms of their potential. Recognize the unrealized potential in those around you. Even more important, help them see it for themselves.
Be available. Whatever your position, build a reputation as someone who’s approachable and quick to help.
Accumulate resources. Develop an extensive network both within and outside your organization. Make it available as a resource for others, not just yourself.
Provide solutions. Learn to seek out and develop win-win solutions and teach those skills to others.
Be an optimist. Cultivate an optimistic outlook that guides you to focus on the possibilities and connections that others might miss.
Create a compelling vision. Have a well-developed personal vision that you can communicate clearly and with inspiration. Present your vision in a way that encourages others to do the same.
Coaches are great leaders because they know how to unlock potential and motivate people to maximize their performance. In short, they help others learn to be their best. And that’s what leadership is all about.
Lead from within: Great leadership isn’t about what you accomplish yourself; it’s about what you inspire others to do.
Additional articles you might enjoy:
How to Build a Business That’s Good for Everyone
Why Great Leaders Expect Everyone to Be Great
These 13 Things Will Kill Great Leadership
The Best Free Leadership Advice You’ll Ever Get
How to Tell You’re Dumbing Down Your Leadership
12 of the Most Dangerous Leadership Mindsets
For coaching, consulting, workshops, and speaking. Please feel free to contact us.
Photo Credit: Getty Images
The post The Best Leaders Are Great Coaches appeared first on Lolly Daskal.
December 20, 2016
How to Build a Business That’s Good for Everyone
With so many businesses barely getting by, everyone wants to know the secret to make their business good for everyone, and how they can build a company that can thrive.
At the core of every business success it’s important to make sure that your employees are engaged and your customers are satisfied.
As a leadership coach and business consultant, I’ve seen lots of companies make it and lots of companies struggle. And from my experience, the ones that truly thrive share some key principles.
Here are the most important:
Make it personal. There’s a misconception that business and the personal should never mix—but the most successful companies create a personal culture, one where both employees and customers know they matter. That means getting to know them and creating mutually beneficial relationships with meaningful connection and engagement.
Good communication connects everyone. If you want an organizational culture where people are working hard to achieve the same goals, communication is key—team to team, team to board, customers to leadership—in every direction and at every level.
Surround yourself with A+ players. Steve Jobs always used to say to surround yourself with A+ players, because the best players always surround themselves with better players than themselves. The same is true for companies. Make sure your organization has highly talented people and treat them well so they will remain loyal and dedicated to the purpose and mission. When you surround yourself with the best you thrive on excellence.
Under promise- over deliver. Whatever you do, whatever product or service you are providing, make it the best out there. Do it better than anyone else to a ridiculous degree. Build and maintain the best relationship with those you serve. Deliver more than you promise to keep them with you.
Grow your team. Once you have a team of excellent people in place, the smart thing is to keep them there. The best companies make sure they have training and development programs that help people grow and move forward in their career path, because that’s how you retain a great team.
Make your company a great place to work. Work is where people spend most of their time, so make your company a place where people feel motivated and inspired and they can have fun. Create an environment where people enjoy coming to work. A culture build on fun and excitement gives people the energy to outperform their own potential.
Make a difference. If the aim of your company is to make money, that’s great, but it won’t speak to the hearts and souls of your people. It doesn’t give people anything to be inspired by. But if your business improves the lives of others—if you’re providing solutions that make selling and service the same thing—your team and your customers will be far more engaged. The results? A stable, energized team, loyal customers, and great grassroots advertising through word of mouth and social media.
To create a business that thrives you have to make it a company that is good for everyone.
Lead From Within: Bottom line: When people are happy- when customers are satisfied companies succeed.
Additional articles you might enjoy:
Why Great Leaders Expect Everyone to Be Great
These 13 Things Will Kill Great Leadership
The Best Free Leadership Advice You’ll Ever Get
How to Tell You’re Dumbing Down Your Leadership
12 of the Most Dangerous Leadership Mindsets
For coaching, consulting, workshops, and speaking. Please feel free to contact us.
Photo Credit: Getty Images
The post How to Build a Business That’s Good for Everyone appeared first on Lolly Daskal.
December 13, 2016
7 Habits That Are Destroying Your Ability to Lead
Whether you are a manager, supervisor, entrepreneur or leader, it is your leadership abilities that will ultimately dictate your professional success or failure.
That means you need to identify which habits are working for you and which aren’t, and eliminate anything that may be keeping you from your goals.
Here are seven of the most destructive habits leaders can maintain:
1. Surrounding yourself with clones. Strength lies in diversity and difference and challenge; being around people who are just like you may be comfortable, but it keeps you playing small.
2. Speaking without listening. The best leaders listen more than they speak, and they know the importance of hearing and gathering information from all.
3. Confusing activity with productivity. It’s easy to fall into the trap of keeping busy without actually being productive. There is always so much to do, but the tasks you naturally reach for are not necessarily the ones that should be at the top of your list of priorities. Instead of plowing through a to-do list, ask yourself what you should be doing to attain the results you want to see—to move you closer to your goals.
4. Flying solo. One of the biggest challenges for many people, especially leaders, is the belief in the power of one—the idea that you can do everything by yourself. Trying to do everything alone will end up exhausting and taxing you, and in time it will destroy your ability to lead.
5. Thinking you know it all. As a leader you need to always be willing to listen to others and be teachable. Sometimes people don’t want to have the answers handed to them but to brainstorm together and come up with a range of solutions. Other times people just want to vent.
6: Being unavailable and inaccessible. Being an unavailable and inaccessible leader, is the worst kind of leadership and management style, because it sends the message that your people are not important.
7. Constantly micromanaging. Saving the worst for last: Micromanagement is the flip side of leadership. The leader thinks no one can do the job as well as they can so they hover over you and make demands instead of allowing you to do your job. The message sent by micromanager leaders is “I don’t trust you.”
Lead From Within: Bad habits are destroying our leadership because they are hindering us from being the leader we want to be.
Additional articles you might enjoy:
Why Great Leaders Expect Everyone to Be Great
These 13 Things Will Kill Great Leadership
The Best Free Leadership Advice You’ll Ever Get
How to Tell You’re Dumbing Down Your Leadership
12 of the Most Dangerous Leadership Mindsets
For coaching, consulting, workshops, and speaking. Please feel free to contact us.
Photo Credit: Getty Images
The post 7 Habits That Are Destroying Your Ability to Lead appeared first on Lolly Daskal.
