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Growth Management Personal Development

Executive Leaders: Are You Showing Your Team the Coastal Erosion?

As a business professional, a team member, a CEO, or senior level executive, do you know clearly what the big picture is for your team? What are the long-term goals and objectives? If you don’t know, why not ask? Being clued into the big picture is crucial in business.

On a recent helicopter ride, I was able to see my neighborhood and familiar sites from a completely different perspective. In fact, things looked so different from this vantage point that I had trouble figuring out where we were. (Never mind that I am directionally challenged anyway!) Thankfully, the pilot pointed out some landmarks to help me out.

I was able to clearly see how coastal erosion has affected my state of Louisiana from this vantage point. I was able to see the big picture and why efforts to preserve our coast are so important. When you are living in the coastal erosion, you cannot see it, but from above, it was quite a shock.

As an executive leader, do you keep your staff and colleagues “in the loop” as to where you want the team to go? Do you show them the bird’s eye view and let them in on maybe even the not so great happenings? Or are your employees simply living within the coastal erosion, blind to the daily degradation?

A number of studies have shown that one of the biggest sources of employee satisfaction is knowing where their contributions fit into the big picture or the overall success of the organization. Employees like to know that they are making a difference! If employees don’t feel they’re contributing or don’t know how their work makes a difference, then they will be more likely to become disengaged.

For instance, my client, Stanley, accepted a promotion to oversee a new division of his company. Shortly after taking over, he scheduled a staff meeting, bringing in to his office all of the people who now reported to him. He gave them an overview of the current status of the company, where they were heading, and, most importantly, what his expectations were. With this “aerial view” of the company, he explained how each could best contribute to the achievement of the company’s goals. He did not sugarcoat the hard facts, either. He told them where some serious work needed to be done.

Stanley announced that these meetings would be held twice monthly and each person would be expected to provide status reports, updating everyone on their area of responsibility. He encouraged the sharing of information amongst team members so that suggestions and advice might be offered to help each other out.

Stanley later reported to me after that first meeting that team members were floored by this new practice. He received feedback and numerous emails from staff, telling him how much they appreciated this method. He didn’t think much of it, but apparently, these team members had never really felt “in” on things before. They felt valued when their leader took the time to clue them into where they were and where they were heading.

Whatever your job entails, never underestimate the value of stepping back to look at the big picture. And leaders, don’t forget to let your people in on the overall plan and scheme. Even when the outlook may not be great, people would still prefer to know the reality of the situation than to be left in the dark. Plug employees in to the power of the big picture!

What will you:

  • Start doing?
  • Stop doing?
  • Continue doing?

to show your team the aerial view? Share your action steps by posting here. Your colleagues can benefit from your plan to be a better leader.

For more resources on leadership and employee engagement, be sure to sign up for our monthly Ezine and you will receive our report: “7 of Your Biggest People Problems…Solved.”

You might also like:

8 of the Best Kept Leadership Communication Secrets

7 Ways Leaders Can Prevent Employee Disengagement

Managing for Maximum Performance

Jennifer Ledet, CSP, is a leadership consultant and professional speaker (with a hint of Cajun flavor) who equips leaders from the boardroom to the mailroom to improve employee engagement, teamwork, and communication.  In her customized programs, leadership retreats, keynote presentations, and breakout sessions, she cuts through the BS and talks through the tough stuff to solve your people problems.

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Growth Management Personal Development

6 Tips to Overcome Executive Overwhelm-itus

There is too much to do. There is not enough time to get it done. We’ve all been there.

As an executive leader, senior level executive, CEO, or growing business professional, your biggest, hairiest, most important roles are overseeing employees and managing the flow of work. If you’re suffering from overwhelm-itus or are prone to frequent bouts of this nasty syndrome, take heart, as you are not alone. As someone who goes through seasons of this, I can tell you that understanding overwhelm is the first step.

Try these 6 Tips to Overcome Executive Overwhelm-itus:

 

1. Get out of reactive mode. It’s an easy place to hang out, but it will kill you. If you’re constantly reacting to what comes your way, you’re just like a pinball, bouncing from one thing to another. Problem is, you never make headway in any one area and wind up being even more stressed out and, well, more overwhelmed. Take a few minutes, step back, and look at the big picture.

2. Prioritize. The word priority originally meant the very first or prior thing. Note that it was singular. Only much later did we try to make the term plural. In reality, it is impossible to have multiple first things. Let’s go back to the original meaning and intent of the word. While you’re taking that step back, think about what is truly THE most important thing that you need to do right now. Do it. Lather, rinse, repeat.

3. Delegate. In order to do this effectively, you need to get over yourself. Accept that a.) You can’t do it all, and b.) Someone may actually be able to do it better than you. (Gasp!) Analyze the task and the team members you have around you who might be able to help. Match the task to the person, give very explicit instructions and even training if necessary, and let them roll with it. Monitor, follow up, and give feedback. Bam! That’s my delegating workshop encapsulated in a couple of sentences, but it’s really not as difficult as you’re making it out to be.

4. Dump it. I’m sure you’d love to take your whole to-do list and just dump it, but that’s not what I’m talking about. I’m talking about using real “strategery” here, people. While you’re applying tip #1 above, really take a look at what you’re saying you’ve just got to do. Do you really gotta do ALL of those things? Could you, mayhaps, say buh-bye to any of those tasks? Analyze the consequences of dumping the least important tasks and also consider the ROI of completing those tasks. If the consequences are… inconsequential, and the ROI is minimal, maybe you should consider letting it go. Or if you can’t delegate it and it simply MUST be done, you could consider applying tip #5.

5. Delay it. I am making a case here for intentional procrastination. Yep. You heard me right. Under SOME conditions in the workplace the right decision is to simply delay dealing with a task. Hit the “delay button” when you need more information or expertise from someone who currently has no access to the outside world, or when you need approval from someone in a higher pay grade than yours. Use this technique on a very limited basis, otherwise you’ll find yourself in full blown procrastination mode. Not. A. Good. Thing.

6. Breathe. A necessity. Reframe how you’re thinking about the situation and remember that when your brain perceives something as a problem, it actually releases hormones that cause you more stress. “This is not a problem, it’s an opportunity.” Keep repeating that as you practice deep breathing exercises and apply the previous five techniques.

We teach best what we most need to learn.

There’s a good bit of wisdom in that quote. Lest you think that I’ve conquered overwhelm, I confess that I still have to deal with it from time to time. Hopefully, these business and stress management tips will help you to overcome overwhelm so that you can be the leader you were meant to be.

CHIME IN:

  • How do you deal with that feeling of too much to do and not enough time to do it?
  • What are some tips that you’ve found helpful for overcoming overwhelm?
  • Please leave a comment below and share your insights with our community.

Jennifer Ledet, CSP, is a leadership consultant and professional speaker (with a hint of Cajun flavor) who equips leaders from the boardroom to the mailroom to improve employee engagement, teamwork, and communication.  In her customized programs, leadership retreats, keynote presentations, and breakout sessions, she cuts through the BS and talks through the tough stuff to solve your people problems.

For more resources on leadership and employee engagement, be sure to sign up for our monthly Ezine and you will receive our report: “7 of Your Biggest People Problems…Solved.”

You might also like:

Four Signs You’re Sabotaging Your Team (and How to Stop)

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8 of the Best Kept Leadership Communication Secrets

 

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Growth Leadership Personal Development

Read These Leadership Communication Tips Every. Single. Day.

Noise, newsfeeds, information overload, notifications, emails, text messages, podcasts, voicemails, 24-hour news cycles, you name it. We all face “busy-ness” as executives and team leaders. Our teams face it all too.

As a leader, though, you have to cut through all this noise so that your message gets through to your team members, and even more difficult, you have to craft your message in a way that will influence employees to behave or act in a certain way. That’s why they pay you the medium-size bucks, right?

Of course you have heard it before, one of the most important skills you can develop is the ability to communicate effectively. Here, I’ve put together some of the best communication skills of successful leaders.

1. Listen more than talk, ask more than tell. You may just be amazed at the results. Most people want to feel like someone hears them. Oh, and by the way, waiting for your turn to talk is not listening.

2. Over-communicate. Many leaders have a phobia of being repetitive, redundant, or generally sounding like a broken record (or a scratched CD, for you millennials). However, in all of my years in human resources, and in all of the many exit interviews I conducted, I don’t recall one employee who said she was leaving the organization because her supervisor just communicated with her TOO much. It just doesn’t happen. So I doubt seriously that you’re anywhere near the point of over-communicating. Surprisingly, some research suggests that people need to hear a message as many as seven times before they will really GET it. Marketing and advertising experts have always been aware of this fact and use it to make sure their messages get through to their potential customers, i.e., you.

3. Rather than talk ABOUT an employee, actually talk TO him. If you have an issue or conflict with a team member, address him privately and take care of it. Talking about one employee to another employee breeds distrust, and then you might as well hang it up and go home. No trust = no loyalty, no engagement, and certainly no commitment.

4. Stop issuing edicts and start having real conversations. In some organizations, there seems to be a disconnect between the executives who create policy and the frontline workers. In reality, the frontline workers are aware of and understand the real problems facing the organization. So back away from the keyboard, walk away from your spreadsheets and computer screen, and get out to the team members who are responsible for “shipping product.” Ask what’s on their minds, what challenges they’re facing. And then listen to their concerns. Have real conversations.

5. Make it personal. People who say that business isn’t personal just don’t get it. Leadership is synonymous with influence. To influence someone, there must be a relationship and mutual trust. People do business with people they know, like, and trust. People follow leaders they know, like, and trust. If your team members feel like they don’t know you – and more importantly – like you don’t know them, you don’t have a trusting relationship.  As a young business professional, I worked for a leader who had thousands of employees under her responsibility. Yet I was always amazed at how she took the time to ask about me and my family. She knew and remembered details about me, and regardless of how busy she was, she seemed interested in me as a person. In other words, she invested in our relationship. Years later, when she asked me to take on a huge assignment (that I really didn’t want, I might add), I agreed because of the trust and loyalty I felt toward her and the organization.

6. Be direct without being blunt. Some executives, with the intent to be nice, sugar coat their messages. But what ends up happening is that their message is muddled, unclear, and even confusing. You’re not doing anyone any favors. At best, you may be giving someone false hope or a false sense of security, when in fact, her performance needs some dramatic adjustments. Give honest, direct feedback, along with specifics about how to improve.

7. Take responsibility for maintaining the flow of information until all of your team members are on the same page. It’s not their fault if they don’t get it. When things go South, great leaders look in the mirror and hold themselves accountable. If you have a vision to cast, a message worth sharing, or a concept you want to get across, make it your mission to ensure that everyone in the organization gets it – from the C-suite to the frontline.

8. Don’t try to fake it ’til you make it. Most people will spot a phony baloney a mile away. If you don’t know what you’re talking about, ask for help and then shut up, listen, and learn.

If you don’t top your “newsfeed” with tips and reminders like these, you will get bombarded with too much junk and noise that won’t help positively influence your team.

COMMENT HERE:

  • How do you ensure that important messages are effectively communicated within your organization?
  • What communication tips would you share with aspiring leaders?

For more resources on leadership and employee engagement, be sure to sign up for our monthly Ezine and you will receive our report: “7 of Your Biggest People Problems…Solved.”

You might also like:

Managing for Maximum Performance

Four Signs You’re Sabotaging Your Team (and How to Stop)

Leadership Team Accelerated Results Program

Jennifer Ledet, CSP, is a leadership consultant and professional speaker (with a hint of Cajun flavor) who equips leaders from the boardroom to the mailroom to improve employee engagement, teamwork, and communication.  In her customized programs, leadership retreats, keynote presentations, and breakout sessions, she cuts through the BS and talks through the tough stuff to solve your people problems.

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Growth Management Personal Development

Spread this Virus Across the C-Suite to Increase Team Productivity

In the “C-suite” there is no way that you are immune to flu outbreaks and viruses. The kids are back to school and often bringing home some germs to share with your family. In a leadership development program I was teaching for the C-Suite of a large healthcare organization, I was talking with the Chief Nursing Officer and asked her how they prepare or deal with illnesses in the workplace. She answered that they tell people not to come to the emergency room, so as not to spread the germs.

Could you imagine if you had the opportunity to tell some of your co-workers, “Don’t come to work today! We don’t want your germs.”

While flu germs are nasty and easily spread, I’m talking about the “negativity germ,” which is contagious just like a flu virus.

When you lead a team of people, you wield significant influence – and not just within your department. What kind of germs are you spreading? We are all spreading viruses whether we realize it or not. Your leadership influence extends well beyond your direct reports and may reach many others within and outside of your organization. Due to your prestigious position, people figure you are in the know. If you are grouchy and distracted, they figure you must know something that they don’t know. Employees assume the worst and start worrying about what could be wrong. Your negative attitude will certainly rub off on others and spread like wildfire to other employees… and to your customers.

Hey there leader, boss, executive: You are responsible for creating an environment that is conducive to productivity and service. You set the temperature – you set the tone! It’s easy for anybody to be a thermometer – to just take the temperature of the room. But it’s a lot harder to be a thermostat – to actually adjust the temperature of the room.  You must model the right attitude and approach to the current business climate.

Take the opposite approach to combat germs. Use your powerful influence to spread a virus of positivity. Use the term coined by my friend and colleague, Rosanne in Pennsylvania, to describe a positive attitude: “Positude.” Why not have a positude? You have a responsibility to have a consistent demeanor. Your positude will also catch on like a virus.

Use this time to think about what kind of virus you’re spreading. Will your team members want to get a vaccine to ward off your germs, or will they come to you for a booster shot that will make them more productive and valuable?

How are you affecting others? What will you:

  • Start doing
  • Stop doing, or
  • Continue doing

to fix your attitude and subsequently improve the attitude of your team? Comment with your action plan here so we can all learn and grow!

For more resources on leadership and employee engagement, be sure to sign up for our monthly Ezine and you will receive our report: “7 of Your Biggest People Problems…Solved.”

Jennifer Ledet, CSP, is a leadership consultant and professional speaker (with a hint of Cajun flavor) who equips leaders from the boardroom to the mailroom to improve employee engagement, teamwork, and communication.  In her customized programs, leadership retreats, keynote presentations, and breakout sessions, she cuts through the BS and talks through the tough stuff to solve your people problems.

You might also like:

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Growth Management Personal Development

High-Caliber Leaders Give Away Their Power

“What you throw out there will come back to you.”

This is something I always teach in my leadership development workshops. How you treat others will always come back to you.

What do you suppose I brought back as a souvenir from my travels in Australia? Yep, you guessed it, a beautiful handcrafted boomerang! It sits on my desk as a reminder to be conscious of the way that I treat others.

High-caliber leaders understand this principle and practice it daily with their team members. The most effective leaders also know that they actually become more powerful when they give power away. Unfortunately, we have all been conditioned to believe that power is available in a limited quantity: If I have more, you have less. Naturally those who believe this tend to hoard the power that they think they have and are reluctant to share it with anyone.

Whether you lead a virtual team, a group of employees, or your pick-up soccer league, the more control you give others over their work environment and the more you ask for their input on decisions that affect them, the more productive and effective they will be.

Each time you share power with employees and colleagues, you are demonstrating your trust and confidence in their abilities and skills. When you help others to grow and develop, that help will be returned to you. Your employees or team members will feel committed, engaged, and loyal to you and to the organization. They will take pride in their job when they feel a sense of “ownership” in their job.

Don’t forget this boomerang effect: Respect is a form of power. If you want to be respected, you must be respectful of others. Here’s the kicker: Be respectful of others, regardless of their title or yours. You will have that power/respect reciprocated, possibly even doubled.

Regardless of your title, experience, or position as a leader, just remember my boomerang theory. What you throw out there will come back to you…

For more resources on leadership and employee engagement, be sure to sign up for our monthly Ezine and you will receive our report: “7 of Your Biggest People Problems…Solved.”

You might also like:

Managing for Maximum Performance

Four Signs You’re Sabotaging Your Team (and How to Stop)

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Jennifer Ledet, CSP, is a leadership consultant and professional speaker (with a hint of Cajun flavor) who equips leaders from the boardroom to the mailroom to improve employee engagement, teamwork, and communication.  In her customized programs, leadership retreats, keynote presentations, and breakout sessions, she cuts through the BS and talks through the tough stuff to solve your people problems.

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Growth Management Personal Development

The ULTIMATE Way to Invest Your Time as a Leader

Leaders, I have a quick quiz for you:

  • Name 5 recent Olympic Gold Medalists.
  • Name the 5 wealthiest business owners in the world.
  • Who won the Grammy for Album of the Year in any of the last 3 years?
  • List 6 people who have won a Pulitzer Prize.

How’d you do? Not so hot, huh? I have another quiz for you and I think you’ll have an easier time with this one.

  • List 3 people who taught you something worthwhile.
  • Name one person who encouraged you.
  • Name one person who took time to answer your questions or who inspired you.
  • Think of someone who took interest in helping you and developing your skills.

A little easier to recall, right? The point is, the greatest leaders and coaches — those who really make a difference — aren’t necessarily the most famous or notorious, but rather, the ones who take time to invest in people.

What kind of investments are you making?

I meet with our financial advisor twice a year and he updates my husband and I on how our investments are paying interest and dividends. Before working with this financial advisor, we were just spending our money without any conscious thought of the long-term implications of our actions. We weren’t giving much thought to our future or to what we would eventually leave behind.

The smallest interactions today create a legacy that will live on beyond you. As a senior level executive, frontline manager, or CEO, when you take the time to invest in people, you will also receive dividends — of a different sort. You are making a mark that can’t be erased. Make it a goal to consciously leave a positive legacy by investing in others. What kind of legacy will you leave?

As a leader, you have lots of experience and know-how. By “investing” in others, I mean take time with them, give them your attention, and mentor them. Are you transferring your knowledge, wisdom, skills, and even shortcuts to others?  When you share your experience and expertise with others you not only help that team member but you benefit the organization, as well. When you sow seeds of encouragement, you inspire self-confidence and determination, which ultimately can impact the whole team’s bottom line.

In the first few years of my leadership consultant career, I worked with a mentor and coach. When I ran to him with a dilemma, he rarely came out and told me what to do. Instead, he would listen, and ask me questions that would spark my thinking. His questions often challenged me to think outside the box and to doubt my assumptions. I learned a lot from him and yet, I don’t think he ever preached, directed, or demanded a thing of me. He simply drew the answers out of me and subtly shared his wisdom and knowledge.

As a result of my mentor’s investment in me, I became a much more valuable team member and I know the organization reaped those benefits. Years later, I often find myself using those same techniques with others.

Do you act as a role-model for others? As a leader, you are being watched! Others are looking to your example to follow. Mentoring a team member or a colleague can be as simple as taking the time to answer their questions, develop their skills, and patiently correct their mistakes.

Each time you take an extra moment to explain not only what and how you’re doing what you’re doing, but why you’re doing it, you instill a sense of ownership in team members. When they can see the bigger picture and the reasoning or logic behind the task, they will have a greater commitment to doing the job well.

Whether it was a counselor, coach, a teacher, a parent, or a successful business owner, someone gave you a hand or modeled the way for you. Will you pay it forward?

Take a look at who is around you. Who can you invest in? I challenge you to review how and where you’re investing your most valuable resource — your time. Your investment in people will bring you the most rewarding dividends of all.

Jennifer Ledet, CSP, is a leadership consultant and professional speaker (with a hint of Cajun flavor) who equips leaders from the boardroom to the mailroom to improve employee engagement, teamwork, and communication.  In her customized programs, leadership retreats, keynote presentations, and breakout sessions, she cuts through the BS and talks through the tough stuff to solve your people problems.

For more resources on leadership and employee engagement, be sure to sign up for our monthly Ezine and you will receive our report: “7 of Your Biggest People Problems…Solved.”

You might also like:

Four Signs You’re Sabotaging Your Team (and How to Stop)

Managing for Maximum Performance

Leading Questions: Twelve Powerful Tools for Your Leadership Toolbox

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Growth Management Personal Development

5 Quick Leadership Tips to Navigate Hurricane Season

Imagine you are the captain, the leader, the senior-level executive in charge of your team, your crew.  If you’re moping around spouting gloom and doom, exactly who are you helping? Inspire your people to focus on the possibilities and draw out the best that each individual has to give.

A few years ago, before taking off for a cruise I had planned, my cruising mates were concerned about a hurricane that was heading our way. I was looking forward to this vacation so much that I simply didn’t want to hear about a hurricane. In a way, I guess I was in denial. I didn’t watch the weather forecasts and continued packing bathing suits and sunscreen. Are you still packing your bikini, ignoring a potential downpour in your business?

There are so many forecasts for potential hurricanes during hurricane season down here in the south. Where you live, you might face a stormy season such as a team conflict, a business transaction gone awry, or an employee crisis. Many people are tempted to wring their hands and moan about how bad things are. Why not try the approach of mind over matter? I’m not naive enough to think that you can pull the covers over your head and wait for the sun to come out. No, what I’m suggesting is that you focus on what you can do for your organization, rather than what you can’t do.

Here are

5 quick tips to help leaders navigate a stormy season:

  1. Challenge everyone to be creative
  2. Communicate the situation clearly to your employees
  3. Ask for their input
  4. Reassert your commitment to them and to the organization
  5. Be resourceful and innovative!

Henry Ford said

Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t, you’re probably right.

I am a big believer in this philosophy.

And you might find it interesting, we did not encounter the hurricane! I have no idea where it went because I never did watch the weather forecast. Here’s to effective conflict management, clear communication, and smooth sailing ahead for your team!

 

To receive solutions to your people problems in your inbox every month, and to receive our report: “7 of Your Biggest People Problems…Solved,” click here.

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Jennifer Ledet, CSP, is a leadership consultant and professional speaker (with a hint of Cajun flavor) who equips leaders from the boardroom to the mailroom to improve employee engagement, teamwork, and communication.  In her customized programs, leadership retreats, keynote presentations, and breakout sessions, she cuts through the BS and talks through the tough stuff to solve your people problems

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For the Most CANDID Leadership Feedback, Go Undercover

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Growth Management Personal Development

To Be an Outstanding Leader, Act Like a Coach

As a leadership expert, coaches fascinate me because if they are a really great leader, they can get players to perform in ways that even the players themselves didn’t know they could do. While watching my kids play sports when they were growing up and supporting the team, I always enjoyed observing the coaches.

While watching my kids in sports, I was reminded of some outstanding leaders that I’ve known throughout my career and how they acted, in many ways, like a coach. Think about an influential boss or leader who had a tremendous impact on you. I’ll bet they, too, served as a coach.

Business, like sports, is a team effort, and to succeed, we need each player/team member to give their best. Outstanding coaches don’t just have a technical knowledge of the game/business, they have a gift for inspiring others.

Here are six things that outstanding coaches know and practice …

  • Each “player” has unique talents and gifts and we should encourage them to play to those strengths. What a waste not to capitalize on each player’s natural abilities and assets!
  • A word of praise goes so much farther than criticism. You may have to look hard to find something to praise, but it will be well worth your effort. Can you remember a mentor complimenting you? Suddenly your posture got straighter and you wanted to live up to those positive words. The same happens with your team members.
  • It’s not important to “put in” what was “left out” of your players; It’s important to draw out what was left in. Find ways to tap into your team members’ inner greatness. Draw out the best that they have to give.
  • Sharing the credit for team success builds everyone’s self-confidence, pride, and trust.
  • They are being watched! Successful leaders know that they must first model the way for their players.
  • Losing one game or making one mistake does not make the player a loser. Successful coaches use those temporary setbacks as teaching moments.

Do you measure up as a leader, a boss, or an executive? I’m sure we can all use some practice in this area. Be prepared, though, because serving as a great coach is a job where you will receive as much in return as you give.

For more resources on leadership and employee engagement, be sure to sign up for our monthly Ezine and you will receive our report: “7 of Your Biggest People Problems…Solved.”

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Jennifer Ledet, CSP, is a leadership consultant and professional speaker (with a hint of Cajun flavor) who equips leaders from the boardroom to the mailroom to improve employee engagement, teamwork, and communication.  In her customized programs, leadership retreats, keynote presentations, and breakout sessions, she cuts through the BS and talks through the tough stuff to solve your people problems.

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Growth Management Personal Development

The Glue in Leadership and Relationships That Holds Everything Together

In leadership and in relationships, what is the glue that holds everything together?

In one of my leadership development workshops, my client and I were discussing the integral role that trust plays within an organization, particularly between a manager and his or her team members. Eric serves as a Lead Operator on an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico. “I don’t care who you are or what your title is, if I don’t trust you, I can’t work with you!” Eric said vehemently. His rationale behind this statement isn’t hard to understand. In his role, he puts life and limb on the line every day, and if he can’t be absolutely sure that his co-workers are being safe and not cutting corners, he doesn’t want to work with them.

You guessed it, TRUST, is that glue in leadership and relationships that holds everything together.

Whether you’re a leader by title or by influence, trust needs to be a huge part of your make-up. Frankly, it is an important part of any relationship. You may not be in a life and death situation in your workplace, but I can assure you, trust is just as important.

Cheryl Biehl says, “One of the realities of life is that if you can’t trust a person at all points, you can’t truly trust him at any point.” To earn trust, our actions must be consistent. If I’m only trustworthy in some departments of life but not all, it’s like cooking a huge pot of gumbo, then adding strychnine to the pot and saying that only part of the gumbo is poisoned. Now, give me a shot or two of Tabasco in my gumbo, but I’ll pass on the poison! Consistency is the key.

Trust can’t be compartmentalized.

Author of “7 Habits of Highly Effective People,” Steven Covey compares trust in a relationship to an emotional bank account. We can choose whether to make deposits or withdrawals to the account. When we follow through and do what we say we’re going to do, we’re making deposits. If we make enough deposits over time, trust is earned and our account earns interest and grows. When we don’t follow through or fail to honor a commitment, we make a withdrawal. If we make too many withdrawals, our “account” will be “overdrawn” and trust is shaken.

It takes two to tango, too. “He who trusts in others will be trusted in return.” One thing that is apparently tough for many leaders to do is to place their trust in others. When I was a young professional, I worked with a manager who assigned me an important project and let me have the reigns. Nothing could have been more motivating or inspiring than having her place her confidence in me. I truly wanted to do a great job so that I could show her she chose the right person.

Each time you let a team member know that you believe in them, they will want to produce positive results – they’ll run through a brick wall for you – anything not to let you down.

Think about someone who made a significant difference in your life. Maybe it was a boss, coach, teacher, or even a parent or grandparent. Think about how it felt when they expressed their confidence and their trust in your abilities.

Are you showing your team members that you trust them?

Are you earning your team members’ trust by acting consistently?

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Jennifer Ledet, CSP, is a leadership consultant and professional speaker (with a hint of Cajun flavor) who equips leaders from the boardroom to the mailroom to improve employee engagement, teamwork, and communication.  In her customized programs, leadership retreats, keynote presentations, and breakout sessions, she cuts through the BS and talks through the tough stuff to solve your people problems

Photo by Chibelyaeva Katya on Reshot