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Tag: leadership

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Growth Management Personal Development

The Leadership Tip That Could Save YOU and Your Team

Just last night, I learned that one of my clients had a serious workplace accident, probably caused by an employee working distracted (thankfully, the worker survived with relatively minor injuries). If you’ve turned on your smartphone, your television, or opened your web browser today to read this article, you’ve heard about car accidents, fires, and other tragedies, often caused by … rushing and distractions.

The fact is, certain times of year are more hectic and even chaotic than others. As a leader, your task is to help your team to remain focused on the really important things. On any given day, though, we are inundated with so much stimuli it can be difficult to finish a thought, much less a task. Team members need your leadership, coaching, support, and guidance to navigate through the sea of information and stimuli. Here are a few

Executive leadership tips to save you and your team:

Slow down. I know. You don’t want to hear it. It even may seem impossible. How could you slow down? As we barrel through our days at breakneck speed, it can be difficult to notice what is going on around us. Of course, this is how accidents and mistakes happen. As an executive leader, you also need to pause long enough to notice and “hear” not only what people are saying, but what they are NOT saying. Keep in mind that everyone experiences stress differently and you want to tune-in to body language as well as words.

Establish guiding principles, values, and priorities through which your team should filter all of the distractions bombarding them. Author Stephen Covey says that we should not just prioritize our schedules, but we should schedule our priorities. Figure out what is most important, share these priorities with your team (don’t assume they know), and then help your team to focus on those priorities like a laser.

Let go. For my fellow control freaks, I know this can be tough. Recognize that you cannot – and should not – do it all yourself. Learn to delegate more effectively. Objectively consider (gasp!), if some tasks have to be done at all.

Reflect. Even if it means setting the alarm to go off a little earlier in the morning, schedule yourself some time to process and “metabolize” your experiences and plans. Stepping back from the day-to-day can help you and your team to see your way forward more clearly. (Personally, I find that journaling helps tremendously with this process.)

So the key takeaway? That one tip that might save you, your business, and/or your team, is to . . you guessed it . . slow down. Breathe and have some boundaries. They may seem simple, but we could all use a reminder from time to time. As a business owner, and busy wife and mom, I have to work on these practices every day. Like the song says, “Slow down, you move too fast… and you may even get to … feelin’ groovy!”

JOIN IN: 

  • What would you add to this list of leadership tips?
  • What strategies do you use to create greater focus and ensure safety for yourself and your team?
  • Please leave a comment on my blog below and share your insights with the community.

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.

You might also like:

Leadership Team Accelerated Results Program

6 Leadership Lessons to Learn from Cajuns

Take 6 New Angles to Find Team Opportunities

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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Entrepreneurship Management Skills Women In Business

The “IT Factor” – Do You Have It??

Have you ever seen someone walk into a room and immediately capture everyone’s attention?  Perhaps, it was a business meeting, a networking event or a stage performance.  That person just had such a commanding presence, that you felt drawn into their conversation. That ability to draw people is at times called charisma. In show business and on stage we call the “It factor”, in the business world you call it Executive Presence.

Some say you either have it or you don’t, that you’re born with it. While that might often be the case, I have seen people transform by making changes to their mindset and appearance.  As a result, they changed the way they were seen by others.

Think of your favorite actor, singer or politician. Maybe it’s a leader in your company.  What gives that individual the “It Factor”?

While they may have had the talent they still needed to develop the skillsets.

Here are five things that you can practice in order to increase your own “It factor”

1. Have a made up mind – People are drawn to certainty. After all, every ship needs an anchor. /spending time gaining clarity in what you want. Know what direction you’re moving in. Know your Why, yet, still be open and flexible

2. Be comfortable in your skin – Look the part, express calm energy. Dress for success. Match your company culture with your appearance. Show up clean, groomed, practice good posture, and personal hygiene.

3. Be charismatic – Energy draws people in. If you tend to be more on the quiet side, step out and express more. Practice your communication skills. Exude confidence without arrogance; being a little humble goes a long way.

4. Show genuine interest in others and be approachable, you’re not the only one in the room. Be inclusive and be interested in others and what they have to say. From your handshake and eye contact to your listening skills and body language, be present with others.

5. Know who you are and Be Yourself– people will see a right through you if you’re not authentic. Whether people are aware or not, we all have a “personal radar” and people can often spot when someone is insincere even if they don’t know why they are sensing it.

The more you practice the suggestions above, the more comfortable you will be in your leadership role. As a result, the more your team members will choose to engage with you and seek your guidance.

You will find more tips like the “It Factor” in Dr. Jacobson’s Book “Power Conversations”. For information and to order copies go to https://bit.ly/2tYRo2k

Categories
Growth Management Personal Development

To Be an Influential Leader – Use Your Inside Voice

We’ve all heard of leaders who yell, coerce, and even threaten to fire employees. (Cough, cough. Steve Jobs.) I was working with a group of leaders in the banking industry recently, and we had a great conversation about this old-school school style of leadership where the leader wields power over his subordinates and demands obedience.  The fact is that with the command and control style of leadership, at best you’ll get compliance, but you will never get commitment.

There is another method of gaining commitment that is much more subtle – and waay more effective. It’s called influence.

I loved summertime when my kiddos were little. That was when the shoes came off, the bathing suits came out, and the whole neighborhood was playing in my backyard. On the rare occasion when the gang came inside, (usually because of a summer thunderstorm), it sounded like a mob scene. The sound was so deafening, I thought the windows would shatter. Invariably, I had to remind them all to use their inside voices.

To influence, use your inside voice. It’s more gentle, it’s less in your face, and more subtle. Now I may be showing my age, but do you remember the old E.F. Hutton commercials? The tagline was “When E.F. Hutton talks, people listen.” Influence is about causing someone to want to lean in, to learn more, to listen closer.

Executive leaders today complain about the millennial generation and their perceived lack of respect or loyalty. Well, I’m not going to open that can of worms today, (you can read my views on this subject in previous blog posts here). But I will submit to you that the millennials are not alone in that most people will jump ship at the first opportunity if the work culture is, well, craptacular.

We are human, and it really all boils down to the fact that everything except breathing is a choice. Your team member has a choice of whether or how she will show up for work each day. I know, you’re saying, but Jen, if my team member doesn’t show up for work, she’s out of a job. True dat! But it’s still her choice.

And keep in mind what I affectionately call the KLT Factor – the Know, Like, and Trust Factor. People do business with people they know, like, and trust. People buy from people they know, like, and trust. And people follow leaders they know, like, and trust. You can’t force someone to buy from you or to follow you any more than you can force someone to love you.

So if you want to HAVE influence, you have to first BE the kind of person that others choose to follow. You have to be the kind of person that people want to be around and even emulate. Now, while using your inside voice, try these tips to help you

Be the influential leader those around you know, like, and trust:

1. Give them a present. In case you haven’t noticed, we live in a noisy, bizzy world, and your presence could be the best gift you can give to your team. Wherever you are, be there. Put. The. Phone. Down.

2. Be interested. Dale Carnegie got it right when he said “You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get people interested in you.” Here’s a news flash: It’s not about you!

3. Ask great questions. And by great questions, I mean open-ended questions that can’t be answered with a yes, no, or a one-word response. A good place to start is by asking questions that elicit a team member’s thoughts, ideas, and suggestions about their work.

4. Use the Mirror Technique. Notice the other person’s communication style and mirror it back to him. I liken this to speaking his “language.” It’s a much more effective way for communicating to connect.

5. Know thyself. The fact is, before you can lead others, you must be able to lead yourself. That’s why, whether I’m working with individual contributors/team members or C-suite executives, we start off with a battery of self-assessments so that we can identify each individual’s strengths, weaknesses, style, and behavioral preferences. The data collected from the assessments helps us to build on strengths and know in what areas the leader needs some help.

6. Project self-confidence. Notice I didn’t say always be self-confident. Insecurity and fear are contagious, and so is confidence. Sure, sometimes you won’t feel completely self-assured, but it is important that your team sees you as calm, confident, and in control. When you experience turbulence on a flight, if the flight attendant is freaking out, passengers will likely follow suit. Same thing applies in your leadership role. Team members are watching you and will mirror your attitude.

7. Practice authenticity and sincerity. People can spot a phony baloney a mile away. Faking interest in someone else just so you can get something you want borders on manipulation, and that is definitely NOT what we’re talking about here.

If you want to amplify your influence as an executive leader, try these techniques with your team. I’d love to hear about your results.

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.

You might also like:

Take 6 New Angles to Find Team Opportunities

Leadership Team Accelerated Results Program

6 Leadership Lessons to Learn from Cajuns

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 Anca Brinzan on Reshot

Categories
Growth Leadership Personal Development

Using the Golden Rule to be a Better Leader

In a recent C-Suite Success Radio interview, my guest Don Barden and I were discussing Servant Leadership. In that discussion the golden rule came up and Don told me that we have translated it incorrectly all these years. What he told me is a real game changer for becoming a better leader.

When we are young we learn that the golden rule says to do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Don explained that the correct translation, and the one that you must use if you are to be a servant leader is to do unto others as they would want you to do unto them.

That means you treat them how they want to be treated, not how you want to be treated. I thought that was brilliant, especially in the context of work because it lines up with one of my strong beliefs that people do best and are the most engaged when given the opportunity to do the work that means the most to them, and when empowered to do it in the way that they want to do it.

For example, I love public speaking and cherish the opportunities, which means if I did unto others as I want done onto me I would offer a speaking opportunity to someone else under the original understanding of the golden rule. But if they hate public speaking I am not actually giving them something they want, I am giving them something I want. I have to know what is important to them so I can give them what they want.

I have a friend who loves spreadsheets and would be less motivated if I asked her to do something creative like write an article, which is what I would want someone to ask me to do. If she asked me to do the spreadsheet work because that is what she likes I would be miserable pretty fast.

This translates into how we treat our friends, family, and, in the context of business, our co-workers and employees. True servant leadership – or in all actuality, true leadership – means finding out what the people on your team like the most, what role suits them best, and do everything you can to provide that to them. It’s not always possible for everyone to love every minute and every aspect of their job, but the more you can honor them, the more you can serve their needs, the better the results and engagement will be.

Your assignment, if you choose to take it, is to learn one new thing about each member of your team or your family that will allow you to serve them better. Start giving to them in the way they want rather than based on what you would want them to give to you.

If you do this from a place of true curiosity you will see amazing results very quickly. I would love to hear about your experiment, and you can connect with me on LinkedIn or email me at sharon@c-suiteresults.com.

Categories
Growth Leadership Personal Development

Why Executive Leaders Cannot Motivate Anyone

In other words, I am responsible to you, as participants to provide information and a safe, interactive learning environment. But, I am not responsible for what you do with that information. You are responsible for your own actions. You can decide whether you will actively participate. You will decide whether you will actually take action on what you learn.

The same approach should be applied by leaders, executives, and managers. You are responsible to your team – to lead, guide, and coach them, but ultimately, each team member will choose what actions he or she will take.

Although it may seem counterintuitive, I have a newsflash for executive leaders:

You cannot motivate anyone.

You cannot put motivation into another team member or employee. And that’s because all people are already motivated. You, as an executive leader, are charged with tapping into that internal, intrinsic motivation. Rather than trying to put something in that you think was left out, your job is to draw out what was left in.

How to tap into internal motivation:

Get to know the individuals on your team. Before diving deep, you may start off with some basic conversation. Since that is easier said than done for some, check out this article to help you get started.

Find out what their motivations are. For some, it might be money. For others, it might be recognition.  Some people get a huge amount of satisfaction from helping others. Lots of people enjoy forming a lifestyle where they put family first and are able to spend lots of time with those who matter most in their lives. Others thrive on challenge.

Don’t ignore that all people are tuned into the radio station WIIFM – What’s In It For Me. When trying to influence performance and productivity, help them to see how they can get something beneficial for themselves.

Now you know that, we as executive leaders, unfortunately can’t motivate people. But we can influence, inspire, and persuade them to greater performance.

Your turn:

Have you had any success tapping into your team members’ internal motivations? I’d like to hear your perspective on this important topic. Share your experiences with us!

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.”

Related articles you might love:

8 of the Best Kept Leadership Communication Secrets

5 Quick Tips to be a More Influential Leader

Ten Tactics for Leading Through Tough Times

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

How Leaders Can Tap Into Team’s Internal Motivations

You may have heard the phrase, “Logic makes you think; emotion makes you act.”  As I often do, I thought about the truth of this certain statement in the context of improving leadership skills.

You may be protesting at your computer: But there’s no place for emotion in business! Oh contraire, mon ami!

Hey executive leaders, a big part of what you do is influencing people to perform and produce; to get the job done with and through others. Since you can’t actually motivate people on your own – all people are already motivated for their own reasons – what you can do is tap into their internal motivations. How do you do that?

Imagine your main goal is for your team to work safely and have zero accidents or injuries. You can lecture, preach, and admonish them to work safely until your face turns an unhealthy shade of blue. Or you could tap into their internal motivations. For example, if you’re talking to a family man you could remind him of why he wants to work safely – namely so he can get back home to his family, new baby, etc.

As with anything that produces great results, tapping into emotions and internal motivations of your team members will take a tad more effort on your part. Isn’t that why they pay you the medium-sized bucks? You will have to get to know them and figure out what is important to each individual. If getting to know your team members sounds painful and boring, try a few of these “Southern” questions to ask to keep conversation light and airy. Just by this practice alone you will subsequently increase employee engagement!

As an executive leader, what is your goal? Do you want your tribe to just think about doing something, or do you want them to take action? If taking action, changes in behavior, increased performance and productivity are your goals, I suggest you tap into your team members’ emotions.

CHIME IN:

  • How do you influence people to perform and produce?
  • What technique works for you in getting employees to take action?
  • Please leave a comment below and share your insights with the community.

 

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.

You might also like:

Leadership Team Accelerated Results Program

6 Leadership Lessons to Learn from Cajuns

Take 6 New Angles to Find Team Opportunities

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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Best Practices Growth Health and Wellness Leadership

Leaders Who Lunch Are Better Leaders.

I know what you are thinking.

You are thinking that leaders who lunch are better because they are out there networking.  But that’s not why.

For leaders, lunch matters.

Contrary to popular belief, a sit-down lunch away from your desk is NOT a luxury. Rather,  it is an essential to your performance at work.  When leaders don’t take a break in the middle of the day, or perhaps not even all day, we push ourselves into survival-mode instead of performance mode. We are not pausing to refuel when we need it most to provide the energy our mind and bodies need to do our best work. And if you don’t even eat breakfast, then you’re running on empty all day.

Sure, you can push yourself to function without fuel for a while, but then you’re not performing optimally. I see this all the time with  leaders. They are so focused on the goal that the can forget the importance of the process to get there. They make it through the day over and over again, but they also collapse at night with a meal that is too big or not very healthy, because they are hungry and exhausted. Then they compound the problem with poor or too little sleep,  only to get up and do the same thing the next day.

Lunch switches off survival-mode to make us perform better.

Working on survival-mode causes leadersto work on basic instinct,  reacting before reflecting, leaving us to put out fires rather than thinking through a solution that might be different (and better) than we have always done.

In survival-mode, leaders focus on what is safe, because  we don’t have capacity to think out of the box and  coach our teams to become better at what they do. We might not even have the capacity to behave the way we would like to behave, because we are feeling the urgency – and the impatience and anger — that comes with running on empty.

We all end up in that situation from time to time, spending more time repairing the damage than  a much needed break would have taken.

When leaders don’t take time for ourselves, we tend to not take time for others, and it affects the company culture. Too often, employees tell me they don’t eat lunch, because their leader does not eat lunch. As a result, they think they are not allowed to go to lunch, or it is not appropriate for them to take a break.

When the leader is working on survival-mode, the whole team is on survival-mode. And the company hurts.

People who eat together, solve problems together.

Good leaders understand how important sharing meals is for company culture. They also know that a successful leader doesn’t hover over the team. Rather, they are part of the team, and nothing brings people more together than sharing a meal. It fosters a sense of community that cannot be created in a work environment full of business meetings, with just snacks and ping-pong tables  offered as an attempt to bring people together around a common vision.

Sharing a meal reminds us of family, helping us communicate in a more open and friendly way. Over a meal, we share ideas more freely, ask for help with problems more openly feel like we are not alone, fighting against the machine. It helps us feel part of, instead of separate from.

Our human resource is still our best resource and we need to nourish it. The company teams that eat together do not just talk business, they talk life. It is not a productivity meeting over food. It is a people meeting to create community and shared goals.

Sharing lunch serves up trust and safety.

The number one reason people are more satisfied at work is that they feel safe. They trust their leader, they feel seen and heard, they feel they matter, and they feel like they belong. When we are working on survival-mode there is no trust, there is no safety. Everything is danger.

When we share meals, we can bring our humanity to work, access our soft-skills, solve problems, and thrive together. So go ahead, put lunch on the schedule! You won’t only nourish your body, you’ll nourish your company.

Categories
Growth Management Personal Development

Executive Leadership Lessons to Learn from Cajuns

What in the world could a senior-level executive leader learn from the down-home bayou-living Cajun people of South Louisiana?

Well, we have certainly endured our share of tough times. We’ve gone through numerous hurricanes, a damaging oil spill, and economic downturns, but now we’re back – better than ever.

First, let us start with a review of an old Cajun adage that is often quoted but maybe less often understood.

Lache Pas La Patate! (Don’t Drop the Potato!)

A modern-day translation might read something like, “Hang in there!” or “Finish strong!”

Successful leaders are resilient and enduring, like the spirit of the Cajun people. In order to be more like the Cajuns,

Apply these lessons to your leadership:

 

Commitment. Through the bad and the good, your team needs a leader who won’t quit, give up, or throw in the towel. Obviously. But your team also needs a leader who won’t waver, doubt, or question your mission and purpose. Are you having second thoughts, or are you holding firm to your mission?

Integrity. Integrity and trust are the foundation of great leadership. If your employees feel that they can’t trust you in one area, then they can’t – and won’t – trust you at all. Are you doing what you say you’ll do and fulfilling your commitments?

Values. Cajuns are known for their strong values regarding community and family. During difficult times everyone comes together and helps each other out. In the storms of adversity in your business, organization, or industry, hold firmly to the values and beliefs that got you where you are. Refuse to compromise your values. Remember, “If you don’t stand for something, you’ll fall for anything.”

Joie de vivre. (Love of life). Cajuns and the residents of New Orleans need no excuse for a party, and it’s this spirit of fun and lightheartedness that often helps us get through the tough times with our sanity intact. Are you creating an enjoyable work environment of camaraderie and celebration or one of serious melancholy and misery? Remember, you set the tone for your work environment – for better or worse.

Courage. Someone has got to make the tough decisions. Facing the inconvenient, uncomfortable, and unpopular decisions are why they pay you the big bucks! Leadership is not a popularity contest. Do you bury your head in the sand or grab the bull by the horns? And don’t forget, by making no decision, you are, in effect, making a decision.

Hope. Like the Cajuns, effective leaders are dealers in hope. Your outlook has a tremendous impact on those around you. People figure that if you’re spouting gloom and doom, or if you’re projecting optimism about the future, you must be right because you’re in the know. What kind of outlook are you presenting?

As you meet with your team members, as you build and strengthen your business relationships, as you tackle new business challenges, try taking a page from the Cajun’s playbook.

Comment here! What will you:

  • start doing,
  • stop doing, or
  • continue doing or do differently

to be more like the Cajuns? Chime in to share your leadership tips.

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.

You might also like:

Leadership Team Accelerated Results Program

12 Powerful Questions to Stash in Your Leadership Toolbox

Leadership Lessons to Push Past Homeostasis

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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Categories
Growth Leadership Personal Development

7 Ways You Can Spot a Disengaged Employee

Have you seen them? The workplace zombies? The employees slumped over at their desk just merely getting by thanks to a fourth cup of cappuccino? I’m talking about the walking dead – also known as disengaged employees.

You have probably seen them, but just sort of ignored them. The Gallup Organization says that worldwide, disengaged employees out-number engaged employees by nearly 2 – 1.  Even worse, 24% of workers worldwide are “actively disengaged,” which means that they’re unhappy, unproductive, and unlikely to ever bring a ray of sunshine to their co-workers. Actually, they’re most likely going to share their negativity with the rest of the team like a really nasty cold virus.

Employee disengagement is a silent killer of productivity, performance, and thus, profitability.

As an executive leader, NOT seeing these disengaged team members right in front of your face is a huge issue. After all, you can’t address a problem if you don’t even realize it exists. Don’t feel bad – sometimes we’re just too close to the problem. To help you spot the perhaps not-so-obvious, here are

7 Ways You Can Spot a Disengaged Employee:

1. Lack of teamwork. Disengaged employees may resist activities that require collaboration and cooperating with others. Often, they become a “lone wolf,” and interact with team members as little as possible, skipping out on team meetings and project strategy sessions.

2. Declining quality/quantity of work. This is especially an issue when the employee formerly produced high-quality work. The important thing is to notice that his work output has changed for the worst.

3. Complaining. Pay particular attention to negative comments about her work, supervisors, leadership, and the organization as a whole.

4. Apathetic attitude. Unhappy employees have an “I don’t give a hoot” attitude. They have no ownership in team/organization productivity and success.

5. Symptoms of deeper issues, such as depression or psychological problems. These might include unprofessional appearance, erratic mood swings, evidence of possible substance abuse, increased workplace injuries/safety violations, disconnecting from team members and not participating in team meetings and gatherings.

6. Absenteeism/tardiness. Employees who have checked out often do just that. They come into work late and leave early. They call in sick, take all of their vacation/personal days early in the year, and take excessive/long breaks and lunches.

7. Blaming. You know you have a problem when you hear a formerly engaged employee undermining, criticizing, or condemning the work of team members and peers.

These symptoms may seem totally obvious reading them here, but what’s interesting about employee disengagement is that often the immediate supervisor is the last to know when he’s got a raging case of it right in front of him. Maybe it’s because it’s tough to see when you’re so close to the situation. Or maybe you need to have a “sixth sense” to pick up on these symptoms.

Regardless, here are three things you can do now, today, to spot and hopefully rescue any team member who has one foot on a banana peel and the other in the metaphorical grave:

  • Ask open-ended questions, such as “How are things going, Andrew?” or “What do you think about these changes, Lynn?”
  • Shut your trap and listen! Remember that the word ‘listen’ spells ‘silent’ when scrambled.
  • Open your eyes and observe others. What kind of body language are they using? Is it congruent with what they’re saying? Yogi Berra famously quipped, “You can observe a lot just by watching.”

The sooner you act, the more likely you’ll be successful in bringing your “dead” employee back to life. Stay tuned here as I share tips and strategies for getting and keeping your team members engaged and alive.

YOUR TURN:

  • How are you able to spot employee disengagement?
  • How have you addressed the issue of the walking dead?
  • What tips do you have for others who struggle with engaging team members?
  • Please leave a comment on my blog below and share your insights with the community.

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:

Leadership Team Accelerated Results Program

6 Signs Your Ego Runs Your Business: 6 Ways Leaders Can Rein It In

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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Categories
Growth Leadership Personal Development

Goal-Setting Is Not the Answer to Leadership Success

Following a recent vacation, I found myself inexplicably stressed out. I tried to figure out what worry was niggling at the back of my mind. Why should I worry? I had just received word that several proposals had been accepted by clients, and that should be cause for elation rather than angst.

Well, with a knotty problem to unravel, I grabbed a pen and paper and started making a list of all the competing priorities I had to contend with. It didn’t take me long to realize what the problem was: I didn’t have a plan. A couple of the proposals that had recently been accepted were for unique projects, the likes of which I had not experienced before. I was subconsciously fretting about how to begin and what steps I’d need to take. I almost laughed out loud at myself. Just the week before, I had been talking with a coaching client about the very same principle. I guess I needed to follow my own advice.

As an executive leader, do you chart the course for and with your team? Getting team members involved in goal-setting and action planning is a great way to boost employee engagement. Get their input, ask their opinions, and clearly communicate every step of the way.

Collaborate with your team to map out a plan for achieving your goals. You might as well budget some time for unexpected delays and interruptions, because they surely are inevitable.

That’s how I handled it. Once I had sketched out a plan, I felt much better. Instead of feeling overwhelmed and under-prepared, I felt a sense of calm and confidence. When you know where you are going and how you are going to get there, you will have that same self-assuredness. Better yet, your team members will have greater confidence in you as a leader.

Nothing beats waking up in the morning and consulting your plan to see what you need to do to get where you want to go. When you and your team are taking action every quarter, month, week, and day toward your goals, you will find that you share a collective sense of certainty and confidence. And I promise you that by planning out your course, you will create greater peace of mind.

CHIME IN HERE:

• How do you get team members engaged in the goal-setting and planning process?

• When do you make time to plan for success with your team?

• Please leave a comment below and share your insights with the community.

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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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