Whether this new managerial position simply landed on your lap or you impressed the right people with your skills and experience, planning about your success early can do your career a lot of good. You may not be aware of it, but managing people is one of the hardest part of your job. So, the efforts that you put as you start your new role will spell the fate of your career.

Authors of management training programs course management system that you can try risk free.

How you handle your team should be on the top of your list, aside from doing your regular work. First you should know that regardless of the kind of management strategies you will engage in, the end-goal is for you and your team members to learn from each other throughout your relationship. And because you are the manager, you are responsible for establishing that give and take relationship.

If you and your team are not joining efforts to learn and grow together, then there is a huge need to reassess your priorities. With tough luck, you will have employees who are smarter than you and who know their jobs better than you do. However, do not see this as a threat but instead take this as an opportunity. After all, your success as a manager will be based on the quality of work done by your teams.

A lot of supervisors do not realize the importance of learning from their employees. Most of the time, they give more importance to authority and control over recognizing what could be gained from a mutual and a continual learning process. By sharing the learning experience, it will be much easier to nurture the relationship build on respect. Work relationships built on respect lead to great performance.

Therefore, your strategic focus should be on the quality of your communications and accessibility as a manager.

One way is to implement and teach effective communication. How good you are as a leader depends on how effective your communication is with your team. The phrase “proper communication” might sound easy, but in reality it is not. It is more than just the spoken word; it is about expressing and accurate message through tone and body language and to understand the real message that you are getting in return as well. Constant open communication, active listening, the ability to adapt your style with different sets of audiences, and the steps that you take to make sure that everyone is on the same page is essential. If you spend time nurturing your communication skills as a manager, everyone will reap the benefits.

Interested in communications and management? You might also like this article on leadership tips for new managers.

By Ray Miller

This is the fourth article in a six part series which discusses the Qualities of Leadership. It builds on what was covered previously so if you haven’t read the previous articles, be forewarned.

In this article we will discuss in greater detail the next two of the qualities of leadership: Influential and Decisive

A Leader is Influential

Unless a person can influence others to follow their vision, they’re not a leader. Leaders have that something extra that gets others to buy into their ideas and jump aboard.

Most times a leader’s vision for the future means changing the status quo. It means asking others to abandon the comfortableness of their current position and take the leap of faith that the leader’s vision will lead to a better state. The ability to persuade coworkers, management, and customers is absolutely paramount to a leader’s success. How does a leader influence others? First the leader must anticipate resistance to change. That means appreciating the motivations and anxieties of those around him/her. To methodically defuse those anxieties the leader must first understand why someone is resistant or hesitant about an idea.

The leader must provide empirical evidence that his/her recommendation will in fact lead to improvement. Emotional arguments alone will rarely persuade others.

To the leader, the answer could be as obvious as a finger in the eye but that means nothing unless others are convinced. When resistance occurs a leader must listen and respond with empathy to the concerns. The leader must wait patiently as the group he/she is trying to influence arrives mentally at the same conclusion the leader is advocating. The leader’s motivation should be to improve the good of the company or department. If anyone suspects the leader is out to promote his/her own interests then influence is lost.

The leader must be flexible enough in his/her own thinking so as to alter his/her own plan of action so issues of resistance are minimized. While the leader sees change as a means to improvement others may be threatened because change suggests that the way they’ve always done things has been wrong. A leader’s ego allows others to save face (at least publicly). By anticipating resistance, providing empirical justification for the change, listening to concerns and offering supportive alternatives a leader has laid the foundation for influencing others. Critical to a leader’s ability to influence is their honesty and integrity. If they don’t have a track record of honesty and fair play those around them ill lose trust. Without trust influence is lost.

Here are a few examples of Influential Leadership Behaviors.

1. A leader can effectively and convincingly communicate the benefit their idea will have for the company or organization.
2. A leader listens effectively to concerns and issues and ensures they are addressed in order to build a true win-win relationship for all parties.
3. A leader addresses resistance to change and accepts change openly
4. A leader communicates his or her idea in a way that is genuine and credible and does not come across as manipulative or self serving.
5. A leader provides empirical support (data, concrete evidence) for his/her position or idea.
6. A leader successfully builds and maintains relationships with individuals outside his/her sphere of responsibility.

A Leader is Decisive

Employees will gravitate towards those who provide clarity and direction. That requires someone to make a decision. Unless that’s done the group stagnates – and looks for a leader.

Individuals are more apt to follow a leader’s aspirations if the leader appears decisive. “Decisive” doesn’t necessarily mean the leader makes quick decisions. It means the leader can structure dialogue with others so as to logically arrive at a consensus. Other times, when a decision can only be made by the leader, he/she is able to convey a rational basis for it. In other cases a leader may not be able to make a particular decision – i.e, an employee suggests an improvement for his department by changing a work process that affects several other departments. In that case, an “employee leader” would help the manager convince appropriate decision makers and do his/her best to persuade that person that the change is worthwhile. The important point is leaders don’t delay or avoid decisions. When a leader makes a decision it will be consistent and logically supportive of business priorities and core values. For instance, if your company determines customers are dissatisfied with service, management shouldn’t balk at spending more to hire, train and retain good service reps. By communication and focusing on specific business priorities and core values (see below) no decision comes out of left field. Sounds obvious, but how often are lofty strategic objectives lost in the trenches. It’s not uncommon for work to stagnate or grind to a halt because no one is willing to make an important decision.

Other times it will appear the leader has facilitated a decision when in fact all he/she has done is allowed a compromise. For instance, suppose team members are arguing over how the yearly budget should be allotted. One group wants to purchase new software another wants to spend it on training. After listening to the parties argue the leader decides a 50-50 split is the easiest solution. Maybe it was the easiest but was it the best? A leader would take the time to understand the business justification for both options. That way the entire group can come to consensus on the best course of action.

Here are a few examples of Decisive Leadership Behaviors.

1. A leader takes time to fully understand all options before making or promoting a decision.
2. A leader makes decisions in a timely manner.
3. A leader makes decisions that are logically consistent with the business priorities and core values of the company or department.
4. A leader makes difficult decisions when no one will and communicates a rationale for the decision.
5. A leader escalates issues when a particular decision is out of his/her jurisdiction.

If you have the time, why not move on to our next article “Qualities of Leadership: Effective Communicator and Core Values”.

Ray Miller is Managing Partner of The Training Bank,  a Training and Consulting firm specializing in Customer Focus, Service Improvement, Leadership and fully customized training solutions. He is also co-author of Management Training by the Book and That’s Customer Focus.

Management and Leadership

Leadership is the ability to create the circumstances that allow the potential of your co-workers to be utilized to the fullest extent possible. Management is the ability to organize things in most efficient and productive way possible.

Being a leader is in many ways  different from being a manager.

Leadership is a relationship, management is a position. The position of a manager is something you are appointed from people above you in the organisation. The relationship of a leader is something you are awarded from people at the same level as you or below you in the organisation.

It is possible for a manager to also be a leader, but a leader is not always a manager. If you are the manager of a community  or team and someone else is awarded the leadership of the group you may be in for a challenging situation .

A manager needs to practice  his or her leadership skills to be able to achieve the best results possible. This includes skills such as hearing, giving and taking feedback, communicating clearly and enriching  trust.

The need for both a manager and a leader

A leader can get by without being a good manager, as well as a manager can achieve good results  without being a good leader, but that is less likely. In any case both skill-sets are needed for productivity and prosperity.

A team without both a leader and manager is a bit like a rowing boat with only one oar. It tends to go round in a circle.

If a good leader is present, but good management is lacking, then problems  will arise because things such as budgets, work-flows and organizational charts will be sub-standard . On the other hand if the team has a good manager, but lacks good leadership, lots of energy will be lost through conflicts that are not handled properly, fear causing the true potential not to be tapped  and misunderstandings about expectations and intentions.

Leadership and management related to group development

A less well developed group of people  tends to appreciate the skill-set of a good manager, being able to clearly point out a direction, putting structures in place and creating  easy to follow work instructions. These are good skills in the first stage of group development.

As the team becomes more mature  and conflicts and confrontations start to be more common this is when a good leader needs to step on the stage in this second stage of group development. This could be the same person as the manager, but it could also be somebody else in the unit  Another name for this is the  informal leader of the group.

As the unit  matures even further to the third stage of group development there tends to be an equal need again for management and leadership.

There are many different opinions as to whether or not a company needs to hire the absolute best “A-Player” talent for every single position listed on a corporate org. chart. That said, most CEOs believe their company will perform better if the executive team is populated with the absolute best “A-Player” executive talent available.

Unfortunately, many companies actually fail in their attempts to hire the best possible executive talent. When this failure occurs, in retrospect, many executive hiring authorities feel the process broke down somewhere during identifying, attracting, qualifying, recruiting of executives into their respective roles. The truth is that in most cases the process was broke even before any attempt has been made to engage candidates.

So where does the process typically break down when attempting to hire the absolute best “A-Player” talent?

The process typically breaks down in the preliminary stage where the specific quantified objectives for the executive role in question are actually being defined or failed to be defined.

Typically either the role’s objectives and/or charter have only been loosely defined in concept, but have not been defined at all in detail in terms of the quantified specific business objectives/metrics the role will be responsible for delivering against. In other words, no one has defined explicitly what the role is expected to accomplish/drive in the near term let alone the long term with respect to the measurable impact the role is expected to have on quantifiable business metrics.

Many times all that is known is “We need an EVP of Sales”, or “We need a CFO” as far as the functional concept of the role. The problem with this is it translates into simply focusing only on – what – a prospective candidate has done in their career. This in turn translates into candidate assessment overly focusing on whether or not a candidate does or does not have the required scope & scale of quantifiable responsibility/experience implying they will not be “in over their head” and possess “been there; done that” experience of appropriate scope & scale.

So why is it so important to quantify and define the specific business objectives/metrics the role will be responsible for delivering against? This might seem obvious, but you’d be surprised how often this isn’t done in a deliberate concrete way.
It is important to quantify and define the specific business objectives/metrics the role will be responsible for delivering against because, from a specific objective, you can derive/infer the specific executive capabilities, skills, and attributes that a candidate must possess in order to have a chance at achieving the specific objective. This “peeling the onion” so to speak causes you to focus on – how – a prospective candidate achieved – what – they claim to have accomplished.

Focusing on – how – they accomplished something exposes the prospective candidate’s executive capabilities. Identifying a candidate’s executive capabilities will give you a much stronger indication of their ability to meet/exceed – your company’s – business objectives chartered to the role you’re trying to fill.

Example Business Objective:
* This executive will be required to drive revenue growth in excess of our industry’s growth rate while maintaining planned profitability.
From this you can derive/infer the specific requisite executive capability an “A-Player” candidate must possess.
Example Executive Capability:
* Executive must be able to ensure our organization actively monitors and manages financial performance in both up and down business conditions while driving measurable success.
This required executive capability translates into an interview question:
Example Interview Question:
“How has your ability to ensure your organization actively monitors and manages financial performance in both up and down business conditions driven measurable success?”
Example Candidate Response:
“Fluctuating business conditions would cause me to alter my plans, either to accelerate hiring or promotional activities, or to suspend them. My primary goals were to exceed the industry’s revenue growth rate while maintaining the planned profitability of 26%. It’s interesting to note, I did not look to exceed the profitability goal as excessive profitability would indicate we were not aggressive enough in pursuing maximum growth.”

Expanding on the profitability objective for the executive that own revenue production for the company could translate into the following executive capability:

Example Executive Capability:
* Executive must be able to ensure, through a predictable formal sales process, the “right deals” are pursued and won to maintain margin targets by minimizing/wasting the deployment of company resources on deals that either don’t close or aren’t scalable, repeatable, or referencable.
Again, this required executive capability translates into an interview question:
Example Interview Question:
“Describe your approach to sales strategy, planning and execution, including any “solution selling” methodologies you’ve consistently employed, specifically focusing on how your incremental assess/qualify opportunities has translated into a win/loss close ratio.”
Example Candidate Response:
“I make sure every deal over $250K goes through our strategic selling competitive war gaming session in order to bullet proof deal specific sales strategy, tactics, and execution ownership. This also involves incrementally categorize opportunities based on associated Can We Win, Do We Want to Win, Will We Win ongoing qualifying/assessment criteria through the entire lifecycle of the specific revenue opportunity. Our close rate for deals managed through this process is over 90%.”

By beginning the process of filling a new executive role in your company with quantifying and defining the specific business objectives/metrics the role will be responsible for delivering against, and then deriving/inferring the associated requisite executive capabilities, you can then develop very focused probing interview questions to draw out a prospective executive candidate’s resonant executive value proposition associated with – each – requisite executive capability an executive candidate must possess to excel in the role. This will give you a much clearer picture of what you are investing in when considering bringing a new executive onto your team and give you a much better indication of an executive candidate’s ability to excel in the critical role you’re trying to fill on your executive team.

Article Source: http://www.bestmanagementarticles.com

About the Author:
Ron Bates is an expert in mission critical retained executive search. has been referred to as “the most connected man on Earth” with +31,000 direct contacts on on-line professional networking platforms. Find his Internet Presence: Case Study – Recipe for Success at http://www.search-advantage.com

What leadership is not: It is not Management. Management is working with and through people and groups to accomplish organizational goals. Leadership is influencing human behaviour, regardless of the goal.

A leader is first of all a person who serves people. In order to lead, people need to know that you care about them. You show you care by excellent service to them.

A leader has a mission that matters. Leaders become impassioned by a vision of an improvement in people’s lives and that passion becomes a driving force.

A leader is a great thinker. Without big thinking, we’d have no big results — and very few small ones. It is the big thinking of leaders that moves humanity forward. They are able to see people, places and things in a bigger and better light than currently exists. They see potential. They seek opportunity. They find answers before others have asked the questions.

Big, productive thinking flows from a fully functional imagination. Creative thinkers have open minds to all thoughts — they don’t judge or reject ideas prematurely or automatically. Leaders and big thinkers can literally change the world because they believe they can. That belief comes from a deep faith in themselves and others. People often don’t have that faith in themselves, so they welcome and gladly follow a leader who does have that faith and vision.

A leader has high ethics. Ethics are high standards of honest and honourable dealings based on our morals. Ethics are a set of basic working tenets for life and business. How we act and what we do, our methods of functioning, and how we apply our morals is our ethical behaviour. Ethics are APPLICATION. To live by your own ethical standards, you must first be clear what they are. Life is more fast-paced than ever before. “Winning” and getting ahead and making lots of money have become the common measures of success and, too often, that means “no matter what the cost.” Ethics are all too-often compromised on personal and professional levels.

A leader is a change Master. Communication, travel, science and technology — the reasons behind our “shrinking world” — have meant that change happens at exponential speed in our times. That means all change, positive and negative, designed and accidental. We must adapt — or become extinct. Extinction may take the form of products that are unmarketable, management styles that are ineffective, systems that are pointless, or relationships that are meaningless.
There will be times when change happens that is out of your control — maybe not even foreseen by you. There will be other times when you create change for the benefit of your vision and the people you lead. In either case, you cannot determine how other people will change or react, but you can impact their openness and receptivity. Provide new information to expand your followers’ thinking. Show them how their lives or work may become easier, more efficient, more pleasant, etc. once the change is in place. Provide new ideas to spark their creativity and broaden their horizons. Help them to imagine what things would be like with the change in place — how much better (and not so bad) than they had first thought. Create an open door by brainstorming and considering the possibilities.

Provide new experiences to build a desire for a belief in the value of change. Introduce “tests” or “examples” of what the change might mean for people to “try out.” Perhaps your situation would be appropriate for people to go see another environment with the change in place — so they can experience it for themselves.

A leader is sensitive. In any type of leadership role, you will be more effective by incorporating sensitivity to economic policy, government regulations, quality control, excellent service, trends, and so forth. Equally important is a sensitivity to the people you are leading. You can only be as effective as are the people you are leading. By supporting them on issues important to them, you are nurturing their effectiveness.

Leaders who can make a difference understand that people return value when they are valued. When they see a connection between their personal goals and those of an organization, they will work very hard to further the organization’s goals. Your sensitivity to people will help you match the right person to the right job or task. It will help you take an appropriate amount of risk to set an example for others and help them gain confidence in their own actions. People become renewed and fulfilled when their leader is able to help them deliver their own best performances. Leaders today work WITH people to empower them to bring out their best abilities, whereas leaders used to do things TO people to elevate their status.

A leader is a risk taker. There wouldn’t be much point in having a mission to make a difference and all the right big ideas if we didn’t have the courage to take a few risks to make it happen. Without risk, many of the big ideas would never even be possible and results would never materialize. Quite simply, the risk is the glue between a big idea and turning it into reality.

Risk means that you may suffer harm or loss as a result of taking certain actions. Sometimes that harm is serious physical danger, but more often it is a fear of failure and ridicule in the eyes of friends and associates. It’s important to have a strong belief in what you’re doing, so that the risk of criticism or ridicule don’t matter enough to hold you back.

A leader is a Decision Maker. Until decisions to take action are made, all you have is ideas and potential. At its worst, indecisiveness wastes time, effort, money, energy, and…life. Smart leaders understand that the wrong decision is better than no decision at all. And, NOT deciding actually is a decision, but for all the wrong reasons. As difficult as it may be to decide, when you determined to lead, you chose to be a decision maker. Decisions give birth to action, excitement and results. Indecision gives birth to regret.

A leader has Power. By using your power to empower others will foster confidence them. The result will be more energy and efficiency on the team. People will trust themselves when they see that you have entrusted them with power. They’ll be bigger thinkers and maybe develop into leaders themselves. You will bring out the best and the potential of people when you empower them to take action. Wise leaders who support others by sharing power find that their own personal power grows in terms of loyalty and respect.

Those who covet power and hold it close become dictatorial, authoritative, and….alienated. When power is shared, it grows; when it is guarded, it vanishes. Wise leaders also know that true power is not flaunted or forced. Effective leaders don’t intimidate or “pull rank.”

Effective power is typically used quietly, through persuasion, cooperation, respect, and example. Power at its dynamic best is used when it is needed, in emergencies and crises. Its value is in creating support for people and projects, rather than tearing them down.

A leader communicates effectively. Without effective communication, you simply won’t be able to make a difference. Good communicators have two things going for them — SKILL and PERSONAL PHILOSOPHY, which takes the form of attitude and passion. Just as you don’t know what’s going on if you don’t see it first-hand, you will be totally out of touch if you don’t LISTEN to the people.

Listening is the way you learn what’s going on — and how people are being affected. More often than not, when there are problems in an organization, the leader hasn’t paid attention well enough to hear about them until it’s too late. Learn the art of communication from experts.

A leader is a team builder. One of the most rewarding aspects of leadership is to contribute to and watch people grow into their own potential. As they solve problems, build skills and reach goals, you’ll realize that you’re actually making a difference with them. You’ll soon learn that most people are just waiting to be asked to help make a difference on the planet. The best way to do this together is with teams. Attract the right people and then motivate and train them and you’ll be on your way to making a big difference.

A leader is courageous. The role of leaders has become global, demanding the courage to act in the best interests of the people in our country and around the planet. Courage also inspires followers. As they see their leader go down difficult paths, face danger, make sacrifices, stand up for their beliefs, and remain true to their strengths and instincts, followers also become more courageous and strong.

A leader is committed. People who have a fear of commitment can never be a leader. A leader is committed to his followers and to show the above traits.

Article Source: http://www.bestmanagementarticles.com | http://leadership.bestmanagementarticles.com

About the Author: Summary of Sheila Murray Bethel’s book with the same title If you are interested in learning leadership, communication and relationship skills, visit us here.

As human beings, we have a natural tendency to want to be loved. But what happens when your desire to be loved interferes with your ability to lead?

People who gravitate toward leadership roles tend to be charismatic. They work hard at keeping their audiences captivated and enjoy the adoration they receive from their followers. This is all fine and good, until their desire to be liked, or even loved, begins to cloud their judgment. Here are some examples of how this can play out:

Colleagues rather than subordinates.

In their quest to be liked, leaders drop their guards and become more informal with their employees than they should be. An example of this is when a leader joins his staff at Happy Hour. There is nothing wrong with sharing a beer with the team. However, things can quickly get out of hand when one beer leads to a six-pack. Before you know it, managers are sharing drinking stories from their college days. Throw in a few shots of tequila, and all bets are off.

To effectively lead, your followers must have a high regard for you. Sure, they may look up to you all evening, but will they still respect you in the morning?

Communicating versus commiserating

It is lonely at the top. There are few people who you can confide in regarding your hopes and fears. It can happen to the best of leaders – eventually they stop communicating and start commiserating with their executive team and sometimes with staff.

In these trying times, your team is looking for a leader. Someone who they are confident will be able to steer their ship through these choppy waters. The last thing they need to hear is a leader expressing doubt. If you find that you need a sounding board, consider hiring an executive coach or joining an association. Then be sure you return to the business of communicating the information employees need to hear, so when you turn around, you actually have people following you.

Are you doing too much for your employees?

Are you constantly picking up the slack for members of your team who are not cutting it? When doing so, do you take the time to explain how they can improve their performance? Or do you simply decide it is easier to do things yourself to avoid more conflict?

Conflict fuels improved performance and innovation. It can also strengthen relationships when both parties have an opportunity to have their say. Think about your own personal relationships – do you have more respect and adoration for those who are willing to call you on your actions, or for those that avoid conflict?

It is nice to be loved, but as a leader, it is more important to be respected.

© 2009 Human Resource Solutions. All rights reserved.

Article Source:  http://www.bestmanagementarticles.com  |  http://leadership.bestmanagementarticles.com

About the Author: Roberta Chinsky Matuson is the President of Human Resource Solutions (www.yourhrexperts.com) and has been helping companies align their people assets with their business goals. She is considered an expert in generational workforce issues. Click here to read her new blog on Generation Integration http://generationintegration.typepad.com/matuson/. She can be reached at 413-582-1840 or Roberta@yourhrexperts.com.