Some years ago, a student was giving a presentation for a class I was teaching. The idea was to persuade a resistant audience to change their attitudes or behaviors about an issue. In the course of her message, she recalled something one of her mentors had said to her: “If you have a chance to […]
Three Ways to Combat a Chronic Complainer
Your coworker may be dedicated, hard-working, and good at her job. However, her active criticism of any and everything gets on coworker’s nerves and makes us want to insulate ourselves from her rants. Complainers sap energy from an organization because they make sure that every cloud has a lead lining. They make things look worse […]
Getting the Answers You Need: Asking Questions Effectively
Leaders need to be able to discover what’s really going on in their organizations and identify solutions to solve problems facing the company. Whether you are a senior manager, a department head, or a team leader, if you know how to ask good questions and then listen carefully to the answers, you will be ahead […]
Five Essential Leadership Behaviors
Keep your promises, follow up, and follow through Leadership today is increasingly about leaders who serve and followers who empower that person to lead them. Once the leader stops serving, the followers may cease to empower or recognized that person as their leader. The result is wasted energy, lower productivity, and damaged morale. What a […]
Five Critical Mistakes that Leaders Should Avoid
People who lead or who aspire to leadership have plenty of available advice about how they should behave as inspiring leaders. However, sometimes we benefit from knowing what behaviors to avoid, and leadership is no exception. Often, well-intentioned leaders may overlook some action or inaction that can derail their leadership effectiveness. One of the challenges […]
Five Things Never to Say on a Job Interview
Job searches can be nerve wracking and the stress level spikes in the all-important interview. Too often, our mouth starts working before we engage our brain, and we run the risk of saying things that either destroy or diminish the chances of landing that plum position. Of course, you want to be prepared, positive, and […]
Demonstrate your values with your actions: #5 of Five Essential Leadership Behaviors.
Leaders who possess personal power as well as positional power (power that comes from their job) are able to achieve far greater results than someone we follow just because he is the department head or the vice president. Effective leaders don’t get caught up in a sense of their own importance, and although they may […]
Admit your mistakes: #4 of Five Essential Leadership Behaviors
Some argue that admitting your mistakes can send a message of weakness or incompetence but a leader who can say “I was wrong” can increase his or her credibility five-fold. People know that no one is infallible. Often the followers see the leader’s mistake as it unfolds, so for someone to deny, cover up, or […]
Show that you care about people: # 3 of Five Essential Leadership Behaviors
In a world where history happens before our eyes, and cataclysmic change has become the norm, most people are eager for wise, strong, and compassionate leadership—in our work, our organizations, and our governments. Atlanta-based consultant, Dr. Timothy Irwin points out that most leaders have a need for affiliation. In other words, they require association with […]
Behave consistently: #2 of Five Essential Leadership Behaviors
Although leadership styles may vary widely, certain qualities seem particularly appropriate for today’s stressful and dynamic workplace. We have all worked with the person who is a great mentor on some days, and on others, we are sure that her evil twin has taken her place. Some people have a difficult time dealing with stress […]