Kairology

Introduction by Ian Williams

A number of my clients have recently been working through issues around strategic versus operational leadership. We all want to understand the difference and be involved in both, in the most appropriate way. What we often forget is that our personal leadership needs to be strategic, so that we can demonstrate the skills needed in leading others strategically. The leader’s job is to involved people in strategic issues – particularly those relevant to their job and goals – and to allow them the space and time to be strategic. What I often hear is frustration from senior people that leaders don’t or won’t rise to the challenge. My advice is coach, encourage and build confidence – then have the courage to step back. This article gives some good definition and helpful pointers.

Ian

What is strategic leadership and why do I need it? by Stephanie Tuia

Strategic leadership is a self-explanatory term, and even when separated, still provides a meaningful definition. A definition of strategic leadership can be summed up as the ability to anticipate, prepare, and get positioned for the future.”

In my experience, I have been able to pinpoint specific examples of colleagues who have exemplified strategic leadership in their professions. I’d like to share some examples of how strategic leadership is essential to a work environment.

A small company had been acquired by a larger firm. With this, the current leader had been let go and a new leader was appointed to take charge.

Anticipate and Prepare
Being acquired by a larger firm may bring more awareness to a company or provide better benefits, but several cons may get in the way at first. During a transition period, many employees are sometimes left without a job, or have decided to move on to other things in the wake of unsatisfied changes. It was no different when a well-liked president of the company was phased out due to financial setbacks. The firm took a lengthy process to make a move until finally appointing an internal employee to serve as the interim president. Left with a lot of the dirty work, the new leader immediately went to work and restored and initiated productivity with his employees. His biggest attribute was that he was prepared for this new role before he was even appointed as the new president. His natural work ethic had already groomed him for charismatic leadership and when the opportunity for advancement came, he wasted no time in taking charge and continuing the work. Likewise, a strategic leader will be able to pick up the pieces and restore work productivity regardless of a drastic change. Being the cheerleader and still an enforcer, Teams leaders are versatile figures held accountable for their employees work performance.

Get positioned for the future
A team leader’s major objective is to keep worker performance at a high and encourage improving results that would ultimately lead to a brighter outlook and future. Preparing employees now enables them to do such. Team Leaders have a weekly, monthly or even yearly report to give so their main motivation would be to constantly focus on the progress and performance of their individuals. In order to maintain and continue a future of positive results, an effective team leader will use strategic planning in his/her strategic management. Mentally, he/she will find ways to encourage employees to perform high to obtain team incentives, but will also encourage strategic planning at the individual level. Training employees to strategically plan in their prospective territories will alleviate the leader with multiple responsibilities and generate a more productive outcome in the work area. With a focus on the individual employee, a team leader will have the power to influence his/her employees to control their progress and look towards a better outcome.

One department is flourishing with work productivity, while one department is far behind.

Focus on the right energies
In a business world where deadlines are demanding and profits are important, companies and their leaders will hold work productivity as a high priority. A strategic leader will observe less than optimum circumstance and move quickly to create beneficial change. Saving time by focusing only on the right energies will help a company profit. For example, an employee serves in two departments, splitting duties between each. It is evident that his/her skills are stronger in research and development rather than in the sales department. A strategic leader may see more value in changing this employee’s role to work in this stronger area of expertise. At the same time, a strategic leader will realize that this employee may be able to provide unique insight across both functions that others cannot. Strategic leaders will observe these situations quickly and waste no time in shifting employees to areas where both the individual and organizations can benefit the most.

These glimpses give you some helpful scenarios of how strategic leadership can be applied in your work environment. Should you have any future problems with work productivity, profits or even issues with your employees, address those concerns with some professional guidance and you’ll discover how an investment in your team will result is bottom line results.

To learn more about effective strategic leadership visit http://www.cmoe.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Stephanie_Tuia http://EzineArticles.com/?Applying-Strategic-Leadership-in-the-workplace&id=292267

By Duncan Brodie

Leading teams is challenging but in truth, certain contributors can result in you being a more successful team leader. So what are the 6 key contributors to successful team leadership?

Contributor 1: Relevant and meaningful purpose and goals

Teams that prosper need to have a clear purpose which is meaningful to them and matters to them. Additionally, they need to have goals that act as milestones or checkpoints along the way. In successful teams, the team will be passionate and enthusiastic about what they want to achieve and will get behind it if it is meaningful. Ask yourself what the team is trying to create, the reputation it wants to have and the results it wants to achieve. As the leader, get clear on the role you want to play, your style of operating and how you want to be seen by your team.

Contributor 2: Confidence and commitment building

As the leader of the team you need to build the confidence and commitment of individuals in the team. Part of your role here is to create an environment where people are encouraged and supported to take risks. How you respond to setbacks will be an excellent indicator of how well you do this. Another part is providing meaningful feedback on the good and not so good things.

Contributor 3: Skill mix

In your capacity of the team leader you have a role to play in getting the right skills in place and then continually strengthening these skills. The team does not operate in a static environment so you need to adapt to changing circumstances and people will only adapt if they have the skills to do so.

Contributor 4: Relationship management

The team you are leading might be totally motivated and be full of belief. However, you cannot expect that to be replicated throughout the organisation. People will be envious and may even try to derail your efforts. It is important that you as the team leader create good relationships outside of the team and leverage these relationships to overcome obstacles.

Contributor 5: Opportunity creation

As team leader you could decide to personally take all of the best opportunities that come up. Successful leaders know that it important not just to think about their own situation but also to look at creating opportunities for others to learn, grow and develop.

Contributor 6: Do the work

Teams are generally small in size so there is no space for people who distance themselves. Team leaders who are successful don’t sit in an Ivory Tower, dishing out instructions. They get involved and do real work rather than watching in the wings.

Bottom line - By focusing on some key contributors you can make a step change in your performance as a team leader. So what’s your next step?

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements (G&A) works with teams in organisations who want to be more effective and achieve sustained success.

He is an authorised Facilitator for Team Coaching International’s Team Diagnostic Assessment.

Sign up for his free e-course and monthly newsletter at goalsandachievements.co.uk

Article Source: EzineArticles

By Glenn Ebersole

Many people and their companies they work for fear and resist change.  Some literally detest any change.  It is very important to realize that with the application of some solid strategic thinking, change can be a catalyst to energize and fire up your employees.  One needs to recognize that change has the ability to open doors, hears and minds that otherwise may remain closed and/or locked forever.

By Andy Cox

In these times - tough times by anyone’s measure - it’s important to be seen as a contributor - a person who makes a positive difference in the success of their enterprise.

But having said that, when is the last time you read an article, or a book, on how to be a contributor to any enterprise? Go in any bookstore and see the books on leadership - rows of them. No titles on being a contributor. And yet effective contribution results in most of the successes in any enterprise - just ask the leaders.

So what does it take to be a top contributor? We asked some of the most successful people we know. Here are their answers: ten Behaviors, Attitudes and Personal Skills of top contributors. We offer these ten answers as a self inventory. As you read through what top contributors do, ask yourself where you see yourself.

1 - They do the work that’s recognized as the most important work by their organization. They identify what is most important by creating mutually shared goals. The secret to effective contribution is doing the work that is most important - and ensuring that is where the focus is. None of the other nine items is even worth mentioning if the important work doesn’t get done on time while meeting budget, performance, quality and other criteria. It’s not a matter of accepting what needs to be done - that goes without saying. Do the important work and get the opportunity to be seen as a top contributor. This sounds so basic - but it’s amazing how often it doesn’t occur.

2 - They practice personal leadership through self discipline. Being on time; meeting commitments; knowing when and how to say no; focusing on work and letting the unimportant go; maintaining emotional control; are all behaviors of top contributors.

3 - They accept the culture for what it is and adapt to it - or get out. There is no bigger waste of time than trying to change what exists to meet personal expectations. Better to leave or accept the culture - as long as it doesn’t require acting immorally, unethically, illegally or unsafely.

4 - It’s not about you. Top contributors know personalizing decisions and thinking of them in terms of self is a great way to lose motivation and commitment. Let’s face it, a lot of decisions will differ from what might be seen as optimal, but accepting decisions for what they are, not making them personal, and moving on to the next issue is top contributor behavior.

5 - They take pride in contribution. Top contributors are convinced of the importance of their work - if they weren’t how could they possibly see the value of their accomplishments? It’s like the story of the three bricklayers: when asked what they were doing, the first said he was laying brick; the second said he was helping build a school; and the third said he was participating in offering a better education to children through his best efforts. Which bricklayer best describes how you value your work?

6 - Be convinced that you have a gift to give - then give it. Top contributors don’t ration their efforts. They focus, they operate at top speed, and they get more done than they realized they could. And the next time they’re asked to climb that same mountain, it’s not nearly as high as the first time. And they can look for more - whatever more means to them.

7 - They realize interdependence beats independence in accomplishing anything. Group effort can seem like a pain at the beginning, but a top contributor knows the pain comes before the gain. Focused effort by a group is so much more powerful than individual effort in almost all situations. Acquiring the Personal Skills to work effectively in collaborations is key to top contribution.

8 - They have high ideals, but maintain realistic expectations. Peter Senge - in The Fifth Discipline defines a cynic in this way : “Scratch a cynic and you will find an idealist, someone who made the mistake of letting their ideals become their expectations.” Ideals are important - without them staying on course is impossible. But creating a failure scenario by making an ideal a goal is a sure recipe for frustration and a reduced sense of self worth.

9 - Top contributors are fixers, not blamers. They know establishing accountability for things that go wrong is necessary for the future. But they are much more focused on solutions than on placing blame. They know solutions behavior promotes communication and learning while blame behavior promotes defensiveness and error avoidance.

10 - They use a combination of personal and organizational goals to frame their work and their lives. The closer the alignment between the different goal sets, the better. Top contributors know relying on organizational goals to establish self worth and value is very limiting. Organizational goals can change unexpectedly and often - particularly in tough times. Personal goals, on the other hand, provide a “True North” perspective on what is really important.

Take the time, right now, to carefully look at your own contributions - and what can be done to increase your personal impact in your personal and organizational life. Then decide which of the Behaviors, Attitudes and Personal Skills of top contributors will help you achieve the success you want. Then act to make them happen - and watch 2009, even in the midst of tough times, be the best of times.

About the Author

Andy Cox helps individuals, teams and organizations identify and develop their Multipliers of Success - the unique set of Behaviors, Motivators and Personal Skills each client needs for success. Contact Andy at acox@consultgroup.com Visit his website for information on how he can help you discover and develop your Multipliers of Success. His website address is coxconsultgroup.com