Handy tips for young leaders to take on organisational challenges ET Bureau Sep 27, 2012, 07.32AM IST (ET gives the young leader…) Being a star young leader comes with its fair share of challenges. The organisation's expectations are high, and tricky issues such as an inefficient boss, time management, older colleagues and career stagnation can derail the best-laid plans. ET gives the young leader handy tips to take on challenges while keeping an eye on the big picture. HOW TO MANAGE OLDER COLLEAGUES Respect, appreciation and trust are traits that will help you gain their confidence and stand you in good stead. Case Study In a leadership role, there is a tendency to command respect, but when dealing with older professionals, it is important to first respect them for their experience, says Sanjay Singh, director, HR and administration at Cairn India. Keep their concerns in mind Evaluate your leadership style Singh dealt with a professional 20 years his senior, who had rigid views. Avoid Micro-Management Leaders need to explain the context well. Case study
How Managers Become Leaders Artwork: Adam Ekberg, Country Road, 2005, ink-jet print Harald (not his real name) is a high-potential leader with 15 years of experience at a leading European chemical company. He started as an assistant product manager in the plastics unit and was quickly transferred to Hong Kong to help set up the unit’s new Asian business center. As sales there soared, he soon won a promotion to sales manager. Three years later he returned to Europe as the marketing and sales director for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, overseeing a group of 80 professionals. Continuing his string of successes, he was promoted to vice president of marketing and sales for the polyethylene division, responsible for several lines of products, related services, and a staff of nearly 200. All of Harald’s hard work culminated in his appointment as the head of the company’s plastic resins unit, a business with more than 3,000 employees worldwide. Specialist to Generalist What is “enough”?
11 Habits That Exude Success Page 1 of 2 Consider this: You can polish your mind with knowledge until it is a blinding shine, but if you don't externalize it, no one will recognize it. Success is all about being noticed. You get noticed by showing the goods. By adopting the following habits, you'll televise your qualities to the world (discreetly, of course). 1- Brag discreetly I cannot emphasize the word discreetly enough. For instance, say: "I went to New Zealand on vacation. But don't make it all about you. 2- Be a good communicator Do you ever wonder why companies today spend so much money on PR? The trick? Choose your words carefully. Listen to others. 3- Exit graciously Sometimes, you just need to cut a conversation short or leave important company on a dime. 4- Know about life's finer things You may be able to fire off the RBI of every Yankee batter since 1930. I recommend that you familiarize yourself with food, wine, cigars, art, and literature. Move in many circles...
How to Get Feedback When You're the Boss - Amy Gallo - Best Practices The higher up in the organization you get, the less likely you’ll receive constructive feedback on your ideas, performance, or strategy. No one wants to offend the boss, right? But without input, your development will suffer, you may become isolated, and you’re likely to miss out on hearing some great ideas. So, what can you do to get people to tell you what you may not want to hear? What the Experts Say Most people have good reasons for keeping their opinions from higher ups. Acknowledge the fear As the boss, you have to set the stage so people feel comfortable, says Hill. At the same time, you should recognize how hard it might be to hear this tough feedback. Ask for it, constantly Ask for feedback on a regular basis, not just at review time. Request examples In the same way that you want to give concrete examples when giving feedback, you should also request them when you are receiving it. Read between the lines Of course, you may not get honest feedback all the time. Do: Don’t:
Leadership Secret Three: Two Skills Great Leaders Master 6 Habits of True Strategic Thinkers In the beginning, there was just you and your partners. You did every job. You coded, you met with investors, you emptied the trash and phoned in the midnight pizza. Now you have others to do all that and it's time for you to "be strategic." Whatever that means. If you find yourself resisting "being strategic," because it sounds like a fast track to irrelevance, or vaguely like an excuse to slack off, you're not alone. This is a tough job, make no mistake. After two decades of advising organizations large and small, my colleagues and I have formed a clear idea of what's required of you in this role. Anticipate Most of the focus at most companies is on what’s directly ahead. Look for game-changing information at the periphery of your industrySearch beyond the current boundaries of your businessBuild wide external networks to help you scan the horizon better Think Critically “Conventional wisdom” opens you to fewer raised eyebrows and second guessing. Interpret Ambiguity is unsettling. Decide
8 Habits of Remarkably Successful People I'm fortunate to know a number of remarkably successful people. I've described how these people share a set of specific perspectives and beliefs. They also share a number of habits: 1. Back-up plans can help you sleep easier at night. You'll work a lot harder and a lot longer if your primary plan simply has to work because there is no other option. If somehow the worst does happen (and the "worst" is never as bad as you think) trust that you will find a way to rebound. 2. You can be good with a little effort. But you can't be great--at anything--unless you put in an incredible amount of focused effort. Scratch the surface of any person with rare skills and you'll find a person who has put thousands of hours of effort into developing those skills. There are no shortcuts. So start doing the work now. 3. ...and they work a lot more. Forget the Sheryl Sandberg "I leave every day at 5:30" stories. Better yet, they want to put in lots of time. 4. Conventional wisdom yields conventional results.
What's Your Influencing Style? - Chris Musselwhite and Tammie Plouffe by Chris Musselwhite and Tammie Plouffe | 2:45 PM January 13, 2012 Effective leadership today relies more than ever on influencing others — impacting their ideas, opinions, and actions. While influence has always been a valuable managerial skill, today’s highly collaborative organizations make it essential. Consider how often you have to influence people who don’t even report to you in order to accomplish your objectives. Success depends on your ability to effectively influence both your direct reports and the people over whom you have no direct authority. Have you ever thought about how you influence others? It is these preferred tactics that define our influencing style. You may have an idea what your style is just from hearing these labels, but the most accurate way to identify your style is with an influence style indicator — a self-scoring assessment that classifies your style based on answers to questions about preferred influencing tactics. What’s your influencing style?
The 20-Minute Exercise To Eradicate Negative Thinking After a flurry of emails in response to my blog post on passion, I reached a disheartening realization: Passion is useless if you don’t already believe. You see, what we can achieve is limited by what we believe. Henry Ford knew this: “Whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you are right.” So here I was, passionately committed to become the world-class business guru, best-selling author, the speaker who fills stadiums. You’ve probably heard that voice as well. I’m making progress--my book sales are accelerating, my keynote audiences are growing, and I’m sharing the stage with people like Jack Welch and Robin Sharma--but in the back of my mind the voice pulls the reins: “You can’t do it.” Great “outthinkers” seem to overcome this voice. Belief is contagious. So what do you do when you don’t believe? Fundamentals 1. 2. 3. 4. The Model Imagine a hot air balloon being held down by four anchors. The four anchors represent evidence, logic, emotion, and social consensus.
The Magic of Doing One Thing at a Time - Tony Schwartz by Tony Schwartz | 8:53 AM March 14, 2012 Why is it that between 25% and 50% of people report feeling overwhelmed or burned out at work? It’s not just the number of hours we’re working, but also the fact that we spend too many continuous hours juggling too many things at the same time. What we’ve lost, above all, are stopping points, finish lines and boundaries. Technology has blurred them beyond recognition. Wherever we go, our work follows us, on our digital devices, ever insistent and intrusive. Tell the truth: Do you answer email during conference calls (and sometimes even during calls with one other person)? The biggest cost — assuming you don’t crash — is to your productivity. But most insidiously, it’s because if you’re always doing something, you’re relentlessly burning down your available reservoir of energy over the course of every day, so you have less available with every passing hour. I know this from my own experience. 1. 2. 3. 1. 2. 3.
Handling Office Politics | My Take I wanted to understand from different professionals as to what is it that bothers them the most at the workplace. One thing which came out strongly was that they wanted to know how to handle office politics. It made me think a lot, basically from three perspectives. Firstly, the reason behind the existence of office politics, since I’ve always believed it should not exist, secondly, how to eradicate it if it exists, and thirdly, even if we accept its existence, how do we handle it? It takes me back to the days when I had just started my career. I thought, why should I be facing this if the easiest way out is to just keep your boss happy, attend all the parties, talk nicely to him, ensure that you get credit for what’s happening, spend a lot of time in rumor mongering so I could pick up the grapevine flowing in the office and communicate it to him? Soon after the second day, when I was going off to sleep, I was lying in my bed and realised I hated myself.