21 Ways to Be a Better Leader
Without Breaking a Sweat
It's not rocket science. Being a
better leader starts with the little things. Here's what you need to know.
1. Switch off your cell phone. Go on, you can do it. Just for one meeting.
2. Look people in the eyes. Practice doing it consistently.
3. Think. Pick an hour in the day (the week, if you're really
strapped) and just think. Don't listen. Don't read. Don't talk. Don't eat.
Don't drink. Just think.
4. Get out of your inbox. Twice a day is enough for most people. If it's not, for
you, then you have deeper communication management problems.
5. Stop using amplifying adverbs. Every time you use words like 'very', 'fundamental',
'must-do', 'imperative', you drain their impact. Simply state what you want to
say, or want done, without amplification.
6. Ask 'What can I do for you?' Many leaders fail to recognize that they can be a
tremendous asset for their people - but only if they place themselves in that
position.
7. Get out from behind your desk. You do know the real action is happening elsewhere, right?
8. Get comfortable with silence.
9. Know your presuppositions. Before any important meeting or discussion, jot down what
presumptions, assumptions or biases you're walking in with. Note that they
might be right, helpful, useful - or they may not.
10. Distrust what you trust. Not all the time. Just often enough to rethink what you
take for granted.
11. Don't talk to think. Thinking out loud is confusing when the person doing the
verbal processing is the leader of those who are listening ('Is this an
instruction? Are we really going to do this?'). Only do it with people who
know you well, or make it clear when you are 'just musing'.
12. Give positive feedback three
times more often than you do.
You don't do it enough, trust me.
13. Get low-level seating in your
office and use it. If you have the real estate, add a
round table (or a coffee table), and use it by default. Make your desk a work
surface, not a communication barrier or power play.
14. Be present. You can only be in one place at a time-- so be
there. Stick a pin in your palm, snap an elastic band on your wrist. Do
whatever you need to give the present your full attention.
15. Ask more than you tell. Sure, there are communications that require you to be
declarative, but leadership as a whole is an exercise in inquiry.
16. Show more than you demand. The leader as a role model isn't something that's talked
about much right now (mostly because of the lack of such role models in many
areas of life-- politics, sports, entertainment), but it's still the most
powerful tool in your leadership toolkit.
17. Repeat yourself. When you literally feel nauseous at the thought of
repeating what's important, others are just beginning to get it.
18. Batch crap. When you allow the prospect of dealing with dreck to get
you down, you underperform. Pull together the three or four things you truly
loathe the thought of doing, and get them done as early in the week as
possible. You'll be amazed how well you perform the rest of the week.
19. Only use email to move around
information. Your keyboard isn't a proxy for
rich communication.
20. Reach down two levels. Don't build a cadre of lieutenants who get all your
attention. You're leading the enterprise, not your immediate reports.
21. Be nice. Whatever reason you use to justify being a jerk, you're
wrong.
BY Les
McKeown http://www.inc.com/les-mckeown/21-ways-to-be-a-better-leader-without-breaking-a-sweat.html?cid=em01014week40a
No comments:
Post a Comment