Spark Your Improvement as a Leader

It is easier to be a judge of others’ leadership than it is to lead. All of us have a critic that lives and thrives within us. Most of us never question that critic when the target of criticism is someone else and especially, when we are up close and personal with someone we view as a poor excuse for a manager or a lousy leader. This situation often intensifies when that someone is our boss or a leader in our midst. No question that a lack of management skills or inadequate leadership ability can create a ripple effect resulting in confusion, frustration, dissatisfaction, and even disaster. Perception can come crashing into reality when something similar to an Enron debacle surfaces.

Responsible, dynamic leadership calls for you to become a master at self-evaluation. Examine the common characteristics of great leaders and ask yourself, “where am I with that?”  Keep a watch out for people who exhibit great leadership and ask them about their journey. Look over the common characteristics of lousy leaders and find your own sparks for improvement.

Common Characteristics of Lousy Leaders

• Lack of character
• Issues with honesty, limited humility, questionable trustworthiness
• Rules oriented vs. people oriented
• Micro managing
• Disengaged from the team
• Undermining or allowing undermining to go on among the troops
• Defensive when challenged or offered feedback
• Attack mode when giving feedback
• Power smacking – in meetings or in groups dressing people down
• Seeking blame rather than resolution
• Ignoring poor behavior or lousy performance among leadership

Be A Great Boss

How important is it to evaluate your effectiveness?  I would say it is up there with taking responsibility for your health.  High on the list!  You can’t get where you want to go if you don’t have a clear picture of the destination, a road map and plenty of fuel.  Frequently consider where you are and where you want to be.  Lay out the road map to close the gap between the two.

Supervisor Boot Camp, Click here for all the info

Here’s a profile of the ideal leader developed by a group of supervisors participating in a training workshop on discipline.  When asked to identify the ten major functions of an effective supervisor ranked in order of importance, they came up with the following list:

1. Delegates authority in areas affecting their work

2. Consults with subordinates before making decisions pertaining to their job responsibilities

3. Gives employees the reasons for implementing decisions.

4. Doesn’t play favorites.

5. Praises excellent work.

6. Reprimands subordinates who fail to observe the proper chain-of-command relationships

7. Never reprimands or disciplines in front of coworkers.

8. Encourages employees to offer their opinions and criticisms of supervisory policies.

9. Listens to employees’ explanations before placing blame in disciplinary situations; accepts reasonable explanations, not excuses.

10. Obeys all the rules that subordinates are expected to obey.
 

 

This is a great checklist for you to use when scrutinizing your effectiveness.  You can take this a step further and email me for a complimentary Leadership Quiz you can take that will provide you the opportunity to self-evaluate your ability to be a true role model.

Still learning,

Honey

www.interaction-training.com

P.S.  To get my free leadership quiz just shoot me an email at  honey@interaction-training.com

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