Leadership Ideas Anyone Can Follow - Personal Coaching Center

Many true leaders have become great because they were willing to learn from others. However, most people aren't willing to learn and that is why they fail at becoming a good leader. They think they know it all. Anyone can benefit from leadership skills like the excellent tips that are presented in this post.

Allow ample opportunity for your employees to offer feedback and new ideas. Although group meetings are the ideal setting for exchange of information, some employees may not feel confident offering opinions in such a public forum. Work with employees individually as well. This will help you gain trust and get some honest feedback.

an image of Leaders workplace, team, business meeting

Walk the talk. Leaders don't say one thing and do another. That is confusing to employees, and demotivating in many ways. Instead live by what you say. Follow through and lead by example. Then you'll have more than employees, you'll have champions who believe in your business and your leadership too.

Good leaders should be honest people. Do what you can to tell the truth. Remain authentic. When you tell the truth, do so kindly. Be open about any mistakes that have occurred. Mistakes will happen, so you need to accept them. It is those mistakes that you can use to find a new solution. They can provide you with nearly limitless opportunities.

How Innovation Is Completely Different in Established Organizations Than in Startups

www.leadershipnow.com

"WE LIVE IN the age of the entrepreneur. New startups appear out of nowhere and challenge not only established companies, but entire industries. Where unicorns were once mythical creatures, the word unicorn now refers to the startups that have a value of at least $1 billion, and there are more than 370 of them worldwide. In 2018 alone, 53 unicorns were added to the list.
Established organizations of a certain size and age, sometimes called “legacy organizations,” are stressed by the entrepreneurial successes. Their greatest fear is no longer their closest competitor, but the startups which, although they live in metaphorical garages and have hardly taken off, have an innovation power that established organizations can only dream of possessing.
Still, no matter what great strides the innovative startups make or how much airtime they’re given by the media, innovation in startups is completely different than innovation in established organizations.
The bad news for established organizations is that innovation for them is much more difficult than it is for startups. The most important job for startups is to focus on their (probably one) product and to subsequently scale up. Established organizations have to entertain many more considerations with their complicated product portfolios and business structures.
The good news for established organizations, however, is that nobody is more likely to succeed than they are in their innovation efforts. Unlike startups, established organizations have tremendous resources. They have money, customers, data, employees, suppliers, partners, and infrastructure — which put them in a perfect position to transform new ideas into concrete, value-creating, successful offerings.
The Three Tracks of Innovation
Many established organizations commit the mistake of engaging in innovation as if it were a homogeneous process. But innovation in established organizations must actually be divided into three different tracks: optimizing, augmenting, and mutating innovations. All three are important. There’s no one singular type of innovation that’s better than another. And, unlike the startups, established organizations must execute all three types of innovation at the same time.
1. Optimizing innovation: Improving the past. Optimizing innovation makes up the majority of what established organizations already do today. And they must continue doing so. Optimizing innovation is, simply put, the metaphorical extra blade on the razor. When the razor manufacturer launches a new razor that has not just three, but four blades, to ensure an even better, closer and more comfortable shave, only to announce one or two years later that it’s now launching a razor that has not only four, but five blades, that is optimizing innovation. This is where the established player reigns.
No startup with so much as a modicum of sense would even try to beat the established company in this type of innovation. Continuous optimization, both on the operational side and the customer side, is good and important — in the short term. It pays the rent. But it’s far from enough if the established company wants to continue to be a leader three to five years from now because there are limits on how many blades a razor needs. Each additional blade generates a bit less value than the previous one.
Essentially, optimizing innovation improves upon the past. But startups are inventing the future. To match their entrepreneurial innovation power, established organizations must also prepare for the future and, ultimately, learn how to invent the future.
2. Augmenting innovation: Preparing for the future. To prepare for the future, the established players must engage in innovative augmentations. The digital transformation projects that more and more organizations are initiating can typically be characterized as augmenting innovation. It’s about upgrading the organization and its core offerings and processes from analog to digital. Or, if organizations were born digital, they may have had to become “mobile-first.” Perhaps they’ve even entered the next augmenting phase, which is to become “AI-first.” These augmentations are not small matters. They require great technological conversions. But technology may, in fact, be a minor part of the task. When it comes to augmenting innovation, the biggest challenge is most likely culture.
Where startups have the advantage in building cultures from scratch that fit the times in which they originate perfectly, established organizations, who have had decades or even millennia of history, typically have created cultures in which there’s a preference to maintain the status quo. But if they hope to match the startup innovation power, they will need to transform their cultures to ensure their employees all thrive in constant change.
3. Mutating innovation: Inventing the future. Finally, established organizations also need to invent the future through mutating innovation. The business that maintains or exceeds its level of success 10, 20, and 30 years from now will have mutated. Whatever is currently at the core of the company today, making up the majority of the top and bottom lines, won’t remain the same in the long run.
Mutating innovation requires a bold focus on experimentation into what isn’t yet understood. This is where the successful startups have excelled — taking what exists and challenging it to either create something new with more value or open up to new target groups. For established organizations, this innovation track is difficult because it essentially challenges their identities. Therefore, mutating innovation cannot thrive inside a company’s core, but needs to be taken outside to the core organization’s edges."
https://www.leadershipnow.com/leadingblog/2019/07/how_innovation_is_completely_d.htmlhttp://www.leadershipnow.com/cgi-bin/mt/mt-atom.cgi/weblog/blog_id=1/entry_id=1745

Always handle emerging issues with transparency. Good leaders don't want to hide problems with their business. Want to know why? There's a lot of ways the issues can surface because of all the communication built into our modern lives. The truth will come out either way. Why not control the message that comes out, instead of reacting? Great leaders make sure to do this.

Business is changing constantly so be open to new ideas. Even though something has always worked well in the past, that doesn't mean there isn't a better way to get the job done. Be open to innovative ideas. You can try new methods on a small scale before implementing them company wide.

Don't rely on email to manage your team. Overreliance on email makes you seem like a distant emperor who hands down edicts from on high. You will not only build resentment among your team, but also miss out on the chance to build relationships that will improve productivity in the long run.

Know your competition just as well as you know your own company. Business isn't just about what's happening between the walls in your space. You need to make decisions based off competitive movement. If you can't make decisions because you don't know the competition, then expect your employees to see it as a weakness in leadership.

If you want to be a good business leader, try to treat everything as being your personal fault. This is ultimately about assuming personal responsibility for all that happens in your work. Never blame coworkers or the economy. Understand that at the end of the day, those who created their own fate are the ones eating dinner out at nice restaurants.

Who is the Best Boss You Ever Had? What Makes a Great Boss?

www.teamworkandleadership.com

"Ask yourself, who is the best boss I ever worked for? If you were asked why they were the best, you would probably say things like: “She was so positive.” “He made me feel appreciated.” “She took the time to know me and coach me.” “He listened carefully.” “I felt like she would do anything […]
The post Who is the Best Boss You Ever Had? What Makes a Great Boss? appeared first on Teamwork and Leadership Bloggings with Mike Rogers."
https://www.teamworkandleadership.com/2019/07/who-is-the-best-boss-you-ever-had-what-makes-a-leader.html

Make sure your subordinates and coworkers know that you are someone who is approachable. You probably don't want to leave holes in your schedule for conversation and socialization, but it's necessary. Your employees expect and deserve your guidance, respect and appreciation. With it, they can become your greatest business asset. Without it, they become a tremendous business liability.

Take responsibility for what come out of your mouth. Leadership means that you have to be held accountable for what you say and do. Think about how you are representing your company whenever you interact with others. When you make mistakes, own up to them. Never expect others to do the fixing for you.

Encourage passion for the work you do. When you show enthusiasm about something, it is contagious. Show enthusiasm for a new project and be passionate about the ideas your team has. Encouraging a passionate and enthusiastic attitude about work is a great way to inspire creativity in your team.

Be open with your communication with your team. Good communication is essential for effective teamwork. Make sure your team feels that any questions are welcome by having a helpful attitude. Your team cannot work for you if they are not sure of what you want. Keep an open-door policy for this reason.

Watson, come here. I need you to help me make a sale.

salesfuel.com

"Take away the telephone and you’d have a tough time doing business. Is this sales tool so vital that you take it for granted? (Read more…)

The post Watson, come here. I need you to help me make a sale. appeared first on SalesFuel."

http://salesfuel.com/watson-come-here-i-need-you-to-help-me-make-a-sale/

Be willing to accept feedback. Sometimes employees feel uncomfortable approaching a superior with problems or ideas unless prompted. Make the process more streamlined overall by seeking out opinions and suggestions from your employees. Try to keep an open door policy, and be willing to listen when your employees have something to say, even if you don't agree with the complaint.

Use your knowledge of your employee's strengths when delegating work. Try to spread mundane tasks out over a large amount of employees. Give a variety of individuals the opportunity to attempt tasks that are challenging, exciting and give them some form of responsibility. One important aspect of being a good leader is building effective leadership abilities in others.

Good leaders identify and understand their obstacles before encountering them in insurmountable ways. Learn to anticipate a crisis and take steps to avoid it. It is possible to have a positive attitude and still not be in denial about potential pitfalls. Delegate team members to minimize risks using each person's individual strengths.

Being a leader can seem like an enviable role – all eyes are on you and you'll have a fair amount of power and prestige. But in the same vein, you'll have a tremendous amount of responsibility and will need to be accountable when things don't go well. Is this truly the role you want? The first step of being a leader is to think deeply about if this is the role you want to play.

Now you can see why it is important to always learn new skills that help people to become an effective leader. Leadership does not come overnight. It takes years of learning and a determination to be the best a person can be. With these great ideas that were in the above article, you too can be on your way to having leadership skills that really do work.

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