May 11, 2009 | Posted by petereff
We watch the star athlete calmly make the final shot, score the winning goal, or lead his team for a touchdown in the final minute of the game. We marvel at their talent and their determination, but what we value and admire most is the supreme confidence they display – they know they will succeed.
Confidence is an attribute that is alluring, attractive, valuable, desirable and contagious. Most everyone aspires to greater levels of it, even if they feel confident most of the time. It is a trait that will help us create greater results for ourselves and when leading others. Any trait with this much benefit is one worth developing. And yes, you can develop and strengthen your confidence.
Consider these five steps as the building blocks for greater confidence in any part of your life.
Categories: Coaching, Leadership, Positive Attributes | 
Tags: self confidence | 
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May 11, 2009 | Posted by petereff
3 ‘E’s For Leaders – Engage, Empower, Encourage!
‘Enflamed with the study of learning and the admiration of
virtue; stirred up with high hopes of living to be brave…
and worthy…, dear to God, and famous to all ages.’
- John Milton
Leaders are by definition ’stewards’ of the trust, hope and
beliefs of others. To perform their acts of stewardship,
leaders must practice and master three essential tasks:
=> Engage people
=> Empower people
=> Encourage people
Many leaders have a problem applying those 3 ‘E’s to their
leadership goals, actions and conversations. Here are a few
strategic ideas you can use to inject the three ‘E’s into
your leadership styles and behaviors.
Engage the Hearts, Minds & Wills of People!
‘No seed shall perish which the soul hath sown.’
- John Addington Symonds.
When you plant a positive vision into the fertile fields of
their hearts, minds, wills and emotions, your venture is
sure to succeed.
Your task is to help your partners, associates, peers and
constituents or clients to
=> Connect with,
=> Believe in,
=> Commit to,
=> Organize for
performing that mission-critical activity, reaching for a
desired objective or completing some specific task.
The intent, consistency and integrity of your leadership
style, behaviors and attitudes must demonstrate the
worthiness of your visionary ideal or principles.
In a word, you use your dreams or ideals to motivate and
inspire the confidence and commitment of others.
Empower the Skills, Performance & Competencies of People!
Empowering people means
-> linking them with the knowledge, resources, assets and
processes they need,
- preparing them for the tasks, activities, objectives,
challenges and problems they will work through,
- directing them to the sources of tools or materials,
supplies and resources, specialists or networks to enable
their efforts,
- guiding them in identifying, classifying, mapping or
modeling, learning, analyzing, evaluating, innovating and
creating, managing, venturing and leading for any
situation.
By empowering, we mean facilitating the supply of energy,
mass and capability to perform the work at hand. To provide
people with the energy of a belief, competence or meaning.
‘True hope is swift, and flies with swallow’s wings;
Kings it makes gods, and meaner creatures kings.’
- William Shakespeare
Leaders encourage us to have hope, we use that hope to add
speed and give flight to our dreams, our hope transforms our
lives into the lofty desires of kingly beings, and
transmutes our efforts into a reality of kingly treasures.
Encourage the Endeavors, Strengths & Confidence of People!
When you lead by encouraging people, you give them a:
=> purpose for being, for their inclusion, for making a
difference and contribution, for reaching upwards or towards
a higher plateau
=> obligation to the mission, to help others, to fulfill an
ideal, to belong, to a higher power or greater good
=> trust in the common purpose, in goodness of others, love
and mercy of God, in a promising potential for the venture,
=> affinity with a noble or worthy enterprise, with other
positive or success-oriented people, with a great and
righteous goal
You encourage people because you realize they will become
transformed by the hope of a positive image or possibility.
‘None without hope e’er lov’d the brightest fair,
But love can hope where reason would despair.’
- Lord Lyttleton.
Love is an act of the will, to love is a willful decision to
show a loving concern, care and compassion for another -
love gives hope the solid support of a strong foundation.
————————————————————
‘Growth is the only evidence of life.’ – John Henry Newman
If it is possible to encourage an energizing yet positive
growth of people, then you are engaged in a worthwhile
endeavor.
When we analyze the styles and behaviors of our greatest
leaders like Christ, Gandhi, King, Churchill, Tolstoy and
Mother Theresa, they share a common trait – they applied all
three ‘E’s to their practice of leadership.
Leaders in government, business and public services can
easily find ways to use one or more of these key actions -
1) They can engage the hearts or minds of people through
compelling ideas or inspiring principles;
2) They can empower the ability and desires of people by
connecting or educating them through applied energy;
3) They can encourage the commitment and heroism of people
by showing them the hope or belief in a better reality.
Try out these concepts – when you do, you’ll see a real
improvement in your leadership effectiveness!
‘We have two lives about us,
Two worlds in which we dwell,
Within us and without us,
Alternate Heaven and Hell:
Without, the somber Real,
Within, our hearts of hearts, the beautiful Ideal.’
- Richard Henry Stoddard.
It’s up to you to decide, do you believe there are 3 ‘E’s in
‘leadership’? Stretch forth your hope and see the
possibility – engage, empower, encourage your people to win!
Copyright © 2005, Mustard Seed Investments Inc.,
All rights reserved.
————————————————————
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Bill Thomas presents ‘The Leadership Toolkit’ – serious
leadership training for professionals, managers, executives,
entrepreneurs and specialists. Discover how to energize
your leadership skills, boost your confidence and get new
knowledge through our articles, newsletters & programs
Get ‘All-the-Tools-You-Need-to-Lead-and-Succeed!’
http://www.leadership-toolkit.com/Leadership-Toolkit.html
————————————————————
Categories: Business, Careers, Coaching, Earning Power, Leadership, Management, Negotiation, Positive Attributes, Strategy | Tags: Empower, Encourage, Engage | No Comments »
April 8, 2009 | Posted by petereff
I’ll bet that 9,999 out of 10,000 leaders don’t know what a Leadership Strategy is, let alone how it fits in with a business strategy.
Leadership Strategies are not taught at business schools because such Strategies find their meaning not in abstract formulations or case studies but in what can’t be taught but must be experienced, process and relationship.
And if you haven’t thought of a Leadership Strategy before, start thinking about it now, because it can boost your career in many ways. Most leaders develop their strategies in bunkers, without taking into consideration those outside the bunker who have to implement it. Unwittingly, they buy into the “fallacy of automatic reciprocity” – the conviction that their devotion to the cause is automatically reciprocated by the people they lead. It’s a fallacy because reciprocity is not automatic. It can’t be ordered. It must be cultivated and earned.
Here, then, are four steps to developing a Leadership Strategy.
(1) Understand your business strategy. There are many books and courses on developing business strategies. I don’t want to re-invent this wheel. Suffice to say you should clearly develop that strategy.
(2) Identify the dream(s) of your cause leaders. Why do I say “dreams”? Far from being fluff, dreams are the stuff that hard, measured results are made of.
(3) Create a Shared Dream. If your vision of where you want the organization to go and their dream of where they want to go are shared, you call it a Shared Dream. Furthermore, you can’t go to the next step unless you have developed a Shared Dream.
(4) Turn the Shared Dream into a Leadership Strategy. The Leadership Strategy is the Shared Dream manifested by an action plan. You can get the whole story at Leadership Strategy
Find more information on Leadership at www.your-career-change.com/leadership.html
Categories: Business, Coaching, Leadership, Management, Strategy | Tags: Business Strategies, Leadership Strategy | No Comments »
