home | site map | privacy policy |
|
Develop a We Focus And Not a Me Focus
"There's only one thing more contagious than a good attitude - and that's a bad attitude?Most bad attitudes are the result of selfishness." -John Maxwell - The 17 Indisputable Laws of Teamwork "A man wrapped up in himself makes a very small bundle." - Benjamin Franklin Great leaders know how to focus on the team ahead of themselves. They do this by developing a "We" focus. Consider an exercise I often run with seminar participants. I call it the Best/Worst Supervisor exercise. I'm going to ask you to reflect on two specific supervisor-employee relationships you have experienced from the employee side. As you read the rest of this article, stop for a moment and carefully think about these relationships with your supervisors - either past or present. Relationship Number 1: Think about the person you worked for that you would be willing to help anytime. Someone who you would willingly come in early, stay late, or work through lunch for just because they asked. The key phrase is, "just because they asked." The person we are considering got extra effort from you because of who they were and not from the position of authority they held over you. You might write down the answers to the following questions as you reflect on this experience: - What specifically did they do? - How did they behave towards you and others to create this feeling in you? - How much fear did you feel associated with working for them? - Did you feel controlled or influenced by them? In other words, did they have an indirect effect on your behavior, or did they directly regulate your behavior? My personal experience, verified by discussions with thousands of business people across the country, is that most people report a positive, influence type relationship with this person. We'll call this person the Best Supervisor. Relationship Number 2: Now, think about a supervisor you hated to do anything for. The supervisor who kept checking your progress, criticizing your work, and threatening to punish you in some way if you didn't perform to standard. Now, reconsider these questions with regard to this person. - What specifically did they do? - How did they behave towards you and others to create this feeling in you? - How much fear did you feel associated with working for them? - Did you feel controlled or influenced by them? In other words, did they have an indirect effect on your behavior, or did they directly regulate your behavior? We'll call this person the Worst Supervisor. Most people say that the Best Supervisor got more voluntary effort and better long-term performance and relationship results from their team. I have yet to meet the person who says the Worst Supervisor got great performance from their team. Now consider this question for a moment: Who do you think these two people thought/think about first? Most people say that the Best Supervisor tends to keep their focus on others. Most people also say that the Worst Supervisor tends to think only of themselves and their interests. The question for leaders becomes - How do I want the people on my team to view me? The answer lies in how we, the leaders, think. Our thoughts become words or actions that influence the behavior of the people around us. When I focus on my personal desires, I act in selfish ways. When I act in selfish ways, I inspire mediocre performance in my team. When I focus on the team, I act in the team's best interest. When I act in the team's best interest, I inspire high-level performance in my team. As I close this article, my mind is racing with possible questions and qualifying statements. Due to space and time constraints, I haven't even begun to address some of the issues that come to mind: - How does this apply to team members who don't want to play nice? - How do you preserve the integrity of your vision while working with people who see things differently? etc. These issues are too big to consider all at once. I'll address these related issues at a different time. So for now, I encourage you to remember this one tip . . . Develop a "we" focus and not a "me" focus. Copyright 2005, Guy Harris You may use this article for electronic distribution if you will include all contact information with live links back to the author. Notification of use is not required, but I would appreciate it. Please contact the author prior to use in printed media. About the Author: Guy Harris is the Chief Relationship Officer with Principle Driven Consulting. He helps entrepreneurs, business managers, and other organizational leaders build trust, reduce conflict, and improve team performance. Learn more at http://www.principledriven.com Guy co-authored "The Behavior Bucks System TM" to help parents reduce stress and conflict with their children. Learn more about this book at http://www.behaviorbucks.com
Leadership is best defined by the quality of your thoughts, decisions and actions. It is also underpinned by the quality of the tools you use in your role. Be seen to bring true leadership to your organization and act with the authority that it brings to you.
MORE RESOURCES: Wanted: Evolutionary leadership with a heart The Times of India Empowering women in STEM: Journey of leadership, growth SiouxFalls.Business Nurses in County Jails Demand Leadership Change Willamette Week BP to Simplify Organization, Trim Leadership Team The Wall Street Journal Leadership Lessons From Our Top Presidents War On The Rocks Husker notes: Linebackers stepping into leadership roles Omaha World-Herald U of A School of Law Student Selected for Ms. J.D. Leadership Academy Intensive University of Arkansas Newswire Opinion | Bad Leadership Is a National-Security Threat The Wall Street Journal Be Bold summit champions women in leadership - UND Today UND Blogs and E-Newsletters Medical Education Leadership University of California San Diego Will the free world choose isolationism or leadership? Geopolitical Intelligence Services AG NMDSI features UWM professor in new thought leadership program University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Schroders announces senior leadership appointments InvestmentNews Swanger Award winner leaves behind legacy of service, leadership University of South Carolina Leadership lessons from a geographer's perspective - UND Today UND Blogs and E-Newsletters UWLP Publishes Research Summaries on Leadership, STEM, Male Allyship Utah State University Stability AI readies layoffs after leadership shake-up Mobile World Live New Democrat Coalition Leadership Supports Three Security Funding Bills that Support Our Allies and Deliver Critical ... New Democrat Coalition Leadership Women Welcomes Four Texas Tech Health El Paso Employees Into 2024 Leadership Texas Cohort Newswise Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek has a new leadership team after several of her top aides left Oregon Public Broadcasting A Call To Rethink American Leadership: "We Must Stop Outsourcing Responsibility For Our Democracy" The Diane Rehm Show Exclusive: Omeat's tumultuous year: staff cuts and leadership shake-up at startup with 'elegant' new approach to ... AgFunderNews Northwestern and CERN Step into Collaborative Leadership Role, Fostering Innovation in Open Science - News Center Feinberg News Center News Flash • Agile Academy and Supervisor's Leadership Acade City of Norfolk (.gov) Transitions: The Cougar bids farewell to departing members, hello to new leadership - The Cougar The Daily Cougar A Call to University Leadership: Tackling Antisemitism on Campus - AJC Advocacy Anywhere | AJC American Jewish Committee Mesa Leadership renovation project unveiled at Oakwood Creative Care Arizona Digital Free Press Five on 5: Women's Leadership Connection KOBI-TV NBC5 / KOTI-TV NBC2 Nine SCCC students recognized for extraordinary academic and leadership achievement - TBR News Media Leadership Institute Addresses America's Literacy Challenges at the National Education Learn Right Summit PR Newswire Top 10 Leadership Theories in 2024 Simplilearn Antisemitism, Academic Freedom, and Board Leadership American Council of Trustees and Alumni Teacher Mentoring Program Receives James Irvine Leadership Award Post News Group Orbán to Brussels: Time to shake up 'bad' EU leadership POLITICO Europe Forum on Leadership 2024: Voices of Freedom, with an introduction by Ken Hersh George W. Bush Presidential Center Tourism Leadership Council April Connection Luncheon Connect Savannah.com 58th session of SGA leadership officers nominated, confirmed The Appalachian Online Chris Falconer and Lucy Hudson Rise to New Leadership Roles at McCann Central | LBBOnline Little Black Book - LBBonline LeadershIP 2024 CSIS | Center for Strategic and International Studies Iowa Republican leadership releases flat income tax plan WHO TV 13 Des Moines News & Weather Munich Re announces leadership shakeup in APAC and Africa Insurance Business Women in Leadership at Syracuse University Syracuse University TSMC, Sk Hynix Partner to Strengthen HBM Technological Leadership StreetInsider.com Why Rare Leadership Is Well-Done at Omaha Steaks WCBE 90.5 FM Mundelein team shines at FBLA Leadership Conference Daily Herald Hammonds graduates from Sheriff's Leadership Institute - Washington Daily News thewashingtondailynews.com DCE HOSA member advances to International Leadership Conference wausaupilotandreview.com Leadership changes redraw ranks at local architecture firms RichmondBizSense Coalition of U.S. legislators call for American leadership to secure justice for Artsakh and the Armenian Genocide Armenian Weekly Owens Corning Named 2024 Manufacturing Leadership Award Finalist Roofing Contractor This mayor's innovative leadership changed everything | Bloomberg Cities Bloomberg Cities Network Collaborative leadership in addressing sexual and domestic violence Utah Public Radio UW College of Ag to Host Leadership Symposium in Laramie April 22 The Cheyenne Post |
RELATED ARTICLES
Managing Monsters in Meetings - Part 1, General Strategies for Unproductive Behavior It happens easily. You're conducting a meeting and suddenly a small side meeting starts. Leadership Styles and What We Need For the Future: By definition a leaders leads a team to take action in favor of the vision.The most well know methods for assessing leadership styles, such as DISC, have outlived their usefulness! Are leadership styles really captured in a neat questionnaire like DISC that measures Dominance, Influence, Steadiness and Conscientiousness? Can we predict the leaders from the profile that DISC generates? Can we test great leaders and say people with the same profile will have similar success?It seems the answer is less obvious. 3 Dynamic Techniques To Boost Your Executive Leadership! Here's a really simple way to measure the strength ofyour executive leadership skills. Ask your people to name 3important reasons why they enjoy working with you. In Leadership, Good Enough Is Pretty Bad The first time I meet a leader to decide if we should work together, I invariably ask one question. The answer to that question gives me an idea of whether we'll have a productive relationship. Common Mistakes Extraordinary Leaders Dont Make When people make a decision (either consciously or unconsciously) to followyour leadership, they do it primarily because of one of two things: YourCharacter or your Skills. They want to know if you are the kind of personthey want to follow and if you have the skills to take them further. Using Your Intuition "Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. 3 Cs Leaders Must Communicate! "Of every noble work the silent part is best,Of all expression that which can not be expressed"- William Wetmore StoryWhat we intend to communicate are the meanings our listenershear.Every leader has something to say - yet, how many leaderstell those tales that need to be told?1) Are leaders using the wrong words?2) Are their words conveying the wrong things?3) Do they intentionally mean the wrong things?I believe our leadership communication problem involves anelement of all three. Are You a Leader or a Manager? President Ike Eisenhower once demonstrated the difference between leadership and management to his cabinet by putting a piece of string in a straight line on the conference table. He then asked one of the attendees to put his finger on one end of the string and push it. The Three Faces of Leadership This article was published in the Nov. 2003 edition of Hamilton, Ontario's BIZ Magazine under the title "Leadership's Triple Crown" LMWhat does it take to be the head of a small business, a department manager, or even a corporate CEO? The effective director isn't one persona but three: a Visionary, a Manager, and a Mentor/Coach. Quality Leadership The Lakota tribe of Native Americans has no word in the language for "I" or "me," only "we" or "us." Mahatma Gandhi insisted on traveling in third class carriages (on the train)because, as he explained, 'there is no fourth class. Dont Be a Complainer Complaining. There's room for legitimate complaining, but if you let this deadly disease of attitude - complaining - loose, it will conquer you. C4 Leadership: Taking Your Leadership (and your Life) from Good...To Explosive! Chances are if you're interested in this post, you're looking for a few tips to take your leadership and/or your life, up a notch or two. Read on for a few things that have really helped me make my leadership more explosive after first defining what C4 is. Hidden Self Confidence Peer independence is arguably the least understood aspect of self confidence. Many people who are shy, or suffer from social anxiety, tell me that they lack confidence. The Best Ways To Multiply The Extraordinary Leadership in Your Organization Extraordinary Leaders are those who understand that in order for theorganization to grow and make the maximum impact that it can, the leadershipbase in the organization must grow first and grow strong enough to hold thegrowth. If this does not happen, the organization will either not grow orwill grow and then crumble because there is no solid foundation ofleadership. Leadership A Perspective From Tao Tao Te Ching said to be written by Lao Tzu during the period of warring states in china around the second century B.C. Having Fun In Leadership "Don't measure your life by your goals, but rather by what you are DOING to achieve them."-UnknownOne of the biggest mistakes leaders make is getting so wrapped up in achieving results, they forget to ensure that people are having fun along the way. Three Growth Guidelines from Stephen Covey I have been looking for answers to what it takes to create a winning corporate culture in the midst of today's confusing economic indicators. If I rely solely on history or economic indicators, I won't find the answers. It's Not All About Cheese: The Missing Component in Employee Development (Part 1) Spencer Johnson really hit a nerve when he wrote Who Moved My Cheese? The book, a best seller still, is a wonderful allegory of the things that drive and motivate us. I personally loved the book, perhaps because I read it in one night. Reveal the Leader Within A Leader is not a certain type of person or position of power. It is not the one at the top of the golf leader board at any specific time or the person at the top of an organisation. Benefits of Leadership Skill Training DESCRIPTIONCMOE's Leadership Skill Training addresses a wide range of leadership development topics, based on the needs of the audience and scope of delivery. Leadership Skill Training for new leaders might be targeted to help them make the transition from individual contributor to effective leader. |
|
© 2016 Definition Of Leadership & Career Consulting Limited |