Leadership: 10 tips for becoming a Leader..!

Everyone wants to lead, but at what cost? A careless approach to leadership can result in major losses for everyone. Most of us can recall a leader who just wasn't cut out for the job. Being a leader is demanding; becoming a great leader is uncommon. Followers aren't particularly merciful to those who lead incompetently. Instead, they can respond with insubordination, decreased productivity, or a generalized attitude of confusion or frustration. If you are a business leader or thinking about becoming one, here are some mistakes to avoid:   1. Don't lord it over your staff. No one likes a know-it-all. Assuming a cocky stance or a bullying attitude will strike a similar flint in the hearts of your subordinates.   2. Don't be a softie. Just as a sharp edge can have a cutting effect, a marshmallow can quickly lose its shape. Being a people pleaser means that you will inevitably let someone down, so don't even try. Instead, focus on the job and make it work with everyone's interests as best you can without bending over backwards until you break.   3. Don't put on a over-confident front. If you need information, ask for it rather than pretend you have all the answers. There's nothing wrong with an honest question, but there's plenty wrong with someone who is afraid to ask.   4. Don't misjudge employees' abilities. Take time to read files, interview people, and observe performance before making staffing decisions. Put competent, trustworthy people in charge of important projects so that neither you nor the company will regret it.   5. Don't play favorites. Owing a favor or liking a person are two poor reasons for handing out raises and promotions. Feeling sorry for someone is just as bad. Use good judgment and fair play to make staff decisions.   6. Don't hold a grudge. If you don't get along with someone, stay away from the person; don't try to get even. Leaders who use their position of authority to take punitive action based on personal vendettas are likely to find themselves in trouble.   7. Don't take a casual approach to the budget. Get to know it thoroughly. Understand company growth patterns and long-term projections, as well as how your leadership can play a role. Being careless with money is dangerous and potentially costly in the business world. Careless mistakes take time to fix, and in business, time is money.   8. Don't overlook company shifts, goals, or problems. Study the "big picture" with a view to finding your place in it and growing with the company.   9. Keep an eye on industry trends. Know what's "hot" and what's not; that's how leaders keep leading. Otherwise, someone who is more knowledgeable than you may take your place.   10. Stay human. When mistakes happen, forgive others and yourself. Laugh and be friendly, but don't look foolish doing it. Avoid mechanical responses and a 24/7 mentality toward your job. Do your best, but then leave the rest of your job at work until the next day. It'll be there when you return. At night and on weekends, enjoy your family and have fun. You've earned it.   Becoming a leader is challenging. Follow these suggestions to avoid problems and help your company and your career reach their potential.   Source Unknown . __,_._,___

The Influencers: Change How You Change Minds

To improve results and solve the most pervasive, persistent and resistant problems, leaders must influence others to behave differently. In most cases, to get people to do things differently leaders must get them to think differently. Consequently, changing minds is one of the most important leadership challenges. The challenge is not a difficult task if the change of mind is minor or not a strongly held belief. To change people's minds around some issues, you only need a clever advertisement or a clearly worded e-mail. However, other changes of mind are very difficult indeed—like convincing the union leader that cutting jobs is the best course to follow or getting a hardened criminal to choose a different lifestyle. When it comes to the toughest problems, there are three methods employed by leaders to change minds. No. 1: Verbal Persuasion. This is the method used by most leaders most of the time. And, ironically, it's also the least effective method. Verbal persuasion is using reason, logic, data and information to tell people why they should want to care. This tactic works when the change of mind is unimportant or insignificant. But when the change is profound, difficult or important, this approach doesn't perform. In fact, it usually creates boredom and indifference or worse, distance and defensiveness. It seldom changes minds. No. 2: Actual Experience. This is by far the most effective way to change minds. Let people learn for themselves the value of the change you are advocating. If you want to create a high-performance empowered change, send each person to work for a month on a high-performance empowered team. Let them see how an effective team works. Let them feel the excitement of achievement. Let them experience support and teamwork from their motivated co-workers. When they return, their minds will be changed about what's possible and what they desire. But the challenge with actual experience is the cost, the time and the difficulty of arranging these experiences for everyone who should have them. For example, the best way to change the minds of healthcare workers about patient service is to put them in a hospital bed for two weeks and experience the world of a patient. They return to their job with a complete understanding of common patient frustrations and a desire to provide much better service. Of course, logistically it's just not possible to give every hospital worker that two-week experience. No. 3: Vicarious Experience. Sometimes you can't give folks an actual experience and you don't want to default to verbal persuasion. Can you choose an in-between strategy that's still effective? Sure. Let them have an experience with the change or the need to change vicariously through someone else. There is a wide range of possibilities for creating vicarious experiences. Send several union leaders to visit a company using self-managing teams (Actual Experience) and have them return and report to their peers about what they learned (Vicarious Experience). Bring a customer to the manufacturing team meeting to talk about how they experienced benefit or difficulty by using the product manufactured by the team. Or, instead of dumping data and reports on your employees, share a well-told story about someone's experience to illustrate the point you're trying to make and to connect to human consequences and the personal values of the participants. Consider a final example of the power of experience. The daughter of a close and personal friend of mine was diagnosed with Juvenile Diabetes. The disease required her to take four finger pricks a day to monitor and modify her condition. The parents and the doctor explained to her the importance of these tests in managing her disease (Verbal Persuasion). After two weeks of four needle pricks a day, her fingers were covered with band-aids and she found it very difficult to play the piano, a favorite activity. The parents assumed everything was going fine when six months into the routine, their daughter's friend confided that the daughter had quit doing the tests. What are the parent's options? They could sit her on a kitchen stool and lecture her on the necessity of the four-a-day needle pricks (Verbal Persuasion). They could not give her an actual experience with the effects of the unmanaged disease, which would not manifest themselves until 40 years down the road. However, they could design a vicarious experience to help change her mind. One Saturday morning, the parents woke their daughter and announced, "We volunteered you to be a nurse's aid today." Over her mild protests they drove her to a dialysis center. She spent the day helping the nurses treat patients in the advanced stages of diabetes. She saw patients with wounds that would not heal. She saw patients who had become blind. She saw the pain and discomfort of dialysis. She talked to patients who expressed their regret that they had not managed their disease earlier. On the long ride home the daughter said nothing. But that evening she recommitted to the regimen of four blood tests a day and has seldom missed one since. The Persuasion of Experience Changing minds is one of the most important leadership challenges. Where possible, give people an actual experience with the advocated change or with the negative consequences of not making that change. When actual experience is not practical or possible, use vicarious experiences to help people understand the importance of changing behavior through the experiences of others. And above all else, never resort to the old, tired, ineffective strategy of verbal persuasion. By Ron McMillan __._,_.___   Regards! NEERAJ BHARDWAJ GM TRAINING & DEVELOPMENT DOSHION VEOLIA WATER SOLUTIONS 9374025383  http://neerajnis.blogspot.com www.neeraj-bhardwaj.blogspot.com

Stories that coaches- LEADERSHIP

Leadership cannot really be taught. It can only be learned    The story goes that sometime, close to a battlefield over 200 years ago, a man in civilian clothes rode past a small group of exhausted battle-weary soldiers digging an obviously important defensive position. The section leader, making no effort to help, was shouting orders, threatening punishment if the work was not completed within the hour.   "Why are you are not helping?" asked the stranger on horseback. "I am in charge. The men do as I tell them," said the section leader, adding, "Help them yourself if you feel strongly about it." To the section leader's surprise the stranger dismounted and helped the men until the job was finished.   Before leaving the stranger congratulated the men for their work, and approached the puzzled section leader.   "You should notify top command next time your rank prevents you from supporting your men - and I will provide a more permanent solution," said the stranger.   Up close, the section leader now recognized the great leader and also the lesson he'd just been taught.   All of the great leaders have had one characteristic in common: it was the willingness to confront unequivocally the major anxiety of their people in their time. This, and not much else, is the essence of leadership    A great leader's courage to fulfill his vision comes from passion, not position.   leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.

Emotional Intelligence

Developing Strong "People Skills"

We probably all know people, either at work or in our personal lives, who are really good listeners. No matter what kind of situation we're in, they always seem to know just what to say - and how to say it - so that we're not offended or upset. They're caring and considerate, and even if we don't find a solution to our problem, we usually leave feeling more hopeful and optimistic.

We probably also know people who are masters at managing their emotions. They don't get angry in stressful situations. Instead, they have the ability to look at a problem and calmly find a solution. They're excellent decision makers, and they know when to trust their intuition. Regardless of their strengths, however, they're usually willing to look at themselves honestly. They take criticism well, and they know when to use it to improve their performance.

People like this have a high degree of emotional intelligence, or EI. They know themselves very well, and they're also able to sense the emotional needs of others.

Would you like to be more like this?

As more and more people accept that emotional intelligence is just as important to professional success as technical ability, organizations are increasingly using EI when they hire and promote.

For example, one large cosmetics company recently revised their hiring process for salespeople to choose candidates based on emotional intelligence. The result? Salespeople hired with the new system have sold, on average, $91,000 more than salespeople selected under the old system. There has also been significantly lower staff turnover among the group chosen for their emotional intelligence.

So, what exactly is emotional intelligence, and what can you do to improve yours?

What Is Emotional Intelligence?

We all have different personalities, different wants and needs, and different ways of showing our emotions. Navigating through this all takes tact and cleverness - especially if we hope to succeed in life. This is where emotional intelligence becomes important.

Emotional intelligence is the ability to recognize your emotions, understand what they're telling you, and realize how your emotions affect people around you. Emotional intelligence also involves your perception of others: when you understand how they feel, this allows you to manage relationships more effectively.

People with high emotional intelligence are usually successful in most things they do. Why? Because they're the ones that others want on their team. When people with high EI send an email, it gets answered. When they need help, they get it. Because they make others feel good, they go through life much more easily than people who are easily angered or upset.

Characteristics of Emotional Intelligence

Daniel Goleman, an American psychologist, developed a framework of five elements that define emotional intelligence:

1. Self-Awareness: People with high emotional intelligence are usually very self-aware. They understand their emotions, and because of this, they don't let their feelings rule them. They're confident – because they trust their intuition and don't let their emotions get out of control.
   
   They're also willing to take an honest look at themselves. They know their strengths and weaknesses, and they work on these areas so they can perform better. Many people believe that this self-awareness is the most important part of emotional intelligence.
   
   
2. Self-Regulation: This is the ability to control emotions and impulses. People who self-regulate typically don't allow themselves to become too angry or jealous, and they don't make impulsive, careless decisions. They think before they act. Characteristics of self-regulation are thoughtfulness, comfort with change, integrity, and the ability to say no.
   
   
3. Motivation: People with a high degree of emotional intelligence are usually motivated. They're willing to defer immediate results for long-term success. They're highly productive, love a challenge, and are very effective in whatever they do.
   
   
4. Empathy: This is perhaps the second-most important element of emotional intelligence. Empathy is the ability to identify with and understand the wants, needs, and viewpoints of those around you. People with empathy are good at recognizing the feelings of others, even when those feelings may not be obvious. As a result, empathetic people are usually excellent at managing relationships, listening, and relating to others. They avoid stereotyping and judging too quickly, and they live their lives in a very open, honest way.
   
   
5. Social Skills: It's usually easy to talk to and like people with good social skills, another sign of high emotional intelligence. Those with strong social skills are typically team players. Rather than focus on their own success first, they help others develop and shine. They can manage disputes, are excellent communicators, and are masters at building and maintaining relationships.

As you've probably determined, emotional intelligence can be a key to success in your life – especially in your career. The ability to manage people and relationships is very important in all leaders, so developing and using youremotional intelligence can be a good way to show others the leader inside of you.

How to Improve Your Emotional Intelligence

The good news is that emotional intelligence CAN be taught and developed. Many books and tests are available to help you determine your current EI, and identify where you may need to do some work. You can also use these tips:

• Observe how you react to people. Do you rush to judgment before you know all of the facts? Do you stereotype? Look honestly at how you think and interact with other people. Try to put yourself in their place, and be more open and accepting of their perspectives and needs.
  
  
• Look at your work environment. Do you seek attention for your accomplishments? Humility can be a wonderful quality, and it doesn't mean that you're shy or lack self-confidence. When you practice humility, you say that you know what you did, and you can be quietly confident about it. Give others a chance to shine - put the focus on them, and don't worry too much about getting praise for yourself.
  
  
• Do a self-evaluation. What are your weaknesses? Are you willing to accept that you're not perfect and that you could work on some areas to make yourself a better person? Have the courage to look at yourself honestly - it can change your life.
  
  
• Examine how you react to stressful situations. Do you become upset every time there's a delay or something doesn't happen the way you want? Do you blame others or become angry at them, even when it's not their fault? The ability to stay calm and in control in difficult situations is highly valued - in the business world and outside it. Keep your emotions under control when things go wrong.
  
  
• Take responsibility for your actions. If you hurt someone's feelings, apologize directly – don't ignore what you did or avoid the person. People are usually more willing to forgive and forget if you make an honest attempt to make things right.
  
  
• Examine how your actions will affect others – before you take those actions. If your decision will impact others, put yourself in their place. How will they feel if you do this? Would you want that experience? If you must take the action, how can you help others deal with the effects?

Key Points

Although "regular" intelligence is important to success in life, emotional intelligence is key to relating well to others and achieving your goals. Many people believe that emotional intelligence is at least as important as regular intelligence, and many companies now use EI testing to hire new staff.

Emotional intelligence is an awareness of your actions and feelings – and how they affect those around you. It also means that you value others, listen to their wants and needs, and are able to empathize or identify with them on many different levels.