Competent leadership

When evaluating team performance, choosing the right leader can lead to improved performance.


In studies evaluating the effectiveness of three different groups: competent leader, random leader, and self managed democratic groups, the teams that had the leader with competence in the field and understanding of the technical aspects of the business outperformed the other groups. Even self managed groups outperformed the teams that had a randomly assigned leader.


I think that the key point is not trying to find the best leader, but to avoid choosing someone who does not understand the business. There are plenty of ways to improve management and leadership skills; formal education, reading, attending seminars, certifications, but that will not matter if that person does not understand enough about what the work actually is. Teams routinely choose leaders that display confidence and physical attributes, but may not possess the technical skill or understanding. These teams then lag behind because they are not able to make the best decisions. In turn, look to people that have excellent technical understanding and leverage their knowledge.


This is in line with other research that demonstrated that teams preferred leaders who had similar backgrounds to them. They felt these leaders understood them, and their role, better and were then able to be more effective in their leadership.


Take the time to understand the business and the technical aspects of what is needed to be successful. This will improve your ability to create strategy and become successful. When in a hiring position, do not just hire someone who has a degree, make sure they know the business.


"Leadership qualities" vs. competence: which matters more? Harvard Business Review, 11/5/15

Management questions

When you think of management, what comes to mind? How is your manager working to meet the company and your individual needs? If you are like a lot of Americans, the answers are not encouraging.

 

This article is trying to change that. If you are a manager, take a step back and look at your role, how you fulfill your responsibilities and how you interact and lead the people that work for you. Do you actively listen and engage to your staff and listen to what they tell you? Do you take an interest in them and their career and want to see them succeed? If not, then start to implement some of these questions and solutions into your daily activities. They can really help you gain a better understanding of your staff and your time. By empowering them and encouraging them they will be more likely to put in the extra effort for you and the company.

 

On the flip side, if you work for someone else, see what aspects of these you can implement for your own career success. Do you touch base with your manager on a consistent basis to stay up to date so there are no surprises? Do you offer to take on more tasks that are in line with what you want to do in the future? If not, then start having a conversation with your manager about your skills and how you can be better utilized to reach personal, department and corporate goals. You can’t expect someone else to care about your career growth if you don’t.

 

 

http://www.forbes.com/sites#/sites/jackzenger/2015/10/14/the-shrinking-effectiveness-crisis-4-reasons-organizations-fail-to-fully-utilize-employees/?utm_campaign=Forbes&utm_source=TWITTER&utm_medium=social&utm_channel=Leadership&linkId=17970862

 

6 steps for self-improvement

Former Navy SEAL and executive coach, Jeff Boss, discusses 6 practices that he believes help people improve their performance. The steps are:

1.       Fundamentals

2.       Accountability

3.       Add one percent

4.       Adapt faster

5.       Get a guru

6.       Make a decision

 

He believes that by working on those 6 areas, individuals can positively improve their performance over time.

The fundamentals never change and without being really good at your craft, you will never reach the top of the game. Perfect your craft first.

 

I cannot stress the importance of accountability enough. In order to improve and succeed we need to be pushed beyond our current limits so we can adapt to a higher level. This is true for physical training, as well as mental and intellectual. If you never push past where you already are, then you will never improve and meet your full potential. But, in order to get there, you need to be accountable for your actions to someone else. Ideally, this is your manager who gives you a task and then follows up to make sure you completed it satisfactorily. If you do not have a manager who can push you, try to find a colleague, mentor, partner or new job where you will be pushed. You deserve to reach your potential and if your current manager can’t get you there, try to find someone who will.

 

The more we do a job and the more we learn the closer to our intellectual and skill ceiling we get. That doesn’t mean we stop trying. That means that we have to try harder to make progress. Look at your current job and determine what skills you need to do it well. Then, create a plan to address those skills. As those skills improve, so does your job performance.  Then, look at your ideal job and determine what skills you need to do in order to do it well. Then, start improving those skills and you will eventually achieve that job.

 

This is nice article that can help you improve your performance and reach your potential and is worth the read.

 

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffboss/2015/09/06/6-best-practices-to-sustain-superior-performance/?utm_source=followingweekly&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20150907

Military vs. Corporate leadership

This is a pretty powerful article that discusses why leadership in the military is different that leadership in corporate America. The big take-away? Sacrifice.

 

Military leaders put their team before themselves and the welfare of the team comes first. By showing service toward his followers, the leader establishes a feeling of trust and camaraderie amongst the group. When things are getting tough, they know that their leader has their back, and they have his (hers). 

 

In corporate America, too much stress is placed on competition among the team that leads to distrust, infighting and politics. When this happens, leadership has been ineffective. It has created a culture that detracts from the purpose of the group/department/organization and erodes trust. In this dog-eat-dog culture, the strongest, most manipulative survive and the cycle continues.

 

To truly become a leader means to stand in front of your team and take the hits. You are the one they are counting on to have their back and their best interests in mind. If you can’t do that, then don’t expect them to have yours.

 

http://www.businessinsider.com/why-managers-act-like-military-leaders-2015-8?nr_email_referer=1&utm_content=BISelect&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_campaign=BI%20Select%20%28Wednesday%20Friday%29%202015-08-14&utm_term=Business%20Insider%20Select

 

Leadership tips

The state of management and leadership is, and has been, in trouble in the United States. One of the reasons why is a lack of communication from leadership to their staffs.

 

Take a few minutes to read this short article on the top 5 mistakes that leaders make. Then, use it as a guideline to do well in those areas. You will notice an improvement in communication, staff collaboration, and engagement. Don’t focus all your time on achieving goals, interpersonal relationships and a sense of belonging are important, too.

 

https://hbr.org/2015/06/the-top-complaints-from-employees-about-their-leaders?utm_campaign=Socialflow&utm_source=Socialflow&utm_medium=Tweet

Management tips

If you are a manager, or aspire to be one, then you need to invest in yourself. Constantly learning and seeking to improve will help you reach your full potential. Entrepreneur put together a list of tips for managers. It is a quick read and worth the time.

 

Some themes emerged throughout the 32 pieces of advice from small business owners and can help you lead your own team:

1.       Hire good people, communicate clearly and empower them to perform at the highest level. When you have great people on staff who are encouraged to be their best, they will be. Just make sure that they know what they are aiming for.

2.       Watch your dollars. Business is about making money and controlling expenses. Make sure you understand where your business stands.

3.       Respect. In order to get respect, you need to give respect; to your employees, customers, suppliers, etc. When you respect others, they will return it.

 

While these are the themes, there are many other pearls and nuggets of wisdom that can aid you in achieving greatness.

 

Take a minute and read the article. Be prepared to be inspired!

 

http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/234199

 

 

Leadership Styles

There have been many, many theories on leadership and the various styles that leaders utilize given their personality, environment, followers and other variables. In an HBR article, Dan Goleman assess six that are connected to emotional intelligence:
1. Coercive-demanding compliance
2. Authoritative-mobilize toward a vision (more transformational than transactional)
3. Affiliative-building bonds, empathy
4. Democratic-consensus through participation
5. Pacesetting-setting high standards for performance
6. Coaching-develops people for the future


Of the 6, 2 are negatively viewed by employees and are not beneficial in most situations, those are coercive and pacesetting.


Effective leaders will improve their emotional intelligence and choose a style dependent on the situation. They have learned how to utilize the various styles effectively to lead others and generate results.


Research has demonstrated that leaders with strong emotional intelligence perform better than those with limited EI. Those that possess it are better able to communicate with individuals and a team, create a feeling of shared responsibility for success and motivate each individual in the team to contribute with what they do best. Since every person and every situation is different, the more tools that a leader has at their disposal, the more effective they will be. If you struggle with any of these styles, seek out a trusted colleague, mentor or coach who can help you identify where you need improvement and work with you to improve. As you continue to learn more about how you respond to situations and how your employees respond to you, your leadership ability will continue to grow and thrive. As a result, your team will function at a high level with a shared purpose.


To learn more about the styles and how to best utilize them, visit the HBR website:
https://hbr.org/2000/03/leadership-that-gets-results

Gallup State of the American Manager report

Gallup released its State of the American Manager report and the results are pretty disheartening: there continues to be very low engagement among workers and management accounts for a high percentage of that disengagement. Talent for management lies in only 10% of the people, while another 20% possess the foundations to be successful managers. The result of this is that only 18% of managers have the high talent necessary to excel as managers. According to Gallup, this is a problem since talent is the most powerful predictor of performance.


There is good news, however. Taking the time to find, cultivate and hire the right manager will have long ranging ramifications for the company; increased employee engagement, increased productivity and sales and decreased employee turnover. Good managers not only improve employee and company performance, but they engage their employees.


So, what separates good managers from the not-so-good? Good managers have the following talents in common: they motivate their employees, they are assertive, they make decisions based on productivity, they create a culture of accountability, and they build relationships. Managers that possess these talents are more likely to have engaged and productive teams. Looking for these traits in employees can also help to identify potential future management material. By learning how to pick out talented employees, companies can pave the way for current, and future success.


In order to improve employee engagement, managers can focus on being more open and accessible, consistently discuss employee performance and goal attainment and focus on strengths. By communicating frequently with employees about their work and their life leads to a better relationship, trust and satisfaction at work. There has been a lot of talk about ongoing performance evaluations, but waiting until the end of the year them is poor management. Performance should be ongoing with adjustments made as necessary. This will really show your employees that you care about their growth and that you are ready to help them succeed. interestingly, employees perform better when their strengths are highlighted. They are significantly more engaged when they get to use their strengths and their weaknesses are not constantly highlighted. That does not mean that weaknesses are ignored, but that the focus is on making their strengths stronger.


Learning about what employees want will help any manager improve. Also, the only way to improve leadership is through self-awareness and emotional intelligence, and from the looks of this report; we could all use it.


Here is the link to the full report:
http://www.gallup.com/services/182138/state-american-manager.aspx

Never stop learning

If you want to continue to grow and thrive, you have to learn and experience new things. We improve by adapting, whether it is fitness, sports or business, the only way to get better is to push beyond where you currently are.

In the case of your career, that means to try new things. There are some good suggestions in the article, but the thing to remember is to yearn for more. If you never feel like you know it all, you will be excited about all that there is to learn.

This kind of enthusiasm and passion for learning can help bring new life to your career through a new perspective. Never be content with where you are. Always want more.

https://hbr.org/2014/09/the-best-leaders-are-insatiable-learners/? utm_campaign=Socialflow&utm_source=Socialflow&utm_medium=Tweet

Drucker on Effectiveness

According to Peter Drucker’s article ‘What Makes and Effective Executive’ in the June 2004 issue of the Harvard Business Review, there are 8 practices for effectiveness that executives do: they ask what needs to be done, what is best for the enterprise, they develop action plans, they take responsibility for decisions, they take responsibility for communicating, they focus on opportunities rather than problems, they run productive meetings and they think in terms of ‘we’ rather than ‘I’. Look up the article for the complete analysis by Peter Drucker, I personally find a lot of his stuff to be excellent.

 

In a nut shell, to be effective means to change your mindset and thought processes. In order to have an effective organization, the executives need to be effective. This means that they need to set priorities and act upon them. Asking what is the most important thing to do right now and what is best for the enterprise can help to identify what those priorities are. Once they are known, it is time to act on them. Delegate what can be delegated, but set a timeline for check ins. Focus your energy on those tasks that you are best at. 

 

Make sure that everyone is on the same page and that there is a very clear line of communication. Take the time to create a strategic plan that highlights the opportunities available. Opportunities are where growth occurs, so that is where the best people should be focused. Spending too much time on problems limits the ability to grow and detracts from opportunities. By all means, solve problems, but do not spend all the available time putting out fires.

 

Hold people accountable to their job, the expectations and the outcomes. It is important that everyone is performing at a level they are capable of in order to be effective. This happens by putting people in positions that they can perform well and then monitoring their success. Hold regular check ins to assess progress and provide coaching and mentoring to people, but if they are not performing, do not keep them in that position. It is not fair to them or to the organization.

 

In order to be effective, it is vitally important to control where time is spent during the day, this means limiting the number of meetings that are had, or making them more efficient. To run efficient, yet effective meetings, establish the goal of the meeting beforehand and prepare accordingly. If it is in an update on the status of a project then only that should be discussed. Only questions that are pertinent to that meeting should be discussed and afterwards there should be an action step with who is responsible for performing it and a follow up date. This way there are no loose ends and everyone knows what is expected.

 

Being able to make the best decisions requires getting timely, accurate, actionable information from people. Make sure that the people who are in their positions know what information they need to relay and when it needs to be in by. If the information is not being communicated, make sure you get it from them and work with them to ensure timely contributions. Once the information is assembled and analyzed the action steps are planned out and executed. Evaluate the decisions to determine their success and make any appropriate changes.

 

Peter Drucker spent a career studying effective management and his teachings are all relevant for today. His insights can help all of us improve our effectiveness and perform at out peak potential.

Effective Management

The workers of today are characterized by what Peter Drucker calls knowledge workers. Instead of working with their hands to create a product, workers use their minds to create systems, align products and create solutions intellectually. That is not to say that working with our hands is not useful, it is just that society puts an increasing emphasis on intellectual property.

When it comes to managing knowledge workers, managers may need to change or reevaluate their approach. Many of these workers are at least as technically competent as their manager, so relying on superior skill is not an option. Neither is directing these workers in what to do; most of them not only how to perform the task, but they perform it very well. So, what is to be done?

Instead of thinking that you as the manager need to have all the answers, change your mindset to being focused on what your staff needs to be successful. Do not give as much advice or direction, but listen instead to what they say. Is there something, or someone who is standing in the way of a project? Offer to intervene to clear the way for growth. We know that many employees currently feel disengaged at work, so take the time to ask their opinion and for input. When you work with a professional staff it is important to realize that they do not like being told what to do, it feels condescending to them. Instead forge a relationship where they feel that you have their best interests in mind and do what you can to support them.

Listening to your staff, getting their input and asking for their help in decision making can help you improve as a manager. When they feel that you understand them, their work and their environment, they will be more likely to discuss things with you. This increase in trust can better enable to you learn how you, as their manager, can make sure that they are effectively performing their job. It can also lend insight into who may be helpful to them in completing them.

For more information check out Jeffrey Hull's article in Harvard Business Review on a case study of a manager who learned how to change his management style via coaching.  s.hbr.org/1wSFncP

2015 goals

It's a new year full of potential and opportunities. Instead of coming up with resolutions to change behavior, choose goals to spur growth. 

Take some time to think about what would make 2015 a great year. In order for you to look back a year from now and say 'wow', what do you need to do? Make a list of the accomplishments you want to achieve in 2015. 

After you write them down figure out the steps you need to take in order to reach them. After doing this exercise you will have discovered the path for the year. Now, take action on those steps. Make 2015 a great year by setting lofty goals and achieving them. 

Good to great

I just finished reading 'Good to Great' by Jim Collins and I learned quite a bit. It was pretty interesting to discover the results of their research on what made some companies thrive and others stagger. The following is what I learned when I completed the book:

Great companies have Level 5 leaders. I know that this has been studied by numerous people since the book was published, so I won't belabor the point. Concisely, level 5 leaders come from within the organization and use that understanding to drive forward growth. They focus on establishing a great team and a culture of discipline that allows the people in the organization the ability to thrive. They focus success outward and channel failure inward.

 Great companies focus on their people. They hire the best people they can find and give them the flexibility within their culture to be great. Good people are self motivated and driven for success and the challenge for the leader is not to motivate them, but not to de-motivate them.

Great companies face the truth. When companies look to determine the potential for growth it has to be done in a truthful manner that really takes into consideration the total environment. Great companies understand themselves, their product and the business landscape and they do not enter the field if they cannot be successful.

Great companies focus on developing a hedgehog concept. This concept is the simple truth about what their business is: what do they do better than everyone, that they are passionate about and that fits their economic ratio? The energy is focused into this concept with extreme discipline to achieve success.

The economic denominator is the ratio by which great companies determine their success. It varies depending on the company, but can be profit per customer, profit per customer visit, profit per purchase, etc. Each decision is graded on how well it fits this ratio.

Great companies are not made overnight, rather it is the accumulation of their drive and discipline over time that leads to continued success. Great companies focus on the process: get great leadership, get great people, face the truth, and create a culture that leads to consistency over time to produce outstanding results.

From a management standpoint, we can learn that in order to have a great product we need a great team with a common vision for shared success and the discipline to do what needs to happen to make it a reality. If the vision is line with the abilities of the people, the available resources and the discipline to maintain the course then greatness is indeed possible. This is true of large national and international organizations, small local businesses and athletic teams. If the pieces have been thoroughly understood and placed together then they will achieve greatness within their realm.

From an investment standpoint, if you are able to identify those unique companies that have been able to curate their hedgehog concept and be consistent over time you will find an opportunity to beat the market by far. These companies produce returns that are far superior to the general market and their competitors, so including them in your portfolio will increase your holdings.

Effective communication

One of the most common causes of work and personal relationship struggles is communication. I know you have undoubtedly heard on numerous occasions that communication is vital for success, but it bears repeating. The ability to communicate effectively with all of your stakeholders will improve your leadership ability and overall success.

Communication requires a two way exchange of information: a sender and a receiver. In this model, there are several ways for communication to breakdown; the sender can fail to send the communication, the receiver can fail to receive the communication,  or the receiver may not be decoding the communication message properly.

In the first scenario, the sender fails to send the communication. This is when someone does not initiate the communication process: no verbal, nonverbal or written communication exists. In this case, there is no message for the receiver to retrieve and therefore, cannot be acted upon. Always make sure that if you say you will do something, follow up with it and let the other parties know.

The second scenario is the receiver not receiving the communication. This may happen due to interference in the communication medium: crash of the server, distracted surrounding when listening, different language. This is the case when the receiver is not readily engaged with the sender and is not getting the message correctly. To fix this, make sure that you are readily engaged with the sender and able to decode the message properly.

The third scenario regards decoding the message. If the sender sends a message to the receiver and the receiver gets the message, but does not decode the message accurately then there will be a lapse in communication. The prime example of this is when the receiver hears what they want to hear and neglects the rest of the communication. They got the message, but did not properly translate its meaning. To help with this always speak back the message to the sender to confirm accuracy, or ask the receiver to repeat back what you have asked.

Communcation is vital to the success of relationships and businesses. In order to communicate effectively try these tips:

• Communicate whenever somebody other than you needs to know something. People like to know what is going on if it affects them
• Keep the message clear and simple. This makes the message shorter and thus harder to be misunderstood
• Actively listen to understand the full meaning. This avoids distractions and focus on the sender
• Repeat back what is said to confirm understanding of the message

Taking the time to make sure that the messages that are sent and received are the same will go a long way to creating better understanding among groups and build a foundation of trust.

6 E's of personal leadership

While working with teams I noticed that I was not always successful in creating the environment that I was looking for. As I took a step back to look at how I behaved and the goals I was trying to establish I came up with my 6 E’s of personal leadership.

Envision: Think about the direction to take the team based on your assessment and discussion with the individuals and coaches.

Empower: Create ownership of the task at hand so that the team wants to achieve it. Involve them in the decisions so they know what the plan is and that their input is valued.

Engage: Connect with each team member as an individual. Ask about their day and get to know them. Develop a personal relationship with the individuals and the team.

Encourage: Push them to achieve more. Know what their limits are and get them to push those limits so they set new ones. If they are always comfortable they will not improve.

Energetic: Always bring your best self every day. Be happy and excited to be there. Energy is infectious, both positive and negative. Positive energy creates a positive environment.

Enthusiastic: Complement the little things and support everyone. Be their cheerleader as well as their coach. When things are not going as planned it is easy to get down, but turn it around and work for something greater. Small improvements make big changes over time.

I encourage everyone to take a step back when working with teams to evaluate how things are going. When you notice patterns in your, and others, behavior, come up with a way to change it. 5 E’s works for me, what will work for you?

New Power

Social media is bringing about a new paradigm in the realm of power: a transition from the typical Institutional view of power, to a larger, participation driven influence. With this change comes the struggle to adapt to the changing atmosphere. How can companies maintain their influence in this new era?

Power used to concentrated in the hands of a few. These institutions had the knowledge and used that knowledge to get customers to come to them. In the shifting world, knowledge is shared across networks, increasing the collective knowledge of all. This shared knowledge takes power away from the Institutions and makes it harder for them to use their typical sales approach of 'come to me'.

Even though the Institutions are making changes in an effort to adapt by creating social platforms and trying to engage with customers, they are struggling to do it effectively. These organizations need to focus on their customers and the influence they can have upon them. Engaging on a platform is not enough, they need to have a central theme, show value to their customers and provide a forum for ongoing discussion. When the Institution is able to actively engage with their customers in this new use of media, they will be able to expand their influence and garner greater power.

Reference
Heimans, J and Timms, H. (2014, December). Understanding 'new power'. Harvard Business Review.

Respect

In an article in the Harvard Business Journal, the author notes that 50% of employees do not feel respected by their bosses. This directly translates into poorer employee engagement and performance.

 

The simple act of respecting those that you work with, and who work for you, will increase the productivity of the staff. The challenge is that some managers may not be aware that they are not respecting their staff.

 

It is important to respect those you work with and make the effort to treat them how they want to be treated. If you are not sure how your actions are perceived, ask a trusted colleague or mentor to keep an eye out for you. When you learn how your actions affect others, it can be easier to change.

People and processes

Leadership is about people.

Management is about processes.

Those individuals that truly want to be successful and help themselves, their coworkers, employees and organization grow will use both.

Leadership is the ability to connect with people and influence them toward a central purpose. Leaders are present at multiple levels in and around organizations and teams and some leaders elevate their group while others bring it down.

Ideally, leaders work to improve and bring people up, but that is not always the case. Effective leaders hold high standards and their influence is to raise the bar for performance.

Managers seek to create systems and make things run more smoothly. They seek to understand what is the best way to accomplish a task and then create a system to do it that all the time. In this way, there is little energy wasted and things run smoothly. Unfortunately, this is assuming that there is one way to do things. Most of the time there are numerous ways of accomplishing tasks and the environment is always changing so that the process is evolving. Managers that seek input and are constantly striving to make things better will be successful.

Managers that seek to have operations run smoothly, elicit input from their people and work with them to achieve greatness are the most successful. These are the individuals who have blended their ability manage both their people and their processes.

The Essential Drucker

The more I learn the more I realize how little I know.

This book was no different, Peter Drucker is an expert on management theory and his viewpoints forced me to think and expand my understanding.

 

He argues that having a product is irrelevant if there is no consumer. In order to have a consumer, one has to understand them: who they are and what they want. Only by learning about the customer can he create a product that the customer wants.

 

The consumer is the one who defines the business. Their purchasing decisions determine where the products go and how they are being used. Learning how customers use the product can improve the ability to meet customer needs and wants more effectively.

 

Knowledge workers need a challenge. They become stagnant and mentally bored without it. They can achieve a challenge by performing new tasks, starting a new job, or volunteering time in a non-profit organization.

 

People respond differently to leadership strategies. It is important to know how each person reacts and then apply that strategy with that person.

 

The foundation for effective leadership is thinking through the organization’s mission, defining it and establishing it, clearly and visibly. These basic tasks, although not easy, determine the future of the organization. It sets the table for the product, the customer, the objectives for success and how the organization seeks to finds its place in the world.

 

The essence of management is to make knowledge productive. In this era of knowledge workers who are paid to think rather than perform manual labor, it is important to get them to contribute effectively to the organization’s mission.

When managing workers it is important to ask them to identify what they feel their role is and how they contribute to the organization. Bases on this, ask them to define their own performance goals for accountability. Their view will not be the same as the manager view and this approach helps to bridge that gap. 

 

He also discusses time management and how we do not know how time is allocated in the day. Keeping track of the day to see how it is spent is effective at noticing patterns. Once patterns are formed, it is then a matter of eliminating the non essential tasks and focus on what each person does that contributes the most.

What I learned about leadership

I just finished writing an essay for class on the role of leadership in strategy. Here is a summary of what I learned after doing the research and writing the essay:

1.       There are many different types of leaders and the effective ones have the ability to assess their surroundings and develop a vision that fits their unique circumstances taking the staff, organizational structure, internal and external environments into consideration and motivating all the staff members and subgroups to achieve that organizational vision.

2.       Ineffective leaders fail to accurately assess their surrounding and they attempt to craft visions and strategies that are not possible to achieve with the current resources. This incongruence leads to frustration, poor performance and mistrust.

3.       Effective leaders change their interactions with their followers as the situation calls for. If a task is closed, routine and there is limited time and then the leader is more autocratic. If the task is open, non-routine and there is more time the leader is more democratic.

4.       Followers in general prefer their leaders to be transformative and different followers of separate groups prefer social support, democratic decision making or autocratic decision making

5.       Transformational leaders are most effective in navigating an organization through a change or a period of upheaval. Once the objectives have been met and the organization is stable, then the leader must change their style toward more transactional in order to maintain their current course. Constant organizational change is not an effective long term strategy.

6.       Lassiez-faire leaders are ineffective. Their followers do not trust them and do not understand what their role is.

7.       Communication is important. Leaders need to be able to articulate what their expectations are, what the steps are to achieve the organizational strategy, what objectives they are going to use to evaluate their success and how each person can contribute to the overall success.

8.       When there is a change in leadership, the organizational will experience an initial decrease in performance until the new leader can change the strategy and motivate the members to perform for will. The longer a leader is in their role, the more successful the organizational (in general).

 

It is clear that every situation is different and this is why it is so hard to identify key features of successful leaders, and why some leaders experience success in one role, but failure in another. It takes constant monitoring of the overall circumstances to achieve success and every change demands a different approach. Successful leaders have the ability to either change the situation to their benefit, or choose situations that best utilize their skill set.