Leadership Archives - Page 2 of 3

Are Great Leaders Born or Made? The Answer is…Both!

leaders born sm (DGIwire) – If only life were like the movies. Everyone is a Vice President or CEO or “in-charge” of someone or something. Every problem magically works itself out in record time and the hero(ine) gets a promotion by the time the final credits are rolling. Think Working Girl circa 1988. The movie ends with the camera panning out to Tess McGill, former secretarial temp, in her new office overlooking Manhattan. In real life, it’s not that easy.

Many people are drawn toward leadership but once they get there (or close) they realize it can be much harder than it looks. Maybe your peers or staff aren’t exactly supportive of your goals. Maybe you’re not yet ready for the big leagues. Maybe your interpersonal skills aren’t quite developed. Maybe you just weren’t cut out for leadership in the first place! (Ha!)

When in Doubt Choose C? Whatever the situation, there are three paths you can take when you are in a leadership position and things start to get challenging; You can a) quit b) smile and pretend that nothing bad is happening or c) you can listen, learn, assess, redirect and move yourself and your team forward to even greater heights. When in doubt, choose “C.” But more likely, if you chose “C” it’s your inner leader talking control.

Born This Way? Not so fast! Being a leader does not come naturally for everyone. For some it is an evolutionary process that occurs on a daily basis. While the “big decisions” may not come instinctually for all, learning and applying that knowledge can be just as valuable. The most successful leaders are good learners.

Easy as 1, 2, 3, 4! Here are the four most important tools a leader needs to be successful.

1. Knowledge. Know your field. People are entrusting you to provide them with a service that they need. It’s your responsibility to know your trade or field almost like you know your own hand. “I’ve been in corporate communications and marketing for over 30 years. Nobody learns the rules and regulations overnight, particularly when it comes to properly advising a publicly traded client. Communications is an evolving field that can be very tricky to navigate.” says Dian Griesel, Ph.D., a communications & crisis management expert and President of Manhattan-based, DGI.

2. Communication. A good leader recognizes that communication isn’t just about what is imparted but perhaps more importantly, how it’s imparted. Effective communicators engage their subjects, allowing them to hear the message while feeling like an important part of a dialogue. Employees should feel comfortable asking questions or requesting clarification.

3. Listen. Good ideas and improvements can come from many different perspectives. Employees and clients can provide you with direction toward improvement. “I often call clients to request feedback: Just asking a simple, ‘What could we be doing better?'” Griesel continues. “We’re always willing to listen to suggestions. It’s good business to always seek ways to improve.”

4. Flexibility. You’ve heard the old adage about the best-laid plans. Well, a companion to that expression should be, “The wind does not break a tree that can bend.” A leader’s true character can shine in the face of adversity. How you handle the unexpected says much about you and your ability to lead.

Leadership Lessons: Inspiring Teamwork

teamwork sm No man is an island. This simple sentence is very true for leaders seeking to grow business. You may think you can do it all but the fact of the matter is, if you want to grow your business to it’s fullest potential, you’ll need help. Leadership lessons that inspire teamwork must get on the agenda.

Sometimes that can be difficult. Entrusting others to execute your vision can be overwhelming. At first. With these simple steps, you can begin to transform your company into the cohesive team you need it to be.

Dian Griesel, Ph.D., an oft-recruited communications and crisis management expert offers these tips for establishing a more cohesive, happy and high performance team.

Establish Goals. The first thing you need when you plan any trip is the destination. Where are you going? This step may take time to develop, but everyone should be included. The goal can’t be “to make lots of money” yet it can be as simple as “become the best in my field”.

Make a Roadmap. Outline how you are going to establish your goals. By including your entire team in this process, you will gain valuable insight to different ideas and perspectives. Decide how you are going to get there together. Assign tasks to each team member. Do so in a way that best utilizes each person’s talents. Talk to everyone and see how they feel they could best contribute.

Accountability. Each team member needs to pull their share of the workload. Nothing breaks down a team faster than when one, or a few, do the lion’s share of the work. If someone isn’t pulling their weight or following through with their responsibilities, it needs to be addressed immediately. Remember that a chain is only as strong as it’s weakest link. Everyone on the team needs to be 100% on board. When necessary, corporate restructuring can be a useful tool to bring balance and structure to your mission.

Praise Often. Reward employees generously. This doesn’t necessarily mean monetarily. Praising a person for a job well done can make all the difference in a person’s attitude. Something as simple as “I noticed.” People need to be recognized for their efforts. They need to feel like a valuable part of the team.

Foster Harmony. Teams are like families. In every family there will be some amount of conflict. Your job as the team leader is to minimize the strife by quickly and fairly solving the problem. Listen to all sides and respect each position. Your job is to get everyone back on track.

Encourage dialogue. Every team member’s voice is important. To be successful, everyone needs to feel comfortable to give voice to ideas, opinions, observations and even complaints. Listening now can prevent many problems later. If possible, try to meet with employees one-on-one on a monthly basis. Give them a safe place to express their ideas (or problems). Weekly staff meetings are also an effective way to encourage dialogue.

Five Simple Ways to Host a Bad Meeting

(DGIwire) Why would anyone want to host a bad meeting? We’re actually not sure why you wanted to read this story. Good thing you did though because the actual topic of this article is “Five Simple Steps to the Perfect Meeting”.

We did this to prove a point. You opened this article thinking that you would read about one thing, but the topic was different. Annoying, right? Unfortunately, this also happens with up to 50% of the meetings you attend. You go into a sales meeting with your copy of the agenda. One person asks an off-topic question and somehow you end up spending an hour talking about something totally different and equally irrelevant. You leave the meeting without clarity or direction and you’ve also just wasted an hour of your life that you’ll never get back.

To forever eliminate the dreaded “bad meeting,” Dian Griesel, Ph.D., president of DGI, narrowed down the five most important things needed to ensure a successful meeting.

1. Prepare, prepare, prepare! Then prepare some more. The better prepared you are, the more successful the meeting will be. Have an agenda of topics or talking points. Anticipate any questions and have the answers. Or if the meeting was held to resolve a specific issue, have all the right questions. Research any relevant topics that you feel could facilitate the meeting. It takes time and energy to prepare for any successful meeting. Good meetings don’t just happen.

2. Bring it to the table. Items as simple as pens, paper, coffee and water. Make sure that you have available what people will need in order for it to be a productive meeting for them. Having it all there at the table for them at the beginning of the meeting will limit interruptions throughout.

3. Move it! A facilitator, as defined by Merriam Webster, is “one that helps to bring about an outcome by providing indirect or unobtrusive assistance, guidance or supervision.” Every successful meeting needs an effective facilitator. This person guides, redirects, pushes, pulls, diverts, shifts and sways as needed to keep the meeting moving forward in a productive manner. The Facilitator might have to gently bruise some egos to accomplish this but that’s okay because he’s not there to make friends. He’s there to get a job done.

4. Time is on your side. Set a time limit. Then stick to it! Everyone’s time is important. After you’ve prepared your agenda, you’ll have a pretty good idea how much time you’ll need. Knowing you have a limited amount of time will help you stay on task and focused. Also important is scheduling the meeting for the best time. Ideally, best time to hold a meeting wouldn’t be right before an anticipated rush.

5. Promptly record and distribute minutes. There’s nothing worse than thinking you had a great meeting, only to have five people with five different variations of what transpired. Not only will having minutes help to clarify events but it will hold responsible parties accountable for follow-through actions as determined during the meeting.

What’s Your Corporate Crisis Management Style?

(DGIwire) — The Boy Scouts of America have the best and simplest motto that can be translated into all aspects of good PR and Crisis Management: Be Prepared.

Years ago, if a company was involved in any type of crisis, big or small, it was much easier to take control and minimize damage. You had time to react, regroup and respond to whatever negative message, true or false, that was being circulated. You most likely could accomplish this without having a full-blown crisis management plan in place.

Today, things are different. We live in an increasingly skeptical and unforgiving society. Coupled with the fact that in just a few keystrokes, the general public has easy access to an overwhelming amount of information about you, your company, your employees and even in some cases your personal life. It can take minutes for information to disseminate and go viral. It doesn’t matter if the information is true, half-true or even blatantly false, once the information is out there it can be difficult to control, never mind erase.

Smoke Detectors

“Good Crisis Management is about preparation,” says Dian Griesel, PR and Crisis Management guru and CEO of DGI Comm in NYC. “I’ve had companies come to me mid-crisis, in the midst of their fire, looking for help. They definitely would have been better able to navigate the issues if not avoid them all together if they had incorporated crisis management into their business plan.”

Here are 4 tips that Griesel recommends that will help your company strengthen it’s position in good times and in bad:

Know thyself. Know your company’s strengths and weaknesses. Make an honest assessment of any risks, weak links or potential problems. Identifying these areas will help you to be prepared to handle them if they arise, if not eliminate them altogether.

Respond quickly. Have a spokesperson ready and versed to address issues and answer questions. Ideally, this would be the President or CEO. Make it your internal policy to have no one but the spokesperson speak on behalf of the company. Mixed messages can sometimes do greater damage than no message at all.

Recover. Damage repair is as important as damage control. Learn from the crisis and take measures to ensure there will be no repeat episodes. Use the crisis as a way to grow your company even stronger.

Ongoing PR. If you are too small to justify a full time PR specialist on staff, then by all means hire a good Public Relations firm. The cost of a good PR company pays for itself quickly, not just monetarily but in peace of mind.

Copyright-free content by DGIwire.

Calling All CEOs! What’s Your Company’s Morale Score?

morale (DGIwire) — One of the most difficult things for a business owner to accurately gauge within his or her own company is also one of the most important: morale. When it’s good, it’s good but when it’s bad…let’s just say you want to work on getting things good quickly.

The reason it can be so hard to gauge morale issues is because often times employees won’t share their thoughts with their employers for fear of falling in their bad graces.

The conundrum is easy to understand according to Dian Griesel, Ph.D., a 20+ year market-messaging, PR and social media expert who is also founder and president of DGI Comm. “No employee wants to be the bearer of bad news or be viewed as a whiner or complainer. Most want to be seen as team players. But if someone is unhappy, resentment builds which certainly isn’t good.”

“Every wise boss is open to critique that includes a thoughtful suggestion for change,” she says. “Most employers are aware of problems, so it’s accurate that they don’t want to listen to whining because they are busy. Still, leaders rely on those around them to present their opinions along with proposed solutions. So opinions—even negative ones—offered with a plan for changing the status quo, are usually very carefully considered by smart managers.”

Want to keep improving your company’s morale? Wise managers carefully consider the following actions.

Comfort First. We’re not talking about anything fancy. Just the basics are enough to increase productivity. Suitably sized desks, ergonomic chairs, appropriate lighting, pleasant temperature, free water and coffee. A minimal investment in these essential basics will go a long way. If you wanted to take this a step further you could apply this to the office décor. Some plants and pleasing artwork have been shown to have a comforting affect on mood.

Time is Relative. Encourage employees to not only eat lunch away from their desk, but also to take short energy boosting breaks mid morning and afternoon. Provide a rebounder for them to bounce on for five minutes a day to get their blood and creativity flowing. Make sure they are also taking adequate vacation time to reenergize their mind, body and spirit. Everyone needs down time.

You Are How You Live. You can offer the perfect atmosphere for employment but it’s all for nothing if your employees are never there. Help them to cut down on sick days by instituting wellness programs. Have fruit delivered to the office once a week to help them appreciate the feeling of eating healthy. Purchase a corporate gym membership that will offer substantial discounts for employees. Do what you can to help each employee be the healthiest they can be. Any expenses you incur to promote wellness will be saved exponentially. And with less sick days, employees won’t always feel the stress of catching up on their workload.

No Strong, Silent Types! If you are happy with your employees, tell them! Two lines of praise that take you moments to say or write, will go a long way in the minds and hearts of your employees. Conversely, if you need to correct or critique an employee, express that as well. It’s equally counterproductive for someone to feel like they are doing a good job when they aren’t—as it is when someone is doing doing a bad job yet thinks they are employee of the month. Either way, communicate! Just remember to do so in a manner that affords each other dignity and the desire to want to improve. Convey your message without crushing their spirit. Encourage the same from them towards otehrs! Let them feel safe about coming to you with problems, questions or complaints.

Hallmark Moments. Keep an event calendar that lets you keep track of all your employee’s significant life dates. Birthday’s, work anniversaries, even marriage anniversaries if you attended their wedding. Small gestures like this help you show them how important they are to you and your organization.