Successful Leadership

 

It's been found that you can achieve great results and have meaningful relationships at the same time. 

 

Whether your company is a startup or an established firm, I want to share about a compelling leadership model that will get the best out of employees. 

Research into a new model of servant-leadership suggests that five characteristics of servant-leadership, when actively demonstrated up, down, and across levels, can lead to a thriving and result-oriented work culture.  

 

Oftentimes, when you try to implement some of the mentioned elements, you may run into challenges. To resolve this very issue, I wrote my book "The Breakthrough Accelerator - Resolve your Biggest Challenge in 4 weeks"- Receive a Free download of this book by Clicking this Link 

 

This newer idea suggests, servant-leaders are people-centric, not egocentric. Their winning formula is to grow people and serve by shining the spotlight on their employees. 

 

Servant-leaders are far from soft; they demand excellence and command a much higher level of trust from their tribe. Over time, according to Grant, they're much more successful. 

Today, scores of successful companies embrace the practice of servant leadership, including Southwest Airlines, Zappos, Nordstrom, The Container Store, and WD-40 Company. 

 

Learn and practice these Five characteristics

 

While this research is one of many in the servant leadership sphere, it remains one of the favorites. Organizations looking to boost their leadership effectiveness can start with pursuing the practice of these five traits across all levels of management, in order to have an impact on the people they employ, and on the client’s they serve.  

 

1. Being able to display authenticity. 

 

The best leaders are learners; they are open to input from others, even those below them. They are transparent and self-aware -- seeking to understand themselves and others to quickly problem solve to an agreed solution. By showing up daily with their most authentic selves and maintaining a high level of integrity, they generate trust seamlessly and develop more productive relationships than their less authentic counterparts. 

 

2. Being able to value others as workers and human beings. 

 

True leaders put others first before self. They will, first and foremost, believe and trust in their people -- their strengths, abilities, potential, and commitment to the job -- before they must earn it. These leaders maintain a high view of their people, show them respect and dignity, and will listen receptively to them and their needs, in a nonjudgmental way. 

 

3. Being able to grow their people. 

 

In the research data, great leaders provide for learning and growth, and develop potential and career paths for others.  They also model appropriate behavior and build up their people through encouragement and affirmation. 

 

4. Being able to provide direction. 

 

They will envision the future and utilize intuition and foresight to direct the organization forward; they take initiative and move out ahead; and they consistently clarify goals and expectations to get to the vision. 

 

5. Being able to share leadership. 

 

Research found that the strength in great leaders comes from sharing power and decision making and pushing authority down to empower others. Because of their selfless nature, sharing their status in relation to position or honor is a given. Lastly, they use persuasion to influence others instead of coercion. 

 

Whatever your belief about which evidence-based, leadership framework or philosophy is most effective, isn't as important as first finding out the health of your organization! 

 

Once top decision-makers clearly understand how employees feel about the environment they work in, they can determine the best strategy for helping all levels of management successfully navigate the challenges and demands of the future.

The New Normal in 2021

 

If 2020 has taught us anything, it’s that predicting the future is practically impossible.

 

The Covid-19 pandemic derailed any personal or professional goals that were set at the start of the new decade. The promise of the New Year quickly became a mandatory quarantine which changed the way in which we work for the future.

 

Out went the in-person meetings and in came the rise of virtual meetings. Zoom fatigue may be some kind of epidemic in office culture, while companies have adapted toward remote working (and in some cases, implemented permanently).

 

Return dates to the office remain murky as companies continue to push back dates until a vaccine is available to the general populace. The commute remains sacrificed and quick jolts around the block are hard to come by before at-home responsibilities like childcare creep in the way of Excel spreadsheets. Keeping this in mind, what exactly should workers expect heading into 2021?

Oftentimes, when you try to implement some of the mentioned elements, you may run into challenges. To resolve this very issue, I wrote my book "The Breakthrough Accelerator - Resolve your Biggest Challenge in 4 weeks"- Receive a Free download of this book by Clicking this Link

 

The New Normal at work. Whether it’s planning your next job search or sticking around hoping for a promotion at your current company, these uncertainties are on-par for what 2020 has done to create this new norm. The anxieties of keeping your head down or carving out a new path in your career will continue to be there, but a little navigation heading into 2021 could help especially knowing what to expect when looking to newer opportunities for your business or making an argument for more responsibilities at your current job. The business arena will be fluid and we have to remain dynamic and adaptable to it.

 

Networking in 2021. Perhaps more than ever, networking has become the secret most important piece to the growth of your business. Networking can always feel soul-crushing and bit awkward at times. With limitations to in-person gatherings and after-work coffees, networking in the coronavirus age has been shifted digitally to online career platforms that essentially make it feel like cold calling a home during an election.

Getting over networking anxiety starts with actually doing it (trust me, it’ll make you feel good once you do it often enough), but there’s something to be said about how important it is in this current climate.

 

The only way to actually standout is networking. People have to remember that companies do not want to go through the process and not have success with it.

 

Platforms like Twitter or LinkedIn would seem like unconventional places to network earlier but it can also be a more personal way of introducing yourself and connecting on something other than work in this new normal – for the New Year and maybe the foreseeable future, which we hope has to be bigger and brighter.

Bad Habits to Break When Working from Home

Working from home has a lot of big benefits, like allowing you to wear pajamas to work or catch up on all the seasons of Shark Tank while pumping out deliverables from your living room. From a certain point of view, there’s no better way to work. Who needs cubicles and office Roombas when you have your favorite couch and pet dog Jerry?

However, working from home isn’t perfect for everyone and has some huge pitfalls if you let certain bad habits become norms in your daily routine. Here are a few bad habits to break when working from home.

 

Oftentimes, when you try to implement some of the mentioned elements, you may run into challenges. To resolve this very issue, I wrote my book "The Breakthrough Accelerator - Resolve your Biggest Challenge in 4 weeks"- Receive a Free download of this book by Clicking this Link

 

Indulging Distractions - This one’s an absolute killer; virtually everyone struggles with avoiding distractions. Every ten sentences or so, we may stop working to change the song queued up on our songs list. Could I create a playlist to remedy this issue? Sure. But it’s not about that—we may leave our in-progress document simply because we can. It’s not about the thing we escape to (listening to songs or a podcast), it’s just about the fact we can escape. Don’t let that get to your head, though. You need to focus! If not for the benefit of your work, then just to avoid developing an unhealthily short attention span.

 

Forgoing formalities - Working from home means a lack of physical contact with coworkers. This will naturally result in a transformation of your social behaviors, though the degree of change is different for everyone. Just make sure you catch yourself if you start developing bad habits like being testier, snippier, or more obnoxious since it’s easier to “get away with” being difficult remotely.

 

Letting Work and personal spaces overlap – Many of us maybe struggling miserably to break this habit. The idea is that you shouldn’t let your, say, bedroom also become your home office. You need to separate work rooms from relaxation rooms for sake of having a place to escape to when work becomes too much to deal with. Sadly, the habit of bringing the work laptop with us to all the personal spaces is a bit much. Work may have creeped into every other corner of our homes but don’t let this habit take root in your life.

 

Avoid bad habits when working from home. The bad habits listed above are all incredibly hard to break, and we may all be still grappling with the majority on this list, in these current unusual and strange times. Undoing them is borderline impossible once they’ve taken root, so do yourself a favor and don’t adopt such habits in the first place!

Steps to Take before setting up a Business Alliance

 

In today’s fast-paced, tech-driven business world, collaboration is no longer a dirty word. Forming alliances & collaborating with another business–especially if you’re the smaller fish–can be great. Leveraging another company’s audience and gaining access to their resources and knowledge might just be what you need to grow. But how do you know if the opportunity will be worth spending time & resources?

Oftentimes, when you try to implement some of the mentioned elements, you may run into challenges. To resolve this very issue, I wrote my book "The Breakthrough Accelerator - Resolve your Biggest Challenge in 4 weeks"- Receive a Free download of this book by Clicking this Link 

Just ask yourself these important & decisive questions to know for sure:

WHAT IS YOUR BUSINESS’S CORE CHALLENGE?

The best collaborations are those that help you to overcome your core challenge. But how can you do this if you aren’t clear about what that challenge is? Perhaps you are looking to break into a new market and a partnership can help you reduce barriers to entry or give you proprietary insight into that new market. Entering into a partnership without knowing what problem you’re trying to solve, or what result you’re hoping to achieve, is not going to be as successful as if you enter into a partnership with a clearly defined set of goals.

WHAT ARE YOUR BRAND’S VALUES?

Before you seek out a partnership, have a clear understanding of what your brand is about and what you’re looking for. Being clear about your values allows you to align yourself with a business that shares similar goals. Don’t assume that you know what the other company’s values are. Take the time to articulate your common vision and make sure that you’re on the same page.

DO YOU HAVE ENOUGH TIME TO INVEST IN THIS COLLABORATION?

Getting involved with another business can feel a lot like having multiple hands in the same pot. It can result in high management costs, slow certain processes, and, in some cases, the loss of strategic power if the business you partner with wants to have decision-making power. A successful collaboration starts with having a good strategy.  If you have a bad strategy, you’ll find it easier to succumb to the pressures of day-do-day operational firefighting and distractions. Be clear on your goals and how much time you are willing to invest.

IS THERE A PERFECT PARTNER IN YOUR OWN INDUSTRY?

Sometimes the perfect alliance exists right next door. For example, say a French restaurant has a connecting swinging door next to a pub and every time the door opens, it would allow in the boisterous cheer of the next-door pub. The door was opening because the kitchen of the French restaurant would be supplying the pub with its burgers and the fish & chips.

Though the restaurant and the pub could be considered competitors (since both are in the food industry), they each offered different experiences and target audiences, making for a perfect and convenient collaborative opportunity.

It is very important to remember that before jumping into a contract for collaboration, see if you can test the waters by working on a small event or project together. A test project will allow you to evaluate each other’s strengths, weaknesses, and working styles before getting into a more serious commitment.

Here's to Happy Alliances!