Thanks to Nigel Brownbill for this article.

Leaders whose organizations have an exciting and meaningful vision, as well as a clearly defined direction, engage their employees hearts as well as their minds, (Joan Lloyd, 2008).

In her article, Lloyd (2008) mentions that, “great communicators tend to be excellent leaders. They are easier to follow – people know where they are going, why they want to get there and what they have to do to move toward the goal” (p.8)

Unfortunately communication is a gift that we often waste in business. Excuses are made that either there isn’t enough time to explain things properly or to check that we have been understood; or we simply assume that since the message we’re giving is clear enough to us, it should be clear enough to everyone else.

Many people exasperate the communication problem by using electronic communication to replace face-to-face discussions, often in the belief that it avoids conflict and gets things done quicker – it’s preferred, as it takes the emotion out of the process.

Leaders will always prefer face-to-face communication and will always check that the intended message has been received. They constantly encourage two-way communication and are excellent attentive listeners.

Lloyd’ article highlights four tips that today’s leaders should follow to improve their communication, company culture and organizational performance;

1. Have a meaningful vision and mission and reinforce it in everything you do. This means ensuring your vision is shared and owned by the organization. A test of true strategic ownership is when each employee can explain the corporate strategy and how they influence the outcome through what they do on a daily basis. Unfortunately it’s rare to find employees who know the answers to both questions, (see the article, ‘How good is your strategy for 2010?’ dated 4th March 2010).

2. Keep priorities clear. Keep the organization updated as priorities change and the reasons behind it. The organization will react and support changing priorities if they understand why the changes are taking place.

3. Explain your intentions. Don’t assume that everyone understands your actions and why you say and do the things you do. Often it is these assumptions that cause demotivation within an organization. Explain why you do the things you do and this will transfer into understanding, trust and improved performance.

4. Mean what you say and say what you mean. Don’t say things you don’t mean; don’t create false expectations and always give honest feedback.

Effective communication is one of the key characteristics that distinguish good leaders from the thousands of ‘wannabe’ leaders in today’s business world. If you’re unsure how effective your communication skills are, Debbe Kennedy highlights three common mistakes leaders make when communicating;

1. Poor leaders often talk at people instead of with them;
2. Poor leaders say what they want without considering what employees want to hear;
3. Poor leaders use too much head-talk and not enough heart-talk (2007,19).

It’s important for effective leaders to want to know if they are good communicators, and therefore it isn’t surprising that they take the opportunity to ask their peers and subordinates on a regular basis; and listen and learn from their responses.

I subscribe to the inspirational messages from Simple Truths and enjoy reading their frequent excerpts from recommended books.

A recent posting listed “The Wolf Credo”, written by Del Goetz, which seems to capture what the wolf is all about.  A wolf’s main purpose for existing is to ensure the survival of the pack.  These animals can teach us a lot about leadership in our personal lives, as well as in our organizations.

  THE WOLF CREDO:

Respect the elders
Teach the young
Cooperate with the pack.

Play when you can
Hunt when you must
Rest in between.

Share your affections
Voice your feelings
Leave your mark.

My friend and colleague, Chip Scholz, recently gave a review of Alan Weber's new book, Rules of Thumb:  52 Truths for Winning at Business Without Losing Your Self.  Here’s Weber’s summary of how to put leadership lessons to work for you:

1. Begin with an assessment of yourself. What is your own working definition of leadership? If you have one, you better write it down. It doesn’t matter if you borrowed it, learned it from a mentor or a book, or if you formulated it yourself. What does it say about the way you work with people? Are you a motivator, a decider, a sense-maker?
2. Do another assessment of your organization. Can you write out in a few words what your company does and how it defines itself, how it does business?
3. Write out your company’s values. Can you name at least four values that are evident by your company’s work? Do your people know them?
4. What are your key metrics? Are you keeping what’s measured relevant and to a minimum?

There’s a lot of common sense to be derived from writing out your answers to these four questions. It can help you see clearly, and consequently communicate in a focused way that moves people to take action.

I'm putting this book on my "want to read" list!

I want to share this article by Brian Tracy:

As a business owner with no employees, I don’t have the opportunity to practice my leadership skills nearly as often as I used to.  In fact, it’s been almost 10 years since I’ve managed any staff.

Now that I’ve taken over the position of President of my Sherwood Rotary Club, I’m sure I’ll be facing leadership challenges again.  Fortunately, our club already has a culture of strong member participation.  Several members are also Past Presidents, so I have a solid support structure to help with any difficult issues that may arise.  The membership seems to know what their individual strengths are, and they’re willing to use those strengths for the benefit of the club. 

I believe my main job is to serve the Board and the general membership in helping the club achieve our goals in all the areas that we’ve stated, to help make our meetings fun and educational, and to promote a positive image in the community for Sherwood Rotary.

I wanted to share this article written by my friend and colleague, Chip Scholz.

Anyone can become angry – that is easy. But to become angry with the right person, to the right degree, at the right time, for the right purpose, and in the right way – that is not easy.” Aristotle, The Nicomachean Ethics, 330 BC

Aristotle was a student of Plato, and his primary disagreement with him was his respect for emotions. Unlike Plato, he realized that rationality wasn’t always in conflict with emotion. Instead, Aristotle argued that one of the critical functions of the rational soul was to make sure that emotions were intelligently applied to the real world.

Yet, we continually discount emotions when we weigh data, correlate statistics and use results from customer surveys and focus groups. Many companies rely on surveys and focus groups to make product and marketing decisions. Without careful consideration of context, they may miss making the best decisions.

The problems of focus groups are well documented. Jonah Lehrer writes about them in his book How We Decide. It’s why some televisions shows don’t make it to the networks. Seinfeld tested poorly, as did The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Hill Street Blues.

Focus groups are a crude instrument to measure audience responses because people express their feelings, but they don’t explain them. Data is recorded based on impulsive feelings with all the usual flaws of the emotional brain.

Executives have to sort through the data and make qualitative decisions using contextual information. You can’t rely on emotional data and obey it blindly.

Sorting data and making sense of it is what the prefrontal cortex does well. The audience in a focus group is like our emotional brain, constantly sending out visceral signals about it’s likes and dislikes. The prefrontal cortex, also called the executive brain, is like a smart TV network executive, patiently monitoring emotional reactions and deciding which to take seriously.

Rationality can work to save us from impulse decisions based on negative feelings that aren’t justified. But relying exclusively on rational thought can easily backfire. When the rational brain takes over, people tend to make all sorts of decision-making mistakes.

They ignore the wisdom of their emotions, and start basing their arguments on things they can explain rationally, like survey data (without considering that customers respond to them emotionally.)

One of the problems is that even when our feelings are accurate, they can be hard to articulate. So instead of going with an argument that feels best, we go with one that sounds reasonable.

Great article on Change by Marshall Goldsmith

 I just read a great article in Fast Company.  So many leaders don't realize that unless you give great service to your internal customers, you won't be able to provide great service to your external customers.

http://tinyurl.com/n5dvou Why Employee Retention Matters More Today Than Yesterday

After hearing several requests for more Leadership classes (since it's been over a year since I've offered any of these popular public classes), I'm starting another series of these next month.  This 9-week program is for any business professional wanting to enhance leadership skills with more self-confidence, better communication, and more effective use of their time.

Because I know so many in sales are struggling to make their quotas right now, I'm also offering a Sales Development class for small business owners and sales professionals.  This is another 9-week program which covers the complete 6-step buying-selling process and helps people become "assistant buyers" for their clients, rather than being "salespeople."

Both of these courses are results-oriented and focus on developing from the inside out.

I'll be speaking at the January 13th meeting of the Sales and Marketing Executives International of Arkansas on "What Drives our Generation X and Millennial Workforce."  Join us at the Little Rock Club at 6:30 P.M. and learn some of the myths about this young generation and how these employees can offer value.  The younger generations operate in this world with a completely different perspective.