Great Leadership Skills - Delegation

The great leader realises that they cannot have hands-on control of every aspect of their work. In order to effectively deliver on the demands placed on them, they should rely on relevant members of their team for support. The leader that can successfully delegate will enjoy a greater level of achievement.

The Benefits of effective delegation are:

Top performers will be attracted by your approach and want to join your team, poor performers won’t!

You will have more time to focus on strategy and forward looking tasks

Team members will be motivated by the responsibility

Team members will be given the opportunity to ‘shine’

Your team will be more efficient

When carried out effectively, delegation can be a huge motivating factor for a team. Conversely, the team can be deeply de-motivated when a leader abdicates responsibility for tasks, palms off work that they do not like or delegates the task, but not the responsibility to complete it.

With this in mind, we must ensure that we are delegating work for the right reasons, at the right times and in the right way. First we must establish what it is we should, and should not, be delegating.

Do not delegate work that you can remove completely. If it is something that really does not have to be done, remove it.

Delegate routine activities that you may use to procrastinate. Things like filing, photocopying, data entry, collecting data – If it takes up a lot of time and someone else is better placed to do it, pass it on.

Things that you are not the expert at. If another member of the team will do a better job of it, let them.

Small projects – if a project can be completed by one of your team and you know it will develop their skills, discuss it with them and see if they want to take up the challenge.
Do not delegate something just because you don’t like doing it. This isn’t fair and will lose you respect.

Do not delegate jobs that require your level of authority or tasks that have a high level of responsibility and accountability i.e. job interviews, disciplinary meetings etc. (unless of course this is part of the role your team deal with).

The key is to be practical about delegation. Think about your motives behind why you are delegating. If you are honest with yourself, it is likely that you will choose the right reasons to delegate.

It is also important to delegate the authority and responsibility with the task. There is nothing worse than a leader who delegates the task, but then restricts the team member’s ability to complete it because they somehow feel they must retain control. If you are happy for that person to take on the task, you should be comfortable that they have the ability to get results.

Having said this, you should delegate the task, not abdicate it. The individual should not be left feeling that a task has been dumped on them with no more involvement from you. Schedule regular updates, ask casually how the person is progressing, give and ask for feedback and allow them to find their own way with guidance from you if required.

For positive results, you can follow this simple process...

1. Define Your Desired Results
   
2. Select an Appropriate Team Member
   
3. Clarify Expectations and Set Clear Parameters
   
4. Give Authority and Responsibility to Agreed Level
   
5. Provide Background Information
   
6. Establish a Clear Feedback Process

By following this simple process you will ensure that the person you delegate to feels that they have your full support throughout the process. Where they feel that the challenge is too demanding, they should have every opportunity to let you know.

One final thought to consider is that once the team member completes the task, you should ensure they receive the credit and your thanks. By celebrating their success you not only build a motivated workforce, you also ensure that your team are willing to work on further tasks for you.

This article is an excerpt from the Trainer Bubble training materials, 'Great Leadership', which you can purchase from our website at http://www.trainerbubble.com

Great Leadership Skills - Being Inclusive

A great leader realises that in order to ensure they achieve the best results, they must include the expertise and knowledge of their team in the decision making process. This approach means that leaders get the best from their people through empowerment, encouraging contributions and nurturing talent - rather than simply rewarding good work.

Far from just developing their own skills and knowledge, the great leader is determined to develop those around them by including them in key decisions, identifying and recognising the talents of people within the team and generally creating an environment where everyone not only feels they can contribute, but is positively encouraged to do so.

A great leader will also recognise that there may well be other leaders in their team and just because they have the title of leader, does not mean that the contributions from others should be ignored. There are times when everyone needs to display leadership skills within an organisation and a ‘titled’ leader ignores this at their peril.

Most people will agree that they are most willing to change and adapt when they have been included in the decision making process. If you think of your own experiences I’m sure you will be able to recall times when you have been reluctant to follow a leader because you felt that you had no say in the process. By being inclusive and valuing the opinion of our team, we develop a strong sense of belonging and create an attitude that the team can overcome any challenge. The importance of this to the success of a department and ultimately the organisation is huge.

This is a short excerpt from the training materials, 'Great Leadership', which you can purchase at the Trainer Bubble website.

Managing Negativity at Work

Unfortunately, negativity is a natural part of wokring in a business environment. There is often discontent in some form or another and a good leader recognises this. By developing an inclusive approach to leadership and involving your team in decision making processes it is possible that the likelihood of negativity arising is minimised, but you should be prepared to deal with it when it does appear as even the most effective leader will run into negativity at some point in their career. The big problem is that negativity can be contagious and once it rears its head, can be very difficult to manage.

Sometimes negativity will arise as a result of company processes or changes required to make an organisation more effective. It can also arise over time for what appears to be no obvious reason.

An organisation that is in the grip of negativity will display an increase in the amount of complaining, a focus on why things cannot be done, a ‘what’s in it for me’ attitude and a view that things will never get better.

When negativity arises, it can sap your energy as a leader and potentially pull you into its grasp. A great leader will use simple techniques to manage negativity in the workplace and ensures their own attitude remains positive and focused.

The following suggestions will help you to overcome negativity when it arises:

Acknowledge negativity

Negativity will not go away if you ignore it, in fact it will most likely get worse. If it is not acknowledged, you will lose credibility as a leader. Discuss the negative feelings with those concerned, show that you care and ask for suggestions on how you might overcome the issue.

Identify the positives in all situations

It is easy to be dismissive and ignore the input from our team members. Celebrate the small victories and where suggestions will not work, try and identify the elements that you can work on. Positive actions are often a result of lots of little actions rather than one big one.

Give positive recognition often

This is something that is often overlooked and leaders can fall into the trap of considering the efforts of their team as ‘part of their role’. Everybody likes to be recognised for their success, so be prepared to acknowledge it at every opportunity.

Avoid colluding on negativity

This can be hard! We all like to have a moan about things. However, by remaining upbeat and positive, we put out the flames of negativity before they start.

Focus on issues, not personalities

When you are addressing negativity head on, you should remove the focus from the person and instead look at the issue at hand. Otherwise you risk undermining that person and might escalate the negativity.

Understand their feelings

Put yourself in the shoes of the person who feels negative. This does not mean for you to become negative too, but for you to understand how they might feel in this situation and resolve it accordingly.

Express your ideas and feelings

Don’t be scared to let people know how you feel and provide an insight into what you are thinking. Most negative issues can be resolved when everyone is open and honest about their feelings.

Be willing to compromise

As long as the new position is fair, you lose nothing by moving your stance slightly on an issue to ensure all parties are happy. Just because you are the leader, it does not mean that you cannot modify your position.

It’s not unusual for organisations to go through periods of negativity. How long that negativity progresses is often down to you as a leader. By displaying the correct attitudes and behaviours, you are likely to managing negativity and stop it from becoming an inherent problem. With an open and honest approach to the workplace, you might even remove the likelihood of negativity arising in the first place.

This article is taken from an excerpt in the training course materials, 'Great Leadership', which are available to buy from our website - Trainer Bubble training course materials. Visit today for this and many other great training courses.

Great Leadership Skills - Self Awareness

A great leader has a strong sense of self and will identify with both their strengths and their weaknesses. It means recognising what you are good at and acknowledging that there is still a lot for you to learn. It also means being prepared to state when you do not know the answer and addressing the mistakes you might make.

This can often go against our in-grained beliefs, often we are determined to demonstrate that we know and can do everything. However, just because we don’t recognise our weaknesses, it doesn’t mean they don’t exist. If you try and hide things, it will mean that others might question your abilities, which in turn will undermine your efforts as a great leader.

When you develop a strong sense of self you will model behaviour that demonstrates that it’s alright to admit to not knowing all the answers, to make mistakes and to ask for help. All characteristics that, when adopted by the staff, will help an organisation to develop and grow.

On an individual level, by having self-awareness, you will be able to identify where the support of your team is required and utilise their expertise to ensure effectiveness.

There are many ways that you can develop your self-awareness. A few things you can start to focus on are...

- Be true to your strengths
- Solicit feedback
- Ask good questions and listen to the response
- Commit to lifelong learning

This article is an excerpt from the brand new training course materials from Trainer Bubble called, 'Great Leadership Skills'. You can view these materials and many others at - Trainer Bubble Training Course Materials.

The Manager as Coach

In my role as consultant, I am often asked whether all good managers are effective coaches and if so, does this lead to the opposite being true.

To answer these questions with any great authority, it is important to define what is required of a manager when performing the role of coach. In order to do this, it is best to examine all management activity of which there are three key areas: Managing, Leading and Coaching.

These three activities are complimentary and are required to help a good manager achieve their business objectives, by enabling a team to perform at their best. You could refer to these skills as the legs of a stool on which a good manager sits.

When leading; the manager creates and shares a vision of the future with their team and ensures that their activities are consistent with bringing about that change.

When managing; they deliver results to the organisation by controlling the work of the team and agreeing and monitoring such things as budgets, timescales and quality levels.

When coaching; they support team members in their learning, to enable them to develop the skills, knowledge and attitude necessary to successfully deliver their job responsibilities and goals.

It is important to note that these three elements overlap because some of the processes and skills that are used in one area are also used in another. There may be times when the manager needs to use coaching skills to help their team understand and take ownership of quality levels or times when management of budgets requires strong leadership and vision.

Problems arise when the manager is not clear about which approach is appropriate in a particular situation. For example, if a coaching approach is used when deadlines are tight or a crisis has arisen, precious time may be lost. If a management approach is used when a team member has made a mistake, the learning opportunity will be missed and the mistake may be repeated.

All this boils down to the simple fact that coaching is incredibly important to a manager’s role and to be truly effective, they should acquire this valuable skill. However, if they neglect the requirements of management and leadership, they will ultimately fail.

So, to answer the original questions; Are all good managers effective coaches? I suspect so. Does that make all effective coaches good managers? Not unless you can sit on a one legged stool!

This Article is adapted from our training course 'Coaching at Work', which is available from our website at Trainer Bubble.

We also provide business consultancy in areas such as leadership, coaching and effective business development. You can discover more about the wealth of services offered by Trainer Bubble at our website Trainer Bubble Services

Meetings or Work? – A Modern Dilemma

What is it with business people and meetings? I’ve lost count of the mundane, ineffective and downright pointless meetings that I have had the misfortune to attend so far this year. If one more person drags me half way across the country to attend a meeting about the meeting before it I’m pretty sure I will throw myself out of the meeting room window.

I’m not against meetings per se, but it seems that people are pre-occupied with talking about issues rather than getting their hands dirty and actually dealing with them. I guess it’s easier to imbed yourself in a days worth of appointments talking about ‘the state of the business’ than it is to spend time actually trying to resolve anything.

The trouble with this abundance of dross gatherings is that it turns people off to the worthwhile meetings that really do help to address ‘real issues’, which can create a positive benefit to the future of the business.

So, for those of you that are interested only in positive meetings with purpose, let’s lay down some guidelines…

1) Never call a meeting if the information can be distributed or matter resolved by alternative, simpler means.

2) Provide a clear agenda and any relevant information to those due to attend the meeting. If they are required to prepare information, let them know.

3) Only invite people that absolutely need to be there.

4) Always start and end the meeting on time.

5) Stick to the topics on the agenda.

6) Be clear on the goals of the meeting and work towards them.

7) Do not allow AOB to become inane ramblings. If people want to have a general chat, ask them to do it elsewhere.

8) Prepare for the meeting and be clear on the content. If you have not prepared adequately then postpone, avoid bringing people together to ‘chat around the topic’.

9) Avoid ‘satellite’ meetings. If you can combine topics and all relevant people are due to be there, do so.

10) If the meeting becomes no longer necessary, don’t have it!

See, simple really isn’t it? So stop calling a meeting every time you need a break from the real work and start planning for successes. If you want to have a moan, save it for the water cooler!

You can download our new training resource on 'Leading Meetings' at our website www.trainerbubble.com

Leadership and Football - a worrying survey

A recent Franklin Covey Harris Poll surveyed 23,000 people in key industries and the results were staggering.

If the results from the poll were for a football team, you would end up with the following scenario:

• Only 4 in 11 players know what the objective of the game is
• 7 in 11 players don't know which goal is theirs
• 9 in 11 players don't care
• 9 in 11 don't know what position they play in the team
• Only 1 player feels that the players would be held accountable for the team's performance
• 1 in 11 are actively trying to score goals for the other team

These are truly sobering facts. The resulting organisational cost doesn't even bear thinking about.

If you want to ensure you are providing your leaders with effective training, take a look at our course 'Leading Effective Teams'. It's only £53, even Leeds United can afford that!

Continuous Improvement - One small step...

There's a true story about a group of Japanese managers of a steel manufacturing plant that visited a UK plant. Both plants were very similar only the Japanese one was making profit and the UK one was losing money.

At the end of the visit, the owner of the UK plant turned to the Japanese boss and said, "There's obviously something you've got right, that we haven't. What 's the big difference?"

The head of the Japanese steel plant politely turned and said, "There is not one big difference, but we do have one or two suggestions..." He then proceeded to list 124 ways the manufacturing plant could improve! An example was this...

When the blast-furnace doors opened to let a steel ingot roll out, the Japanese doors opened two inches less than the UK doors. So less heat was lost and it took less time (and money) to heat the furnace back up again. It wasn't much, but over time the saving was worthwhile. Added to the other 123 examples, the changes made a profit.

The moral?

Stop looking for the one big thing that's wrong with your business or even your life and realise that sometimes it's the little things that make a big difference.

Achieving Your Goals - Keeping things on track

Apparently when riding the underground people look up at the map and check their progress on average every 40 seconds. Most of these people know exactly where they are going and when they will get there, so why do they do it? I suspect the answer has a lot to do with the need to track advancement and ensure that they are indeed reaching their destination, which is a bit strange considering they are on a rail and the likelihood of them not getting there is pretty much zero.

Now let’s translate this to our own goals, whether they are in life, work, sport or whatever, we are consistently told how important they are and I am sure that most people set them in one way or another. However, the question is this…

‘How often do you track your progress and ensure that you are indeed reaching your destination?’

Individuals, businesses and even parents have become great at developing goals and targets, whilst not only ensuring they are smart, but also placing them in a gorgeous laminated folder and filing them under ‘G’. The same can also often be said for business strategies. People seem to enjoy setting them (or more likely feel they have to), but when it comes to implementation something falls down.

Let’s go back to that underground journey. Imagine you realise that you’re on the wrong train and are not going to make your destination. What do you do? Well of course, you would get off and find the next available train that gets you to your stop. Maybe you would need to adapt your journey a bit and perhaps even get more than one train, but it’s far better than staying on the original train and ending up somewhere you don't want to be.

Seems obvious really, doesn’t it? Yet, in business and in life we continually fail to do this very thing. It’s as if we set our goals and then forget we ever did them. Only once we’ve reached our destination (the wrong one) do we turn around and look for someone to blame.

You see it couldn’t be your fault; you set the goal, so the hard part was done, surely? Well no, just as the driver is not to blame for the fact you are on the wrong track, your team, your friends, your enemies are not to blame for your failure to achieve your goal. If you didn’t check your progress, it’s your fault you end up in the wrong place.

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Understanding People's Behaviour - Banging your head against a wall?

I just came home to find my 13 month old son giggling loudly to himself whilst banging his head against the living room wall. My immediate response was to say, "Son, you're an idiot." and only once I'd managed to distract him from this pain inducing activity did I consider the possible consequences of my words.

Maybe this one time I was right to call him an idiot. Certainly banging your head against a wall is not the action you would expect from a sound mind. However, let's consider I call my son an idiot consistently over the next few developmental years. The likely outcome is.......an idiot.

You see everyone's behaviour is driven by their own self-image, and that self-image is built around the adult influences they receive in their childhood. These influences come not only from parents, but grandparents, uncles, aunts, teachers, sports coaches and pretty much anyone that they have regular contact with.

It is these influences that create our attitudes and ultimately our behaviours. For example; somebody that has always been told that they should stand up for themselves may ultimately become aggressive when placed in a stressful situation. Or somebody that is encouraged to always share and make others happy may develop a need to please people and will display submissive behaviour at times. I experienced this last type of behaviour with an old colleague of mine. Whenever we held a meeting he would wonder why he always walked away with more action points than anyone else!

Think about your own experience. Is there something you believe about yourself, which has been influenced by others? You may find that hard to do, as these beliefs have become a part of you and are shaping your behaviour all the time. However, they are there in all of us in varying forms.

Now, these drivers are not in themselves a problem. We all need drivers in our life, without them we would not achieve anything. It is when these drivers become negative or destructive that issues arise. There may have been times in your own experience where a person’s behaviour has seemed out of control or perhaps it was just that their driver was conflicting with yours.

So what can you do?

One thing you have to accept is that every person’s behaviour makes perfect sense to them at the time. Nobody sets out to make their life difficult and often it is because they feel they have no alternative in the given situation. No matter how bizarre the person’s action seems, it is rarely something they have manufactured.

Now you know that these drivers exist. The best thing you can do is start to identify them in yourself. Realise when you are being driven by an inner desire to react in a certain way and prepare for it. Once you know why you might be acting in a certain way, it becomes a lot easier to adapt and understand the consequences in an effort to minimise their impact.

Next, be prepared to spot behaviour drivers in others. If you can tell that they are being driven by an inner belief, consider how you might be able to have conversations that will provide antidotes. Often we do not consider how we present a message before we do so. Taking a little time to consider how the message is going to be received can really save a lot of time in the long run…otherwise your just banging your head against a wall.

You can find training course materials that help you get the best out of people from our website www.trainerbubble.com.

Team focus - How to re-set the sights.

I was at a training event recently and during the opening 'set the scene' intro the senior director in the company asked the group to list all the things that were stopping them providing a good service to their customers.

The team took great pleasure in listing all the concerns: Morale, time, work pressures, customer issues, the products etc etc.

The director gleefully added each and every comment to the flipchart and when no more issues were given he looked up and said.."I have only one problem with this list......." He let the question hang in the air for a few seconds and when the team's started to look around non-plussed, he said, "You're not on it!"

It may not have been what they wanted to hear, but Wow, did it have an effect.

Identifying a team members complacency is often the key to re-generating a workforce, it's a common problem and one that can have disastrous effects. In my experience, there tends to be two main reasons behind it.

1. The team member has been doing extremely well and has taken their eye off the ball.

2. The team member is not doing as well as his counterparts and so feel de-motivated and unable to achieve.

In both situations the key is to encourage the team member to 'buy-in' to the business once again. They need to appreciate the consequences of their action, or in-action, and learn to change.

So how do you do it?

The best approach is to identify the team member's drivers, that is, what it is that makes them want to succeed. For some, it will be the desire to get away from how they currently feel, for others, it will be the hope of reaching a better future state. Once you know what approach your particular team member prefers, you can encourage them to work towards, or away from it.

Of course it's not always easy to identify a person's drivers without asking them. So that's exactly what I suggest you do! You don't have to be so upfront with the question, using coaching as a method of understanding is a great way to achieve this.

I have absolutely no doubt in my mind that through a good use of questioning and an even better use of listening you will be able to not only identify your team's drivers, but also help them establish a need to change.

Why not re-focus your management team with our great one day training materials pack on 'Leading Effective Teams', or help develop your manager's coaching skills with 'Coaching Skills for Managers'. At just £53 each, they provide a perfect solution to your management team's development.