Exceptional Leadership Inspires the Best Effort in Others

Written by Michael Beck


Continued from page 1

Servant Leader Philosophies - In our leadership workshops, I'll ask participants whorepparttar most important person is to a company. The answer, of course, isrepparttar 119511 customer. The question that follows next is, "Who isrepparttar 119512 most important person inrepparttar 119513 company to that customer?" Most people get thatrepparttar 119514 person most important torepparttar 119515 customer isrepparttar 119516 one they come in contact with -repparttar 119517 "frontline". The question that follows isrepparttar 119518 real key to a better understanding of servant leadership. This question is, "What, then, isrepparttar 119519 job ofrepparttar 119520 manager of those frontline people?" The job ofrepparttar 119521 managers ofrepparttar 119522 frontline folks is to make their job as easy and as effective as possible so thatrepparttar 119523 customer hasrepparttar 119524 best experience possible! If this leadership philosophy is adopted throughout an organization, it ends up with an organizational chart that looks like an inverted pyramid. It is an organization that acknowledgesrepparttar 119525 importance ofrepparttar 119526 frontline and reflectsrepparttar 119527 philosophy of service throughout.

* EFFECTIVE PURPOSE, MISSION AND VALUES

An organization which inspiresrepparttar 119528 best effort in its people will attractrepparttar 119529 kind of employees it wants and needs, and will retain them. It has a Purpose, a Mission, and a set of Values that it lives by, it effectively communicates them, and it measures its actions and decisions against them.

- Purpose isrepparttar 119530 "WHY" ofrepparttar 119531 equation. It defines why we do what we do. Each decision and policy should takerepparttar 119532 company closer to achieving its "WHY". When a company has a clearly defined purpose it begins to act as a magnet, attractingrepparttar 119533 kind of people who will furtherrepparttar 119534 purpose; people who are like-minded. Not only will having a purpose attractrepparttar 119535 right people, but it will also act to retain them.

- Mission isrepparttar 119536 "WHAT" ofrepparttar 119537 equation. It defines whatrepparttar 119538 company will be doing to achieve its Purpose. A mission can be fairly narrow or be somewhat broad. However, one that is too narrow can unduly restrict an organization from considering opportunities that would otherwise be an excellent fit and one that is too broad offers no guidance at all.

- Values arerepparttar 119539 "HOW" ofrepparttar 119540 equation. Values define howrepparttar 119541 Mission will be carried out in an effort to achieverepparttar 119542 Purpose. They definerepparttar 119543 “rules ofrepparttar 119544 game”. Some of them will come to mind quite easily, things like honesty, courtesy, kindness, and ethics. But some other important values will only surface when brainstorming takes place - when different perspectives and voices are heard.

* EFFECTIVE PEOPLE SKILLS

I’ll often ask clients or workshop attendees forrepparttar 119545 traits ofrepparttar 119546 best boss they ever had andrepparttar 119547 traits ofrepparttar 119548 worst boss. Inevitably, I’ll get answers like: (Best) respected my ideas, worked to develop me, challenged me, listened, empowered me and let me make my own mistakes,… and (Worst) micro-managed, was overly demanding, poor communicator, mistrustful, … What’s interesting is that in no case wererepparttar 119549 technical skills orrepparttar 119550 intelligence of a boss either praised or condemned. Allrepparttar 119551 notable traits, both good and bad, had to do with people skills. The goal of effective people skills is good Relationship Management. Relationship Management encompassesrepparttar 119552 ability to develop others, inspire others, influence others, resolve conflict, and build teamwork and collaboration.

CONCLUSION

The essence of exceptional leadership isrepparttar 119553 ability to inspirerepparttar 119554 best effort in others. When people choose to give their best effort, satisfaction increases, pride develops, innovation is born, productivity improves, stability prevails, and profitability increases. The keys to a highly performing organization are creating an inspiring environment and personally becoming an exceptional leader. We can create an inspiring environment by adopting effective leadership philosophies and clarifying a Purpose, Mission and set of Values. We can personally become a more effective leader by honing and acquiring effective people skills. Become a leader who inspiresrepparttar 119555 best effort in others.

Michael Beck is President of Exceptional Leadership, Inc., a leadership development and executive coaching firm dedicated to creating exceptional leadership for higher profits and greater job satisfaction. Michael can be reached at 877-977-8956 or mbeck@XLeaders.com, and you can learn more about the company and these ideas at www.XLeaders.com.


How to Attract and Retain the Right People

Written by Michael Beck


Continued from page 1

Mission: Mission isrepparttar "WHAT" ofrepparttar 119510 equation. Mission defines whatrepparttar 119511 company does to achieve its Purpose. The better defined a company’s mission is,repparttar 119512 easier it is to choose amongrepparttar 119513 many opportunities that will present themselves. A mission –repparttar 119514 means to achieverepparttar 119515 Purpose - can be fairly narrow or be somewhat broad. However, one that is too narrow can unduly restrict an organization from considering opportunities that would otherwise be an excellent fit, and one that is too broad offers no guidance at all and may cause an organization to spread itself too thin, do a poor job at everything, and essentially dilute its effectiveness.

How do you determine an appropriate mission? Again, remember to involve people throughoutrepparttar 119516 organization to develop and distillrepparttar 119517 essence of what your organization is about. Don’t simply rely onrepparttar 119518 executive level to develop and then dictaterepparttar 119519 mission torepparttar 119520 group. Work to strike that balance between clarity and confinement – not too broad, yet not overly restrictive.

Values: Values arerepparttar 119521 "HOW" ofrepparttar 119522 equation. Values define howrepparttar 119523 Mission will be carried out in an effort to achieverepparttar 119524 Purpose. They definerepparttar 119525 “rules ofrepparttar 119526 game”. Some of these values will come to mind quite easily, things like honesty, courtesy, kindness, and ethics. But some other important values will only surface when brainstorming takes place - when different perspectives and voices are heard. Values like authenticity and vulnerability may be placed onrepparttar 119527 table for consideration. (Which, byrepparttar 119528 way, are two essential qualities of an exceptional leader.) It doesn’t matter which values are decided upon as being important torepparttar 119529 company. What is important however, is that whatever they are, everyone inrepparttar 119530 company lives by and supports them. It’s important thatrepparttar 119531 policies and decisions ofrepparttar 119532 company are in alignment with them. Ifrepparttar 119533 company has an acknowledged list of values it purports to live by and then chooses to ignore them,repparttar 119534 list becomes a sore point and acts as a negative reflection of what kind of organization you really lead.

When a company has clearly defined its Purpose, Mission, and Values, then all decisions, policies, and actions will have a measuring stick to keep them on course and you will have an organization which attracts and keepsrepparttar 119535 best! You’ll create an organizational culture which naturally acts as a magnet to attract and retain like-minded people. And you’ll also haverepparttar 119536 framework to interview aboutrepparttar 119537 things that matter most to you and your organization. No longer will people be hired based solely on technical abilities or simply to fill seats.

Exceptional leadership inspiresrepparttar 119538 best effort in others!

Michael Beck is President of Exceptional Leadership, Inc., a leadership development and executive coaching firm dedicated to creating exceptional leadership for higher profits and greater job satisfaction. Michael can be reached at 877-977-8956 or mbeck@XLeaders.com, and you can learn more about the company and these ideas at www.XLeaders.com.


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