The Ten Pillars of Leadership and Business Development

Written by Bea Fields


Leadership is any influence relationship that brings about change…this can be a teacher/student relationship, a parent/child relationship, a politician/citizen relationship, a business owner/employee relationship, a community leader/volunteer relationship and peer/peer relationship. These ten guiding principles can support leaders in becoming trusted by their followers and for withstandingrepparttar challenges of today’s ever-changing world.

(1) Leaders must be willing to be highly visible during crisis.

Enron, WorldCom and Martha Stewart...Their greed and fraud have further eroded trust in people aroundrepparttar 119430 world, and as a result, corporations and business owners are now operating with a brand new set of rules. Building trust requires a special effort on behalf ofrepparttar 119431 CEO or Business Owner to communicate openly, honestly, and often…especially during crisis or tough times. During a crisis,repparttar 119432 stakeholders want to hear from their leader…they don’t want to hear from his or her spokesperson. They not only want to hear fromrepparttar 119433 person at they top…they want to engage in open communication that involvesrepparttar 119434 sharing of information and ideas, and they want to know that their voice has been heard. During turbulent times, it is important to take advantage of all types of opportunities for communication, including open forums, task forces, breakfast meetings,repparttar 119435 media, one on one meetings, and stakeholder surveys. More formal forms of communication strategies includerepparttar 119436 360 degree feedback assessment or a full communications audit (which may take 2-6 months to complete.) The goal is to communicate openly and often and to continue assessing your communications program every day to insure that a culture of trust is being maintained.

(2) Leaders must be willing to take a stand- based on their vision and their values.

This does not happen in a vacuum…leaders must be willing to admit that they need strong support from an executive coach or a strong mentor who can guide them to doingrepparttar 119437 tough internal work required to shift their thinking and to get offrepparttar 119438 ego trip that many leaders live . They must be willing to carefully explore their values and how they can move their companies inrepparttar 119439 direction of a vision that is unwavering. This takes boldness, and a leader’s stand must be nailed intorepparttar 119440 ground and secured with cement...the stand must be so strong thatrepparttar 119441 leader does not become “wishy-washy” during tough times and inrepparttar 119442 face of controversy. Consistency is key, andrepparttar 119443 leader must know and believe in his or her stand on a very deep level...fromrepparttar 119444 heart...not becauserepparttar 119445 public relations director or Chief of Staff told him or her what to do or say. This is a genuine stand that is driven byrepparttar 119446 leader's authentic value system that never changes.

(3) Leaders must be willing to be fully engaged withrepparttar 119447 four focus areas of their being: physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually.

These areas of being must also be congruent withrepparttar 119448 leader's environment. Leaders of today must be willing to be fully engaged...physically fit, emotionally balanced, mentally tough, and spiritually centered. Leading a strong life is a quest that many leaders run from, because it can be tough, but it is crucial if he/she wants to engage followers in a way that is trusting. I cannot help but think about Tiger Woods when I think about leaders being fully engaged. He is an example of a world leader who is a model of what I am describing. His body is fit, his mind is sharp, his emotions are solid, and his spiritual presence is inspiring. He is being followed by young men from all corners ofrepparttar 119449 world and viewed as an inspiring model and mentor inrepparttar 119450 world of golf.

In addition to strengtheningrepparttar 119451 four areas of being, leaders must be willing to create a strong environment...one that is congruent with leading a strong life. The environment must be clean, clutter-free and optimized for speed, efficiency, and effectivness. The people and network surroundingrepparttar 119452 leader must be moving forward and fundamentally strong, andrepparttar 119453 activities leaders choose must point to a life that is built for change and is rock solid. Ifrepparttar 119454 environment is not congruent withrepparttar 119455 goals a leader seeks, her resources, energy, and effectiveness will become drained over time, and people will no longer be willing and loyal followers. They will seek a stronger leader to turn to for direction and hope.

(4) Leaders must be willing to build deep pockets of social capital by designing a network based on diversity.

Inrepparttar 119456 book "Achieving Success through Social Capital", author Wayne Baker advocatesrepparttar 119457 building of networks based on diversity, In chapter 2, he states: "Diversity providesrepparttar 119458 benefits of multiple perspectives on problems, protection against groupthink, and enhanced ability to collect, process, and digest information. Management teams with members from diverse functional background, for example, perform better than homongenous management teams." Building a diverse network is a crucial step in leaders being able to build a strong business and personal life. It is not uncommon to see leaders develop homongenous networks...known commonly as cliques. This is a dangerous approach, becauserepparttar 119459 network does not developrepparttar 119460 arms and legs it needs to reachrepparttar 119461 four corners ofrepparttar 119462 globe, to getrepparttar 119463 resources and knowledge it needs, and it can actually cave in on itself, pullingrepparttar 119464 company down with it. By reaching into different cultures, ages, geographical locations, educational backrounds, and belief systems, leaders can build networks that will yieldrepparttar 119465 biggest results and that will be sustainable over time.

(5) Leaders must be willing to overcomerepparttar 119466 growing tide of cynicism inrepparttar 119467 business world and define an upbeat style of leadership.

Inrepparttar 119468 article “A Prescription for Leading in Cynical Times” authors James Kouzes and Barry Posner, authors ofrepparttar 119469 Leadership Challenge discuss this in detail. Cynics are evident in every company inrepparttar 119470 world. They usually believe that human conduct is motivated by self- interest, and they have a disbelief aboutrepparttar 119471 integrity of others. They have high expectations ofrepparttar 119472 world, and they are continually disappointed whenrepparttar 119473 people in their lives don’t meet those expectations. To begin working with this challenge, leaders must be willing to drop their own cynical "The World Stinks" attitude and developrepparttar 119474 qualities that others say are important to leadership such as integrity, competency,repparttar 119475 ability to relate, visioning, inspiration andrepparttar 119476 driverepparttar 119477 build a thriving and cohesive team.

(6) Leaders must be willing to pushrepparttar 119478 edges of innovation.

I want to begin by talking aboutrepparttar 119479 difference between innovation and creativity. William Coyne, senior vice president for R&D at 3M once describedrepparttar 119480 difference: "Creativity is thinking of new and appropriate ideas whereas innovation isrepparttar 119481 successful implementation of those ideas within an organization. In other words creativity isrepparttar 119482 concept and innovation isrepparttar 119483 process." Innovation always involves treading into uncertain waters, and entering a new territory can be challenging, even forrepparttar 119484 most creative of thinkers. Yet falling behind can be a great deal worse than takingrepparttar 119485 risk to stretch and grow into new markets with new ventures. If companies are to move intorepparttar 119486 future, leaders must be willing to pushrepparttar 119487 edges of innovation each and every day. Executing an experimental venture requires planning, and it requires revisiting ideas that your company may have put onrepparttar 119488 shelf years ago, and whose time has now come. It is about zeroing in onrepparttar 119489 best possible strategy, discovering what systems are needed and what processes will be required to getrepparttar 119490 job done and to come out onrepparttar 119491 profit side ofrepparttar 119492 venture. Your new offering should meetrepparttar 119493 demands of your customers and should be an improvement overrepparttar 119494 way things are currently being done. As Nike says “Just Do It.” Start today to beginrepparttar 119495 process of innovation, and see what comes about forrepparttar 119496 future of your company…you may just be surprised!

Projects and Operations: An Amicable Separation

Written by Stephen Hay


Introduction Projects and Operations are quite distinct sets of activities that, when mixed, can cause unnecessary havoc withrepparttar management of each. They have different resourcing requirements, require different management styles and have different objectives. Projects are time-constrained and initiate change. Operations are ongoing and suffer change, sometimes unwillingly...

This short paper is a brief overview ofrepparttar 119429 definitions, descriptions and characteristics of each set of activities. And concludes with some recommendations for avoidingrepparttar 119430 worst of "projerations"...

Definitions

Projects Most project management approaches define a project using terms such as: * a series of interrelated activities, * with a specific goal or end result, and * having specific start and finish dates.

Operations So we can broadly say that anything else is operations; upkeep activities or incremental improvement. Three key indicators that show when a set of activities is not a project (ie. is operations) are: * if there is no commitment to move ahead, or * ifrepparttar 119431 set of activities doesn't have an end date, or * ifrepparttar 119432 set of activities does not have a measurable goal.

Descriptions

Operations Operations can be described in terms of business functions or activities and business processes. Business functions are those groups of competence that are needed forrepparttar 119433 healthy functioning ofrepparttar 119434 organisation. They can be decomposed into business activities that are usually, but not always, encapsulated by an organisational unit. For example, human resource management,repparttar 119435 activity, is partly encapsulated byrepparttar 119436 Human Resources Department.

Business processes, onrepparttar 119437 other hand, describe howrepparttar 119438 organisation adds value. They are triggered from outsiderepparttar 119439 organisation and finish withrepparttar 119440 organisation delivering something of value.

The two most common diagrams for these views arerepparttar 119441 org-chart and process maps.

Projects Projects are described by their scope,repparttar 119442 requirements they are expected to meet andrepparttar 119443 resources required to meet them. They have a deadline, milestones, stakeholders, steering groups, a budget, and change and communication plans.

They are initiated, planned, executed and completed. They add value forrepparttar 119444 stakeholders, who may or may not be outsiderepparttar 119445 organisation.

The most common diagrams to help describe projects are: a GANTT chart for resource allocation, and PERT chart for critical path analysis.

Characteristics of Projects and Operations Activities grouped to form Projects or Operations are easily identifiable as each has its own set of characteristics. Generally speaking they are mutually exclusive though this is not alwaysrepparttar 119446 case. The table below outlines these in a comparative manner so that, inrepparttar 119447 first instance,repparttar 119448 distinction can be made.

Operations * Repetitive * Continuous * Deals withrepparttar 119449 Present * Evolutionary change * Equilibrium * Suffer change * Pre-defined objectives * Stable resources * Stability * Efficiency * Roles * Security and Predictability

Cont'd on page 2 ==>
 
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