Archive for July, 2011
Being the Leader others want you to be.
Jul 17th
In the view of Toby Helm, the Political Editor of The Observer, the murky events surrounding News International have been good to Ed Miliband, who has been seen to be far more ”relaxed and confident”. Miliband is no longer cautious and ponderous in interviews, instead now he “speaks from the heart with passion and conviction.”
Helm does not appear to be on his own in this view, with Labour MP’s, Political commentators and the public opinion polls echoing this new perception of the “The Ed Miller Band”.
So are we really seeing a new upgraded version of Mr Miliband, or are we now seeing a Leader with a clear vision, goal or set of values that he is committed to sharing with his followers?
Effective Leaders have a clear understanding of the values that are important to them and a vision of where they want to take their organisation. Communicating this vision with passion and conviction is vital in engaging those who will be instrumental in achieving the desired goals. People will not follow and buy into the Leader if they don’t understand what they are trying to achieve, where the journey will take them personally, and how they can play their part on reaching the destination.
David Cameron appears to have suffered in the past few weeks as his vision for the future and the values that drive him have become somewhat clouded by events and his inability to clearly communicate where he stands on the issues surrounding News International.
Too often you find Leaders and their Senior Management Teams lose sight of the end game and the values that are important to them, the people within the organisation and the organisation itself. The message is not communicated effectively and becomes corrupted along the way. The News International crisis is a dramatic example of this with the values in place amongst the Senior Executives seemingly at odds with those of their readers and viewers, which is placing the future of their business in danger.
As a Leader you need to consider what it is your people will want from you. Here are ten suggestions – how many of these do you think you can tick off as achieved?
- To understand where they fit in to the overall scheme of things
- To know where they are going
- They don’t necessarily want to be told what to do in every task they have.
- To be empowered and to have some input into the decision making process.
- They want to know what you stand for.
- To associate themselves with success and a desire to succeed.
- Clear communication on issues
- Management teams that are approachable and supportive
- An organisation they can be proud of
- To be inspired!
Ed Miliband: Confident, relaxed, passionate.
Which three words would people use to describe you?
Do you have many self limiting beliefs?
Jul 12th
” When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.” ~ Dr Wayne Dyer
What we believe in limits or expands our world. These beliefs shape our thoughts and actions because we treat them as though they are a true and objective representation of the facts.
Beliefs can influence whether or not you attempt to achieve a particular goal in life. They determine what you pay attention to, how you react to difficult situations and ultimately your attitude.
Success and failure begin and end in what the mind believes is possible.
So how can you change a limiting belief?
The main keys to doing this is complete honesty and challenging yourself. Here are a few steps to help kick start the process:
- Identify the thought or belief
- How does this thought/belief make you feel?
- Is thought/belief 100% true?
- What would be a more honest thought/belief that also reflects your values?
- What can you do that reflects your new thought/belief?
Adopting a positive mental attitude will also help:
- Use positive self talk - up to 1500 words a minutes flow through our minds, how many of them are positive? Positive talk will lead to increased confidence and higher self esteem.
- Control the pictures in your mind. People use mental pictures to represent places, events, dreams and goals. If you create positive pictures your actions will be positive.
- Feed your mind a healthy diet. seek out positive information, and limit the negative.
- Associate with positive people. levels of success achieved can be linked to the people you associate with.
- Be proactive. Don’t wait for something to happen, take control and seize the initiative!
How many of the above do you already practise?
“Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement… no pessimist ever discovered the secret of the stars, or sailed to an uncharted land, or opened a new doorway for the human spirit.” Helen Keller
How much do you value your company?
Jul 7th
There is a lot of work carried out in Leadership development which focusses on the importance of values and creating the right culture for your company to operate in.
The best companies have a set of core values which set the tone for the company which dictate the conditions the employees operate in and the company’s clients respond to. The leaders of the organisation are responsible for communicating these values and should help create the type of company they want to lead. The kind of values that are often advocated are integrity, trust, passion, encouragement and so on.
Bearing in mind what has come to light this week at The News of the World you have to question which values were of importance to the leaders responsible for the culture at the newspaper. Whether or not the Editors knew what exactly was going on is largely immaterial as the people carrying out the reprehensible hacking of a missing girl’s mobile phone clearly believed this was acceptable behaviour.
This gives an insight into the type of culture that was in play at the paper, a culture where getting the story at whatever the cost was the driving factor. The stories coming out at the moment suggest that as many as 4,000 people have potentially had their phones hacked in search of a story. This is not a one off incident, it is a method that appears to have been condoned at NOTW and used on a regular basis during Rebekah Brookes’ tenure as Editor there. If that culture is not acceptable, as is obviously the case here, the first step should be to review the leadership. Changing the bottom of the pyramid will not necessarily produce the change in culture and values that is required.
The leaders of any organisation are responsible for the values and culture at their company and the way their teams operate and behave are a reflection of that culture. If integrity is a major value within the organisation and is communicated effectively you will find the people their demonstrating this value in their work.
If you have specific standards and values you will find that you attract people with similar values when you are looking to recruit. It is a simlar story with potential clients the image you project as a company will appeal to different sections of the market.
As we have seen with News International this week this is a really important factor in achieving goals and success with your organisation. Having a clear idea of what you and your company stands for is an important message for a leader to communicate.
Three questions to ask yourself;
1) do you know what your values are?
2) Have you communicated these clearly to people within your organisation?
3) How would your customers describe your company and your values?
