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Posts Tagged ‘Leadership’

It is becoming more and more important for senior management to support the projects, plans and goals of a group, and it is up to the team leader or department head to gain that support.Therefore, I am not surprised that in my work over the past decade with change managers, gaining executive support continues to stay at the top of the list of concerns these managers have with their work. 

To try to better understand what senior management needs to support a project, I asked a number of vice presidents and executive vice presidents from both the private and public sector for their advice.  Below are two areas I found are often overlooked.  By focusing on them, your chances of gaining executive support will be greatly improved. 

Expecting Immediate Support

According to several executives I interviewed, team leaders and function heads often mistakenly conclude that one brilliant pitch is enough to gain agreement and buy-in.In truth, even when the initial proposal seems like a great idea, the support does not come instantaneously. 

One government agency executive I spoke with mentioned that it has taken three to four years to build enough support to gain an increase in congressional funding.While we hope that all business does not take as long as the government can, the purpose of his telling me that was to highlight the fact that managers and project directors must see their programs with a strategic and long-term focus.  He suggested that managers looking for support should:

1.   Build a case that shows how your idea will benefit the entire organization.

2.Work closely with associates in other areas of the company.Try to find ways to incorporate your goals with the goals of other teams in order to make the best use of company resources.

3.Invite senior management to preview your ideas.  Invite input.Be willing to change your proposal based on their feedback. 

4.Be patient and make your proposal for resources only after you have created a strong enough case and have received informal support from executive management for your ideas.

 Failing to Be Strategic

This is a crucial point when it comes to gaining support.Executives of most organizations have developed strategic goals for achieving the organization’s vision for the future.   You are much more likely to gain support when you show how your team’s plan will help to further the strategic goals.In order to be successful at this, you cannot wait to be told what senior management deems important, but rather proactively analyze their vision for the future and strategic goals to determine what those important items are. 

What does it mean to be strategic?  In my experience, executives want their directors to:

1.Understand the company’s main goals.

2.Give constructive suggestions how their group can help the company meet those objectives.

As Scott Eblin writes in “The Next Level”, you need to spend time with your senior executives up front to ensure that you understand what success means to them.However, at this point it is unlikely that they will provide you with specific goals and constraints that you can input into your project.  Listen for priorities, for key organization-wide metrics, and major barriers or obstacles.Be a sponge in these conversations.Take the information to your managers to talk over some more.  Then come back to your executive with specific plans about what your group or function will do and how you will do it.  Be prepared to make adjustments based on input from your executive team at this point. 

Executive support for a project you feel strongly about may seem as though it is out of your reach, but if you are patient you will be able to build a case that senior management will understand.Your goal is to stay focused on the strategic objectives of the company and to clearly communicate how your project will be important in achieving those goals.Next thing you know, your team could become a critical component to a profitable and successful company!    

Wendy Mack is a professional advisor, trainer, and author with a focus in leading and communicating change. Contact Wendy at, or Download her free e-book, Transforming Anxiety into Energy at www.WendyMack.com

Many people in affiliate programs seem to think that once the sale is made, their work is done. Affiliate Programs are highly dependent upon developing a motivated and knowledgeable downline. Don’t end your involvement with the close of the initial sale but stay involved with your downline, coaching and mentoring them.

People joining affiliate programs tend to have big goals, but sometimes they fail anyway.

Reasons Why People Fail to Become Successful Affiliates:

There are three main reasons why people fail to adapt to change, especially technological change:

1. Lack of Skills
2. Lack of Knowledge
3. Fear

Adopt the “Coach” Role & Mindset:

If you adopt the mindset of a “Coach,” you can dramatically improve your Downline’s performance along all three lines.

When someone joins an affiliate program there is generally a fairly big learning curve to overcome – new product(s) such as the just-released MaxPro System, new technology, and virtual relationships, all of which are especially problematic if your new recruit is a novice in the world of internet marketing (or marketing in general).  There will be a whole new language to learn, new tools and techniques to master, not to mention becoming an expert on the product they will be marketing.

If you ignore your new recruits, they can get very frustrated in a very short time due to information overload.  If you want your bottom line to grow, invest in helping your new recruits overcome the learning curve so they don’t get overly frustrated and just quit.

Your bottom line will be a lot bigger if you invest some time with your new Downline team members, coaching and mentoring them.  Be proactive: actively help your team learn the products, and learn about the technical support and other resources available to them.

Many of your new recruits will need help learning how to marekt your product in the new Web 2 world of internet Blogs and Social Communities, which are new to many people.

Don’t just sit around waiting for your downline to contact you for help, take the initiative and offer them help, especially at the beginning of your relationship with them.  Take the initiative to help your new recruits overcome their fear and buyer’s remorse.

Coaching is easier than you might think – you just need a positive attitude and a desire to build up your team members together with your proactive behavior.  The small investment of your time to coach your team will pay you big dividends.

Agreat place to start for collecting all the rest of the knowledge about internet marketing that they’ll need is to have them sign up for the Online Success for Beginners program.

The fact that you are reading this says that you, an influencer – coach, entrepreneur, team leader, business owner, or sales professional – are likely NOT in the category of ‘no ownership,’ which means you don’t take any responsibility for the outcomes of your choices. That leaves two choices: ‘Some responsibility’ or ‘total ownership.’

Most of us have been conditioned to only take “some ownership” over our consequences. You may notice that whenever a controversial political, economic or social issue crops up, people are quick to place blame. But remember, fault is a low intelligence concept.

In the 1950’s, Earl Nightingale said, “To be successful, we must look at what everybody else is doing and consider doing the opposite.” Observe those who blame others. Look at those who blame the economy. Look at those who blame their service, their circumstances, their family, their history, their shortcomings, the weather, Britney Spears and everything else they can think up, for poor results.

Consider doing the opposite. Consider becoming one of the minority who really do choose to take total ownership over their results. You will be given the wealth that the many who only take “some ownership” will never find. Be willing to own ALL your results, good and bad. Great sales presenters succeed by consciously crafting their messages and when they don’t succeed, they change objection and rejection into a great opportunity to redesign their message. They own the result.

Be willing to own ALL the results of your sales team, as a leader, great or awful. Great leaders look across the hall when things go well and say “you made it happen” and look inside when things go badly and tell themselves “I did it.” They own the result, especially when things don’t go well. Bottom line, as my good friend Hal Elrod (also a contributor to my book Cutting Edge Sales) taught me, to the degree that you take responsibility for everything in your life, you will be able to improve anything in your life.

Great influencers settle for nothing but total responsibility.

Jon Berghoff

Leadership: GLOBAL ISSUE FOR THE NEXT DECADE.

In the first place, Is there any reason to become a leader?

The answer is not really easy, but it is not difficult either. Fact is, the world today is much more interconnected than a hundred years ago, and tendecies show that it is going to be even more interconnected in the following 20 years.

What does it mean? In plain English: team work, collaborative work and other initiatives will be daily activities, and certainly not only limited to your work but to your whole life as well. So leaders will be asked for to give support to those teams reach their goals.

The odds are you’re going to be in more than one team at the same time, but with several jobs on each of the groups.

Fantastic Leaders

Won’t you agree that Margaret Thatcher,Nelson Mandela,Martin Luther King Jr have something in common?

That’s easy:They were great leaders.

Through the years we have been delighted to see great leaders to be over their peers and move empires towards great achievements, to stand out over difficult times.

Amazing leaders have two characteristics in common, citing Warren Bennis in his book “Learning to Lead”:

1. A leader knows that leaders are made and not born.
2. A leader keeps growing and learning every single day.

In Bennis’ work, you can find a couple of steps to be a leader:

1. Get the people you want to lead, to “buy” your vision (or shared objectives).
2. Generate and Sustain Trust.

Please read the steps once more and try to check if any of the famous names previously mentioned pass the test. I’m confident you’ll see that all of them totally pass the test. Let’s check the couple of steps of the formula and check how can we become real leaders.

Selling Your Vision

As the first step is as fundamental as breathing in and out for all of us. If you can not sell your vision, you are not exerting leadership. Leading is finding the way towards that common goal. Your first assignment is to present that vision as a [desirable] land for all of your teammates. That vision must resonate in the group’s minds and souls.

Generating Trust

• Be competent, show you know what you’re doing.
• Be congruent, do what you say and say what you do. Don’t let your actions speak something different from your words.
• Be supportive, stay on the side of your team.
• Be empathic, take care of your people.

As easy as it seems the formula to become a real leader is not. Leadership has to do with your competences to lead, and that ability is one you have to develop.

Stay Alert Leadership IS A GLOBAL NEED FOR THIS CENTURY.

Leadership Studies And Theories

I need to tell you something definitely important that women should be aware of this: “Being able to Lead has become a global subject of study”.

Not only women, but men too, in almost every country or small town of the western and eastern hemispheres  could catch students talking about Leadership.

Becoming a Leader is as universal as breathing in and out. It’s definetly another human activity.

But, What is leadership?

What do you think of these affirmations and questions?

To Lead is to make things happen, Leadership is about achieving many types of goals, Leadership is about motivating people. Do You have any idea how to do that? Are you in a position to motivate people? Do You know when to lead? How to be a leader? Can You achieve goals? Any Idea on how to move your team and have them assist you to achieve your goals?.

Certainly this line of thinking was the most important motivation that made Ken Valenzuela, an Industrial Engineer from Chile to build BeALeader.Net to expand his knowledge about leadership. In the words of Ken Valenzuela a website like this is devoted to reach to be the “starting point” for all the people whose only access to “reading material” is the Web.

While surfing the blog some things grabbed my attention. I’m talking about the notion that Education is the key ingredient on the way to be a leader. This website is a good exhibit that engineers not only in the US but abroad are totally aware of the challenges of the next hundred years.

It is not really something new if you think you know a lot about the subject please see the following definitions that I’ve collected from the site. By the way, I think there’s a dozen definitions in the site. You can check them in Leadership Definitions if you want to.

All my 4 picks were:

• “Leadership is a relationship between those who aspire to lead and those who choose to follow”. (Kouzes & Posner, 2002)
• “Leadership is the process of incluencing the activities of an organized group toward goal achievement” (Rauch & Behling, 1984)
• “Leadership is the ability to step outside the culture… to start evolutionary change processes that are more adaptive” (E.H. Schein, 1992)
• “Leadership is the ability of developing and communicating a vision to a group of people that will make that vision true” (Kenneth Valenzuela, 2007)

Leadership Skills

I have to say something definitely important“Learning about Leadership has come to be a global subject of study”.

In nearly every big city of the northern and southern hemispheres you could see people talking about Leadership.

Becoming a Leader is as universal as breathing in and out. It’s definetly like any other human occupation.

But, What is leadership?

Check this out:

To Lead is to make things happen, To Lead is about achieving different sorts of objectives, Leadership is about inspiring people. Do You have any idea how to do that? Are you able to motivate people? Do You know how to lead? How to become a leader? Can You achieve goals? Are you able to move your team and have them support you to touch your objectives?.

This type of thought was the most important moving agent that helped Kenneth Valenzuela, an Industrial Engineer from Latin America to build BeALeader.Net to expand his knowledge about leading. In the words of Kenneth Valenzuela BeALeader.Net is dedicated to become the “starting point” for all the people whose main access to “reading material” is the Web.

While surfing Valenzuela’s site there were a few things that grabbed my total attention. I’m referring to the idea that Learning is the main component on the recipe to be a leader. The Blog is a tiny sample that students around the world is becoming aware of the huge challenges of the 21st century.

If you think you know a lot about the subject please see the following quotes that I’ve collected from the site. Anyway, there’s a dozen definitions in the site. You can check them all in Leadership Definitions if you want.

The 4 favourite definitions were:

• “Leadership is a relationship between those who aspire to lead and those who choose to follow”. (Kouzes & Posner, 2002)
• “Leadership is the influential increment over and above mechanical compliance with the routine directives of the organization” (D.Katz & Kahn, 1978)
• “Leadership is a process of giving purpose (meaningful direction) to collective effort, and causing willing effort to be expended to achieve purpose” (Jacobs & Jacques, 1990)
• “Leadership is about articulating visions, embodying values, and creating the environment within which things can be accomplished” (Richards & Engle, 1986)

Leadership Skills

I don’t have a doubt to tell it’s definite“Learning about Leadership has come to be a global need”.

In nearly every country of the northern and southern hemispheres you could find someone talking about Leadership.

Leadership is as world wide extended as going to school. It’s undeniably just another human occupation.

But, What Can you tell about leadership?

Check this out: 

Leadership is about making things happen, Leadership is about achieving different sorts of goals, Leadership is about “touching” people. Do You have any idea when to do that? Are you in a position to make people do things? Do You know how to lead? How to be a leader? Can You reach certain goals? Any Idea on how to inspire a group of people and have them support you to touch your goals?.

There’s no doubt that this kind of thinking was the most important engine that propelled Kenneth Valenzuela, an Engineer from Latin America to set up BeALeader.Net to learn about leading. According to Ken Valenzuela the website is devoted to become the “starting point” for all the people whose main access to “reading material” is the Web.

While looking around the site something took my total attention. I’m referring to the belief that Learning is a main ingredient on the roadmap to become a leader. This website is a tiny sample that engineers in latin america is becoming aware of the huge challenges of the next hundred years.

You probably think you understand a lot about the subject please see these definitions that I’ve collected from Valenzuela’s blog. Anyway, I think there’s a dozen definitions in the blog. You can check them in Leadership Definitions if you want.

All my 4 favourite definitions were:

• “Leadership is a process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal”. (Northouse, 2004) 
• “Leadership is the process of incluencing the activities of an organized group toward goal achievement” (Rauch & Behling, 1984)
• “Leadership is a process of giving purpose (meaningful direction) to collective effort, and causing willing effort to be expended to achieve purpose” (Jacobs & Jacques, 1990)
• “Leadership is about articulating visions, embodying values, and creating the environment within which things can be accomplished” (Richards & Engle, 1986)

Leadership Studies And Theories

I have to say something really important“Learning about Leadership has become a global matter”.

In almost every country of the northern and southern hemispheres you could see people writing about Leadership.

Becoming a Leader is as universal as going to school. It’s definetly another human occupation.

But, What is leadership?

Check this out:

Leadership is to make things happen, To Lead is to achieve different sorts of targets, To Lead is about “touching” people. Do You know when and how to do that? Are you able to motivate people? Do You know when to lead? How to be a leader? Can You reach certain goals? Any Idea on how to inspire your team and have them support you to achieve your objectives?.

Certainly this kind of thought was the most important moving agent that made Ken Valenzuela, a Software Engineer from Chile to create BeALeader.Net to investigate about leadership. According to Ken Valenzuela the website is intended to reach to be the “starting point” for hundreths of millions whose main access to “reading material” is the Web.

While surfing this latino’s site something took my total attention. I’m referring to the convition that Learning is the key component on the road to be a leader. The Blog is a good exhibit that students around the world is really aware of the challenges of the next hundred years.

You might think you understand a lot about the subject please read the following quotes that I’ve picked up from the site. Anyway, I think there’s a dozen definitions in the site. You can look at them all right here in Leadership Definitions if you want to.

The four favourite definitions are:

• “Leadership is the influencing process of leaders and followers to achieve organizational objectives through changes”. (Lussier & Achua, 2004)
• “Leadership is the process of incluencing the activities of an organized group toward goal achievement” (Rauch & Behling, 1984)
• “Leadership is a process of giving purpose (meaningful direction) to collective effort, and causing willing effort to be expended to achieve purpose” (Jacobs & Jacques, 1990)
• “Leadership is the ability of an individual to influence, motivate, and enable others to contribute toward the effectiveness and success of the organization…” (House et al., 1999)