Christian Whamond Leadership learnings

To be leading, by definition, is to be in front, breaking new ground

26/9/2013

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Status quo is Latin for "the mess we're in." Leaders see what is, but they also have a vision for what could be. They are never content with things as they are. To be leading, by definition, is to be in front, breaking new ground, conquering new worlds, moving away from the status quo.

Dissatisfaction with the status quo does not mean having a negative attitude or grumbling. It has to do with a willingness to be different and to take risks. A person who refuses to risk change fails to grow. A leader who loves the status quo soon becomes a follower. Raymond Smith of the Bell Atlantic Corporation once remarked, "Taking the safe road, doing your job, and not making any waves may not get you fired (right away, at least), but it sure won't do much for your career or your company over the long haul. We're not dumb. We know that administrators are easy to find and cheap to keep. Leaders - risk takers - are in very short supply. And ones with vision are pure gold."

Risk seems dangerous to many people because they are more comfortable with the old problems versus what it takes to come up with new solutions. The difference is attitude. When you seek out potential leaders, seek people who seek solutions.

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People tend to think of leadership only in terms of action

20/9/2013

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I believe people tend to think of leadership only in terms of action. But leadership is so much more than just that. Leadership is not just something you do; it's something you are. And that's one of the reasons good leaders have such strong magnetism. People are attracted to who they are.

All leaders desire results, but being must precede doing. To achieve higher goals, you must be a more effective leader. To attract better people, you must be a better person yourself. To achieve greater results, you must be a person of great character. A common problem occurs when a leader's real identity and the desired results don't match up. But when leaders display consistency of character, competence, and purpose, it makes a powerful statement to the people around them - and it draws those people to them.

If you desire to do great things with your life, then seek to become a better person and a better leader. Nothing great can be achieved alone. Any task worth doing requires the help of others. And if you want to attract good people, you've got to become a better person yourself.

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Leaders are only willing to be as effective as those who in turn lead them.

20/9/2013

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I found that employees who have worked for the same boss for several years tend to share not only the strengths but also the weaknesses of their boss. In a study, I examined the 360-degree feedback results for a manager and identified areas of strength and opportunities for improvement. The 360-degree results were then analysed for all of the direct reports of the manager (who were also managers).

If your boss is an ineffective leader, the tendency is that you won’t be much better. The length of time people spend with the same boss can increase their similarities and behaviours.

In the study, I found that some leaders and their direct reports had a 100 percent overlap between strengths and weaknesses. By their nature, people think their approach to work is best, and bosses tend to hire employees who have a similar style. Over time, bosses reinforce their positive as well as negative traits by unconsciously rewarding some employee behaviours while discouraging or ignoring others. As a result, employees are conditioned to mimic those to whom they report.

For example, assume a leader who is very detail oriented, task focused, and technically proficient, but not sensitive toward co-workers reporting to him. More often than not, this person’s subordinates generally share his skills and are also not regarded as especially considerate of others. Most of the time, bosses do not actively encourage brusqueness, but the managers saw their boss get away with it and felt they could, too. The process of mimicking the strengths and weaknesses of one’s boss is an unconscious process.

Possibly, one of the most startling pieces of research that validates these findings is the study of child abuse. It is well established that children who are abused have a high likelihood of becoming abusive parents. It seems almost impossible to comprehend why children who detest and suffer from the way that their parents treat them often treat their children exactly the same way. Many adults have exerted great effort to successfully break their child-rearing practices from the past and start a new legacy of positive child-rearing. Many parents have had the experience as a child of promising themselves that they would “never treat their children that way,” only to find themselves doing exactly the same thing to their children.

A by-product of the phenomenon is that employees are rarely more effective than their bosses. That is good news if the boss is an extraordinary leader. The direct reports tend to rise to that level. But I observed over and over that employees are only as good as their bosses. Bosses set the standards, high or low.

The findings have implications.

● The extent to which leaders merely encourage subordinates to be their clones becomes problematic. Indeed, it may demonstrate a lack of appreciation for different styles and approaches, which ultimately may be detrimental to the organisation’s goals.
● Leaders in the organisation should be made cognisant of the ways they reinforce their own behaviours in their direct reports. Superiors should think more consciously of the role they play in people’s lives and careers and the legacy they will leave once they are gone.
● Superiors need to be reminded to recruit employees with a diversity of skills and work styles that would enrich and contribute to the organisation.
● Organisations seeking a culture change should begin with an intervention at the senior level, as the best way to bring real change is usually to change the leaders.
● It takes great leaders to develop great leaders. The idea of “Do as I say, not as I do” just won’t work with leadership. Imagine the impact on any organisation if 20 percent of the good leaders could move on to become excellent. Fast forward in your mind to the organisational results that would produce. Consider the profound impact on culture and the motivation level of employees. Imagine the transformed work experience of all inside the organisation.

The research is clear regarding the impact of leadership on desirable outcomes. Good leaders are substantially more effective than bad leaders, but great leaders make a great difference.

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Time management is a myth.

12/9/2013

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Time management is a myth. Let’s face it we all have 24 hours a day, irrespective of our social status, wealth or authority. And there is nothing we can do to change this fact. Yet there are people who use their time more effectively than others. The difference is how they choose to use their 24 hour allocation.

There is always time to get important project and tasks done, the challenge is not time. The challenge is our focus and priorities. The reason you’re not getting the results you want has nothing to do with how you manage time. It’s the result of your “to do list”. It’s the management of your attention, projects and tasks the need improvement, not the management of your time.

The key concern for leaders is effectiveness – doing the right things. The reason you’re not getting things done is not the lack of time, rather it’s a lack of focus and priority. It’s not knowing what are those few right things that matter.

There is never enough time to do everything, but there is always enough time to do those few things that matter – those actions and decision that have impact and contribute to results. Therefore the primary challenge for leaders is to manage their effectiveness not their time.

Majority of Executives I coach or work with agree that their company has too many conflicting priorities.

Nearly half of executives say their company has no list of strategic priorities.
Executive attention is the scarcest and most precious resource in any enterprise.
Focusing leadership attention – doing the right things – is what leads to results. If executive attention is not focused on the right things no amount of “time management” techniques will be of use.

Too often we squander out time on projects and tasks that do little to move us towards the results and outcomes that matter. The question we all need to ask is “What’s important?”, “What are those projects and tasks that contribute most to the results I’m seeking?” or “What decisions can I make that would have the greatest impact?”. The goal here is effectiveness – doing the right things – if we do these things the results will follow. Use your time doing those projects and tasks that will have the biggest impact, delegate or ignore the rest.

If you’re not getting all your work done or if you’re busy. It’s not because you’ve run out of time or that you’ve not mastered time management. Rather it’s because you lack clarity concerning what matters.

Do you have clarity on what matters?
Are your priorities clear?
Does your calendar and to do list reflect these priorities?
Does your to do list have time on your calendar?

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Habits That Will Make You A Success

4/9/2013

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It isn’t motivation that creates success, but habit and action. The most successful people in the world definitely have passion for what they do, but passion that isn’t accompanied by action is rendered useless.

It is your habits, more than anything, that will lead to your eventual success.

If your days are dominated by habits that help you on your journey to success, you’ll one day find yourself exactly where you want to be, doing what you want to be doing, earning what you want to be earning.

20 Habits That Will Make You A Success

1. - Don’t define success with a dollar amount, but in relation to your happiness.
The habit of defining success with a dollar amount will lead you to constantly chasing a higher price point. It’s a chase that will never end, and a view of success that will never be attained. Get in the habit of seeing your success and your happiness in the same light.

2. Read before you write or work.
Reading a good book will get the creative juices flowing, the brain learning, and your knowledge base growing. Try reading for 30 minutes to start your day.

3. Wake up at the same time everyday.
Having a good sleep routine will help you have more energy to do more work during the day.

4. Always finish your to do list.
Get in the habit of never leaving anything that you wanted to finish at the beginning of the day, incomplete at the end. If you simply do what you set out to do, it will be hard for success to elude you.

5. Keep your to do list small and scaled.
Have 1 or 2 things that are important to finish, and make sure you finish them first. The rest of your tasks should be tended to only after your most important ones have been completed.

6. Keep two journals; one for your planning, scheduling, and work.
The other for your big ideas, thoughts, and goals. Writing stuff down makes it real and tangible. A to do list, a goal, or a dream, that isn’t written down isn’t yet real.

7. Measure everything.
Every goal you set needs to be measured. Every sales page you create, needs to be measured. If you measure everything you’ll have a blueprint for exactly what does work, and what doesn’t.

8. Stick to 90-minute work sessions.
Few people actually work as much as they say they work. Their time is usually made up of distractions. They Facebook, Tweet, and surf the interwebz. Time your work sessions. Keep a stopwatch. Focus for 90-minutes, take an active break, then get back to the beautiful grind.

9. Take active breaks.
A work break should enhance your working experience. It can’t – at all costs – take away from it. So do something active that will get your blood pumping and your mind working as effectively as it was when you first started working in the wee hours of the morning.

10. Wake up early.
The list of successful people who wake up before the rest of the world is far too long to list. This isn’t a coincidence. Get up before 6 am, 7 days a week and get a head start on your day and your dream.

11. Put your family first.
Success can’t exist without family – even if that “family” is simply loved ones and friends. You need to be working for a greater purpose than your own monitory gain if you’re going to accomplish true success.

12. Work harder than your competition.
If you work harder than everyone else, success can’t hide from you. You will find it. And you will enjoy it.

13. Use a board.
Use a big white board to keep your goals visible and close.

14. Share your dream.
Get in the habit of talking to others who have a similar dream, even if the similarity is the enormity of your goals, and the audaciousness of your plans. Napoleon Hill coined this relationship “a mastermind”, and it’s one of the most important factors in your eventual success.

15. Only surround yourself with successful people.
That is, don’t have “suckers” in your midst – people who will tear you away from your work, and destroy your dream. If you have friends that do this, stop hanging out with them. Are they worth you living a mediocre life when greatness can be in your future?

16. Keep a healthy body.
Without a healthy body it becomes evermore difficult to maintain a healthy mind.

17. Spend your money only on things that will propel your dream.
Cars, “things”, are only good for boosting your image in an effort to impress people who you really don’t want to impress. Spend money, instead, on your own development and your business to fuel your growth.

18. Make a sacrifice.
Get in the habit of sacrificing things that you may like in your life, for things that will help you become a success. The road to greatness isn’t one of excess spending and easy living. Hustle. Focus. Sacrifice. Succeed.

19. Review your journals every month.
A journal can bring you clarity when you write in it, but it’s far more powerful when you get in the habit of reviewing it.

20. Write down 3 things you’re thankful for every day.
What you’ll find is that success is often in your midst if you look at it from the right perspective. And study after study has shown that happy people achieve far greater things than pessimistic, unhappy individuals. This habit, combined with hard work, is as simple a recipe for success as you can create. It’s also an effective one.

Comments

To be leading, by definition, is to be in front, breaking new ground

People tend to think of leadership only in terms of action

Leaders are only willing to be as effective as those who in turn lead them.

Time management is a myth.

Habits That Will Make You A Success

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