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My Most Valued Leadership Lessons
Learned
In our book, "Choose
to Lead", my co-author and I recommend you become
proficient in five competencies in order to be an effective
leader. In our Lessons Learned chapter, I offer my most valued
lessons during my corporate career. I would like to take this
opportunity to share some additional insight on how these
competencies taught me my most valuable lessons.
- Communication Each of us is responsible for how
we are perceived through our communication skills. Take the
time to ensure the message you send is the message you want
to be received. Too often we get caught up in trying to make
sure that we are heard. Make sure you take the time to
listen so that when you speak, your words can provide the
needed insight. Be cognizant of letting your emotions get
ahead of your voice. As you take on more leadership
responsibilities, make sure your communication adds value to
the situation. Don't allow anyone to have the opportunity to
take advantage of something you said inappropriately.
Lesson Learned: Every conversation is an
opportunity for people to experience you. Make sure you are
always aware of the environment and who is listening to you
to ensure your message is being received in the desired
manner.
- Team Building As an aspiring leader you need to
create teams that will assist you in reaching your goals.
Your team does not always mean the people who report to you.
For example, the office administrative person is an ideal
person to have on your team. The point is to build
relationships with key people who can help you out at a
critical moment. The point is not to be manipulative. The
idea is to surround yourself with people who value your
skills and understand how assisting you can help them and
the organization be better. For example, if you are
consistent with treating people with respect for their
skills, you are more likely to get the administrative
assistant to help you distribute a memo that is in danger of
missing an important deadline.
Lesson Learned:
The lowest ranking person in the organization can turn
out to be your best resource. Make sure you treat everyone
with dignity and respect. You never know when you may need
their help.
- Leading Change It takes courage to step out in
today's work environment and go against the grain of what
others think. Do it anyway if you believe your idea can
assist the organization in reaching its' goals. The caveat
is to make sure your idea can make immediate impact on any
of the top three challenges the organization is facing. If
your idea doesn't meet this criteria and you still feel it
needs to be implemented, you must strategically rally
support from key leaders within the organization. Sometimes
it is smarter to let people with more position power rally
the troops, rather than you taking the risk of turning
people off with your constant communication about a topic
you are passionate about.
Lesson Learned:
Make sure you have a strong support base when you decide to
go out on a limb and rally for a cause that is important to
you. Without the support, make sure you weigh the risk of
trying to get your ideas implemented.
- Leveraging Diversity Most people need to become
more comfortable working with others that don't look like
them. Challenge yourself to do more listening than talking
when you are in an environment where you feel isolated due
to your culture or race. Seek to understand the other
person's perspective and then shallow your pride and
initiate a meeting with the people that you are attempting
to understand better. Make sure you are setting a tone of
building bridges during the meeting.
Lesson
Learned: It's always easy to complain about being
misunderstood or your skills being underutilized due to your
race. The first step to resolving the diversity issues in
your organization can start with you.
- People Development If you want to reach your
career goals, you must establish a track record of having
the ability to get results through others. Make a conscious
decision to help people reach their goals. You benefit from
your efforts in a number of ways. You establish your ability
to develop others. You often learn some insight either about
yourself or the topic you are teaching someone else about.
People usually remember those who reach back to help them.
Lesson Learned: When you look back at your
list of accomplishments for the year, make sure you can
include how you helped someone else get to their next level
of performance. If you pick the right people you will
benefit in numerous ways.
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Dear Reader,
Leadership Solutions for Today's Workplace is a monthly
newsletter for professionals seeking quick and easy solutions
to enhance their leadership skills. Each issue features
practical tips, articles, and resources based on real world
examples that demonstrate leadership in today's competitive
work environment.
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A Note from
Deborah Chambers Chima |
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I often think back on my days as a corporate manager in
reflection of all I was able to accomplish. It is amazing to
me in retrospect how focused and driven I was to achieve my
career goals. In reflection, my biggest lesson learned is
valuing the importance of having more balance between my
personal and professional lives.
Whereas I had a wonderful career, I now realize I took some
things way too seriously given that none of the work issues I
dealt with was life threatening. I brought my work issues home
and let them consume my thoughts. When you find yourself
stressed out about a work issue, make sure you place things in
the proper perspective. If not careful, one can easily get
caught up in not making the right decisions regarding health,
family, and personal down time, all in the name of having a
stellar career.
Since we all have to work in order to survive, it only
makes sense that we learn to become more strategic on how to
meet our career goals. I want to dedicate this newsletter to
the people making things happen everyday through their
relentless pursuit of getting the brass ring.
I applaud your efforts and dedication. I hope something is
said in this issue that encourages you to stay in the fight.
If you would like to talk about ways in which you can be more
effective in maintaining your balance, give
me a call.
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Leadership
Solutions Actions |
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Too often I have observed many aspiring leaders get off
focus at mid year and either lose steam or get distracted by
other aspirations and goals. I was always able to remain
focused by holding myself accountable for accomplishing what I
committed to achieving.
As you assess your year to date progress I recommend the
following steps:
- Prepare a self-assessment or a mid year evaluation on
your performance.
By now you have a feel for how
you are performing against your goals. If you have been
guilty of procrastination, determine the steps you need to
take to complete any necessary tasks and execute them. If
you are on track, determine what steps you can take to
accelerate your progress. The idea is to finish the year's
goals ahead of schedule to demonstrate your follow through
and execution skills.
- Assess if your remaining 2005 goals are executable as
well as currently viable.
Don't get caught up in
focusing on goals that no longer are relevant or important
to the success of the organization. It is better to take
this time to recreate new strategies rather than going
through the motions of working on tasks for the purpose of
staying busy. Don't wait to be told that your goals no
longer fit the direction the organization is focused on.
Taking initiative by suggesting that your goals need
updating will demonstrate your sincere desire to assist the
organization.
- Initiate a meeting with your boss to discuss your
progress and to reach agreement on the next steps that will
lead to the successful completion of your 2005 goals.
Take this time to determine if the boss is still in
agreement on what you want to accomplish. Make sure you
inquire how you can assist the boss in achieving his or her
goals. This strategy will go a long way in positioning you
as viable partner.
My recommended reading for the month is Getting
Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity by David
Allen. This book shows you that it's possible for a person to
have an overwhelming number of things to do and still function
productively with a clear head and a positive attitude.
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Leadership
Solutions Monthly Scenario |
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Karen has been offered an opportunity to take on more
responsibility at work. She is excited about the chance to get
closer to reaching her goal to get promoted. She is also
worried about how the anticipated additional hours are going
to impact her family life.
What steps do you recommend
Karen take at the beginning of her new assignment to ensure
her new workload does not consume her life?
Think
about all the things you wish you had either been brave enough
or insightful enough to negotiate when you found yourself in a
similar situation.
I will give you my recommendations
in next month's issue. |
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Leadership
Development Opportunity |
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At the Detroit BDPA Conference on August 17, 2005 the
BDPA Coach Connection will conduct a Pre- Conference
Leadership Seminar. Deborah Chambers Chima, CEO of Chambers
Consulting Group, Ltd. will conduct the "Choosing to
Lead" workshop designed to help you determine how your
leadership style can be more effective within your
organization.
Patricia Perkins, CEO of Exodus Communication, Inc. will
conduct the workshop, "Leadership Communication",
designed to elevate your communication skills to a level that
positions you as the leader of choice. Each participant
will also receive coaching on your DiSC Profile. This
profile is designed to identify how you can be a more
effective leader. You will gain insight and understanding of
your behaviors as you seek to work more effectively with
others.
The goal of the seminar is to assist you in
increasing your leadership visibility.
The cost of the
seminar is $75. You can register for the event and get more information at www.bdpa.org.
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Leadership
Solutions Coaching |
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Coaches Corner This month's question: How do I
prevent making the same mistakes of not being able to get
along with my boss?
Coach's response: I feel qualified to provide you
with some insights on this topic given my lessons learned in
this area. I have been guilty of not always understanding or
valuing the importance of getting along with the boss. It was
not that I did not understand that they were the boss.
My issue was usually that they did not understand or value
what I offered in the area of skills and talents. As a result
of not feeling valued, I found myself being viewed as
difficult to get along with because I wouldn't roll over. I
was constantly trying to get the respect I thought I deserved.
In retrospect, my tenacity only caused more separation
between the boss and me. By no means am I advocating that you
either make a stand and/or allow the tension to escalate. I do
highly recommend that you get the pressure off of you as soon
as possible to ensure you don't derail from reaching your
career goals.
I offer the following steps as possible
solutions:
- First, recognize that the boss is the boss, no matter
what. If you are not in agreement with the direction they
want you to take, you have to make some hard choices. Make
sure your choices minimize the conflict rather than
escalating them. I can almost guarantee you that if you go
head to head with the boss you will lose. Don't allow your
emotions to get ahead of your common sense, even if the boss
is clearly wrong.
- Take the time to assess the issues you have had in the
past to determine if there are any patterns of behavior on
your part. The focus must be on you and what you may or may
not be doing to alienate the boss, not on what they are or
are not doing to you.
The reason the focus is on you and your behaviors is
because that is the only element of the relationship that is
under your control. For example, if you notice a pattern of
you getting frustrated when the boss says or does things in
a certain way, you must analyze why his or her actions has
that type of impact on you. Your next step needs to focus on
determining how you are going to react in the future when
your buttons get pushed. You cannot control how the boss
will act but you have total control over your
responses.
There is so much more we could discuss on this topic. Try
these two recommendations to get started. Whatever you do, try
not to get into a situation where you are comparing yourself
to how the boss interacts with other members in the
department. That reaction is a true dead end, with you on the
losing side.
If you would like to talk with me about
an ongoing communication opportunity you have had with your
boss, please give
me a call. I would be happy to share my most valuable
lessons learned in this area in the hope that you will
benefit.
Each month a question will be answered in the coach's
corner. Submit your question to the coach at: deborah@chambersconsult.com.
If your question is chosen, your identity will not be
revealed.
Leadership Coach Deborah Chambers Chima offers one on one
coaching, consulting, and teleclasses designed to assist
professionals in creating a work environment that is
challenging and provides opportunity for career growth.
If you liked today's issue, you'll benefit from her
interactive, results-oriented coaching designed to help you
define and execute the professional development plan that will
lead to achieving your goals. To learn more, log onto my
website at www.chambersconsult.com.
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About the
Leadership Solutions Gal |
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Deborah Chambers Chima is passionate about assisting
her clients with achieving their professional goals. Prior to
launching her consulting and coaching firm, she achieved an
award winning, twenty four year tenure in corporate management
in the retail industry, in both international and domestic
markets. Her clients appreciate her attention to detail and
her desire to assist others in improving their productivity.
To learn more about Deborah, please visit her website at www.chambersconsult.com.
Privacy Statement:
Leadership Solutions For
Today's Workplace will not use your email address for any
purpose other than to send you our monthly newsletter. We will
not provide your information to anyone else.
(c) 2005 Chambers Consulting Group, Ltd. |
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