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GL MONTHLY e-NEWSLETTER - August 2004

Brought to you by Jeff Thoren, DVM  

What separates great leaders from all the rest?

Defining effective leadership can be an elusive challenge and Gallup Organization researchers have long been intrigued with this question.  They specifically studied over 5,000 leaders from a wide range of industries and sectors and have been tracking an additional 40,000 leaders in order to find an answer.

Their research confirmed the importance of two rather obvious characteristics of leaders - visioning (giving people a sense of purpose that inspires them) and maximizing values (developing relationships with followers based on enduring values and trust).  However, there are five other demands that are essential for the development of all great leaders.

Here’s this month’s feature …

The Seven Demands of Leadership - by Barry Conchie

From Gallup Management Journal - May 13, 2004

Highlights from the article:

The seven demands that every leader must deliver on in order to build an effective and motivated team:

  1. Vision.  Successful leaders are able to look out, across, and beyond the organization.  They have a talent for seeing and creating the future.  They create a collective mindset that propels people to help them make the organization's vision a reality.  As a leader, what picture of the future are you painting?
      

  2. Values.  Great leaders make clear what is important to them in life and they communicate a sense of personal integrity and a commitment to act based on their values.  As a result, employees know where they stand with these leaders.  Their values - consistent and unchanging - operate like a buoy anchored in the ocean, holding firm against the elements while indicating the way.  As a leader, what values are most important to you?
      

  3. Challenging Experiences.  Confronting challenges produces beneficial effects for leaders.  It accelerates their learning curve, stretches their capacity for high performance, and broadens their horizons about what is possible for an organization to achieve.  As a leader, do you seek challenging growth opportunities?  If so, are you given significant responsibility and latitude in order to make decisions?  Do think outside of conventional approaches?
      

  4. Mentoring.  Great leaders understand the importance of personal relationships.  Leaders seek advice through informal mentoring relationships with others.  They also become intentional mentors themselves, investing greatly in the growth and development of one or two others over a significant period of time.  They help cultivate the next generation of leaders.  As a leader, who is mentoring you and who are you mentoring?
      

  5. Building a Wide Constituency.  Leaders create rapport at many levels across their organization and beyond.  They understand networks and the importance of networking.  As a leader, are you actively growing your network beyond your immediate work relationships?
      

  6. Making Sense of Experience.  Effective leaders learn from their mistakes and their successes, and - as they seek out a range of experts across their wide constituency - they ask questions and listen.  They can also deal with the complexity of business life and help those around them make sense of it.  They do this by keeping things simple and making information accessible.  As a leader, do you meet with your peers and others regularly for the purpose of developing mutual understanding and learning about new issues?  Do you freely share information and resources with others?
      

  7. Knowing Who You Are.  The most revealing discovery by Gallup was that effective leaders have an acute sense of their own strengths and weaknesses.  They know who they are - and who they are not!  They don't try to be all things to all people.  They are genuine.  It is the absence of pretense that helps them connect to others so well.  As a leader, are you crystal clear about your strengths and weaknesses?

For the full text article, go to . . .
http://gmj.gallup.com/content/11614/Seven-Demands-Leadership.aspx#1

Engaging Workplaces

Great leaders are talented at creating engaging workplaces.  So what's an engaging workplace?  Princeton University 's WordNet defines engaging as "attractive or delightful."  Author Marcus Buckingham says that engaging workplaces are work settings where people feel ...

  1. Competent.  They have an opportunity to do what they do best.

  2. Focused.  They have a clear direction, know what's expected of them.

  3. Enthusiastic.  They're excited about their work and feel that they are part of something significant.

Unfortunately, according to a Gallup poll, many U.S. workplaces are anything but "engaging".  The poll revealed that only 26% of U.S. employees are fully engaged in their work at any time.  On the other end of the spectrum, 19% of employees are "actively disengaged," meaning they intentionally act in ways that negatively impact their organizations.  These are the people who are physically present but psychologically absent at work.  The annual cost nationwide to employ this actively disengaged group is estimated to exceed $300 billion!

Are disengaged employees a problem at your workplace?  Disengaged people typically complete only what is asked of them and nothing more?  Disengaged employees miss an average of 3.5 more days of work per year than engaged employees.  Other effects of disengagement include:

  • Increased turnover.

  • Low morale.

  • Complacency.

  • Finger-pointing.

  • Lack of accountability and responsibility.

Do you recognize any of these symptoms?  If so, that's an indication that you have an engagement challenge.  Buckingham says that organizations need to do a better job of engaging people.

Disengagement is simply the result of unfulfilled needs.  When people's needs are not met, they become frustrated, out of control, unfocused, and disconnected - in a word, disengaged.  To begin to change this, leaders must first view their employees as people, not just as workers.  People have six basic needs, three intellectual and three emotional.  Here are the six needs and strategies to help meet them:

Intellectual Needs

  • Achievement - Eliminate barriers to achievement; define crystal clear goals.

  • Autonomy - Involve employees in improving their work processes; set broad, yet clear boundaries.

  • Mastery - Fit person to position matching capabilities with demands of the job; seize teachable moments to coach employees.

Emotional Needs

  • Purpose - Connect roles to a compelling purpose; stay focused on activities that support your purpose.

  • Social (part of a team) - Maintain small teams; create and reinforce team rituals.

  • Appreciation - Find opportunities to appreciate employees' contributions; demonstrate a sincere interest in your employees as people, learn what makes them tick.

Could you engage more of your people if you applied one or several of these strategies?  If yes, then start doing it today!

Adapted from Lee J. Colan's pamphlet, "Passionate Performance: Engaging Minds and Hearts to Conquer the Competition" by the late Joe Farcht, Leadership Advantage, Inc        

   

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