The stock market is in turmoil. Rumors of layoffs may abound. Retirement plans are taking serious hits. Political and economic uncertainty adds to the stress level of our employees.
These are troubling times for companies and for employees. This is the time for leaders to rise to the challenge and ensure their employees that all is well.
Leadership is the special quality which enables people to stand up and pull the rest of us over the horizon. -James L. Fisher
As managers part of our job is to keep our departments running as smoothly as possible. We all know that employees who are under stress are less productive and more prone to make errors. From a business prospective it is sound management to ensure a productive environment continues in the workplace.
This is why during these tough times managers need to be strong leaders. To ensure the stability and productivity of our departments, we must stand up to the challenges we face and lead. These are tough times to lead in, but I feel at this time more than ever that strong leadership will bring us through these tough times.
How to Lead During Tough Times
Everyone experiences tough times, it is a measure of your determination and dedication how you deal with them and how you can come through them.
- Lakshmi Mittal
Now more than ever employees will look to management for leadership. They want to be reassured their job is safe and that their company is safe. While none of us can predict the future, each of us has the responsibility to try and ease those fears.
In this continuing series of articles on leadership, we are going to look at why leaders need to drive change within their organization.
A leader must be the one to stand up and say this needs to change and this is how we are going to do it. They should lead the strategy, planning, development and implementation of change.
Why Change Is Needed
Change is vital to growth and expansion. It gives your company a competitive edge and gives your departments and reports a spark of energy. Without change it is impossible to grow. To grow one must improve. To improve one must change.
As an example let’s look at Jack Welsh. He took GE and turned it into one of the largest and most admired companies in the world. One of the key elements to his success was to drive change in the organization. He encouraged his colleagues to never stop thinking about the need for change. He advised his managers to make whatever changes were necessary to improve and to constantly re-examine and rewrite their agendas.
As a leader you must understand how important change is and how you can drive change. You must learn how to manage change so it is effective, positive and beneficial to your company, your departments and your people.
Change Is Normal and an Opportunity
Change is a normal part of business and can happen over a period of years or even hours. We must get everyone to understand that change is normal and it must happen. Change is necessary to grow your business. Change will happen with or without you. It is better for you to control the change, rather than have change forced on to you.
Great leaders are usually great communicators. No leadership skill can compensate for poor communications. Great communicators use their skills to persuade others to follow. They are able to present their vision and plan in a clear and concise manner.
In the first article in this series, Leadership Skills - Communications Part 1 we looked at the role of the speaker. Now we will examine the listener and learn how knowing who you are communicating with is almost as important as what you say.
The Listener
Communications Are Heard With the Ears
To communicate effectively the listener must hear what you are saying. Your voice should be loud enough to be heard, but not overbearing. Shouting is not an effective form of communications. It turns on the emotional barriers of the listener and will make effective communications difficult. You should speak using a normal tone of voice, only changing it to make an emphasis to a point.
If you are unsure of how well your speech is being heard you should practice by recording yourself talking. Rehearse a speech and record it. Do this first in private to look for obvious flaws in your speech patterns. Then record yourself as you actually give the speech or communicate with someone. You may be surprised at how you think you are speaking and how you really are.
To be a great leader you must first be a great communicator. With good communications skills you will be able to articulate your vision clearly and repeatedly. Spell out your plan of action, asking for everyone’s support and showing confidence in a positive outcome.
Think of all of the areas where communications skills are used.
- One-on-one with your employees
- Small groups or your team
- Larger groups and meetings
- Interviewing applicants for a position
- One-on-one with your upper-management
All of these are important tasks and how well you do them is dependent on your communications skills. This two part article will look at communications from the heart of the speaker to the heart of the listener with tips on how you can become a great communicator.
The Speaker
Communication Begins In the Heart
The root of what you communicate comes from the core set of values and principles in your heart. If you do not believe what you are saying you will not do a good job of it. The first step in becoming a great communicator is looking at your own heart. Understand who you are and look for things you need to change within yourself to become a great leader. Base yourself in the core values that never change over time: honesty, respect, faith, caring, perseverance, and diligence.
IT departments are always looking at Leadership training, ITIL or other best practices to improve their department. A Gemba walk performed one or more times a day is a zero cost, high impact practice that will give you a better understanding of the work in progress and the people who do the work. Quickly you will find your Gemba walk to be the most valuable part of your day.
Gemba is a Japanese term meaning “the place where the truth can be found”. If you seek solutions to problems to that need to be fixed, go to Gemba. If you want to see the work behind the reports, go to Gemba. If you want to show leadership, go to Gemba. Go to where the work is performed and observe and engage with those who do it.
The purpose is to observe what is going on in the workplace. To gather information on any current problems so they can be resolved. To look for work and workers that are outside of normal business practice. To engage with workers as they do they work. To see and be seen.
In planning for my day, one of my first tasks is to go to Gemba. I walk the floor and every area where work is being done that I am responsible for. Since Gemba visits should be unscripted and unannounced you should do them at various times of the day. This will allow you to see work as it is really done, rather than work that is staged for you.
The best way to observe during a Gemba visit is to find a remote corner where you have a clear view of the workplace and just stand there. Observe what is going on. See what work is being done. See how employees are doing the work. Take a notepad with you to write down any thoughts you may have such as follow-ups or ideas for improvement.
Performance management is the process of assessing progress toward achieving predetermined goals. Performance management is building on that process, adding the relevant communication and action on the progress achieved against these predetermined goals. (Source: Wikipedia)
Performance management strives to optimize results by aligning all of the parts of an organization. With a well designed plan and good training you can build a culture of performance that will improve every part of your organization.
Here are some of the key parts in building a strong culture of performance.
Develop Clear and Measurable Goals and Objectives
The starting point for performance management is to review the goals your organization from the top to the bottom. Every department should have their own goals which align with the overall goals of the company. The goals should be clear and in terms of units of performance that can be measured such as time goals, production goals, spending goals and improvement goals.
Brian Tracy a best selling author and speaker shares his insight in getting results from your team in an article posted on Entrepreneur.com. Brian starts by explaining the four phases a team goes through in development. The article then gives five qualities needed to foster throughout the stages of team development and explains how to lead your team effectively.
Eat That Frog! by Brian Tracy on Amazon.com
Read the full article on Entrepreneur.com - The Role of a Leader
