SMART Goal Setting: A Surefire Way To Achieve Your Goals

I encourage you to pick up a pen and a piece of paper and jot down the goals you want to reach. Look at each goal and evaluate it. Make any changes necessary to ensure it meets the criteria for a SMART goals:

• S = Specific


• M = Measurable


• A = Attainable


• R = Realistic


• T = Timely

Specific

Goals should be straightforward and emphasize what you want to happen. Specifics help us to focus our efforts and clearly define what we are going to do.

Specific is the What, Why, and How of the SMART model.

• WHAT are you going to do? Use action words such as direct, organize, coordinate, lead, develop, plan, build etc.


• WHY is this important to do at this time? What do you want to ultimately accomplish?


• HOW are you going to do it? (By…)

Ensure the goals you set is very specific, clear and easy. Instead of setting a goal to lose weight or be healthier, set a specific goal to lose 2cm off your waistline or to walk 5 miles at an aerobically challenging pace.

Measurable

If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it. In the broadest sense, the whole goal statement is a measure for the project; if the goal is accomplished, the is a success. However, there are usually several short-term or small measurements that can be built into the goal.

Choose a goal with measurable progress, so you can see the change occur. How will you see when you reach your goal? Be specific! “I want to read 3 chapter books of 100 pages on my own before my birthday” shows the specific target to be measure. “I want to be a good reader” is not as measurable.

Establish concrete criteria for measuring progress toward the attainment of each goal you set. When you measure your progress, you stay on track, reach your target dates, and experience the exhilaration of achievement that spurs you on to continued effort required to reach your goals.

Attainable

When you identify goals that are most important to you, you begin to figure out ways you can make them come true. You develop that attitudes, abilities, skills, and financial capacity to reach them. Your begin seeing previously overlooked opportunities to bring yourself closer to the achievement of your goals.

Goals you set which are too far out of your reach, you probably won’t commit to doing. Although you may start with the best of intentions, the knowledge that it’s too much for you means your subconscious will keep reminding you of this fact and will stop you from even giving it your best.

A goal needs to stretch you slightly so you feel you can do it and it will need a real commitment from you. For instance, if you aim to lose 20lbs in one week, we all know that isn’t achievable. But setting a goal to loose 1lb and when you’ve achieved that, aiming to lose a further 1lb, will keep it achievable for you.

The feeling of success which this brings helps you to remain motivated.

Realistic

This is not a synonym for “easy.” Realistic, in this case, means “do-able.” It means that the learning curve is not a vertical slope; that the skills needed to do the work are available; that the project fits with the overall strategy and goals of the organization. A realistic project may push the skills and knowledge of the people working on it but it shouldn’t break them.

Devise a plan or a way of getting there which makes the goal realistic. The goal needs to be realistic for you and where you are at the moment. A goal of never again eating sweets, cakes, crisps and chocolate may not be realistic for someone who really enjoys these foods.

For instance, it may be more realistic to set a goal of eating a piece of fruit each day instead of one sweet item. You can then choose to work towards reducing the amount of sweet products gradually as and when this feels realistic for you.

Be sure to set goals that you can attain with some effort! Too difficult and you set the stage for failure, but too low sends the message that you aren’t very capable. Set the bar high enough for a satisfying achievement!

Timely

Set a timeframe for the goal: for next week, in three months, by fifth grade. Putting an end point on your goal gives you a clear target to work towards.

If you don’t set a time, the commitment is too vague. It tends not to happen because you feel you can start at any time. Without a time limit, there’s no urgency to start taking action now.

Time must be measurable, attainable and realistic.

Everyone will benefit from goals and objectives if they are SMART. SMART, is the instrument to apply in setting your goals and objectives.

Source Goal Setting Guide

Public Speaking And You

Some people are born speakers. Most are not. Hence, you are not alone when you say that you do not enjoy making speeches and speaking in front of a large audience. Stage fright is inevitable. Actors are always nervous to a certain degree before every play.

Perhaps you think your career does not entail public speaking. Well, this is where you’re wrong because no matter what your job is, public speaking ultimately will come into the picture in some ways. This chapter, therefore, focuses on the significance of public speaking in our daily lives and on some specifics of the communication process.

"There are four general types of Public Speakers"

The Avoider

Does everything possible to avoid facing an audience. In some cases, avoiders seek careers that do not involve making presentations.

The Resister

Becomes fearful when asked to speak. This fear may be strong. Resisters may not love to speak in public, but they have no choice. When they speak, they do so with great reluctance.

The Acceptor

Can do presentations but is not that enthusiastic to do them. Acceptors occasionally give presentations and feel good about them. Occasionally the presentations can be quite persuasive, and satisfying.

The Seeker

Always looks for opportunities to speak. Seekers understand that anxiety can be a stimulant that fuels enthusiasm during presentation. Seekers work hard at building their professional communication skills and self-confidence by speaking often.

What Roles Can Public Speaking Play in Your Life?

Success in public speaking can open a whole world of opportunities for you. It can help you conquer new frontiers. It can broaden your horizons through personal development, influence, and advances in your profession.

1. Public Speaking Improves Your Personal Development

In Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, realizing man’s self-worth ranks the highest. Giving speeches helps the speaker realize self-worth through the personal satisfaction he experiences whenever a good speech is given. The speaker becomes more confident especially when the audience responds positively. It also reduces anxiety when asked by an authority to speak in front of some people.

There was once a student who dropped a course five times because he hated speaking in front of the class. But after a self-study on building up confidence, he decided to give public speaking a try and was successful. In fact, he came to enjoy the experience and even volunteered to give more speeches.

Through public speaking tools like research, conceptualization, and organization, you have a systematic and effective way of presenting your ideas; and thus, you will be able to express yourself better. You will also become more open to other people. Furthermore, speaking skills put you in a more significant role as you talk with people of high standing. Lastly, public speaking satisfies your sense of achievement when the audience accepts you warmly. This reflects your level of communication skills and acumen. All these contribute to your self-esteem.

2. Public Speaking Influences Your Society

It is not only you who can benefit from the art of communication but society as well. Most governments heed the voice of their citizens; with proper communication skills, you can represent the public in voicing out your rights and opinions.

An example of this would be a community discussion. Usually when a neighborhood holds regular meetings, it discusses certain issues or courses of action. In the discussion, various opinions are expressed and there you have a clear interplay of public speaking.

People from all walks of life need to speak in public, whether formally or otherwise. From kids reciting in school, to folks in a town meeting, to citizens voicing out national issues; from a plain market vendor, to a president of a company. There is really no way you can avoid public speaking.

3. Public Speaking Advances Your Profession

Public speaking can help in your career, and eventually, your finances. Usually, success is gauged by answers to questions like, “How long have you been in your job?” or “Do you hold an MBA degree or something similar?” However, researchers have proven that the best indicator of success in any profession is whether the person is often asked to give speeches. Those who give more speeches tend to have higher salaries than those who give less or no speeches.

Take this average engineer. She enrolls in a public speaking seminar that teaches two hours a week for six weeks. After two months, she is promoted to senior engineer! Her boss has been noticing her superb presentations.

The longer you work for an organization and the higher you climb the organizational ladder, the more your boss will ask you to preside over meetings and to give talks to the staff and subordinates or the clients. The higher your position, the more your responsibilities in leading people under you; and the more you must speak effectively. A manager once said, “From the chairman of the board to the assistant manager of the most obscure department, nearly everyone in business speaks in public or makes a speech at some time or the other.”

Aside from big organizations like IBM and General Motors, small organizations and businesses in the country also need workers who are good public speakers. Take the high school coach, for example. If he is not persuasive enough to tell the school board that new gym equipment is needed, the school athletes might have to bear with the old gym equipment.

In the same way, if parents are not convincing enough when they complain about a school dress code, their children may end up still wearing uniforms in school. If salespeople cannot explain their products with a convincing sales pitch, then fewer people would buy their products. This is also true for nurses, doctors, firemen, police personnel and other professions. Even employees of General Motors meet regularly to make group decisions that they will present formally to management.

 

10 Favorite Leadership Quotes

There's nothing like leadership quotes to get you motivated and moving, striving to be the best that you can be.

Even if you're usually content to stay out of the spotlight--one member of a support group that helps make things happen--you'll find inspiration in these words from proven leaders in every field.

Some of our famous quotes on leadership come from four-star generals and successful CEOs, and others from marketing gurus and spiritual leaders. Their words will empower you to meet challenges and overcome obstacles.

We've got the best leadership quotes, including George S. Patton's "Don't tell people how to do things, tell them what to do and let them surprise you with their results." Great leaders don't just lead; they bring out the best in everybody else too.

Read on for more quotes about leadership, such as Charles Schwab's "I have yet to find a man, however exalted his station, who did not do better work and put forth greater effort under a spirit of approval than under a spirit of criticism."

If you've enjoyed these leadership quotes, make sure you share........

Favorite Leadership Quotes #1

Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things.

Peter F. Drucker

Favorite Leadership Quotes #2

Don't tell people how to do things, tell them what to do and let them surprise you with their results.

George S. Patton

Favorite Leadership Quotes #3

Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it.

Dwight Eisenhower

Favorite Leadership Quotes #4

A leader is a dealer in hope.

Napoleon Bonaparte

Favorite Leadership Quotes #5

I must follow the people. Am I not their leader?

Benjamin Disraeli

Favorite Leadership Quotes #6

The leadership instinct you are born with is the backbone. You develop the funny bone and the wishbone that go with it.

Elaine Agather

Favorite Leadership Quotes #7

Delegating work works, provided the one delegating works, too.

Robert Half

Favorite Leadership Quotes #8

Only one man in a thousand is a leader of men -- the other 999 follow women.

Groucho Marx

Favorite Leadership Quotes #9

The very essence of leadership is that you have to have vision. You can't blow an uncertain trumpet.

Theodore M. Hesburgh

Favorite Leadership Quotes #10

The best executive is the one who has sense enough to pick good men to do what he wants done, and self-restraint to keep from meddling with them while they do it.

Theodore Roosevelt

 

Source Famous Quotes

The 2 Most Important Keys to Effective Leadership

According to a study by the Hay Group, a global management consultancy, there are 75 key components of employee satisfaction (Lamb, McKee, 2004). They found that:

• Trust and confidence in top leadership was the single most reliable predictor of employee satisfaction in an organization.


• Effective communication by leadership in three critical areas was the key to winning organizational trust and confidence:
  
  
  
  1. Helping employees understand the company's overall business strategy.
  
  
  2. Helping employees understand how they contribute to achieving key business objectives.
  
  
  3. Sharing information with employees on both how the company is doing and how an employee's own division is doing — relative to strategic business objectives.
  
  
  
  

Principles of Leadership

1. Know yourself and seek self-improvement - In order to know yourself, you have to understand your be, know, and do, attributes. Seeking self-improvement means continually strengthening your attributes. This can be accomplished through self-study, formal classes, reflection, and interacting with others.


2. Be technically proficient - As a leader, you must know your job and have a solid familiarity with your employees' tasks.


3. Seek responsibility and take responsibility for your actions - Search for ways to guide your organization to new heights. And when things go wrong, they always do sooner or later — do not blame others. Analyze the situation, take corrective action, and move on to the next challenge.


4. Make sound and timely decisions - Use good problem solving, decision making, and planning tools.


5. Set the example - Be a good role model for your employees. They must not only hear what they are expected to do, but also see. We must become the change we want to see - Mahatma Gandhi


6. Know your people and look out for their well-being - Know human nature and the importance of sincerely caring for your workers.


7. Keep your workers informed - Know how to communicate with not only them, but also seniors and other key people.


8. Develop a sense of responsibility in your workers - Help to develop good character traits that will help them carry out their professional responsibilities.


9. Ensure that tasks are understood, supervised, and accomplished - Communication is the key to this responsibility.


10. Train as a team - Although many so called leaders call their organization, department, section, etc. a team; they are not really teams...they are just a group of people doing their jobs.


11. Use the full capabilities of your organization - By developing a team spirit, you will be able to employ your organization, department, section, etc. to its fullest capabilities.

(U.S. Army, 1983)

Words that Inspire!

We can get acquainted with quotes of leaderships through schools, colleges, libraries, universities and they can be of great help as these are inspiring for the young generation for improving their leadership potential. After all, they are going to lead this future universe. These quotes of leaderships from famous people are often displayed by hanging them on furnished walls of interiors of the classrooms of the schools, colleges and universities.

In his quote “When I give a minister an order, I leave it to him to find the means to carry it out”, the great French King like Napoleon Bonaparte tells us about the basics of the administration. According to him, never impose your opinion on others though you are a final decision maker. Always analysis the suggestions from your subordinates and in critical situations try his capabilities, decision making and his approach to such situation. The great Bonaparte stuck to his quote and so he was the strong leader and a wise administrator.

Another quote from the famous American president like Woodrow Wilson is incorporated with very valuable message that “Leadership does not always wear the harness of compromise”. It means that sometimes, there is no place for compromise, negotiations in the governance. The leader has to take hard decisions for a peaceful cause and safety of the nation.

As a president of America, the tenure of Woodrow Wilson was the significant example of his powerful and sensible decisions, his governance. He was firmed to his opinions according to his quote and got a significant place as a true leader of America.

Likewise his quote such as “No man is good enough to govern another man without that other’s consent”, in his presidential inning of America, Abraham Lincoln gave importance to the teamwork and co-understanding between his administrative staff.

In the modern corporate world, these quotes on leadership are used as the guidelines for all those executives and mangers for carrying out the managerial and regulating administration more accountable and responsible. These quotes on leaderships facilitate them with various kinds of phrases, usages, rules, and theories of how to get excellence in the leadership qualities.

Such Quotes on leadership really facilitate them to how to make co-ordination between the employees, how to make himself strong for decision making in critical situation, how to persuade the employees from organizational threats like strike, low productivity and loss.

In the business leadership coaching sessions, leadership journals, online leadership columns, articles; the reader views and read a wide range of quotes of leadership. Therefore, such quotes instrumental with accountability and responsibility while managing any business organization. Some of the quotes of leadership facilitate you with the secret of leaderships. By arranging the special session on such quotes of the leadership, we see the enhancement in the potential and productivity of the employees.

The usability of such quotes from famous people of leadership is not limited to only business sectors. These are instrumental in every field of society like science, politics, educations, sports, space research, music, etc. so in adverse situation, these quotes on leadership reinforce our talent and confidence to overcome such situation. So according to these quotes, for acquiring success, satisfaction and development in life, proper   execution of leadership has to be there.

Source successfuleducation.com

The Heart of A Leader!

When you think of leadership what comes to mind? You can ask a hundred people and get a thousand different answers.  Some of the quotes gathered here will allow you to look at the heart of a leader and provide an overview of how only true leaders lead from a place of love and admiration.

"Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things." - Peter F. Drucker

"If you don't understand that you work for your mislabeled 'subordinates,' then you know nothing of leadership. You know only tyranny." - Dee Hock

"A leader is best when people barely know he exists. When his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say 'we did it ourselves.'" - Lao Tzu

"The led must not be compelled; they must be able to choose their own leader." - Albert Einstein

"The manager asks how and when; the leader asks what and why." - Warren Bennis

"The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is to say thank you." - Max DePree

"If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader." - John Quincy Adams

"The leader has to be practical and a realist, yet must talk the language of the visionary and the idealist." - Eric Hoffer

"Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power." - Abraham Lincoln

"Lead and inspire people. Don't try to manage and manipulate people. Inventories can be managed but people must be lead." - Ross Perot

"Those who try to lead the people can only do so by following the mob." - Oscar Wilde

"All of the great leaders have had one characteristic in common: it was the willingness to confront unequivocally the major anxiety of their people in their time. This, and not much else, is the essence of leadership." - John Kenneth Galbraith

"Leadership is practiced not so much in words as in attitude and in actions."- Harold S. Geneen

"Leaders must be close enough to relate to others, but far enough ahead to motivate them." - John Maxwell

"The very essence of leadership is that you have to have a vision."-Theodore Hesburgh

"The key to successful leadership today is influence, not authority." - Kenneth Blanchard

"Leaders conceive and articulate goals that lift people out of their petty preoccupations and unite them in pursuit of objectives worthy of their best efforts." - John Gardner

"Our chief want is someone who will inspire us to be what we know we could be." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

"The ability to summon positive emotions during periods of intense stress lies at the heart of effective leadership." - Jim Loehr

"Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do and they will surprise you with their ingenuity." - General George Patton

As we look ahead into the next century, leaders will be those who empower others." - Bill Gates

"Leadership is a potent combination of strategy and character. But if you must be without one, be without the strategy." - Norman Schwarzkopf

I'm sad to report that in the past few years, ever since uncertainty became our insistent 21st century companion, leadership has taken a great leap backwards to the familiar territory of command and control." - Margaret Wheatley

"The growth and development of people is the highest calling of leadership." - Harvey S. Firestone

"One of the tests of leadership is the ability to recognize a problem before it becomes an emergency." - Arnold Glasow

"The function of leadership is to produce more leaders, not more followers." - Ralph Nader

"You don't lead by hitting people over the head. That's assault, not leadership." - Dwight D. Eisenhower

"Effective leadership is putting first things first. Effective management is discipline, carrying it out." - Stephen Covey

"No institution can possibly survive if it needs geniuses or supermen to manage it. It must be organized in such a way as to be able to get along under a leadership composed of average human beings." - Peter Drucker

"The best executive is the one who has sense enough to pick good people to do what he wants done, and self-restraint to keep from meddling with them while they do it." - Theodore Roosevelt

"A leader is a dealer in hope." - Napoleon Bonaparte

"To be able to lead others, a man must be willing to go forward alone." - Harry Truman

"Example is not the main thing in influencing others; it is the only thing." - Albert Schweitzer

"People ask the difference between a leader and a boss. The leader works in the open, and the boss in covert." - Theodore Roosevelt

The Ability to Lead with Integrity

Leadership is about character, integrity and courage more than being the smartest, strongest or the best at something. The foundation of a leader is integrity and must be displayed. The dictionary states integrity as; soundness of moral character; honesty. Simply put integrity means true to your word, owning up to your mistakes, not making excuses and taking responsibility for your actions. Courage is doing the right thing, for the right reasons even when no one is around. The ability to act is truly courage, action is how you are courageous to go against all the odds when you know something is right.

Do what you say. The saying, lead by example, are the actions of a leader. Think of someone you have personally known who you thought was a good leader, but it turned out they were not. They were saying all the right things and you probably believed them, but their actions did not reflect what they were saying. These are the actions of a leader who have their own agendas and do not possess the courage to do what is right for their people.

Leaders never give up on something, once they have chosen their dream. Many leaders have failed countless times, that is how they have learned. If you try to avoid failure, you will also be avoiding action. The ability to persevere and never give up is how you become a leader.

Integrity, lead by example and perseverance these are the qualities of a great leader. The greatest leaders are also compassionate towards others, but are not easily influenced. I will now leave you with a quote that shows the power that a single leader can produce. “I am not afraid of an army of lions led by a sheep; I am afraid of an army of sheep led by a lion”… Alexander the great.

Source successfuleducation.com

Leadership DNA

What’s your definition of Leadership? In thinking about the comments I’ve received from readers on the topic of leadership I noticed an interesting paradox…while many of you vehemently disagree on the effectiveness (or lack thereof) of different leadership styles, most of you are in total agreement on the qualities and attributes possessed by great leaders regardless of style. In further pondering this dichotomy an interesting thought came to mind – If I could genetically engineer the perfect leadership gene what qualities and characteristics would constitute the architecture of leadership DNA? In today’s blog post I’ll attempt to paint the portrait of the perfect leader…

So, what traits would my perfect leader possess? Courage, character, vision, wisdom, integrity, empathy, persistence, compassion, aggressivity, discernment, commitment, confidence, a bias to action, a servant’s heart, determination, creativity, self-discipline, love, loyalty, confidence, outstanding decisioning ability, engaged, authentic, transparent, a great strategic thinker, passion, a positive attitude, intelligence, humility, great communication skills, common sense, generosity, the ability to identify and develop great talent, creating a certainty of execution, attention to detail, faith, an active listener, a prolific learner, respect for others, innovative, excellent tactical capability, charisma, extreme focus, a high risk tolerance, a broad range of competencies, and the list goes on…

If any of you possess all the above attributes please forward your resume to my attention! All kidding aside, the longer my list of desirable qualities became, the more I realized the frivolity of this exercise…There is no perfect leader; only the right leader for a given situation. As I’ve said in other posts, great leaders have the innate ability to call on the right skills in a contextually and environmentally appropriate fashion. No single leader can possess every needed attribute. It not the traits you possess as a leader, but what you do with them that matter. If I were successful in my genetic engineering exercise I would no doubt have created a leader who would be driven crazy by emotional and intellectual conflicts.

Leadership DNA aside, I recently crafted my definition of leadership. It contains what I believe to be the necessary qualities a leader must possess to be successful. While it’s a bit wordy, I’ve found it to inclusively articulate the principles needed for effective leadership :

“Leadership is the professed desire and commitment to serve others by subordinating personal interests to the needs of those being led through effectively demonstrating the experience, wisdom and discernment necessary to leverage trust & influence to cause the right things, to happen for the right reasons, at the right times.”

Since one of the leadership qualities I noted in the laundry list above is wisdom, I thought I’d leave you with the wisdom of others…Spend a few minutes pondering the quotes below as you consider some of the qualities which play into the make-up of great leaders:

“Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.”
- Abraham Lincoln

“There can be no power without mystery. There must always be a ‘something’ which others cannot altogether fathom, which puzzles them, stirs them, and rivets their attention…. Nothing more enhances authority than silence. It is the crowning virtue of the strong, the refuge of the weak, the modesty of the proud, the pride of the humble, the prudence of the wise, and the sense of fools.”
- Charles de Gaulle

“Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts.”
- Albert Einstein

“Management is efficiency in climbing the ladder of success; leadership determines whether the ladder is leaning against the right wall.”
- Stephen R. Covey

“It’s not the will to win that matters…everyone has that. It’s the will to prepare to win that matters.”
- Paul “Bear” Bryant

“You can have brilliant ideas, but if you can’t get them across, your ideas won’t get you anywhere.”
- Lee Iacocca

“Quality is never an accident; it is always the result of high intention, sincere effort, intelligent direction and skillful execution; it represents the wise choice of many alternatives.”
- Willa A. Foster

“Courage is being scared to death, but saddling up anyway.”
- John Wayne

“The true leader serves. Serves people. Serves their best interests, and in doing so will not always be popular, may not always impress. But because true leaders are motivated by loving concern than a desire for personal glory, they are willing to pay the price.”
- Eugene B. Habecker

“Doing the same thing over and over, yet expecting different results, is the definition of crazy.”
- Unknown

“Talent without discipline is like an octopus on roller skates. There’s plenty of movement, but you never know if it’s going to be forward, backwards, or sideways.”
- H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

“The future belongs to those who see possibilities before they become obvious.”
- John Scully

“The ear of the leader must ring with the voices of the people.”
- Woodrow Wilson

“Even if you’re on the right track you’ll get run over if you just sit there.”
- Will Rogers

“When we are debating an issue, loyalty means giving me your honest opinion, whether you think I’ll like it or not. Disagreement, at this state, stimulates me. But once a decision is made, the debate ends. From that point on, loyalty means executing the decision as if it were your own.”
- General Colin Powell

“Develop success from failures. Discouragement and failure are two of the surest stepping stones to success.”
- Dale Carnegie

“Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.”
- Helen Keller

“Let no pleasure tempt thee, no profit allure thee, no persuasion move thee, to do anything which thou knowest to be evil; so shalt thou always live jollity; for a good conscience is a continual Christmas.”
- Benjamin Franklin

“A person who is fundamentally honest doesn’t need a code of ethics. The Ten Commandments and the Sermon on the Mount are all the ethical code anybody needs.”
- Harry S. Truman

Please comment below sharing your thoughts and insights on what you believe defines great leadership.

Source Mike Myatt

Are you asking yourself the right questions?

Are you asking yourself the right questions? Inspiring minds want to know. The right question can be just the right prompt to inspire you to action, gain better perspective, or help you make the most of any situation. But it's up to you to make sure you ask yourself some of these questions.

Here is a set of 101 questions that can help shape your day, solve a problem, figure out next steps, or get “on the right path.”

1. What’s the way forward?


2. What do you want your life to be about?


3. Who do you want to be and what experiences do you want to create?


4. How does that serve you in terms of who you are and who you want to be?


5. Are you giving your best where you have your best to give?


6. What do you want to accomplish?


7. What do you want to do more of each day? … What do you want to spend your time doing more of?


8. What do you want to spend less time on?


9. If this situation were to never change, what’s the one quality I need to truly enjoy it?


10. If not now, when?


11. If not you, who?


12. What’s right with this picture? (if you always ask, “What’s wrong with this picture?”, this is a nice switch)


13. How can you make the most of the situation? … If there are no good options, what’s the best play I can make for this scenario?


14. Who else shares this problem? … Who would solve this problem well? (a great way to find models and learn from the best)


15. What would <famous or interesting person XYZ> do?” … How would I respond if I were Bob Hope? … Leonardo da Vinci? … Guy Kawasaki? … Seth Godin? … etc. (this is a great way to come up with new ideas or plays for your situation)


16. What are you pointing your camera at? (a simple way to direct your day on a scene by scene basis)


17. What’s good enough for now?


18. What can you be the best at in the world?


19. What’s the most effective thing for me to focus on?


20. Are you asking the right question? … Is that the right question?


21. How is that relevant?


22. What’s that based on?


23. What’s the goal? … What are the goals?


24. What would success look like?


25. What do you need to be successful? … What do you need to be successful in this situation?


26. Is it working? … Is it effective?


27. What do you measure? … What are the metrics?


28. What are the tests for success?


29. How do you know it’s working?


30. How do you know when you’re done?


31. What did you expect?


32. Are you creating the results you want?


33. Does it matter?


34. Will it matter in 100 years?


35. Is it worth the effort?


36. What actions have I taken? … What steps have I tried? ( a great sanity check when you’re testing your ability to take action)


37. What’s next?


38. What do you want to do?


39. What’s best for you?


40. What’s the best thing for now?


41. What’s your next best thing to do?


42. Is that a good idea?


43. So what? Now what?


44. What’s the problem?


45. What’s the threat?


46. What’s the concern?


47. When do you want it by? … You want what by when?


48. Who needs to do what when?


49. Who needs to do what differently?


50. Who should do what when?


51. What would you have them do differently?


52. What’s wearing you down?


53. What’s lifting you up?


54. Why do you get up in the morning and come to work?


55. What do you want to experience? … What do you want to experience more of?


56. What are you trading? … What are you trading up for?


57. What did you learn that you can use next time?


58. What would you do differently next time around?


59. Where’s the growth?


60. What would people pay you for?


61. Do you want to run towards or away from the problem?


62. How big is the pie, how big is your slice?


63. Does it make business sense?


64. Is it business critical?


65. What’s our capacity?


66. What’s our constraint?


67. What are the KPIs (Key Performance Indicators)?


68. What’s our core business?


69. What does the market want?


70. Is it push, pull or indifferent?


71. What’s the trend?


72. What to cut back on?


73. What does the pro know that you don’t? (this is a good way to figure out if knowledge or insight can make a difference)


74. Now what are you going to do about it?


75. Can you teach it to someone else?


76. How can I use this?


77. What do you want to say?


78. What’s the right thing to do?


79. Is now the right time?


80. Is this the right forum?


81. How much time do you have?


82. What are you making time for?


83. How much time should you make for it?


84. What can you do all day long?


85. What are you spending the bulk of your time on?


86. Does your schedule reflect your priorities?


87. If you had all the time in the world, how would you spend your time?


88. If you had all the money in the world, how would you spend it?


89. Where are we on the map?


90. What would make life more wonderful for you?


91. How can you chunk it down?


92. How fast can you do it?


93. What’s the impact?


94. What would you like to have happen? … What would you like instead?


95. What’s the opposite of that?


96. How might that be true?


97. What are you seeing that I’m not?


98. What did you see, what did you hear?


99. What’s the writing on the wall?


100. What’s their story?


101. Who’s stopping you? … What’s stopping you? … What’s holding you back?

What questions drive you? … Share your favorite question in the comments.

Source Sourcesofinsight.com

Attitudes Leaders Have Towards Social Media

Slowly but surely, business leaders are shifting their attitude toward social media — from seeing it as a threat to discovering its very real opportunities.

And their attitude matters, a lot. Social media is about people, not technology. Its business value does not come from social software or a snazzy website, even one with 800 million users. Its value stems from how business leaders, from senior executives to managers, use it to foster new collaborative behaviors that materially improve business performance.

Leadership attitudes, and the organizational culture they spawn, are critical to social media success. They are among a company's most fundamental social media assets — or liabilities. Here are the six basic categories that business leader attitudes toward social media fall into:

Folly
Leaders with this attitude consider social media a source of entertainment with little or no business value, and they typically ignore it. Where a folly attitude prevails, the approach to a social media strategy must emphasize direct business value tightly tied to well-known and recognized organizational goals or challenges — and it must avoid flabby value statements around improved collaboration and stronger relationships.

Fearful
Fearful leaders see social media as a threat to productivity, intellectual capital, privacy, management authority, regulatory compliance and a host of other things, and often discourage and even prohibit its use. This attitude can reduce the potential risk, but it also stifles any possible business value. To counteract fear, the strategic approach should focus on relatively low-risk initiatives, even if other, higher-risk opportunities might offer greater business value.

Flippant
These leaders may not ignore or fear social media, but they don't take it seriously, either. This typically leads to a technology-centric approach where the company simply provides access to social media and hopes that business value will spontaneously emerge. This rarely bears fruit. Important in countering this attitude is convincing leadership that purpose matters, and that they should progress beyond the technology and identify good purposes for social media — causes that are strong enough to catalyze and mobilize communities of people to act in a way that delivers value to the community and the organization.

Formulating
Formulating leaders recognize both the potential value of social media as well as the need to be more organized and strategic in its use. The right approach here should build on this positive foundation, emphasizing the broader strategic value of social media and mass collaboration, with a succinctly expressed set of business opportunities that (1) demonstrates social media's potential impact across many areas of the business, and (2) is strong enough to capture the attention of the most senior leaders.

Forging
In companies where leaders have a forging attitude, the whole organization is starting to develop competence in using social media to assemble, nurture and gain business value from communities. To keep progressing, leaders should recognize previous successes, capitalize on growing momentum, advocate continued evolution and increase investments. They should also promote additional grassroots social media efforts as critical in becoming a highly collaborative social organization.

Fusing
This is the most advanced attitude, and still rare. Fusing leaders treat community collaboration as an integral part of the organization's work, ingrained in how people think and behave. This is a description of a social organization, and in such organizations the need for an explicit vision and strategy subsides — all business strategy and execution already include community collaboration where it's appropriate.

How do most leaders shape up? Right now, our analysis indicates that leaders of most organizations have yet to progress to the Formulating stage, which accounts for the high social media failure rate. We know treating social media as strategic can lead to tangible business value and competitive advantage, so the goal is for business leaders to move quickly past the Folly, Fearful, and Flippant stages and get right to Formulating. Ignoring social media, or throwing it over the fence to Marketing or IT could create serious business risk.

Where does your organization stand?

Source Harvard Business Review

The Makings of an Effective Leader!

Sandra Larson, previous executive director of MAP for Nonprofits, was once asked to write her thoughts on what makes an effective leader. Her thoughts are shared here to gel other leaders to articulate their own thoughts on what makes them a good leader.

Passion

An effective leader is a person with a passion for a cause that is larger than they are. Someone with a dream and a vision that will better society, or at least, some portion of it. I think a very key question has to be answered: Can someone who is a charismatic leader, but only to do evil or to promote herself, be a leader -- especially if she has a large following?” I would say no, she is a manipulator.

Also, without passion, a leader will not make the necessary courageous and difficult decisions and carry them into action. This is not to imply that all decisions are of this nature. But you can be sure, some of them will be. The leader without a passion for a cause will duck.

Holder of Values

Leadership implies values. A leader must have values that are life-giving to society. It is the only kind of leadership we need. This then also implies values that are embedded in respect for others. So often we think of people skills or caring about people as being “warm and fuzzy.” I think a leader can be of varying ‘warmth and fuzziness,” but a leader has to respect others. You can’t lead without it. Otherwise we are back to manipulation. Respect means also that one can deal with diversity -- a critical need for a leader in today’s world -- probably always has been, although diversity may have been more subtle in the homogenous societies of the past.

Vision

This is a bit different than passion, but in other ways it isn’t separable. If one doesn’t care about a subject, an issue, a system, then one won’t spend the time thinking about how it could or should be different. Yet, one could have strong feelings about something and not good ideas, particularly if she didn’t spend a good deal of time studying the topic. Thus a leader has to have some ideas about change, about how the future could be different. Vision then is based on two components that leaders also need: creativity and intellectual drive.

Creativity

One has to try to think out of the box to have good visions and to come up with effective strategies that will help advance the vision. I’d also add here the need for a sense of humor. It’s a creative skill that is in great need by leaders. We should read the funnies more!

Intellectual Drive and Knowledge

I believe a leader has to be a student. In general it is hard for a leader to be around enough other leaders to pick this up just through discussion, so I think a leader has to be a reader and a learner. Furthermore, I can’t see someone leading in a field they know nothing about.

Confidence and Humility Combined

While one can have a great vision and good ideas for change, and even passion for it, if one isn’t confident, then action will not occur. Without action, there is no change. Yet, paradoxically, a leader needs to have humility. No matter how creative and bright one is, often the best ideas and thinking are going to come from someone else. A leader needs to be able to identify that, have good people around who have these ideas. This takes humility, or at least lack of egocentricity. The leader is focused on the ends and doesn’t have to see herself always as the conduit or creator of the strategy to get to that end.

Communicator

None of the above assets will work for a leader if she can’t speak or write in a way to convince others that they should follow along, join the team, get on board. All the above gets to the old adage that a leader knows how to do the right thing and a manager knows how to do things right. But a leader has to be a manager, too. I don’t think these skills and abilities can be separated out very easily. Both need to be in the mix.

Thus a leader has to be some of the following, too:

Planner/Organizer

Someone who can see what needs to be done and help the team plan and organize the getting it done. Management is getting things done through people. While a writer or other visionary person may be very influential, even seminal for the cause of change, this is not quite my definition of a leader. A leader means to me, someone who is taking action, trying to get others to do something they want to see done.

Interpersonal Skills

Leaders must have the ability to act in an interpersonally competent manner, yet they also need to learn the techniques of good listening, honest and open communication, delegating, conflict resolution skills, etc., to actually get work done and keep the whole movement/organization/project together.

Other Business Skills

While in some arenas you may be able to get by with only some of these skills or none of them (if you can hire good enough people to do it for you), generally speaking you must have at least some skills in financial management, human resources, information management, sales, marketing, etc.

If I were to sum it all up, I’d say a good leader has to have a purpose that is larger than they are and the balanced personality and skills to put that purpose into action.

Copyright Sandra Larson, Minneapolis, MN.

Leadership Myths

Ten or twenty years ago, debunking leadership myths was easy. In every other corner office you could find an overconfident boss barking orders to masses of underperforming employees. However, over the last decade there has been a shift in the prevailing management winds.

Most of the changes have been good—though none revolutionary. People are getting more respect. Collaboration, engagement, and performance are all on the rise. More and more companies are doing well by doing good. None of it is “new,” successful leaders have been doing this stuff for years. It’s just becoming more acceptable.

However, there are some questionable tenants in this growing “new” leadership doctrine that haven’t been fully thought out. They sound good and leaders are assimilating them as founding principles, but after further inspection, you’ll see many of their premises are flawed.

I offer the following examples and ask for your feedback:

Myth #1: There’s no place for harsh or domineering leadership styles. In this new era of individual respect, the idea of a leader issuing unilateral orders without asking for opinions from others seems utterly barbaric. As a result, the autocratic leadership style is snubbed and reserved for dictators and half-wits. In fact there a number of situations where a strong autocratic leadership style is called for—so we should learn how to use it, not ignore it. What would you think of an EMT that arrived at the scene of an accident and promptly gathered everyone around to hear their opinions on what to do first—CPR, call for more help, or tend to other wounds?

Myth #2: Experience is the best teacher for a leader. It’s etched in every big company’s fast-mover career timeline—get the right jobs to get the right experience. You do that and you’ll be better qualified for leadership positions at the top. I have nothing against experience. In fact, it’s an absolutely essential part of learning—but it’s not always the best teacher. Yesterday’s experience may be totally irrelevant to tomorrow’s challenges. If you’re not careful it could pigeonhole your view of the world and lock you into an antiquated perspective. For experience to make you better, you must reflect on it.

Myth #3: You have to be an optimist to be a great leader. There’s no room for pessimism among great leaders—they’re always hopeful, always positive, and always believing that good will triumph in the end. Yeah, well, you could say the same about the couch potato who sits at home all day watching motivational speakers on YouTube. The fact is, you need some pessimism as a leader. You need to be able to envision the worst possible scenario—and really believe it could happen—if you’re ever going to successfully defend against it. And honestly, without pessimism, there would be no real change. All change starts with a discontentment.

What do you think are the big myths in leadership today?

Source Geoffrey Webb

Solving the Leadership Puzzle

Many of the challenges we face as a leader seem tough, unusual, and perhaps unsolvable.  Many puzzle enthusiasts, working on puzzles as diverse as Sudoku,  crosswords, video games (and more) thrill for puzzles with those same descriptors.

Perhaps our leadership lesson from them starts from recognizing their attitude and it’s important to ultimate success.  Rather than procrastinating or ignoring a tough problem, puzzlers get started.

Once they get started they likely use a three step formula (consciously or not) to help them get going.

1.  Look for patterns.

2.  Find the way in.

3.  Build on your success.

These three points were in the May 2009 issue of  Wired Magazine (the issue isn’t online at this writing).  The points are attributed to Dvora K. Klaviatura, head of the Belarus Enigmatology Institute, and you can see how they make sense to a puzzle.

When considering a challenge or problem you as facing as a leader, make these steps part of your next leadership activities:

1.  Recognize that problems and challenges come with the territory. Rather than lamenting or procrastinating, take the puzzlers approach and dive in.  Not only do you stand to solve the problem, but you will also learn something and gain confidence and excitement from success!

2.  Look for patterns. Ask yourself questions like:  What about this situation looks or seems like past challenges or problems?   What else does this situation remind me of?

3.  Find the way in. Look for an entry point – something to try, someone to talk to, a way to begin a conversation, a question to ask.  Finding the way in, helps you take action and get started.

4. Build on your success. Once you have gotten started, be persistent.  Use what you have learned up until this point to help you be more successful.  Apply what has proven successful so far as you move forward (without becoming blinded by success – remember the challenge you face may be pretty complex!)

Consider these steps as you solve a leadership puzzle – and recognize these as building blocks to your effective leadership skills

Source Kevin Eikenberry