Leadership Tactics, Part 1

Are you ready for a leadership role?

Have you been excelling at your current job and are now excited about finally receiving a promotion to a leadership position?

Be careful. Many people that are promoted to a leadership role end up failing because they lack basic leadership skills. In addition, most companies that promote these people don't provide adequate training and then blame the employee for not succeeding in their new role.

Working in a leadership role is different than any previous job you might have excelled at before. Being a leader is especially tough when you have had no formal training, but don't worry, you can learn.

If you have just started a new leadership position, immediately go ask your company for some formal leadership training. Attend a leadership class or seminar to get you started. If you can't find training classes to attend, visit you local bookstore and pick up a couple of books on leadership. Read, study, and practice their principles everyday.

However, today you're lucky.

I have compiled my Top 15 Leadership Qualities, and am going to give them to you for free. Below are the first 5:

1. Employees follow the boss's lead. Employees take on the actions of their managers. If the manager starts showing up late to work, being on time is no big deal. If the manager quits returning phone calls, customer service will become poor. If the manager doesn't constantly commit himself to training and learning, the employee won't either. Act like you want your employees to act and they will follow you.

2. Don't except mediocrity. If you except mediocrity from one employee, it will spread through your organization like an airborne virus. Employees will see you are accepting poorly done work and jobs will start being done at a sub par level. If an employee starts relaxing on the job, correct him immediately. Do not wait and allow mediocrity to spread to other parts of your organization.

3. Hire slow and fire fast. Usually people start looking for help after they are in dire need of it. One of the biggest mistakes you can make when hiring an employee is to hire based on needing to fill a position to get the job done. Don't make this mistake. Only hire someone when you feel they are perfect for the job. When you are in dire need of help, hiring decisions are not made with a clear head. Don't waste time and money training someone you will be firing six months later. Learn to hire people when you don't need them.

4. Delegate. Delegate the task to the least senior person whom is still qualified to perform the task correctly. When you delegate, make sure the person is properly trained and has clear direction. Then let them complete the job. Do not take over after you have delegated a task. Let them complete it fully, and then review it with them, emphasizing things that could have been done more effectively.

5. Provide Challenging Work. The myth is that money is the number one way to hire and keep the best employees. However, this is not the case. You have a better chance of keeping your top performers if you provide them with challenging day to day activities and set goals with them for special projects. Fulfilling work can keep great employees from falling into a rut, performing at a poor level, and quitting.

Seems simple? You might even be saying to yourself, I already know that. However, the challenge is to determine how good you are at the above traits. Then make a plan to become better in your areas of weakness.

Reread the 5 traits listed above and rate yourself on how well you implement them in your workplace. Then, find areas where you can improve and make a plan to do so.

Work at these a little bit everyday until next week when I will reveal my next 5 leadership traits.

John

The Pipeline archives webpage has been updated with all the previous issues. Click the link below for access to the first 20 issues.

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