Geek4Eva

I’ve been reading The 360-degree Leader by John Maxwell.

The book is about “Developing Your Influence from Anywhere in the Organization”

In the first section the author presents 7 myths that every leader in the middle faces:

1. The Position Myth: “I can’t lead if I am not at the top.”
2. The Destination Myth: “When I get to the top, then I’ll learn to lead.”
3. The Influence Myth: “If I were on top, then people would follow me.”
4. The Inexperience Myth: “When I get to the top, I’ll be in control.”
5. The Freedom Myth: “When I get to the top, I’ll no longer be limited.”
6. The Potential Myth: “I can’t reach my potential if I’m not the top leeader.”
7. The All-or-Nothing Myth: “If I can’t get to the top, then I won’t try to lead.”

There are certain skills which you are born with, then are skills which you can and may want to develop.

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The most important skill I think is the skill of using the correct skill in the correct situation.

The skill that I admire in some people is the skill to ’shut up and listen’. Seems like they’ve got all the patience in the world, they will never stop the opposite from ranting and just listen to them. Finally, when that person has finished, they would respond if necessary or sometimes not respond and at all and just respond to it with a smile on their face. I really find that commendable and personlly tough to achieve that.

I think it also comes with age, experience, position and various other factors that occur in ones life. Anyways, here are links to some webpages which talk about various personal skills:

1 – Seven Essential Teamwork Skills (My fav.)
2 – 15 Personal Skills You Need on the Job
3 – Personal Skills

So which skill are you trying to work/improve on?

Energisers are those Clever people in your team who have a potential to deliver great outputs even with the minimum amount of resources made available to them. They are the ones who are always bouncing new ideas, always eager to learn new things and never reluctant to recommend a change in the process if it is not an efficient one.

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The author in her post Three Tips for Becoming an Energizer talks about the Energisers and how one could be an Energiser. I specially liked the introduction.

Some people become leaders no matter what their chosen path because their positive energy is so uplifting. Even in tough times, they always find a way. They seem to live life on their own terms even when having to comply with someone else’s requirements. When they walk into a room, they make it come alive. When they send a message, it feels good to receive it. Their energy makes them magnets attracting other people.

Just plain energy is a neglected dimension of leadership. It is a form of power available to anyone in any circumstances. While inspiration is a long-term proposition, energy is necessary on a daily basis, just to keep going.

Three things characterize the people who are energizers.

1. A relentless focus on the bright side. Energizers find the positive and run with it. A state government official in a state that doesn’t like government overcomes that handicap through her strong positive presence. She dispenses compliments along with support for the community served by her agency, making it seem that she works for them rather than for the government. She greets everyone with the joy generally reserved for a close relative returning from war. I can see skeptics’ eyebrows starting to rise, but judging from her success, people love meeting with her or getting her exclamation-filled emails. She is invited to everything.

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2. Redefining negatives as positives. Energizers are can-do people. They do not like to stay in negative territory, even when there are things that are genuinely depressing. For example, it might seem a stretch for anyone to call unemployment as “a good time for reflection and redirection while between jobs,” but some energizers genuinely stress the minor positive notes in a gloomy symphony. A marketing manager laid off by a company hit hard by the recession saw potential in people he met at a career counseling center and convinced them that they could start a service business together. He became the energizing force for shifting their definition of the situation from negative to an opportunity.

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3. Fast response time. Energizers don’t dawdle. Energizers don’t tell you all the reasons something can’t be done. They just get to it. They might take time to deliberate, but they keep the action moving. They are very responsive to emails or phone calls, even if the fast response is that they can’t respond yet. This helps them get more done. Because they are so responsive, others go to them for information or connections. In the process, energizers get more information and a bigger personal network, which are the assets necessary for success.

I can comfortably second these above thoughts. And I can also say that it is possible to adopt to these qualities as well. It does take a while, but it is achieveable. One of the leadership course that I had attended where the facilitator explained it quite well that one can learn to be a leader – he just needs to unlearn his old qualities/behaviour and learn new ones. Since then I do have practised that and have successfully changed a lot and I can say that based on some of the feedback that I’ve received. I’m not trying to say I’m the complete or best leader yet, but I could see the behavioural change, which I think is quite important as well.

“Without clever people, leaders cannot hope to succeed. Without good leadership, clevers can never realize their full potential.”

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The author here reflects on the book Clever where he reckons: “The paradox is that while they (clever people) don’t want to be led, they need leadership in order to achieve their potential and create value for society.”

The author of the book also lists dos and don’ts for leading clever people:

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“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

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The author here presents five tasks of leadership:

1. Leadership: Successful leaders willingly travel into the unknown.
2. Strategy: Successful leaders set an evolving course through ambiguity, complexity, and change.
3. Engagement: Successful leaders inspire and challenge people to perform beyond their own expectations.
4. Growth: Successful leaders learn and relearn in real time by stretching themselves and the business.
5. Innovation: Successful leaders imagine possibilities, discover opportunities, and release creative energies inside their organization.

From the book “Just Enough Anxiety” by Robert Rosen.

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As a manager I always try and follow a certain way for managing my team. And the keyword for me is maintaining the correct balance between various aspects of regular work. Like, giving time to innovate AND delivering on tight deadlines; taking time-offs AND putting in extra hours; etc.

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The author of Burned Out and Handling Burn Out blog, points on 5 ways to keeping your team from burning out:

1. Keep communications open from top to bottom.
2. Keep the political crap off of your employees.
3. Keep the job varied.
4. Keep the employee learning.
5. Reward the employee.

Unlike my previous blog earlier: Guidance on Avoiding Redundancy, the author accepts the need to take good care of your team regardless of the economic situation.

In fact I’d say one must take extra care during these tough times. If you don’t and once the economy starts improving those will be the first ones to change jobs who were not treated well by their employers. :~(