Improve Your Leadership with This Skills Assessment

Improve Your Leadership with This Skills Assessment Good leaders reassess their skills regularly. Whether you’re a veteran or new to leadership, spend some time exploring these questions in detail:  Who and what do I influence? Your sphere of influence isn’t defined or limited by your job title. Who asks for your advice? How do your decisions affect other people and different departments? Do people follow your example without being asked? Can I improve my people skills? Leadership is based on personal relationships. How well do you get along with people at different levels? How well do you listen to others?
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Get Ahead with These Not-So-Secret Secrets

Get Ahead with These Not-So-Secret Secrets What does it take to get ahead? Investor’s Business Daily identified these ten traits of those who seem to have the knack for turning dreams into reality:    A positive attitude. Where your mind goes, you go. If you think you’ll fail, chances are good that you will. If you believe you’ll succeed, you’re halfway home. A definitive goal. “I want to be a success” is a wish, not a goal. “I want to become a junior partner within two years”—that’s a goal. Write down exactly what you want to achieve—and an action plan
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Self-Managers Wanted: Here’s What to Look For

Self-Managers Wanted: Here’s What to Look For The “perfect” employee isn’t one who does whatever you say, but someone who knows what to do without having to be told. It’s someone who performs the job without constant prodding, someone who can manage himself or herself with a minimum of interference from you. Here’s what to look for in a self-managing employee:  Goals. Look for people who set their own objectives and push themselves to achieve them. Instead of accomplishing the bare minimum, they stretch to do a little bit more, or a little bit better, without anyone else telling them
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10 Questions to Help You Elicit the Best from Your Workforce

10 Questions to Help You Elicit the Best from Your Workforce Your success as a leader—and your organization’s success, as well—depend on your ability to get the best from your employees. You can’t expect it to come automatically, though. You have to search carefully for each person’s exceptional talents. For every person you lead, see how thoroughly you can answer the questions below: How well do you really know the employee? What can you quickly recall of the employee’s family, personal goals, hobbies, or other outside interests? What do you know specifically about his or her career goals, both short
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Seize Opportunities to Review and Retrain

Seize Opportunities to Review and Retrain Why ask why? How do you respond when a team member makes a mistake? Do you know what will happen if your immediate response is to scold an employee or punish them in some way? Next time they make a mistake instead of coming clean they might just opt to cover it up.  Don’t beat up your team members when they make an error. Instead, use the situation as an opportunity to review and even retrain. Take time to examine the system you have in place. There just might be room for improvement. There
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