A recent one of my posts discussed the importance of finding a balance between your leadership and management skills. Just as important is having a plan of how you will achieve being a great manager/leader. How will you manage in a way that gets the job done on time and within budget, while empowering and inspiring your employees? Do you have a plan? Dreams are a start, intentions are nice, goals are better, but having a solid plan is what will help you to get there. As you devise your plan to achieve your goals, consider incorporating Kouzes and Posner’s (2002) five practices:
1. Model the Way:
Model the way by keeping your values clear and by aligning your actions with those values. Set an example for others with your own actions. People are much more receptive to the idea of modeling behavior rather than being instructed to do as they’re told.
2. Inspire a Shared Vision:
Share your vision of an exciting future with others, and enlist them to share in that vision by presenting shared objectives. In order to excite others about the future, make sure they’re on the same page as you are and make them a part of it.
3. Challenge the Process:
Search for new opportunities and rely on your team to bring up new ideas. Risk taking and pushing past one’s comfort zone in order to find new opportunities is part of successful business. It can be a lot easier when you have a team of people that you can trust on your side. Always strive for bigger and better things and you’ll inspire those around you to do the same.
4. Enable Others to Act:
Empower others by enabling them to act and foster collaboration by promoting cooperative goals. Continue to build trust among the team, by conducting yourself in a way that will encourage others’ trust in you. Enabling others to act may be easier when your team consists of people that you like and have known for a while. You may have to put more effort into this part of leadership when your team is made up of new people or employees that you find problematic. It’s your responsibility to figure this out and set an example.
5. Encourage the Heart:
Remember to encourage the heart by recognizing others’ contributions. Find reasons to celebrate small wins to strengthen the community’s spirit. Being stingy with praise simply because people are already getting a paycheck to do their job is one of the surest ways to kill morale. While I’m not suggesting handing out gold stars to everyone who shows up, make sure that your employees feel appreciated and are recognized for good work and efforts.
Kouzes, J. M., & Posner, B. Z. (2002). The leadership challenge (3rd ed.). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, A Wiley Company.
