Leadership:
Develop Your People
“How do I get more from my people?”
This is a question that I have been asked numerous times over the past decade from business leaders. Everyone recognizes that people are the key foundation of any organization or business. Before we answer the above question though, we need to get a few things out into the open.
I have had the privilege to lead teams of varying sizes throughout my career. I have worked with people of every age group and demographic. From working with and leading thousands of people, I have learned that all people in any organization fall into one of two categories.
Producers & Leaders
Producers give life to the business. Producers show up faithfully each day and contribute to the best of their knowledge and training within their organizational boundaries. Producers work in every department of the business.
If each producer performs their role and function at 100%, then the company wins. Clients, customers, visitors, guests, members, patients or the people you serve also win.
Producers differ from leaders in that they love being specialists at a functional part of the business. They love concentrating on delivering excellence to their functional area.
Leaders are required to help each producer rise up and deliver to the best of their talents and capabilities. Leaders have the job of either creating the vision for the team or helping effect with vision within the team or department. Leaders are facilitators of change that leads to growth of the business. Leaders see the possibilities and opportunities that are present each day.
The Common Denominator Between Producers & Leaders
Who are you?
Are you a highly skilled and passionate Producer?
Are you a Leader who welcomes opportunities for change so that you can see the fruit of innovation?
Before you can produce and perform at the highest levels of excellence, you must first lead yourself. Before you can “get more from others”, you must “get the most from yourself”.
The common denominator among the Producer and the Leader is Personal Leadership.
Personal Leadership
Some people may confuse personal leadership with personal development. The two are similar, but they are also vastly different.
Personal development is the process of improving a characteristic, trait or skill in a person. There is a question that needs to be asked:
Who or what drives personal development?
Sometimes an ambitious person proactively decides to improve their work or personal life through personal development strategies and exercises. Sometimes personal development is mandated from an external source to cause a change in the person that without the outside influence would not normally be chosen.
It all comes down to who chooses personal development (You or Them).
Personal Leadership Outperforms Personal Development
Personal leadership differs in that a personal leader takes 100% accountability for their actions and results at work and in their life. Personal leaders independently choose constant change and improvement before being told that they have to improve.
Personal leaders strive to improve key areas of their work and self to get a specific result. Personal leaders have a natural desire to put their best foot forward and contribute their best so that they can add value wherever they find themselves.
Personal leaders know that their personal leadership efforts are not connected to a title, position or social/economic status.
How to Hone Your Personal Leadership
Throughout our experience here at Samurai Innovation, we developed a coaching model and program around three key elements that every personal leader requires to perform at their best. Each element has the potential to provide ample study and practice for an engaged and growth-focused personal leader.
The Implementors (TM) Coaching Program helps personal leaders increase and improve in three critical performance areas:
How to Hone Your Personal Leadership
Throughout our experience here at Samurai Innovation, we developed a coaching model and program around three key elements that every personal leader requires to perform at their best. Each element has the potential to provide ample study and practice for an engaged and growth-focused personal leader.
The Implementors (TM) Coaching Program helps personal leaders increase and improve in three critical performance areas:
Get Focused
Focus is a major topic that we love covering in our work together. Three key aspects of getting highly focused are:
1. Your ability to get clear on your key priorities right now.
Priorities will change as you evolve in your current environment. You will pass through different seasons of life which bring unique challenges and opportunities that you will need to navigate. Being able to identify the best use of your time and energy will allow you to thrive versus survive.
2. Develop a powerful mindset that will help you make better decisions and take the appropriate next action to getting what you want or becoming the best version of yourself.
You can do anything in life as long as you put your heart and mind to it." - Shane Fielder
Mindset is a mental muscle that needs ongoing nurturing.
3. Make better decisions faster.
There are two types of decisions that you are making everyday. One you can control and influence. The second type influences you until you raise your awareness and focus. Knowing the difference can jumpstart your ability to be more productive and get a better return on your efforts.
A. Implicit Decisions are generally accepted by you. This is where you often accept the culture you are in without challenging it. You accept the way things are or tell yourself, “everybody else does it”. This is not inherently bad.
Caution: Do not ignore the fact that you can challenge the norm. You can investigate, debate and test a different or better strategy.
B. Explicit Decisions are for personal leaders. This is where you decide what is the best next step or action for you. You own your results. You unapologetically celebrate your wins. You realize that there is no such thing as failure, because failure is feedback. Feedback is a result that allows you to learn and improve which leads you to your next explicit decision to take in order to go in the best direction for you.
Lead Well
Give them a reason to choose you.
Leading well applies to both the Producer and the Leader. It applies as much at home as it does at work.
If you as a Producer show up focused and ready to produce, there is a much greater chance that you will be chosen for the next opportunity, promotion or acknowledgement for your contribution to the project or team.
If you are a formal Leader, give the people you lead a great reason to choose to follow and support your efforts. Work environments have changed drastically. The old philosophy of having someone do something because they are paid to do so is rapidly fading away.
What would happen if you led from the idea that your employees are volunteers?
Most often, people join exciting organizations and businesses. Sadly, the evidence supports the fact that solid people leave because of the way they were led or because of a lack of leadership.
People want to follow and be influenced by dynamic Personal Leaders who are doing their absolute best each day. People want to trust in your ability to fulfill the vision they have chosen to be part of.
Finish Strong
Winners are finishers.
How much time do you devote to developing your skills of drive, determination and perseverance for the task at hand?
It’s truly easier to win today than it was 10 years ago. Why?
Distraction.
People are more distracted and less focused today than they were a decade or two ago. Many people rarely have a problem starting, but fewer people today are able to see the project across the finish line.
Become a finisher. Then become a focused finisher. Then become a faster finisher.
Don’t mix up the order above. Focusing on speed before completion causes many great people and businesses higher expenses, lost profits and greater levels of dissatisfied clients.
Professional Leadership
Organizations and businesses today are starving for influential, impactful, professional leaders. When you consistently work on developing your leadership influence and impact, we call this a Leader Who Can’t Be Ignored.
In our ground-breaking leadership transformation process, Leaders Who Can’t Be Ignored (TM) , we help you increase your influence and broaden your impact today. You will develop numerous skills that are in higher demand today from the most successful businesses.
Do you know which stage of leadership you are currently at?
3 Stages of Professional Leadership
We recognize that there are many theories, leadership books, and different profile and assessment tools out in the market.
We have categorized three stages of professional leadership.
Being aware of which stage you are currently at will enable you to progress faster through to the next stage or dive deeper into your current stage to increase your influence and impact from your leadership.
We recognize that there are many theories, leadership books, and different profile and assessment tools out in the market.
We have categorized three stages of professional leadership.
Being aware of which stage you are currently at will enable you to progress faster through to the next stage or dive deeper into your current stage to increase your influence and impact from your leadership.
Stage 1: The Emerging Leader
This is a special time of heightened focus in your life because you're building your leadership foundation. This is the foundation that you get to grow and expand upon for years to come.
I want to encourage you today and give you a couple of things that you can think about working on to become a strong and effective leader.
Your Emerging Focus:
Show them that you can lead well.
“Them” refers to the various eyeballs that are on you each day.
At this stage, the people whom you lead are the critical eyeballs you need to show that you can lead well. These Producers are counting on you to help them succeed individually and as a team.
This is a special time of heightened focus in your life because you're building your leadership foundation. This is the foundation that you get to grow and expand upon for years to come.
I want to encourage you today and give you a couple of things that you can think about working on to become a strong and effective leader.
Your Emerging Focus:
Show them that you can lead well.
“Them” refers to the various eyeballs that are on you each day.
At this stage, the people whom you lead are the critical eyeballs you need to show that you can lead well. These Producers are counting on you to help them succeed individually and as a team.
The leader, manager or supervisor above you on the organizational chart is also watching you to see how you will emerge as a leader. One proven way to emerge brilliantly is to:
Take on the things that nobody else wants to do. Be great with the small details and do them really well.
It’s not popular advice that you may hear today, but every senior leader I have worked with has a specific story dating back to a time where they chose to lead in an obscure, boring or difficult situation that the others ran from. Being able to prevail in such circumstances earned these leaders the nod of approval from their stakeholders.
Emerging Leaders Ask:
When can I get into the room?
You must be in the room, you have to be on the team, you need to be on the project. Put your hand up and volunteer to just sit in as an observer for the next project or next meeting and see how things are handled. Observe who takes on the various tasks and responsibilities and how they're dealt with.
When you get yourself on the project, you're in the room, you're on the team, and momentum starts flowing for you.
What needs to be done or solved right now?
Momentum allows you to swim upstream and start looking for the less glamorous tasks that nobody else wants to do. Find the small tasks and do them really well so you can show your senior leadership that you are somebody who's worthy of contributing.
This will help you get noticed faster and you will become a leader who can't be ignored.
Stage 2: The Expanding Leader
As an expanding leader you're rising to the top of your field and are at a point where you are looking to expand beyond leading your business or organization and move toward impacting your community, industry/trade association, or local business association.
You could be aiming to expand beyond your city level to a provincial/state or national level. If you’ve accomplished these levels, how about expanding into your industry’s international scene?
Your Expanding Focus:
As you are becoming solid in leading people and teams, your next challenge and opportunity is to manage upward. This is where incredible growth and fun can be found. This is how you are able to work on higher profile projects and with more sophisticated clients that will give you invaluable fuel for your career progression.
As an expanding leader you're rising to the top of your field and are at a point where you are looking to expand beyond leading your business or organization and move toward impacting your community, industry/trade association, or local business association.
You could be aiming to expand beyond your city level to a provincial/state or national level. If you’ve accomplished these levels, how about expanding into your industry’s international scene?
Your Expanding Focus:
As you are becoming solid in leading people and teams, your next challenge and opportunity is to manage upward. This is where incredible growth and fun can be found. This is how you are able to work on higher profile projects and with more sophisticated clients that will give you invaluable fuel for your career progression.
Expanding Leaders Ask:
Ask for their bottom 20%.
The leaders, managers or supervisors around you all have a busy workload. The bottom 20% of their workload are the tasks and things that they can do in their sleep. This 20% is often routine, mundane and boring for them. Your leader is silently waiting for someone to knock on their door and ask:
You know those things that you don’t like to do, is there any way that I could help work on that with/for you?
Is there something that I can handle that would take some of the load off of your plate?
Yet, very rarely does anyone break the silence and knock on their door to create the opportunity to expand their knowledge and experience in the business.
When you do this, you will have more doors flying open and leaders welcoming you into their offices than any other way. Your desire to lead will be known at the higher levels of your organization.
Stage 3: The Legacy Leader
A legacy leader is someone that has proven over time that they can lead teams and groups of people to accomplish more together than you could on your own. You're a person that's able to take a mission, vision or an agenda of the business and move it forward, getting people excited and passionate to turn the vision into reality.
You have an opportunity to use your leadership to be part of your people’s career story. Will they be remembering your impact on them 5, 10, 15 or 20 years from now?
Will someone say that working with you was an incredible time because you taught them the things that they needed to do to become successful?
If your name is not already part of their story, then today is the best day to start this process. Being a Legacy Leader is not age-specific because you can develop legacy leadership in your 30’s, 40’s, 50’s and 60’s; you don't have to wait until you're 85.
A legacy leader is someone that has proven over time that they can lead teams and groups of people to accomplish more together than you could on your own.
You're a person that's able to take a mission, vision or an agenda of the business and move it forward, getting people excited and passionate to turn the vision into reality.
You have an opportunity to use your leadership to be part of your people’s career story. Will they be remembering your impact on them 5, 10, 15 or 20 years from now?
Will someone say that working with you was an incredible time because you taught them the things that they needed to do to become successful?
If your name is not already part of their story, then today is the best day to start this process. Being a Legacy Leader is not age-specific because you can develop legacy leadership in your 30’s, 40’s, 50’s and 60’s; you don't have to wait until you're 85.
Your Legacy Focus:
Focus on developing the leaders of tomorrow or growing the leaders of today into the leaders that they need to be.
Legacy Leaders Ask:
Who can I mentor in my organization, business or industry association?
How can I help them to reduce the learning curve that I myself had to go through?
How can I be a better leader to them than the leaders that I had?
We have developed a complimentary leadership assessment that will highlight which stage of leadership you are currently at. Shane will provide you with customized recommendations that you can use to increase your influence and broaden your impact today.
What’s Your Next Move Going to Be?
By now you may have a few questions about how to expand and develop your leadership footprint.
Maybe you want to develop powerful leadership abilities in your key employees.
Because you have arrived here, we want to support you in making your next step to develop your leadership impact.
Claim Your Complimentary Session with Shane
I am offering you a complimentary leadership development strategy session where you will realize where you can focus in order to expand your leadership footprint. In this session, we will work together to: