Minggu, 18 November 2007

Eight Most Common Mistakes Managers Make:

Series Summary:
In over 25 years of coaching managers - at all levels, from C-level executives to team leaders and supervisors - I've seen eight mistakes consistently impair the development of otherwise great people.

Please note that although I call the 'mistakes', I'm not implying any judgmental presumption here - it's not that managers make these mistakes because they're dumb, or uninformed.

Sometimes these mistakes occur because of ambiguity or uncertainty in the organization, or because of a lack of training or investment in the manager 'role'.
Sometimes the fault lies with the manager's manager - whether by a lack of communication, or a
misunderstanding of the role of a manager in the organization.

Most often, however, I see these mistakes happening because of the simple busy-ness of the manager, his or her manager, and their team members.

However, whatever the reason, once one of these eight mistakes takes hold, and unfortunate spiral comes into effect, by which the persistence of any one of these eight mistakes will in turn cause the others to develop and take root.

Here are The Eight Most Common Mistakes Managers Make:

1. No dependable machine for decision-making

2. Not aligning with organizational goals

3. Not working laterally, as well as vertically

4. Not working cross-functionally

5. Building a dependency culture

6. Not developing people

7. Not embracing hiring as part of the job

8. Not investing in their personal growth






Jumat, 16 November 2007

TOP TIPS: Five leadership communication coaching pointers

Eliminating business jargon from leaders' communications can re-connect and re-inspire your workforce.

by Jamie Walters, president, Ivy Sea Inc.

Here are five steps to improved leadership communications:

1. Get agreement

Effective partnerships begin with clear agreement. Don’t assume — schedule a meeting with leaders, review communication’s importance in good leadership and get agreement on your role. Then do a leadership communication assessment to gauge current perceptions and issues within the organization.

2. Link leadership communication to effectiveness

Make the business case by succinctly sharing data on where it creates an edge and where its lack creates costly problems. If you can make a good case for “why,” the “how” will become much easier. At this point, there’s no shortage of compelling research or case studies.


3. Be mindful of language

The words a leader chooses affects the impact of the communication. Eliminate vapid business jargon, battlefield metaphors and violent, divisive language — it will turn off increasingly diverse audiences and foster cynicism and apathy. Stick with clear, responsible language and reconnect people with possibility and vision as well as facts.

4. Build on the leader’s own style

Given the low levels of trust in corporate leaders, an overly polished “stage presence” can bring cynicism, so beware of a “canned” and unauthentic style. Identify the leader’s inherent strengths. He or she will feel more comfortable when being themselves and will communicate more effectively.


Stick with clear, responsible language and reconnect people with possibility and vision as well as facts.


5. Maintain integrity

After waves of layoffs and leadership scandals, it’s crucial to maintain a sense of integrity. Ensure leaders’ words are congruent with their beliefs and actions. With leaders under greater scrutiny and audiences more sensitive to “being sold to,” mindful, honest communication and impeccable follow-through are more important than ever.


http://www.internalcommshub.com/trial/managers/toptips/coaching.shtml?for_printing

TOP TIPS:

Building managers’ communication skills

Do you want to improve both your own and your leaders’ communication skills? Combine natural rapport with a set of practical information-sharing skills to help leaders focus, articulate, model and engage at all levels.

While training sessions and toolkits are valuable tactics for coaching, it’s important to outline the core objectives you want leaders to meet. This “F.A.M.E.” model of communication skills for leaders, was developed by Synopsis Communication Consulting.

1. Focus

Managers have to bring a clear focus on business issues and set a few clear priorities, which they repeat and reinforce consistently. They should identify clearly what they want employees to think, feel and do to help.

Managers have to bring a clear focus on business issues and set a few clear priorities, which they repeat and reinforce consistently.

2. Articulate

Managers have to be able to turn the vision into the elevator speech, paint the picture in more emotional language, turn “management speak” into plain talk, make messages memorable and ensure those messages fit together.

3. Model

Managers have to champion the company values, lead by example, model the right behavior and challenge unacceptable behavior.

4. Engage

Managers must add context and make the connection between the organization’s agenda and the individual’s agenda. This calls for the ability to listen, facilitate, ask effective questions and to handle the difficulties that may arise when employees speak up.


http://www.internalcommshub.com/trial/managers/toptips/managers.shtml?for_printing