May 24th, 2011

Top 10 Leadership Quotes

Leadership quotes. I’m not a big fan of them.

Most of them seem unmemorable to me; possibly because it’s difficult to say anything worthwhile in just one sentence. And then every once in a while I come across a quote that is inspirational, or simply makes sense.

M2 magazine recently published it’s ‘Best 100 Leadership Quotes Ever’. Hmmm. Strangely enough, most of them seem unmemorable to me.

Still, there are a few gems in there. So, based on what they’ve published, here’s my Top 10 Leadership Quotes. You may find several of them thought provoking.

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May 17th, 2011

Effective Leadership Reduces Sick Leave

Effective Leadership reduces sick leave. At least that’s what I’ve long believed based on client results.

For example, several years ago I undertook a project with AAPT in Australia. Over a period of 11 months, the first and second-level managers in one division of the company consistently applied Effective Leadership practices. This resulted in two key outcomes; a 411% increase in sales, along with a 34% reduction in sick leave – down from 572 days to 376 lost days per month.

Surprisingly, much of this reduction in sick leave occurred over the winter months. This is a time of the year when you would expect the amount of sick leave taken to actually increase. At the time I put this improvement down to higher levels of employee motivation, and stronger positive relationships between managers and their staff.

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April 13th, 2011

People Managers Don’t Need All the Answers

When he was on the campaign trail before becoming President of the United States, Barack Obama was quoted as saying, “Leaders don’t need the answers. They just need to know what questions to ask.”

However, I notice that asking effective questions is one of the biggest challenges facing many people managers. We are conditioned by a long history of telling and being told. For people managers, it often seems easier and faster to tell people what they should do, rather than seek their ideas.

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February 28th, 2011

Let’s Salute the Earthquake Heroes

As you will know only too well, at 12.51 pm on Tuesday 22nd February 2011, a 6.3 magnitude earthquake struck the Canterbury region of New Zealand. It devastated the town of Lyttelton and the city of Christchurch, and caused a State of National Emergency to be declared.

About 240 people have died, and many more are injured, heartbroken and displaced. I have worked with many people from Christchurch over the past decade. My thoughts and best wishes go out to all I know, and all who have been affected by this tragedy.

While you remember those who have suffered, and are suffering, I invite you to also remember the heroes. And heroes there have been in the thousands. From those who extended a hand of help to a stranger, even when danger was present; to those who comforted the dying as they passed away; to those who entered collapsed buildings to search for survivors.

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February 21st, 2011

Managing Your Manager

A recent request for tips on managing your manager got me thinking about an approach that I’ve found very successful.

I’ve used this approach to manage my own manager in a corporate business, and to help others in both corporate businesses and the public sector to manage their boss.

Before getting into how this managing your manager approach works, let me provide a little background.

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February 14th, 2011

3 Tips for Effective Leadership

What is Effective Leadership? Here are some numbers to consider that answer this question.

Up to 70% of work motivation and employee performance is driven by a person’s immediate manager.

80% of a people manager’s influence is determined by 20% of their leadership activity.

Effective Leadership is about consistently executing on that 20% of leadership activity which makes the biggest difference.

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January 19th, 2011

Effective Leadership Has Impact

I believe that first-level and mid-level managers are the key to unleashing employee motivation and employee performance; and that the majority of these managers  have the potential to significantly improve the performance of their teams. 

I’m of the view that all people leaders have two distinct responsibilities. The first is to their organisation to ensure that their team delivers the performance required. The second responsibility is to their people. People spend a significant chunk of their time at work. Their leaders have a responsibility to ensure that the time spent at work is fulfilling and productive.

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December 22nd, 2010

What Is The Optimum Span Of Control?

Christmas reminds me of the observation of a highly experienced management consultant from the UK. His name has long escaped me, but his rule of thumb on the optimum span of control remains.

Span of control, or span of management, refers to the number of direct reports a people leader manages. With a larger span of control, the cost of  management can be reduced. However, if the span of control is too large, people managers  may not have the capacity to effectively lead their people for high performance.

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December 14th, 2010

Your Credibility Is Crucial

There are specific qualities that leaders must demonstrate if they want their people to voluntarily commit themselves to action in support of a common cause. The majority of us look for leaders who are honest, forward-looking, inspiring and competent.  Consistently these four characteristics rank well above any other qualities desired in leaders.

In virtually every survey conducted on the matter, honesty is selected more often than any other leadership characteristic. If people are going to follow someone willingly, they want to be assured that the person is worthy of their trust.

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November 23rd, 2010

What’s an Effective Leader?

My definition of an effective  leader is a people manager ( ie. first and mid-level) who inspires commitment, grows employee engagement and work motivation, confronts non-performance and maximises employee performance.

This definition has a lot to do with the research findings from the Work and Employment Research Centre at the University of Bath. They found that one of the keys to managing performance through people is triggering discretionary effort in employees.

Discretionary effort is the level of effort over and above that required for an employee to simply get by and keep their job. Individuals choose to what extent they are willing to provide additional effort, for which they are essentially unpaid.

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