The lost art of in person conversations is now more valuable than ever. It is especially important and effective when you are trying to understand causes of issues and challenges and when you need to communicate vision, values and motivate people. Take the necessary time and make the effort to meet with people to learn what makes them tick; what …
Benefits of mentoring
Benefits of having a formal mentoring program (which can be implemented informally as well) are overwhelming. They range from knowledge management, transfer and retention; ideas exchange to development of employees and future leaders. Having said that, the most important ingredient for mentoring to be successful is willingness of both parties to participate. You can’t and shouldn’t force it, but rather …
Women leaders
Gender is not a prerequisite for leadership. Leaders should be evaluated based on their character, ethics, quality, attitude, words and actions, not based on their gender. I have had the pleasure of working for women and I have nothing but great things to say about those experiences. Women can lead as well as men (even better in some instances) so …
Search committee representation
When selecting representation for a search committee one must keep the position they are hiring for in mind. Focus not only on the operations or functions the new hire will fill, but also include people from other areas of your organization which will closely work with the incumbent. All employee groups who will work for or closely with them should …
When possible, promote from within
When possible, promote from within as this keeps employees motivated and it shows there’s room for growth and opportunities. Organizations should also focus on mentoring employees by helping them discover their strengths. Additionally, promoting from within will greatly aid in creation of the culture of collaboration, effort, commitment and the overall success. Having said that it is important to note …
Building effective advisory boards
Effective and valuable advisory boards much have a purpose and provide measurable contributions to the top management teams and organizations as a whole. While in some companies certain folks are invited to join boards simply because of their name and popularity (which can be beneficial) in most instances you want members to contribute. Contributions of effective advisory boards can vary, …
Leadership styles
Most of us are familiar with or have at least heard of the 6 overarching leadership styles: Authoritarian Paternalistic Leadership Democratic Laissez-faire Transactional Transformational And while each of them have their followers I have to say that none of them is “head and shoulders” above the rest and here’s why. Leadership styles or approaches, even strategy depend on the environment …
Strategy vs. Operations
Strategy and operations work best when complementing one another and when they work for each other. Depending on your position and responsibilities within an organization you may be spending 100% of your time in operations while others may be spending majority of their time focused on strategy, vision and leadership and both sides undoubtedly bring value. However, while I am …
Never stop learning
Learning is essential and as such should never stop. Do what you can to broaden your horizons each and every day; learn something new and don’t forget to contribute to your respective areas and professions as well. Educate yourself formally and informally, get involved (attend conferences, seminars; read books, journals, websites…) and expand your experiences. Do all of this with …
Customer centric, employee aware
Truly successful teams are both customer centric and employee aware. In order to be able to provide useful products and services one must design, create and build those with their customers in mind. However, equally important is the need to be aware of the needs of your staff in order for them to be successful. Leadership must provide resources and …