Individual responsibilities for each employee must be clearly communicated and understood by both sides, employee and supervisor. These responsibilities mush also be shared with the entire team as well as with other teams they regularly interact with. People need to know who does what and how they contribute to the entire team and the entire organizational mission, strategy and vision. …
Be resourceful and negotiate
Most of us are faced with lack of resources in some capacity in order to accomplish everything we believe we could and think we should be able to do. This lack of resources can be manifested in lack of personnel, particular skill set; lack of funding, lack of technology; equipment; tools; support services…and the list goes on. Sadly, that is …
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 …
Don’t be afraid, explore new opportunities
Don’t be afraid to explore new opportunities. Say yes to cross-functional teams, projects and challenges which will help you gain new perspectives, grow and learn from others. During these opportunities others will hopefully learn from you as well and all those involved will benefit from this mutual exchange of ideas, knowledge and experience. Finally, once you return to your primary …
Diplomacy matters
Political “savviness” is a necessity in today’s business world and it is an integral part of one’s advancement, recognition and achievement. While it may be cumbersome and challenging to some it is necessary to be able to recognize how to use proper tone and inflection in certain situations in order to win people over, influence them and demonstrate that your …
Build your team, then get out of their way
Due your due diligence when building a team and get involved in the selection process. Your direct reports need to match your quality standards as well as their personality needs to fit with the rest of the team. Once you have built your team, empower them and get out of their way. Don’t micromanage, trust them and allow them to …
Success is theirs, failures are all yours
Promote your team and their achievements whenever possible, be proud of them and make sure that their contributions to the organization are known and recognized. On the other hand, when a failure occurs it is the responsibility of a leader to deal with any and to face any public ramifications and consequences. One of many leadership responsibilities is to protect …
Business & technology are partners, not competitors
Finding that perfect balance between business and technology can be a challenging process. Aligning them together where they are useful to one another, productive and most of all on the same page has proven to be the key to success for many organizations. It’s simple, in order to maximize return on technology investments, organizations must align IT decisions with strategic …