Wednesday, 17 June 2015

How To Be An Engaging Leader :Written goals-for-managers

How To Be An Engaging Leader
Written goals-for-managers


Goals are part of managerial practices. Well-written goals act as signpost to lead and manage the direction of a team as well as the manager. This presentation catch the essentials to jump start goal writing routine for a manager on the way to success


How To Be An Engaging Leader Manager as strategist : Harness the power of strategic agility

How To Be n Engaging Leader
Manager as strategist : Harness the power of strategic agility

Find out how a manager or leader can use Strategic agility that requires strategic thinking to balance between adjusting to change and holding a winning vision at the same time



Thursday, 21 May 2015

How To Be An Engaging Leader: How Power-Hungry Bosses Keep Their Power



How To Be An Engaging Leader
How Power-Hungry Bosses Keep Their Power




Source adapted and credited to Link


Charleen Case and Jon Maner, researchers at Northwestern’s Kellogg School, surveyed university students to identify individuals who like to wield authority over others. They then showed that when those individuals felt insecure about their positions, they tried to prevent highly skilled “subordinates” from bonding and forming cooperative relationships. When asked to choose seating arrangements, for example, these leaders separated the most capable of the subordinates from all the other people. In doing so, they blocked the kinds of peer-to-peer interactions that foster group success—even though they had been instructed that cooperation among subordinates would enhance the group’s performance.

Read more in : Source:Link

How To Be An Engaging Leader:Holding People Accountable When They Don’t Report to You

How To Be An Engaging Leader
Holding People Accountable When They Don’t Report to You

Project managers sometimes face the problem of working with people who don't report to them administratively. If such a person falls through on a promise to get something done for your project, then holding her accountable can be a touchy issue.
You may not try to hold her accountable because you think it’s inappropriate (after all, you’re not her boss) or because you don’t know how to do so. But remember: Holding people accountable is appropriate and necessary when they’ve accepted a responsibility.
Accountability helps people know that they’re on the right track, and it enables you to acknowledge when they’ve completed the promised assignments. You don’t need authority to hold people accountable; the people just have to have accepted the responsibility.
Use the following approaches to hold people accountable when you don’t have direct authority over them:
  • Find out who has direct authority over the person and bring that supervisor into the process: Consider soliciting the approval of the person’s boss when you ask the person to accept responsibility for a task. When you do so correctly and at the right time, you can improve the chances for success.
    If a person’s boss is unaware that her staff member agreed to perform a task for you, your chances of getting the boss’s help when the person fails to perform as promised are small. However, if the boss supported her staff member’s offer to help you when it was made, the boss and her staff member shouldn’t be surprised if you solicit the boss’s help when the staff member doesn’t do the task.
  • Put it in writing: Put your agreement in writing to formalize it, to clarify the terms, and to serve as a reminder to both you and the person agreeing to do the task. If the person asks whether you want to have a written agreement because you don’t trust that she’ll do what she promises, explain to her that if you didn’t trust her, you wouldn’t work with her at all!
  • Be specific: The clearer you make your request, the easier it is for the person to estimate the effort she needs to respond to the request and to produce the right result the first time. You may feel that being too specific is inappropriate because you have no direct authority over her. But recognize that putting a request in writing doesn’t make it an order; it just clarifies its specifics and makes it easier to perform.
  • Follow up: Negotiate a schedule to monitor the person’s performance and to address any issues or questions that arise. Be sure to
    • Negotiate a follow-up schedule at the outset of the agreement. If you call unannounced at random times, you appear to be checking up because you don’t trust the person.
    • Base your follow-up schedule on when the person plans to achieve certain intermediate milestones; this timeline gives you more objective criteria for an assessment.
  • Make the person accountable to the team: Your most valuable professional asset is your reputation. When a person promises to do something for you, let others on your team know about the promise. When the person lives up to that promise, acknowledge her accomplishment in front of her colleagues. If the person fails to live up to the promise, let her know you’ll share that information with others.
  • Get commitment: When a person indicates that she’ll help you out, be sure to get a firm, specific commitment that the desired result will be achieved by a specific time and for a specific cost. Beware of vague declarations like “I’ll give it my best effort” or “You can count on me.”
  • Create a sense of urgency and importance: You may want to minimize any pressure the person feels by offering to understand if she can’t perform to your expectations because of one reason or another. Unfortunately, this approach suggests that the work you’re asking her to do isn’t really that important and actually increases the chance that she won’t complete it. Instead, let the person know how her work influences other activities and people on the project. Let her know why she needs to perform to expectations and what the consequences will be — to the project and the organization — if she doesn’t.
Source credited to  : Link

Saturday, 2 May 2015

How To Be An Engaging Leader:This List Helps To Spot If Your Team Is Healthy?


How To Be An Engaging Leader 
This List Helps To Spot If Your Team Is Healthy?

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Working in a group can be enjoyable or frustrating, perhaps both. These feelings are linked to the health of your team. Not unlike an individual, a team needs to grow and develop in order to increase its effectiveness and confidence. As a manager, how do you know if your group doing well and is healthy? What are some of the areas of development that you can work on with your team members?

Here are five areas of development in teams to work with:


  1. Climate
  2. Involvement
  3. Interaction
  4. Cohesion
  5. Productivity


See below for more details....

By observing, understanding, and giving attention to these five areas, groups can improve their processes, accomplish more goals, and provide more satisfaction for the members.

Climate:  This includes both the physical and the emotional climate that are important to the well-being and growth of the team. Seating arrangements, lighting, ventilation and closeness of members can affect the group. Emotional climate determines the security and ease of the members. There is a feeling of "something is in the air" when you walk into the room that can help you determine your teams´s emotional climate. Is it formal or informal? Friendly? Competitive?

Tip:  Table and chairs can create a separation between the members; try an open circle of chairs to facilitate a more personal communication and free expression.


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Involvement: Is determined by the draw of other members in the team to each other and to the activities or product of the team. Some key questions in assessing involvement are: Why are the members here? What level of commitment do they have to the team?  Levels of involvement show up in lateness, absenteeism and lack of energy.

Tip :  Allow for opportunities for members to participate in setting their own work goals and procedures.

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Interaction : This is a key dimension in your group´s health. If more members interact with one another, the more likely the team will develop and accomplish its task. Key question in assessing your group´s level of interaction are: What is the distribution of participation?  Who has the power in the group? Are their sub-groups or cliques? What is the balance of roles in the group (see note)? Are people listening and building on the idea of others?  Emotional climate and interaction are closely linked. Members who feel secure and accepted can express their feelings freely and frequently.

Tip:  Encourage group decision-making activities, small group projects and coffee breaks to promote closeness and discussion.

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Productivity: The accomplishment of goals provides motivation and pride for in the group as a whole. This involves areas of goal setting, goal clarification, gaining member commitment, and implementation.

Tip: A simple step to help your group reach its goals is by following up and planning ahead. If decisions from previous sessions were carried out then your group can create momentum by planning ahead for the next session. In the best circumstances, you can trust that group members will be able to do additional work that will have an impact on the overall goal.


Source adapted and credited to : Link



How To Be An Engaging Leader: How To See If You Have Workplaces that Work:Signs Of Productive Work Teams

How To Be An Engaging Leader
How To See If You Have Workplaces that Work
Signs Of Productive Work Teams

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A team focuses its work on common objectives and finding solutions to shared problems. It uses formal processes such as record keeping, facilitation and scheduled meetings to achieve its objectives.All these can be seen in an effective team that will:
  1. Retain valuable organizational knowledge that comes with the continuity of staff and sharing of information
  2. Enhance the power and feeling of satisfaction of individuals working on the team
  3. Establish trust relationships that lead to better sharing of knowledge and understanding
  4. Achieve objectives because individuals are working together
  5. Hold team members accountable to one another accountable
  6. Combine the talents of many individuals and therefore contribute more than the sum of its parts
  7. Create an environment where the input from people at all levels is valued
  8. Create new knowledge through working and learning with others
  9. Provide a process and place for multiple perspectives to be applied to complex problems and issues
  10. Generate new ideas and insights
  11. Turn knowledge into practical results that improve the organization´s services
  12. Use a variety of communication processes (including technology) to support the sharing of information, knowledge and experience
  13. Create a climate where innovation and new ideas are supported and members listen to diverse points of view
  14. Multiply impacts while maintaining or reducing the resources needed to do the job
  15. Promote a culture that questions the status quo and looks for innovative ways to improve services and reach goals
  16. Empower individuals, the team and the organizations

Source adapted and credited to : Link



Here are two short videos on what teamwork can achieve: Amazing results!












How To Be An Engaging Leader: New Careers for Older Workers | AIER


How To Be An Engaging Leader
New Careers for Older Workers | AIER



Most older workers who seek career changes are successful, especially when they were able to use their skills from their old careers, according to a new survey released today by the American Institute for Economic Research.

AIER research shows that pursuing a new career is a viable option for workers later in their careers. Eighty-two percent of survey respondents reported making a successful transition to a new career after age 45.

A successful career change does not come without some challenges. Some respondents reported that they initially took pay cuts. However, successful career changers reported that after a period of hard work and persistence, they worked their way up the income ladder.

The study offers valuable lessons for older workers, employers and higher education leaders. Whether the decision is voluntary or forced on them, older workers can and do shift their career paths. The vast majority is successful in making the change and most find that it that it helps them achieve their financial goals and personal goals.



Source: New Careers for Older Workers | AIER

Friday, 1 May 2015

How To Be An Engaging Leader: Institut Integriti Malaysia



How To Be An Engaging Leader
Institut Integriti Malaysia




Source Link

How To Be An Engaging Leader: What Is Integrity?


How To Be An Engaging Leader
What Is Integrity?

What is Integrity

Public or organisational integrity is the set of characteristics that justify trustworthiness and generate trust among stakeholders. Integrity creates the conditions for organisations to intelligently resist corruption and to be more trusted and efficient.
Integrity Action takes integrity to be the alignment of four factors:
Accountability
Competence
Ethics, and
Corruption control
Accountability is both the ability of key stakeholders to check that we do what we say we do, and responsiveness to legitimate internal and external claims. Public  institutions have to be held to account.
Competence is the ability to do something well. If an organisation doesn’t deliver good infrastructure, healthcare or education for example, it would not, ultimately, be acting with integrity. 
We define Ethics as behaving with honour and public purpose. Engaging with values and issues such as the environment, access to justice, public infrastructure is intrinsically bound to the question of organisational integrity.
The final factor that undermines organisational integrity is corruption. The abuse of entrusted power for private gain. Eliminating corruption requires dedicated resource and institutional mechanisms that must be complemented by other institutions.
Integrity Action’s approach to integrity is this formula:
Integrity = Accountability + Competence + Ethics - corruption
Source adapted and credited to  http://www.integrityaction.org/what-integrity#sthash.w3NqC8wf.dpuf

Wednesday, 29 April 2015

How to Be An Engaging Leader : Use Positive Stress to Get the Most from Your Managers

How to Be An Engaging Leader
Use Positive Stress to Get the Most from Your Managers


Being a leader comes with responsibility, and responsibility can bring stress. If you know how to manage the stress of leadership, you can make terrific things happen. This goes double for the managers who work for you in the company hierarchy. A manager who manages both stress and employees may well be your best employee — one who can lead others to your vision. This is why you must approach stress in a way that helps your brain and pushes you to success.

The person at the top of the hierarchy experiences positive stress — the kind that drives you to accomplish things. Positive stress enhances memory and people skills, and it enables you to feel the emotions necessary to win and to achieve.

Positive stress is a tool for getting things done. A little rush of adrenaline that gets the heart beating faster and puts employees in action can go a long way to getting things done. Try some of the following strategies to increase and harness positive stress:

Set short-term goals. Time limits increase stress levels but only enough to create positive responses in those who are equipped to meet the goals.

Offer incentives. The promise of a reward gets those stress juices flowing.

Promise new learning. Some employees experience positive stress when they get excited about a doable challenge.

Most research shows that money is not the reason people work for an organization. The reason is they share the organization’s vision.


Source adapted and credited to Marilee B. Sprenger from The Leadership Brain For Dummies

How To Be An Engaging Leader: Delegating Effectively

How To Be An Engaging Leader
Delegating Effectively


Delegation doesn't just happen. Just like any other task that you perform as a manager, you have to work at it. The six steps to effective delegation are the following:

1. Communicate the task. Describe exactly what you want done, when you want it done, and what end results you expect.

2. Furnish context for the task. Explain why the task needs to be done, its importance in the overall scheme of things, and possible complications that may arise during its performance.

3. Determine standards. Agree on the standards that you will use to measure the success of a task's completion. These standards should be realistic and attainable.

4. Grant authority. You must grant employees the authority necessary to complete the task without constant roadblocks or standoffs with other employees.Remember to inform other employees of the scope of work that is delegated and how they should support employee.

5. Provide support. Determine the resources necessary for your employee to complete the task and then provide them. Successfully completing a task may require money, training, advice, and other resources.

6. Get commitment. Make sure that your employee has accepted the assignment. Confirm your expectations and your employee's understanding of and commitment to completing the task.

Clearly, delegation benefits both workers and managers alike when you do it correctly. So why aren't you delegating more work to your employees? Maybe you aren't sure what to delegate. While a manager can delegate almost any task to a worker, some things should be routinely delegated to employees, and some things should never be delegated to employees.


Source adapted and credited to copyright owner Trademark by John Wiley & Sons in 2015

How To Be An Engaging Leader: How To Manage Your Boss!



How To Be An Engaging Leader 
How To Manage Your Boss! 



" When by the second quarter, margins and profits had still failed to improve, the president took direct control over all pricing decisions and put all items on a set level of margin, regardless of volume. The new vice president began to find himself shut out by the president, and their relationship deteriorated. In fact, the vice president found the president’s behavior bizarre. Unfortunately, the president’s new pricing scheme also failed to increase margins, and by the fourth quarter, both the president and the vice president were fired.
What the new vice president had not known until it was too late was that improving marketing and sales had been only one of the president’s goals. His most immediate goal had been to make the company more profitable—quickly."

Read more ...


Many managers, like Bonnevie, assume that the boss will magically know what information or help their subordinates need and provide it to them. Certainly, some bosses do an excellent job of caring for their subordinates in this way, but for a manager to expect that from all bosses is dangerously unrealistic. A more reasonable expectation for managers to have is that modest help will be forthcoming. After all, bosses are only human. Most really effective managers accept this fact and assume primary responsibility for their own careers and development. They make a point of seeking the information and help they need to do a job instead of waiting for their bosses to provide it.

In light of the foregoing, it seems to us that managing a situation of mutual dependence among fallible human beings requires the following:

1. You have a good understanding of the other person and yourself, especially regarding strengths, weaknesses, work styles, and needs.

2. You use this information to develop and manage a healthy working relationship—one that is compatible with both people’s work styles and assets, is characterized by mutual expectations, and meets the most critical needs of the other person.This combination is essentially what we have found highly effective managers doing.

Understanding the Boss

Managing your boss requires that you gain an understanding of the boss and his or her context, as well as your own situation. All managers do this to some degree, but many are not thorough enough.

At a minimum, you need to appreciate your boss’s goals and pressures, his or her strengths and weaknesses. What are your boss’s organizational and personal objectives, and what are his or her pressures, especially those from his or her own boss and others at the same level? What are your boss’s long suits and blind spots? What is the preferred style of working? Does your boss like to get information through memos, formal meetings, or phone calls? Does he or she thrive on conflict or try to minimize it? Without this information, a manager is flying blind when dealing with the boss, and unnecessary conflicts, misunderstandings, and problems are inevitable.


More information here from the adapted and credited source: Link

How To Be An Engaging Leader: Appreciation to MALP team April 2015

How To Be An Engaging Leader
Appreciation to MALP team April 2015

Great times won't last but wonderful memories do. A note of appreciation for 5 days of wonderful sharing and learning opportunities. You are all great individuals  to learn from.

Also, thanks for dropping by this blog and in future, do remember to come an visit as well to pick up some insights to develop your choice area of competency. If you have any special request on anything regarding leadership , you can reach me at this blog or the free openlearning,com platform

Like I mentioned, many small wins become a BIG victory!

Each and everyone of you will be in my mind as I update this blog to support you in your journey as a global leader ! 

Thanks again! Till we meet again, Good Bye! 

Tuesday, 28 April 2015

How To Be An Engaging Leader : Key Phrases To Help Listen and Respond Constructively Anytime

How To Be An Engaging Leader
Key Phrases To Help Listen and Respond Constructively Anytime 

When listening to the other person's point of view, the following responses are
often helpful:

Encourage the other person to share his or her issues as fully as possible.
· "I want to understand what has upset you."
· "I want to know what you are really hoping for."

Clarify the real issues, rather than making assumptions. Ask questions that allow you to gain
this information, and which let the other person know you are trying to understand.
· "Can you say more about that?"
· "Is that the way it usually happens?"

Restate what you have heard, so you are both able to see what has been understood so far ­ it
may be that the other person will then realize that additional information is needed.
· "It sounds like you weren't expecting that to happen."

Reflect feelings ­ be as clear as possible.
· "I can imagine how upsetting that must have been."

Validate the concerns of the other person, even if a solution is elusive at this time. Expressing
appreciation can be a very powerful message if it is conveyed with integrity and respect.
· "I really appreciate that we are talking about this issue."
· "I am glad we are trying to figure this out."

Source adapted and credited to Link

How To Be An Engaging Leader:How to Introduce a New Employee to Your Corporate Culture

How To Be An Engaging Leader
How to Introduce a New Employee to Your Corporate Culture


Corporate culture means the environment in which your employees spend their time. Introduce your business's corporate culture to a new employee by following these tips, which can help you introduce your business to a new employee in a motivating way:

Think like a tour guide. Point out subtle features, such as how coworkers prefer to communicate (whether through scheduled meetings, voicemail, e-mail, and so on); how the staff has fun together (for example, monthly birthday celebrations); and how employees respond to one another’s problems and crises (perhaps a team will drop everything to pitch in when someone needs help).

By sharing this type of information, you speak volumes about shared values.

Let the new hire be a shadow. During the first week, focus less on having the new employee do his or her job and more on letting the individual find out what others do. The most effective approach is to have the new hire shadow several coworkers for a few hours or a day. They meet a lot of people, learn about work flows, and gain an understanding of each person or department’s function.

Involve long-time employees as mentors. If you’re unable to escort the newcomer through the first week or two on the job, ask one or two veteran employees to be mentors. Their role will be to help the new arrival settle in and become acquainted with your company’s people and processes. In addition, the mentor will be the designated go-to person when the new employee has questions or problems.

Do a daily meeting. For the first few days, meet with the employee for half an hour before going home. Encourage him or her to share impressions and ask questions.

Source adapted and credited from Link

How To Be An Engaging Leader: How to Conduct a Performance Appraisal in the Workplace

How To Be An Engaging Leader
How to Conduct a Performance Appraisal in the Workplace

As you conduct performance appraisal sessions as a manager or supervisor, use the following guidelines to help you increase the likelihood of having a positive and productive exchange with your employees.

Open on an upbeat note. Start the discussion with friendly greetings — this sets the tone for the rest of the session.

Lay out the framework. Let employees know the topics you plan to cover, as well as the order in which you plan to cover them.

Ask for questions. This will raise employees’ comfort level and eliminate nagging issues that could distract them.

Focus on performance. Keep your feedback focused on your employees’ performance, especially in terms of meeting objectives, achieving results, handling critical incidents, and developing competencies.

Discuss the evaluations. Walk through the evaluations with your employees and provide them with specific information regarding the rationale behind your ratings. If you use self-evaluations, discuss the points where you and your employees agree and disagree.

Listen actively. Rephrase and summarize what your employees say, to make sure you truly understand them.

Clarify the overall ratings. Discuss the overall ratings with your employees and provide specific information regarding the criteria that you used to determine them.

End the sessions positively. Summarize the discussion, ask for final questions, set follow-up dates for goal setting, have the employees sign hard copies of the evaluations, and end with positive expectations.

Source adapted and credited to Ken Lloyd from part of the Performance Appraisals & Phrases For Dummies Cheat Sheet

How To Be An Engaging Leader: How to Survive Office Politics by Identifying Key Players

How To Be An Engaging Leader
How to Survive Office Politics by Identifying Key Players

To survive office politics, know who the key players are. After all, office politics is about the relationships and dynamics among your colleagues. At its best, those relationships allow you to get tasks done, to be informed about the latest goings-on in the business, and to form a personal network of supportive business associates. At its worst, office politics degenerates into a competition, where employees try to increase their personal power at the expense of others.


  1. Look for factors that indicate importance
  2. Key players are those politically astute individuals who make things happen in an organization. The following questions can help you identify the key players in your organization:
  3. Which employees are sought out for advice in your organization?
  4. Which employees are considered by others to be indispensable?
  5. Whose offices are close to top management's and whose are miles away?
  6. Who eats lunch with the upper management team?


Rethink your company's organization chart
Your company's organization chart may be useful for determining who's who in the formal organization, but to understand the political landscape in your workplace you need the real organization chart. Compare these charts: The first is a typical official organization chart. The second shows who really has political power and who doesn't. Remember: Sometimes, influential people don't hold influential positions.

Source adapted and credited to part of the text for  Thriving in the Workplace All-in-One For Dummies Cheat Sheet

How To Be An Engaging Leader: How To Help Employees Meet Expectations

How To Be An Engaging Leader
How To Help Employees Meet Expectations




Meeting expectations is a great accomplishment for every employee. Feeling in control is a great accomplishment for every employee’s brain. Leaders create opportunities for employees to make things happen and to make a difference in some of the following ways:


  1. Delegate responsibility to your employees. Even if you think you can do a job better or faster, don’t.
  2. Set the bar. Outline, define, draw, or tattoo the expectations and skills employees need to get the job done. Make them clear and specific, and be certain your employees can see how they contribute to the achievement of a goal.
  3. Help employees visualize success using emotion, fact, and symbols.
  4. Keep lines of communication open. Assure employees that they can ask any questions they may have along the way. Their input is important to you and to the success of the company. They may find a better way to reach your goals.
  5. Allow for differences in intelligences and learning style. You may be better at visualizing and expect others to be able to see your picture, but some may get messages or get things done by listening, talking, or acting. Getting to the same place through different channels is perfectly acceptable.
  6. Let employees know that you’re available to help them problem-solve. Show them that you are passionate about your company and want to help if they need it.
  7. Celebrate the small successes. Growth can be slow and sometimes a little painful. Be the head cheerleader.
  8. Celebrate when expectations are met. If you see room for more growth with just a little stretching, offer employees the opportunity to keep growing. Don’t diminish what has been accomplished, but show them that you always stretch yourself and that they may do so as well.
  9. Be prepared to make changes. Good employees sometimes find themselves in the wrong place. If you can, offer options whenever an assigned project isn’t working for a particular person. People don’t excel in every situation or in every environment. Give yourself and your employee a chance to grow under different conditions.
Source adapted and credited to Marilee B. Sprenger from The Leadership Brain For Dummies

How To Be An Engaging Leader : How To Assess Your Leadership Style

How To Be An Engaging Leader
How To Assess Your Leadership Style



The following assessment gives you a good idea of your strengths as a leader. Knowing your leadership style may help you understand why you lead the way you do, whether changing your style will be easy, and what kind of people you need to hire to compensate for some areas of weakness.

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On a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being never and 5 being always, rate yourself on the following statements:

I like power and control.

I listen to others, but I like to have the final word.

I am not an expert in all areas of my business.

I don’t care what others think; I do what is best for me.

I like shared decision-making.

I prefer control to be with my followers.

I micromanage.

I like to recognize achievement.

Group members should create their own goals.

I do not trust my employees.

I like to encourage collaboration.

I allow group members to solve their own problems.

Employees do only what they’re told.

I want my business to run through teams.

I am not good at following up with employees.

I decide how to fix problems.

I like to help my employees grow and learn.

I give very little input because my employees know their jobs better than I do.

I don’t want to make time for employee input.

I like to hear the opinions of my employees.

Employees have the right to create their own objectives.

I like being in charge.

I want input from my employees.

I like my employees to make decisions on their own.

I tell my employees what to do, when to do it, and how to do it.

I want my employees to fulfill their potential.

I don’t want more authority than others in my organization.

Mistakes are not acceptable.

When things go wrong, I ask for advice from team members.

Power belongs to the entire organization.



Authoritarian leaders

Add up your scores for items 1, 4, 7, 10, 13, 16, 19, 22, 25, and 28. That sum is your authoritative total.

Authoritarian leaders know exactly what they want done, who is to do it, and when it should be completed. Although these leaders don’t offer much wiggle room, they often get the job done, and they make their expectations obvious. Authoritarian leaders do well in small organizations with untrained employees. Beware of failing to seek feedback or being dictatorial.

Democratic leaders
Add up your scores for items 2, 5, 8, 11, 14, 17, 20, 23, 26, and 29. This is your democratic total.

The democratic style encourages employees and stakeholders to participate in decision-making. With an experienced workforce, the democratic style can be a positive and motivational experience for all stakeholders. Because everyone is included in making decisions, the decision makers need to be knowledgeable about the business, the process, the product, and the vision statement. This can require more time to get things done.

Delegative leaders
Add up your scores for items 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, 21, 24, 27, and 30. This is your delgative total.

Trust and confidence are hallmarks of the delegative leadership style, which is sometimes called laissez faire leadership because of its minimal interference in employees’ efforts. Under a delegative leader, employees have free rein to make decisions and get their jobs done. This style works very well with an educated and experienced workforce, especially with those who would like to become leaders themselves. Be careful using this style with employees who are insecure, afraid of making mistakes, or have difficulty communicating with others.

The leadership style with the highest total is the style you use most often. One high score with two low scores indicates a strong preference for that leadership style.

Source adapted and credited to Marilee B. Sprenger from The Leadership Brain For Dummies

How To Be An Engaging Leader: High Performance Work Organizations (HPWO)


How To Be An Engaging Leader
High Performance Work Organizations (HPWO)


High Performance Work Organizations (HPWO) use a systemic approach to motivate effort from employees by:


  1. Developing a communication structure that stimulates discussion, self-directedness and autonomy
  2. Enabling workers to learn skills and follow training that is developed to their needs and access relevant resources
  3. Motivating them to meet their full potential by engaging in life-long learning
  4. Recognizing performance and providing advancement and/or development opportunities
  5. One of the key components of a High Performance Work Organizations (HPWO) is that it must be a Learning Organization.


Successful organizations of the future maximize their learning potential. State-of-the-art training will give you a sustainable competitive advantage. Your training resources will be invested in the most critical success areas.




Source adapted and credited to : Link



Monday, 27 April 2015

How To Be An Engaging Leader: Thank You For Viewing *MALP*


How To Be An Engaging Leader : Kotter's Eight Step Change Management Model






How To Be An Engaging Leader
Kotter's Eight Step Change Management Model



To avoid becoming a prisoner to traditional practices, leaders must utilize basic change management. Most current models of change management are based on the work of leadership guru and Harvard Business School professor, John Kotter.


Source adapted and credited to  Link 


“Approximately 70% of change efforts fail or are derailed. Failure of an organizational change can lead to major issues that cause unmet expectations, wasted time and money.” 

How To Be An Engaging Leader The Johari Window


How To Be An Engaging Leader
The Johari Window


Source adapted and credited to  Link
Key Points
Joseph Luft and Harry Ingham developed the Johari Window in 1955.

The tool is a useful visual representation of a person's character, and is represented with a four-quadrant grid.

The goal of the Johari Window is to demonstrate the importance of open communication, and to explain its effect on group trust. The model also teaches you the importance of self-disclosure, and shows how group feedback can help you grow, both personally and professionally.

Your Open Area is expanded vertically with self-disclosure, and horizontally with feedback from others on your team. By encouraging healthy self-disclosure and sensitive feedback, you can build a stronger and more effective team.

Source adapted and credited to :Link

Sunday, 26 April 2015

How To Be An Engaging Leader: A Paper On Transformation



How To Be An Engaging Leader
A Paper On Transformation

While every company has its own systems based management, other parts of  work management and teamwork are just as important to delivery fantastic results, in some cases, where the odds are big against success.  Here is a case that shows how business and people elements complement one another towards an end goal. 

It appears your Web browser is not configured to display PDF files. No worries, just click here to download the PDF file.




Source adapted and credited to Link

Friday, 24 April 2015

How To Be An Engaging Leader: A Look At Self Mastery :How Successful Executives Develop


How To Be An Engaging Leader
A Look At Self Mastery :How Successful Executives Develop


Successful and effective leaders get to be that way by responding positively and adaptively over a long period of time to diverse but specific experiences. Basically, these can be grouped into five types:

Challenging jobs.
Challenging jobs—starting up something or fixing troubled operations, expanding large operations, working on time-limited projects from crises to systems installation—teach about the subtleties of leadership. These developmental challenges represent what leaders actually have to do. Such jobs teach how to cope with pressure, learn quickly, or deal with balky subordinates. In absolute terms, challenging assignments are the best teacher. They provide both the greatest variety and number of lessons requisite for executive leadership.

Bosses and other people.
Bosses and other people, both good and bad, serve as significant role models for values. Exceptional people seem to create a punctuation mark for executives, either by representing what to be or to do or what not to be or not to do. Whether by serving as models of integrity or acumen, poor ethics or avarice, certain bosses exemplify how values play out in management settings.

Hardships. 
Hardships teach executives about their limits. These include making mistakes, getting stuck in dead-end jobs, enduring the traumas of life such as untimely deaths and tornadoes, and having to fire people. Regardless of the event, managers experiencing hardships will often look inward to reflect on their humanity, their resilience, and, most importantly, their flaws.

Coursework.
Coursework can serve as a powerful comparison point, a chance to build self-confidence by sizing oneself up against managers from other organizations. Courses are also a place to trade tips, listen to war stories, and pick up different approaches to solving problems.

Off-the-job experiences.
Experiences off the job, usually relating to community service, can be primers in persuasion. Each of these types of experience teaches something unique, and learning from a variety of experiences can lead to one's being a manager with balance, able to respond adaptively to a variety of challenges. For instance, the confidence built through successfully coping with challenging jobs can lead to arrogance unless tempered by a sense of one's own foibles and limits; this is usually learned through facing hardships.

Having a variety of experiences is a prerequisite for success. The flip side also holds. Not having a variety of experiences or failing to learn from them can lead to failure or derailment—having one's career involuntarily and prematurely stalled or stopped through demotion, plateauing, or being fired.

As mentioned above, challenging jobs are the best teacher. The following types of jobs were reported to be the most developmental:


Start-ups. 
Start-ups are assignments in which the manager starts from scratch to produce something—for instance, products, plants, or subsidiaries. With little history and few rules to follow, in the face of ambiguity and uncertainty, the manager must plan, build teams, act, learn from mistakes, and, finally, produce. This kind of job teaches one to be able to stand alone and take charge.

Fix-its.
Fix-it jobs—for instance, turning around troubled units or integrating feuding or nonaligned departments—teach managers about both building and using structure and management and control systems, as well as how to cajole and persuade others that the new ways and systems are better than the old. Some realize for the first time how toughness (tearing down and restructuring) and compassion (rebuilding, motivating, and cajoling) can be demanded at the same time.

Stark leaps in scope and scale.
Large leaps in responsibility—switching to new businesses or facing large increases in the number of people, dollars, or functions that must be managed—put the manager in the position of having responsibilities that can no longer be handled alone. A lesson here is that guiding, prodding, and structuring are needed when one can't get intimately involved in every problem or project. Managers must learn to delegate and build team ownership and many ultimately see such job shifts as transitions—from doing things themselves to seeing that things get done, from controlling to guiding, from setting objectives to developing subordinates so they could learn to set priorities for themselves.

Projects and task forces.
Projects and task forces—and other temporary assignments (such as plant closings, acquisitions, negotiations, dealing with the board, and troubleshooting)—are normally carried out with tight deadlines and require managers to work with unfamiliar people and subject matter. Taking the time to hole up and study is not an option. Instead the manager must learn to ask questions, rely on the expertise of others, find a tutor, and understand the values and perspectives of others. Learning on the fly is required to be successful.

Line-to-staff switches.
Moving from a finite, measurable line job to a corporate staff planning job is one of the most focused ways that managers learn to think strategically. Line managers who think they understand planning often see it quite differently after they have moved into a staff financial or business planning assignment and looked at the practices in other units, analyzed various financial scenarios, or scanned what competitors have done.

These five types of jobs teach the lessons of adaptive action: coping with the demands of executive management, learning the business and requisite technical knowledge, and learning to deal with many different demands (fix it, start it, maintain and expand it, learn it quickly on the fly, deal differently with different groups of people, and rise above the day-to-day tactics to both think and act strategically).

One of the largest differences between successful and derailed executives is in learning the lessons these challenging jobs can teach. For example, successful executives don't often learn effective interpersonal skills from just courses; they learn them primarily when they need to as a result of meeting a people-challenge on the job. Similarly, they often learn about setting up new systems from fix-its and turnarounds, and developing other people from having a big leap in their management responsibilities.

As a group, successful executives, line and staff, regardless of organization, learn similar lessons from similar job challenges. In contrast, derailed executives have essentially no learning pattern from job assignments. They may have been in very challenging jobs, but they didn't learn the lessons from those assignments. They had the experience but missed the meaning.

In addition, leadership development involves successfully making key and large transitions from one type of job to another, from one way of doing things to another, from one skill set to another. Such stark changes help create the motivation for development to occur, and also increase the executive's repertoire of skills—all leading to the adaptive flexibility executives need to respond to new challenges.



Source adapted and credited to Twenty-two Ways to Develop Leadership in Staff Managers by Robert W. Eichinger and Michael M. Lombardo Link


How To Be An Engaging Leader: How Its done-Empowering Employees When Delegating

How To Be An Engaging Leader
How Its done-Empowering Employees When Delegating


The Art To Delegate  for day-to-day tasks may often be what many managers overlook when figuring out what to delegate . These are the items to share or reassign in part. Items related to the day-to-day operations of your group, which some managers tend to hold onto, are where your greatest potential exists to delegate wholly or in part to people on your staff. To help you decide which ones to delegate, the list below are some examples that you can entrust to certain employees to manage:


  1. Solving fairly routine customer problems
  2. Setting the daily work schedule and work flow
  3. Preparing agendas for your regular staff meetings
  4. Making decisions on situations that employees face in carrying out their responsibilities
  5. Completing functions you're less qualified for or not too good at doing
  6. Handling technical duties
  7. Compiling data
  8. Composing regular administrative reports
  9. Researching issues that come your way
  10. Training new employees or others in the group
  11. Carrying out important functions for which little staff coverage exists, meaning there's no back-up support for day-to-day operations
  12. Handling vendor-relations issues
  13. Seizing opportunities that build upon others' creative talents or desires
  14. Answering questions you're frequently asked
  15. Dealing with new functions that come about due to change in the workplace

Remember to keep track on progress regularly the items are formally under you responsibility as a manager/leader.

Source adapted and credited to Empowering Employees When Delegating by Marty Brounstein from Coaching and Mentoring For Dummies

How To Be An Engaging Leader: The Thomas-Kilmann model


How To Be An Engaging Leader
The Thomas-Kilmann model




Source adapted and credited to Link

How To Be An Engaging Leader: What It Takes-Being An Engaging Leader

How To Be An Engaging Leader
What It Takes=Being An Engaging Leader 


To lead your colleagues successfully,  you need to build people’s enthusiasm about their tasks and targets. Become an engaging leader by following these top tips for your team:


  1. Engage people to find meaning in their work: help them to understand that their work is important and worthwhile.
  2. Have and show a genuine interest in each person: find out each individual’s aspirations, needs, interests, talents, concerns, and so on.
  3. Appreciate that people want to contribute; engage people fully in their work to enable them to use their talents and have a sense of fulfillment.
  4. Speak your mind: say what you think while always acting with good intentions.
  5. Give people your total attention: listen intently and ask searching questions to improve mutual understanding in conversations about work.
  6. Build commitment to achieve objectives through engaging people to take ownership of their work.
  7. Strengthen your connections and relationships with everyone who works for and with you.
  8. Avoid meaningless language and be aware of making assumptions about the meaning of the language others are using.
  9. Ensure absolute clarity about agreed actions and deadlines for completing them.
  10. Encourage and reinforce shared accountability for success.


Source adapted and credited to Being an Engaging Leader By John Marrin as part of the Leadership For Dummies Cheat Sheet (UK Edition)

How To Be An Engaging Leader: Instilling Sustainable Engagement




How To Be An Engaging Leader
Instilling Sustainable Engagement


How To Be An Engaging Leader : How To Get People To Notice By Changing Your Response

How To Be An Engaging Leader
How To Get People To Notice By Changing Your Response


Wrong Approach  >>>>>>>Polite and Friendly Alternative

“I don’t know.”>>>>>> “I’ll find out.”

“No.” >>>>>>“What I can do is…”

“That’s not my job.”>>>>>> “Let me find the right person who can help you with …”

“You’re right – this is bad.” >>>>>>“I understand your frustrations.”

“That’s not my fault.” >>>>>>“Let’s see what we can do about this.”

“You want it by when?” >>>>>>“I’ll try my best.”

“Calm down.” >>>>>>“I’m sorry.” "Let me give you a moment."

“I’m busy right now.” >>>>>>“I’ll be with you in just a moment.”

“Call me back.” >>>>>>“I will call you back, what is your contact number.”

"I am busy now">>>>>> " Let me attend to you shortly."

"I can't help you">>>>>> " I'll get more information and contact you by (time).
                                             What would be your contact number?"

How To Be An Engaging Leader: How To Do One Minute Reprimands


How To Be An Engaging Leader 
How To Do One Minute Reprimands

The One Minute Reprimand works well when you:
Tell people beforehand that you are going to let them know how they are doing and
in no uncertain terms.


the first half of the reprimand:

  1. Reprimand people immediately.
  2. Tell people what they did wrong—be specific.
  3. Tell people how you feel about what they did wrong—and in no uncertain terms.
  4. Stop for a few seconds of uncomfortable silence to let them feel how you feel.



the second half of the reprimand:

  1. Shake hands, or touch them in a way that lets them know you are honestly on their
  2. side.
  3. Remind them how much you value them.
  4. Reaffirm that you think well of them but not of their performance in this situation.
  5. Realize that when the reprimand is over, it’s over.



Source adapted and credited to Kenneth Blanchard & Spenser Johnson – THE ONE MINUTE MANAGER in 1982

Thursday, 23 April 2015

How To Be An Engaging Leader: How to Anticipate and Address Reaction To Change In Any Situation


How To Be An Engaging Leader
How to Anticipate and Address Reaction To Change In Any Situation 



Source adapted and credited to: Corporate Leadership Council HR Practice:Building Employee Commitment to Change in  2009 by The Corporate Executive Board Company


How To Be An Engaging Leader : COMMUNICATIONS TIPS: CHANGE MANAGEMENT

How To Be An Engaging Leader
COMMUNICATIONS TIPS: CHANGE MANAGEMENT 


  1. Only communicate what has been authorized. This will ensure consistency across the organization.
  2. Communicate the business rationale for the change and the events leading up to it.
  3. Clarify the vision and specific change plans.
  4. Explain the benefits of the change to the broader department or faculty and theindividuals on your team.
  5. Update your team regularly on the progress of the change.
  6. Acknowledge the negatives of the change.
  7. Provide as much detail as possible to minimize rumors.
  8. Acknowledge when you do not have the answers. Do not guess.
  9. Emphasize that change will happen.

The Importance of Building Commitment to Change

Business change is a constant occurrence and leaders/ managers who communicate change effectively can improve their direct reports’ performance by as much as 29.2%

Line managers as leaders represent the most consistent and employee-preferred providers of messages during tough times. This role is beyond the cascading of corporate messages, as managers can also
1. personalize these messages
2. ensure message relevance
3. answer questions, and
4. serve as a sounding board for employees’ concerns


Source adapted and credited to: Corporate Leadership Council HR Practice:Building Employee Commitment to Change in  2009 by The Corporate Executive Board Company

How To Be An Engaging Leader: The design and use of performance management systems

How To Be An Engaging Leader
The design and use of performance management systems






Source adapted and credited to : Link

Ferreira, A. and D. Otley. 2009. The design and use of performance management systems: An extended framework for analysis. Management Accounting Research (December): 263-282

How To Be An Engaging Leader: How to start right on 2 important contents to say in the constructive feedback.


How To Be An Engaging Leader
How to start right on 2 important contents to say in the constructive feedback

START with 2 sentences

In your first sentence, identify the topic or issue that the feedback will be about.
Provide the specifics of what occurred.

Without the specifics, you only have praise or criticism. Start each key point with an "I" message, such as, "I have noticed," "I have observed," "I have seen," or when the need exists to pass on feedback from others, "I have had reported to me." "I" messages help you be issue-focused and get into the specifics.


Source credited and adapted from : Giving Constructive Feedback by Marty Brounstein from Coaching and Mentoring For Dummies