You don’t have to dig very deep into most books about management or leadership before you come to an admonition that in order to be an effective leader or manager you have to learn how to delegate.
What could be so difficult about that?
I mean, why would anyone have to struggle to let someone else do some of their work? Delegating makes work easier. Heck, it frees up time for personal as well as professional activities – which is to say, it makes life better. Why would anyone resist that?
“If you move this bookcase into the living room and then pull the couch away from the wall to angle into the room, I think you’ll like the change.”
My good friend has an eye for making a room look wonderful. She knows I don’t spend a lot of money on furnishings, and she’s quick to work her magic with what’s in front of her. She’d been to my house on many occasions, and I knew she’d been rearranging my furniture in her head for some time.
Great teams feel valued by those who lead them.
Teams that don’t feel valued often simply go through the motions which dampens motivation and decreases productivity. Great leaders pay keen attention to how valued their teams feel. Evaluate your leadership against these five behaviors great leaders show.
Great teams feel valued by those who lead them.
In two previous editions of my blog I highlighted key leadership competencies identified by an article published in The Harvard Business Review which could also be found in the pages of the Bible. The point of the connection is to highlight that ALL relevant and effective leadership principles can be found somewhere in the pages of God’s Word. If you are reading this, there is a chance you already know this truth, however, when you consider the statistics on biblical literacy today you doubt whether this knowledge is having any impact on what we do. It’s a bit like knowing that eating he
Expectations – love ‘em or hate ‘em? Yes, me, too. For twenty plus years, I’ve struggled with expecting positive reactions from people, only to be dissatisfied with the results. Maybe like me, you too expect to be treated a certain way or be given a specific amount of attention. As you might remember, we’ve been disappointed more than once. And we’ve also been hurt by others. They have not followed through the way we think they should. It helps to pull back to try to figure out why we feel this way.
Occasionally, someone surprises me. It happened recently.
I grew up in Washington, DC, played on city streets and took advantage of many of the opportunities there. One of my favorite Sunday afternoon activities was to visit the National Gallery of Art. It was just a short bus ride from home. I’d walk up to the marble building with the dome on the top (not the US Capitol but a dome nonetheless) and pull on the enormous bronze doors and be prepared to be dazzled again!
Something in a recent post by Seth Godin caught my attention:
“You might also notice how easy it is to notice people who are much worse at driving than you are--but that you almost never recognize someone who's driving better than you are.”
There’s a reason the news media highlight the negative things happening all around us everyday: it’s easier to notice and it’s what catches our attention (which is their objective).
Over the last three decades of teaching leadership qualities to my children and the members of American Heritage Girls, I have encountered thousands who claim they are not leaders. Many say they are “not chiefs but Indians” or “behind the scenes type of people.” These individuals believe that leaders are line leaders, always in the front, expecting others to follow. I beg to differ.
Leadership is influence.
Hardships and conflicts have a way of testing a leader’s mettle. I have witnessed the scene play itself out many times in the workplace; but it could just as easily take place at home, church or anywhere else. An employee believes that they have been wronged; perhaps, they were passed over for a promotion, didn’t agree with their performance evaluation, or they didn’t get to attend a training that others in the office attended. Regardless of the reason, the employee believing they didn’t have a way to resolve their concerns, files a complaint.
“Mom! Dad! I got the job!” Our son proudly announced his first summer employment position. Because of his love for golf, he had decided to see what might be available at the nearby golf course. Of course we were thrilled for him and asked what his job would be. “Cart Relocation Technician!” was his reply. Now it didn’t take me too many seconds to realize this was a glorified title for “cart boy.” But if it made him feel important, I wasn’t going to step on his youthful pride. He was looking forward to moving those golf carts around for the next few weeks.
