Do you want to be the boss or manager that everybody loves and respects? Someone they don't walk all over, but they feel like you get them and want to go to the moon for you?
Becoming the boss everyone loves and respects is a big deal right now because you're hearing about everybody working their wage and quiet quitting. But we know that when teams are inspired, when they love their leaders, they're happier at work, too. Not only do they want to do the work, but they're happier at work and it's a better vibe.
So I'm going to show you how to make that happen...
Understand 2 Important Things About Yourself
Becoming the boss everyone loves begins with understanding yourself in two specific areas, and then training yourself to understand your team in these two specific areas.
The first one is your communication style. I actually call them interaction styles in the workplace. It's how we interact with one another. You're going to have a dominant style and the people around you are going to have different styles. Some styles are easier for you to understand and motivate than others. It's those styles that are polar opposite of yours that are going to require you to do more work to connect with those individuals.
The second one is about creating value. All of us like to work in certain ways, and there are eight main ways that people create value in the workplace. But if you can tap into their top ways, the way they prefer to create value, they will feel insanely productive and satisfied. It also means you can start dropping people in the right roles so that their work feels easy to them, but they're completely exceeding expectations. And now you look like a rock star.
As a manager, you understand people and their needs. You're communicating with them in a style that they need and you're putting them in roles and making them successful based on their strengths and how they create value.
If that makes sense to you, then there are two free quizzes that you can take. I have trained many a manager on this and they completely change how they interact with their team, how they leverage their team strength, and how they motivate individual team members. And again, they become beloved.
When you're loved and respected, you know your team is going to go to new heights and they're going to be happier. It's a win-win situation.
Right now, with the current work environment, it's very important that we as leaders pay more attention to this and we build relationships based on these two vital things that we must understand about the people who report to us. I promise you this is going to make it fun and easy for you to bring your team together and get them to the next level.
Good luck, and go get 'em!
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When we are asked to think of a leader, someone who inspires us to do our best every day, a wide variety of different people come to mind. Maybe someone in your personal life, someone from a television show or movie, or a historical figure whose personality you greatly admire.
While the type of person can vary immensely, more often than not, they will all have a certain set of skills and personality traits that make them a good leader. According to recent surveys, many groups find that a good business leader will often have several or all of these characteristics.
1. Honesty
A good leader will be able to establish an honest connection with their peers. A relationship based on trust and reliability makes the team know that their leader is always there for them, which in turn inspires them to be there for their leader.
2. Ability To Delegate
Each person in a group will be able to bring something different to the table, and a good leader will work with each member's strengths and weaknesses in order to make sure that the best is being done.
3. Ability To Communicate
By clearly describing their idea to their team, the leader will be able to create a sense of ease and understanding with their peers. When every member of the team is striving towards a common goal, then there is nothing that cannot be accomplished.
4. Sense Of Humor
Negative situations will always arise, but a good business leader will know how to diffuse them and help give their team peace of mind. A stress-free work environment often garners the most results, and sometimes all that is necessary to help push your team forward is a healthy dose of humor in the face of difficulty.
5. Confidence
A good leader will show confidence in the face of challenges and will inspire confidence in their team by reminding them that obstacles are just there to be overcome. The confident leader will keep their eye on the goal and will not allow anything to deter him or her, or their team, from success.
6. Commitment
Some leaders may drive their teams to work hard, while others will constantly be at their sides, giving every task one hundred percent. The latter is the type of leader that can expect to achieve more. Teams work better when they see that the one that they answer to is right by their side, sharing their struggles and triumphs.
7. Positive Attitude
Motivation is the key to success, and it can be hard to stay motivated in a negative environment. By keeping your team's spirits up, you will be able to motivate them to achieve more, and not let them be bothered by minor setbacks.
8. Creativity
Sometimes a difficult situation will arise that will require you to think outside of the box and help your team do the same. At such crucial movements, a good leader will be able to demonstrate a unique type of creativity that can help their team push through any situation.
9. Ability To Inspire
Inspiration can take many forms, but a capable leader will be able to demonstrate their ability to lead and inspire by motivating their team to share their vision.
10. Intuition
Finally, a good leader will have intuition. Sometimes obstacles will arise that nobody will know how to handle, perhaps even you. In such situations, it is important to be confident and make a decision.
No matter what the decision is, if you show that you are giving the problem everything you have got, it will inspire your team to do the same, which can often be all that is needed to help get past the situation.
All successful leaders have these 10 characteristics. If you want to be a great leader, make sure to develop these traits and skills, and you'll be sure to find your own success!
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This article was originally published at an earlier date.
The first time I realized this topic (virtual leadership) was important was about 15 years ago when the organization I worked at implemented a virtual platform for internal collaboration. It has cropped up many times since then but really exploded as an issue during the COVID-19 pandemic. Almost overnight virtual meetings became the way to work and many leaders just didnât, and still donât, know how to operate this way.
The big difference is that interaction doesnât happen organically and has to be planned intentionally.
Since most leaders donât know how to facilitate a virtual meeting in this way, meetings have become a huge drag on time and energy. People are attending more meetings, but interacting less which causes frustration, burnout, and eventually turnover.
Be the leader who still reaches out and not just at the next meeting.
Be the leader who knows how to use the technology that everyone has to use.
Be the leader who schedules another Zoom call and people actually want to attend.
âThe Leader Who Still Reaches Out And Not Just At The Next Meeting
Leaders know how to communicate (mostly), but the game has changed. You can no longer walk down the hall and drop in on an employee, you can no longer catch up with an employee at the coffee pot, and you can no longer linger after a meeting to check in with an employee. To really be good at communication now, you must be INTENTIONAL. You have to plan those drop-ins, those catch-ups, and those linger times. Employees still want your attention and, just like before, they will notice when they donât get it.
So, do schedule 1:1s with each of your direct reports, do schedule skip level meetings, and do schedule check-ins with your teams. Get strategic with your calendarâfigure out your priorities and the people you need to meet with to support those priorities and then schedule that time.
The Leader Who Knows How To Use The Technology That Everyone Has To Use
No one is comfortable in that meeting where the leader doesnât know where the share button is or how to let someone else share. It gets frustrating for people when they click the âraised handâ feature and the leader never calls on them. What about the question in the Q&A section that the leader never sees and addresses?
Zoom, Teams, Google Meet, Skype, etc.âall these virtual meeting tools have special features that can bring collaboration and interaction to life in a virtual meeting, but one has to know how to use those features and when and why.
Employees are more comfortable in a meeting that has some structure. A meeting where they know how they are expected to participate and also how they can participate. To provide that experience in a virtual meeting, you need to learn what features are available in your technology platform and learn why you might want to use them.
A great way to learn about technology features is to practice with your team. Schedule a meeting to learn about the technology and how to use its features. It will create unity within your team as you share in a learning experience that will help all of you.
The Leader Who Schedules Another Zoom Call And People Actually Want To Attend
âHave you had those meetings where no one offers any comments, where people donât turn their cameras on, where there is no chatting in the chat section? These all could be signs that people donât really want to be there.
Employees have different schedules than their manager and I often hear that a manager will put meetings on the calendar without taking into consideration other time constraints of their team. This leads to frustration. Employees have to move around recurring meetings or other project meetings to work around the schedule of the manager, which often leads to them doing work during that meeting that was scheduled.
Then, the frustration is compounded because the meeting turns out to be informational only. This isnât a productive use of time. Employees want information and need it to do their jobs, but scheduling one more meeting to share information they can read on their own seems wasteful.
A better way forward is to assess what information is really read-only and what information they may have feedback on, or you need their input on. Send the one-way information by email and then schedule an interactive meeting where a two-way conversation can take place in a beneficial manner for both sides. Youâll also want to survey the team and find the best time that works for their schedules before putting that meeting on the calendar.
In addition, learn how to facilitate a virtual meeting. Interaction doesnât happen in the same way as an in-person meeting, and you need and want that input from your team. One way to do this is to add an ice breaker such as a show-n-tell. Have each person share one item in their home office that helps them stay on track. Youâll get them to turn on their cameras, share personal information which builds trust, and start the two-way conversations. Another great addition to a virtual meeting is assigning roles, like a moderator to monitor the chat and Q&A sections, so you donât miss them; a timekeeper to make sure you donât run over; and an online scribe to notate decisions and action items the group agrees to. The online notes can be referred to during the meeting and be used as a great closer where everyone can review, update, and agreeâin real timeâon whatâs going to happen after the meeting.
Many of us have become de facto virtual leaders due to the new remote workplace, but that doesnât mean weâre good at it. Itâs time to check your skillset and make sure youâre the virtual leader every employee wants.