professional leaders http://www.artwoo.com Returned search results for professional leaders Copyright 2008 Sun, 23 Nov 2008 08:44:48 +0000 http://www.artwoo.com/rss/professional+leaders How To Develop Effective Leadership Skills http://www.artwoo.com/article/how-to-develop-effective-leadership-skills http://www.artwoo.com/article/how-to-develop-effective-leadership-skills#comments Thu, 21 Sep 2006 22:27:08 +0000 leadership skillsleadership qualityleadership roleleadmotivational booksread bookscrucial http://www.artwoo.com/article/how-to-develop-effective-leadership-skills leader? What are the traits that set leaders apart from those who just follow the pack? Are leaders born or made? These questions may plague a high school kid who is about to run for school presidency, or an employee who has just been promoted to a supervisory position. Even those who are about to become first time parents have secretly asked themselves questions about the new that they are going to have to play in their child's life.

If you examine closely, you will discover that leaders tend to share some common characteristics, whether they lead in their sports team, at the work place, or at school. They tend to have something that sets them apart from the others. This is called . But before you become a leader, you must first develop your .

Earn the respect of your peers by leading through example.

Follow what you preach. What better way to lead others than by setting an example. The best way for a leader to earn the respect of their peers is by showing that they work hard and put in a lot of effort into what they do. Most of all, they show their dedication to getting the job done.

Be an inspiration to others.

It is important for leaders to be able to effectively work with others. Leaders must possess excellent communication skills. This involves not only being able to express their vision and communicate what needs to be done; but also, leaders must know how to listen. They have to be able to appease the concerns of those they are leading. They also have to earn their trust, and be considerate to their needs. The ability to lead and work well with others is especially when applied to a working environment. Leaders have to know how to motivate their employees, and get them to do what needs to be done.

on how to become an effective leader.

Those who want to become efficient leaders have to invest their time in reading . There are hundreds and hundreds of instructional, motivational, how to books and videos dedicated to the topic of leadership. This is a great place to pick up tips on effective leadership. Also, those motivational stories might come in handy for those one on one pep talk that sometimes leaders need to conduct.

Emulate the leaders you look up to.

Try to think of two or three leaders you admire, and assess the reason why you look up to these leaders. Try to learn as much as you can about their lives. Find out what traits and quality they possess that made them such effective and influential leaders. See if you have learned anything about the great deeds of these people that you can incorporate into your own leadership style.

Attitude is everything.

Leaders do not give up. They go on, even though the odds are stacked against them. They do not get easily fazed when confronted by setbacks and crises. They do this by being optimistic, maintaining a positive attitude, and showing their strength through perseverance. By doing so, they become inspirational figures to others.

Becoming a leader is not always a choice; sometimes, it is born out of necessity. Practically anyone has the potential to become a leader given the opportunity, proper training, and the right set of circumstances. Leadership skills can be developed; it is just a matter of having some discipline and dedication. Leaders are often made not born. If you want to efficiently lead any team to success then you have to know these 12 winning qualities of a highly competent leader: http://www.top-leadership-secrets.com ]]> Online Bingo Chat Hosts http://www.artwoo.com/article/online-bingo-chat-hosts http://www.artwoo.com/article/online-bingo-chat-hosts#comments Wed, 16 Aug 2006 02:27:10 +0000 chat onlineentry chatonline bingobingo playershttpjobleader awards http://www.artwoo.com/article/online-bingo-chat-hosts
It may seem like a simple at first glance, but there are many things that Chat Leaders need to know in order for them to keep track of what is happening. Chat Leaders need to be able to watch every game that is played, while coordinating the chat and making sure that all players are not misbehaving or disobeying any of the site policies. To enforce these policies, Chat Leaders must have an in-depth understanding of online bingo in general, as well as a thorough understanding of their site's rules, procedures, competitions, games, and every other aspect of the site. Most sites have an intensive training program for their Chat Leaders, which ensures that only the best are used in live chat.

Being a Chat Leader can be a fairly demanding job. As support for players is needed 24-7, Chat Leaders need to work long shifts and handle many queries from online . They face problems ranging from players who are experiencing login or card buying difficulties to dealing with player disputes in the chat. Online bingo Chat Leaders are there to show players where to go for help, and also to generate a good atmosphere in the chat. A good sense of humor and an ability to stay calm under pressure is therefore a prerequisite.

Online bingo Chat Leaders are rewarded for their support and dedicated service in special Chat . http://www.bingoawards.com, which is the most widely recognized online bingo awards program, rewards a Best Chat Moderator Award each month to the best online bingo Chat Leader during the month of entry. Chat Leaders are nominated by players, and prizes are in the region of $500. Another esteemed award is Which Bingo's CM of the Year Award, which is given to the most popular Chat Leader online every year.

Online bingo Chat Leaders need to be respected by players for all the support and encouragement they give. Players need to do bear in mind that Chat Leaders use capital letters to distinguish themselves from other players, so therefore regular players should not use capitals in chat. Online bingo players should also remember that the Chat Leader's decision is usually management's decision, which means that it is final. Arguing with Chat Leaders is not acceptable and neither is using abusive or insulting language, being rude to fellow players or displaying any behavior that makes the Chat Leaders job harder.

Experienced players who have an excellent understanding of online bingo can become Chat Leaders, all they need to do is look out for a link on their chosen bingo site in which they can make enquiries or apply. It is great next step for those wanting to learn more about online bingo. Mary Weber has been an online bingo fanatic for over 7 years. Though she has played other forms of online gambling, Mary has always stated that bingo is her true passion. Her internet bingo related publications are filled with interesting and useful online bingo tips. Her many articles she has written can be found at: http://www.online-bingo.net ]]> Leadership: Learning From Past Leaders http://www.artwoo.com/article/leadership-learning-from-past-leaders http://www.artwoo.com/article/leadership-learning-from-past-leaders#comments Sat, 09 Feb 2008 16:20:05 +0000 civil war generalcivil war leadersamerican civil warfamilies at homegreat leadersgeneral leeinconveniences http://www.artwoo.com/article/leadership-learning-from-past-leaders great leaders. What I have found to be most appealing about leaders that I have studied is that they believed in a cause and saw all obstacles as mere that would eventually be overcome. While in the business world these people are today called CEO's, in the past, these were the people who put their lives on the line for a cause they believed in. Some of the most obvious of these leaders were the leaders in the .

In the past great leaders believed in the cause.

They did not fight because they had nothing better to do. As a matter of fact many of the men who took up arms had , and great jobs bringing in a lot of money, but the cause was more important than anything else. They walked away from everything because the reason was good enough; it was worth laying their life down for. While you may not need to put your life on the line for your job, you do need this kind of dedication in order to be a great leader.

The leaders stood in front of the fire. Instead of standing at the back of formations and sending the soldiers out to fight, American were the ones who went out in front of the soldiers. They were often the first one to take a bullet. Today things are different, when something goes wrong, usually someone further down the line loses their job when the leader blames them for the problem.

With success there is often failure.

The key is to stand up and admit losses. During the Civil War, accepted responsibilities for losses throughout the fight. Today's leaders, however, like to push failures off on other people instead of standing up tall and accepting their responsibility.

Show strength in the battlefield.

In the Civil War, General Lee was outnumbered. That did not cause him instant defeat. Instead he was aggressive and cunning and was able to often win battles against the Union forces. These traits are just as important in today's business world. To be able to survive the competition between companies is paramount.

Be able to adjust when necessary.

While generally everything that is done in today's business world has a plan, that plan may change, and you need to be able to change with it. The same thing happened in the Civil War. Sure they had battle plans, but when the enemy did something unexpected, it was important that the leaders quickly adjusted their tactics to regain the advantage in battle. You must be able to do the same thing in business. See a problem coming at you across the field and quickly alter your strategies to be able to handle what is approaching.

Taking a few cues from the leaders in the American Civil War will be a boon to anyone who wants to become a better leader. They had all the skills necessary, taking responsibility, aggressiveness, improvisation, vision and honesty. While these are not always the easiest traits to show they are the signs of a great leader. Harald Anderson is the co-founder of http://www.artinspires.com a leading online motivational poster gallery. His goal in life is to become the kind of person his dog thinks he is. ]]> What Does It Take To Be A True Leader? http://www.artwoo.com/article/what-does-it-take-to-be-a-true-leader http://www.artwoo.com/article/what-does-it-take-to-be-a-true-leader#comments Fri, 06 Oct 2006 10:27:07 +0000 neale donald walschandrew carnegiedictionaryabraham lincolnjesse jacksonbill gatespersonal hardship http://www.artwoo.com/article/what-does-it-take-to-be-a-true-leader dictionary defines leadership as, "a person who by force of example, talents, or qualities pays a directing role, wields commanding influence, or has a following in any sphere of activity or thought." writes that, "A true leader is not the one with the most followers, but one who creates the most leaders."

Jack Welch defines a leader as someone who knows that "before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others." I personally believe the truest and best leaders were those who lead from the heart and who followed their own values. Leaders like and . Leaders like and even . They had a vision and were unafraid to follow that vision in accordance with their own spiritual, moral, and personal beliefs, despite intense opposition, rejection, failure, and even .

I believe a true leader is one who maintains an uncompromising adherence to an internalized, but otherwise generally accepted code of moral values; who adheres to utter sincerity, honesty, and candor in all communication; and who avoids deception, expediency, artificiality, or shallowness of any kind in all situations. Quite a tough ideal to live up to, I know. Then again, when you look around, how many TRUE LEADERS exist in today's world?

So what does it take to be a leader? Here are ten qualities of today's most successful leaders.

1. True leaders know who they are. They know their strengths so that they can maximize them, and they know their weaknesses so that they can surround themselves with colleagues that compensate for them.

2. True leaders are genuine. They do not use false facades or "poker faces." Instead, they say what they mean and mean what they say. They are aware of their own inner voices and selves, and strive to know themselves better everyday.

3. True leaders are responsible. They take total responsibility for themselves and for their behavior. They take responsibility for the results and consequences of their behavior. More than that, true leaders even take responsibility for their subordinates or others for which they feel accountable.

4. True leaders have integrity. They understand that the ONLY viable, marketable quality in today's global economy is CHARACTER. Merriam-Webster defines character as, "a composite of good moral qualities typically of moral excellence and firmness blended with resolution, self-discipline, high ethics, force, and judgment." Every society and every culture values these qualities, which are core to a leader's integrity.

5. True leaders are caring. They know that their "purpose" as a leader is to SERVE those that they lead. Therefore, they have genuine concern for the people they lead. They never belittle or humiliate others; and they do not discount the opinions of others, even when they disagree with them.

6. True leaders have a vision. They translate the here and now, the immediate moment, into their vision of the future. They focus on the big picture and can describe that picture to their colleagues, subordinates, business partners, and customers. They understand the long-term effects of the tasks that need to be completed today, the desired outcomes of those tasks, and how to communicate the immediate needs of the business in terms of their future vision.

7. True leaders are open to change. They listen without ego or prejudice; and they know that THEIR idea does not need to be, and may not be, the RIGHT idea. They realize that new ideas and new perceptions are key to progress and improvement. This key trait keeps them, and their businesses, flexible, responsive, and innovative in today's ever-changing business environment.

8. True leaders value the contributions of others. Leaders understand the value of teamwork and the synergy created through the combined efforts of several talented individuals. They understand that their colleagues and subordinates must be valued, and they are secure enough in their own right to allow others the opportunity to contribute. More importantly, true leaders recognize that their contributions may not always be the best contributions!

9. True leaders are courageous! They understand that doing the RIGHT thing is oftentimes not the EASY thing. They are prepared to fight for their beliefs. They are not swayed by the judgements and arguments of others, merely to avoid conflict or confrontation; particularly when those judgements or arguments do not serve the greater good. Most importantly, true leaders will do what is right EVEN if it causes personal hardship!

10. True leaders create leaders! The best leaders treat each individual as unique. They teach, coach, advise, and even assist people who need it. They understand that the more they facilitate the improvement and advancement of others, the more they are fulfilled themselves and the better they and their business become.

Beyond this, true leaders are authentic. Nobody is perfect, and it is unlikely (if not impossible) that today's leaders have EACH and EVERYONE one of these traits. But go back to the first of these traits. True leaders KNOW WHO THEY ARE. They are honest with those around them, and more importantly, they are HONEST WITH THEMSELVES.

So, what does it take to be a leader? It takes the COURAGE to look at yourself in the mirror and truly see what qualities you have and what qualities YOU DO NOT HAVE! It means taking that inventory, acknowledging what you may need to work on, and then making the commitment to do the work!

So, what do you say? Do you have what it takes to be a true leader? Ms. Potavin's business is to provide the means that allows you to discover, unlock and harness your hidden talents, inspiring you to live fully AND purposefully; to acknowledge your achievements and accept your downfalls; and allow yourself the opportunity to BELIEVE in your abilities and SUCCEED in your professional and personal life. See Amy's profile at http://www.linkedin.com/in/potavin06, or visit her at http://www.believe-network.com ]]> Management vs. Leadership http://www.artwoo.com/article/management-vs-leadership http://www.artwoo.com/article/management-vs-leadership#comments Fri, 17 Nov 2006 20:27:10 +0000 management leadershipeffective leadershipabdicatevisionarydictionarymanagement abilitystrong management http://www.artwoo.com/article/management-vs-leadership visionary. If you look up visionary in the you'll find:

visionary -- noun. One whose ideas or projects are impractical.

This is a very good definition of someone who wants to be a leader but doesn't want to participate in any management functions. Leadership is determining where you are going and management is determining how you are going to get there. Without is ineffective. Leaders who accomplish things without any management skills do so in spite of themselves. They would be much more effective as leader who practice management.

There are individuals who are skilled at implementing someone else's vision, but are not leaders. These people exist can make some leaders their responsibility to manage. While a good leader will surround them self with skilled managers, that doesn't alleviate the need for management skills in the leader himself. The chances of success of a leader who doesn't participate in management are much lower than a leader who understands, values and practices a strong .

Strong leadership is supported by good solid management practices. You can't lead effectively if you have no way of measuring where you are going or knowing how well you are achieving your goals. Leadership by accident is not effective. Leadership must happen by design and design is what management is about. Management is determining a path, a way to reach a goal. Without management you may be able to achieve something, but it is unlikely that you will be able to have continued success. Without management successful leadership is more of a lottery than a process. On rare occasion you might win just by accident, but it isn't because of any skill on your part. Worse yet it isn't repeatable, so it is unlikely that you'll be able to reproduce the same results except by random chance.

In its simplest form, management is the process of defining and measuring success. A leader who defines success, sets the vision, and determines the measurements of success will be much more effective than someone with the same skills who wants to determine the vision but refuses to do any work in the area of management. Leadership501 is a website with resources for leaders and people in management positions. Please visit http://www.leadership501.com to learn more about how to challenge and organization to grow. ]]> Leadership Without Assertiveness is Deemed Useless http://www.artwoo.com/article/leadership-without-assertiveness-is-deemed-useless http://www.artwoo.com/article/leadership-without-assertiveness-is-deemed-useless#comments Sat, 06 Sep 2008 04:29:18 +0000 equilibrium studiesnegative connotationstraits of a good leadernecessary traitsaspiring leadersself disciplinenegative word http://www.artwoo.com/article/leadership-without-assertiveness-is-deemed-useless
When it comes to the necessary , the following characteristics are always sought for by companies and employees alike: intelligence, charisma, self-discipline, and self-confidence. Not too many people would point out that a leader must be assertive. This is because there are some when it comes to the term assertiveness.

Assertiveness Defined

Assertiveness will never be a yet people often associate it to negativism. Only a few people correctly understand the meaning of this behavior. There is also no such term as too much assertiveness as this can be defined in its more proper term--aggressiveness.

Being assertive means having the confidence to express one's emotions, opinions, ideas, wants, needs or feelings - in a calm way. It also means not being reactive even in the face of adversity or abuse. Assertiveness does not go about ravaging people's feelings on its way just so one's emotions could be vented out.



Leaders and Assertiveness: The Great Link

who do not have assertiveness will never be able to stand up for what they believe in or even their interests. This will inevitably lead to being ineffective and the inability to deliver results. Those who are overbearing with their aggressiveness, on the other hand, will only garner hatred from their subordinates. They might be able to produce the numbers that they have set but their followers will never respect them.

Assertiveness is all about moderation and being graceful even when under pressure. No aggressive or frail head has ever succeeded in leading people. Being assertive will bring about respect and success on a great equilibrium.

Studies have observed that most leaders are not even aware of how they behave and how this behavior affects other people. Gauging assertiveness begins by knowing the different levels to this behavior. This gauge is much like a spectrum where the starting point is at being moderate, the middle part being persuasive and the other end of the spectrum is standing firm. Not one of these is better than the other. The key is to know when to be mildly assertive and when to be firm about a decision or belief.

A leader needs to be taken seriously especially when a task is at hand. Letting loose may only happen after office hours where everyone is equal. Would-be leaders who are seriously considering the idea of supervising other people would do well to learn the virtue of assertiveness over time. If this is not possible on a self-learning mode, there are classes that are specially set up to teach assertiveness, so there are no reasons for anyone to say that it cannot be done.

Assertiveness is always healthy and positive in its meaning. Good leaders are not born with it, they develop it over months or even years constant practice.PDL Courses is an international provider of training services with an established reputation for design and delivery of professional courses.]]> Success Begins With Leadership http://www.artwoo.com/article/success-begins-with-leadership http://www.artwoo.com/article/success-begins-with-leadership#comments Sat, 03 May 2008 16:21:33 +0000 poor leadershipwork relationshipseffective leadershipcollective effortspersonificationorganizational changecomfort zone http://www.artwoo.com/article/success-begins-with-leadership
or innovation does not just happen. In fact it is much more difficult for an organization to innovate without . The employees who are being expected to change their methods (ie. leave their ) will have an easier time adapting if they see a strong leader showing them the way. Employees must have faith that their leader will guide them through the transition.

The Role of Leadership

As an employee in an organization, you may have noticed how important it is to have faith in your leaders. The leaders are supposed to be the of the ideals of the organization. The employees look up to the leaders as examples of how they should work. Actually, organizations need someone to be responsible enough to lead the rest. Without this leadership the of the organization to achieve its goals would be futile.

When all is said and done, it all comes down to whether the employees trust that leaders in the future will support them as they embark on their endeavors. Will the leaders work to improve ? Will the leaders work to strengthen the confidence of their employees? Will the leaders be prepared to "go to the mattresses" with their troops? These factors will determine whether a would be leader is trusted by their followers. Without trust would be leader will not effectively lead the organization

The Impact of

Many organizations suffer from either poor leadership or complete lack of leadership. The result is that the organization is not as successful as it could be. This lack of leadership may be at the top of the organization, however, often times it lies hidden in lower levels of the organization. For example, the business might be lead by a strong charismatic leader. That leader could expertly chart the company's path toward the successful achievement of its strategic goals. On the surface everything would appear to be in order. Consider though the plight of an employee in that organization who is managed by an ineffective lower-level leader. This employee may be encouraged by the actions and example set by the leaders at the top of the organization, however, they may not trust the actions of their immediate manager. Lack of trust of lower level could spread and effectively undermine the leadership effectiveness of the strong charismatic leader. The ultimate success of the organization would be less than optimal because although the organization enjoyed strategic leadership, that leadership didn't permeate the business operations.

Feeble leadership would only result to the deficiency of hope which might probably go on for too long and in turn would lead to the organizations inevitable decline.

Conclusion

Leadership is a key component in successful organizations. Effective leaders can help their followers and organizations achieve goals that they never though possible. Conversely, lack of leadership, or ineffective leadership, can devastate an organization. Consider you own leadership ability. You do not need the highest level person in your organization to be a leader. You just need to commit yourself to developing and practicing your leadership skills. Joseph Jester is the owner of http://FinancialFreedomQuest.com and writes on a variety of subjects. To learn more Joseph recommends that you visit: http://FinancialFreedomQuest.com ]]> Network Marketing Failure - Pity Party vs Mastermind Group - Part 1 http://www.artwoo.com/article/network-marketing-failure-pity-party-vs-mastermind-group-part-1 http://www.artwoo.com/article/network-marketing-failure-pity-party-vs-mastermind-group-part-1#comments Tue, 05 Aug 2008 19:09:24 +0000 promising teampity partybobby joebig boyseasiest thingboys and girlsdownline http://www.artwoo.com/article/network-marketing-failure-pity-party-vs-mastermind-group-part-1
What happens when things aren't going well in your business? What happens when your sponsor quits? What happens when your most member decides business is no longer a priority? What happens when your business starts going backwards?

Well... that answer is easy. Have a !

Call your other team members and cry foul! "It's not my fault! ran out on me. He should not have quit. What am I going to do now? Don't you leave!"

Perhaps you could spend that evening blaming everyone and everything else. "If only I had a better sponsor. If only the company would launch that new product they have been talking about. I've got to get my going!"

Then the next day, call another team member and continue your pity party.

Believe it or not; that is the you can do. Look to the outside, it is easy to point the finger (to use an over used clich้). However, it is not the right thing to do. In fact, it is the worst thing you can do if you want your business to continue on that same path.

What you really need to do is mastermind, but more on that later.

To be successful, you must do what successful people do. You have to act like the and girls. You have to take responsibility for the situation and take charge of what is going to happen next.

Is it your fault that your business is starting to slide? There are a lot of things to think about to answer that question. Some you can answer yourself, some you might need help.

Before going any further, consider that it may not be your fault at all. These things just happen. Some people just don't stay in the business...its just that simple.

So lets look at you. First of all, you must be able to question yourself and answer those tough questions. For example, if your system relies on 3 way calls to build the business, you must be able to evaluate: am I talking too much? How many questions do I actually answer?

How do you approach people? Do you have posture? Do you invite properly? Do you work with your team members correctly?

These are all tough questions. The last few questions can be hard to answer, because you may not have the experience. How do you find out if you are working your business in the best possible manner?

Reach up.

That's right; reach up, beyond your sponsor to his or hers sponsor...and ask for help. This begins the mastermind process.

"Do you have what it takes to ask for help?" Perhaps the better question is "Do you want to succeed?" If you want to succeed, then asking for help is easy. If your second upline doesn't want to help, then go to the third upline.

This is a business of leaders. Leaders are always looking for leaders. Fortunes are made when leaders work with leaders, who then work with leaders. Leaders know when to ask for help. If you want to succeed bad enough, there is an upline that wants to work with you.

I will suggest though, if your upline isn't interesting in working with you, this can be a hard business to build on your own.

Perhaps you should find another company.

Next we'll look at what to expect when working with your upline and what mastermind really means.

To your success!Andy Geldart, Cofounder - MLM Outlaws Discover How To Market Your Network Marketing Business On The Internet and Easily Add 10 - 20 New Reps To Your MLM Business Monthly It All Starts With The Free Boot Camp Training - http://www.meetandrewj.com]]> Why Use Personal Development Coaching? http://www.artwoo.com/article/why-use-personal-development-coaching http://www.artwoo.com/article/why-use-personal-development-coaching#comments Sat, 06 Oct 2007 06:30:01 +0000 personal development coachingpersonal development coachbecome more successfultargetmany different typesdevelopment coachesbusiness coaches http://www.artwoo.com/article/why-use-personal-development-coaching ing is becoming quite popular in America and the resto f the world. In fact, it is a wildly popular option for people throughout Europe. The whole process is one that has been used for thousands of years. However, it is just now coming to the forefront of successful business practices. of people are using professional life coaches and to . Whether you've heard of personal development coaching or not, you may be curious about how one could help you in your life.

Business Use Of Personal Development Coaching

Some of the largest businesses in the world are now using personal development coaching throughout their companies. They mostly their team leaders. They take their management teams to seminars, workshops, and even bring coaches into their workplaces to help them with this task.

Personal development coaching can help create stronger leaders, more productive team members, and an overall better company environment. When a company is full of great leaders, the greatness follows through to everyone else in the company. This in turn makes the company more successful overall.

Entrepreneurs often use personal as well. Perhaps they have a business idea but are not confident enough to realize it. Or maybe they have no idea how to go about making their idea a reality. Business coaches can help them to create success and have the skills to attain and manage it.

Some Areas Development Coaches Target:

1) Team management 2) Team motivation 3) Time management 4) Overall Productivity 5) Leadership

If the idea of bringing in a personal development coach doesn't make sense to you, you may want to consider the idea of the Law of Attraction. The Law of Attraction states that the energy you put out, you will in turn attract, whether you want to or not. So, if you can train your leaders to put off positive and productive energy to their teams, there is no way your company could get anything less than great things and productivity. This is in accordance to the Law of Attraction that has been used since the ancient Greek and Egyptian times.

Therefore, as a business owner you can choose to involve your entire company in the process of personal development coaching or you can choose to undergo it yourself. However, the more people in your business that you inspire to take it seriously, the better your entire business will be. Many major companies make it a required event for their management teams and reap the rewards from doing so. They see higher profits, better team interaction, better communication, new and fresh ideas being suggested, and an overall better atmosphere to work within. Jim Biscardi is owner of Dynamic Wealth Systems, LLC and writes on a variety of subjects. To learn more about this topic Jim recommends you visit: http://www.DynamicWealthSystems.com ]]> Leadership Means Clarity Of Vision http://www.artwoo.com/article/leadership-means-clarity-of-vision http://www.artwoo.com/article/leadership-means-clarity-of-vision#comments Mon, 20 Aug 2007 16:35:00 +0000 communication gaptake it for grantedobliviousmichelangeloconstrueleaders and followersleaders speak http://www.artwoo.com/article/leadership-means-clarity-of-vision leaders and followers is that the latter need to be told what to do and sometimes, even how to do it while the leaders will create work and be able to see the finished product even as they work on the initial stages. Vision is what saw in the rock; he didn't see the stone; he saw the statue complete and beautiful.

Leaders are persons with a vision, but unfortunately, not many leaders can convey their vision to the people they lead. They assume that everyone understands their vision. Often there is a big gap between their vision and what the people they lead see as the vision. In other words, there is a ; they say something and it is understood as something quite different. Unless they spell it out people will derive all sorts of meanings from it. Everyone perceives things differently and a skillful leader recognizes this.

The most successful a language their organization can easily understand. Successful leaders don't that they will be understood. So, they take the time and the trouble to double check to make sure that the vision they are communicating is the vision people are hearing. In many instances there is a large gap between what a leader thinks he said and what subordinates think they hear.

The story of the blind men and the elephant needs to be remembered when communicating your vision. Remember, your vision is in your head and as far as the listeners are concerned, they are of it. Unless you are able to give a full picture of what is in your mind, they will whatever is important to them. In the end, probably each one will give a different meaning to it. To avoid such ambiguities, it is important to convey your vision in simple, definite, unambiguous terms.

A very simple way to test whether your organization's vision aligns with your vision is to ask people to write down the vision anonymously on a piece of paper in a short paragraph. Keeping the process anonymous helps people concentrate more on articulating the vision and less on worrying about getting it wrong or any repercussions from an incorrect answer. Once you get the feedback read over each and every vision statement.

A successful leader is one who will have majority of the people communicating his vision. However, more often than not, even fifty percent don't get it right. This exercise is more for your good. You will discover why they understood it that way. It is mostly because of certain gaps you left assuming that they already know these things. Once you know these gaps, you can plug the holes. And, your vision will be better understood. Harald Anderson is the co-founder of http://www.artinspires.com a leading online Motivational Posters gallery. "When Art Inspires, Dreams Become Realities. His goal in life is to become the kind of person that his dog already thinks he is. http://www.artinspires.com/display_patriotic.asp ]]> The Importance Of Being A Leader In Sports http://www.artwoo.com/article/the-importance-of-being-a-leader-in-sports http://www.artwoo.com/article/the-importance-of-being-a-leader-in-sports#comments Tue, 30 Jan 2007 08:27:08 +0000 leadership skillsclassmateshow to motivate peoplebrett favrepeyton manningladainian tomlinsonnfl career http://www.artwoo.com/article/the-importance-of-being-a-leader-in-sports NFL career, I learned that leadership is a trait that all athletes have deep inside of them. Unfortunately, I found that most players do not know how to apply their . It is the inability to apply leadership that sets the regular NFL players apart from the true greats such as , Marvin Harrison, , and . These fine players are all strong leaders. It is their powerful leadership skills that inspire their teammates to come together as a team and play at the best of their ability - even when they are losing.

Sports leaders are able not only to lead people in the right direction but to also give them confidence. A leader makes his teammates believe deep in their hearts that if you follow me, we will win. This requires a lot of responsibility and charisma on the part of the leader, but it's also what separates good players from the Hall of Fame players.

As a young athlete, if you want to make it first to college sports and then to professional sports, you must develop your leadership skills. It is the strength of your leadership skills that will help separate you from the competition. College and Pro teams want leaders. Leaders win games.

As a young athlete, if you want to someday make it to the pros, you must work on developing your leadership skills everyday. You need to learn and make them believe in you. To build your leadership skills, here are some tasks you should do.

1. Be on-time for your classes at school and work hard to get good grades. This shows your teachers that you are eager to learn and to work hard. It also shows your coaches that you are eager to learn and work hard. So, always show respect for your teachers and coaches and they in-turn will show respect for you. This is the first step for becoming a leader. You must show others that they can trust and respect you.

2. Be a leader in everything you do. At school, help your learn. Lead them to going to class on-time and working hard to get good grades. Help your community. And, help your teammates improve their skills on and off the field. The sooner you take the role of being a leader who makes smart decisions, the sooner people will see that you are a leader and they will follow you. Also, when people who have power see that you are a strong leader, they will give you special opportunities that other people and players will not get.

3. Show leadership by example in your sport. Work at learning your skills and the strategies of the game harder than anybody else on your team. One trait the true sports leaders all have in common is they are always the first to arrive at the sports facility in the morning and the last to leave at night. They become the best players and the strongest leaders by working twice as hard as everybody else. If you choose to work twice as hard as everybody else, you will receive deep respect from both your teammates and from your coaches. And, you will become a master of your sport.

4. Being a leader is even more important during the bad times than the good times. A true leader remains confident and motives his team members even when they are losing. It is during bad times that a leader's true colors will shine and he will do everything he can to help his team be confident and driven to win.

Finally, understand that leadership is not something that is given to you. Leadership is something that you give to others. Martin Chase is a retired NFL player who has played with the Giants, the Saints, the Redskins, the Ravens, and the Jaguars. Martin now owns and manages a popular sports memorabilia website at http://www.mcsportsfan.com. ]]> Leadership Learning: The Real Costs Of Not Doing http://www.artwoo.com/article/leadership-learning-the-real-costs-of-not-doing http://www.artwoo.com/article/leadership-learning-the-real-costs-of-not-doing#comments Mon, 26 Jun 2006 21:32:07 +0000 saving moneyleadershipfront line leadershr directorsoxford universityopportunity costfrontline http://www.artwoo.com/article/leadership-learning-the-real-costs-of-not-doing Oxford University in the UK found that British businesses and public sector organizations are wasting almost $140 million on executive education programs that are poorly conceived and delivered.

The study went on to say that 35 per cent of and 21 per cent of other executives believed that their current training and development programs were meeting corporate strategic objectives. The bulk of the money was being spent on individually developed courses for senior executives.

If those businesses want to quit wasting all that money on bad management training, I know where they can get their moneys worth. And it doesn't have anything to do with having more academics design special courses, events, and outings for senior staff.

Here's a novel idea folks. Why not spend your money on training and development down in the trenches, where it will really do some good?

Most companies don't do nearly enough of that. In 2003, just 7 percent of training budgets in the US were spent on first line leaders and most of that was for learning administrivia and for prophylactic HR.

The fact is that don't get much training at all and precious little of it is actually about leadership skills. Maybe that's because companies think they're by not investing in front line leader training.

True, there's no budget line item absorbing funds that might be spent on the executive dining room, or art for the CEO's office. But there are what economists call "s," the costs of not training front line leaders.

There's the opportunity cost of lost productivity. Good leadership builds both morale and profitability.

There's the opportunity cost of lost leadership. Great companies develop most of their own leaders. If you have to go outside for leadership you incur recruitment costs and transition costs.

Finally, there's the cost of lawsuits. Good frontline leadership creates organizations where lawsuits are less likely. And, ff the company is sued over a supervision issue, defense will be easier if the leaders have been doing their jobs.

How about your company? Do you develop your own leaders? Do you help them develop the skills they need to improve morale and productivity and avoid lawsuits? Think about that the next time you consider the training budget. Wally Bock is an author, speaker, consultant and coach who helps leaders improve the performance and morale of their teams. Wally's latest book is Performance Talk: The One-on-One Part of Leadership (http://www.performancetalk.com). Find tips and resources about leadership at the Three Star Leadership site (http://www.threestarleadership.com). ]]> Hey Contractors, Push Leadership Into Your Crews http://www.artwoo.com/article/hey-contractors-push-leadership-into-your-crews http://www.artwoo.com/article/hey-contractors-push-leadership-into-your-crews#comments Mon, 31 Dec 2007 06:15:01 +0000 natural inclinationfighting firessmall business ownerswork ethicrule of thumbrough rulemoney leaders http://www.artwoo.com/article/hey-contractors-push-leadership-into-your-crews
The question constantly runs through my mind when chatting with contractors about their situation, their dreams and goals, and their frustrations.

Are you trying to build a business or are you trying to work yourself to death?

You can't afford to be the only one making decisions, pushing quality, enforcing safety, driving your crews for speed, and ensuring your customers are happy. You will never build a successful construction company by being the only leader. Not gonna happen.

You cannot personally oversee everyone who works for you. The rough has always been seven employees per leader. To grow beyond seven employees, you will need to recruit, develop, and empower leaders.

Most are guilty of overlooking the impact leaders have on their business' growth. Add a contractor's to be distrustful of his employees' and craftsmanship and you end up with an individual who resists handing over the reins of control to his crews, much less grooming one or more to lead.

That's a guaranteed path to burnout.

Your business needs leaders. Leaders make you money. Leaders allow you to spend time chasing work and building valuable relationships. Leaders set you free.

Constantly ? Develop leaders.

If you've been unsuccessful getting someone to step and lead, you probably didn't follow the tried-and-true 4E approach with an added A:

1. Educate 2. Enable 3. Empower 4. Engage 5. (Hold) Accountable

EDUCATE

Teach them how to lead. Help them understand how to communicate, motivate, and delegate. Give them constant feedback until they become accomplished leaders. Show them how to fill out paperwork. Show them who to call for material deliveries. Show them how to solve problems and think through decisions.

ENABLE

Give them the tools and information they need to get the work done right and to make good decisions. Set them up for success. They need to know your expectations, the schedule, the budgeted man-hours, quality standards, the safety standards, proper equipment maintenance, etc. Think about this: the opposite of enable is disable. You certainly don't want to do that to your leaders.

EMPOWER

Give them the authority to make decisions and the opportunity to learn from their failures. Don't solve their problems. Make them bring solutions to you. Every time you bail someone out, you weaken his ability to excel under fire.

ENGAGE

Make sure their goals are well aligned to your goals. Make sure they understand how they personally benefit when your business goals are met. Put yourself in their shoes and answer the question "what's in it for me?" Until they understand the personal benefit of delivering the results you need, they will not go the extra mile for you.

(Hold) ACCOUNTABLE

Hold your leaders accountable.

Make sure they plan their work. Make them communicate with their crews. Make sure they don't cut safety corners. Make sure they complete they paperwork. Make them hit your quality and production targets. Hold them accountable to their job.

No matter how well you've prepared them for success, many leaders will slip into bad habits. Don't let them off the hook. Remind them of the required goals. If all else fails, demote them. Not everyone was wired to lead.

Again I ask, are you trying to build a business or are you trying to work yourself to death?

If you want to make real money, you are going to have to lean on others to get the work done properly. You can't do it all yourself.

If you want to really become filthy rich, you've got to develop a large number of leaders. Ron Roberts, The Contractor's Business Coach, teaches contractors how to turn their businesses into a profit spewing machines. To receive Ron's FREE Contractor Best Practices Newsletter visit http://www.FilthyRichContractor.com. ]]> Are Leaders Born Or Made? http://www.artwoo.com/article/are-leaders-born-or-made http://www.artwoo.com/article/are-leaders-born-or-made#comments Wed, 29 Nov 2006 18:27:05 +0000 adultsmart enoughyoung adulthoodnecessarilyanswer the questiondecisionsleadership http://www.artwoo.com/article/are-leaders-born-or-made answer the question. The debate goes on, even though we know the answer.

It turns out to be a little of both. Leaders are sort of born and they're always made. Knowing the details will help you develop effective leaders for your company.

Leaders are Sort of Born

It seems like there's only one thing that a person needs to actually be born with in order to be a leader later in life. That's intelligence. A leader needs to be .

Effective leaders aren't the smartest people in the room or the company or even on the team. But they have to be smart enough to do the job they're assigned.

What's more important is what kind of person the potential leader is when he or she becomes an . The person who emerges from adolescence into has the psychological and character traits they'll demonstrate for the rest of their life. Some of those matter for .

By the time a person becomes an adult we can tell if they can help other people achieve results. That, after all, is what we expect leaders to do. We expect them to achieve success through a group. We expect them to help their subordinates grow and develop.

By the time a person becomes an adult, we can tell if they want to achieve objectives or if they just want to go along and take it easy. We expect leaders to be responsible for achieving results. You can have a marvelous life without a results focus, but if you're going to lead successfully you have to have the drive and willingness to be measured by the results of your leadership.

By the time a person becomes an adult, we can tell if they are willing to make or not. Lots of people wake up every day and let the world happen to them. But leaders must be able and willing to make decisions that affect themselves and others.

By the time a person becomes an adult we can tell if they have the basic qualities that we expect leaders to have. We can determine if they're smart enough to do the job. We can tell if they are willing to help others to achieve results as a group. And we can tell if they will make decisions.

Those things are essential. People who have them can learn the multiple skills it takes for them to become effective leaders.

No matter how they measure up on the key essentials, no one emerges from the womb or from adolescence with all the skills in place to be an effective leader. Everybody has to learn the job. That's why leaders are always made.

Leaders are Always Made

Leadership can be learned by anyone with the basics. But an awful lot of leadership cannot be taught.

That's because leadership is an apprentice trade. Leaders learn about 80 percent of their craft on the job.

They learn from watching other leaders and emulating their behavior. They choose role models and seek out mentors. They ask other leaders about how to handle situations.

Leaders improve by getting feedback and using it. The best leaders seek feedback from their boss, their peers and their subordinates. Then they modify their behavior so that they get better results.

Leaders learn by trying things out and then critiquing their performance. The only failure they recognize is the failure to learn from experience.

In their book, Geeks and Geezers, Warren Bennis and Robert Thomas identify the special power of what they call andquot;crucibles.andquot; These are trials which teach hard lessons that leaders use as the basis of their strength in later crises. Many of these events can be called andquot;failures,andquot; but leaders turn the bad situation to good by learning from it.

Effective leaders take control of their own development. They seek out training opportunities that will make a difference that will make a difference in their performance.

Effective leaders look for training programs that will help them develop specific skills that they can use on the job. Then, they when they return to work, they devote specific, deliberate effort to mastering in real life what they learned in the classroom.

Marshall Goldsmith and Howard Morgan studied the progress of 88,000 managers who had been to leadership development training. The people who returned from the training, talked about it, and did deliberate work to apply their learning were judged as becoming more effective leaders. The ones who didn't showed no improvement.

If you're responsible for leadership development for your company, you should structure your support for your leaders to recognize that most leadership learning happens on the job. Help people develop leadership development plans. Help them select specific skills training and then work on transferring skills from the training to the job. Help them find role models, mentors and peers to discuss leadership issues.

Help your leaders get feedback from their boss, peers and subordinates. Work to create the culture of candor that will make that feedback helpful and effective.

Don't stop there. Make sure that you evaluate your leaders on their leadership work. Reward them and hold them accountable for accomplishing the mission through the group. And hold them accountable for caring for their people and helping them grow and develop.

A Leader's Growth is Never Done

Leadership learning is a lifetime activity. You're never done because there's always more to learn. There are always skills you need to improve.

Effective leaders seek out development opportunities that will help them learn new skills. Those might be project assignments or job changes. What they have in common is that the leader develops knowledge and skills that can be used elsewhere.

Effective leaders also seek out opportunities that will increase their visibility. The fact is that great performance alone will not propel you to the top in your career. You also have to be visible to people who make decisions about promotions and assignments.

If you're responsible for developing leaders in your company, set up programs to give your leaders both kinds of development opportunities over the course of their careers.

There's no magic formula for developing quality leaders in your company. But if you select potential leaders with the essential traits, then support them with training, feedback, on-the-job learning and development experiences and hold them accountable for results, you'll have the leaders you need to shape your company's future. Wally Bock is an author, speaker, and coach who helps leaders improve the performance and morale of their teams. Wally is the author of Performance Talk: The One-on-One Part of Leadership (http://www.performancetalk.com/) and the Three Star Leadership Blog (http://blog.threestarleadership.com/). ]]> How To Effective Identify Bad Leadership In An Organization - NU Leadership Series http://www.artwoo.com/article/how-to-effective-identify-bad-leadership-in-an-organization-nu-leadership-series http://www.artwoo.com/article/how-to-effective-identify-bad-leadership-in-an-organization-nu-leadership-series#comments Thu, 14 Sep 2006 20:27:07 +0000 http://www.artwoo.com/article/how-to-effective-identify-bad-leadership-in-an-organization-nu-leadership-series "Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality." Warren G. Bennis

Leader, are you going to meet your organizational goals? Are you looking for a "silver bullet" solution? Your organization won't be successful without good leadership. You can purchase better equipment or introduce a new process. However, your situation won't improve until you have effective leadership.

What is leadership? There are a variety of leadership definitions. For this article, leadership is defined as the ability to influence people to support a specific goal. Leadership is not about being the boss or manipulating people for personal gain. Do you know bad leadership when you see it? The following actions describe a very bad leader:

• taking advantage of employees; • guiding others in an unethical way; • talking down to employees; • failing to communicate to others; • maintaining an uncaring and unsympathetic attitude; and • taking actions solely for personal gain.

Does this description fit your management? Well, many of these behaviors cause employees to leave. It also creates the right climate for running a company out of business. Definitions abound on management techniques to solve this problem, but it starts with good leadership.

Draft, the author of Organization Theory and Design, argues that the right leadership can have a substantial impact on an organization, however. Bad leaders are often takers in the secular world. President Dwight D. Eisenhower once stated, "You do not lead by hitting people over the head--that's assault, not leadership."

On the contrary, good leaders provide a sense of heaven on earth. In Calvin Miller's book, The Empowered Leader, the servant leader is seen through the life of King David. Miller explains, "Servant leaders are task-centered...Because they feel inadequate, they seek to look beyond themselves for answers." Servant leadership is not a new idea.

Much of this concept is grounded in a religious concept. In the Bible, Jesus Christ explains to his disciples, ". . . the greatest among you should be like the youngest and the one who rules like the one who serves..." According to Dr. Bruce Winston, author of Be a Leader for God's Sake, good leaders are accountable to their followers.

I have seen great managers during my professional career, but few great leaders. Dynamic leadership is difficult to measure for most organizations. However, organizations can't afford to not have them. Organizations should be concerned. It's their business. Start today!

References:

Daft, R. (1995). Organization Theory and Design. St. Paul, MN: West Publishing Company.

Miller, C. (1995). The Empowered Leader. United States of America: Broadman and Holman Publishers.

Winston, B. (2002). Be a Leader for God's Sake. Virginia Beach, VA. Regent University. Daryl D. Green has published over 100 articles in the field of decision-making and leadership. Mr. Green is an author of several books, including More Than A Conqueror. He has been noted in USA Today and AP. For one free coaching session ($50 value), you can email him at http://www.darylgreen.org. ]]> Which Online Business Opportunity Will You Choose? http://www.artwoo.com/article/which-online-business-opportunity-will-you-choose http://www.artwoo.com/article/which-online-business-opportunity-will-you-choose#comments Sun, 30 Dec 2007 17:25:00 +0000 legitimate business opportunitiesfly by nightonline business opportunitiessystem automationunsuspecting memberssynonymous with successendless cycle http://www.artwoo.com/article/which-online-business-opportunity-will-you-choose online business opportunities for you to choose from. The problem is, as most of us already know, that many of these opportunities stem from companies that simply are trying to make some quick cash. For their , they are simply counting down the days until they close the doors and reopen another biz-op under a different name. Most people that are caught up in these systems are thrown into one bad home based business after another. It doesn't have to be that way, however, as are also available. If you find the right opportunity, you will find success. Here are some things to look for when you are choosing an online opportunity.

Proven Leadership - Some names are . You should familiarize yourself with people who are already successful in the business opportunity area. Those people are the real leaders that you should be following and by doing so you will certainly be able to find success. There are plenty of places that you can research these leaders to find out if they have been involved with winning business opportunities or fly-by-night scams.

Total - The Internet has given us a real opportunity to be involved in business systems that are automated from the start to the finish. All of us are busy and many of us have full-time jobs and family responsibilities that keep us on our toes from morning until night. Most of us do not have the time to put into starting a business that will give us success for the long-term. That is why so many of us are stuck in an of working hours for dollars and not building a true business that will work for us for the long term. The system that you choose should be automated so that you do not have to worry about such things as sales and chasing leads. Anything that needs to have a human touch should be handled by someone that is experienced, your business leaders.

Joining a Proven System - Anybody can make promises, real leaders can prove it. Whenever you are considering joining an online business opportunity, check the numbers. Real leaders will be able to show you that their system works and they will be confident enough to be able to guide you by the hand through every step of the process. They know that if you make money, they will make money and they are interested in helping you to find your success.

Even though there are some business opportunities out there that will simply take your money and run, there are some legitimate online businesses that will help you to find your success. Just make sure that you do your research and check out the system thoroughly to make sure that it lives up to your expectations. By doing so, you will help to ensure yourself success as you're building your business and an opportunity that will last for a lifetime. Michael Burton: To learn more about the most powerful, automated,turn-key, marketing system on the planet visit http://www.greathomebasebusiness.com ]]> Communicating Goals http://www.artwoo.com/article/communicating-goals http://www.artwoo.com/article/communicating-goals#comments Thu, 16 Nov 2006 18:27:08 +0000 personal pleasureoccasionallyconstantlygamesubordinatesdetrimentalfollowers http://www.artwoo.com/article/communicating-goals followers success. Some leaders are concerned that if they reveal their goals to their there is the possibility that they might miss the goals. The leaders are concerned that they might lose credibility if this happens. While this is certainly a possibility, the risks of not presenting any goals to an organization are likely to be more that missing a goal .

If you think of an organization as a and all of your employees are players in the game, you'll see why having goals is so important. If none of the players understand the rules, it is unlikely that they will have much fulfillment from playing. Even if they lose occasionally, it is better for them to know the rules than feel like they are working toward something that was just random.

When your player/employees understand the rules and how to score (what the goals are), they can enjoy what they are doing. Someone who enjoys their job will be much more productive than someone who is just trudging through the day doing what they are told. The most efficient organizations are those where individuals take in meeting the goals of the organization. The least efficient organizations are those where individuals don't really care anything about the organization's goals or what it is trying to achieve.

Communicating goals doesn't guarantee that your employees will be motivated and love what they do, but if you don't convey goals to your employees at all you can certainly guarantee that they won't be motivated because they won't know where they are going.

Communication is a very important skill for a leader to develop. Without good communication, it is unlikely that they will success. The thoughtful leader is taking the pulse of his organization and looking at how what he said was received--constantly measuring how well people understood what he said and how well they are taking his words and converting them into appropriate action. Good communication doesn't happen on accident. It has to be developed and constantly refined. You have to constantly measure how effective your communication was and make sure it is achieving the desired results.

When it comes to communicating goals, it is important to gauge whether or not the goals you have set are achieving the desired results. Sometimes your goals will need refined to make sure people are heading in an appropriate direction and following your intent not just what you said. Leadership501 is a website with resources for leaders and people in management positions. Please visit http://www.leadership501.com to learn more about how to challenge and organization to grow. ]]> Leadership Nonsense http://www.artwoo.com/article/leadership-nonsense http://www.artwoo.com/article/leadership-nonsense#comments Tue, 29 Aug 2006 06:27:20 +0000 quotline supervisorleadership worknonsensesupervision workproductive workersorganizational effectiveness http://www.artwoo.com/article/leadership-nonsense organizational effectiveness don't offer much that's new, but they do offer some of the same over and over again. Here are a few of the things I keep reading that really pull my chain.

and;We've got to make our workers happy so they'll be productive.andquot; I've searched for years and I can't find evidence to support that. I can find evidence for the statement that: andquot; are more likely to be happy workersandquot;

In other words, concentrate on doing the things that make folks productive and they're more likely to be happy at work. As it turns out, we know how to do that. Gallup's research and my own years of consulting and training convince me that your immediate boss has the biggest impact on whether you're productive and satisfied at work.

Now for another one: andquot;We need more leaders.andquot; Another version of this is: andquot;We need more leaders and less managers.andquot;

Nonsense. We've got plenty of leaders.

If you're in a job where you're responsible for the performance of a group, then you're a leader because the folks who work for you treat you that way. They listen to what you say. They watch what you do. And what you say and what you do influences what the folks who work for you do and say.

You don't have a choice about this. The only choice you have is whether you're going to be a good leader or not. You also don't have a choice about whether you'll be a manager and a supervisor.

When you become responsible for the performance of a group you get all three jobs. involves individuals and tasks. Management work involves groups and achieving assigned priorities. involves purpose and direction.

You can be the CEO of the largest corporation on the planet and you'll still have people to supervise. At that level we call them andquot;direct reports.andquot; You can be the most junior first on the factory floor and you still have to provide purpose and direction for your people.

Here's another statement about leadership that makes me crazy. andquot;Great leaders make great organizations.andquot; It's true that great leaders can have a hand in making an organization great, but they don't do it alone and they've got to be around a long time to really have any permanent impact.

What I'm sure is true is that great organizations produce great leaders. Think of the US Marines. Think of General Electric (GE). Jack Welch had an impact on that organization for sure, but he was CEO for more than twenty years.

What's more impressive is the impact GE had on Jack Welch. In his career he got guidance and challenges, opportunities and support. Would Welch have been successful somewhere else? Probably. Would Welch have been as successful elsewhere as he was at GE? I doubt it.

Finally there's that perennial favorite: andquot;We want to convince our people to take risks.andquot; The argument for this bit of nonsense seems to be that if folks take more risks by trying new things, then organizations will be more productive and prosperity will reign. That's wrongheaded.

Only a small part of the population is willing to take risks and they're probably going to take them no matter what kind of organization they work for. They'll go right on trying new things.

To get the great mass of the folks who work for you to try new things, you have to remove the risk of doing so. If people can try something that doesn't work and not get zapped, they'll keep trying. But if they know that there's a possibility of getting zapped, or if they see others getting zapped when their ideas don't work, lots of folks won't try anything new at all.

You won't find a lot of this in the latest business books. It's far easier to talk about seeking the magic stone of worker satisfaction than it is to create a great working environment.

It's far easier to bemoan a lack of leaders than it is to hold the leaders already in your organization accountable for their leadership and give them the support they need to perform as effective leaders, managers and supervisors.

It's far easier to search for the magic CEO to transform the organization instead of doing the hard work of creating an organization that grows great leaders.

And it's certainly far easier to try to come up with a communications program that will attempt to persuade people to take risks than it is to take the risk out of trying new things. Wally Bock is an author, speaker, consultant and coach who helps leaders improve the performance and morale of their teams. Wally is the author of Performance Talk: The One-on-One Part of Leadership (http://www.performancetalk.com/) and the Three Star Leadership Blog (http://blog.threestarleadership.com/). ]]> Youth Leadership In Sports http://www.artwoo.com/article/youth-leadership-in-sports http://www.artwoo.com/article/youth-leadership-in-sports#comments Thu, 03 Apr 2008 19:14:59 +0000 volleyball teamexpert powervoluntary commitmentchange leadersmotivating othersdifferent culturesjohn french http://www.artwoo.com/article/youth-leadership-in-sports voluntary commitment to the leader's vision. A leader creates a vision and goals and influences others to share that vision and work toward the goals. Leaders are thus concerned with bridging about change and to support that vision to change. As scholars state, "management involves coping with complexity, while leadership is about coping with change."

Leaders can be found at all levels of a sports organization, but not all immediately stand out from the crowd. Different situations, , different organizations, at different moments in their life, call for different characteristics and require different skills in a leader. A young person may be terrific at exercising leadership in his/her , yet be awful in exercising leadership in another environment. This happens all the time. Some terrific young sports leaders exercise no leadership in their school projects or in other typed of clubs they may belong at the same time, not just because they choose not to, but also because they do not know how. Those other settings have different set of norms, different authority structures and different sets of adaptive challenges that the kid may be unfamiliar with.

On the other hand, power is the ability to influence the behavior of others. Regardless of their age, leaders exercise power and effective leaders know how to use it wisely. The types of power used by a young leader reveal a great deal about why others follow that child. One of the most useful frameworks for understanding the power of leaders was developed by and Bertram Raven. They identified five types of power: legitimate, reward, coercive, referent and .

But apart from the different forms of power that leaders can use, there are several different characteristics that describe how effective young leaders influence others. These characteristics have been put into four categories of models: traits, behavioral, contingency and transformational. There is no single or simple answer to which style of leadership works best. Fifty years ago, trait models of leadership were popular. Gradually, as evidence accumulated, traits models were replaced-first by behavioral models and then by contingency models. Currently, the transformational model has many supporters, reflecting efforts of many leaders to transform outdated forms of organizations into more competitive ones. Traits models are based on the assumption that certain physical, social, and personal characteristics are inherent in leaders. According to this view, the presence or absence of these characteristics distinguishes leaders from non-leaders. Some of the key traits are physical, social background and personality traits. There is some common sense supporting the notion that effective leaders, young or older, have certain traits. However research hasn't proved that traits consistently separate potential leaders from non-leaders. For example, the physical characteristics of a young baseball athlete don't necessarily correlate with his ability to excise successful leadership later in his life; they relate only to perceived leadership ability.

Summing up, as today's world pace speeds up, the leadership styles applied during the previous century, or even twenty years ago, differ substantially from the ones needed to be applied today or in 2020. To illustrate this, consider the young members of a school baseball team who if unwilling and unable to perform, the school coach will then definitely have to follow the autocratic leadership style. As long, though, as the coach applies appropriate motivation and training techniques, the young subordinates gradually become willing and able. Hence the situation is changing. This denotes that the leadership should also evolve from the autocratic towards the democratic style. In a few words the leadership style should "comply" with the evolution of the outstanding situation. As the example illustrates, sports organizations, especially those that involve children, must confront the future and learn from past practices by continuously adapting to the new instruction programs that evolve. Jonathon Hardcastle writes articles for http://4kidsandteens.com/ - In addition, Jonathon also writes articles for http://learntobecloser.com/ and http://foracloserfamily.com/ ]]> Youth Leadership In Sports http://www.artwoo.com/article/youth-leadership-in-sports http://www.artwoo.com/article/youth-leadership-in-sports#comments Fri, 01 Sep 2006 08:27:15 +0000 leadershipexercise powersports organizationterrificgoalsexpert powervolleyball team http://www.artwoo.com/article/youth-leadership-in-sports Leadership has been called the most studied and least understood topic of any in the social sciences. Leadership is the process of providing direction, energizing others, and obtaining their voluntary commitment to the leader's vision. A leader creates a vision and and influences others to share that vision and work toward the goals. Leaders are thus concerned with bridging about change and motivating others to support that vision to change. As scholars state, andquot;management involves coping with complexity, while leadership is about coping with change.andquot;

Leaders can be found at all levels of a , but not all immediately stand out from the crowd. Different situations, different cultures, different organizations, at different moments in their life, call for different characteristics and require different skills in a leader. A young person may be at exercising leadership in his/her , yet be awful in exercising leadership in another environment. This happens all the time. Some terrific young sports leaders exercise no leadership in their school projects or in other typed of clubs they may belong at the same time, not just because they choose not to, but also because they do not know how. Those other settings have different set of norms, different authority structures and different sets of adaptive challenges that the kid may be unfamiliar with.

On the other hand, power is the ability to influence the behavior of others. Regardless of their age, leaders and effective leaders know how to use it wisely. The types of power used by a young leader reveal a great deal about why others follow that child. One of the most useful frameworks for understanding the power of leaders was developed by John French and Bertram Raven. They identified five types of power: legitimate, reward, coercive, referent and .

But apart from the different forms of power that leaders can use, there are several different characteristics that describe how effective young leaders influence others. These characteristics have been put into four categories of models: traits, behavioral, contingency and transformational. There is no single or simple answer to which style of leadership works best. Fifty years ago, trait models of leadership were popular. Gradually, as evidence accumulated, traits models were replaced-first by behavioral models and then by contingency models. Currently, the transformational model has many supporters, reflecting efforts of many leaders to transform outdated forms of organizations into more competitive ones. Traits models are based on the assumption that certain physical, social, and personal characteristics are inherent in leaders. According to this view, the presence or absence of these characteristics distinguishes leaders from non-leaders. Some of the key traits are physical, social background and personality traits. There is some common sense supporting the notion that effective leaders, young or older, have certain traits. However research hasn't proved that traits consistently separate potential leaders from non-leaders. For example, the physical characteristics of a young baseball athlete don't necessarily correlate with his ability to excise successful leadership later in his life; they relate only to perceived leadership ability.

Summing up, as today's world pace speeds up, the leadership styles applied during the previous century, or even twenty years ago, differ substantially from the ones needed to be applied today or in 2020. To illustrate this, consider the young members of a school baseball team who if unwilling and unable to perform, the school coach will then definitely have to follow the autocratic leadership style. As long, though, as the coach applies appropriate motivation and training techniques, the young subordinates gradually become willing and able. Hence the situation is changing. This denotes that the leadership should also evolve from the autocratic towards the democratic style. In a few words the leadership style should andquot;complyandquot; with the evolution of the outstanding situation. As the example illustrates, sports organizations, especially those that involve children, must confront the future and learn from past practices by continuously adapting to the new instruction programs that evolve. Jonathon Hardcastle writes articles for http://4kidsandteens.com/ - In addition, Jonathon also writes articles for http://learntobecloser.com/ and http://foracloserfamily.com/ ]]>