The Point: You have been called to lead a company that is planning to expand nationwide or globally. You have the responsibility of leading a new team, keeping costs in check, and also to select the best people from the headquarters to lead those other offices. You will obviously need communication skills and financial know-how to achieve these goals. But this doesn’t end here, because leadership development is intimately linked with an individual’s personal development. The following are some of most crucial leadership development goals that you can set for yourself… Enjoy!

#5 Be More Open

Success leads to self-confidence, and self-confidence (many times) leads to arrogance. Many CEOs consider themselves intellectually superior to others, and thus, they don’t feel the need to listen to what people have to say. In fact, we have seen some really snobbish ‘leaders’ who don’t mind cutting off a person when contradicted. But what this does is stop people from sharing their ideas with you, and you will never get any honest feedback on any professional decision that you take. This, my friends, is the ultimate recipe for corporate disaster. Try to be more open to what other people are saying for the simple reason that you don’t know everything, and exposing yourself to a variety of viewpoints only leads to your intellectual growth.

#4 Listen Like you Mean It

Following from the previous point, being open doesn’t mean that you just sit like a dummy when people are talking. , waiting patiently for their turn to get over so that you can correct or enlighten them with your knowledge. This is not the way to go. Instead, when you ask for other people’s opinions, do listen carefully. Turn towards them, look them in the eye, and continue nodding from time to time. Even if you don’t agree to what is being said, your employees and colleagues will still feel respected by these small gestures.

#3 Take Command Over your Emotions

When times are rough and the economy is in shambles, your organization will look up to for directions. Even when you don’t have all the answers, your confidence and self-assurance can help calm them down.  Consider the example of Winston Churchill. His personal emotional downturns and bouts of depression are well-documented, but he was always managed to assure the people around him and give them hope even in times as horrible as the Second World War.  So learn to keep your emotions under your control.

#2 Health is Wealth

The corporate world is slowly accepting the wisdom behind this adage. As a leader, you are supposed to energize and mobilize your workforce. But how you can you do that, as you are on the verge of burnout due to lack of sleep, unhealthy eating, and excessively long work hours?. Not to mention, workplace stress is on the rise. To counter all this and to ensure your long-term success as a leader, start taking care of yourself. Learn to work smart and delegate more often. Go home, spend time with family, meditate, and get a good night’s sleep.

#1 Keep Yourself Informed

Finally, a trait of successful leaders is that they are constantly learning. This is a key attribute that will help you in the face of changing business conditions. Read voraciously, blogs, trade journals, and books. Teddy Roosevelt used to read at least one book per day when he was President. I think you can manage one a every week.!

In addition, attend seminars and trade shows to meet like-minded professionals. Best of all, consider taking on a mentor to help you with leadership development.

Summary

To sum up, while corporate training and financial wisdom helps you rise the ranks to become CEO, maintaining your effectiveness as a leader depends on personal development as well, especially in terms of how you engage with people and manage your physical/emotional health.

If you’d like more information about Tip of the Spear’s Business Advisory Services, consisting of Centered Executive Coaching, Leadership Development through ‘The Leadership Challenge’ methodology, and Communication Skills Training for Leaders use the CONTACT US page of this website.

The Point: Leadership development is the need of the hour for 2015 (or it should be!) More and more organizations are recognizing this need, which is resulting in billions of dollars being spent on training C-suite executives. However, a leadership development program is effective only when the objectives are clearly defined. Here are 10 leadership development goals that you can consider working in 2015… Enjoy!

#10 Greater Interaction With Your Team

Stop hiding behind your desk. Open your cabin door on a regular basis, and try to interact with your colleagues and employees. Emphasis on interaction. Most CEOs like to speak in monologue, even in front of an audience.  Avoid that, and instead, increase two-way communication with your team.

#9 Action Based on Data

Intuition is not enough when you are leading a business. You need to stay up-to-date on your data, not only from the company archives, but from market surveys, reports, white papers, and trade journals etc. While innovation is essential for long-term growth, when there are budgetary concerns, you need implement strategies that is known to work.

#8 Strive for Clarity

Today’s business climate is marred by volatility. Leaders need to be on the go to stay at par with competition. While this calls for leaders that are flexible, it is equally important that they should know to communicate with clarity. Whether it is informing your team of a new business policy or introducing a new communication system in the office, you should learn the art of getting straight to the point without wasting a moment.

#7 Meaningful Messages

This follows from the previous point. Improving communication is one thing, but needless meetings, emails, memos, and presentations only interrupt your team instead of helping them work better. So, while you should entertain casual conversations with your colleagues from time to time, for the most part, you should speak only to add value to your listeners.

#6 Be Open to Criticism

In this age where employee/management trust is at an all-time low, those leaders are lucky that a team that speaks honestly to them. Once you assure people that you will give their opinions a fair hearing (even if they go against something you said and did earlier), you not only build trust with your team, but you always know what is going on in their mind.

#5 Talent Development

The leader of tomorrow actively participates in finding and nurturing employees that will implement those instructions to the best of their abilities. If you want to lead the best team, then you essentially need to handpick the topmost talent in the organization.

#4 Pick Out Future Leaders

In line with #5, a mark of a true leader is that he prepares others to take his position when his time is up. If you the company that you ran with such fervent passion to reach new horizons, then you need to develop leaders from your team that will carry your mission forward with the same vigor.

#3 Return to the Basics

As mentioned above, leaders are responsible for taking fast-paced decisions. However, instead of constantly focusing on the short-term decisions, you need to go back to the mission statement of the company. See whether the company is going on track and whether the mission statement needs some amendment or not.

#2 Be Open to Suggestions

See #6. As you encourage people to share their opinions, you get to understand a crucial business issue from all angles. For instance, it is the sales team that knows which marketing messages work the best, which can help you create the most effective marketing strategy on a tight budget.

#1 Empower your Team

Finally and most importantly, a wise and dynamic leader is essential to boost a company’s bottom-line. However, when all the thinking and decision making rests on one man’s shoulders, then he wouldn’t be able to avoid burnout for long. What needs to be done is to teach every person on your team to think for themselves. They should be able to contribute meaningfully when it comes to finding solutions for unique business problems. This way, the success of the company will not be dependent on individuals.

Summary

To sum up, as we enter into 2015, you should create leadership development goals for yourself and make all efforts possible to achieve them to stay on top of your game.

If you’d like more information about Tip of the Spear’s Business Advisory Services, consisting of Centered Executive Coaching, Leadership Development through ‘The Leadership Challenge’ methodology, and Communication Skills Training for Leaders use the CONTACT US page of this website.