Textbook Summaries

Chapter 1

Excellence in leadership requires the ability to motivate people to put forth their best efforts.

What is leadership? Social influence. Initiating and guiding, bringing about change. Influences the behaviors of others through ideas and deeds.

Leadership can bring unity, as well as influence social conduct and conscience.

One type of leader is a value creator.

Leadership is moving away from autocratic, hierarchal models and moving towards a participatory model that empowers individuals.

Traits found to correlate positively with leadership:

Strong drive for responsibility and task completion

Initiative in social situations

Self-confidence and sense of personal identity

Willingness to accept consequences of decisions and actions

Ability to influence other persons’ behavior

Insight

Decisiveness

Courage

Strength

Resolve

Diplomacy

Evidence shows that both qualities of the individual and environmental factors are important elements of leadership

Leaders may emerge spontaneously in social crises

External circumstances and internal qualities interact to allow would-be leaders to express their innate abilities

Integrity

Leader with integrity tells the truth as he or she believes it to be

Job knowledge

Knowing what direction to take and how to solve problems

People-building skills

Ability to assemble and develop a winning team

Skills such as performance planning, performance coaching, correcting poor performance, effective delegation, effective discipline, and the ability to motivate

Caring is an essential ingredient for successful leadership.

When a leader cares:

Others care

Others become focused and energized

Others find direction and develop momentum

When a leader cares, great achievements are made. Without commitment there is no passion. Without concern there is no loyalty.

“Too many organizations are over-managed and under-led” – John Kotter

Too much emphasis on control, and not enough on motivation and creativity, can reduce vitality and lead to failure

Leaders need to be developed at all levels of responsibility

Although they involve different functions, the terms management and leadership are often used interchangeably.

Chapter 2

Leadership trait theory assumes that distinctive physical and psychological characteristics account for leadership effectiveness. Important traits:

Basic intelligence

Clear and strong values

High level of personal energy

Need for achievement

Intelligence

Decisiveness

Self-confidence

Initiative

Supervisory ability

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Kurt Lewin trained assistants in behaviors indicative of three leadership styles:

Autocratic: Characterized by tight control of group activities and decisions made by the leader

Democratic: Emphasized group participation and majority rule

Laissez-faire: Involved low levels of any kind of activity by the leader

Kurt Lewin’s study indicated that the democratic style of leadership was more beneficial than autocratic or laissez-faire

****Ralph Stogdill and others developed the Leader Behavior Description Questionnaire. Respondents to the questionnaire described leaders’ behaviors in two dimensions:

Initiating structure: Extent to which leaders take action to define the relationship between themselves and their staff. (Task-Oriented)

Consideration: Extent to which leaders take action to develop trust, respect, support, and friendship with subordinates. (Relationship-Oriented)

**** Under the direction of Rensis Likert, the University of Michigan ran their own leadership studies and found two similar dimensions of leadership behavior:

Job-Centered – The same as Task-Oriented “Initiating Structure”

Employee-Centered – The same as Relationship-Oriented “Consideration”

**** Created by Robert Blake and Jane Mouton in 1964, the managerial grid identified a real leader as having a high concern for both production and people.

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In recent years, two additional styles have been added to the managerial grid as major styles:

Paternalistic

Uses high concern for production combined with use of rewards in exchange for compliance and loyalty

Opportunistic

Uses whichever style will best promote the manager’s own advancement

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Leadership Contingency:

Experienced followers and newer followers will have different leadership needs

Leaders require different interests, values, and skills depending on their situation

Situational factors include:

The job being performed

The workplace culture

The task’s urgency

Leadership results when the ideas and deeds of the leader match the needs and expectations of the follower in a particular situation.

Transformational Leadership: The term transformational leadership can be used to describe the leadership of those that use optimism, charm, intelligence, and other personal qualities to raise aspirations and transform individuals and organizations into new levels of high performance. Leaders with charisma have an extraordinary ability to inspire others and bring forth loyalty. R.J. House’s 1976 theory of charismatic leadership stated that the characteristics of charismatic leaders include being dominant, ambitious, self-confident, and have a strong sense of purpose. Behaviors of charismatic leaders:

They are role models for the beliefs and values they want their followers to adopt

Demonstrate ability that elicits the respect of followers

Have ideological goals with moral overtones

Communicate high expectations and show confidence in their ability to meet those expectations

Ignite the motives of followers to take action

A leader’s magical qualities

An emotional bond between the leader and the led

Assumptions that a leader is omniscient and virtuous

Popular support for a leader that verges on love

Focus on the potential relationship between the leader and the followers

Engage the full person of the follower

Tap the motives of the followers

Chapter 3

Qualities that make a leader:

Vision

Ability

Enthusiasm

Stability

Concern for Others

Self-Confidence

Persistence

Vitality

Charisma

Integrity

A Leader requires a strong sense of purpose: Recognizes what must be done and does it

Leaders must know the job: It helps if the leader has done the job before and done it well. Should be current in their field so as to set a good example.

Enthusiasm is a form of persuasiveness: It causes others to become interested and willing to accept the leader’s accomplishments.

A leader should be emotionally stable to protect their objectivity and judgment

A caring leader must be patient and attentive, put the benefit of others before their own personal comfort or advancement and never belittle or diminish people.

Confidence in their own ability can give the leader inner strength to overcome difficult tasks. Successful leaders will remain calm and confident, inspiring others with their grace under pressure. If a leader does not display confidence, others may question their authority and decisions.

Strength and stamina are needed to fulfill leadership tasks, even if the mind and spirit are willing.

Charisma is a special personal quality that generates others’ interest and causes them to follow. Great leaders are “merchants of hope” and full of optimism. Charismatic leaders bring a sense of adventure and commitment to a cause, unleashing the potential energy of others. Charismatic leaders are admired by followers and inspire loyalty.

The most important, fundamental quality of leadership is integrity. Integrity is honesty, strength of character, and courage. Without integrity, there is no trust. Trust leads to respect, loyalty and, ultimately, action.

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There is a dark triad of negative traits that can lead to toxic leadership, corrupting workers and organizations:

Narcissism

Machiavellianism

Psychopathology

Machiavellianism puts self-interest over moral behavior. Machiavellian leaders are willing to manipulate others to accommodate their own self-interest and have a cynical view of human nature. Leaders who showcase traits of psychopathology can have impulsive behavior, a lack of remorse, or guilt related to their actions.

A researcher named Barbara Kellerman believed valuable insights could be gained by examining the qualities of poor leaders. Her research uncovered six negative behaviors:

Incompetence

Rigidity

Intemperance

Callousness

Corruption

Cruelty

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Characteristics of followers that influence the leadership process are respect for authority and interpersonal trust. People who respect authority figures and have a trusting nature are led more easily than people who disregard authorities and are suspicious of others

Stuart Levine and Michael Crom’s principles of trust for leadership effectiveness:

Deal openly with everyone

Consider all points of view

Keep promises

Give responsibility

Listen to understand

Care about people

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Different types of intelligence:

Crystallized intelligence:

Represents one’s lifetime of intellectual attainments

Shown by vocabulary, accumulated facts about the world, and ability to solve problems within one’s area of expertise

Includes comprehension of information and the ability to communicate in oral and written forms

Crystallized intelligence can increase over time.

Fluid intelligence:

Involves mental flexibility, as shown by the ability to process information rapidly, as in solving problems in new areas of endeavor

Includes reasoning, creative thinking, and memory

Leaders must shift styles to meet the needs of different employees and different situations.

That said, leaders must have both crystalized and fluid intelligence while authority figures only need the former. Crystalized intelligence automatically increases overtime. Those with crystalized intelligence are factually informed, as they can perfectly comprehend and recite to their subjects. However, they can solve problems only within an area of expertise. On the other hand, leaders with fluid intelligence can solve problems in new areas of endeavor. Fluid intelligence takes the memory contained in crystalized intelligence to the next level as reasoning and creative thinking are part of the mix. Essentially, leaders have both crystalized intelligence and fluid intelligence because they have mental flexibility (powerpoint 3).

If leading and following styles conflict, patience and communication are needed in:

Decision making

Directive leaders may be upset by free-rein followers on challenging decisions and behaving independently

Goal setting

Directive followers may be upset by free-rein leaders who provide few details on how to do a job

Communication

Participative followers are upset by leaders who fail to have staff meetings, ignore the open-door policy, and show little concern for others’ feelings

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Chapter 4

A leader with a vision wants to make a difference – to strive to create a thing that never was before. The most important function of a leader is to have a clear vision of the future and to secure commitment to that ideal.

Henry Ford believed that profit was a by-product of a vision achieved, not the purpose of the vision

Leaders must act as animators, breathing life into their organizations. Leaders must have: a vision, a strategy, intensity and stamina, and a deep conviction for their vision.

A leader must test their vision with three questions: Is this the right direction? Are these the right goals? Is this the right time?

Noel Tichy and Mary DeVanna found that successful leaders use the following steps to help employees adapt to change: Recognize the need for change, Create a clear and positive vision, Institute empowering structures and processes.

In a major study, the Forum Corporation identified the leadership characteristics needed for change: Taking personal responsibility for initiating change, Creating a vision and strategy for the organization, Trusting and supporting others.

Visioning, credited to Ronald Lippitt, involves “images of potential” rather than to “problems” as starting points for change.

Key elements of an overall vision or strategic plan typically include seven elements. The first four elements provide a general direction for the organization:

Central purpose or mission

Broad goals to achieve the mission

Core values to measure the rightness or wrongness of behavior

Stakeholders and what the attainment of the vision will mean to them

Analysis of the organization and its environment, including internal Strengths and Weaknesses, as well as external Opportunities and Threats or SWOT

Strategic initiatives or critical success factors. Two important goals in a SWOT analysis are to Identify core competencies in the form of special strengths the organization has or does exceptionally well and Identify opportunities in the environment that the organization can act upon

Tactical plans and specific assignments to support strategic initiatives, broad goals, and attainment of the mission ——— vision must be tailored to each organization to be most effective. An organization’s vision should be simple, focused, uplifting, and usable. Honor and live the vision as the organization’s constitution. Encourage new-member understanding and commitment through early introduction. Make it constantly visible. Create integrity through alignment and congruency. Reinforce employee behavior that supports the vision. Review the vision periodically, revising as appropriate to reflect changing conditions

To implement your vision, you must set priorities. Charles Schwab paid consultant Ivy Lee for his expertise. Ivy suggested “Write down the six most important tasks you have to do tomorrow, in order of importance. Work on the first until you finish it, then item two and so on. Don’t worry if you don’t finish the list.” Implementing this simple strategy of prioritization helped Charles Schwab turn Bethlehem Steel into the biggest independent steel producer in the world

Vision must be comprehensive and detailed, so that every member of the organization can understand his or her part in the whole.

An individual will prefer one or two social motives over the others – preference being influenced heavily by culture, personal traits, and experiences

People exert leadership to satisfy one or a combination of these three motives

As either leader or follower, a person will be most happy and productive in a situation that allows the expression of personal social motives

The basic needs that motivate leaders motivate employees as well

Give them the opportunity to make decisions and direct projects. Want to exercise their talents to attain success. Like to solve problems and get the job done. Provide them with meaningful work assignments that allow them to be self-motivated.

Gain satisfaction from interacting with others. Enjoy people and find social aspects of the workplace rewarding. Prefer cooperative, rather than competitive, work situations. Give them opportunities, such as group meetings, to interact with others.

Chapter 5

Organizations resemble villages more than a “clearly focused structure”. Unspoken taboos. Established norms of behavior govern use of resources. Artifacts of the organizational village including rituals, stories, symbols based on deeply held assumptions, beliefs, and values.

A culture can be positive or negative, determined primarily by the decisions by and the example set by leaders.

Google attempts to create a positive work culture through two rules:

Think of your work as a calling with a mission that matters

Give people more trust, freedom, and authority than you are comfortable giving them

Consider an exploitive or impoverished hospital:

Those who can find employment elsewhere will leave

Those who remain will spend the majority of their time complaining about working conditions and management practices

The result will be unattended patients, poor housekeeping, and medical and clerical errors

These unnecessary mistakes are due to human factors – untrained, unqualified, and uncommitted workers

Exploitive. Autocratic and hierarchical: Characterized by lack of loyalty and recurring financial crises. Members Do not participate outside of complying with order and Do not discuss job-related problems with leaders. Leaders Make all decisions and Show little confidence or trust in others.

Supportive leadership shows great interest and confidence in members. Leaders Shows interest and confidence in members and Involves member participation and involvement in decision-making. Members Understand the goals of the organization, Committed to achieving those goals and Feel free to discuss job-related problems.

Enlightened leaders View human resources as the organization’s greatest asset, Treat every individual with understanding, dignity, warmth, and support, Tap the constructive power of groups through visioning and team building, Set high performance goals at every level of the organization. Enlightened leaders stand in contrast to toxic leaders that display the “dark triad” – narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopatology. Benefits of this type of leadership include Performance effectiveness improves, Costs decrease as well as Satisfaction and health improve.

Creative cooperation when dealing with others involves: Valuing differences, Building on strengths, Transcending individual limitations and Achieving the full potential of community.

Conditions for a true community: Shared vision: Positive and future-focused image provides direction. Wholeness incorporating diversity: Community must face and resolve differences. Shared culture: Norms of behavior and core values that are shared are symbols of group identity. Internal communications: People communicate freely, which is uncensored and flows in all directions. Consideration and trust: People are respected, valued, and treated humanely. Maintenance and government: Roles, responsibilities, and decision-making are conducive to achieving tasks. Participation and shared leadership: Involvement of all individuals and opportunity to influence events and outcomes. Development of younger members: Mature members help young members develop knowledge, skills, and attitudes that reflect community values. Affirmation: The community celebrates its beginnings, rewards its achievements, and takes pride in its challenges. Links with outside groups: Need to draw boundaries to accomplish tasks and community’s need to have fruitful alliances with external groups.

As organizations grow in size, there is a need for layers and divisions of responsibility. Mid-level leaders are needed to guide work activities, coach employees, and manage organizational growth. Too many layers of management lead to a reduction in creativity and performance. “Flat” organizations have few layers of management, resulting in: Increased efficiency, Faster information transfer, Faster response, Power focused on employees. “Tall” organizations have several layers of management, resulting in: Higher overhead costs due to cost of managers, Slower transmission of information, Slower response time and Undermining of employee satisfaction due to power being focused on managers.

Culture is an important factor when organizations merge. Not every merger is a good fit, culturally. Organizations should consider the integration of cultures prior to the deal taking place. Organizations can do their cultural due diligence by: Talking to past members of the organization, Interviewing common customers, suppliers, and industry analysts, Check for compatibility of reward systems, performance standards, leadership practice, feedback and controls, and attitudes toward innovation.

Chapter 9

Questions that diagnose the need for empowerment (Manning 2014):

Do people seem uninterested in their work?

Are absenteeism or turnover rates too high?

Do people lack loyalty and team spirit?

Is there a lack of communication among individuals and groups?

Is there a low level of pride?

Are costs too high because of waste and inefficiency?

Does the quality of product or service need improvement?

Trust in people

Assume they will work to implement organizational goals if given a chance

Invest in people

View people as the organization’s most important resource

Recognize accomplishments

Symbolic rewards are extremely important. Show people that they are valued.

Decentralize decision making

Put responsibility for making decisions where the information is and as close to the customer as possible.

View work as a cooperative effort

Model and reinforce the idea that by working together, people accomplish more.

People want accurate, timely, and complete information – the most preferred method is from their immediate supervisor

Effective leaders know that they are always communicating – even when they are not speaking

A closed office door can communicate a powerful message

Leaders tailor their communication according to the audience

Employees have three “needs to know”

Grand plan: Purpose, values, and strategies for success

What is expected of them personally, and why

Feedback on individual performance and recognition for their efforts

Seven simple rules to be followed when planning, conducting, and using meetings effectively:

Have a meeting only if a meeting is needed

Decide the objectives and making an agenda

Invite the participants and providing pertinent materials in advance

Pick a time and place that are convenient and conducive to productive work

Encourage active participation by everyone present

Agree upon action steps and responsibilities

Write and distributing minutes of the meeting

Chapter 10

Warren Bennis, the “father of leadership” defines effective leadership as:

Being yourself

Figuring out what you are good at

Focusing on one or two critical objectives

Listening well

Drucker’s advice for leadership effectiveness:

Determine what needs to be done

Determine the right thing to do for the welfare of the entire organization

Develop action plans that specify desired results, probable restraints, future revisions, check-in points, and implications for how one should spend one’s time

Take responsibility for decisions

Take responsibility for communicating action plans, and give people the information they need to get the job done

High morale is described as:

Having pride in what you do

Enjoying the people you are working with

Trusting the people you work for

Gaining economic rewards

One of the best ways of understanding morale is to evaluate your own level or morale in these four key areas.

Be predictable

Be understanding

Be enthusiastic

Set the example

Show support

Get out of the office – visit frontline people with your eyes and ears open

Keep promises

Praise generously

Guidelines for handling complaints:

Keep cool, calm, and collected

Listen patiently without interrupting

Accept and acknowledging the person’s point of view

Ask questions to fully understand the problem and to fully understand what the person wants

Discuss possible solutions

Reach closure

Thank the person genuinely for speaking up

Follow through

McGregor married the ideas of social psychologist Kurt Lewin to the theories of Abraham Maslow. People react not to an objective world but to a world fashioned from their own perceptions and assumptions about what the world is like

Chapter 18 and 19

What does true positive feedback look like? Why do we give it and what is our intended outcome? Why do leaders give constructive feedback and what is different about how a leader gives constructive feedback vs an authority? What should your goal be when delivering constructive feedback?

Performance reviews:

Keep communication lines open

Help motivate employees

Give peace of mind to both employer and employee

Include preparation, implementation, and follow-up

Research shows improvement is most likely to occur when:

Behavior change is necessary

Recipients believe change is possible

Appropriate improvement goals are set

Improvement is recognized and rewarded

Use feedback as soon as possible

Focus on behavior change, not personality analysis

Link feedback to learning and performance goals

Align improvement goals with key results for the organization

Coach for improvement, not just for final results

Performance coaching involves the development and encouragement of people.

Statesmanship is the ability to work with and through other people. Statesman is skillful in human relations and is able to multiply personal accomplishments through the efforts of others. A statesman is not a dictator, but rather a developer of effective relationships. A statesman guides rather than leads. A statesman believes if everyone can work together, more can be accomplished. Behaviors that represent high level of statesmanship:

Seeking out the ideas and opinions of others

Going out of one’s way to help others

Seeking consensus in settling disagreements

Having outstanding ability to work with people

Involving others in decisions that affect them

Four-Step Method of Problem Solving:

Get the Facts

You can’t solve a problem without first knowing the facts

Weigh and decide

Consider the effects that different courses of actions will have

Take action

The effective leader makes timely decisions and announces them clearly.

Follow up

Did your actions help the quality of work or quality of life?

Leaders train their employees to have a specific attitude on failure rather than have them fear it. Fear of failure can paralyze a person to the extent that:

Opportunities are missed

Achievement is reduced

Entrepreneurs view failure as the opportunity to begin again, only more educated.

Similarly, innovators explore, question, and study new ways of doing things.

Actions that leaders should avoid:

Taking away discretion

Maintaining fragmented schedules

Withholding resources

Keeping rigid rules

Discouraging collaboration

Focus on the hedgehog concept, being the best in the world at what they have a passion to do for which they will be paid

Maintain a culture of discipline, based on individual work ethic versus bureaucratic control

Related aspects of organizational justice

Interaction: Are people treated with dignity and respect?

Distribution: Are rewards and punishments distributed fairly?

Procedure: Is the process of how justice is enacted reasonable, timely, and consistent?

Establish just and reasonable rules based on core values: If corrective action is necessary, it should take the form of a caring confrontation based on core values of the organization.Communicate rules to all employees, Provide immediate corrective action, Create a system of progressive corrective measures for violation of rules, Provide an appeal process for corrective action.

What should be the purpose of an incentive program? What are the inherent risks of poorly devised incentive plans? What is worker recognition and when should it be given? How can you take into account people’s comfort level being ‘called out’ in front of their peers? When delivering positive feedback, what is the appropriate setting? Can these settings vary based on the situation and the person? Where and when should constructive feedback be given? In what context should you frame your constructive feedback to the person? How will you make this context clear at the start of the conversation?

Establishes direction and clarity of assignment

Provides the foundation on which individual and group performance can be developed and evaluated

Guidelines for supervisors

Create a positive climate

Tailor the conversation to suit the needs of the concerned employee

Ask questions based on prior preparation as well as on new information developed during the conversation

Be open and flexible to issues that may come up that one may not know about

Ask how one can help the concerned employee do a better job

Establish new performance objectives, standards, and completion dates

Write down points of discussion and agreement

Remember that a performance review should involve two-way communication

End the meeting on an upbeat, positive, and future-focused note

Develop a system of checks and reminders to be sure that performance objectives are being met

Show the concerned employee that one wants him or her to succeed

To maintain high performance, one must:

Want to perform at one’s best

Know the essential behaviors that represent statesmanship, entrepreneurship, and innovation

Apply principles and practices to perform those behaviors

If one exercises good work habits, one will be rewarded both financially and personally as word gets out that one is a valuable asset

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Some organizations develop statesmanship, entrepreneurship, and innovation by modeling and rewarding desired behaviors

Rules 3M uses to keep new products coming:

Set innovation goals

Commit to research

Support new ideas

Facilitate flexibility

Satisfy the customer

Tolerate failure

Face facts head-on without sugar-coating difficulties.

Truth: One has to care enough to confront and share the brutal truth

Benchmarking can be used as a job aid in the leadership process

Involves a careful search for excellence by taking the absolute best as a standard and trying to surpass that standard

Begins with an objective evaluation of the firm against the very best

Aims to determine what winners are doing, and then takes steps to meet or exceed that high standard

Culture: Empowering people, rewarding performance, and maintaining strong core values

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Practical and effective way to apply the law of effect and improve human performance: The law of effect states that behavior with a favorable consequence tends to be repeated, while behavior with an unfavorable consequence tends to disappear. Aims to change behavior by managing its antecedents and consequences

The central objective of behavior modification is to change behavior by managing its antecedents and subsequent consequences

Strategies for behavior modification:

Goal setting

Feedback on performance

Positive reinforcement

Elements that are important for effective discipline:

Defined roles and responsibilities so that employees know what is expected

Clear rules and guidelines so that employees understand what is acceptable behavior

Effective methods and procedures for taking corrective action

Discipline Problems:

Permissiveness: Results in an untrained, poorly organized, and unproductive workforce

Rigidity: May cause employees to fear or hate authority and to feel anxious or overly guilty about making mistakes

Inconsistency: Makes it difficult for employees to understand what behavior is appropriate and what is not allowed

Principles of taking corrective action:

Preserve human dignity

Avoid charging a rule violation without first knowing the facts

Obtain agreement that a problem exists

Avoid negative emotions

Remember the purpose of corrective action

Avoid double standards

Enforce rules consistently and firmly

Follow the four-step method for solving performance problems

As leaders, we often want to just tell our reports what or how to do something rather than helping them discover the “what” or “how” on their own. A worker won’t learn if they aren’t forced to help themselves (teaching someone to fish vs giving them the fish). Leaders may also face situations where the worker gets frustrated because you are not simply giving them the answer. Identify tactics to help workers learn to do things for themselves. Identify the potential perceptions a worker may have when leaders use this approach vs giving answers and how they can manage any negative emotions related to this process. How can you strategically challenge your team members to determine each person’s strengths and where they can be developed further? Conversely, what strategies can you use to develop team members who might be struggling without simply giving them answers to the problems they might be encountering?

Talk to the third worker about delegation: Leaders enlist energies and improve their group’s success. Microsoft’s Bill Gates challenge to leaders: “Develop your people to do their jobs better than you can. Transfer your skills to them.” Effective leaders use the ability to delegate to develop others and achieve more success than would otherwise be possible.

Rule to follow in selecting employees and assigning work is PAP

Performance: Can the person do the work at the level required?

Attitude: Does the person want to do the work?

Psycho-social compatibility: Will work location, schedule, culture, and the like match individual and family needs?

Different personalities have different needs and ways of behaving. Determine if the person is realistic, investigative, artistic, social, enterprising, or conventional. There are also types of skills including technical, rational, relational, and conceptual. Wise, caring, and effective leaders value the differences and strive to make the best use of the unique contributions of all types of people. Different people need to be treated different in order to bring out their best in a given situation.

Styles of interpersonal relations:

Traditional style: Exemplified by Moses, who is the foremost individual in Jewish history, and Queen Victoria, who is known for her moral strength and high standards of conduct

Participative style: Exemplified by Eleanor Roosevelt, who was people-caring and people-serving, and Benjamin Franklin

Individualistic style: Exemplified by Joan of Arc, who led the French people by her conviction and brave example, and Henry David Thoreau

Delegation helps prepare employees for more difficult tasks and additional responsibility.

Steps for Effective Delegation:

Select the person for the task

Define the task

Gain the person’s views

Give authority and resources to perform the task

Use checkpoints to review progress

Hold accountable or rewarding results

Rules for Effective Delegation:

Share power with employees

Avoid delegating the bad jobs, saving the good ones for oneself

Know one’s employees

Use delegation as a development tool

Back one’s employees if their delegated authority is questioned

Delegate with consistency

Delegate whole tasks so that employees can see projects through to completion, and allow sufficient time to get jobs done

Learn to live with work styles that are not like one’s own

Develop employee talents

Have good leader-follower relations

Obtain the highest possible level of job performance

use work assignments as a means of developing people

Ask, rather than tell, but leave no doubt that one expects compliance

Be considerate but never apologetic when asking someone to do a job

Employees may have information or know something one does not

When one encourages questions and self-expression, one demonstrates respect for employees

When one allows the opportunity to ask questions and express opinions, one will be rewarded with increased creativity and commitment from one’s employees

Effective leaders recognize the importance of developing people and view developing others as an essential key to success

People grow when they are encouraged by someone they respect. When their plans move from general goals to specific actions. As they move from a condition of lower to higher self-esteem. Individual differences are recognized, and a variety of learning experiences are provided. Each person is addressed at his or her level of development and is helped to grow to fuller potential. Growth is rewarded through recognition and tangible signs of approval.

Using coaching versus judging in developing people, and consider purpose, timing, focus, and process

Practicing, which builds proficiency

Solutions to preserve valuable knowledge

Corporate library

Social media platforms to record professional interactions between employees working on projects

Emeritus roles for retired employees possessing important customer, product, and operational information

Access to specialized professional, trade, and industry knowledge

Use of digital platforms to access experts

Overall United States’ commitment to training is approximately 2.34 percent of payroll. Revenues and overall profitability are positively correlated with training expenditures. Training pays off in terms of higher net sales and gross profitability per employee. Organizations identify a leadership gap and then seek to fill the gap through training efforts.

Coaches use a variety of resources for developing leaders, including helpful books. Identifying coaching needs as early as possible is an important way to strengthen the leadership bench and promote dramatic improvement. Effective method is to use successful leaders in the later stages of their careers to mentor and develop the next generation of leaders. Experienced leaders are rewarded with a profound satisfaction that comes from guiding and coaching others to achieve their potential. The most effective leadership development efforts are sustained over time. They are deemed strategically important to achieve goals. Employee retention is an ever-increasing concern for employers and coaching decreases retention rates.

Employers should meet employee needs in certain areas

Clarity of work assignment and good work tools and supplies

Challenge in one’s area of expertise

Recognition for one’s accomplishments

Opportunity to grow and respect for one’s opinions

Mission that motivates

Feedback on performance

Positive social interactions and pride in one’s group

Discover what is important to employees, what they want to accomplish, and how the leaders can help

Focusing on employee strengths

When do you bring a team conflict to the forefront of your team meeting to get everything on the table? When might you need to handle these situations privately? Recognizing that all teams have conflict from time to time, how do you help team members air their grievances in a professional manner so that they can be addressed and the team can move forward? Consider a situation where you have at least 3 conflict situations in a team of 7 reports. The conflicts include team members having an issue with another’s perceived lack of productivity, one worker who has brought their personal political views into the workplace and it is making others uncomfortable, and one worker who is the ‘go-to’ worker who tries to take on every task within the group. How might you manage these three situations within your team? In your response include the setting of discussions, who will be present, how you would direct the conversation, and how you might handle the anticipated backlash.

Leaders can make the mistake of assigning a job to the one who can get it done, even if this is the same person over and over again

The political person is an individualist:

Individualistic style: Exemplified by Joan of Arc, who led the French people by her conviction and brave example, and Henry David Thoreau

Individualistic social orientations involve separating the self from others

Individualists dislike the idea of restricted freedom

Individualists depend on direction from within

Individualists avoid not being themselves

Individualists assign first responsibility for their own actions to their own conscience

Individualists value independence and freedom

Individualists prefer growth through introspection and self-analysis. Meeting the Needs of Individualists:

Recognizing independence and personal freedom

Providing immediate reward for performance

Talking in terms of present

Providing opportunities for growth through exploration and self-discovery

Keeping things stimulating and fun

Focusing on meaningful personal experiences, satisfying interpersonal relationships, and important social causes

Providing individual job assignments

Accentuating feelings as well as logic when handling problems

Differences in personality can result in perceptions and judgments that are very different. Awareness of the nature and needs of different types of people is the first step in building relationships. Being aware of different types of thinking can lead to new levels of cooperation and success

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*** Talking it out

Talking in private so that all parties can communicate in an uncensored and honest way

Talking when people are fresh

Ensuring every word spoken passes three important tests, which analyze if it is it true, necessary, and kind

Being understanding

Seeing things from another person’s point of view

Trying to understand the forces in another person’s life that may have influenced and helped shape her or his personality

Being flexible

Being willing to compromise

Remembering that everyone must be flexible

Being tolerant

Recognizing that differences in personality are unavoidable

Recognizing that tolerance of different styles is necessary if communication, teamwork, and a one-team attitude are to be achieved

Discuss individual and group performance

Discover what is important to employees, what they want to accomplish, and how the leaders can help

Decide what is important to oneself

Picture the completed thing:

Relax mentally and physically

Let the image of the situation come to mind

Visualize handling the situation in precisely the manner desired

Visualize handling one or two unexpected aspects of the situation

Visualize a positive outcome

Take action