Leadership and Triathlons - What Do They Have To Do with Each Other?

By Chris Coward

Last week I completed my first triathlon and although my time was nothing to brag about, the experience was wonderful and I would definitely do it again. As I was cycling around the Philadelphia Art Museum (with hardly anyone around since I was the last wave of women to go), I thought about how the triathlon experience connects really well to leadership skills.

1) An excellent leader works on their weak areas, always looking to improve and at the minimum, not have their weakness be a liability. For me, the swimming was my weakness. As a result I spent most of my training time on improving my swimming, getting tips from anyone who said they swam competitively in high school or college. I'm still not good at it, but my goal was to avoid being rescued and to not be last in the race!

2) A healthy leader seeks balance in their life. For this race I did not go crazy overtraining or becoming obsessed with winning. It was important to me to continue with my life - play music, work, have fun and prioritize important relationships.

3) Another sign of a good leader is that no matter what is going on for them, they still make the time to encourage others and remain positive. If the budget is pessimistic or their knees are killing them in the race, a leader will continue to encourage others and remain optimistic and solution oriented.

4) An excellent leader always does their best, no matter what the circumstances are. Everyone's best is different and a person's best may vary day to day. For me, I can honestly say that I did my best in my first triathlon and of course, I want to do better next time.

5) Finally, a great leader sets and takes action toward their goals. My goal for my first triathlon was to: a) finish b) have fun c) not get rescued during the swim. As all strong leaders do, I will set the bar higher for my next triathlon and seek to be more competitive in my age group.

Did I mention that it is great when a leader can have fun being a leader? Employees gravitate to that "thing" about you that is the human element of your leadership. Don't forget to keep striving for the best while remaining optimistic that you will finish strong.

Chris Coward, MSW, LCSW is a licensed clinical social worker and Leadership Coach with over ten years experience supervising, managing and leading people working in non-profit agencies. She has worked with individuals and teams in various organizations, helping them improve their communication and gain clarity around their goals and mission. Chris is an experienced workshop facilitator and also uses adventure- based learning in some of her trainings.

Chris believes that each team member has a set of unique strengths that he or she brings to the group and that a team functions best when there is diversity in strengths versus sameness amongst members. She brings warmth, humor, energy and the ability to give direct feedback to clients working with her.

If you would like to improve your leadership ability or develop your work team, you can contact Chris at (215) 472-1572 or chris@chriscoward.com. The website address is http://www.chriscoward.com

Signup for her FREE monthly e-zine, the Leader's Edge at http://www.chriscoward.com

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5 Essential Attributes in Leading Others

By Duncan Brodie

Leading others brings new demands on individuals and requires them to have or develop new competencies and attributes. People are often promoted into posts where they are required to lead others because they were high performers at doing a task orientated job. Yet leading others does require different skills from doing something yourself. So what are 5 essential attributes in successfully leading others?

Providing feedback

The first essential attribute in leading others is to learn how to provide feedback. People in organisations are looking for feedback, praise and recognition for what they are doing to help you get results. A large proportion of our life is spent at work and we all like to feel valued. If you had to rate yourself on a scale of 1-10 in terms of providing feedback (10 being excellent) what score would you give yourself? Providing feedback takes little or no time, costs nothing and is one of the biggest contributors to a happy workforce and staff retention levels.

Listening and involving

An autocratic style where people were told what to do and get on with it will not work in the modern business world. People want to be involved in contributing to key decisions and feel that their points of view have been heard. As the leader, you clearly need to take the final decision. Chances are that not everyone will agree with the decision but if you have taken the time to listen to and involve others in the decision process, they are more likely to get behind the decision you reach.

Getting the balance right

One of the challenges in leading others is getting the balance right between delegating to others and keeping track on progress. Too much involvement could result in the other person or team thinking that you don't trust them. Too little involvement could mean that you find out too late that things are off track and deadlines are going to be missed. Making the time at the outset to brief others, check their understanding and agree review points is a simple but effective way of getting the balance right.

Setting objectives

In leading others, it is vitally important to set clear objectives. Leaders sometimes fall into the trap of believing that a long job description with lots of detail about what the employee is required to do serve that purpose. In addition to this, make a point of setting around 6 key objectives for each person. These objectives should be specific, measurable, achievable, results orientated and time limited.

Training and developing

When leading others you need to make the time and give the commitment to training people. So often employers put in a lot of effort when it comes to employing people but make no investment of time and/or money in training and developing people. As a leader, you need to make the time to help people grow and get better at what they do.

Successfully leading others is vital to the success of an organisation. You may already be performing outstandingly in this area. If you are the challenge is to keep yourself at this high performance level. If you are still developing as a leader, where do you need to focus on to move towards outstanding performance?

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements (G&A) works with professionals and progressive public and private sector organisations who want to develop their management and leadership capability in order to achieve more success. With 25 years business experience in a range of sectors, he understands first hand the real challenges of managing and leading in the demanding business world.

You can learn more about Duncan, Goals and Achievements services and products and sign up for his free e-course and monthly newsletter at http://www.goalsandachievements.co.uk/

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Leading the Day After - Leadership Opportunities after the Project is Over

By Kevin Eikenberry

If you lead for any length of time, you have experienced one (or both) of these situations:

Your team achieves a major goal, finishes a big project or lands the big client. The team tries for but doesn’t reach the big goal, finishes a big project late or loses a big client. While these two sets of situations are quite different – some are big successes and the others disappointments – both lead to something very challenging for us to deal with.

Once you’ve climbed the mountain, what’s left? Once you’ve failed, what’s next?
Both situations lead to letdown. And letdown, regardless of the cause, is important for us as leaders to recognize and deal with.

A variety of the symptoms of letdown pose challenges for us. These include:
Focus lost Energy drained Vision missing

And, if the letdown comes from a major success, you might need to add complacency to this list.

If, or when, you notice one or more of these symptoms, consider the six ideas below to help you as a leader get your group past the letdown and on to greater success.

Six Keys to Overcoming Let Down

Recognize. The first step is to notice the symptoms. Keep your eyes and ears open. Notice how people are talking and acting. If you notice the symptoms, take the next step.

Discuss. Get people together to talk about how they are feeling. Are they feeling an adrenaline drag? Tired, not sure what to do next? Get people together and let them talk about what they are thinking and how they are feeling. Remember that the feeling question is the most important one. Ignore this component of the conversation and you will have missed a major opportunity for healing and improvement.

Allow (for awhile). It is OK for people to feel whatever they are feeling after these sorts of "big" events. Allow people to be tired, de-motivated or even cocky for a bit. If the feelings or behaviors aren’t what you want long term, then help people make the shift with the rest of these steps.

Reflect. Whatever led to the letdown, there are massive learning opportunities from those experiences. Make sure people have the chance to reflect on and learn from what happened. Reflection can be a powerful part of the celebration of successes and a great release from disappointments. Above everything else, reflection is like a much needed mental deep breath.

Look higher. Once you have gotten people to this point, it is time to move forward. The best way to re-invigorate the group’s mindset is to tie the past effort to the higher goal. When people understand or are reminded of the "why we are here" they can put the success (or failure) they now feel into the appropriate context.

Re-energize. Part of looking higher is setting new goals. Few things provide the powerful sort of mental, psychological and physical energy that an aspirational goal can. Help people set a new goal – one that helps them move forward with passion and purpose.

The best leaders try to focus on the needs and challenges of their team. This is a wonderful attribute and very important. In this case though, it is difficult to lead your group through these steps if you haven’t led yourself through them. Recognize that you may be suffering a letdown. Letting the team know how you are feeling can be a wonderful step into helping them through these steps.

Kevin Eikenberry is a leadership expert and the Chief Potential Officer of The Kevin Eikenberry Group, a learning consulting company that helps Clients reach their potential through a variety of training, consulting and speaking services. You can learn more about him and a special offer on his newest book, Remarkable Leadership: Unleashing Your Leadership Potential One Skill at http://RemarkableLeadershipBook.com/bonuses.asp

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Leadership Skills Training: 5 Irrefutable, Non-Negotiable Laws of Leadership You Must Know Now

By Kevin Berchelmann

Triangle Performance, LLC

Leaders, new and old, sometimes lose sight of the most fundamental tenets of leadership. Here's a reminder&

I frequently tell executives that leadership and its concepts, theories and core applications haven't changed in a millennium.

Some of our demographics may have changed. This forces us to use alternative applications of those concepts. But the basic leadership concepts and theories remain.

So, why don't we "just do it?"

Sometimes we aren't motivated. Sometimes the "time" just doesn't seem right. Maybe we simply forgot some of the basics& hence this article.

When I train companies and corporations worldwide on how to improve management and organization performance, I start off with these 5 laws new and experienced leaders should never ever forget.

Kevin's Leadership Skills Training Survival Kit for New & Experienced Managers

Leadership Law #1: Never delay a decision that must be made.

Make your decision and move on. You may have to immediately make another decision. This doesn't mean your first one was wrong. It merely means that your second one had the benefit of additional knowledge.

Leadership Law #2: When you want something specific done, say so specifically, using clear, plain language.

Employees generally have some difficulty doing their basic jobs. By adding "mind-reading" to their description is just plain unfair.

Do not use hints, implications, or innuendos. Say what you want, and use plain English! Directness counts.

Leadership Law #3: Never answer every employee's every question.

Questions are teaching moments -- don't rob employees of the opportunity. But don't spend your whole time answering questions.

When you always answer every employee's every question, you'll forever be answering your employee's every question. This will leave you with no time to spend on areas that need your direct attention now.

Sounds trite, and I don't mean it to.

If employees are asking because they're stupid, get rid of them. If they are decent employees asking because they do not know, then teach them. They'll know next time, and you'll both be better for it.

Leadership Law #4: Make your expectations clear, then back up a bit and give employees room to do their job.

That doesn't mean to never look back. To inspect what you expect isn't micromanagement. It's good management.

Even your top performers need clear expectations. Give them a target. Provide resources and guidance. Remove obstacles when necessary. Then let them do their job. But, don't forget to check back later, since you still have management responsibilities.

Leadership Law #5: Employees need their managers to be leaders

Your employees don't need a shoulder. They don't need a buddy, a sympatico, or a commiserator. If you want a friend, buy a dog.

We all struggle with this. Everyone wants to be liked, and it always seems difficult to decline a beer after work, or something similar. I'm not advocating a monk-like existence, disallowing any contact with your troops. I'm just merely reminding you that they would like to have a friend, but they need a leader if they are to be successful.

You do want them to be successful, don't you?

Closing Leadership Thoughts

These leadership laws are fairly intuitive, and certainly not rocket science or brain surgery. They are simple management and leadership truths that have passed the test of time.

Print these out. Laminate it. Put in your top desk drawer and don't forget them.

Described as a Human Capital Expert by The Harvard Business Press, Kevin Berchelmann helps private equity, Fortune 500 and medium mom and pop companies foster, motivate, and improve existing human capital to achieve breakthrough levels. To get your FREE "At C-Level," cutting edge newsletter go to triangleperformance.com/register

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