As a manager, you must act as a leader at all times. Your employees and team members will look up to you for advice, assistance, and sometimes to merely examine how you react to certain situations within the workplace. As you grow and evolve as a leader you’ll find that your employees are growing with you, so you need to set a positive example at all times. Here are a few leadership skills you should keep in mind and work to develop as time goes by.

Versatility

A good leader must be versatile enough to deal with a number of different personalities, learning styles, and challenges. You never know how many people you’ll have to lead, through what type of challenge, or for how long. You must learn to be strong and adaptable.

Personal Behaviour

Imagine that every single thing you say or do is being watched under a finely tuned microscope. Your staff will watch every action you make and upper management is likely watching you closely as well. Your verbal expressions, body language, and attitude will all reflect back on you as your team adapts. Do you have the type of attitude you want to see in your employees? If not, take action to change it soon!

Communication

We talk about the importance of great management and communication skills quite frequently, but what you need to remember is that your attitude and business ethic communicates just as much as your words and body language. Be consistent at all times, regardless of how or when you are communicating – casually, in a meeting, or in a conference.

Evolving Environments

Is your department a fun place to work, or do you have a reputation for harboring a stressful atmosphere? You need to take charge of not only delegating tasks but also of motivating your team throughout the day. Make your department fun with games, occasional casual conversation, or something creative.

You have control of how you are perceived as a leader. Carefully monitor your attitude and how you communicate with others and you’ll soon find your team members are looking up to you rather than wondering why you’re in charge!

Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Management Training Courses

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FREE email course “Improve Your Management Skills”

Some leaders are born, while others are created. It’s often difficult, especially as a manager, to convince others to follow in our footsteps, but it is possible. Whether you’re a natural born leader or not, the following qualities can and should be nurtured in order to enhance your leadership abilities.

Vision

Do you have a vision and are you able to share that vision with your team? Having a vision means you know what path you want to take in order to achieve optimal end results. Your communication skills must be strong enough to effectively convince your followers that your path is the right choice given the current situation.

Dedication

Are you really dedicated to your work? Are you willing, if necessary, to spend extra long hours at the office to get the job done? Your dedication will inspire your team members to share the same level of enthusiasm.

Humility

Humility means being able to recognize that you are no better off than anyone else on your team, regardless of your salary or job title. You’re all human and you all make mistakes. Your job status doesn’t exempt you from error.

Fairness

A good leader needs to be able to make fair decisions regardless of how he or she may feel personally about a given situation. Fairness means looking at the facts, not each team member’s personal opinions about them, and then making an educated decision.

Humor

Let’s face it – laughter is the best medicine. People are happy when they are laughing, and laughter eases tension and increases productivity (in moderation, of course). Those stuck in a boring or hostile workplace won’t accomplish much. Put your sense of humor to work and keep the entire team happy.

These are, of course, only a few leadership qualities you should keep in mind but they offer you an excellent place to start. Take a look at your day to day interactions with your team and determine whether or not you need to tweak your leadership style. Good luck!

Thanks again,
Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Management Training

Click below for a:
Free email course “Improve your Management Skills”

We talk about acting as leaders all the time, but what I don’t know is whether or not you really understand what leadership is. The concept of leadership is actually two-fold.

Leadership is about your ability to influence your organisation, specifically your teammates and peers, in order to achieve a common business goal. As a leader, you should be able to influence your peers without it seeming as though you’re trying to guide them in a certain direction. You should never be forceful. I think that if you have a passion for what you do, others will become naturally inclined to follow you.

Let’s look at an example of effective leadership. As a manager, you can sit down and create a plan for your next team project. You’ll sit down with the group and explain what needs to be done, but at some point you have to shift mindsets and become a leader instead of a manager. The leader in you has to share his vision and point his team in the right direction. A manager maintains control of a project, while a leader keeps his teammates motivated.

In order to be successful, you must be both a manager and a leader. Which are you? Do you lean towards one side or the other, or do you find you have established a pretty even balance between the two? Look at yourself and your relationship with your employees and determine what you might need to do to become a better leader.

Remember, it’s about sharing your vision without force! Have a great weekend…

Thanks again,
Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Management Training

Click below for a:
Free email course “Improve your Management Skills”

No, I don’t mean how long does Richard Branson jog for each morning or whether Gordon Brown can bench press 200lbs!

What I mean is that I have got a leadership exercise for you to try out that will help you to become a better leader!

I am a believer in modelling excellent behaviours.

What do I mean by this? Well, if you want to know how to become a better manager, you should find out who the best managers are in your company and copy what they do.

Find out what they do and why they do it. Find out the mindset that they have when managing and leading their staff.

Find out what management training courses they go on and what books they read.

Try to learn as much about them as you can so you can "step into their shoes" and think like they do.

For example; whenever I have to speak in public at a conference in front of say 1,000 people, I gain the mindset of one of my heroes Tony Robbins. (For those of you that do not know Tony, he is a self development guru and the only one that actually connects with me)

I then ask myself the following questions:

What would Tony think before he went up on stage?

How would Tony act?

How would he talk?

How would he walk?

What would he say?

I then go out and pretend to be him and the results are amazing. I think like him and therefore I act like him.

Try this exercise; write a list of the most successful people, leaders and managers that you know and then write out what they do that stands them apart from the rest.

Copy a couple of these traits and put them into your daily life for the next 3 weeks and see the difference it will make not only to your working life but also your personal life too.

Live, love and laugh!

Sean Mc

PS - Looking for management training? Please click here to make an enquiry.

I received an email from Lisa Jenkins last week wanting some advice on how to get the best out of her team. Lisa is a newish manager working in a call centre.

Here’s what she asked:

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"Hi Sean and the MTD Team,

I work for XYZ and we offer sales and service telephone support to our high street branches.

I am one of 25 team leaders within our call centre and I wondered whether you have got any type of checklist that could help me to see if I am getting the most out of my team?

Competition to be the best is fierce where I work so any help would be appreciated

Thanks for your wonderful tips, I don’t know what I’d do without them

Lisa Jenkins
Team Leader - Icarus Team
XYZ

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Here’s my reply:

Hi Lisa

Thanks for your email and kind comments.

We completed some customer service skills training for your company about 3 years ago - a little before your time I’d expect!

I have put together 10 questions for you to ask yourself about the way that you are managing and building your team.

Here they are:

1. Do you know the trouble-makers within your team?

Have you identified them and spent time with them to find out what makes them tick and why they do what they do?

Have you a plan to deal with them and turn them around?