Thursday, November 29, 2012

Winning Leadership Tips for Your Business



Have you ever started a book by reading the last page? If you’re curious by nature, you know that sometimes, there just isn’t enough time to read an entire book.

In Build A Better B2B Business, Winning Leadership for Your Business-to-Business Company, leadership expert/seasoned executive/author David Shedd provides two final exam questions on page one. But don’t be scared away…he provides the answers on page two.

Does this sound odd? Perhaps, but the book’s theme is so critical, especially during today’s challenging economic climate and oversaturated marketplace that everyone can benefit by reading about the fundamentals to drive business success.

According to Shedd, a key component to drive business success is leading by example. To help create better leaders, take the quick quiz from the book. Don’t be upset if you don’t have all “Yes” answers, use the “No” responses to improve your leadership skills.

[1] Can you recall three examples where your ethics visibly showed to your team?

[2] Do you return everyone’s phone calls immediately and respond to all emails promptly? Do you start and finish meetings promptly?

[3] Right now, does your frontline management have fewer than five goals?

[4] As a leader, do you take full accountability for the failures but share the praise for the successes?

[5] Have you ensured that all of your senior direct reports are held accountable for their performance?

[6] Are you easy to reach and interact with?

[7] In the last week, have you found at least 10 people doing something right and recognized and thanked them for their work?

[8] In the last month, have you coached or trained at least one small group in your business?

[9] In the last two weeks, have you been involved in resolving a customer service issue?

[10] In the last two weeks, have you been involved in thanking a customer for their business?

Shedd also shares other useful tips to drive business success:

[1] Write out and develop three goals for your business.

[2] Determine the most significant “Mokitas” in your business – these are the dirty little secrets that aren’t really very secret – for example, the industry you serve is in decline and will never rebound OR the sales manager was promoted from the finance department and doesn’t interact well with customers.

[3] Aim to accomplish one key initiative each morning, and at the end of each day, ask yourself, “Did I accomplish this task?” If not, decide how you will accomplish the task tomorrow.

[4] Recognize employees on a regular basis.

[5] Value your customers.

[6] Deliver on the brand promise – for example, FedEx delivers by 10am each day – and align all employees to be effective brand advocates.

[7] Solve a customer’s problem. “No customer has ever bought anything because it was “strategically logical or synergistic.” A customer buys from you because he has a problem, and you have a solution for that problem.”

As you can see, the final exam questions and answers were only a teaser…the best part of the book was in between the front and back covers.
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2 comments:

  1. Leadership skills are action oriented. In other words, it's not a skill in as far as the managerial attributes of organizing, scheduling and the likes are concerned on the one hand. On the other hand, leadership skills are what you apply in the arena of developing trust, respect and admiration of the people who look up to you, although managerial skills are important too.

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  2. Leadership in business is a very challenging task for any person. If you are business leader and want to successful leadership, you should require to handle your team in great way and make capable to face all types business challenges.

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