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effective managers

Respect THIS.

by Jen Kuhn on October 25, 2010

Self-absorbed leaders of the world: You are done.  Over-cooked. Fried. Put a fork in yourself.  Or, please, seriously, please, let me. 

Just this weekend I heard a supposed “leader” DEMAND respect from his “subordinate”! *Eavesdrop moment*: “You must respect me! I am your BOSS.” The demand was based solely upon TITLE.  Seriously?  That works for you?  Excuse me while I throw up a little in my mouth.

R-E-S-P-E-C-T!  Find out what it means to me!

Let’s start with:

Behaviors: Don’t say one thing and live/do another. Your title can sit in the bottom of my toilet…with the rest of the sh-tuff.  EARN respect.

Attitude: Ummm, nursery rhymes have a “king of the castle”.  Move on, please. EARN respect.

Fear: You may be the big dog, but you ain’t the only dog.  By the way, you might want to wipe that drool, you’re starting to froth at the mouth. EARN respect.

Ultimatums: Trump! You lose! Play that big card and wait til you see what I’ve been holding.  Don’t ever mistake my compassion for weakness. EARN respect.

Duplicity: If you choose to live without integrity, don’t expect me to follow along.  You are so FLAGRANT you’re see-through.  EARN respect.

If you must demand respect, you have NOT earned respect.  Get a clue.  See a therapist.  Or, could you just this once, for old times sake, be self-reflective? Nah, see a therapist.  Who are we kidding here?  If you think your title/name/job/status/etc EARNS you respect, then you need to start over.  Way over. If you don’t know what I’m saying, then this probably applies to YOU!

Blind compliance brings abuse of power, genocide, terrorism, ignorance, enabling, fear, corruption and all sorts of nastiness.  If you CANNOT or CHOOSE NOT to lead with integrity, compassion, morality, nobility, honesty, gentleness, understanding, empathy, sincerity, transparency, insight, wisdom, peace, courage, dignity,  perception and acceptance…THEN PLEASE, step down.  Accept who you are, and move along.  We NEED more.  We do NOT judge.  We just know what we NEED.

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Your Leadership Legacy

by Jen Kuhn on October 4, 2010

If you are in a position of leadership, formal or informal, you have a tremendous responsibility.   This is not a burden, it’s an honor; one to be taken seriously.

At the end of this day, everyday, what type of legacy will you leave?  I was inspired by the blog of Tim Sanchez (aka @DeliverBliss) to compile some leadership quotes to inspire you to embrace your role as a leader.  Please take a moment to reflect upon the impact you are having on those around you.  Leave a legacy worthy of emulation.

  • Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right thing. ~P. Drucker
  • Leadership is action, not position. ~D. McGannon
  • You must do the thing you think you cannot do. ~E. Roosevelt
  • The main ingredient of stardom is the rest of the team. ~J. Wooden
  • Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter. ~MLK, Jr.
  • Nothing is more despicable than respect based on fear. ~A. Camus
  • The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands in times of challenge and controversy. ~MLK, Jr.
  • You don’t get paid for the hour.  You get paid for the value you bring to the hour. ~J. Rohn
  • How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving, and tolerant of the weak and strong.  Because some day in life you will have been all of these. ~G.W. Carver
  • You will face many defeats in life but never let yourself be defeated. ~M. Angelou
  • If you want to build a ship, don’t herd people together to collect wood and don’t assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea. ~A. de Sainte Exupery
  • Standing for right when it is unpopular is a true test of moral character. ~M. Smith
  • “Do-so” is more important than “say-so”. ~P. Seeger
  • Humans are ambitious and rational and proud.  And we don’t fall in line with people who don’t respect us and who we don’t feel have our best interests at heart.  We are willing to follow leaders, but only to the extent that we believe they call on our best, not our worst. ~R. Maddow
  • You are responsible for the talent that has been entrusted to you. ~H-F. Amiel

These are just a small sampling of quotes.  What quotes inspire you?  We’d love for you to add to the list…

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Take Me to Your Leader

by Jen Kuhn on May 11, 2010

Leadership is (fill in the blank).  You can’t.  Neither can I. 

Despite articles, books, blogs and opinions written about leadership, what is often left unsaid is that leadership is over-defined.  Yes, there are characteristics that one might apply to a strong (or weak) leader.  There are behaviors one can observe, mentors one can model, quotes one can use and examples one can site.  I tend to agree with most of what I read about quality leadership and what that embodies.

Therefore, I would like to add a perspective on leadership by simplifying the definition to four dominant traits/characteristics/behaviors (fill in the blank!).  Consider a compass.  There are four primary directions: North, South, East and West.  And just like leadership, even something as precise as a compass has varying ways of defining and discovering North: there is True North, magnetic North and grid North.  No wonder I need GPS AND Mapquest to get me where I’m going!

So imagine that there are four primary elements of leadership, with varying degrees of direction.  Just like I might be traveling North-East to get to my destination, one can also move their leadership needle along the compass.

The Leadership Compass:

Moral Direction

In order to be an effective leader, one must have a moral compass.  Do the right thing because it’s the right thing to do.  Ah, the challenge.  Sometimes the right thing to do may have a negative impact on the bottom line.  The right thing may involve confronting an employee who is not meeting the standards and expectations of your organization.  The right thing may be to change a policy so it benefits both the consumer and the company.  The right thing may be the difficult thing to do.  Varying degrees of this compass point include: honesty, integrity, ethics, conscientiousness, virtuous, honorable, humane, compassionate and noble, to name a few.  How does your moral compass impact your leadership decisions?

Inspirational Direction

Another trait I would place on my leadership compass is the ability to inspire others.  Quality leaders, no matter their position within an organization typically make others want to do and be more.  They serve as an example of possibilities and dreams and courage.  Inspiring others at this level is a gift and a challenge.  Varying degrees of this compass point include: leading by example, encouraging, intriguing, motivating, refreshing, dynamic, persuasive and uplifting, to name a few.  What leader has made an inspirational impression on you?

Emotional Intelligence Direction

In Daniel Goleman’s article he discusses emotional intelligence as a quality of an effective leader.  This is often ignored when it comes to the promotional processes of many organizations.  Typically, one gets promoted into a leadership position because they are either highly effective at their current position, or they’ve been with the company for 78 years.  Neither of these reasons have to do with leadership; rather, they apply to job knowledge and longevity.  As Mr. Goleman points out, some varying degrees of emotional intelligence include: self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy and social skills.  What are your guiding principles when choosing a leader within your organization?

Effective Communication Direction

There are multiple ideas, visions and expectations that a leader must communicate within their organization.  The ability to do so effectively can mean the difference between: success or failure, motivation or discouragement, buy-in or complaints, collaboration or sabotage, understanding or confusion. In order to effectively communicate, a leader must have a handle on all other elements of their leadership compass.  Some additional degrees one would find: open body language, approachability, willingness to accept and receive feedback, ability to see and verbalize the “big picture”, positive recognition, holding people accountable, recognizing effort, keeping people in the loop, authenticity and many more.  What opportunities do you have to communicate more effectively?

So there you have it…my leadership compass.  Each direction allows for further definition and corresponding behaviors.  What would you add to this compass?  What direction are you taking your organization????


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4 Sure Fire Ways to Alienate Your Employees

by Kelly Ketelboeter on April 6, 2010

I am sure we have all experienced an ineffective manager (also known as the bad boss) at one point in our professional lives.  The bad boss does exist and is still alive and well in many of today’s work environments.  Bad bosses drive good employees to your competition, keep under-performing employees in place and slowly but surely alienate customers and team members.  Based on my experiences, below are the top four ways that ineffective managers alienate employees.

1.  They apply the “do as I say, not as I do” mentality.

Ineffective managers do not lead by example.  Their behaviors do not support the mission, vision or standards for the organization or the department.  Bad bosses talk at their employees rather than with them.  They demand and command excellence without modeling the behaviors it takes for employees to be successful.

Effective managers know that the single most effective way to impact behavior is to be the role model and lead by example in all that they do.  Employees don’t always listen to what you say, instead they watch how you behave.  The effective manager understands that their behavior directly impacts the behavior of their employees.

2.  They only talk to employees when there is a problem.

The ineffective manager prefers to stay in his/her office, behind closed doors.  That way they don’t have to interact or deal with their employees.  The only time you hear from the bad boss is when you screwed something up.  Only then are they quick to communicate with you.  When an employee gets pulled into the office everyone on the team knows that he/she is in trouble.

An effective manager knows that consistent and performance based feedback is an on-going and necessary process.  They understand that employees learn from the things they do well instead of the mistakes they make.  The effective manager has frequent conversations with employees that balance positive as well as developmental feedback.

3.  It is clear who the “favorite” employee is.

The ineffective manager clearly has favorites on his/her team.  They often get rewarded with easier projects, long lunches, preferential treatment and can be found in the bosses office on the rare occasion that their door is actually open.  The bad boss does not hold these folks accountable and often excuses performance issues.

The effective manager does not have any favorites on the team.  They value each and every team member for the strengths and opportunities they bring to the team.  They share the work load and are consistent in their feedback and behaviors across the board.  You exceed the expectation, you get recognition.  You don’t meet the expectation, they will coach you.  The effective manager sees the potential in all employees and works with everyone to harness that potential.

4.  They consistently violate the core values of the organization.

Most organizations have standards and core values that apply to how they do business, interact with others and serve as the guiding principles for all that they do.  Bad bosses blatantly ignore the poster on the wall in their area outlining the core values.  Clearly those apply to everyone else and not them.  Their behaviors are in direct opposition to what the company stands for.  As a result employees are confused and become disengaged.

The effective manager believes in, lives and demonstrates the core values of the organization in all their interactions.  Again the effective manager knows that they must behave and model the expectations if they expect their employees to do the same.

I realize that these 4 examples only scratch the surface of how ineffective managers alienate employees.  We could probably write a book on 1 million ways to alienate employees!  What experiences have you had with a bad boss?  What would you add to the list?

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