Leaders Learn

If a leader expects their organization to be centered on the development of its people, he or she needs to be personally engaged in the process of improving his or her own skills and knowledge level. Effective leaders utilize all of their resources to accomplish this, including followers who can elevate their ability to be informed and make better business decisions. By having a clear understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of each team member's talents, a leader can better tailor his or her search and interview questions to find qualified people who will improve internal resources.

We have all heard the saying, "You are only as good as the people with whom you surround yourself." I know I am surrounded with the most talented folks possible who are a complement to my skill set. These are individuals on my team that I can lean on for advice, direction and knowledge and who are engaged in the leadership and direction of our business. Personally, I am on a professional development journey that I do not expect to end. Learning and growing professionally makes what we do fun. Even more enjoyable than the learning process is the benefit of being able to teach increased or new-found knowledge to others to effectively elevate our organizational knowledge level. Leadership development or the continued development of the leader transcends into an organization being centered on the continued development and professional growth of its greatest resource, its people.

What have you done recently to work on your own professional development? How have you utilized your new-found knowledge in developing your people?

Manage Your Vision

I like to look at our business in terms of cycles. I categorize our business cycles into initiatives, sales, product and industry cycles. New initiatives influence new product cycles, which are completed prior to the beginning of a new sales cycle. The introduction of a new product to a customer base through the sales process can lead to industry shifts or in this context, "cycles." It is the leader's responsibility to cast a vision for the future and build their organizational infrastructure to be prepared for the future while simultaneously executing in the current sales cycle or business environment. Proper development and execution of initiative and product cycles affords a leader to move his or her organization from one sales cycle to the next seamlessly. The leader is also responsible for timing this transition so it occurs as soon as there is a declining return on the investment of time in the current sales environment.

With regards to our businesses, The Employment Guide and http://www.employmentguide.com/ ,this is best demonstrated through the introduction of new and exciting ancillary events, initiatives or electronic media products. People in our industry love to have a new and compelling story to tell. What is it about your organization that is remarkable or will create excitement on the part of the key people in the businesses where you provide your products or services? Is it a new twist on a current product? Is it new technology? The creation of a new compelling story ushers in with it a new sales cycle and represents the graduation of a product cycle. Tied to this process comes the responsibility to once again engage in the initiative and product development cycles. Effective leaders can manage multiple initiatives, products and sales cycles concurrently. This is how effective leadership and the leader's vision continuously breathes life into a business and positions an organization to become an industry leader.

Can you identify each of the "cycle" components in how you are currently leading your organization? Initiative -> Product -> Sales -> Industry

Murphy's Law and Leadership

1> If anything can go wrong, it will (e.g. if you drop a piece of toast, it will inevitably fall jam-side down.)
2> Nothing is as easy as it looks.
3> Everything takes longer than you think it will.
4> Whatever you've planned to do costs more than the original estimate.
5> There is nothing sadder than a great idea whose time has not come.
6> Whatever project you set out to do,some other project must be done first.
7> Although you can't fool all of the people all of the time, you can sure fool a lot of the people a lot of the time.
8> By making something perfectly clear, someone will be totally confused.
9> Every great idea has a disadvantage equal to, or exceeding, the greatness of the idea.
10> Precise planning, minute attention to detail and exact timing never succeed like dumb luck.

Here is the link to the above list that I found through a search on Google. http://ibm.mtsac.edu/~rlee/axioms4.html

You might be wondering what Murphy's Law and leadership have in common or how they could be relative. I am using this as a demonstration of why it is important for leaders to invest time in the proper preparation of their resources to execute their strategic plans despite the emergence of unforeseen obstacles. A vision needs to be cast by the leader, and then the real investment of time, efforts, money, etc., will begin. As a leader, I encourage you to slow down your efforts or "pull back the reigns" on yourself to make sure that the journey is one of not only accomplishment but of professional development. Even if you do everything right, Murphy's Law can still render itself in an attempt to negatively impact your ability to be successful. Good leaders are prepared and knowingly have a contingency plan or excess capacity in order to deal with detrimental issues. If properly prepared, strong leaders will overcome and lead their teams to higher levels regardless of the magnitude of obstacles. Just like the Boy Scouts say...."Be Prepared."

In what way has Murphy's Law made an appearance with regards to your business? Did you have your contingency plan ready?