Summary: If you think of an organization as a ship, the “leader” is responsible for planning out the destination of the trip. However, no matter how good a leader is in creating strategy and planning, if the strategies and plans don’t get implemented, they are worth less than nothing. So, what’s the critical link between planning…
Category: Articles
The Responsive Manager/Leader
Summary: A few years ago, when I was working on a book on communication, it struck me that responsiveness — the ability to portray to others that you are both listening and responding to their words, meanings, intent, etc, is a critical part of management success, loyalty building, and ultimately, leadership. Here’s an article that applies…
Leaders Need Information To Succeed – Are You Getting It?
Summary: Leaders at all levels in any organization need information to be able to make informed decisions. Unfortunately, there is a natural tendency for those within an organization to hesitate in delivering information that is negative or disappointing, or, points to problems. Part of effective leadership involves opening up the doors so that critical information is…
Benefiting From Informal Leaders In Your Organization – Communication the Key
In two other articles on informal leadership, we’ve looked at understanding informal leaders, and developing informal leaders (and the perils attached to that). In this article we’ll look at some ideas about how to maximize the benefits and effectiveness of informal leadership in your organization. As we indicated, informal leaders can wield tremendous positive influence, or, when things…
Leadership Development For Informal Leaders: Some Pitfalls To Consider When Thinking About Developing An Informal Leader
In Understanding Informal Leaders In An Organization (and Benefiting From Them) we provided a brief overview of the power of informal leaders in organizations. It makes sense for formal leaders to recognize the pivotal roles these “influence leaders” can play, and to develop their abilities when appropriate. There are two different situations involving the development of an…
Understanding Informal Leaders In An Organization (and Benefiting From Them)
Managers, supervisors, executives or any others with formal power and title within an organization can reap huge benefits from cultivating and developing existing informal leaders in their work units. Or, informal leaders can work against the formal leaders in the organization. When informal leaders are working towards achieving the same vision and goals as the formal leaders…