Uncertainties in the economy always seem to result in more work with fewer resources.  There is less hiring and sometimes even personnel cutbacks, as well as fewer financial resources to do the same work that needs to be completed.  How do leaders and managers deal with these facts most effectively while maintaining and even increasing business and reputation, all while keeping staff motivated and performing at their peak?

Before you can identify the specific solutions in how to effectively manage more with less, it’s important to take some time to assess your situation.  This may involve getting team members or peers together to discuss in order to determine where the biggest needs are occurring.  Enlisting feedback from your team and/or peers communicates that you are aware of the problem and that you are serious about taking the best actions to improve the situation.  It also helps motivate your team by keeping them actively involved in identifying the issues and later knowing that they will be part of identifying the solutions. 

Typically, the most common high level areas that need addressed in effectively managing with fewer human and financial resources are:

1. Managing time and priorities efficiently
2. Managing human capital needs
3. Managing client/Board of Director/Board of Trustee expectations

Over the next few weeks I’ll be looking at each of these categories more closely and sharing ideas that you can use that may help you and your team keep on top of the day-to-day needs within the organization and with your clients.

In the meantime, be proactive and get your team and/or peers together to assess the situation by identifying the greatest and most pressing issues. 

Many people take leadership assessments to learn what others think of their performance.  They then either bask in the high scores they recieve or get angry because they scored lower than they anticipated.  In either case, typically, the person being assessed takes no action to improve.

The best reason to take a leadership or management assessment is to learn about the areas in which you need to develop - either by "strengthening your strengths" or mitigating your weaknesses.  An assessment is often enlightening because our perceptions are sometimes different than those of others.  When this happens it is a clear indicator of an area to work on.

The second reason for taking an assessment is to get developmental recommendations.  Scores are nice.  Scores make us feel good (or bad).  But, scores don't give us much help in where to go to improve performance.  A good assessment report goes beyond the numbers and provides specific developmental recommendations. 

Developmental recommendations can consist of suggested steps to improve behavior, readings, web sites to visit, or courses or seminars to consider.  Be sure, if you are considering an assessment, that the report you receive will provide detailed developmental recommendations.

In conclusion, take a leadership or management assessment for the right reasons.  It is much more important to understand how others view your behaviors and to receive specific developmental recommendations than to simply understand your scores.

Most leaders deal with time management issues.  There is much to do and limited time to accomplish everything.  Here are four recommendations that may help you get a grip on the limited time you have to do your work.

Set aside 20 to 30 minutes of quiet time in the beginning of the week to review your schedule and prioritize your tasks.

1. Focus on the most important tasks.  Resist the urge to do the easy tasks to get them out of the way.  Often, when we do this we get to the important and more difficult tasks too late and the time pressure affects the quality of the work.
2. Build time into your schedule to plan ahead, catch up on research or projects that are pending, and take care of yourself.
3. Have an agenda for meetings and stick to it.  Just because you have allotted an hour for a meeting does not mean that you must fill the hour. Identify decisions that need to be made and ensure that they are made during the meeting. 

We came up with the self-initiated development model a few years ago when it became apparent to us that those who take responsibility for their own development have more success. In a nutshell, SID™ consists of six steps:

1. Determine your future goals. Think about where you want to be in 1 year, 5 years, 10 years in your career. Try to clearly define your goals.

2. Identify the competencies required for your current and desired position. (more on the competencies in our next blog).

3. Assess your current state. Using either a self assessment (from our book) or a 360 degree leadership assessment, identify those competencies that are your strongest and weakest.

4. Develop Objectives to achieve your goals. Using the information from your assessment and your goals, develop objectives that are specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely (scheduled).

5. Create a Developmental Action Plan. What steps do you need to take to achieve your objectives? List the steps and the resources you require. More on action planning in a later blog.

6. Implement your Action Plan. Monitor your progress each week. Set aside time dedicated to completing the steps in your Action Plan.

For complete details on the Self-Initiated Development (SID) Model™, get a free copy of our white paper describing each step in detail. Simply e-mail me at ben@benchmarkli.com.

Self-Initiated Development: Now More Than Ever! (the title of our new book), leaders and those aspiring to be leaders must take responsibility for their own development. We have been working with leaders and managers for over 20 years and have developed the Self-Initiated Development model for those who want to improve their leadership and management skills.

Combined with our leadership competency model, we provide the tools that leaders and managers need to improve. In today's economy everyone must prove their value to the organization and seek to improve in those areas that they are weakest. In the past you may have relied on your company to provide training or development activities. However, for most people those options are no longer available.

Take responsibility for your own development! In the postings to this blog we will discuss each of the 30 leadership competencies and how they can be applied to the self-initiated development model. We hope you will return often to get tips on how to improve your leadership and management skills.

There are many characteristics that make up an authentic leader.  Two are perhaps the most critical to attaining maximum effectiveness: leading through relationship and leading by example.  Any clever individual can manipulate circumstances and people to accomplish tasks for a time.  However, we can all think of leaders who have a reputation for being shallow, conniving, and untrustworthy.  These individuals have severely damaged their capacity to influence and motivate others.

Consider leaders who have a natural magnetism; those who are admired and followed because of the respect that they have earned.  A renowned military leader and the first U.S. president, George Washington, immediately comes to mind.  This is a man who literally changed the course of a war, and a nation. More...

Leaders occasionally struggle alone at the top or with a few close peers, sometimes feeling distanced from those down line.  This struggle is due in part to the nature of being a leader and being at the helm of the business.  Leadership also requires a level of distance because of sensitive information that may not be appropriate for direct reports and others in the organization at certain times.  Because of your unique position in the organization, how do you balance the privacy need and at the same time develop a team environment for your department and organization to succeed?

First of all you have to realize that to be a successful leader you need to have unity with your team because you cannot lead a business without them.  With this realized it then takes planning to incorporate strategic parts of your time to devote to your team.  This time can come in the form of developing individuals, providing direction, giving encouragement and motivation, and reinforcing the vision and direction of the business. 

Most of all, however, it takes modeling and communicating the behaviors that you want your team to embrace and since leaders set the tone of the organization, that tone will be what is followed by others. 

Finally, be genuine with your team and others in the organization because followers can always "smell" when something isn't right.  If you cannot disclose certain facts that your team inquires about, be honest and let them know you are not in a position at this time to discuss but will as soon as possible.  Then, stay connected!  After all, it is a cohesive team led by a competent and authentic leader that will help the organization succeed.

Sometimes events occur that bring life and it's challenges into perspective.  Two weeks ago I was prepared to cancel a much-needed vacation to visit a client instead.  The day before I planned to cancel I had a minor "cardiac event" and had to spend some time at our local hospital.  I was telling the cardiologist about my plan to cancel the vacation and she warned me not to do that - the vacation was much more important than the client visit. 

I've given a lot of thought to my "event" over the past two weeks and it struck me that most leaders do not take care of their own needs, especially their health needs.  I looked at it this way, if I were to die or become incapacitated, my clients would go on (yes, they would miss my sage advice!).  But, my children would not have a father to share their special events with or to give them guidance and advice as they struggled with their own challenges.  My wife would not have her companion and best friend to enjoy life with.  My friends would also have a big hole in their life as well.  And, who would pay the bills!

Seriously, leaders need to take the time (and it is all about time!) to take care of their health, their family, and their own mental and spiritual needs.  Leaders who are well rested, centered, and enjoying life are much more effective than overworked and stressed leaders.  There is a lot of validity to the statement, "stop and smell the roses."  Whatever your rose is, stop and smell it - you will be renewed.

Loyalty is a key attribute of an effective leader.  When we normally think of a leader's loyalty we think of the leader's allegiance to the organization and its mission.  But, loyalty is more complex for the effective leader.

An effective leader is loyal to his or her staff.  The leader demonstrates loyalty by empowering their staff, taking the time to get to know them individually, and trusting them.  A leader also represents the interests of the team when working with other leaders or senior management. 

This doesn't mean that an effective leader is always nice or always believes the staff member.  Sometimes leaders must take developmental or disciplinary steps.  In some ways, even these acts are a demonstration of loyalty.  When discipline is administered effectively the staff member's performance will typically improve and the leader should acknowledge this and give the person a "fresh start."  Of course, discipline does not always turn out good and the person continues their poor behavior.  In that case, the leader must be prepared to take further steps.

Loyalty also includes knowing when staff members need coaching or conversations regarding their performance.  Leaders also should "walk the floor" to know what each staff member's job is, what problems they face, and how the leader can help them do a better job.

An hour a week simply talking with staff members goes a long way toward developing an effective staff and also toward developing staff loyalty to the leader and the organization.

To begin this blog I want to focus on a series exploring components that constitute effective leadership. 

I was talking with someone this morning about leadership and I made the comment, "Effective leadership is when someone is being led and they don't know or feel that they are being led." In other words, an effective leader leads others toward a goal without forcing them to follow, coercing them to follow, or even rewarding them to follow.  People follow an effective leader because they WANT to follow that person.

In thinking this a bit further, I do believe that the principle is situational.  Sometimes, when a goal is vague or nebulous to people a leader must use some coercion or reward tactics.  Sometimes, such as in battle, there are negative consequences for not following the leader and the leader may not be able to be specific about the goal and its benefits (for security reasons).

But, for the most part, I still feel that an effective leader uses personal magnetism, honesty and motivation to instill in others the desire to follow.  Have you ever heard anyone say, "I would follow (name) anywhere?" 

That is the case with effective leaders; people would follow them anywhere.