Part 4 - Words of Wisdom - Tips 82 through 101

 

82. Have confidence in yourself. Always believe in your abilities to be a great manager and leader. Tackle all situations and dilemmas that come your way with enthusiasm and gusto. The fact that you are reading this shows you have the desire and talent that exists within you. Show you have the confidence and believe in yourself, and others will believe in you as well. In time you will develop a sort of “instinct” when something needs attention, and a “presence” that people will find ensuring. You will come across like a leader without even having to say a word.

 

83. Act the way you want others to act, walk the walk you talk, lead by example, practice what you preach, etc. These are old clichés but some of the most important tips to build respect within your organization. If your team sees you working hard, they will work hard. If they think you're slacking, they will start slacking off. If you tell them what to do, but you do it differently, they will not see you as an honest leader. If you want an optimistic and positive team, then you need to always be optimistic and positive. When your employees see that you act in the same manner you expect from them, a true sense of respect will begin to build. These are just a few of some obvious, but extremely important, leadership skills.

 

84. Honesty and integrity is key. People do not necessarily expect managers to always have a quick fix to solve the issues, but do expect fundamental leadership principles of honesty and goodness. In due time you will earn credibility, which is a major leadership trait. With the high level of integrity they will see in you as a leader, comes the trust that you are not the cause of the issues. They will automatically know that you, as a manager, will truly do all you can to solve the issues.

 

85. Emulate a person who you truly respect as a leader. There must be someone you know whose leadership skills you thought were admirable. It could be, or could have been, a boss, a teacher, a friend, or a relative who you admired as a person with respectable leadership characteristics. Someone who inspired you to want to work hard, to not only try to impress, but to show you cared about the mission at hand. Study how they made the right and effective decisions using certain facts, opinions, and ideas. Look for the leadership qualities you would like to incorporate into your leadership style. By remembering what it was about them that inspired you, you can emulate that style when your leadership skills are called upon.

 

86. Listen more than talk. You will earn a great deal of respect and credibility by actively listening, rather than just blowing your own hot air. Let them share their passion, and when the time is right, you can interject with passion of your own about the subject at hand.

 

87. Take chances and do not limit yourself. Part of becoming a strong leader and great manager is creating something new, and not be intimidated by failure.

 

88. Make great impressions from day one. Build relationships and make as many good first impressions on the first day if you are starting in a new company or have been recently promoted. You want people talking about you in a positive manner from day one. You will start earning credibility and respect right away.

 

89. Say less and you will get more. By not doing all the talking, especially if it is redundant or meaningless to the meeting or conversation, you will develop a professional persona and a sense of quiet intelligence, dignity and wisdom. When you do talk, make it count. You will be taken seriously with true interest.

 

90. Make sure the team sees you as a knowledgeable and dependable leader. They will have comfort knowing that you know what you are doing. If you come across as unknowledgeable or unsupportive, you will lose respect as a leader. Be exceptionally hard working and dedicated to the mission you advocated. Even if you have been recently promoted within your department and everyone knows you as, lets say, a customer support representative, now is your time to step up to the plate and learn the fundamentals of leadership.

 

91. Work smarter, not harder. Another cliché, but you should eliminate redundancy whenever possible. A morale breaker is when employees have to make repeated entries or tasks for each case or product. For example, when a representative has to enter information into one database, and then enter the same information into another database. Find ways to tie things together, and determine what is not needed. Not only is this a management responsibility, but will also help you gain respect as a leader to eliminate future redundancy within the department.

 

92. Always follow the Golden Rule. Treat others, as you would like to be treated. If people like and respect you, they will work harder for you. This might sound like an obvious and general statement, however, it is so important and true. It needs to be said just to make sure you understand that the most basic rule of great management is to have a team who wants to work hard, feels happy, respects you, and is totally secure in their leadership. You also need to practice this golden rule with your fellow managers and upper Management.

 

93. Follow it to the end. Always see your projects through to completion with no loose ends. Mediocre performance shows a mediocre manager and leader.

 

94. Think like it’s a perfect world. Don’t automatically assume you cannot achieve certain goals, or be hindered by certain limitations. Always try to see the possibilities come true in every idea and dream you have. For example, you might come up with the idea of having a system everyone in the company can share. You would look at it like “in a perfect world, we would have an easy to use unified database in which all can use,” and then do all you can to make that happen. Don’t be pessimistic and say it can’t, or won’t, happen.

 

95. Never let them see you sweat. This might remind you of an old TV commercial, but still holds true in the world of management. Always keep your cool and create an impression that you always know exactly what is going on. For example, when you are in an upper management meeting and you do not know what they are talking about, do not continually ask the simple questions. A somewhat vague question or two is acceptable, but if you still do not understand the subject matter, stay focused but do not have the “deer in the headlights” look about you. Wait until that particular subject is over before you participate any further. You can look up the subject matter or ask a close colleague after the meeting is over. Another example could be; if your company has experienced an outage, you would stay cool and focused to resolve the issue, and not panic in any way.

 

96. Be straightforward and always look them straight in the eyes. People like an honest answer from someone they trust, even when you do not know the answer. This not only goes for your employees, but with upper management as well.

 

97. Show you have the courage it takes. Show confidence in the decisions you make, and do not put your tail between your legs if confronted about any problems related to your decisions or processes. It is all right if someone disagrees with you and you have a healthy debate, but don’t back down when you know it’s right. This does not mean that you should be stubborn and stick to your guns no matter what. You are not perfect and there will always be some areas where you can improve. You should, however, confidently be able to say that you are not opposed to make changes if it is for the greater good. Upper management will notice the way you handle these types of situations with the courage in standing by your decisions, and the courage to know when to make a change.

 

98. Always bite your tongue. Before you make a heated statement, stop yourself before you say, do, or send something you might regret. All of the respect you have gained can be lost in a single word or action. Actions like certain hand gestures, crossing your arms in a defiant way, confused facial expressions, demoralized posture, too much eye contact, sounds and grunts of discontent, can have a huge negative impact. This also holds true when sending or answering heated e-mails. Before you hit the send button when creating or replying to an aggravated type of e-mail, take at least a 5-minute break before hitting send. There might be times when you should take an hour or even day before hitting the send button. When you come back, re-read both the original e-mail and your response. Chances are you will re-write your response in a much more controlled and professional manner. You will get your point across more effectively if you keep it professional at all times.

 

99. Learn from your mistakes, but don’t be affected by them. Your going to make mistakes, and yes, you will learn from them. But you will also have to be able to let the mistake go, and not dwell on it enough to affect your psyche. A confident leader moves on, always remember that.

 

100. Giving up or not trying is the only failure. You fail only when you give up or there is a lack of effort. If something went wrong, find out what it was and correct it. After all, part of being a leader is taking chances, and with chances comes the risks of unforeseen problems. Don’t hang your head low, show your team, upper management, and especially yourself that you have the determination to resolve the problem and not give up. This can also pertain to an individual employee performance issue. If they are failing, contribute it to a lack of effort, rather than lack of talent, to eliminate any self-doubt. If the effort is there, provide the training to sharpen the needed skills. You can also set up a buddy system so that the employee will not only learn, but also absorb the needed talent for the job. If the effort and skills are there, but the talent is still missing, manage around the weakness and find another strength in which to utilize. While you are doing this, make sure they are not feeling any self-doubt. You might need to assign different responsibilities so that the weaknesses are no longer applicable. The point here is to never give up on yourself, or your employees. Again, giving up or not trying is the only failure.

 

101. Don’t ignore your intuitiveness. Sometimes reason and logic are outweighed by the instinct to follow your “guts” when making tough decisions. By absorbing all of the information in this course, you can have the confidence that you are a strong leader and manager, and use this strength when making the “gut” type of decisions.