Positioning Yourself for New Leadership Opportunities

November 14th, 2011

Whether you think that leaders are born or made, you can position yourself to be ready to take on leadership opportunities that may come your way. Planning for a leadership role does not mean you aspire to run the company, but if you look ahead to see where you might like to be, you will usually find that getting there requires some preparation. Even if you don’t know exactly how much responsibility you want to have, your preparation will not go to waste.

Be a student. College or other post-secondary training is a given in most professions, but for good leaders, the interest in learning never stops. This may take the form of continuing education coursework or having an inquiring mind that leads you to read and ask questions. Even if you will never have to do certain jobs, knowledge that you acquire along the way will help you learn how processes fit together or some other insights that will useful.

Find a mentor. No matter where you want to go, latching on to someone who has experience who can guide you can be helpful. A mentor may help you with the self-assessment mentioned below and be a sounding board for your ideas. You may even have “serial mentors” who help you throughout your career.

Learn your own strengths, then fill in the gaps. You may be a friendly, outgoing person that others flock to or a great intellect who knows how to sell ideas, but you may need to be more well rounded to be considered a leader. Even if your boss or other colleagues don’t offer you direction, you need to assess you own skills and seek assessment from others so you can work on other skills to help you. For example, you might find yourself a bit unorganizated, not good at making decisions, or need help with conflict resolution – things usually in the leader’s bag of tricks. You can develop in these areas.

Be a good worker. Chances to move up seldom come to slackards who do a poor job, bad mouth the company, or come late and leave early. Having poor work habits, a poor attitude, or poor performance usually disqualifies you even if you are brilliant and talented.

Be the go-to person. Aspiring to leadership is not about self-promotion. While you want the higher-ups to hears good things about you, you can build strength among your peer by being willing to help. Analyze why they need help and offer them solutions in a helpful, low key way. You willingness to help will gain you supporters that stick with you long after you have moved up the ladder.

Follow a map. Not that only one road leads to your destination, but ideally you should plan your career and seeks out jobs with higher responsibilities. If you have accepted random jobs, may even lateral ones, you may not appear as ready as if you were clearly climbing a ladder.

If you position yourself for leadership, you will be ready to take advantages of opportunities for advancement that come your way.

Posted in Management Skills

Decision Making Drives Organization Structure

November 10th, 2011

For many businesses, this is the time of year when budgets are being prepared, dissected and analyzed. Strategy has been discussed, capital investments have been agreed upon, and the budget for the year is put together. Many think that all we need to do now is finish strong, and get off to a fast start next year. Not so fast. There is one important step that is often overlooked. Have you and your team asked yourselves “are we structured properly to achieve our goals?” Are leaders and teams in the right spot to make decisions quickly and execute?

In my first job out of college, I worked for a very successful manufacturing company. They had great products, strong markets, and were constantly working to create positive changes. Being in finance, I dreaded the grinding nature of the budget, but I was always excited to see the “moves” they made with people. It left a lasting impression on me, and shaped how I viewed the decision-making skills and abilities among my teams.

There was one thing this leadership team did that made me think they were crazy like a fox. It was the way they were bold enough to reshape the organization. It wasn’t simply moving people around to shake things up. It was much more than that. This reshaping was based on decision-making! People were moved to new areas based on how they thought, and not just on what they knew! Those with strong problem solving skills and the ability to make decisions faster than others were often the ones with the new and challenging assignments. Talk about getting people pumped up to make a difference! These moves really did it.

How do you know if you are ready for this kind of reshaping or reorganization? First, your financial results will provide direction. If you aren’t doing well financially, there’s a good chance it’s a function of poor execution and decision-making. Second, your employees and customers will tell you where you are falling short. Do any of us have employees or customers who never say anything? I don’t think so. The third, and maybe the most effective way, is to ask your team directly. You can assign a scale to each statement to help calculate the results. Create some statements in the areas of process, people, and decision-making. Here are a few examples:

  1. Our structure helps us make the decisions most critical to our success.
  2. People understand and execute their priorities.
  3. Processes are in place to promote quick and effective decision-making.
  4. Decision makers have accurate information to make the right decision.
  5. Measures and incentives are focused on making the right decision.

This exercise is about placing people in the right spot to make the right decisions and execute with speed. You are making sure that the important decisions that create the most value are being made by those with the right skill set. If your team is short on those skills, help them develop the talent and behavior necessary to execute more effectively. Lastly, don’t shake things up just for the sake of creating change. Keep the goal in mind. Your team needs to make decisions more quickly and effectively than your competitors. Taking this approach gets you there!

Posted in Team Management