My Weekly Leader

Biggest Leadership Communication Challenges

2010-08-04T09:02:00.000-07:00

Tell me what you think? Are these on the mark? What would you add or change?

It seems to me that the 10 Biggest Communication Challenges leaders face, when it comes to relating with followers(not necessarily in this order) are:

1. Communicating effectively in a group setting
2. Giving correction or consequences to "repeat offenders"
3. Asking more questions, making fewer statements and listening
4. Giving praise or affirmation for accomplishment
5. Being persuasive without being coercive or manipulative
6. Communicating to promote change
7. Changing a mis-perception when it diminishes trust, credibility or understanding
8. Setting clear, understandable expectations
9. Conveying empathy or caring towards followers
10. Recognizing and relating to the follower's behavioral or personality style.

A Tipping Point for Servant Leadership?

2010-02-14T14:04:00.000-08:00

Do you feel that Servant Leadership will reach a critical mass, or tipping point, and become a pervasive leadership concept in our world?

For those of you not familiar with Servant Leadership, Robert Greenleaf wrote his groundbreaking essay, The Servant as Leader, in 1969. The book, Servant Leadership, was released in 1977. The cover flap reads, "With the publication of Servant Leadership in 1977, a new paradigm of management entered the boardrooms and corporate offices of America. Robert K. Greenleaf, a retired AT&T executive, proposed that service ought to be the distinguishing characteristic of leadership."

Greenleaf writes, "The servant-leader is servant first...It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first. Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead. That person is sharply different from one who is leader first, perhaps because of the need to assuage an unusual power drive or to acquire material possessions. For such, it will be a later choice to serve -- after leadership is established" (p. 27). He continues, "The difference manifests itself in the care taken by the servant-first to make sure that other people's highest priority needs are being served. The best test, and difficult to administer, is this: Do those served grow as persons? Do they, while being served, become healthier, wiser, freer, more autonomous, more likely themselves to become servants? And, what is the effect on the least privileged in society? Will they benefit or at least not be further deprived" (Greenleaf, 1977, p. 27).

Larry Spears, past Director of The Greenleaf Center for Servant- Leadership identifies Ten Characteristics of the Servant Leader* as:

Awareness
Community Building
Commitment to the Growth of People
Conceptualization
Empathy
Foresight
Healing
Listening
Persuasion
Stewardship

What are the odds of this emerging form of leadership making it to top spot in the long list of leadership philosophies and styles?

References:

- Greenleaf, R. (1977). Servant leadership. Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press

- Horsman, J. (2009). The philosophy of servant leadership. Journeying on the Path of Leadership. Spokane, WA: School of Professional Studies, Gonzaga University

Ethics, Credibility & Trust

2009-12-20T13:23:00.000-08:00

What do you feel are the biggest ethical, credibility or trust issues facing leaders in today's world?

Leadership Training Programs

2009-12-20T13:22:00.000-08:00

In your opinion, what is missing most from leadership or management training programs your organization has utilized?

Leadership & Management Traps

2009-08-17T14:57:00.001-07:00

What do you feel are the "traps" to which leaders and managers are most vulnerable? What types of traps do leaders and managers fall into that can delay, derail or destroy their careers? Please give us your thoughts.

My Problem and How I Solved It!

2009-01-16T09:16:00.000-08:00

Please tell your peers about a problem you were able to solve by using a subjective, objective or intuitive (or combination) approach to problems solving and decision making. Please remember this site can be viewed publicly so keep any confidential details out of your post.

The Role of Dominance

2009-01-16T08:30:00.000-08:00

In your opinion, and based on what you've learned from our DISC assessment and training, how important is the role of dominance in leadership and management?

Please keep in mind that we are all a blend of DISC so each of us have varying amounts of dominance in our "hard wired" behavior. We have also each have different levels of learned dominant behavior. According to DISC, hard wired dominant types only make up about 10% of the population and the DISC assessment is gender neutral. Dominant types are also described as: Dominant, Direct, Demanding, Decisive, Determined, Doer. Please comment on your experience and observations with either hard wired or learned dominant behavior.

Employee Responsibility & Accountability

2008-12-19T13:51:00.000-08:00

This week's leader, a manager of multiple funeral homes in Florida, asks: "When I have to constantly repeat the same refrain: Is the morning routine done? Why was the music system left on? etc. It is because those things are important to me, not them. No? So how do I create the importance in the mundane things that most of the staff could care less about?"

Please post your responses to his question. Keep in mind some options, including: shame, guilt, threats, pleading, avoiding, ignoring, the usual suspects!

Rich