Why Does Leadership Training Fail To Produce Leaders?

The Pursuit Of Something Better – Review

If you’re looking for a review of “The Pursuit Of Something Better” then you’ve come to the right place. I’m currently reading an advance copy, and will be publishing LeadershipExpert’s official review within a week, so stay tuned!

Introduction

‘The Pursuit Of Something Better’ follows the story of  US Cellular – a regional telecoms company, through its journey to becoming home to one of the most vibrant and motivated cultures in the USA. As an underdog in the telecoms industry – US Cellular has to fight to survive in the modern world, but the employees fight for it, due to their extreme loyalty and pride.

On one day every year, the managers from across the organisation leave their positions to attend a conference that announces the results of something very dear to them – the annual employee satisfaction questionaire. Grass-root staff rise to the challenge and the company ticks over just fine without them. The atmosphere at the conference is likened to that of a concert – not an annual review. What on earth has happened at this company to drive such enthusiasm?

Well, you’ll have to buy the book yourself to find out!

Review

Review is coming soon!

Purchase

This title is released on the 15th of August.

You can pre-order this book on Amazon UK here

If you’d like to read a review of this book on other blogs, you can visit here and here.

Leadership Styles – Autocratic vs Democratic vs Bureaucratic

Research and investigation into different management leadership styles has been fragmented and inconsistent. The key to good leadership development is a good knowledgebase.  That’s why we bring you an in-depth look at 3 key leadership styles that will highlight the benefits and shortfalls commonly associated with each. We won’t just be covering the leadership development theory; this article will also help to describe some of the practical issues that arise in the workplace as a result of implementing these styles, and I hope you find this ‘down-on-the-ground’ view will help you determine which style is right for your own leadership development. This article will also be useful for students researching leadership development or styles for essays.

What is Autocratic Leadership?

Autocratic leadership is a classical leadership style with the following characteristics:

1. Manager seeks to make as many decisions as possible

2. Manager seeks to have the most authority and control in decision making

3. Manager seeks to retain responsibility rather than utilise complete delegation

4. Consultation with other colleagues in minimal and decision making becomes a solitary process

5. Managers are less concerned with investing their own leadership development, and prefer to simply work on the task at hand.

The autocratic leadership style is seen as an old fashioned technique. It has existed as long as managers have commanded subordinates, and is still employed by many leaders across the globe. The reason autocratic leadership survives, even if it is outdated, is because it is intuitive, carries instant benefits, and comes natural to many leaders. Many leaders who start pursuing leadership development are often trying to improve upon their organisations autocratic leadership style.

What Are The Benefits Of The Autocratic Leadership Style?

Despite having many critics, the autocratic leadership styles offer many advantages to managers who use them. These include:

Reduced stress due to increased control. Where the manager ultimately has significant legal and personal responsibility for a project, it will comfort them and reduce their stress levels to know that they have control over their fate.

A more productive group ‘while the leader is watching’. The oversight that an autocratic manager exerts over a team improves their working speed and makes them less likely to slack. This is ideal for poorly motivated employees who have little concern or interest in the quality or speed of work performed.

Improved logistics of operations. Having one leader with heavy involvement in many areas makes it more likely that problems are spotted in advance and deadlines met. This makes autocratic leadership ideal for one-off projects with tight deadlines, or complicated work environments where efficient cooperation is key to success.

Faster decision making. When only one person makes decisions with minimal consultation, decisions are made quicker, which will allow the management team to respond to changes in the business environment more quickly.

What Are The Disadvantages Of The Autocratic Leadership Style?

Short-termistic approach to management. While leading autocratically will enable faster decisions to be made in the short term, by robbing subordinates of the opportunity to gain experience and start on their own leadership development,  and learn from their mistakes, the manager is actually de-skilling their workforce which will lead to poorer decisions and productivity in the long run.

Manager perceived as having poor leadership skills. While the autocratic style has merits when used in certain environments (as highlighted below), autocratic leadership style is easy yet unpopular. Managers with poor leadership skills with often revert to this style by default. To improve your leadership skills, I, and other leadership professionals usually recommend Apply Leadership, which is an effective and respected way to build your leadership ability.

Increased workload for the manager. By taking on as much responsibility and involvement as possible, an autocratic leader naturally works at their full capacity, which can lead to long term stress and health problems and could damage working relationships with colleagues. This hyper-focus on work comes at the expense of good leadership development.

People dislike being ordered around. They also dislike being shown very little trust and faith. As a result, the autocratic leadership style can result in a demotivated workforce. This results in the paradox that autocratic leadership styles are a good solution for demotivated workers, but in many cases, it is the leadership style alone that demotivates them in the first place.

Teams become dependent upon their leader. After becoming conditioned to receive orders and act upon them perfectly, workers lose initiative and the confidence to make decisions on their own. This results in teams of workers who become useless at running operations if they loose contact with their leader. This is the result of a lack of time dedicated to leadership development on the employees part.

When is the Autocratic Leadership Style Effective?

Following on from the merits and drawbacks listed above, the autocratic leadership style is useful in the following work situations:

1. Short term projects with a highly technical, complex or risky element.

2. Work environments where spans of control are wide and hence the manager has little time to devote to each employee.

3. Industries where employees need to perform low-skilled, monotonous and repetitive tasks and generally have low levels of motivation.

4. Projects where the work performed needs to be completed to exact specifications and/or with a tight deadline.

5. Companies that suffer from a high employee turnover, i.e. where time and resources devoted to leadership development would be largely wasted. Although one could argue that a lack of leadership development in the first place caused the high turnover.

What is Democratic Leadership?

Democratic Leadership is the leadership style that promotes the sharing of responsibility, the exercise of delegation and continual consultation. The style has the following characteristics:

1. Manager seeks consultation on all major issues and decisions.

2. Manager effectively delegate tasks to subordinates and give them full control and responsibility for those tasks.

3. Manager welcomes feedback on the results of intiatives and the work environment.

4. Manager encourages others to become leaders and be involved in leadership development.

What Are The Benefits Of The Democratic Leadership Style?

Positive work environment. A culture where junior employees are given fair amount of responsibility and are allowed to challenge themselves is one where employees are more enthused to work and enjoy what they do.

Successful initiatives. The process of consultation and feedback naturally results in better decision making and more effective operations. Companies run under democratic leadership tend to run into fewer grave mistake and catastrophes. To put it simply – people tell a democratic leader when something is going badly wrong, while employees are encouraged to simply hide it from an autocrat.

Creative thinking. The free flow of ideas and positive work environment is the perfect catalyst for creative thinking. The benefits of this aren’t just relevant for creative industries, because creative thinking is required to solve problems in every single organisation, whatever it’s nature.

Reduction of friction and office politics. By allowing subordinates to use their ideas and even more importantly – gain credit for them, you are neatly reducing the amount of tension employees generate with their manager. When autocratic leaders refuse to listen to their workers, or blatantly ignore their ideas, they are effectively asking for people to talk behind their back and attempt to undermine or supercede them.

Reduced employee turnover. When employees feel empowered through leadership development, a company will experience lower rates of employee turnover which has numerous benefits. A company that invests in leadership development for its employees, is investing in their future, and this is appreciated by a large majority of the workforce.

What Are The Disadvantages Of The Democratic Leadership Style?

Lengthy and ‘boring’ decision making. Seeking consultation over every decision can lead to a process so slow that it can cause opportunities to be missed, or hazards avoided too late.

Danger of pseudo participation. Many managers simply pretend to follow a democratic leadership style simply to score a point in the eyes of their subordinates. Employees are quick to realise when their ideas aren’t actually valued, and that the manager is merely following procedure in asking for suggestions, but never actually implementing them. In other words, they’re simply exerting autocratic leadership in disguise.

When Is The Democratic Leadership Style Effective?

Now you’ve heard about the benefits and drawbacks of this leadership style, let’s look at where its actually implemented in the business world.

1. Democratic leadership is applied to an extent in the manufacturing industry, to allow employees to give their ideas on how processes can become leaner and more efficient. While ‘Fordism’ is still applied in some factories across the country, truth is that production managers are now really starting to harness the motivational bonuses associated with not treating employees like robots anymore.

2. Democratic leadershp is effective in proffessional organisations where the emphasis is clearly on training, professional & leadership development and quality of work performed. Democratic procedures are simply just one cog in the effective leadership mechanisms firms like The Big Four have created over the years.

3. Non profit organisations also tremendously benefit from drawing upon the creative energies of all their staff to bring about cost cutting techniques or fund raising ideas.

4. As previously mentioned, creative industries such as advertising and television enjoy alot of benefits from the free flow of ideas that democratic leadership brings.

What Is Bureaucratic Leadership?

The bureaucratic leadership style is concerned with ensuring workers follow rules and procedures accurately and consistently. Bureaucratic leadership normally has the following characteristics:

1. Leaders expect a employees to display a formal, business-like attitude in the workplace and between each other.

2. Managers gain instant authority with their position, because rules demand that employees pay them certain priveledges, such as being able to sign off on all major decisions. As a result, leaders suffer from ‘position power’. Leadership development becomes pointless, because only titles and roles provide any real control or power.

3. Employees are rewarded for their ability to adhere to the rules and follow procedure perfectly.

4. Bureaucratic systems usually gradually develop over a long period of time, and hence are more commonly found in large & old businesses.

What Are The Benefits Of The Bureaucratic Leadership Style?

Increased safety. In dangerous workplaces where procedures save lives, a bureaucratic management style can help enforce health and safety rules.

Quality work. Some tasks, such as completing proffessional work or medical examinations, need to be done in a meticulous fashion to be done correctly. Laziness can result in poor work, and hence one solution is to enforce the rules via the bureacratic leadership style.

Ultimate control. An environment whereby employees are intrinsically motivated to follow rules in order to be promoted and succeed results in the tightest control management can ever assume over a company. This control can be used to cut costs or improve productivity.

What Are The Disadvantages Of The Bureaucratic Leadership Style?

Dehumanises the business. Bureacratic companies tend to remove as much potential for ‘human error’ out of the picture as possible. Unfortunately this also has the effect of removing all the enjoyment and reward that comes from deciding how to do a task and accomplishing it.

Lack of self-fulfillment. The bureaucratic way of working hampers employees efforts to become successful and independent, because the system becomes too contraining. This is why managers who experience ‘Apply Leadership‘ (one of the few audio courses that are respected among leadership professionals.) start working straight away to remove excess bureaucracy from their teams and organisations.

Parkinson’s Law. Cyril Northcote Parkinson made the scientific observation that the number of staff in bureaucracies increased by an average of 5%-7% per year “irrespective of any variation in the amount of work (if any) to be done.”". He explains this growth by two forces: (1) “An official wants to multiply subordinates, not rivals” and (2) “Officials make work for each other.” Parkinson’s findings suggest that bureaucratic leadership encourages inefficiency and waste of internal resources in the long run.

‘Position power’ obessession. After working in an environment that reinforces the idea that authority is created by rules which in turn support senior positions. Employees become attached to the idea that simply being in a job position creates authority. This can lead to intense office politics, arrogant leaders and little incentive to perform well once an employee has landed a top job.

Lack of creativity. It goes without saying that a rule-based culture hinders creativity and encourages workers to simply perform puppet-like work rather than think independently. This may result in a lack of growth in the business due to employees simply not thinking out of the box or looking for new areas to develop.

Poor communication. A common feature of a bureaucratic system is a complicated network of communication lines. Managers who don’t want to be ‘bothered’ by junior staff simply create procedures that allow them to avoid communicating with those below them. ‘Go through the formal process’, ‘Talk to my secretary’ and ‘My schedule is full’ are common rule-based excuses for blocked contact. Barriers to communication can hinder the success of any company. For example, the board may be charging ahead with a doomed product simply because their shop floor workers cannot pass on the message that customers are giving very negative feedback.

When Is The Bureaucratic Leadership Style Effective?

Bureaucratic leadership is found in extremely large corporations such as General Electric, Daimler and General Motors. However these cultures have evolved due to the age and size of these companies, and are generally blamed for the slow growth and recent failures at these companies.

1. Governmental bodies often have bureaucratic systems, and while these are often despised by the public, they ensure accountability to the tax payer and fair treatment for all. Excessive form-filling also serves the purpose of passing effort from the government authority (with a tight budget) onto the individual, helping to save costs.

2. Dangerous workplaces such as mines, oil rigs, construction sites and film sets all benefit from the tight control over health and safety that rules offer.

What Different Leadership Types Are There?

These 3 key management leadership styles are by no means a comprehensive list. Different leadership styles include laissez faire leadership, where the leader sets tasks and leaves workers up to their own devices to complete it.

Leadership Development

Leadership development is a complicated area, and thus countless styles have been theorised and researched. Good leadership development often involves using resources such as Leader House to be ’sift’ through these different leadership development tips and ideas. Once you’ve been able to pull together a solid leadership development plan for yourself, you can start to really engage your employees – and maybe even set them off on their own leadership development quest!

Leader House also has articles on another leadership style: charismatic leadership. You may also want to read our articles on leadership theories and common leadership traits.

Author – Simon Oates – Leader House.

Leadership Philosophy

Leadership comes in many different shapes and forms.  As leadership comes in different shapes and forms, so do leadership philosophies. There are people from all walks of life who have their own philosophy on leadership.  Who’s to say which is right and which is wrong?  But if you expand your mind and allow your leadership to grow, you will benefit any organization.

Followers expect leaders to show them the standard and train them to reach it. They expect leaders to lead by example. Additionally, they expect leaders to keep them informed and take care of them. Being a leader will require you to ask others to make extraordinary sacrifices to achieve goals. Leaders may have to call on them to do things that seem impossible. However, “If leaders have trained their people to standard, inspired their willingness, and consistently looked after their interests, they will be prepared to accomplish any goal, anytime, anywhere” (Reeves, 2004).

Leadership philosophies are based on opinions and experiences of an individual, which is why philosophies may not necessarily coincide even though you may have the same common goal. The best thing about leadership is that it will always evolve if you expand your mind.  What maybe your leadership philosophy today may not necessarily be your leadership philosophy tomorrow.

Many of my philosophies were influenced by traits that are used by the U. S. Marine Corps and standard maxims, which will work well in any organization and some of them are: justice, judgment, dependability, initiative, decisiveness, integrity, enthusiasm, loyalty, and courage just to name a few. Another important skill that must be implemented for all of this to work is applied knowledge.

Justice teaches you to be fair and consistent.  No one can ever say that you are showing favoritism.  Using judgment gives you the ability to think about things thoroughly and rationally.  Good judgment leads to sound decisions, and sound decisions leads to better quality.

Dependability “is the willing and voluntary support of the policies and orders of the chain of command” (Wright, 1984/2002). You must show that you are dependable, and it is needed because it shows you can be relied upon to your superiors as well as your employees.  It means you can be trusted to complete your job.  It also means that you will be trusted by your employees, which will build a better rapport and enhance communications between you and them.

Initiative runs hand in hand with dependability.  Showing initiative means doing something before you were instructed to.  It shows you are dependable and can think ahead and look at the big picture instead of what’s in front of you.

A decisive person shows they have the ability to make good decisions without hesitation.  It allows you to get the facts, analyze them and come to the best possible decision while maintaining a high level or professionalism.

Showing enthusiasm shows a sincere interest and enthusiasm in the performance of your duties.  It will make your employees more enthusiastic and motivated about their work, which will lead to better productivity and working atmosphere.

Having loyalty shows you are devoted to your organization, seniors, peers, and subordinates.  You have a sense of responsibility to everyone who is involved in the organization.  You are loyal enough to know if things begin to get unethical, you know how to separate yourself from it, and continue to do the right thing.

Integrity is one of the most important traits within my leadership philosophy.  People can take many things from you, but integrity is something you can only give away.   It shows that you are truthful and a person of your word.  When integrity is consistently applied, it will build good morals and ethics within any organization.

The most vital leadership characteristic is courage.  Courage is the foundation on which all things start.  Having these other traits are pointless if you don’t have the courage to apply them.  Without the courage to succeed and the courage to stand up for what you believe, you should not be placed in any leadership position, because you lack what it takes to be a leader.  And if you lack what it takes to lead… who will follow?

Applied knowledge is the understanding of a science or art and applying it.  Knowledge means you have acquired information and you understand people, emotions, and actions.  Applying knowledge means you will take acquired information and share it with your employees to make them better, mentally stronger, and more eager to learn.

To support my leadership philosophy, I have maxims that I follow, which are known to the U. S. Marine Corps as leadership principles.  One of my maxims is to know myself and seek self improvement.  This is done by working to improve my weaknesses and utilizing my strengths based on thoughts and experiences.  I also must be technically and tactically proficient.  Before I can lead, I must be able to do the job.  If I can’t do the job, I can’t set the example.  Albert Einstein said it best, “Setting an example is not the main means of influencing another, it is the only means.” Lastly, I must know my employees and look out for their welfare. As a leader, I am responsible for my employees’ welfare and well-being.  Their welfare must come before my own.  To put yourself before your employees is to show disrespect towards them and the organization, which will ultimately lead to destruction.

Many leaders’ leadership philosophies are very different, but in any attempt to lead, you have to have a philosophy.  You may read many articles on leadership, attend leadership seminars, or even take leadership classes that offer many different philosophies on leadership.  However, I am not trying to change your philosophy on leadership… I am just trying to expand your mind.

Author: Darnell E. Patton is currently an active duty Marine. He has held many management and leadership positions, to include the legendary Marine Drill Instructor and Drill Instructor, Instructor. He has a BS in Management, a BS in Finance, and his MBA with specialization in Human Resources.

100+ Brilliant Ways To Motivate Staff In A Recession

As times are getting harder, managers have been re-evaluating how they motivate their workforce. At Leader House, we’ve put together this comphrehensive collection of motivation tips & tricks to help managers increase their employee’s productivity in this tough economic climate. Most of the tips don’t involve spending a penny, and the ones that do will create far more value than you spent, meaning they’re perfect to use during a recession.

One final point to make before we embark on this list, is that you should consider this a ’sweet shop’ of motivation tips, i.e. you should only pick a few and certainly not attempt to implement them all. There’s nothing worse than being sandblasted by motivational techniques.

Policy

1. One-on-One coaching - People appreciate learning directly from their senior on an individual basis. It helps them remember what they learn, and ask any questions they wish to help form a deep understanding of their work.

2. Training - In general, training is one of the most empowering tools a company can offer it’s employees. Subsquently all large companies invest heavily in training and enjoy the long term payoff.

3. Clear Career Path – Staff are better motivated when they can see where they should be in 3 years time if they work hard. The more barriers between them and promotion that cannot be solved by hard work will only demotivate.

4. Safe Work Environment – Maslow theorised that safety is one of the fundemental pillars of motivation, and that a safe work environment is necessary for all other motivating factors (such as self esteem) to start having a positive effect.

5. Executive Recognition - A congratulatory conference call from the CEO or visit from the finance director will do well to swell the chests of your workforce with pride and admiration for their work.

6. Time off - Motivated employees will not gladly take time off, however a generous time-off system needs to be in place to create motivated employees. Staff are likely to work harder and longer with the safety and knowledge that should they need time off due to stress, they could take it.

7. Encourage employees to praise good work of their fellow colleagues – Build a feedback procedure whereby collegues regularly pass comment on each others work, or team mates share their opinions after completing a major task. Feedback such as this helps reduce infighting and will give many people tips on how to improve their work.

8. Be sympathetic to personal problems – Offer generous time off for those who suffer bereavement. In most cases it won’t be taken, but the gesture will improve relations between managers and staff.

9. Keep your door open – An open office encourages the open share of ideas. You want to remove any barriers to communication, and a closed door certainly constitutes a barrier.

10. Allow flexible working hours - Allowing employees to manage their own time so they can participate in outside work-related activities won’t make their hours shorter. Employees who would take time off to see their child’s sports day will likely ‘pay back’ the favour by working longer hours afterwards.

11.  Have annual or quarterly reviews – These are where an employee goes through some targets and review points with another member of staff who is not directly above them, and is more of a guidance counsellor than a boss.This will allow them to discuss important long term career topics that will feed their desire to work.

12. Let your employees choose their own lunch break- Unless your company happens to be a food outlet, it really doesn’t matter whether your employee takes their lunch at 11:30 or 2pm, so don’t attempt to force them to stick to a routine.

13. Forward information to staff after management meetings - A quick debriefing will increase their sense of involvement.

14. Rotate job roles – More appropriate for manufaturing, the rotation of job roles has been proven many times to increase employee productivity, despite the decrease in specialisation. This technique can be applied to any low to medium skilled jobs with a powerful effect. Multi-skilled workers also make life easier for your HR department.

15. Provide quarterly updates on relevant business and customer issues – many members of staff aspire to be senior management in the future, and will thrive on being kept in the loop when it comes to high-level business infomation.

16. Give an incentive to get employees to work earlier in the morning - I’ve learnt from experience that if a salary-based employee gets to work an hour earlier, it is likely they will work until their usual finishing time.

17. Support charity work within the company – Donate 1 or 2 days of charity work per year to good causes. This will help your business get into the local media and make staff feel like they’re a part of a responsible company.

18. Address the environment issue – While we’re on the subject of responsibility, it’s worth noting that employees prefer working for a company with green credentials, so setting a carbon reduction/ energy efficiency/ recycling intiative will help enthuse the workforce.

19. Give your employees choice over their uniform – Often a business casual work dress code makes employees feel more independent than full suit and tie – which is often not necessary in an office environment.

20. Obey confidentiality – A manager who pretends to care about his employees but simply laughs and bitches about them behind their back will loose all respect and credibility extremely quickly.

Freebies

21. Offer stress management/counselling services – These services are easy to outsource and admitedly are very rarely used. But the availability of such a service increases moral without costing you a penny.

22. Use gimmicks -  Give out novetly ‘trophy’ style items for exceptional work. For example, give a LP record for an employee breaking a record.

23. Bring in sweets to share out on random days – This is a cheap technique that will improve the relationship between management and the workforce.

24. Give out tickets to cultured events such as theatres and music shows.

25. Send a company T-shirt or hat to the employee’s child(ren).

26. Walk around with free lunch coupons -  Hand out on the spot.

27. Give workers a surprise for their work area - A desk organizer, a picture or poster, a new mouse pad even. Any new gift will be an interesting novelty.

28. Give a subscription to a work-related periodical - This is an interesting gift that shows your commitment to their professional development.

29. Buy lottery tickets or scratch cards for people on an irregular basis.

30. Hand out classic self help literature and excellant leadership books – Hand these out to entire departments at a time, or they may feel that you’re indirectly critisising them. Success literature can really inspire employees to work harder – but be wary of the core message of the book. Many of these books encourage workers to quit their 9-5 jobs.

Behaviour

31. Give recognition – Every worker wishes wants to be ‘known’ by those above them, so talk about your workers to your managing collegues and ensure that none of your subordinates go un-noticed.

32. Give Attention – To be distinguished from recognition. Recognition is the long term awareness that boosts self esteem, whereas attention is a short term devotion of time that will keep employees on task and able to voice concerns as early as possible.

33. Applause - Because sometimes words just aren’t enough.

34. Always carry a smile – I once knew a senior manager who famously was never seen with a negative expression on his face. This sort of reputation really inspired subordinates such as myself, and completely stands again the cynicism and sarcasm that exist in workplaces across the country.

35. ‘Manage by wandering around’ – Rather than calling employees to your office, go and visit them yourself. This is a sign of respect and reduces the interuptive impact you have on your team.

36. Listening to employee efficiency suggestions – And more importantly you should be acting on as many as possible, even the petty suggestions. This way you build up credibility in the system, leading to more important, significant proposals to be put forward in the future.

37. Lead by example and follow through with what you say. Just as following through with suggestion box comments you build credibility in the system, if you follow through with your own promises, you build credibility in the system of management as a whole.

38. Ask! - Ask the employees what they want from you.

39. Listen! – Listen to what employees have to say about YOU and what you can personally improve upon.

40. Add a personal touch by going out of your way to inconvenience yourself to please a member of staff. Just the occasional gesture in a busy period can be enough to remove that employees doubt over whether you have their best interests at heart.

41. Understand employee behaviour - Often a negative attitiude or behaviour is a direct response to bad controls/procedures that you can correct or change.

42. Write thankyou notes fairly regularly – These notes only take a second, and will float around for a long time, making the employee feel proud.

43. Actively make a point to speak to every member of staff each day. This doesn’t need to be a major catch up, but just enough so that you’re maintaining a good working relationship, and they would feel comfortable in coming to you when they’re struggling.

44. Ask employees “What can I do to help you with your job?”. You may surprised at the responses and ideas you get in return. A little help like this can sometimes be more effect than formal leadership coaching or leadership training.

45. Get your hands dirty with your staff -  Learn about the good and bad aspects of their day to day work. Only through understanding what their day actually entails will you be able to see what would motivate and enthuse this person to work more effectively.

46. Show the courage to let your employees learn from their mistakes - Don’t jump on their error and shout at them, as they will already feel embarassed enough. Managers often destroy many hours of work building up trust and enthusiasm by loosing control and shouting at workers when things go badly. Nothing destroys intrinsic motivation quite as quickly as raving tyrant.

47. Show great confidence in relying on subordinates expertise in areas that you have none – Trusting in the skills of others is a sign of a great leader. It will improve the confidence of others as well as take some weight and responsibility off your shoulders.

48. Stand behind your employees and back their decisions -  Similar to relying on a subordinates’ expertise, this will improve their view of their own skills, and benefit you in the long run.

49. If you have many employees with the same job title, give them a list of the tasks that need doing and let them divide the work up among themselves. It reduces the feeling of ‘meddling manegement’ and allows for more efficient work allocation - as people are more likely to take on jobs that they’re personally good at.

50. Don’t be a pushover -  While nearly every employee would love to have a soft manager, they would also admit that it is because they would do less work. Be clear with orders and don’t allow yourself to be fobbed off with excuses.

Financial Incentives

51. Arrange discounts for them at local stores to increase loyalty

52. Offer rewards for great ideas. If it saves money or brings in business, give the employee a percentage of the savings or profit. – entreprenial atttiude.

53. Send $10, $25 or more to a spouse with a thank-you note for his or her support during the employee’s overtime.

54. Pay an employees rent for a month - This will take the weight of their shoulders more than a simple cheque would. Give your employee piece of mind.

55. Pay for the tutoring of an employee’s child - This is a generous ‘donation’ that will really help establish true loyalty and admiration for the company.

56. Give employees who recruit new workers a cash bonus.

57. Sponsor membership in a professional group for your employee.

58. Surprise your staff with a new challenege out of the blue – Give your employees 2 weeks to increase their sales by 15% for a 5% salary bonus reward and watch how they suddenly start looking at their work in a whole different way.

59. Move your staff onto more heavy commission based salaries – This brings employees personal goals in line with those of a sales department. A word of warning – make sure the variable upon which the commission is based is what you truely want. Because staff will often chase that commission at the expense of others goals such as customer satisfaction and quality of service.

60. Give out gift vouchers as a way of rewarding individuals for a good job on a specific task – Amounts of £50 are respectable but won’t break the bank. You can reserve these for when staff members have demonstrated working by company’s values, or have shown hard work.

61. Give generous staff discounts on products - This is a rather standard perk in the modern day, but its effect on employee morale must not be forgotten.

Activities

62. Pizza/Popcorn/Cookie Days - These really put a smile on alot of employees faces. Just hope that few people are on strict diets at the time!

63. External Seminars - These can be attended by individuals, teams or whole departments if they’r relevant. Trips to seminars, events and conferences can be a welcome break from work for staff, while actually still building their skills and adding value to the company.

64. Dress-down Days – Again, another motivational tool that has become a standard in all companies large and small. And why are they popular? Because it really does improve morale!

65. Leadership Teasers - Give employees a glimpse at what it is like to run a team, lead a division or speak in public. These positive ‘taster’ leadership sessions will really get them hooked onto their career track and really kick start leadership development.

66. Share letters of praise from customers with the member(s) of staff involved - A kind word from a customer not only gives effective feedback on the service at your organisation, but it also warms the hearts and motivates the staff who read the mark of appreciation. These are so effective that I would suggest you contact customers to ask for feedback.

67.  Have a family day - Perhaps on the last day before a public holiday, you could arrange for staff to bring their children to work. As well as lightening the atmosphere of the workplace, it also helps create harmony and understanding between workers, as they come to understand more about each other and what they’re like as a family person.

68. Go to lunch with each one of your employees on a quarterly basis – Ask the question, “What do we need to do to keep you with us?”

69. Invite employees to your home for a special event - This gives you the opportunity to recognise them in front of their spouses and co-workers. Obviously only suitable for small businesses or departments, this activity is a rare but powerful one.

70. Let them attend a meeting in your place – As well as giving temporary empowerment to your staff, letting them sit in or replace you in a meeting also will increase their understanding of what pressures you are under and what you need from them.

71. Let them “sit-in” with an upper level person for part of a day – Similar to the leadership taster, this shadowing of senior management is more appropriate for junior members of staff. Middle management may feel uneasy about taking a perceived  ’step back’ into the activity of shadowing.

72. Involve them in a special project that allows for company exposure and visibility. Such as being written about in the news. All too often – these sorts of tasks are handled by only a couple of individuals who become desensitised to the novelty of being publically recognised. By rotating these sort of tasks round a larger number of employees, you are efficiently maximising the motivation gained from such a job position.

73. Let your employees craft the mission statement – More and more managers are discovering how effective this is as a motivational tool. It’s most powerful when absolutely every employee contributes torwards it’s creation. Without proper employee involvement – mission statements are simply empty rhetorical ‘wish lists’ of values and objectives put forward by the CEO.

74. Minature golf and other fun indoor activities - Fun golf courses, bowling alleys, Scalextric tacks and casino tables can be affordably hired in a recession as businesses cut back on novelty client entertainment and expenses. You can use this to your advantage by hiring such fun equipment to become the centrepiece of a project-end event. Having something fun to look forward to at the end of each major project will have a motivational effect.

75. Team building days out – In a similar fashion, outdoor activity courses and events can also be used to keep your staff happy and promote good team leadership.

76. Hand out awards - Prizes for awards such as ‘best team player’, ‘best attitude’ etc should be also accompanied by humourous ‘caffeine addict’, ‘chief photocopier person’ and other quirky awards.

77. Run short term target-based competitions between staff for freebies or bonuses. But ensure a level playing field or you’ll only create frustration and conflict!

78. Take your employees to the cinema. Cinemas offer cheap corporate deals and will cater well for your employees. Picking the right film is tricky though!

79. Promote the creation of company sports teams – These will help build ties across departments. Encourage recruitment from all areas, rather than simply being teams of  cliques.

Other

80. Develop a Wall of Fame to share letters of praise and similar with everyone in the office – Put it near the photocopier for maximum exposure.

81.  Create personalised rewards – everyone values different types of rewards more than others. Some workers prefer time off, others prefer cash, so ask people which they’d prefer before setting up any bonus or reward scheme.

82. Additional Responsibility – While you may grimace at the idea of being given ‘another’ batch of responsibility, a more junior member of staff may actually jump at the thought. Start leadership programmes that give subordinates that opportunity at stepping up.

83. When pay cheques are sent out, always write a note on the envelope recognizing an employee’s accomplishment(s).

84. Try to remove all the cynical and sarcastic posters & slogans from around the office. They provide a cheap giggle but demoralise staff. A quick example of short term benefit, long term pain.

85. Remember birthdays with a simple birthday card, mini cake or gift.

86. Take out an advertisement in a local paper and include your star employees’ names and pictures in the feature.

87. Speak truthfully and transparently – All employees have a good skill at knowing when they’re being lied to, so don’t even attempt to pull the wool over their eyes. Learn from Obama – he didn’t try to tell America that the economic was just a ‘little’ bit under-the-weather; he told it how it was. Rather than trying to cover up the failings in a company, instead emphasise how you are going to solve it, and employees will reward you with hard work.

88. Increase your employees span of control – this decreases costs and motivates them if they’re the type that crave control and authority.

89. Remind people of what drives them to do what they do. Allow pictures of family and other such drivers to be strewn around the office, and talk to them about their family, their dreams for the future and desires. You can use their dreams to motivate them easily.

90. Pin up genuine motivational posters etc around the office. These motivational quotes really do inspire some people.

91. Get your employees to replace their default screen saver with a playful ‘Get off your butt and back to work’ message that they’ve typed themselves.

92. Let employees give new recruits on-the-job training - It’ll show them how much they’ve grown as an employee in your company and leave them feeling senior and skilled.

93. Make sure you know everyones name in the office - whether they’re in your span of control or not.

94. Ensure free coffee is available. Caffeine or hot chocolate will always help!

95. Have a bowl of fresh fruit for employees to snack on – The women especially will appreciate this nice gesture, yet it only costs a tiny amount per day.

96. Make sure the service staff (cleaners, janitor, receptionist) greet staff throughout the day, rather than simply trying to be invisible.

97. Play the occasional tasteful practical joke

98. Invite in a motivational speaker to talk to your staff - These speakers often charge high fees however, so ensure that their key messages concern long lasting motivation rather than a ‘fad-like’ short term buzz that will fade as the speaker slips from memory.

99. Give your team a cool team name - Admittedly easier said than done.

100. Ensure that all members of staff feel that they are the best at at least one task - This will give them a ‘place’ in the organisation and make them feel important.

101. Finally -  Share this blog post with other managers in your organisation!

Phew! We’re done! If you found this article as helpful as I enjoyed making it, then please use some of the neat buttons below to help share this motivational advice across the world!

Subscribe to my feedburner feed HERE.

Free Leadership PPT Powerpoint Presentations

As Leadership Development become a widely- respected characteristic in the workplace and education system, many enthusiastic people wish to help spread the ideas and concepts of leadership across their organisations to improve their business leadership.

Many are doing so through a free leadership ppt or ‘powerpoint presentation’ that are easily downloadable online and aid the presenter with helpful cues and ideas for their own presentation.

As such, Leader House is currently undertaking an ambitious search across the internet to find as many team leadership ppts as possible, and become a leadership ppt supermarket in effect – a one stop shop for all leadership presentations.

Free Leadership PPTs

1. Biz/ed

A well designed Powerpoint presentation created by Biz/ed. It touches on

• What is Leadership?
• Leadership Styles
• What Factors Affect Leadership Styles
• Leadership Development
• Leadership Theories

2. British Council

A well researched free ppt download addressing the following points:

• Managerialism vs Leadership
• Leadership Development
• Leadership Styles
• Leadership as Mediation
• Leadership Development
• Neo-Liberalism

3. University of Gloucester

A simple to understand and colourful depiction of the following topics:

• Leadership Strategy in Organisations
• Leadership Development
• Leadership vs Managers
• Management Styles Timeline
• High Performance Working Concept
• Human Resources

4. Steve Loraine

A motivational ppt about leadership and bringing about change, talking about:

• How The Best Achieve
• How To Achieve High Levels Of Performance
• Empowerment
• Direction Not Drift
• Developing Leadership

Leadership Powerpoint Presentations Are Just The Beginning

If you want to deliver a really effective presentation on leadership then you’ll need the best tools at your disposal to build up a background knowledge of this vast subject area. We recommend that you visit some of our key articles including:

• A Guide To Leadership Styles
• Leadership Theories
• Leadership Development
• Leadership Ebooks
• 100 Ways To Motivate Your Staff In A Recession

Leadership Development

Leadership development is the pursuit of enhanced leadership ability. Leadership development is unsurprisingly engaged in by most business leaders across the world, through a variety of means. Leadership development can be undertaken by reading books, or alternatively a leadership development specialist – a  ‘leadership coach’ can be hired to fulfill a CEO’s leadership development needs. You’ll find advice about all kinds of leadership development on this website!

We hope you enjoy your journey along the path of leadership development.

Leadership Theories – The Ultimate Guide

Many leadership theories have been suggested since time immemorial. Early leadership theories focused on the behaviour and qualities of successful leaders where as later theories gave more importance to the role of associates and followers. Some of the leadership theories are as follows:

Great Man Theory. According to Great Man theory, a leader is born and cannot be made. This theory believed that leaders are people who have inborn exceptional qualities and are destined to lead. Here the term “Man” is used since leadership was considered as a concept that would be primarily dominated by males. Great leaders would arise only when there is an urgent need of it. It also suggests that leadership qualities are inherent.

Trait Theory. According to Trait theory, few people are born with qualities that are suited to leaderships. People who transform into good leaders posses right combination of leadership qualities. Through this approach, people with such leadership qualities could be separated and then people with such qualities could be recruited or selected into leadership positions. This approach was commonly used in military and is even today used to recruit candidates for commission.

Self Investment Theory. From visiting organisations, I’ve found that the happiest employees and managers regularly invest in themselves and their personal leadership training. People have often sought out useful leadership books and learning material that will help them along the path to happiness and leadership. These days, many e-courses tend to be rather disappointing, but I’m pleased to recommend one e-course that is still respected by leadership professionals such as myself: The 11 Forgotten Laws. It’s generally seen as an essential and core ‘crash course’ in the laws and secrets you need to know to further your leadership & career and even help find happiness in other areas of your life. Its an excellent base upon which you can build your personal development.

Contingency Theory. This leadership theory focuses on variables that are related to environment and that would determine which style of leadership is suitable for a particular situation. It says that it is impossible to determine which leadership style will suit best for any situation. Success depends on qualities of followers and other variables.

Situational Theories. This theory suggests that on the basis of situational variable, leaders should choose the course of action. Diverse styles of leadership will me more suitable to make certain types of decisions

Behavioral Theories. This leadership theory believes that great leaders are not born but are made. The prime focus of this theory is on actions of leaders. The focus is not on internal states or mental qualities. This theory believes that people can become leaders through the process of teaching, learning and observation.

Participative Theory. This theory defines ideal leadership style. An ideal leadership style takes into consideration the input of its associates. Such leaders encourage contribution and participation from group members. The leader also has the right to say no to any suggestion of other team member.

Management Theories. This collection of leadership theories gives more importance to the role of organization, supervision and most importantly the group performance. This theory is based on the system of punishment and reward. Managerial theory is often used in many companies. When employee’s performance is very good, he or she is given a reward. If the employee’s performance decreases below a certain level, he or she is punished.

Relationship Theory. This theory also called Transformational theory focuses on the connections that are formed between followers and leaders. These leaders inspire and motivate people. They also help group members in case of any difficulty. Such leaders focus on performance of of members of group. These leaders have high moral values.

Path Goal Theory. This theory focuses on what leaders should do to motivate and inspire people so that the employees can perform well.

3 Ways To Boost Your Career With Leadership Skills

The recession is now an economic and statistical reality. With large recruitment departments shrinking and some even making redundancies, career prospects have never looked so bleak in the corporate world.

This is why Leadership is becoming such an important skill for job seekers to have. Leadership is the key driving force that keeps businesses alive and sometimes profitable during economic turmoil. Great leaders increase motivation of workers, encourage the free flow of ideas, and improve the atmosphere of working environments. The effect of a phenomenal business leader can be felt from shop floor workers up to the board. It’s an incredibly desirable trait in any employee. So here are 3 ways to boost your leadership skills for a potential employer.

1. Take opportunities to lead teams. Leadership isn’t a characteristic you can simply claim to have, and hope nobody will call your bluff. It is such a self-evident trait, that a veteran interviewer will be able to smell it on you when you walk through the door. You need to gain experience as a leader, so grab every opportunity you can to direct, coach and lead teams in your organisation or in local clubs and societies. I suggest you have 5 varied experiences to talk about confidently with an interviewer, where you can show you demonstrated the skill of leadership.

2. Read leadership literature and invest in yourself. All excellent transformational leaders regularly invest in themselves. Leaders have often sought out useful leadership books and learning material that will help them along the path to happiness and leadership. These days, many e-courses tend to be rather disappointing, but one e-course that is still respected by leadership professionals such as myself is The 11 Forgotten Laws. It’s generally seen as an essential and core ‘crash course’ in the laws and secrets you need to know to further your leadership & career and even help find happiness in other areas of your life. Its an excellent base upon which you can build your personal development.

3. Just say yes. More often than not, people take the safe option and say ‘no’ to choices that perhaps seem to carry mediocre benefits and at the same time, plenty of risk of embarrassment or humiliation. What also is often the case however, is that these people are actually instantly sensing the risk, and then not bothering to really look for the bonuses that could come from completing such a task. Next time you’re presented with a public speaking opportunity for instance, or a chance to organise a charity event within the office. For your career’s sake, say yes. The benefits to your CV will more than justify the risk of embarrassment.

So there you have it. If you make sure you incorporate these 3 tips into your working life, you will boost your leadership skills and be able to present these effortlessly to an impressed employer. I wish you every success in your future career.