Month: December 2017

Creating Future Leaders: 4 Steps to Leadership Development

Creating Future Leaders:  How can companies hire and train future leaders? Here are four steps companies can take to strengthen their leadership for the long term.

The Four Steps to Creating Future Leaders

Creating future leaders is critical to the long-term growth of a company.  ~ www.jaywren.com

  1. Hire for leadership
  2. Establish Authority & Responsibility
  3. Teach for leadership
  4. Increase Responsibility

Hire for Leadership

People in any organizations have specific levels of responsibility.  Some of those people will stay in same job for which the company hires them.

Other people come into a company as developmental candidates.  These people may start in entry-level jobs.  However, the company has a plan to move these people into bigger roles.  Their responsibilities increase as they master each job.

Teach Authority, Responsibility, and Accountability

For new leaders to become successful, they must know their authority.

They must know what they can do.  Additionally, they must know when to notify their supervisors.

Furthermore, they must know their responsibilities.  Knowing the boundaries of their responsibilities makes them more engaged and focused.

Last, future leaders must learn accountability.  They are not only accountability for their own mistakes.  They are accountable for the mistakes of the people under them.

Accountability is a great teacher. ~ www.jaywren.com

Train for Leadership

Authoritative leaders criticize. They control the people who work for them.

Ordering people around teaches them the things what not to do.

However, future leaders must learn more than what not to do.  Mentoring leadership builds confidence and skills in future leaders.  Without this mentoring, a company is not creating future leaders.  It is creating people who follow orders.

Increase Responsibility

For leaders to continue to grow, their responsibility must increase.  Companies promote new leaders into bigger positions.  These positions have a higher pay grade.  Additionally, they have the greater responsibility.

However, companies cannot always promote leaders. But they must keep the leaders growing and engaged.

What companies can do is relieve experienced future leaders of bottom rung responsibilities.  At the same time, companies can give them responsibilities that will prepare them for greater responsibility.

Open-Ended Questions: Solving Problems and Creating Leadership

 

Open-Ended Questions: What are they? How do they create opportunities for greater understanding in solving problems and creating leadership?

One of the most important skills in leadership is the ability to answer open-ended questions. ~ www.jaywren.com

Examples of Open-Ended Questions

Open-ended questions enable a person to give meaningful, well-developed answers.  The person uses knowledge, feelings, creativity, and skills of self-expression.

Furthermore, these questions show how well a person can think . That is, to see not just one solution, but multiple solutions.

Examples:

“What are business problems that you have solved? How did you solve them?”

“What would you do if you never had to work again?”

“Why should I hire you?”

Examples of Closed-End Questions

People use convergent thinking to answer closed-end questions. Additionally, closed-end questions have one answer.

“What color is your car?”
“Blue.”

“How many fish in the bowl?”
“Three.”

“Did you leave at 4:30?”
“Yes.”

The Importance of Developing Skills for Open-Ended Questions

Some brilliant people have very poor skills for answering open-ended questions. They have vast amounts of knowledge.  They know the facts and can solutions.

However, their careers falter, because they cannot express their knowledge and their ideas.

For example, financial executives must have skills to know the accuracy of their calculations.

CFOs must be able to explain to a board what the numbers mean.  Additionally, they must be able discuss how the company got into a financial position and how to manage the company’s finances going forward.

Presentation Skills

The place to start learning how to answer open-ended questions is presentation skills.  Developing these skills with help you do many things.

  • Sell more effectively,
  • Interview more effectively,
  • Become a more effective public speaker,
  • Be a leader in workplace meetings.

In short, you will be more successful when you develop your skills to answer open-ended questions.

In conclusion, here are articles that will help you become more effective in answering open-ended questions.

Career Intelligence: Aligning Your Career with Your Brain

Career Intelligence:  Aligning your career with the way your brain works will increase your ability to excel in the workplace.

How can you shape your career around the way that you are smart?

What Kind of Solutions Come Easy for You?

Creating a career that matches the way you think can empower you for success.  To understand how your brain works, consider these two types of problem solving.

Convergent Thinking

Some people have terrific skills at solving problems with only one answer.

2 + 2 =?

The only answer is 4.

When people solve this type of problem, they are using convergent intelligence.  Their reasoning converges or comes together to settle on this one answer.

Divergent Thinking

Divergent thinking skills enables people to see multiple solutions to the same problem.

For example, many people climb a mountain by following a well-marked path.  This is the path everyone sees and the only path most people try to find.

However, other people can see multiple paths for climbing the same mountain.  These people not only discover new paths.  They discover new things along the way.

What Type of Problems Do You Like to Solve?

If you like to solve problems with convergent thinking, developing skills for solving those types of problems should be enjoyable for you.

On the other hand, some industries rely heavily on creative solutions.  For example, inventors and innovators are examples of people who have success with divergent thinking.

When to Use Both Ways of Thinking

If you are starting a company, you may have to solve problems as well as seek solutions. You are alone or have a small staff.

For example, website development is a combination of technology and art.  You have the skills to put together the website.  You also have the skills to create a compelling look for your website.

However, as your company grows, you can outsource jobs that are challenge your patience.  Furthermore, you can become more successful working in the areas where your attention goes first.

When are You Most Effective?

Some people are naturally more gifted to think convergently.  These people learn quickly and can apply what they learn to solving problems

Other people are more gifted to think divergently.  With less knowledge than convergent thinkers, the people see options intuitively.  They excel in helping companies find new ways to succeed in failing conditions.

Career Intelligence

Finding jobs where you can use your career intelligence most effectively will help you become more successful.

Developing skills in areas of both convergent and divergent thinking will help you throughout your career.

However, working the area you most enjoy will increase your drive to get to work and complete tasks.

Triggers: When Emotions Control Our Thinking

Triggers are anything that cause negative emotoinal response. Everyone feels stress. However, the degree that people experience stress, the things that create stress, and the way people respond to stress varies.

Different Triggers for Different People

We all have individual triggers.  I say individual triggers, because different things create different feelings and different responses in different people.

For example, heights frighten some people. For other people, heights are thrilling.  Furthermore, the amount that people feel fearful or thrilled varies from person to person.

In the case of bungy jumping, some people are fearful of leaping off a high place to the extent that they cannot even walk out to point where other people jump with glee.  Between these extremes are people who have more intense or less intense feelings about jumping off high places.

How Powerful are Triggers?

When triggered, we experience the impulse to act.

Emotions are not thoughts.  And, under some circumstances, our emotions can fire faster than our ability to think before acting.

For example, two people see a person fall.  One laughs.  Another one winces.

Neither person thought about how they would respond to what they are seeing.  Instead, they are impulsively responding to a visual experience.

Becoming Smart to Avoid Triggers

In many cases, we can recognize patterns in the emotions governing our thoughts.  These patterns are circumstances that increase the likelihood that we will respond emotionally rather than mentally. However, we can become smart to avoid triggers.

When we recognize these patterns, we can make changes in our behavior that affect our ability to deal with stress.

For example, in rush-hour traffic on the freeways, there are miles of cars.  The way that each driver experiences the drive varies from calm awareness to rage.

Rage can lead to dangerous actions.  If we recognize the patterns of behavior that precede the rage, we can change that pattern.  For example, caffeine, hunger, fatigue, and starting late increase anxiety before we even get on the road.

Additionally, anxiety can press us to try to drive faster than the flow of traffic.  When we become frustrated with drivers who slow us down, our anxiety increases further.

The solution is to eliminate or change our behavior before we get on the road.  In this case, we avoid the stimulates, eat, take a break, and start early.

Once we start our drive, we can decide to be part of the flow of traffic and not an intimidating threat to our own safety and the safety of others.

Toxic People: How to Deal with Destructive Personalities

Toxic people create stress that spreads throughout an organization. What are the skills that you can develop not only to survive but to grow around destructive personalities?

Change What You Control

If you can control the actions of toxic people, your first step is to stop what these people are doing.  The way that I have ended toxic behavior is confronting these people with the facts of their actions.  From there, I have shown them the price they will pay if they continue their destructive behavior.

Avoid the Poison.

When I can’t change the behavior of toxic people, I avoid them. If there is no reason to have to deal with them, I don’t.

Skills for Becoming a Healthier Person

Toxic people: When you can’t fight them, don’t join them.  However, make yourself healthier.

When I can’t change the behavior of toxic people or avoid these people altogether, I focus on the changes I can make in myself to become a healthier person.

Here are some things that work for me.

1. I write about my feelings.

In writing about my emotions, I name my feelings.  Fear, anger anxiety, insecurity, and resentment are common feelings that people have around toxic people. You may have other bad feelings. When I experience these feelings, I write about them.

2. I write about my actions.

In this step, I can see what things I can change in my own behavior to reduce the damage in a toxic relationship.  For example, if I act out of anger, I can change my actions.

3. I discuss what I am feeling with a mentor.

One of the problems with writing about my feelings is that I have trouble seeing solutions.  Instead I focus on how people have harmed me.

However, I have close friends I can trust.  These people keep what I tell them a secret.  These friends are mentors who show me how I can grow and improve my behavior.

Job Search Timing: The Things You Must Know

ob search timing. Is this the right time in your career to make a job change? What are the things you must know to answer this question?

Success is greatest when timing meets necessity. ~ www.jaywren.com

Are You in the Wrong Job?

Here are some questions that will help you know that it’s time to consider a job search.

  1. Is every day a crisis?
  2. Do you feel burned out and can no longer do your job?
  3. Is the culture toxic?
  4. Have you outgrown your job and cannot get greater responsibility?
  5. Is your company in financial or performance trouble?
  6. Does your company fire people unexpectedly and seemingly without cause?
  7. Is your commute too far or too expensive?
  8. Are underpaid?

Are Your Problems Temporary?

Notice that in the last paragraph that I said “consider a job search.”

Some of these problems can change over time.   If you spend the time making your current job better instead of spending that time on a job search, you may find staying in your current job helps you several ways.

Here are some ideas on ways to improve you working conditions.

  1. Take more breaks.
  2. Do not work during coffee breaks or lunch.
  3. Leave your work at your workplace.
  4. Do not work around the clock or seven days a week.
  5. Take vacations.
  6. Learn methods to relieve stress and develop a positive attitude.
  7. Ask for a pay raise.
  8. Avoid toxic people.

Job Search Timing and Risk

There are risks of going to a new workplace.

First, you may find that the problems at one workplace exist at the next work place.  You are only moving from one rut to another rut.  Changing jobs in this case would be a huge mistake, especially if you are walking away from accumulated benefits and tenure.

Second, you may find that the new job solves one problem but brings on other problems.  For example, you leave your current job and get more money.  However, you find that the culture or workload are a disaster.

Third, the offer that you negotiate may be an increase.  However, you find that there are hidden expenses at your new job.

  • Commuting costs
  • Clothing costs
  • Insurance Costs
  • Increased taxes
  • Lost vacation
  • Unrealistic bonus expectations

Is Your Job Search Timing the Best for You Mentally and Financially?

A job search is certainly a lot of work. It takes planning, time, effort, and money.   There are risks of losing your current job while you are looking for a new job. Furthermore, a job search is a numbers game.  Contacting more people will increase the likelihood that you get a job.  However, as more people who learn that you are in a job search, you will increase the risk of your employer learning that you are looking around.

These factors are stressful.  You must ask yourself if you are in a position to conduct a job search.

Do You Even Want a New Job?

Starting a new job is full of changes.

For example, you will meet new people and must build new relationships.  Second, you may find the new culture is a complete shock.  Furthermore, you may find that your current skills don’t align as well as you had hoped in your new job.  Additionally, you will have a new boss to impress and to understand.

Conclusion

With job search timing, you increase your success in landing the job you deserve.  Before you launch a job search, look at all the factors to decide whether the timing is the best for your efforts to find a new job.

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