Leadership Qualities

Learn Effective Listening Skills

By Brandon W. Jones on March 13, 2013 4

Listening skills are extremely valuable in leadership. Some leaders learn to be good listeners at a young age while others spend many years learning to listen and still struggle. As a leader, you probably have many interactions with other leaders.

I am sure many of you have dealt with leaders that didn’t listen to anyone. You may have also seen leaders that only listened to the advice of their very close friends or immediate coworkers. In these situations, was it hard to deal with the leader? How did you manage to work together as a team? Leaders that fit this mold have not learned good listening skills.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZkSxn9ZKxfs]

The Importance of Listening Skills

As leaders, it is very important to learn listening skills. Listening effectively is far more than just hearing the words coming out of the mouths of others. When you have good listening skills, you fully engage with those you speak with. You not only hear the words people are saying, you pay complete attention to understand everything they are saying.

When you are a leader, there are three groups of people you are required to listen to regularly. They are your employees/subordinates, coworkers/equals, and the bosses/higher-ups. You will want to have enhanced listening skills when you listen to these three groups to be an effective leader. So why should you listen to each group? [Read more…] about Learn Effective Listening Skills

The Power Of Choices

By Brandon W. Jones on March 12, 2013 2

Do you understand the power of choices? Everyday brings new choices and challenges. You have to choose what to eat, what to wear, how to spend your time, what projects to work on, where you spend your money, who you spend your time with, etc. We have to make many choices everyday. Some of the choices are hard and others are easy. As a leader, it is important to make good choices. In this post I will share three important aspects of choices for you to consider to help you understand the power of choices.

[youtube=http://youtu.be/fZxset8fMrY]

Your power of choices as the leader

The power of choices is very evident as a leader. You make choices all the time that almost always effect someone else. Many times your choices have a major impact on those you lead. In addition, the choices you make, as a leader, directly effect the behavior of your followers. You set the example. As you make good choices, there is a good chance those you lead will follow suit and make good choices as well. At the same time, when you make bad choices you send a message to your followers that bad choices are okay. (Have you seen the companies in the news with multiple people making bad choices?)

Ultimately, you have the power of choices and with that, you can choose between three types of choices.

Good Choices. There are many choices that are good. Many of the good choices will help you move in the right direction in your life. They allow you to do good things that will help yourself and others.
Better Choices. However, even though there are many good choices, there are also better choices. The better choices come in disguise because they are a little harder to see right off the bat. The better choices help you reach your goals a little faster than the good choices. They help you to move in a right direction but at a quicker pace than the good choices.
Best Choices. In addition to the good and better choices, there are also the best choices. The best choices help you reach your goals the quickest. They can be looked at as the top level choices. As leaders, you should always seek the best choices.

How To Set SMART Goals

By Brandon W. Jones on March 8, 2013 4

I feel to invite everyone to rise to the great potential within you. I do not ask that you reach beyond your capacity, I hope you will not nag yourselves with thoughts of failure. I hope you will not try to set goals far beyond your capacity to achieve. I hope you will simply do what you can do in the best way you know. If you do so, you will witness miracles come to pass. ~ Gordon B. Hinckley

I really like the above quote. For goals to be worthwhile, they must be SMART goals. Each year I set SMART goals for myself and my employees. The SMART goals range from personal and team development goals to process improvement goals. When I set those goals, I make sure that they are not easy to accomplish. At the same time, they are not goals that are far beyond reach and/or unrealistic.

So, what are SMART Goals?

The word “SMART” in SMART goals is an acronym for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Timely. For a goal to be a SMART goal, it must meet the following criteria.

Specific Goals

It is very important to set very specific goals. It is easy to set a lofty, “up in the air” goal that cannot be understood. A goal that is not specific and “up in the air” is ambiguous and leads to confusion. An example of this type of goal would be to say, “We want to make the organization better this year.” How will you make the organization better? What changes will you make? How can you know if you reached your goal if you don’t know what your goal is?

Specific goals explain exactly what you want to do and how you are going to do it. In line with the goal mentioned above, what will you do to make the organization better? Will you increase profit by 20%? If so, how will you increase the profit by 20%? A specific goals would sound more like, “This year we will increase the profit by 20% by eliminating down time between shifts.” From there you would set specific subgoals that would break down how you would eliminate the down time. Each goal would be very specific. [Read more…] about How To Set SMART Goals

Advice For New Leaders

By Brandon W. Jones on March 6, 2013 10

I was recently asked, “What would you give as advice for new leaders?” To answer this question, I think you have to go back in time to when you were a new leader. As a new leader there are many things that go through your head. You may feel excited, overwhelmed, nervous, and/or a wide range of other emotions. These feelings are normal and expected.

As a new leader, you are in a position where you have a lot of control over things that you didn’t have control over in the past. Once you get over the initial range of emotions, it is time to get to work. So what is my advice for new leaders?

Three Pieces Of Advice For New Leaders

Change slowly at first

As a new leader, it is easy to get change fever. You will want to change the whole world by making sweeping changes ranging from how things are run to what people do. My advice for new leaders is that it is okay to make changes, but you need to do it slowly at first. Before you make sweeping changes, try to understand the existing processes.

What roles do people have? Who is responsible for what? Which processes are effective and which ones have been problems for years that people were too afraid to bring up? Once you understand how things are currently run, you will be able to identify how to best change things going forward. You can make changes that help the processes to move more smoothly. If you make sweeping changes without understanding the background and reasoning behind the existing processes, you may find yourself changing something that doesn’t need to be changed. [Read more…] about Advice For New Leaders

10 Lessons Learned From Leadership Examples

By Brandon W. Jones on March 4, 2013 6

Several great leaders in the form of teachers, athletic coaches, mentors, peers, youth group leaders, friends, and others have touched my life through their leadership examples. They’ve shaped me into the person I am today. They’ve told me when I was doing something wrong and encouraged me when I was going through a challenge. In addition, they’ve taught me correct principles to help me avoid mistakes. Of all the great leaders I’ve had, there have been two that have taught me more than anyone else.

My Leadership Examples

Those two great leadership examples are my parents. My dad and mom have been great leadership examples throughout my life. They’ve taught me many important leadership principles throughout my life. They both understand that they are leadership examples to me so they teach leadership principles whenever possible. Their leadership examples are very powerful. They’ve taught me the following ten lessons.

1. Lead By Example

My dad and mom taught me the importance of leading by example. As the leader, you can set the example for those you lead. When you lead a diverse group, you may not fully understand everything your employees work on, but you can still set an example when it comes to values.

2. Have Faith

As I mentioned in my previous post, my mom and dad have always taught me to have faith in God, other people, and myself. They taught me through words and by their leadership examples. As a leader, faith allows you to get things done that you never thought possible. [Read more…] about 10 Lessons Learned From Leadership Examples

Learn To Control Life

By Brandon W. Jones on March 2, 2013 3

When you are a leader, everyday brings a multitude of problems, challenges, and opportunities. Each comes from a variety of sources with different people involved. As you face the problems, challenges, and opportunities, think about how to control life. You must realize what is within your control and what is not. As a leader, it is very easy to want to control life completely to the point that you forget that you can’t control certain things. When you try to control the uncontrollable it only leads to stress, frustration, burnout, and disappointment. As a leader, you must truly think about and understand how to control life.

Do You Understand How To Control Life?

So, when do you control life and when does someone else control life? This question is very important when approaching each day. You should ask this question when you set your priorities and determine how to spend your time and money. It is very easy to get caught up trying to control things outside your control, but that creates unneeded stress.

When deciding how to control life, you must grasp the controlled and let go of the uncontrollable. How can you grasp the controlled? How can you let go of the uncontrollable? To control life you must understand what is controllable and what is not. [Read more…] about Learn To Control Life