Trust

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

This Week’s Top 5 Leadership Blog Posts – 6/22/2012

By Brandon W. Jones on June 22, 2012 0

As a leader, you probably have many leadership responsibilities. This week has been one of those weeks for me and it has been a challenging week to keep up on blogging. Because my time was so limited, I just decided to highlight some of the posts that I really enjoyed without taking the time to post my thoughts on each post.

Some of the posts that I am highlighting in this weeks top 5 leadership blog posts were about leadership relationships. As a leader, it is very important to work to maintain good relationships with those you lead. The relationships you make as a leader are very important because leaderships are, in many cases, far more important than the actual work you do.

I hope you enjoy my favorite posts from this week!

4 Essentials For Cultural Leadership By William Powell

It’s been said so many times, but it’s worth repeating, “Good leadership is more than getting tasks accomplished.” Quality leadership develops people. It builds people up, inspires confidence and makes a genuine, positive difference in everything it touches. One thing that leadership MUST do is influence, maintain and perpetuate culture.

Often times leaders get so focused on WHAT to do that HOW to do things becomes open for interpretation. Don’t misunderstand what I mean by this. It isn’t a license or call to micro-manage people or bureaucratically babysit them. It is a delicate balance – a dance if you will. People need their autonomy and enough freedom for the individuality to shine through. The line needs to be drawn where the desired expression of individuality begins to erode the desired culture and THAT is where cultural leadership must be effective. [Read more…] about This Week’s Top 5 Leadership Blog Posts – 6/22/2012

How To Lose The Trust Of Those You Lead

By Brandon W. Jones on May 14, 2012 2

Honesty gives you strength. When you are honest you have complete knowledge that everything you said was the truth. You can have a clear mind and feel confident that nothing you said or did will come back to haunt you.

When you are honest in every way, you are able to enjoy peace of mind and maintain self-respect. You build strength of character, which allows you to be of service to others. You are trustworthy in the eyes of those around you. ~Unknown Author

On the other hand, if you are dishonest in your words or actions, you will hurt yourself or those around you. You will lose the trust of your closest associates, and that trust will be hard if not impossible to regain.

Some forms of dishonesty include lying, cheating, and stealing. Three major consequences that come as a result of dishonesty are:

1. Loss of Self-worth

When you are dishonest, you will feel a loss in your sense of self-worth. When you are dishonest, you are telling yourself and the world that you are not good enough to do things the honest way. With each choice you make, you know what is honest and what is not. When you make dishonest choices, you are hurting yourself as well as others. Because you know yourself, you know the truth about everything you say and do. With each time you say something that is not true, you begin to lose your feelings of self-worth. [Read more…] about How To Lose The Trust Of Those You Lead

The Proof Is In The Pudding

By Brandon W. Jones on February 14, 2012 0

“The proof is in the pudding!” What does that saying mean to you? To me it means that your actions speak LOUDER than your words. As leaders, there are so many things you do on a daily basis with people watching you. You must always be aware of that fact. You set the example that everyone else will follow.

Proof From Example

Since you set the example, you must do all you can to set the right example. Several years ago I had a leader that was a nice person, but he set a very poor example. I had a weekly meeting with him and my coworkers. At each meeting he told everyone how important it was to provide good customer service.

Poor Example

He would also stress the importance of following all the other company rules. Once the meeting was over he would be the first to break those rules. He would show up late, fail to greet the customers quickly when they came in, or make some other mistake. It didn’t take long for everyone to lose trust in him as the leader.