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Inside Out
Business Edition
"You can't change the direction of the wind. . .
but you can adjust your sails!"
--Jimmy Dean
Kim Olver, MS, NCC, LPC
www.Coachingforexcellence.biz
Kim@Coachingforexcellence.biz |
To read our blog click here or go to www.coachingforexcellence.biz and click on "Blog" on the left hand navigation bar.
Read some of Kim's musings and add some of your own!
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May 19, 2011-- Volume 7, Issue 1 |
A Message from Kim |
Hi Everyone,
I hope everyone in the Northern Hemisphere is at least beginning to enjoy some spring weather. I know it's been slow in coming to Chicago and I've been so pleased with a few warm days!
On a personal note, I became a grandmother for the first time a few weeks ago and am anxious to get my hands on that baby! By Sunday, I should be holding my grandson in my arms and I can't wait!
This issue is about teamwork and leadership. It is up to the leader to create an environment where teamwork can flourish so if you are a leader, either by position or influence at work, home or in the community, then you can benefit from this issue.
Some highlights this month include our early bird specials for the Reality Therapy/Choice Theory Training scheduled July 18-21, 2011. Also an Inside Out Coaching Level 1 Training is running concurrently. Please join us. You will learn how to take more effective control of your people, your clients, and your life by focusing on the things you can change and developing acceptance for the things you can't. You can create less stress, be happier and more effective in your influence of others. And it will be fun!
Free Your Mind, Open Your Heart &
Transform Your Life!
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In This Issue |
Feature Article
Ten Essential Qualities of Great Leaders
Upcoming Events
Upcoming Basic Intensive Training in Choice Theory/Reality Therapy
Quote of the Month
"In organizations, real power and energy are generated through relationships...
Book Review
Go Team! Take Your Team to the Next Level
Tip of the Month
Business Q&A
Products & Services
About Kim Olver |
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Ten Essential Qualities of Great Leaders
by Kim Olver
Have you ever noticed how some people are better leaders than others? There are some leaders you wouldn't want to follow to the water cooler and some you would follow into hell and back. What is it that makes the difference? Do you have what it takes to be a great leader?
Great Leaders:
- Have the ability to articulate a clear and compelling vision. Great leaders need to have the ability to lead their people into the future. It is difficult for employees to follow a leader anywhere without knowing where they are going and the destination must be appealing. Great leaders know how to communicate their vision in a way that compels their people to follow.
- Demonstrate genuine care and concern for one's employees. Great leaders are genuinely concerned about their employees. They care about what is happening in their lives. They know what is important to them. They match their supervision style with the needs and preferences of their employees. They are fair and equitable, engendering trust.
- Communicate openly and honestly, being transparent with their intentions and motives. Great leaders do not have secrets they keep from their employees. Great leaders understand that their people require full disclosure to be able to do their jobs to the best of their ability. Whenever secrets are kept in the workplace, rumors start and trust diminishes. The atmosphere becomes adversarial between those who have the information and those who don't.
- Show people, rather than tell them, what needs to be done. Great leaders can do the jobs of the people they supervise. They can show workers how to do what they want instead of just telling them. Great leaders model what is expected. They talk the talk AND walk the walk.
- Listen to suggestions made by their people. Great leaders understand that the people who are actually in the trenches doing the work have a better handle on the day-to-day things. Their thoughts and opinions matter and are often right on. Great leaders implement suggestions of their people whenever possible and when it's not possible, they provide a reasonable explanation as to why implementation is not possible.
- Recognize and appreciate quality work. Great leaders are always on the look out for employees who go above and beyond expectations. They provide their people with opportunities for success. They notice and take the time to appreciate team members who are doing excellent work.
- Possess an ability to empower workers to unleash their creativity. Nothing kills creativity more than micromanagement. A great leaders understands workers need to feel safe, trust their leader and enjoy their freedom to be able to engage their creativity. When workers are happy, know they are appreciated, and feel connected to their work, their co-workers, and the mission and vision of the company, they will produce quality work.
- Foster teamwork, cooperation and collegiality among their people. Great leaders know how to set clear expectations and boundaries but then get out of the way and allow workers the freedom to do their work. They recognize tension and difficulties between employees and work to facilitate negotiation and cooperation. They discourage gossip and forbid any type of discrimination and/or oppression in the environment.
- Confront problems head on. There will be difficulties between and with employees that will need to be dealt with. Great leaders do not shy away from or avoid conflict. They understand effective problem resolution strengthens the team and they make sure it happens swiftly.
- Seek to alter the system rather than blaming individuals when there are problems. When one or two people in the organization have a difficulty with something, great leaders recognize it as an individual issue. However, when the majority of people have the same issue, leaders stop looking at individuals and instead, examine the flaws in the system that are creating the problem. Great leaders team up with their employees against the problem. They don’t try to make people the problem. It isn’t true and it won’t work.
What kind of leader are you? Where are your strengths? What can you improve? Where do you want to start?
Copyright © May 2011 Kim Olver. All rights reserved.
Kim Olver is a life, relationship, executive coach and the Executive Director-in-Training of the William Glasser Institute. Her new and exciting InsideOut Coaching program is based on Choice Theory®, the legendary work of Dr. William Glasser, which tells us that we have the power to affect change in our lives regardless of our circumstances and we bear personal responsibility for the choices we make. For more information, go to http://www.coachingforexcellence.biz/coachingschool.shtml
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Upcoming Events |
Inside Out Empowerment Mastermind Group
Second Tuesday of Every Month
Next Teleconference: June 14, 2011
The Inside Out Empowerment Mastermind Group is not a typical teleconference. This is an actual mastermind group. Members participate equally -- both giving to others and receiving suggestions for their own challenges and opportunities.
Click on the link to learn more about IOE and how it can help you to open your heart, free your mind
and transform your life.
InsideOut Coaching Basic Training (Level 1)
July 18-21, 2011
There are three instruction levels to InsideOut Coaching and two independent study periods.
Level One (33 hours) - Level One consists of four consecutive training days totally 27 hours. During this training, you will learn the theory behind InsideOut Empowerment, based on Dr. William Glasser's Choice Theory. You will learn powerful coaching questions to help individuals do the self-evaluation necessary to accomplish their goals. Discover ways to recognize and move beyond self-sabotage. Learn techniques for working with non-voluntary clients. After this four-day training, you will return for six hours of instruction and the development of your independent study program. You tailor make your independent study based on what you most want to learn and focus on, in conjunction with the guidance of an InsideOut Instructor.
Upcoming Basic Intensive Training in
Choice Theory & Reality Therapy
July 18-21, 2011- Chicago, IL
The Basic Intensive Training is a 4 day workshop where you will be exposed to some highly innovative ideas of Dr. William Glasser. You will learn the new psychology of personal freedom called Choice Theory. There is application in this workshop for teachers, school administrators, counselors, therapists, social workers, business managers, clergy, nurses, parents, and anyone interested in improving the quality of their life. You will learn how to empower yourself by distinguishing between those things you can control and those you can’t and focus your energy on those you can. There is practical advice about how to improve the important relationships in your life and how to become the person you want to be. This workshop helps you become more effective in counseling and teaching others, particularly those who may not even know they need your help—non-voluntary clients and less than enthusiastic students. The group size is kept small enough that you will receive individual attention and have plenty of time to have your questions answered.
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Quote of the Month |
"In organizations, real power and energy are generated through relationships. The patterns of relationships and the capacities to form them are more important than tasks, functions, roles, and positions."
-Margaret Wheatley |
Book Review |
Go Team! Take Your Team to the Next Level
by Ken Blanchard, Alan Randolph, and Peter Grazier
This book is a must for anyone working in today's workplace with X, Y and Z Generations. Teamwork no longer means the "boss" assigns work to individuals and expects them to work together as a team. In today's work culture, creating team is about empowering employees to actually make the decisions necessary to facilitate that teamwork and accomplish their goals.
A well-functioning team works better on innovation, product development, and problem solving than individuals alone. There is a collective wisdom with teams that no one person can get on his or her own.
What do teams need to do the job? They need information, clearly defined boundaries, standards of excellence and operating procedures. Provide those things and get out of the way! Provide feedback, adjustment and support as needed but if the groundwork has been laid properly and you trust your employees to handle the project, then they will meet, and possibly exceed, your expectations.
Click here to purchase this book |
Tip of the Month |
Remember when attempting to establish teamwork among your people, it is important to express your confidence in them and their abilities, to provide them with enough authority to accomplish the end goal, and to support them through the process without any micromanagement. You want to let the group know what you want, give them the information and resources they need to do it, together develop the expectations of quality, and get out of their way! You define the what and allow them to determine the how. This is not just a group assembled to complete tasks. This really is a project team, with full authority to accomplish their goals. Watch what will happen when you give people what they need and unleash them. It's spectacular! |
Business Q&A |
Question: I have been on many teams and I end up doing all the work! I hate teams. I just want someone to tell me what my assignments are and I'll do my work myself. I don't need any help and I certainly don't want to do everyone else's work for them.
Answer: I can understand your frustration. I have also been involved in nonproductive teams and it was a horrible experience. The major difference is that when I had similar experiences, the teams were assembled more as work groups. There were a variety of tasks to complete but we had no real ownership or authority. We were simply told what to do by our managers and sent out to accomplish what was requested.
The "next level teams" that the authors are talking about in Go Team! are actually giving decision making authority to accomplish the desired outcomes. Team members have ownership in the outcomes. They are given a challenge or opportunity and empowered to go for it! They have the information and resources they need. The team determines how they will accomplish the goals. Each member is valued for his or her unique contributions. Differences are appreciated and valued instead of criticized. People are held accountable for their contributions. The team's peak performance occurs when its members push each other to excel at their highest level. Why would they do that? Because of the groundwork that has been laid by management. People are invested in the outcomes. See if you can create a "next level team" at your place of employment and let me know what happens! |
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