It’s no surprise to hear that Mark Bretton, Vice President, Head of BPO UK & Europe for Tata Consultancy Services, is happiest when he is at the top of his game. A force in the outsouricng space { and on the golf course}, Mark identifies himself with Churchill when it comes to leadership speeches, but deep down is a normal kinda bloke who looks after his team….

By: Niamh Byrne, Online Editor, Shared Services and Outsourcing Network (SSON),

Submit an article Happiest when he is at the top of his business, reckons he could compete with Churchill with leadership speeches remembered as a normal bloke who led from the front…

SSON: Who do you look up to in business and why?
Mark Bretton: I have worked with some bright entrepreneurial people (Allan Leighton, Adam Crozier for example) as well as some high profile politicians and military officers. It is hard to name one individual, but leaders who have made a difference to their teams always get my respect.

SSON: What has been your greatest achievement?
MB: I have been lucky in many ways. I have a beautiful family (wife and two teenage daughters). As a Territorial Army Officer, I was privileged to command the TA detachment at The Cenotaph for Remembrance Day and I have just finished being Centenary Captain at my golf club. Completing the restructuring of Royal Mail’s customer service business (73 sites to 9 with major process and technology change) without using a single external management consultant sits high on my business list.

SSON: What is your greatest regret?
MB: Not making a bigger external splash of the Royal Mail programme; it was probably one of the largest customer service transformations in that 10 year period.

SSON: If you could do it all over again, what would you do differently?
MB: Not send a couple of strong emails that came back to haunt me later! Other than that, not a lot. It is easy to review what you did with 20:20 hindsight, harder to be content with the decisions you made at the time. Certainly I could have followed a more financially lucrative path but who knows what I might have had to forego on the way.

SSON: What looks like the biggest potential for you right now?
MB: TCS is growing even more rapidly than before and it is now a world force in its chosen markets, exploiting this is a great opportunity.

SSON: What is your favorite occupation?
MB: Working with people and clients to make a difference. You can give it any title you like, but I do like being at the top of my business.

SSON: In 10 years time – how do you see your current operation being run?
MB: Not by me, time for some more golf and someone younger to take over, hopefully someone I’ve groomed.

SSON: Which management books do you read?
MB: To be honest, not many, but I have a signed copy of The Black Swan in my hand baggage yet to be opened…maybe this trip…

SSON: Who are your favorite writers?
MB: I read quite a few books by news journalists (John Simpson et al). They tell great stories of our time in wonderfully graphic prose.

SSON: What car do you drive and what should you be driving?
MB: A Jaguar and a Jaguar!

SSON: What’s your favorite 10 minute dish that you cook yourself?
MB: I don’t cook much, but my daughters would say “Dad’s special mince”

SSON: Tell us a behavioral trait we should expect of you
MB: Strong sense of what is right, leadership by example always.

SSON: Reveal one weird thing we don’t know about you
MB: I am totally flat footed which for someone who spent 20 years in uniform is unexpected.

SSON: What one question would you put to your peers?
MB: How can we make our industry an even more fun place to work in (and that does not include killing email as an answer!)

SSON: Which historical figure do you most identify with?
MB: Thatcher for strength of purpose, Ballesteros for scrambling and Churchill for great leadership speeches.

SSON: If your job requires a lot of traveling – what is your favorite journey?
MB: To India, always. 26 trips and not counting.

SSON: What is the quality you most like in men?
MB: Gentlemanly conduct, politeness and respect for ladies

SSON: What is the quality you most like in women?
MB: Pride in personal appearance, chic and elegance, the ability to multi task in a wide range of activities that would put a man to shame.

SSON: What is your motto?
MB: To aspire wherever I have worked, to be remembered as a normal bloke who led from the front, looked after his team and did the right thing.

This interview was originally published on http://www.ssonetwork.com.

About the Author

Niamh Byrne hails from Ireland and has a degree in Media Studies, graduating from the University of Ulster, Coleraine, Co Antrim in Northern Ireland in 1997. Following a year and half working in advertising for Channel 5 in London and a stint of globe-trotting, Niamh completed a post-graduate diploma in journalism in Griffith College, Dublin in 2001. She went on to build a career in radio and television prodution – working on lifestyle, health, political and current affair programs, eventually producing a live television show for RTE television in Ireland. Since re-locating to London in 2007, Niamh has been working for SSON, beginning as a conference director producing events for SSON in the UK, Eastern Europe and the Nordic Region. So with a strong knowledge of the Shared Services and Outsourcing market, she has married this expeience with her journalist skills to become online Editor of SSON

As we often try to find ourselves within our realm of existence in the workplace, in our community or embellishing on our very own personal development agenda, we often times find ourselves quite lost. Viewing progress of others around us, one will at times seem to find the answer that appears so natural to leaders, why? I found as I have talked to people throughout my career that many flow around attempting to develop themselves without having the answers to the unknown. In my view from research I have conducted many leaders have failed to teach while they lead; the reason being lack of time and/or lack of knowledge on what and how to teach. Most leaders are implementers and enjoy the process of executing the vision as they are highly driven by reaching the paradigm of success. We are beginning to observe traces of change coming about in the field of management as some corporate CEO’s are interested in what is to come, how do we best prepare ourselves for the future? This is what I call millennium thinking.

The future leader must not only be prepared for the 21st century but rather for the millennium and not just be a specified executor of plans but rather the thinker of generalization leadership as our livelihood. As our efforts become more global the more we become more depended on one another and so therefore millennium and generalization leadership will take a seat in the front row, if I may. Therefore, we all must become more responsive to our very own responsibility of being held accountable for our own knowledge base, particularly about the unknown. Being great, being competent, being a leader and being a servant will require answering questions of the unknown. The key factor I am emphasizing is being able to identify when success has actually been bestowed upon you. You see success will never come if you don’t start asking some real soul searching questions. What specific characteristic are you searching for? What outcomes are you expected to achieve? The leaders of the future must work on addressing the issues that impede on the aspects of personal victory. And, always keep in mind that issues arise from the unknown. Leaders don’t teach what to expect in the 21st century or the millennium, but nothing should prevent you from asking the why’s on certain issue.

I will write more on what is meant about millennium thinking and generalization leadership, however for now I would like to focus on how is it leaders keep certain information sealed or just plain fail to teach leadership development. And though we all know that in the end we are going somewhere and most of us will continue searching for that something we must be careful of falling into the trap of confusion and frustration. This is why; in my view futuristic thinking is good, as it keeps the mental juices flowing and the desire for new and innovative ideals as goals on the “light on the hill”. Our ultimate destination is a fact and by nature; as I’ve mentioned before, I am an optimist and choose to write about the love of life and sway away from fatalistic perspectives of the ultimate (the end of life as we know it). Therefore it remains our responsibility to continue a respectful aggressive demeanor in extracting as much as possible information from leaders that will equip us with forming a knowledge base that will allow others to flourish, grow and become productive people of the world; in preparation for the millennium before us. Making decisions about our own destiny is not an easy task, it will require going through road blocks, a serious self evaluation, help from others, being at the right place at the right time and it will require a high level of drive to achieve greatness. And remember greatness comes in all forms one does not need to be a President of a country or a CEO of a major corporation but rather achieving and reaching your goals and objectives based on your agenda. Don’t wait for the leader that fails to teach you the ins and outs of leadership. Ask yourself what are the core elements you have failed to achieve and write them down and ask yourself why you haven’t reached such goals. At the end of the day, each day visit your list and review what work was done on it and take action on issues that are unresolved. Remember this is a practice that needs to be engrained in your new leadership modeling style.

About the Author

If you would like more from Dr. Richard C. Baiz, D.B.A. on Personal and Leadership Development and his Leadership Institute click on the the link provided: http://www.leadershipinstituteofsuccess.comDr. Baiz is a Doctorate in Business Administration. He is a College and Corporate Personal and Leadership Development Instructor and Coach.

Why in business do some people succeed, but many fail. Business survival is about doing what it takes! Despite the many leadership definitions, this article lists five simple things to consider.

Let’s start with the question “What is leadership?” What does it look like? How is it measured? The term ‘Leadership’ has been about for years and people say ‘Mr Smith shows real leadership qualities!’ But why do people say this? What does actually mean?

There are lots of books on leadership, yet there are so few leaders. A definition of leadership is:

‘leadership has the power to rewrite the future of a group or organisation. The results of such efforts leads to remarkable successes with the right focus. Leaders act as catalysts as people around a leader has a sense of feeling they did the work themselves’.

Becoming a leader is no small task. Apparently, the experts are now disputing what leadership really is.

A single definition is missing. However, we do class some people as leaders. What is this based on? We use words to describe leaders like persistent, committed, integrity etc.

In any business, whether in a large corporate business, a small brick and mortar business or those building a business based on Ideas Working From Home, staying the course can be very difficult. To survive, in business you must become a leader. Despite there being no single agreement what leadership is, here is a list of leadership qualities – 5 things that make up a leader.

1. Daily visualisation and meditation of your goals. This can be seen as your quiet time. To address your why – your vision. The very reason why you are doing what you are doing. The sense of purpose. Your drive and determination.

2. Income producing activities. Are you moving forward in your business – planting the seeds! Every day counts. You need to stay focused and accomplish results by staying committed.

3. Personal development. Are you investing in yourself to help you move forward in your business? This may be a case that if you want something you never had then you need to do something you have never done. Never stop being teachable as you will need to grow and develop.

4. Mastermind with other leaders. Surround yourself with people you aspire to. They say that your success can be based on your 10 closest friends. Follow and educate yourself on leadership knowledge – reads books. Connect with what leaders do and follow their lead.

5. Cultivating expectation of leadership. You need to be playing from the top. It is not about if I had this or if I had that then everything will work. It does not work this way. You have to do what it takes. You need to find a way and not make or find excuses. Are you really committed!

A leader has a goal, is inspired to do what it takes and is hungry for results. Leaders put in the work, don’t put off until tomorrow what could be done today – making every day count. Excuses do not exist e.g. I don’t have the time, I don’t have the money etc.

So how do you become a leader and do what it takes to meet your goal?

‘If you want to change your life, then you need to change what you do on a daily basis’

Begin with the end in mind. Don’t fight for the victory, fight from the victory.

Take action today!

A leader is strong in three areas:
1. Strength of self mastering
2. Strength of action
3. Strength of relationship

Remember you are accountable for your actions. You really need to do what it takes. Provided you put in the work and effort then there should be no reason why you should not be successful in your business. Mastering leadership is one of the key steps to starting a small business.

My name is Gary Oakes and as a business coach, not only am I helping people to market their businesses effectively on the internet, but encouraging people to start. I’m a believer that people can find a way to build a small business in their own time, to think positive and aim for a vision and dream. We all have ideas and the ability to take control of our lives. I’m giving away free material to help one get started in any small business looking to market on the internet. Follow some really simple techniques. Start your journey by following the link to Ideas Working From Home.

It does not cost you anything to take a look, and you never know this might be the very thing you are looking for. I would be glad of any feedback and will answer questions with integrity and honesty.

About the Author

I’m one of many jumping in on opportunities to find ways of working from home. I’m already establishing a business and this is being achieved by following an exciting and well pulled together internet marking system that will take anyone’s business to great heights and this is only the start of things to come. The great news is that I’m sharing what I consider to be the fundamentals to building a small business, whether at home or through brick and mortar. By the way, the information is free so take advantage of it today.

The online encyclopedic authority, Wikipedia defines Coaching as “the activity of a coach in developing the abilities of a coachee. Coaching tends to focus on an existing issue (from which to move away) or a specific outcome that the individual wishes to achieve (move towards).”

Coaching and Mentoring have been doing rounds in the corporate circles for quite some time now. Yet, many people think it’s nothing but business jargon. Commonly most people relate coaching to sports, which is also logical because that is the origin of the concept. But there is a very important distinction between a sports coach and a management coach.

A sports coach is essentially an expert in that particular sport. You’ll never see a chess champion coaching a baseball team because the coach is expected to develop skills of the players based on his/her own experience and advice.

On the contrary, a business coach is more of a facilitator who also very often doesn’t know the right way to do things and is seldom an expert in the field. The role of a business coach is to help the coachee in his/her journey of self discovery and problem solving. The coach asks open ended but not leading questions, which force the coachee to think and explore new avenues.

A business coach is very often a trained professional but it is not uncommon to find a coach who operates based on his/her experience. Irrespective of the background, a sound understanding of Human Psychology forms the basis of effective coaching in companies.

If you are considering hiring a coach, beware, it is a costly affair. If chosen wisely a coach can work wonders in your company. But it is extremely difficult to quantify the results of coaching. Hence, carry out a proper market research and reference check of a coach before hiring him/her.

About the Author

Read more to understand this field further. After all, Management Coaching is a vast field with numerous opportunities.

Neha is an Industrial Psychologist and a freelance corporate trainer. She also authors articles to on Job and Training related topics to help professionals. You can read more and find other resources on her website The Smart Trainer

* Worked with the Maharashtra Government to establish Force One, Mumbai’s own NSG-styled commando battalion

* Wrested Rs.1,200 crore central funding – the highest in the country – for re-laying Mumbai’s decaying storm water networkN

* Worked in parliament to establish the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM), with the aim of providing central assistance towards urban renewal projects across Indian cities, of which Mumbai and Maharashtra are the biggest beneficiaries

* Initiated the Beautification of Marine Drive and Gateway of India promenades

* Secured funds for upgrading major hospitals: Rs.120 crore from the Union and Maharashtra Governments for J.J. Hospital; Rs.30 crore for Cama and G.T. Hospitals from the Union Government

* Coordinated between various government agencies and the private sector to ensure that the Bandra-Worli Sea Link, Mumbai Metro and Trans-Harbour Sea Link projects become a reality

* Sourced additional funds from Union and Maharashtra Governments for the Mumbai Urban Transportation Project/Mumbai Urban Infrastructure Project (MUTP/MUIP) Rail/Road components

* Pressed Mahanagar Gas Ltd. to extend its network of piped natural gas to cover South Mumbai homes

* Secured the Union Government’s research-related grant of Rs.100 crore for Mumbai University

* Staunchly opposed corruption in the BMC (e.g. the Mayor’s proposal that meant virtually ‘gifting’ away the landmark Crawford Market to a builder)

* Launched the debate on converting 600-acres of mill lands into open spaces and affordable/low-cost housing

* Provided Member of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS) funds to various housing societies such as the Cuffe Parade Resident’s Association and Altamount Road Resident’s Association, towards their beautification

* Determinedly promoted student activism and youth affairs through SPARSH, an NGO providing free computer education to economically underprivileged primary and secondary students of over hundred schools in Mumbai, and SIGMA (Stimulating Inspiration Guidance and Mentorship Association), connecting industry with academia; by helping upgrade educational infrastructure using MPLADS funds – e.g. setting up a brand new audio-visual (A/V) lab for the students of Wilson College, Chowpatty

Log on http://www.milinddeora.com for more details!!

About the Author

I am a Mumbai writer!!!

Meetings, in most corners, don`t have the best of reputations.

I often hear people say, “I`ve got to go to a meeting,” but I don`t think I`ve ever heard someone say, “I get to go to a meeting.”

Why?

Too many meetings with too few results; often rehashing or revisiting issues and actions that haven`t been done at previous meetings. And, as people sit there all they can think is that this is a complete waste and/or that they could be doing something else (anything else) with their time.

Meetings are a complex affair, especially as the number of attendees grows. This is one reason why the frustrations are so high, and the results so dismal, for most meetings.

But it doesn`t have to be that way.

Here are four tools to improve your meetings. Each can improve your meetings in a variety of ways, but at the core, the real root cause for the improvement is that each of these tools puts more accountability into meetings.

Create Clear Desired Outcomes

Why are you having a meeting?

If you can`t clearly describe what the meeting is meant to accomplish, how can you possibly achieve anything? Before checking the calendar to schedule a meeting, make sure you have clearly defined statements of what you want to achieve.

These clearly stated objectives – written so that everyone knows when they have been achieved, without any room for interpretation – form the basis for the meeting. They also give you a fighting chance of creating mutual accountability for achieving these objectives.

Invite the Right People

One reason meetings are ineffective is that often participants don`t know why they are even there. It`s hard to be accountable for your behaviors or results when you don`t know what your role is. Determining the right people to attend your meeting is seemingly obvious, but it`s too often an overlooked (or overbooked) task.

Start with your desired outcomes and a blank sheet of paper. Look at the desired outcomes and ask who must participate, who`s input or buy-in is required, and plan to invite only those people.

That`s the first step, determining the right people. The second, equally important step, is actually inviting them.

In the best case this is more than a group email, but rather a quick comment or conversation with each person as to why he or she is important to the success of the meeting.

Would you be more committed to a meeting that you were invited to with clear reasoning about why you`ve been asked to participate (as opposed to getting another electronic meeting request)?

My point exactly.

Send An Agenda Ahead of Time

I`ve taught this idea to thousands of people. Everyone says they know they should have agendas, but generally people say that less than half of the meetings they attend have them. And often less than half of those are agendas sent out beforehand.

If you want people to even have a chance to be prepared for the meeting, they need to know what is going to happen and the expectation of what is to be achieved. An agenda with your desired outcomes listed will achieve both of those goals.

Ever been to a meeting unprepared or attended meetings where others were? While pre-sent agendas won`t assure this never happens again, they will change the dynamics of the situation.

Peer pressure and expectations change when people have had every opportunity to be prepared. Agendas, sent before the meeting, give everyone that opportunity.

Use Action Items Correctly

Notice that the first three suggestions all happen before the meeting even begins. So, if you were waiting for an in-meeting tool – here it is – and it`s huge.

Have you ever been to a meeting where decisions are made and actions identified, but at the start of the next meeting, and the next (and maybe the next), nothing has actually happened?

Using action items correctly is a huge step to solving this, and getting more done with greater accountability. Here is the best practice in short:

1. Capture every action determined during the meeting.
2. Don`t adjourn the meeting until each action has an owner and agreed to date.
3. Start each successive meeting with a brief review of action item status.

When you know you have an action item, and you know it will be highlighted and you will be held accountable for progress/completion at the next meeting, does it improve the likelihood you make progress?

See what I mean?

Of course each of these ideas could be further explained and refined, but this overview gives you four important, easy to apply and extremely powerful ways to build accountability for the success of all your meetings.

When applied within your organization, maybe you won`t say, “I get to go to that meeting,” but hopefully you will at least know the time will be productively spent.

Remarkable Leaders know improving the effectiveness of meetings is a skill with great leverage for improving organizational performance. Improving accountability is just one skill to be learned in The Remarkable Leadership Learning System – a one skill at a time, one month at a time approach to becoming a more confident and successful leader. You can get two months of that unique system for free as part of our Most Remarkable Free Leadership Gift Ever today at http://MostRemarkableFreeLeadershipGiftEver.com to become the leader you were born to be.

About the Author

Kevin is an author, speaker, trainer, consultant and the Chief Potential Officer of The Kevin Eikenberry Group (http://www.KevinEikenberry.com), a learning consulting company that helps organizations, teams and individuals unleash their leadership potential.

When working with business owners and leaders, I am constantly being reminded of the stress they are currently enduring in this difficult economy. Most have had to make difficult decisions for the long term health of their company and more importantly the employees of the company.

More often than not the decisions made include the release of good employees, and cutbacks in salaries, wages and benefits. The people remaining are faced with more work than before and often less compensation for their efforts.

Leaders are well aware of the impact this has on morale and productivity. And if they are a business owner, the impact on them is huge. As a business owner, their personal finances are severely impacted by the financial health of the business. They also feel personally responsible for their employees who they have had to let go as well as those who remain.

Recently, I was meeting with a business owner who shared with me a recent conversation he had with some of his employees. Although he had not had to release any employees, business had started to become tight and he had made some cutbacks in overhead expenses. He decided to take some key employees out to lunch as a way of expressing his gratitude for their contributions. During lunch the employees shared their observations of him over the last several months. He was shocked to hear that he had been demonstrating a number of behaviors that lead the employees to believe that he was stressed out.

The good thing was that the employees felt comfortable enough to share their concerns with him. He had obviously created a safe environment for his employees. I then asked him “what was the message he got from this conversation?” His immediate response, I need to be a better leader!

We then explored what being a better leader would look like and how he could start to move towards his ultimate goal. He identified options and resources available to him and committed to some next steps with a specific time line.

This story is just one of many about leaders who are having difficulty handling the stress today. Many don’t realize how they are presenting themselves to their employees and the impact that their transparent emotions and negative behaviors have on their employees.

Here are some reminders to maintain a persona of strength with your employees and team members during these very extremely challenging times:

1. Take care of yourself. Exercise, good nutrition, 7-8 hours of sleep, and time for yourself are important to keep your energy up and emotions in check.

2. Focus on the recovery plan and communicate the details of the plan in a positive and encouraging tone.

3. When communicating bad news, again focus on the plan to turn the situation around.

4. Practice with a trusted advisor before important communications.

5. Encourage others around you to be part of the plan and success; don’t take it all on yourself!

6. Celebrate success! Visibly recognize employees who contributed to the success and this doesn’t have to cost money.

Remember that your employees and team members take their cues from you. The behavior your model will be picked up and replicated. Positive cues and behaviors can be contagious and important to navigate your company through these rough times.

About the Author

Beth Armknecht Miller, of Atlanta, Georgia, is Founder and President of Executive Velocity, a leadership development coaching firm accelerating the leadership success of CEOs and business leaders. She is also Chair to two Vistage groups. She is certified in Myers Briggs and Hogan leadership assessment tools and is a Certified Managerial Coach by Kennesaw State University. Visit http://www.executive-velocity.com or http://executivevelocityblog.com

In case you haven’t got a good leadership definition, leading means:

* Forming a team from individuals and supporting it

* Aligning the team towards justifiable goals and achieving this goals

* Developing the individual team members

* And do all of this in a professional way concerning content, method and social interactions

When one found himself with a team to lead and a goal to be achieved, the very first questions that need to be asked is if the team is the adequate to reach the goal, which means to review the different team profiles and make the necessary decisions. Doing that exercise will mean that we are forming our team. Once we reviewed it we’ll make the changes required, if external circumstances don’t allow us to perform the changes we’ll focus on identifying why our team is not appropriate and start working on modifying what we recognized as not appropriate.

At the finish of this phase we’ll have a team, our team; the second, and not always so easy part, we’ll be to support them. Supporting has two different meanings; it means to remove the barriers that could prevent them to progress toward the goals but it also means to be the visible head when problems arise, and they will arise.

Aligning the team is key, a leader has to keep constant attention on keeping the team focused and make sure the different team members are having the same or a complimentary goal.

Development of team members is often left behind, normally because of the goals have to be reached and time is limited, so spending time on development does not look as a good thing to do. Big mistake, time invested on personal development will always pay off very, very quickly.

Last but not least, a good leader has always to be a role model for his team; they have to recognize on the leader the methods and professionalism that they’ll need to apply to come to the end point: achieving the goal.

Let’s take a look at a different aspect of the challenge: leadership styles. There are different leading styles; the main challenge of any team leader is to recognize which style is the optimal at certain point in time or for certain challenge and apply it accordingly, those leadership styles goes from the authoritarian to the democratic passing by patriarchal, informing, consulting, cooperative and participative:

* Authoritarian: Manager decides and communicates decisions.

* Patriarchal: Manager sells the decision.

* Informing: Manager presents decisions and asks for ideas.

* Consulting: Manger presents problems, respect input for ideas and decides.

* Participative: Manager defines boundaries and asks group for a decision

* Democratic: Manager delegates decision to staff within certain limits.

The decision on which style is the optimal has to be based on the need of leader authority that the situation requires, when the decision and mandate is clear so there are a very clear and established process to follow the authoritarian will be the best, when autonomy of staff is the most important value to reach the goal the democratic model will be indicated.

Knowing the definition of leadership and the basics of the different leading styles is the basis for any good leader, the difference between a bad and a good one is recognizing what is missing on his team and focusing his priorities in filling the gap of what is missing to lead in the appropriate way.

About the Author

Roberto Llera is the founder of advancepod.com, a social network devoted to help people achieve their goals and overcome obstacles.
Check it out at http://www.advancepod.com/magazine, we are opening soon and you can become an important part of the project. Suggestions and comments more than welcome

Joni showed up at her boss Bob`s office more frustrated than he`d ever seen her. Joni was a relatively new supervisor and had been developing well – but on this day, she seemed, well, different.

When Bob asked what was wrong her frustration came out immediately.

“What do you do when people don`t want to change,” she asked hopefully but almost rhetorically. Bob smiled and asked her to explain.

“You know the new system we are implementing?” she said. “Well, after this long change process it seems like most everyone is finally on-board, except for two people (she went on without naming names). I can`t figure out what their deal is, and it is frustrating!”

I`m guessing you likely have been both Joni and Bob at some point in your career – and probably one of those unnamed employees as well! So, as a leader, what do you do when people don`t want to change?

Here are seven action steps to consider:

1. Understand the source of the reluctance. People have a reason – rational or emotional (or likely a combination of the two) – why they don`t want to make a particular change. The first mistake leaders make is assuming you know why. Even if your people have shared their reasons in the past, it is important to ask them about their concerns and reservations this time. Do this in as authentic and non-threatening way as you can. Your goal it to truly understand what they are thinking and feeling about the change. (In order to do that you must…)

2. Shut up and listen. Your goal isn`t to convince them or influence them at this point. Your goal is only to listen to their responses. Respond only with follow-up questions designed to truly understand where they are in regards to the change.

3. Determine the real level of resistance. After asking and listening to them you will have a better understanding of how big a deal this is – for them, for you and for the change effort overall. Recognize that doing this may, in itself, be tremendously valuable. Also, the chance to describe thoughts and feelings often helps the resisters understand their feelings better themselves. Be willing to ask exactly how big of a deal this change, and their resistance, is.

4. Acknowledge how they feel. People appreciate being heard in a nonjudgmental way – it happens so rarely. People need to be acknowledged for their opinion. Notice I didn`t say “agree with them.” Sometimes you can move past their concerns by “agreeing to disagree.” And sometimes, once they have been heard they are often ready to move on with the change, even if it isn`t what they would have done had they had the choice.

5. Get others to help influence. If the resister still needs help being influenced to change, you may not be the right or best person. Maybe you don`t have a communication style match. Maybe they don`t want to hear from their supervisor. Maybe the stars are out of alignment. Whatever the reason, encourage them to talk to their peers or others who are on board who might be able to relate the benefits of the change more successfully than you.

6. Determine your next steps. This is contextual to the change itself. Perhaps the reluctance isn`t a show stopper. Perhaps they are whining about the change but doing the new procedure. Or perhaps they are a major road block. Whatever the situation, recognize that while we need to be patient with people (not everyone will come on board with any change at the same time); at some point their resistance or reluctance is a performance issue. When the situation is a performance issue, use your coaching skills as appropriate and necessary.

7. Let it go. If the issue is small or is more of an irritant to you than a roadblock to the change, let it go. If the performance-issue coaching doesn`t work and the person is still resistant, take the necessary disciplinary actions. The reality in many situations not everyone will like or want to work under the changed scenario. If you have a large enough group, there will always be someone whose mind won`t change. At that point you must be willing to let them go, and not blame yourself.

Use these steps as a framework to help you answer the always challenging, “What do I do when people don`t want to change?” Use them yourself, or when you are coaching other leaders to hopefully make this challenge less of a concern in the future.

Leaders know change is a part of their job description – they must both understand it and lead it. That is why many of these leaders from around the world have made the Remarkable Leadership Learning System their choice as a one skill at a time, one month at a time approach to becoming a more confident and successful leader – with change – and everything else leadership throws at them. This system allows people to learn from other members and experts from a wide variety of fields and backgrounds – all designed to help them become more effective leaders. Get $748.25 worth of leadership development materials including two complimentary months of that unique system as part of Kevin Eikenberry’s Most Remarkable Free Leadership Gift Ever today at http://MostRemarkableFreeLeadershipGiftEver.com.

About the Author

Kevin is a bestselling author, speaker, trainer, consultant and the Chief Potential Officer of the Kevin Eikenberry Group (http://www.KevinEikenberry.com).

Did you know that group brainstorming as we call it today, has been around ever since the 1930s? For essentially the most part, it hasn’t modified too much in the past seventy-plus years, except in one respect: the occurrence of new ideation techniques.

Ideation techniques are, quite merely, novel thought-inducing workout routines designed to help groups overcome challenges in ways they may not in any other case consider. Some make it easier for groups to view points from recent views; others provide engaging processes to assist stimulate creativity, overcome shyness, facilitate collaboration, and much more.

In brief, ideation strategies make it achievable for groups to generate a greater breadth and depth of ideas (i.e., extra, higher ideas).

Anyone who takes even a number of moments to Google “ideation strategies” will learn that there are dozens, tons of them, around. Some are well-known and extensively documented; others are much less-so.

We lately performed a survey to determine simply how folks stand on ideation strategies-which of them they recognize, which of them they use in brainstorms, and what they think about them. The outcomes are interesting, if not fully surprising.

When prompted whether or not they imagine figuring out and utilizing different ideation strategies is vital to brainstorming, the answer was a convincing “Yes!”

However, when provided a list of accurately-recognized ideation techniques, just one had relatively broad understanding-Mind Mapping-followed by Edward de Bono’s Six Thinking Hats and the popularly-used S.W.O.T. Analysis. All others listed had less than 7% awareness.

And when questioned what different techniques (not listed within the survey) they used, greater than 54% of them listed no additional strategies in any case; and fewer than 10% listed greater than two.

You will need to note that this survey was performed among an audience that’s in all probability extra tuned-in to superior brainstorming and ideation methods than the everyday business person. And yet, it is evident that even amongst this group, a select few know, comprehend and use a range of ideation techniques.

Furthermore, this end result isn’t solely surprising. In our personal ongoing study, we discover that fewer than 10% of people in any industry (even creativity-centered companies like advertising and design) have had any training in any way of brainstorming and group ideation. Those that have usually know one or two ideation techniques, but nothing about brainstorming session process or facilitation skills.

And so it could seem that while we comprehend and acknowledge the value of having a library of ideation techniques at our disposal, few of us make an effort to identify and be taught those techniques.

At this stage of the “innovation financial system,” it’s bewildering that people and organizations still don’t recognize the significance of idea generation. Entrepreneurial success today requires steady reevaluation and reinvention of one’s business offerings. In former days organizations could thrive for decades on a single nice thought; right this moment they want an awesome concept every single year, and in some cases every single month or week.

Only by taking the focused initiative to coach oneself in a variety of ideation methods-and to supply education all through one’s group in efficient brainstorm management and facilitation-can any entity hope to flourish and thrive in the present day’s aggressive global business environment.

Innovation begins with ideas. No ideas, no innovation.

What number of amazing concepts did you and your workforce discover at the present time?

About the Author

SmartStorming (R) partners, Mitchell Rigie and Keith Harmeyer help organizations solve tough business challenges in new, more innovative ways than they ever imagined possible – with advanced brainstorm leadership training, creative brainstorming techniques , and a variety of proven tools organizations need to think more creatively, change behaviors and generate the kinds of ground-breaking ideas that drive innovation. To learn more about SmartStorming, visit their blog at SmartStorming-blog.com.