The Sykes Group's OnPoint

“It is better to lead from behind and to put others in front, especially when you celebrate victory when nice things occur. You take the front line when there is danger. Then people will appreciate your leadership.” - Nelson Mandela

The following leadership article shares the secrets to becoming an effective leader:

Leadership Article: Eight Leadership Techniques for Outstanding Teams

By Ed Sykes

Apply the following eight leadership techniques to create highly motivated, self-directed, and extremely productive employees and teams:

1. Provide Clear Expectations - Winning organizations know where they are going and what is required to get there. Employees constantly need to know what they need to accomplish. Communicating expectations in a clear, concise manner is important. It’s also important to communicate your expectations on an individual, department, and organizational level. Continue communicating your expectations on an ongoing basis. Whether one-on-one, through memos, or in a team meeting, keep communicating your expectations.
2. Give Your Employees the Tools for Success - New computers are acquired, but no training is provided for the computers; or worse, the training doesn’t meet the need of the employees to be successful. The policies are not implemented or followed, so employees are hindered by barriers. Time and time again I hear from employees in my workshops that management doesn’t give them the necessary tools for success. Here’s the secret: Ask your employees what they need, and then give it to them.
3. Recognize Good Work - Take the time to recognize good work. Recognize employees for finding solutions, failing less, learning more, taking initiative, working with others, creating outstanding customer service solutions, sharing ideas; and the list goes on. You get the idea. Take time to give a sincere compliment for work well done and you, your organization, and your employees will reap the rewards.
4. Get Interested in Your Employees - Take the time to find out what interests your employees. Find out what their passions are in life. Is it their families? Is it a sport or hobby? Is it a vintage car or boat? Is it that they want to accomplish the next level in their education? Is it a career goal? Whatever it is, the great leaders take the time to find out how to help their employees accomplish their goals. Leaders know that by helping their employees succeed in life, the employees will have more passion about helping their leaders accomplish their goals. (Read the rest at Effective Leader)

Had a great time this weekend speaking at the District 66 Toastmasters conference. Friday night with a Social Media Bootcamp and Saturday morning about leadership. Great group of people focused on improving their leadership and communication skills.

Many people ask me why do I also speak about social media.  Well, social media is another powerful communication tool that leaders need to master to be more successful in their careers, their organizations, and in their lives.  I find that many leaders are “behind the curve” when it comes to communicating with social media.  They are losing an opportunity to reach their followers.

The following are two resources that can help you become a better communicator and leader:

Seven Leadership Secrets to Being the Outstanding Leader Everyone Wants to Follow

“Focus on the good today and make it great tomorrow. Focus on the challenges you had today and work to make them opportunities tomorrow!” - Ed Sykes

 Sometime the difference between long term success and failure is concentrating on what you did well today and making it great tomorrow and embracing your challenges and making them opportunities tomorrow.

“To think is easy. To act is difficult. To act as one thinks is the most difficult.” – Johann Wolfgang Von Goeth

Leadership Starts with Tough Decisions:  Five Leadership Skills for Outstanding Team Building

By Ed Sykes

Leadership starts with tough decisions.  Let me share with you my recent leadership challenge and the leadership secrets you can use in any team building situation for great leadership results.

I have the honor and pleasure of volunteering for many groups and causes.  In many situations, I am called upon to lead as chairperson or co-chairperson.  Recently, I had the honor of co-chairing an event that involved leading and motivating a team of volunteers to work together for a successful result.  Overall, the team volunteers are leaders in health care, education, business, media, the arts, and faith-based organizations, etc.  In other words, this team of volunteers consisted of very motivated and accomplished people who wanted to make a difference.

One committee member became increasingly negative in her communication and actions at the expense of the other committee members.  She behaved in a manner that was not in line with our overall mission.  After a coaching session agreeing on what was expected from her in relationship to our mission, her behavior became increasingly worse.  The final straw was a very negative e-mail that stated she was the only committee member who was doing anything and personally attacked the other committee members.

After consulting with the event organizers to gain agreement on a plan of action, I called this person to let her know that this was not acceptable behavior and invited her to meet with me to discuss how we could bring her behavior more in line with the mission of our project.  She rejected my invite, and I let her know that by not excepting my invite, she was no longer a participant in our event.  I followed up with an e-mail and letter reiterating my verbal statement.  She made the choice to “fire herself.”

As leader of the event, I made telephone calls to committee members to explain the committee change, let each committee member know the wonderful job they were doing, and shared with them where we were in relationship to our mission and goals.  While making these calls, I soon found out that some committee members were not as involved in the project because of the one negative committee member.   Some members had stopped attending meetings, stopped communicating, and weren’t giving 100% for the event.  After assuring them that they were valuable team members of the project and that this “negative member” would not be involved in the project’s going forward, we experienced a new level of motivation and participation that took our event to a new level of success and broke a record for attendance.

You may be in a similar leadership position whereby the success of the organization, project, or team depends on how well and how fast you make decisions when faced with challenging situations.  The following five leadership skills will keep you on the leadership track during challenging situations, no matter whether your organization is for profit or non-profit, so that you can achieve your goals:

1. Live the Mission When Making Leadership Decisions - Live the mission by constantly communicating the mission so that everyone of the team understands the mission and acts to live the mission.  Ask team members the following question, “What did you do today to live the mission and achieve the goals of the mission?”  Develop clear and concise team member descriptions so that everyone understands how they make a difference.  Motivate and reward team members based on how well they lived the mission.  (Read the rest of the article at Leadership Decisions)