{"id":20141,"date":"2010-08-14T01:28:12","date_gmt":"2010-08-14T00:28:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/?p=20141"},"modified":"2010-08-14T17:48:08","modified_gmt":"2010-08-14T16:48:08","slug":"improving-your-leadership-skills","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/improving-your-leadership-skills\/","title":{"rendered":"IMPROVING YOUR LEADERSHIP SKILLS"},"content":{"rendered":"<p align=\"center\"><script type=\"text\/javascript\">\/\/ <![CDATA[\n          google_ad_client = \"pub-7021221536180758\"; \/* 468x60, created 11\/11\/09 *\/ google_ad_slot = \"1949837292\"; google_ad_width = 468; google_ad_height = 60;\n\/\/ ]]><\/script><br \/>\n<script src=\"http:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/show_ads.js\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\n<\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<h6><span style=\"color: #00ccff;\">The following is by G. A . &#8220;Andy&#8221; Marken, President of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.markencom.com\/index.htm\" onclick=\"_gaq.push(['_trackEvent', 'outbound-article', 'http:\/\/www.markencom.com\/index.htm', 'Marken Communications']);\" ><span style=\"color: #00ccff;\">Marken Communications<\/span><\/a><span style=\"color: #00ccff;\"> Inc. He has kindly given us permission to republish his thought-provoking article. As with everything that we publish at AlienBabelTech, the opinions expressed are solely those of the individual writer and do not necessarily reflect the views and the <strong>opinions of the rest of the ABT staff.<\/strong><\/span><\/span><strong><span style=\"color: #00ccff;\"> <\/span><span style=\"color: #00ccff;\"><span style=\"color: #00ccff;\"> \u2013Mark Poppin,<\/span> <span style=\"color: #00ccff;\">ABT Senior Editor<\/span><\/span><\/strong> <strong> <\/strong><\/h6>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/Untitled-11.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-20142\" title=\"Untitled-1\" src=\"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/Untitled-11.jpg?resize=390%2C258\" alt=\"Untitled-1\" srcset=\"https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/Untitled-11.jpg 390w, https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/Untitled-11-300x198.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 390px) 100vw, 390px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong> <\/strong><\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><strong> <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>If you want to build loyalty for you and your organization, your products and your goals, you have to constantly refine your leadership talents.<\/p>\n<p>Whether you&#8217;re working at the retail, distribution or manufacturing level; the development of a successful team means you must bring forth the extra effort and support required today to compete in a tough, aggressive, ruthless market.<\/p>\n<p>Examining, evaluating, improving your skills is a tough, dirty job.<\/p>\n<p>For example, after three months of developing and discussing a special group of prospects in your best salesperson&#8217;s territory, they still haven&#8217;t been contacted&#8211;even though everyone agrees that the goal for the quarter is to expand new business.<\/p>\n<p>What do you do?<\/p>\n<p>More likely than not, you lay down the law &#8230;tell the salesperson that by the end of the week, you want all of those prospects contacted and a report on your desk.<\/p>\n<p>On Friday afternoon, your salesperson turns in his\/her report and has opened three new accounts.<\/p>\n<p>The job was done\u2026it was done on time.\u00a0 \u00a0But was it good leadership?<\/p>\n<p>Some will say yes, because sometimes the end justifies the means.<\/p>\n<p>Others would contend that it wasn&#8217;t good leadership because results were achieved in an undesirable manner.<\/p>\n<p>Successful leadership would have resulted in the salesperson wanting to do the job at hand to support the entire team, rather than being forced to do it.<\/p>\n<p>So is there a &#8220;right&#8221; kind of leadership?<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s not &#8220;right\u201d to take over responsibility that should properly be assumed by another member of your organization.\u00a0 When you do that, you lower his or her self-esteem.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s not &#8220;right&#8221; to issue edicts.\u00a0 The total scope of the program should be discussed with the individual involved.<\/p>\n<p>Forcing obedience is never right&#8211;it destroys initiative.\u00a0 But, as our example illustrated, there is no &#8220;best way&#8221; to handle leadership.<\/p>\n<p>There is no simple list of dos and don&#8217;ts to follow.\u00a0 Every individual and circumstance calls for a different type of leadership.<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/Untitled-21.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-20143\" title=\"Untitled-2\" src=\"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/Untitled-21.jpg?resize=224%2C241\" alt=\"Untitled-2\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Forms of Leadership<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>There are three major methods of handling people:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><strong> 1.\u00a0 Autocratic<\/strong> &#8212; With this type of leadership you, as the mana-<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">ger, assume full responsibility for all actions&#8211;individual<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">and group.\u00a0 You&#8217;re seeking obedience to specific orders.\u00a0 You<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">determine policy and decision-making as your prerogative.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">Let\u2019s say you&#8217;ve decided that you want to test-market a<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">product or service to see if there\u2019s a need, if a market<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">exists, how it should be priced and what the competitive<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">situation is.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">You prepare all of the necessary instructions and announce<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">the project to your staff.\u00a0 It&#8217;s not a matter open for discussion.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">Sure, there are members of the organization who will predict<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">failure of the project.\u00a0 It\u2019s your job to talk to them individually,<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">taking full responsibility for the outcome, and outline the<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">benefits you expect to be achieved.\u00a0 You divert arguments<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">and concentrate on how your staff can help get the information<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">needed.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">If all else fails, you will have to demand that each indi-<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">vidual concentrates on getting the task accomplished.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><strong> 2.\u00a0 Democratic<\/strong> &#8212; You will seek ideas and suggestions through discussions<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">and conclusions.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">This approach is often used when you are working with your<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">staff to establish goals.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">But let&#8217;s go back to our test-marketing example and<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">assume that the product or service was needed by your staff<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">to capture an even greater portion of the total market.\u00a0 In<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">the meeting, allow each individual to contribute his\/her ideas.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">The result should be a very productive meeting and an example<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">of productive leadership.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">When possible, good leaders treat individual problems on a<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">democratic basis.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">For example, you are a retailer selling to both consumer<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">and commercial accounts.\u00a0 One of your people appears to have<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">more talent in business situations than with consumers who<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">come in the door.\u00a0 Your job is to help the salesperson convince<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">him- or herself that he or she would be more successful<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">selling to businesses.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">Then, it&#8217;s only a matter of discussing how to manage the territory<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">and selling effort.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><strong> 3.\u00a0 Free-Rein<\/strong> &#8212; With this type of leadership you exercise<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">comparatively little direct control, but act as the prime source<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">of information, suggestions and authority.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">This approach is best when you feel your staff is well-trained,<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">responsible and professional.\u00a0 This approach is often required in<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">sales organizations where people have to make immediate<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">decisions or if sales people are in remote areas and have little<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">direct supervision.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">Free-rein leadership is used by most hardware\/software<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">manufacturers and rep organizations.\u00a0 Within limits,<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">individuals set their own goals.\u00a0 Usually resulting in outstanding<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">performance.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Choose Your Method<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/Untitled-31.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-20144\" title=\"Untitled-3\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/Untitled-31.jpg?resize=209%2C209\" alt=\"Untitled-3\" srcset=\"https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/Untitled-31.jpg 209w, https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/Untitled-31-150x150.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 209px) 100vw, 209px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a>There isn\u2019t a best method of leadership &#8230; only the most appropriate for a particular<\/p>\n<p>occasion.\u00a0 This means planning your actions for a given situation.<\/p>\n<p>You can&#8217;t choose between autocratic and democratic leadership.<\/p>\n<p>That&#8217;s like making a golfer choose either woods or irons.<\/p>\n<p>During any golf game, they&#8217;re all used.\u00a0 Decide on the type of leadership that is needed based on:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><strong> 1.\u00a0 Individual Personality<\/strong> &#8212; Some people only perform (and then<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">excellently) when a certain type of leadership is used.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">For example, an aggressive, hostile type individual<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">does better if you are understanding but autocratic.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">Recognize their hostility and control it.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">An individual that is aggressive and cooperative will<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">perform better if your leadership is democratic or free-<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">reining.\u00a0 Since they are often perfectionists and enjoy<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">accomplishment for its own sake, their self-assertiveness<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">may be very a constructive trait.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">Individualists are most productive when they can operate<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">in a free-reining environment.\u00a0 This is assuming that<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">they know their job.\u00a0 If not, they need a firm but friendly<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">hand.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">If you&#8217;re having leadership problems, it\u2019s time to step back<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">and review the personality characteristics of each of your people.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">Working with each individual, you can determine if you<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">have to modify your leadership style\u2026or the individual isn\u2019t<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">worth the effort.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">But don&#8217;t think one review will solve your problems.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">Constantly evaluate your people, your programs, yourself.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><strong> 2.\u00a0 Situation<\/strong> &#8212; Changes in the market, a customer crises, new<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">products and policy changes often make new demands on the<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">type of leadership you use.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">If quick decisions and fast action are necessary, you&#8217;re<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">going to have to be autocratic.\u00a0 If you lack information or<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">question your intuition, use the more democratic approach.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">After all, the people who are on the front line contacting<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">customers or prospects can be helpful sources of input to<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">help make the best possible decision.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><strong> 3.\u00a0 Organizational Flavor<\/strong> &#8212; The total make-up of your organi-<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">zation reflects the type of leadership that should be used.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">Sometimes group needs and individual needs are quite<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">different.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">If your organization has a large number of experienced,<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">cooperative people, then democratic leadership will work.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">If you have a dispersed organization that seldom meets<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">and is made up of strong individualists, a mixture of the<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">leadership methods&#8211;depending on each situation&#8211; will be<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">best.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">If your staff is largely untrained and undisciplined,<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">then autocratic leadership is a must.\u00a0 You have to be the<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">firm and decisive force that quickly makes the organization<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">productive.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">If you have a highly trained and professional staff<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">including good engineers, good software people and good sales<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">people, then free-reining leadership will win out.\u00a0 These<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">people are usually quite creative and will solve the problems<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">they encounter.\u00a0 They require less guidance, just monitoring.<\/p>\n<p><strong>How About You?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/Untitled-41.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-20145\" title=\"Untitled-4\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/Untitled-41.jpg?resize=400%2C175\" alt=\"Untitled-4\" srcset=\"https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/Untitled-41.jpg 400w, https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/Untitled-41-300x131.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The success of your leadership depends on whether or not you&#8217;re flexible enough to recognize the need for the different types of leadership &#8230; and are willing to change gears when necessary.<\/p>\n<p>You have to determine what is best for each individual and each situation.<\/p>\n<p>Just as you periodically evaluate each person who works for\/with you, evaluate your operating style.<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"># # #<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\">\n<div><strong>By  G.A. &#8220;Andy&#8221; Marken<\/strong><\/div>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><strong>President<\/strong><strong> Marken Communications, Inc. <\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><strong> <a href=\"mailto:Andy@markencom.com\">Andy@markencom.com<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><strong><br \/>\n<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Please join us in our <a href=\"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/abt\/index.php\" target=\"_blank\">Forums<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Become a Fan on <a href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pages\/AlienBabelTech\/123268467142\" onclick=\"_gaq.push(['_trackEvent', 'outbound-article', 'http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pages\/AlienBabelTech\/123268467142', 'Facebook']);\" target=\"_blank\">Facebook<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Follow us on <a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/alienbabeltech\" onclick=\"_gaq.push(['_trackEvent', 'outbound-article', 'http:\/\/twitter.com\/alienbabeltech', 'Twitter']);\" target=\"_blank\">Twitter<\/a><\/p>\n<p>For the latest updates from ABT, please <a href=\"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/?feed=rss2\" target=\"_blank\">join our RSS News Feed<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Join our Distributed Computing teams<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Folding@Home &#8211; 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A . &#8220;Andy&#8221; Marken, President of Marken Communications Inc. He has kindly given us permission to republish his thought-provoking article. As with everything that we publish at AlienBabelTech, the&#46;&#46;&#46;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":396,"featured_media":20145,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2533,6],"tags":[4031,4032,4033],"class_list":["post-20141","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-abt-news","category-news","tag-leadership-skills","tag-organizational-skills","tag-team-development"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20141","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/396"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20141"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20141\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20145"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20141"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20141"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20141"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}