Who Makes a Better Leader, a Woman or a Man?

According to the Pew Research Center Social & Demographic trends, the article  Men or Women:  Who’s the Better Leader? asserts that “Americans believe women have the right stuff to be political leaders. When it comes to honesty, intelligence and a handful of other character traits they value highly in leaders, the public rates women superior to men, according to a new nationwide Pew Research Center Social and Demographic Trends survey.”   21% say men make better leaders over all, but 69% said that they made equally good leaders.  Yet those executives I coach, dominantly are men in the highest leadership levels.  It appears to me, as well as according to this research, that regardless the effort women have made to create a level playing field through high education, they still do not garner the ivory tower.  What do they site as the two main reasons for this gender discrimination?

1. A resistance to change
2. “old boys club”

The lesser reasons included:

1. Family responsabilities
2. Shortage of experience

I found it interesting, while being a part of a national search for the new CEO of a leading public works engineering project, that in my opinion, the only woman we interviewed had as much, or even considerably more qualifications for the position than other interviewees, and yet, the other four panelists, all men I might add, didn’t appear to even consider her in the running.  Was it her gender, or mine that swayed me, and them?  I’ll never know.  What experiences have you had with women up for promotion for upper ranks of political or business positions?  What is your feeling regarding women in high levels of politics or business?

How to Develop Your Leadership Destiny?

“If you build it, they will come.”  We all know that famous line from the movie, Field of Dreams with Kevin Costner, but what does that have to do with developing greater levels of skill sets?  I guarantee you, I can do that now that I’m over 50 you know,whatever you learn, add, develop, and acquire as a leadership skill set, you will one day be extremely glad you did.  For example, I became proficient, and the local resident expert on DISC, a way to understand one another’s and your own behavioral style 30 years ago.  I could, and still can, spot not only one’s primary style, but their secondary and probably third.  I can then use this knowledge to communicate better, motivate, coach, lead and develop this person to become a stellar employee or team member. It started out as a fun, enjoyable “knowledge set” I learned in my early 20’s to understand myself.   I’ve used that one skill for 30 years to do recruiting, retention, performance reviews, training, team building, and conflict resolution.  It’s taken me from working with a solo entrepreneur to a billion dollar project.  My husband has done the same.  He learned Spanish fluently while in High School, as well as while living in Guatemala and Mexico.  He is now, after doing a major job transition, using it on a daily basis in a great government job.  And because of it, he’s making 10 to 15 thousand dollars more a year all because he knows Spanish.  His intent was not to learn it to for work, he learned it because he enjoys language development and usage.

I’ve found, the more I learn, the greater I am in demand.  What’s better, is that the skills and knowledge I continue to acquire I genuinely enjoy.  What better way to work than to create and chart your destiny yourself.  Doors now open up around my skills sets, and because of them.  So where should you begin?  As  a new leader, the first skill I would recommend you learn would be “Communication Skills“  and all that tangles around it.  If you learn to communicate clearer, listen better, affirm people more effectively while they speak, the outcomes will be greater CONFIDENCE in yourself, TRUST from others, and you’ll be seen as one that “CARES” a rare commodity in the world of leadership and coaching.  All this will launch you into better, more profitable, challenging projects.  So I’ll say it again, Build it, and the opportunities will come.

Seven Steps to Grow Into Leadership?

Can leadership be learned?  What do I need to do to gain influence?  These are two typical questions I receive repeatedly by those who have been promoted to positions where they need to direct, inspect, recruit, retain, and inspire people on their team to get a job done.  Yes, I believe leadership, to a large degree can be learned.  But first you have to:

1. Be teachable
2. Be willing to get out of your comfort zone and learn to take an interest in others as much as you do in accomplishing a goal or project.
3. Develop good listening skills.
4. Find a mentor, a coach to bounce situations  off of.
5. Read, read, or at least use your car as a rolling university and listen to books on CD;
6. Learn about Behavioral Styles, DISC!  A great too in your arsenal.
7.  Own your mistakes, say you were wrong, therefore, leading by example.  They will appreciate you more  if they know you’re human, and able to step up to the plate and take responsibility.

As a young leader I enjoyed multiple projects launching simultaneously.  I remember one time I was almost finished with am assignment and had already begun strategically preparing to catapult into the next program when three people approached me.  They were upset that I had volunteered to take the next role, leaving them behind.  I didn’t get it, they were all upset about me leaving.  It wasn’t until one of them took me out to coffee, and explained that they were on the project because I was leading it, that it dawned on me.  I was on the project for the satisfaction of a job well done.  Isn’t that what everyone’s motivation is?  As far as I was concerned, it had been a resounding success and I was moving forward.  They were on the project to be around me!  Wow, what a revelation.  It was then I discovered people join things for different reasons.  It was a real shock, and wake up call.  It would have never occurred to me that people were there for any other reason than to get a job done.   Learning DISC was the beginning of a lifelong journey into understanding the values, motives, and differing styles of people.  This knowledge alone has transformed my life and lead me into projects, places and opportunities I could have never envisioned.  This understanding has given me the knowledge needed to recruit, retain, motivate, correct, and direct people in small and large projects.  If this intrigues you, and you want to know more, check out the tele-class workshop coming up the end of June.  I guarantee, you’ll never be the same!  Go to the EVENTS page to learn more, then sign up on the SIGN UP pag and take the challenge.  The people challenge that is.  It will become one of your very greatest tools in your leadership career.

Three Steps To Greater Confidence

Everyone seems to know it, the minute someone walks into the room with the aura of confidence, it’s unmistakable.  But how do you learn to exude this leadership trait without coming across arrogantly or superficial?  Here are three simple steps.

1. Begin leading through your strengths.  Realize what and who you are, and then build upon it like a master architect.  No matter what it is, if you see it as a strength, others will as well.  They’ll feel your confidence, and be able to rest in your assurance.  Trust me, I’m telling you now, they’ll begin following  you.  Have you ever been around someone who when making a decision you weren’t sure about, but because they were so convincing, you got behind them, trusting their intuition.  This is exactly what I’m talking about.  Let me give you an example.  My son is tall, very tall.  In fact, he’s 6′7″ and he sees it as a strength.  Because he does, others follow suit.  His self assured nature didn’t inhibit him from entering in, or being approachable.  Conversely, I’ve been around tall people and I could tell they considered it a hindrance, a liability, and you sensed they were insecure.  Therefore, for them, it was a liability.  Why, because they projected an unassuredness about them.  This leads me to the second step.
2. Make a line down the middle of a page of paper and on the left side write down your behavioral style characteristics, skills, and experiences.   Now on the right side I want you to write out how those qualities and experiences can be (here’s the key), and are, positive in light of the position you’re in.  Really, take the time to work on this project.  Remember, a negative behavioral quality is many times only a positive attribute taken to the extreme.  For instance, if you’re considered lazy.  Laziness is at times a lack of focus or knowing what to do next so the person does nothing.  The more confused a person may become, the more others may label him/her as being lazy, when in all actuality they are unsure of themselves or don’t know what’s expected of them.  The key to this step is to work on transforming what would normally be negative, into seeing it as a positive. Get help from those closest to you if you become stuck.
3. Now, read this list every day for 30 days.  Why do I say 30 days, because it is a well know principle that a habit is formed or broken in 28 to 30 days.  Meditate on how you can use your personality, skills and past experiences to propel your leadership influence, by becoming convinced yourself that you have it in you to be the best leader you can be.   And, you’ll find the more you read this list, the more you’ll begin to believe it.  The more you believe it, the more confidence and trust others will attribute to you.

It may have been an accident that landed you in this position, don’t let it be lack of confidence that takes you out.  Be intentional and you will grow into your leadership role!

Stupid Employees, What Do You Do?

OK, you just had an employee do a really stupid thing. What should you do? Well, I can tell you know, it’s probably not what you think. You could yell, throw a private fit, and tell them they did wrong and how to fix it, but is that going to teach them to think for themselves, or rely (with trepidation) on you to tell them how to do everything, never learning WHAT they did wrong, or WHY? Next time, ask questions. Communicate, ask them, the one that did the stupid thing: “What did you think I wanted you to do? What did you hear me say? Show me what you did, and why you thought that was correct?” Then re-direct them so they figure out how to correct the situation. You may find your instructions were incomplete, and they couldn’t read your mind. Or, you may find that the conclusion they came to was wrong because, for one reason or another, they missed an important part of the equation. Where and why did they miss it? Here’s an age-old saying: Give a man a fish, he’ll eat for a day; teach a man to fish and he can eat for a lifetime. What you’re transitioning into is “coach”, one that leads people to communicate effectively, check their own work, and solve their own problems using higher levels of thinking. If it’s easier to just do it yourself, or tell them what to do. . . then do it yourself, and you won’t have a need for employees. But then the company won’t need you as the “leader”, they’ll need someone to manage you. It’s your choice, and it’s a completely different set of skills you need. You now need to set them up for success, and then you’re a success; that is, a successful leader. Hmmm…think about it.

One Skill Every Leader Must Have to be Successful

You might think it’s having vision, or big picture thinking. You may ascertain it’s reading a financial spread sheet, or negotiating a big deal, but there’s one thing that will break you quicker than anything else, whether you’re a leader of a large corporation, or the owner of a small start up.  This skill has come to the forefront only in the past few years and demanded attention.  It is none other than “people skills”.  When I discover a leader that takes the time to understand, listen to, direct, motivate, coach, and correct their staff in a way that brings out the best in them, I rarely find they need my coaching or consulting expertise. You might be thinking “Sue, you’ve got to be kidding me”.  No, really I’m not.  You see, I remember meeting a high level executive from a very prominent project and I told him, “You know, John” (you realize I’m not using his real name) if you would meet with your secretary regularly (because she was the company gate-keeper,) and ask her questions about what’s going on around the company, you’d have all the information I’m using to assist you in creating a Strategic Plan”.  I’m telling you, you could save yourselves a lot of heartache and hundreds of thousands of company dollars by growing in the ability to understand people. And by focusing a bit more on them, you’ll gain leadership confidence in the process.  Besides that, you’ll find the trickle-down filtering into your family life, and I’ve been told, that’s priceless.