Leadership

Susan M Barber Coaching & Consulting, LLC > Blog > Leadership

How do you define your leadership?

My very first team leader experience consisted of managing 3 direct reports and 20 indirect reports.  Since this was a new experience for me, I asked for advice from some people who had been managing teams.   What did they do to prepare themselves to lead a team? I pulled together their ideas and came up with my plan.  I asked myself the following questions: What qualities did I want to emulate or reject from my previous leaders? What are my…
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Connect now before it is too late.

I attended a family anniversary party over the weekend.  It was great to see everyone and celebrate the momentous occasion.  There were people there that represented the different parts of the couple’s lives.  People they had met in high school, at work, their neighbors, their family and children.  Over a lifetime you meet so many people.  Some that you continue to connect with throughout your life and others that may come into your life for a very short time.  Seeing…
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Focus on this key lesson to build a great team

I have always found it fascinating to see how people learn.  Do you know your own learning style?   I was only familiar with Visual, Auditory, and Kinesthetic styles.  As I have done additional research, I have found that there are actually 7 styles.  In addition to the ones that I named, the others are Verbal, Logical, Social, and Solitary. Here is a list of the styles and descriptions of all of them: Visual – you learn by what you see in…
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What will your leadership legacy look like?

As I read the article, The Leaders Imprint by Scott Mabry, it struck me how much every decision and action we take as a leader can leave in Scott’s words, an “Imprint” on others who work for us.   Being critical of our team members on a regular basis has a lasting impact on them.  As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, people don’t leave organizations, they leave managers.  Being too critical causes people to doubt themselves, shut down, become disengaged or…
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Why is being a leader important?

What is interesting about the title “leader” is that you don’t get that title unless you are leading a team, an organization or a company.  By definition, it means that you have others who are following you. Although there are some companies out there trying the concept of not having formal leaders in place, this is still evolving and it may only work for certain types of companies. In my opinion, being a leader is really one of the greatest…
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Are you living your values?

I was reviewing my list of values from an assessment I took about a year ago.  I always find it interesting to go back and look at what the results were at that time and if they still resonate with me.  Here are my top 5 values: Helping Others Succeed, Learning/Knowledge, Coaching, Customer Service and Problem Solving.  Anyone who knows me should not be surprised by this list at all.  It is absolutely who I am and how I live…
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Are you ready to flex?

The beauty of having a diverse team is that each person brings different experiences to their unique roles.   They also have different perspectives and leadership styles.   As the leader, you need to find the best way to motivate the team to accomplish the goals.   So how do you do that? This was my dilemma about 16 years ago.  I had a team that was made up of internal employees, external contractors, differing levels of expertise and different leadership styles.   Did…
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Chicago Cubs Win!!

CONGRATULATIONS to the Chicago Cubs on winning the National League Division Series! Four very exciting baseball games occurred against the San Francisco Giants which led to the win.  I was thinking about all the work that the Chicago Cubs Organization put in place to get to this point.   Tough decisions about who to keep on the team and negotiations to identify other players who would bring the team together to give them the chance to win.   It is exciting to…
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3 Keys to Success in a New Role

You just started working in a new role or at a new company.  You are excited about the possibilities of your new role and meeting new people.   Based on your experience you can see a lot of opportunities that need to be addressed.   Where do you begin?   Here are three steps to take in order to set yourself up for success. Listen, Observe and Ask Questions. Meet with your staff, key stakeholders, and management to understand the current state of…
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6 Leadership Lessons for a New Leader

I remember when I first became a leader of a team.  I went to a training class for three days to learn how to be a leader.  I learned a lot of things at that first session, but I didn’t have a whole lot of real life experience to apply at that point.   However, I took those lessons to heart and began to lead my first team.  Even though I tried really hard, I made many mistakes along the way.  …
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