Tag Archives: leaders

Blogs build relationships…

Posted on by

Click here for a great article on blogging!

Do we really need a blog?  The question is simple, but the answer it complex.  If you have a strategic approach to your online reputation, or your ORM, then you should realise the complexity of the answer.

One of the hurdles that many online communicators is trying to get tangible results from their efforts to reflect in the profits.  Old-school management styles expect this, but they are on the decline.  Any business savvy person will know that we operate on a level of the triple bottom line:  people, environment and profit.  Leaders and managers alike have acknowledged that without healthy people and a healthy environment, there will not be sustainable profit.

We have said it before, and we’ll keep saying it.  To succeed, you have to put relationships first.  That’s why the answer to ‘Do we really need a blog?” is complex.  It’s complex because it’s about people, and people are no picnic.

Here is a fantastic list of 25 reasons why you need a blog – and they have NOTHING to do with finances…, well, not directly! (read original article)

  1. Create a database of answers — Blog about customer questions. Use links to those posts to save time and answer future questions.
  2. Reward employees — Shine a spotlight on brilliant employees by featuring their ideas and accomplishments on your blog.
  3. Marketing integration — Turn content from your blog into sales and marketing materials.
  4. SEO — Having an active, relevant blog can have a powerful impact on search engine ranking.
  5. Point of differentiation — If your competitors don’t blog, is this an opportunity to stand out in your niche? Continue reading →

Learning to lead

Posted on by

Image from http://www.jayperoni.com

The truth is that many leaders are not actually that good at leading.  They have skills and knowledge that enable them to excel into the upper levels of an organization, but lack the skills that it takes to successfully lead others.  They often struggle to build into others and develop the potential of their relationships.

Leadership Consultant, Eileen McDargh, author of The Resilient Spirit: Heart Talk for Surviving in an Upside Down World (Loch Lomond Press), suggests avoiding these destructive habits:

•  Hiring skills—but not letting workers use them. You’ve hired employees who have the expertise that you lack. Congrats! Now let them get to work… if you insist on telling your staff how to do what they do best, you’ll build resentment and inspire them to give less than their all.
•  Ignoring the people closest to the problem. When you ask frontline workers to share their insights, be wise enough to heed what they say. The further removed you are from the issue, the more likely it is that your take will be flawed.
•  Giving workers responsibility, but no authority. When you assign tasks, you have to be willing to let your employees take ownership of those functions. Don’t tie them in knots by insisting that you have to sign off on each step of the process. At some point you must be willing to trust the people you’ve hired.
•  Expecting workers to read your mind. As McDargh notes, “Clairvoyance is not a skill set you can hire.” Tell your employees exactly what you want and share as much information as you can to help them appropriately execute their assignments.
•  Making workers clean up your messes. We all make mistakes—and we should be willing to own up to them. When you repeatedly pass the blame onto others, you undermine both credibility—and loyalty.

The strength and sustainability of your organization has everything to do with the quality of leadership.

Leaders need the inner strength and conviction to constantly improve themselves by building into others.

—Taken from www.hrcommunicator.com, adapted from “Lessons in leadership: What NOT to do from a canoe!” on the Eileen McDargh Web site.