Monday, October 30, 2006

Young Impressions... on Future Leaders!

The below is an excerpt from an email I received last week. Isn't it amazing how what we learn in our efforts to become better leaders can rub off on the little ones we have so much influence over! Way to go Michelle!

"I just completed listening to your CD series on Contagious Leadership last night. I have been listening to it in my car and thought you’d get a kick out of the impact it made on my 7 year old daughter.My daughter listened intently to the section where you described that "employees don’t work for you they work for themselves", she took it to heart. Now when I pick her to bring her to the office instead of saying “are your workers still there?” she says “is your team still there?” It took her a few times but the most exciting part was she corrected herself, I didn’t mention it after she listened to it. She’s well on her way to being a great leader!"

Keep in mind how much you impact the lives of those around you. For you own copy of Contagious Leadership, go to whttp://www.monicawofford.com/Products.html.

Wednesday, October 25, 2006

The Thought of Delegation... can be scary!

In light of Halloween approaching, let's talk about something that can be a little scary sometimes - Delegation. When I spoke yesterday to the wonderful West Orange Chamber of Commerce, this topic, along with the dreaded micro-management issue came up. No one likes to be micro-managed and few seem to enjoy or feel good about delegation. Perhaps a few tips on delegating more effectively will help to alleviate the fear of it all...

In the November issue of Entrpreneur magazine, on page 152, Romanus Wolter, writes Trust Your Team. Now, from my perspective these folks aren't yours they work with you and we don't own any of them. They are the team members that you have the privilege of leading, however, once we get past that, Mr. Wolter shares some great tips to delegating to these valuable team members.

1. Complete vital tasks during your peak performance periods.
2. Prioritize and define your success action steps.
3. Conduct a delegation "test run".
4. Be sure those you hire fit your personality and needs. (this is a biggee and something that we specialize in)
5. Allow the people you hire to be entrepreneurial.

For more check out the entire article at your local bookstore or on www.entrepreneur.com.

Enjoy!
M

Sunday, October 22, 2006

Who are People Hiring?

In November's Fortune Small Business www.fsb.com ...

Check out the article on page 20 about who is hiring whom? The article goes on to mention that employers are hiring folks that they ike. The data comes from "a recent survey by NFI Research and what they found is that managers of small businesss are more likely to make hiring and promotion decisions based on personality than on significant factors such as, oh, skill level."

The data speaks loudly and says that the folloiwng percentages are what you are relying on when hiring or promoting folks:
64.8% Personality/likability
58.6% Skills
53.9% Track Record
18.8% Knowledge of your organization
14.1% Diversity

If that is the case perhaps it is time we help managers by educating them more on what to look for in the way of personality/likability. Better yet, perhaps we provide a tool to HR or hiring departments to determine a candidates true likeability and personality rather than just what they show you in an interview. This is exactly what we do at Monica Wofford International. Call us for a preview! 1-866-382-0121 and in the meantime, think carefully about who you are hiring.