RESULTS.com - Business Execution Blog

Many managers I've met think they're better at communicating than they really are. Communication is hard. It doesn't just happen. It has to be deliberately designed. Here's a couple of suggestions mistakes to avoid, and how to be a better communicator (and therefore a more effective leader): 

I am lucky enough to live in the leadership space. Every day I am paid to lead the company to set and achieve the goals set by our strategic plan. Every day I am influencing people and their activities. Every day I am overcoming the challenges that this throws my way.

According to the Harvard Business Review, the No.1 criteria for advancement and promotion for professionals is an ability to communicate effectively.

Much has been written about leadership. Most of it is useless. But there are things you can do, and some books you can read, that are helpful to learn to be a better business leader. 

One of my family’s favorite movies is RV starring Robin Williams. In it the hero Bob Munro, played by Williams, takes his family on a vacation in a rented RV while secretly continuing to work in his high-profile job at an advertising agency. He even goes as far as coordinating his cross-country RV trip to put him in the vicinity of an important meeting with a key prospect, and attempts to covertly attend the meeting to land the a major new client without his family knowing.

There once was a welder who was very good at his job. He enjoyed welding, his work quality was high, he worked fast. He delivered results, and his bosses were happy.  Because Joe was good at welding, his bosses wanted to reward him. They promoted him, gave him more money and more responsibility. This included supervising junior welders to work under him. 

The Sergeant who took me under his wing when I was a wet-behind the ears second lieutenant once told me that the worst way to be a leader was to wait for perfect information or perfect certainty before committing to a course of action. This, he espoused, created fear, uncertainty and doubt in a world where perfect information and certainty were impossible. He asserted it was better to make the wrong decision (and own it) than to make no decision. To play to win instead of playing not to lose.

If you want to be successful as a business leader, you need to project a high level of confidence. You need confidence in your abilities (self-confidence); confidence in your team’s abilities; and confidence in your strategic plan (you followed a disciplined thought process to create a winning strategy and you have clearly specified what actions need to be taken to execute your plan). Here are 10 more things that will help you be more successful:

Leading people is one of life’s great challenges and privileges. Every day at RESULTS.com I work with CEO’s and Business owners who have “People Issues”. Let's face it we all have them from time to time, and dare I say it when you are in the leadership game, "People Issues" are "Business as Usual". So why do leaders dread it so much? Short answer: it takes courage, patience, common sense and focus to get the best out of people. The rest comes with experience, being authentic, leading from the front, and being able to guide, mentor and develop your team.