Stepping up and Stepping out - Amazon Web Services Bonuses/IL/St… · There are plenty of people out there who will tell you ‘That wont work’ ‘You cant’ ‘Forget it’ ‘Your

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Stepping up and Stepping out 10 ways to be a better leader

By Rowdy (Ron) McLean J.P, M.B.A, F.A.I.M, C.C.M

“The very essence of leadership is that you

have a vision” Theodore Hesburgh


Great leaders never stop

growing. To be the best

leader you can possibly be

you need to be prepared to

learn on an ongoing basis.

Continually reflect,

review & re-evaluate

& stay at the

leading edge.

We are all leaders in some shape or form

whether we believe it or not. We are leaders

as parents, in the sporting and business

teams that we belong to and we also leaders

in our own lives.

As leaders we must look for ways to continue

to grow and develop. However, before you

start to grow you must discover your own

unique leadership style. Know where your

strengths and weaknesses are.

This becomes your foundation for growth.

Knowing exactly what your development

needs are allows you to focus on your

development in a way that makes you a

better leader.

1.Style, Strengths and

Weaknesses

To discover you unique style you can

complete a number of online profiling

assessments that will give you some

excellent information on your preferred style

of leadership.

Once this has been done the next step is to

conduct a 360 degree feedback exercise with

your team.

This feedback exercise allows you to review

your performance and compare it to the view

of your team. It will highlight where your

strengths and weaknesses lie.

It is important that you understand what you

do well and what you may do better, however

you should not try to be all things to all

people.

By all means develop skills in the areas of

weakness that you can.

Stepping up and Stepping out 10 ways to be a better leader by Rowdy (Ron) McLean


There will be some areas however, where

you will either not want to develop these skills

or not be able to.

In these areas make sure:

a) That you are aware of the weaknesses

and thoroughly understand it

and

b) Make sure that a member of your team

has strengths in this area so that you

can make use of their skills in

supporting you.

If you don’t have someone with the skills to

support your weaknesses, employ someone

with strengths in that area.

2. Review Success and

Failures

Take some time to review all your success

and failures. Make a list of every success

you have had in life, from the earliest memory

you have.

It could be your first grade spelling test, a

sporting triumph, relating to others, riding a

bike, achieving a financial or business goal.

Write down every success from that first

memory through to the present. After each

one, write a brief description of why you

believe you were successful.

Was it because you planned well, practiced,

studied? Were you bold and brash or

calculating?

Did you persist and persevere or did you

jump in the deep end and swim hard as you

could? Were you part of a team and what

was your role in that team?

Did you make good use of your resources

and support structures? Did you do more

than anybody else? Did you work harder or

did you work smarter?

Then you should finish with how did you feel

about each achievement. Was it what you

expected? Did you relish the achievement

personally or did you take pride in the

attention and recognition from you peers,

friends or family?

Was it competitive and did you enjoy the

competition?

How did you respond to the challenges,

stress and pressure? Were there any major

obstacles and how did you overcome them?

And finally, what would you do differently and

why?

You will be amazed at what comes out of this

exercise. You will discover trends and

behaviours, skills and abilities, personal

attributes that contribute to your leadership

style today.


You must complete the same exercise for

your failures.

While this may not be much fun, it is the only

way you can discover what you don’t do well

or may do better. This also ensures you are

not making the same mistakes over and over.

The definition of insanity is repeating the

same behaviours and expecting different

results, or if we always do what we’ve always

done - we will always get what we always got.

The definition of

insanity is repeating

the same behaviours

and expecting

different results

3. Study Others

Write a list of leaders that you admire.

Define the reasons you admire them and then

define their style, skills and abilities. Look at

their background and development?

How have they grown and developed? What

support mechanisms have they had?

Specifically what can you learn from them

and their history? What behaviours, skills

and attributes do you share?

It is very useful to have a mentor or a group

of mentors.

These are people that you can discuss ideas,

issues and strategies with. I have several

mentors who help me clarify and focus in a

number of areas.

I also mentor others and find this gives me a

great opportunity to reflect on my leadership

as well as help others grow and develop.

Joining professional groups or organisations

is an absolute must. If you are going to stay

at the leading edge then you must expose

yourself to the leading thinkers and writers.

These professional bodies are a great source

of information and support.

Now that you have discovered your own

personal unique style, strengths,

weaknesses, attributes and behaviours you

have a foundation for stepping up and

stepping out.

A place to step up and step out from. A place

to begin that journey, to being the very best.

It is very useful to have

a mentor or a group of

mentors


4.Attitude

Great things never get done without some

degree of attitude. One of my favorite quotes

is

“Whether you think you can or whether you

think you can’t. You are right” Henry Ford

Some people never step up or step out

because they are beaten before they begin.

You need to develop that ‘I Can’, ‘I Am’ and ‘I

Will’ attitude.

You need to be able to look in the mirror and

be confident that the person you see will get

the job done.

Our attitude can be seen a mile away, so be

careful with the images you create. Dress to

look the part. Walk tall. Arrive on time or

early. Do the things you say you are going to

do, when you say you are going to do them.

Get a winning attitude. Some people say

‘winning isn’t everything’ I say the person that

said that never won anything!

Go back and look at you successes and the

attitudes that went with them.

Find ways to duplicate and repeat those

behaviours and create that attitude on a

consistent basis.

Great things never get

done without some

degree of attitude.

5.Awareness

Blindly stumbling in one direction or another

is not a strategy for success. You need to

plan and strategise. Set a direction and have

a purpose. Knowledge and information are

the key to success.

Research and discover what others and

doing. What are your competitors up to?

What are your colleges doing? Where is your

organisation going?

Explore what has worked well in the past and

what have the hurdles been. Know what

innovations and technology exists. Gather as

much information as you possibly can.

An educated decision is far better than a

guess.

The old boy scout motto comes to mind “Be

prepared” or prior preparation prevents poor

performance.

“Leadership and Learning are indispensable to each other” John F. Kennedy


Know what’s going on or find out, it will put

you in the best position to set a direction or

path to success.

6.Action

Henry Ford said “You cannot build a

reputation on what you are going to do”

How many people do you know that don't

‘walk the talk’ or do what they say. Its easy to

say you will do this or you are going to do

that. It is another thing entirely to actually

‘get it done’.

What are you waiting for? People always say

‘When I’ ‘After this’ ‘After that’ ‘Tomorrow I’ll’

or ‘Next week I’ll’

My motto is continuous improvement is far

better than delayed perfection.

You have to begin. Most people just don't

start. Just by beginning you are setting

yourself apart from most people.

And don't give me that ‘I am waiting until’

rubbish. You have created the right attitude,

developed an awareness. Now get on with it.

Sure sometimes you will make a few

mistakes and you will learn a great deal from

these.

People who procrastinate make just as many

mistakes and they don't get as much done.

Be prepared to fail fast. If I am going to do

something the wrong way, I want to know and

I want to know now! So that I can set a new

direction or scrap it.

All the time I am refining, reviewing and

redeveloping. This means I am miles ahead

of my competition and peers and I am always

at the cutting edge of creativity and

innovation.

My motto is

continuous

improvement is far

better than delayed

perfection.

“The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that our aim is too low and we reach it” Michelangelo


7.Dream Stealers

There are plenty of people out there who will

tell you ‘That wont work’ ‘You cant’ ‘Forget it’

‘Your not good enough’ …

Guess what! These so called experts of

everything have never done anything.

They are only too happy to be negative and

will hold you back because of their own

inadequacies. They couldn't do it so they

think you can’t do it.

I love dream stealers. I love proving them

wrong!!!

If the world were run by dream stealers we

would not have the little things in life like

paper clips, mobile phones, post-it notes or

computers.

We also would not have the big things. India

would still be run by the British, Nelson

Mandela would still be in prison, John. F

Kennedy would never have put a man on the

moon and the Berlin Wall would still divide

Germany.

Don’t let the dream stealers stop you from

being your best. You will lose some friends in

the process but you will also make some new

ones. Positive, motivated ones.

I LOVE dream stealers. I love proving them

wrong.

8.Luck is not a Strategy

Luck is not a strategy. If you think someone

is going to come along and drop success in

your lap, you are dreaming.

Nothing worth having takes no effort. You

need to get off your backside and have a go!

No one is going to do it for you.

Attitude, awareness and action don't come in

boxes. You can’t go to Officeworks and buy

them. You can not get them on the internet.

You will not find a company that sells

‘Attitude’ and ‘Awareness’ and then gives you

‘Action’ for free.

You need to take responsibility for developing

a ‘can-do’ attitude, building awareness and

creating some action to achieve success.

If you could buy it, everyone would have it.

To stand up and step out you need to get out

of the box.


9. Balance

I am not suggesting that you create an

environment that is all work and no play.

There is no fun in that, you need to enjoy life.

So be sure to schedule in the things you like

to do. Lunch or dinner with friends, a game

of golf or some retail therapy.

Whatever you choose is fine, but choose to

create some balance between life and work

or you’ll become old and grumpy before your

time.

Oh yeah! And look after yourself. It is no

good becoming successful if you are going to

have a heart attack before you get an

opportunity to enjoy the fruits of success.

Go to the gym or least walk the dog. Eat right

- okay, eat right most of the time.

These things will only make you a better

leader, a little less stressed and cool under

pressure.

10.Hire Smart People

It is amazing how many leaders make the

same two mistakes when recruiting people for

their team.

Leaders that hire and

manage smart

people are the really

smart ones.

Mistake 1:

They hire people with exactly the same

leadership profile as them.

In the interview they ask a question, listen to

the answer and go ‘great that’s what I like,

that’s what I would do’.

They hire clones of themselves and then

wonder why there is no creativity or

innovation.

Mistake 2:

They are scared to hire people that may be

smarter than themselves.

Great leaders understand that hiring smart

people supports their weaknesses and helps

them to grow.

Leaders that hire and manage smart people

are the really smart ones.

Hire smart people, coach them, mentor them

and learn from them. As they grow you will

also grow.

So my final words for Stepping Up and

Stepping Out are:

Be Bold, Be Brave.

Fire up (attitude), Set up (awareness), Step

up (Action) and you will Finish up at the top.


Rowdy conducts FOCUS

seminars designed to help

leaders to Step Up and Step

Out. To receive a 10%

discount on his next seminar

send an email to:

[email protected]

with the word ‘e-book’ in the subject line.

Rowdy also runs on-going monthly leadership

seminars called Flame :: Business Leaders to

find out more go to:

flamebusinessleaders.com

and register for an information pack.

Rowdy also speaks at conferences on

leadership and motivation, he would be

happy to fire up your team or organisation

visit:

www.rowdy.com.au

Documents

Stepping up and Stepping out - Amazon Web Services Bonuses/IL/St… · There are plenty of people out there who will tell you ‘That wont work’ ‘You cant’ ‘Forget it’ ‘Your