1. Know Where Motivation Comes From.

First of all you should recognize this. Motivation comes from within. The key here is that good managers
get people to motivate themselves. They manage agreements, not people.

2. Tune In Before You Turn On.

This simple advice works wonders!! In order for leaders to be heard, they must first listen. Shut your
mouth. Listen, and then speak.

3. Give Feedback.
To reach great highs, people require constant feedback. Achievement needs feedback.
If you deprive people of feedback, you make them create their own. They start to figure
things out in the wrong way, and that certainly is not good.

4. Lead from the Front (or Walk the Talk).

Be the first to volunteer if you want volunteers, be the first to help customers if you want people to help
customers. Leaders can motivate being an example for their teams.

5. Tell the Truth Quickly.

Leaders don’t hold the truth; instead they’re faster in telling the truth. In that way they foster trust and
confidence with their team.

6. Know Your Purpose.

Remember about vision. A good leader, knows why he’s doing what he does, and what to expect from
his/her team. A good leader always helps his/her team to keep focus on the vision.

7. Do the Worst First. (A.k.a. eat that frog!!)

Show your team what the priorities are, and if the worst has to be done, do it first. After that, everything
will seem easier.

8. Know Your People’s Strengths.

Enhancing a person’s positive attributes allows him to use more of his potential.

9. To Motivate Your People, First Just Relax.

If you’re nervous and tense, that may lead to poor performance and will affect other people as well.
Strive to be calm and confident.

10. Give Up Being Right.

Sometimes you have to show you know you won’t be right all the time. That’s one of the hallmarks of
strong leaders.

“Figure out what you want, and if you want it badly enough you'll always find a way to get
it."

“If we fight, we may not always win but if we don't fight, we will surely lose!"

“Success is the result of clear goal, unshakable confidence, proper planning, enthusiastic
action and consistent persistence."
Leadership is about timing, is about knowing when to go fast, and when to move
slowly. In turbulent times, the only thing to do is to look forward, towards your vision. Don’t fall
in the trap of speeding up when everyone else is doing it, or slowing down because everybody’s
doing it too.

The vision you share with your team, your people is the lighthouse that will guide you.
The vision is what helps you to stay focused. And the clearer the vision is, the easier
to decide at what speed to go ahead it is. Turbulent times should be an
opportunity to foster creativity, to give the most of ourselves. Difficult
circumstances are tests to our integrity, to our commitment, and in the end
to ourselves

When everything is fine, it’s too easy to be good or great. It’s in difficult times when you reveal
who you are. Embrace the circumstances you’re on now, take
your vision, and make an informed decision to slow down or speed up, based on
your experience and your commitment to achieve what you have to.

Your antidote to almost any temptation in leadership is your vision. If you’re faced with
problems, just test them against your vision, and you will certainly find and answer.

Be alert, be a leader .

LEADERSHIP ACTIONS

Answer the following questions:

1. Do you need to speed up or slow down? Why?

2. Are you sure that will help you to move toward your vision?
3. Keep focused on your vision, and keep moving.

Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask a creative person how they did something,
they may feel a little guilty because they didn’t really do it, they just saw something. It seemed
obvious to them after awhile. That’s because they were able to connect experiences they’ve had
and synthesize new things. And the reason they were able to do that was that they’ve had more
experiences or have thought more about their experiences than other people have.
–Steve Jobs
How to Become a Creative Thinker

Here is a list of skills you should work with to help you develop creative thinking:

1. Look at things from different perspectives. If you can look at a key, for example,
and see it as something more than something to open doors with, then you are on your way to
creative thinking. Play with the idea for a while, and you will find many uses for the key.

2. Look for improvements. If you can recognize things that are not quite
perfect or that have the potential to be better, then you can be a creative thinker.

3.Be Persistent . Sometimes you need to weed through piles of information to get
to the good stuff. If you can easily take a bunch of nonsense and make some sense out of it, then
you’re on your way to become a creative thinker. Bear in mind that creative thinking involves a
lot of nonsense, don’t feel too awkward about it. Being able to get to the heart of things is a true
creative skill.

4. Stay committed. Creativity requires a lot of commitment. If you are the type of person
who can commit to something and who does not give up, then you are a prime candidate to be a
creative thinker.

I’m sure you have some of the skills of a creative thinker. Recognize
that, but best of all, share that, share your abilities with the rest of the world, and work on the one
you lack of.

Leadership Actions

1. Practice every day all four actions to become more creative. YOU ARE CREATIVE, you
need to practice that’s all!!

11 Tips to build a Great TEAM

A good leader should know that teams have their own set of rules and behaviors that need to be
followed in order to keep the team’s good performance. The following tips were condensed from
the book “Build a Great Team: Choose the Right People for the Right Roles” by Ros Jay, this
selection is like a “quick guide” to build a great team.

1. Nobody should feel they have more work to do than the other members of the team.

2. As a general rule the team should accept that ideas are not sacred
and anyone has the right to suggest alternative ideas.
3. Information regarding the project or team’s reason to be is not
private; no one should keep information to themselves.
4. Support among team members should be fostered by the team’s leader and the team members
too.

5. Use your Emotional Intelligence and recognize each other’s feelings, be

aware of them.

6. All team members should know and be able to state what the
goals of the team are.

7. Inthe event of conflicts , play a mediator role and do not allow

anyone out of the room until an agreement has been reached.

8. Do schedule regular meetings to review how things are going,

don’t trust the “auto” pilot mode several teams fall into.

9. Use difficult circumstances such as competition to unite the

team by focusing on figuring out ways to solve them.

10. Ban all gossip, that’s an unacceptable behavior, you should confront those who are
spreading stories, and you can overcome this being straightforward. This way people will not
feel the need to gossip

11. If a member is not committed with the goals of the team it means the member
does not deserve to be on the team.
Of course you should see what tip out of these helps your team the most. But being aware of
them is a must for a wanna be leader.

Remember, Be Alert, Be a Leader

To be a leader you have to lead yourself first. This is one of the trademarks of true Leaders.
Every time you’re with someone who manages himself/herself perfectly under any
circumstances you know you’re talking someone big. It’s hard to resist responding back to a
bad intentioned comment, or rude words, and it’s even harder if you’re in a position to lead,
where it’s easy to be prey of your ego.

It’s difficult to connect with your values and elaborate the most appropriate answer to respond in
certain circumstances. But you have to do that in order to become a great leader. Read that again:

to become a GREAT LEADER . I’m not talking about being a leader only, but a great
one. The higher your expectations, the higher you’ll get.

I’ll share with you a couple of things you should manage in the best possible way in order to lead
yourself.

Handle Your Emotions

Sometimes it’s Ok to show your emotions and express your feelings freely to let your team know
who you are and how you feel. But there are times when not showing your emotions is the right
thing to do. Especially when showing your emotions lowers your team morale or affects them
badly

The key is to think if showing your emotions will be good for your team or not. That means, you
have to be “big enough” to consider your team before you
consider yourself.
Manage Your Time

To become a great leader you need to manage your time. A day has only 24 hours; you can’t put
any more time in it. So, if you a have a really tight schedule, you should start considering
stopping doing the less valuable things of your agenda, and passing that tasks to someone who
can help you. The other way is simply stop doing the less important things in your life.
Remember, a day has only 24 hours, you can’t stretch it. It’s fixed.

LEADERSHIP ACTIONS

1. Commit yourself to wait at least a couple of seconds

before responding to anything, in that way you will have a chance to
not answer the first thing that comes up to your mind. And you will show “self-control”. This is
especially useful in complex situations.
2. Take a look at your agenda and try to delegate, better yet, eliminates
activities that suck up your time, and energy. 

Don’t forget: To be a leader you have to lead yourself first. And by the way, I
think it’s easier to juggle.

Be Alert, Be A Leader.

7 Tips to lead under pressure

Leaders know well how to deal with pressure. They also know that the way they handle stress
situation is key on the impression they create on their teams and clients. These 7 tips will help
you to handle your actions and communications during tough times in a positive way, and lead
out of them successfully.

1. Keep everyone informed. Don’t let any issue slip away without getting
noticed. That’s very important in critical times. Make everyone understand what’s going
on.
2. Make sure you give clear instructions to
everyone, and most important, that everyone has the same information, in that
way you’ll avoid conflict and misunderstandings.
3. Be open to receive questions, better yet, encourage your team to ask
questions if they need to clear out issues. You have to be sure they’re 100 percent with
clear information.
4. You should involve people in key decisions. Of course you
will make the last call, but you should ask for the support of your team in your decision
making process. You will find your team is a lot more motivated when asked to
participate in that decision.
5. Be there. In difficult times your team is under pressure too, and they also need you
to be with them.
6. Make them know you are there. Make the most of every meeting and
contact with your staff and make them know they have your support. Not only be there,
but communicate it.
7. Keep a good sense of humor, you don’t need to be Jay Leno to be
funny, but keeping a good sense of humor is probably one of the best stress relievers that
exist. Good humor encourages everyone to work in a calm and positive fashion.

If you follow these tips you’ll handle the stressful situations in a better way, and you’ll come out
of them with a stronger team, and a stronger leadership.
Remember, Be Alert, Be a Leader

The basic idea behind the theory is that leaders have to motivate subordinates in order to make
them achieve the goals they have.

The theory dates back to the 1970s where Evans, House, Dessler, Mitchell, and others pushed the
notion that employee performance could be enhanced through motivation.

As a contingency theory the Path Goal Theory tries to explain what leadership style is best suited
to the situational factors it deals with.

Situational Factors

This theory considers two situational factors that the leader has to confront: the subordinate and
environment. The description of each of them is as follows:

Subordinate

Situational characteristics of the subordinate include:

 Authoritarianism: is defined as the degree to which the employees want to be told what to do
and how to do the job.
 Locus of control: is defined as the way the employee sees his/her responsibility towards his
activities. You can have an internal or external locus of control. Internal locus of control means
that you feel that you control goal achievement. On the other hand, external locus of control
means you feel goal achievement is controlled by others.
 Ability: is the extent of the employees’ ability to perform tasks to achieve goals.

Environment

This situational variable includes the following:

 Task structure: how repetitive the job is.

 Formal authority: is the power position of the leader.
 Work group: is how the coworkers contribute to job satisfaction, or the relationship among
them.
Leadership Styles

There are four leadership styles that can be used by the leader to help the subordinates achieve
the goals.

 Directive: A directive leader instructs the subordinates and gives them clear and specifics
instructions to perform their tasks, the timeline for job, and the standard by which the job is
measured. A directive
 Supportive: A supportive leader deals more with the well being and the human needs of the
subordinates. Supportive leaders treat subordinates as equals.
 Participative: A leader who exerts a participative style is one who invites subordinates to share
the decision making. This kind of leader asks subordinates for ideas, opinions and takes their
suggestions into account.
 Achievement-Oriented: A leader, who exhibits this style, establishes a high standard of
excellence for subordinates and seeks for continuous improvement. A leader like this shows
great confidence in their subordinates to set and achieve challenging goals.

Path Goal Leadership Theory Applied

The next chart displays what leadership style suits best the different situational factors

Ups and Downs of the Path Goal Leadership Theory

The Up Side

 What leadership style to use is the goal of the theory? It informs leaders about how to choose
an appropriate leadership style based on the situational variables.
 Considerate motivational factors in the theory; in fact, it was the first to incorporate these
factors from the expectancy theory.
 It’s practical. It tells you what leadership style to use in different situations.

The Down Side

 Broad Scope. The scope of the theory it’s too broad, trying to incorporate so many variables in
the prediction of the proper style to a specific work setting and task can be very hard to do.
 Not clear on leader behavior – worker motivation. The theory doesn’t clearly explain the
relationship among these factors. In other words, the theory does not explain how a leader can
employ the leadership styles to assist employees to feel competent or assured of success.
 A one-way direction. The theory places great responsibility on leaders and much less on
followers. Followers risk becoming dependent on the leader, because theory promotes
dependency.

Summary to the Path Goal Leadership Theory

The Path Goal leadership theory dates back from the 1970s and it was the first leadership theory
to include subordinate motivation. In fact, the basic principles of it are derived from the
expectancy theory.

This is a contingency theory, and as such it tries to identify which leadership style best suits the
different combinations of situational variables. The theory identifies four different leadership
styles, and two situational factors: the employee (subordinate) and the environment. Each of the
situational factors has a set of variables that define them.

The theory provides a framework to understand how the four leadership styles affect employee
performance (satisfaction and productivity).

The scope of the theory it’s too broad, there are so many combinations of the situational
variables that it’s a daunting task to clearly define the situation.
Leadership from where you are

In several posts I’ve talked about the importance of the attitude you have about Leadership, the
attitude is more important than your position. Leadership From Where You Are is that,
ATTITUDE
I work in the software industry and in the last couple of years no matter my position in the
company, in every project I’ve been involved I have to work with people from other areas in the
company and from other companies as well.

Most of the time we work in teams, so the leadership skills needed to lead don’t come naturally
at hand, or easy to see. You have to work a lot on the Emotional Intelligence side, and have to
do a lot of “put yourself in the other person’s shoes”.

I need to admit that is not an easy task, and sometimes is really difficult, but after a while you
become used to it, and you start to be a team player.

I would like to share with you 4 tips that I think are important when working in project
environments where you work mostly on teams.

1.Be A Team Player : Always remember that the success of the project has
nothing to do with your success, if the project fails, you do too (to some extent of course).
Always think what consequences your actions will have for the project and your team mates.

2. Be A Leader on Something: Probably the project you’re working on has a lot of different
areas to address, and probably you cannot lead in all of them, so find one you know your skills
are important and be a leader, be the first to do suggestions, improvements, or actual work to
show the way it should be done. Take the lead!

3. Be Generous: We all love to be on the spotlight or being recognized for our

accomplishments, but sometimes you have to help a colleague or team mate to achieve his or her
goals, leaders help other to achieve their goals and if their goals are common ground for the
project, then better yet.

4.Be Excellent at What You Do : Even if you don’t lead, even

if you’re not in the spotlight, you should know that your work is helpful and useful for the
project (if it weren’t you wouldn’t be there), so do your best at your position, give your best at
what you do. You probably think it’s not noticed, but would you prefer to be noticed for doing a
poor job? I bet you wouldn’t. Great Leaders have to be excellent at what they do, no matter how
“small” or “big” their position is, they know their actions are their words. By being excellent
they set the standard they expect from everybody else.
So far, these are four things I just thought I’d like to share with you from my experience, I have
to say I believe these are fundamental to become an excellent leader. Don’t wait anymore you
can lead now right there, where you are now, from your actual
position in your company, industry, or field of work.
Is there any other tip you can think about to Lead from Where You Are? Don’t be shy, and let us
all know.

Remember, Be Alert, Be a Leader

Transformational Leadership has been defined as a process that changes individuals. It has to
do with emotions, ethics, values, long term goals, and the needs and motives of the followers,
and of course, the needs of the leader. (Northouse, 2004)

Transformational Leadership is characterized for an exceptional level of influence that leads the
followers to perform well beyond what is usually expected of them. It incorporates charismatic
and visionary leadership also.

Transformational Leadership places attention on the leader’s transforming abilities, rather than
on personal characteristics and follower relations (Lussier & Achua, 2004).

Transformational Leadership in Research

The term “Transformational Leadership” was coined in 1973 by J.V. Downton in his work Rebel
leadership: Commitment and charisma in a revolutionary process.

Since the 1980s Transformational Leadership has been the focus of much research. By 2001,
K.B. Lowe & W.L. Gardner found that one third of the research made was about
transformational or charismatic leadership.

The ideas behind Transformational Leadership are based on the works by J.M. Burns, and B.M.
Bass.

Transactional and Transformational Leadership

The essence of the transformational leadership theory is the distinction between transformational
and transactional leadership. Both types of leadership are defined in terms of the component
behaviors used to influence followers and the effect of leaders on the followers (Yukl, 2002).

A third type of leadership laissez-faire leadership has also been included to identify leaders that
do not exhibit transformational or transactional behaviors.

Transformational Behaviors
  Idealized Influence: Leaders that exhibit this behavior are the strong role models for followers.
These leaders usually have very high standards of moral and ethical conduct. They provide
followers with a vision and a sense of mission.
 Inspirational Motivation: Leaders that exhibit this behavior are able to communicate high
expectations to followers, and inspire them to commit to the shared vision of the organization.
These leaders enhance team spirit, using pep talk and encouraging words.
 Intellectual Stimulation: Leaders that exhibit this behavior stimulate followers to be creative and
innovative, to challenge established standards, and to test new approaches in solving issues
inside the organization.
 Individualized Consideration: Leaders that exhibit this behavior provide a supportive climate to
listen to individual needs of the followers. They also act as coaches and advisers to help the
followers grow in their professional development.

Transactional Behaviors

 Contingent Reward: The efforts of the followers are valued in specific rewards. The leader then
tries to establish a payoff for the necessary efforts to do the job. Clearly it’s a transaction.
 Management by Exception: When deadlines, standards or metrics have not been met, then the
manager comes in. It has to do with corrective criticism, negative feedback, and negative
reinforcement. It takes two forms, active and passive.
The active form includes behaviors that tend to “correct” the mistakes as soon as they appear,
on a daily basis, or as often as the process can be monitored.
The passive form has to do with the measures taken after the standard or process has failed.

Laissez-faire Behaviors

 Laissez-Faire: This behavior is basically linked to a leader who does not perform as one, that is,
leadership absence. The leader abdicates responsibility, delays decisions, gives no feedback, and
makes little or no effort to satisfy follower’s needs.

Transformational Leadership in Practice

For this approach to work the leader has to work on his or her personal characteristics, build a
strong set of values. They have to pay great attention to their behavior. In that way they can opt
to become strong role models to their followers.

The leader has to develop a vision that takes into account the collective interests of individuals
within the organization. Without vision there’s not transformational leadership.

After developing the vision, the leader has to share that vision back to the organization and make
it happen.
A great transformational leader is a “social architect”, the leader is involved in the culture of the
organization and help shape its meaning.

Ups and Downs of Transformational Leadership

The Up Side

 It’s intuitive, the appeal of the approach is based on the common conception that a leader has
to provide a vision, has to be out front advocating change for others.
 Leadership is a process that occurs between leaders and followers; as such both parties are
involved in developing and nurturing the relationship. The needs of others are fundamental for
transactional leadership.
 It works, there’s a lot of evidence to prove that transformational leadership works.

The Down Side

 Not too clear, lacking conceptual clarity is one of the criticisms to this theory. There are so many
areas in which the leader can be of influence that is not clear what parameters take into account
to perform a clear measure of it.
 It’s elitist and antidemocratic. Because of the prominent positions leaders have inside the
organization, and their role in changes, establishing visions and advocating new directions, some
say the leader might be acting on his/her own and placing himself or herself over the followers
needs.

Summary to Transformational Leadership

With its roots in 1973 when the term was first coined, transformational leadership has been since
the 1980s and has been the subject of many studies since then.

The key to understand Transformational Leadership is that it takes into account the followers
needs and encourages the followers to become the best they can.

There are 4 basic behaviors that transformational leaders exhibit: Idealized influence,
Inspirational Motivation, Intellectual Stimulation, and Individualized Consideration.

Leaders that exhibit Transformational Leadership behaviors are perceived as more effective, and
with better work outcomes. Transformational leaders move followers to accomplish more than
what is expected of them. (Northouse, 2004).
5 questions to seize leadership

One of the key issues with leaders is that they know really well what they’re good at. But most
important, they are 100 percent clear of their strengths and weaknesses. The next five questions
will help you measure your leadership and figure out, how good you’re at what you do.

These questions have been adapted from the book Authentic Leadership: Rediscovering the
Secrets to Creating Lasting Value (J-B Warren Bennis Series) , written by Bill George.

1.Do you know What Your Purpose is ?

If you don’t, you’re probably wasting more energy and efforts on things you shouldn’t.
Remember that you will not follow someone lacking purpose and direction in leading. The key
issue here is to know that leaders are at the mercy of their egos if they don’t have a real sense of
purpose, and that sense comes from understanding yourself, from knowing your passions and
your motivations. Know your purpose, and people will follow.

2. Do you base your actions on Solid Values?

Your values are your internal laws, the ones that direct all your actions. You’ll know you’ve
broken one of those laws, the minute you feel uncomfortable with your actions. If you want to
identify your core values, watch your actions. Values and character define leadership. One of the
most important values you should foster is integrity.

3. Are you listening To Your Heart ?

Appealing to your team’s hearts and minds is more than giving a pep talk, is knowing them, and
having a good understanding of why they’re working. A good leader knows how to appeal the
souls of their colleagues/employees to reach performances way ahead of what is expected.

4. Do you have Good, enduring Relationships?

Today’s work is a call for working on teams, today more than ever personal relationships play a
big role in the outcomes of every team or work group. The ability to develop good relationships
is one that a leader needs to work on to connect with his/her team, and will in turn result into a
deeper commitment of the group to their work.

5.Do you have Self Discipline ?

Last but not least, self discipline is the quality that helps you gain the respect of others. No
matter how good you’re at something, if you can’t perform consistently and with discipline in the
long term you will not have the respect of your group. As said in question #2 your actions reveal
your values, so if you want to lead, you should rely on self discipline. Nobody follows someone
who can’t control him/herself.
I hope these questions help you to identify what are the things you have/need to improve to
become a better leader, to be an Authentic Leader in your company and in your life.

LEADERSHIP ACTIONS

Pick one and only the most difficult of the questions for to answer and improve yourself,
improve and grow. And as always, Be Alert, Be a Leader