A-Z GUIDE TO BEING A MOTIVATIONAL LEADER New

“Theguide to being amotivationalleader” Lisa Wiking www. leadershipskillsreducethebills.com

a Acceptance - Accept your team as they are and show them your desire to help them to become a better version of themselves. Accountability - Hold them accountable to your clear and communicated expectations. People will achieve approx. 80% of what you expect. Have high expectations. Adaptable - Great leaders change as the situation requires. Be open to the thoughts of others and how they can enhance your company and vision. Appreciation - Show them your appreciation - for the big and the little things. Attitude - Demonstrate the attitude you expect from your people always.

b Be/Do/Have - Always begin with who you’re being as that will determine what you do and therefore decide your results. Belief - Tell your team that you believe in them, that they can achieve their greatest goal. People often succeed because someone else (a leader) believed in them first. Brave - be brave in your leadership - do not lead with fear, be strong and clear in your conviction. Lead with clarity of your vision and hold them accountable. Business Plan - Ensure you have a plan and that your people know and understand it.

c Care - Care for them as human beings, not just someone who provides an output. Celebrate - Celebrate every big and small win. Change - Great leaders can adapt to change. Don’t be singleminded in your pursuit for success or you will miss opportunities to learn from those with different ideas to yourself. Coach - Coach your people to develop their own ideas rather than telling them how to improve. Communication - Communicate positively - tell them when they are doing well & need to improve, constructively. Your communication is more than just words (7%), it’s your tone (38%) & body language (55%) also. Consistency - Be clear on what you expect and communicate it with all team members. Hold everyone to the same standard. Culture - Create a culture of Family - People want to be apart of something bigger than themselves - make them feel valued.

d Development - Invest time and money in their development - the more you give them, the more you will receive from them. Discipline - Once they know your expectations, ensure that you run a disciplined environment where they know what is right and wrong and address them when they have not met your expectations in a calm and clear manner. Diversity - The more diverse their role is the more they will enjoy it.


e Empower - Empower your people to make their own decisions - allow them to make mistakes, that’s how they’ll learn. Environment - Create an environment that you enjoy being in. Make it successful and fun. Equality - Equality is important to to people. Treating them with respect is important to retain them. Expectations - Set clear, high expectations and maintain them. Ensure they are documented. Be consistent. Experiential - Allow your people to tackle challenging projects so they can learn by doing.

f Fairness - Be fair, have one set of rules for all team members. Family/Friendships- Ifyoucreateacultureofrelationships, your team will develop and grow like a family. Doing so will encourage ownership and empower them to stick at it when times get tough rather than walking away. Families are forever, jobs are not. Fearless Leadership - Don’t be scared to have the tough conversations and make the tough decisions. Have the conversations that need to be had to ensure that your people are meeting the expectations of the business and your team. Flexibility - The more you can create a working environment where they can have the flexibility to work their chosen hours the more likely you are to retain them. Time at your desk isn’t a measure of success, outputs are.

g Goals - Ensure you have clear SMART goals for them to achieve - Make sure they are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time Lined, to ensure they know when they have achieved them. Celebrate with them when they have, don’t move the goal posts. That is the fastest way to demotivate a team. Great leadership - Great leaders don’t always need to lead from the front. At times leading from the back can help people achieve the greatest results. Guide - Guide their development to empower them rather than dictate and tell them what to do.

h Hear - when they speak, hear what they say - don’t think of your response whilst they are talking. This validates them and shows that you respect them. Hierarchy - Do not come from an authority presence. People like to be independent - whilst you are the boss, respect them and show them that they are the ones who determine how they experience your environment. Honesty - Be honest with them. People tend to place a high priority on honesty and therefore appreciate it.

i Independence - People enjoy their independence. As long as they continue to to reach your desired outcomes allow them as much independence as they require. Influence - Influence their thinking, decisions and behaviour rather than dictate. Intention - Set out clear intentions for all communication before you begin. Know what your desired outcome is. Interest - Show interest in them as a human being. Know what’s going on in their life.

j Judgement - reserve and only pass judgement when you are 100% certain of the facts. Do not act on ‘he said, she said’ stories. Get the facts and then address accordingly. Justice - Many people have a strong sense of justice and fairness, so ensure that your decisions are always fair and just for all team members.

k Kindness - Little random acts of kindness go a long way with your team. Knowledge - Share your knowledge and offer them a development plan. If they feel you are investing in them, they will invest in your company. Know your people - The more you take the time to get to know them the more respect they will hold for you as their leader. The simple act of addressing your employees by name will help drive your workplace culture.


l Laugh - When everything is running smoothly and people are meeting expectations, make sure you take the time to have a laugh with them. This makes the energy and atmosphere light and fun. Lead by example - Do as you expect them to do. If you reprimand for something you do, then you loose all credibility. Listen to them - Show that you are interested in what they have to say. People can often have valuable insights from a different perspective that may just be valuable to your business.

m Make a difference - The more opportunity people have to make a difference in the world the happier they will be. If your company provides that opportunity, it will be another incentive to stay. Manager - Be the manager and know your numbers. Know where you are and where you are going. Know your business inside out, better than any one else. Meetings - Only hold meetings that have a clear ‘desired outcome’ and agenda. Do not waste yours or their time if there is no clarity in what you want to achieve. Micro managing - If they are competent and capable, this will demotivate them. Give them the space to make mistakes and ensure they learn from them. This is your investment in them.

n Negativity - Is not acceptable and is a nonnegotiable. A negative attitude will spread like wild fire if you don’t address it immediately. Never Raise Your Voice - Yelling will disengage them and they will put their defences up. Think clearly about how you need to address the situation and do it in an unemotional and calm state.

o On The Job Learning - Make yourself available to provide coaching and mentoring tips to ensure learning happens ‘on the job’. Opportunity - provide opportunities for advancement based on performance, never on longevity. Optimism vs Pessimism - Be who you expect your people to be. An Optimist sees the opportunity in each challenge. The pessimist sees only the challenge in an opportunity. Organised - Be organised, know what you are doing at all times. You will loose respect very quickly if you appear disorganised. Ownership - Take ownership and responsibility for all problems and mistakes in your business and credit your people for the wins.


p Performance review - Ensure that you have a clear and regular time frame in which to provide thorough feedback. Include in your feedback measurable (SMART) goals to improve so they know how to improve. Person-to-Person- Ensure they have the opportunity to interact with people who can give specific and customised feedback. Plan - Be organised and plan! Plan your day, your meetings and your communication. Praise - Praise good behaviour - acknowledge and recognise the behaviour you would like to see more of. Remember to praise in public, reprimand in private.

q Quality not Quantity - with everything. Quicker Decision Making - People prefer to work in an environment that will consider gaining consensus across the organisation as a strategy for decision making rather than the traditional top- down approach and therefore will appreciate that style in a leader, where possible. Quintessential Leader - live and breath leadership, it’s who you are that matters along with what you do. Quit - As long as they show the right attitude and behaviour reassure them that you will not quit helping them.

r Regular Reviews - Ensure you are conducting reviews regularly. Relationships - Nurture your relationship and they will flourish. See them as an emotional bank account, you must make deposits (positive communication) before you can make withdrawals (negative communication) Don’t allow your relationships to go into deficit. Respect - Treat them as you expect them to treat you. Imagine their partner/family member is listening to you communicate with them. Reward/Recognition - Reward and recognise performance. This will drive more of the same behaviour Risk - Be aware of the risk that any decision will create. If you are aware of the risk you are better positioned to manage it should the need arise.

s Self Awareness - Ensure you have substantial self awareness, if you don’t learn and grow yourself, how can you expect those around you to do so. Short Attention Span - In this day and age, people can have a short attention span, so ensure that your communication is short, clear and succinct. Strategies - Ensure that you’ve set clear, actionable strategies to achieve your desired goals and vision. Structure - Provide a structured environment. In a structured environment your people will feel safe and be able to focus on performing rather than just surviving. Survival mode does not produce results. Support - Ensure that you provide a high level of support for your team to achieve your high expectations.

t Teach - Teach with stories, the more you can communicate with them through stories the more they will retain and your culture will develop. Time - give them time to speak, give them your time to help them succeed by listening and offering advice and solutions. Training - Help them develop, gain new skills and improve. Ultimately that is what people are looking for in a working environment a company that will invest in their development. Transparency - The more transparent you can be as a leader and a company the more respect you will gain and therefore your people will enjoy your environment. Turnover - Staff leave leaders, not jobs. If you have a high staff turnover, it’s time to change your leadership style.

u Understand - Seek first to understand, then to be understood. You have two ears and one mouth, use them in that proportion. United Front - With your next in charge ensure that you are always on the same page, singing the same tune. Otherwise they will play one off against the other like children do with parents.

v Variety - The more variety you can incorporate into their role the happier they will be. Victory - Celebrate victories with them and recognise them when they have done a good job, especially when they aren’t expecting it. Vision - Have a clear vision and communicate it regularly. If you don’t know where you are going, how can you expect them to want to come along for the ride. Vulnerable - be human, you don’t need to be perfect - admit when you make mistakes - it’s the best way to gain and maintain their respect.

w WIIFM - What’s In It For Me - When ever you have to communicate a change to them, ensure you include the WIIFM aspect. Wins - Celebrate all wins, no matter how big or small.

x Xamine - Help them analyse their business, where they are doing well and where they need to improve. Give them solutions to improve.

y Yes - Say yes if you can, save No’s for the big things. You will get more out of them that way.z Zig when others Zag - To be an effective leader - do what others don’t expect you to do and the opposite of what other leaders are doing

Dear Reader,Thank you for taking the time to read this book. I trustyou found the suggestions valuable.If you require clarity on any aspect of this book pleasefeel free to contact me.For more information about developing your leadershipskills email me at [email protected] go toau www.leadershipskillsreducethebills.comTo your success always,Lisa Wiking Author,Trainer, Coach and Speaker0408 711 769