Today we dispatched the February edition of our Leadership That Works Newsletter, a curated digest of the best leadership links to read right now, sent at the end of each month. In this month’s edition: how to lead in tough times, why people are key to transformations, the five traits of well-being, and more. As always, we’re sharing the articles from our newsletter here in case you’re not subscribed to our mailing list. (If you like what you see, you can sign up to receive our newsletter here).
How to Lead in Tough Times.
Bill George writes in this HBS Working Knowledge article, “Traditional management methods seem no longer sufficient to address the volume of change we are seeing.” To lead effectively amidst unprecedented, “uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity”, leaders will have to embrace new methods that they don’t teach in business school. Helpfully, George outlines a primer for what skills are needed in this smart post.
The Secret Recipe for Transformation.
What’s the key to successful organizational transformation? Visibly engaged C-suite leaders are essential. But, they’re not enough, according to this McKinsey article. The authors find that the recipe for success requires,”employee buy-in at all levels, consistent communication, and better people strategies.”
**Interested in better people strategies? Follow this post up with our piece on influencing people with honor.
Lead for the Long Term.
Short-termism is a major threat to leadership and business success. While it’s easy to vilify CEOs for being too fixated on short-term results, most have good intentions. But, “they’re missing a practical road map to beat back short-termism and build enduring firms” argue our friends from the Center for Higher Ambition Leadership in this compelling Harvard Business Review Post. They offer the missing road map here with four effective practices for conquering short-termism and delivering enduring value.
Be Your Word.
Integrity is “not about right and wrong” — it’s about “honoring your word as your life” writes Chris McGoff in this SmartBrief post on doing what you say and being one with your word. It’s important to hone your integrity because it is essential to becoming a “peak performance leader” and McGoff provides a five-step process for getting on the right track.
** Want to lead with more integrity? Follow this up with our post on walking your talk and then test yourself with our leadership character checklist.
The 5 Traits of Well-Being.
A new study covered in this Independent article suggests that there are “five different personal paths to well-being. If you score high in any of these five personality aspects, you are probabilistically more likely to have high well-being across multiple aspects of your life.” What’s the takeaway for leaders? All five traits are also beneficial to leadership — and cultivating these five characteristics can likely help you to become a better contributor in your life, at work, and in your community.
You Don’t Have to Dread Negotiating.
There is a common misconception about what good negotiating looks like — that it’s “showy and cut-throat” — but the best leaders, and negotiators, know otherwise. They know that these types of interactions don’t have to be stressful and conflict-laden. In fact, great leaders understand that, “in order to live and work together, we need to learn to resolve our differences in productive, generative ways” writes Dean of the Kellogg School of Management, Sally Blount, in this actionable post in which she imparts six expert tipsfor more effective negotiating.
Plan, Don’t Drift.
Without a process for adding intention to our lives, we can become passive spectators in our life and leadership. Ultimately, this can result in what Michael Hyatt calls “drift” in this inspiring post. Luckily, you can get back on track, and begin to work towards your goals with intention and planning by following the three steps shared here.
**Interested in more strategies for approaching goals with intention and discipline? Follow this post up with our guide for reaching your goals and our post on how leaders can choose to do better.
Don’t Wait to Give Feedback.
When you’re the boss, your performance is dependent on being able to inspire high performance from your team. In this guest post on Jesse Lyn Stoner’s blog, Wally Bock provides ten actionable tips for better leadership — not least of which is to have tough conversations right away because, “most performance issues are not self-healing. If you leave them alone, they will usually go from bad to worse.”
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