April's Business Discussion Group's Recap

Our April 2010 Business Discussion Group's discussion centered around staff development and the book Developing the Leaders Around You by John Maxwell. A few of our discussion question are as follows:

1. Let’s first discuss “what characteristics do you look for when identifying or selecting potential leaders?” “Who should you invest your time in?”
o Task-oriented skills vs. People-oriented skills
o People who are

 

• Trainable
• Results/Outcome oriented
• (demonstrate) Abilities and desire
• Personable and have good interpersonal skills
• Credible and honest

2. How do you go about developing them? What techniques to you use? (formal training vs. informal methods)

• Give them feedback and where necessary make any adjustments
• Communicate, communicate, communicate
• Define expectations and measurements --> track progress against measurable expectations regularly
• Provide balanced, positive feedback that results in improved results

 We wrapped up our discussion with the following “take-aways”:

• Share your vision and expected outcomes with your employees
• Check in with your employees regularly through meetings and progress reports
• Share the long-term and short-term goals and break them down into manageable milestones
• Communicate (constantly) regularly; you can’t communicate too much! Specifically,

             - Clearly communicate expectations

             - Communication how they fit in the organization

                (especially if there has been organizational or staffing changes over the past year)

             - Also communicate how their role may evolve in the coming months/year

             - Communicate face to face – make sure you are getting enough face time with your employees

               (beyond email, texts and phones)

             - Make difficult staffing decisions --> Have the courage to make staffing changes if

               things aren’t working

 

Thanks again for a wonderful discussion. Please keep the discussion going by adding your comments to our blog!!!

 

Sue Smedinghoff