Inspirational Power ( Part 2 )

Time management is absolute crucial nowadays where business decisions have to be taken often at the speed of light, leaders have to find spare time to prioritize their actions , and time , well time is the scarciest of all resources.
Leadership should be about developing the ability to inspire people to reach high levels of performance and success .
Being able to dream a vision , having the passion to communicate that vision and concentrating the attention at key strategies , listening ,coaching, mentoring being an inspiration for others while managing the change culture of your organization. This are the skills and competencies that leaders clearly need to focus on..
To achieve this you have to free up time, which, actually seems to be a paradigm in current days.
So how can we best cope with this situation?
Managers who get caught in the trap of apparent excessive workload become prisoners of their routines.
John Lubbock the great English Anthropologist once stated that:
“In absence of clearly defined goals, we become strangely loyal to performing daily acts of trivia."
Managers, who do fall in that trap, rarely have time to spot opportunities. Their daily work routine prevents them from taking the first necessary step towards being a Strategic Leader; Developing the capacity to craft an idea and transforming it into reality.
Most cases of apparent excessive workload are originated not from managers' actual work situations but from how they cope with those same situations.
First of all You have to believe that You are not unbearable.
So why don´t You try and delegate more.
If Yo feel being trapped in apparent excessive workload this is so, because most managers are not able to influence the flow of those demands. It is a question of reacting instead of acting
Managers that take demands for granted and simply respond to them, rarely challenge themselves about the meaning these demands actually have , and if they really make sense or whether one could or should transform them. By being always "under fire," people never find time to ask themselves the vital Leadership question: "Am I busy performing the right actions ?"
We really need to frequently challenge ourselves about the usefulness for the business of some tasks we are performing.
And how can we best monitor the level of importance for the organization that a specific request is having ?
Well here are 6 Questions that helped me to prioritize projects troughout my working carrer. The answering of these questions helped me in evaluating the degree of priority for a specific demand or project.

— "What economic benefit will this action bring for the company ?
— "Is this action aligned with the company's Vision and mission statement ?"
— does it fit in the global startegy the company or department is persuing ?
— "How will it satisfy stakeholders?" How important is it to your boss, your team, and other interested parties?
— "What is my level of passion, skills , and energy for it?" If you can't bring all three to the table, if you're not going to achieve a high return on your efforts.
— "Do we have the resources?" Is there sufficient time, money, and any other necessary resources to accomplish this goal?

That should be one of the criteria that identifies a leader, the ability to question routines ?
The simple fact is that being busy is easier than not. Most managers cannot admit that a fragmented day is actually the laziest day, the day that requires the least mental discipline and the most nervous energy. A higher level of adrenaline gives us the perception that we are fully occupied and busy as time is passing by
It is basically a question of being entertained, and most people, we have to admit it, feel more comfortable not having to think about the usefulness of some tasks.
Answering to each new demand, providing an answer to the latest request , and complaining about excessive workload is easier than setting priorities, or reflecting about their relevance for the organization.
It makes us occupied and people like that status , being the center of attention, where people constantly ask them for assistance , information, or advice if the pack is moving in one directions Strategic Leaders need to stop and ask themselves: Why are they (we ) doing this ?


Strategic leaders deal in a different manners with requests and demands than their busy manager colleagues do. They need time to think and reflect. They look cool and relaxed giving the impression of being fully in control of the situation. Rather than simply responding to any issue that gets thrown at them, they handle their demands by :

-Designing a road map of how and when they want to achieve what in their jobs:


1.). For example, rather than keeping general goals in mind such as "sales increase " or "excellent customer service," , that are no better than wishfull thinking , they try to paint a general picture of how this objectives can be achieved, a vivid mental representation of your objectives that includes ways to achieve them. While reacting to demands can be distracting, the kind of personal road map that one needs to create should produce an up- side down effect: It allows you to allign short term actions with the long term strategy , so that You can immediately point out Your short term priorities and relate them with YOUR vision and longer term planning.
Such an approach is much more motivational and should produce better results as simply responding and reacting to demands and requests.
(integrate the diverse, loosely related goals for your short- and long-term responsibilities into one broad master plan. You can, therefore, relate immediate and short-term priorities with Your long-term purpose—which is ultimately much more inspiring than merely responding to demands.)


2.) All managers have to cope, to some extent , with more formal procedures and routine praised requirements—such as attending specific committee meetings and participating in certain events or functions). But many demands that you might accept for granted are not always necessary or even avoidable, sometimes You do have the choice to not being involved, You can do that by delegating , or simply turning the invitation down.
Strategic Leadership , by contrast, means that you take a closer look at what you choose to do or not do. That way, you create space for actions that are vital for the organization rather than executing tasks you like or find most familiar or easy.
It is important that You leave Your comfort zone and try to get used to more unfamiliar tasks. It is therefore important that you as a Strategic leader develop your change management skills and competencies. Set priorities among your tasks, aligning your activities with your Road Map.

Clearly defined priorities based on each task's urgency and significance.

3.)
Practicing Time management also means monitoring the daily time we spent interacting with others.
Reacting blindly and instantly to any demands that pops in is extremely time consuming and even exhausting as this means long lasting face to face discussions, telephone calls , etc.
This is one of the main reasons why people complain about the multiple interruptions they face during a regular working day.
Management is mostly about Team work , which means that a Strategic Leader must learn when, how and for how long one is available to spent time with his direct reports.
We often spend more time then really needed with our direct reports, often because we want others to consider us a caring good boss by being uninterruptedly available.
It is important that you provide them the feeling that YOU ARE THERE TO HELP THEM , ADVISE THEM , TO HEAR THEIR NEEDS AND SHARE THEI Concerns, but this should not be at any time , any place and any time .
Try to explain them that they have certain hours where Your door should be open for them , or if this is physically not possible due to space arrangements ( Open space offices ), then try to get some reserved , restricted time for You to reflect and analyze.

4.) There are managers out there , that constantly worry whether they are meeting others' expectations. They want to come under a good light at the group picture, by Trying to please everybody, these managers tend to get absorbed in speculations about what others expect, about the best way to meet those expectations, and the impact of not meeting them. The end result is that these managers fail, because in the quest of trying to please everybody they usually end up pleasing no one and ultimately do not find free time for following their one agenda.
Strategic Leaders, are aware that they can not meet every-ones expectations, instead they focus on their key stakeholders because these managers have the sensibility to know the influence these stakeholders have their capability of achieving their objectives.
Giving a strong and honest commitment to these key people implies having to say no to most of the less relevant ones.
The biggest advantage of this strategy is that by focusing on these strategic stakeholders You can actively shape your actions according to the demands of these persons, and ideally will be to combine this strategy with being proactive. To play on anticipation. .( the attack is the best defense ), action is better than reaction, Strategic Leaders present their own visions, projects and objectives before Their Key Stakeholders come across and present their demands.
This is a form of tailoring to your personal goals others expectations. Rather than arbitrarily building a relationship network with many individuals ,Strategic Leaders , opposed to what most managers do, deliberately focus their time and effort on building strong and close ties with people who can influence the achievement of their objectives .
This is a long term strategy that is based on the build up of a solid long term relationships, and Strategic Leaders spend a lot of time developing their personal networks
While such a form of building relationships might somehow be seen as a manipulative approach, it will , at the end , not work out without a huge portion of true warmth, respect, and, even some friendship.

Inspirational Power ( Part 1 ) … by Henrique Plöger Abreu

Probably, the greatest challenge to management in the next five Years will be to change quick and fast enough, in order to keep pace with new technologies, new markets and new corporate values
Information technology has already changed the business world.
Despite being at the eve of this change process, the impact will be much higher in the near future that what we have seen so far.
It will affect the way companies approach business how they will change society and even affect the rules of the game.
The result of this evolution is that business companies and their leaders must be more flexible in the way they will handle change management, meaning that strategic leaders will have be more flexible in dealing with complexity.

Customer focus has nowadays become a cliché among companies keen to win competitive advantage. But this issue deserves to be taken very seriously, as it disguises a shift from brand recognition to customer recognition. . Every business competing for a leadership role in the market they are operating is customer driven, customer focused, customer related, so what is new?
A new form of interacting with our customers, what I call an, “Intelligent Communication ”, should be the strategy to follow;
It helps if a manager has a sales background paired with good oral and written communication skills, but a dialogue consists in a interaction between 2 persons, in a typical business scenario between buyer and seller, and to have a dialogue one should also develop the ability to proper listen to people.
This ability, is, in my opinion, the key skill for success.
Managers generally like to hear themselves, but how can we develop a deep knowledge of our customer needs if we do not take proper time, focus and energy on really actively listen to what they have to say.
By doing this, You will become a better listeners and a more critical and creative thinker.
These are the basic elements of what I consider to be an intelligent dialog with customers
Managers daily face an endless exchange of ideas, messages, and information by dealing with their internal and external network day after day. How well they communicate can help determine whether their companies quickly grow into an industry leader or joins thousands of other businesses stranded in mediocrity.
Managers should, therefore, develop a deep understanding about what their customers wants and needs are, about meeting their expectations and key requirements, and ultimately, this focus should be the source of all the inspiration.
It is becoming more and more important to demonstrate your understanding of customers and your ability to build trust and loyalty with them.
Make sure that you have THE right story to tell to Your customers, as we are entering the “Age of the storyteller ” where the biggest challenge facing companies is how to tell, communicate their story in the most compelling, consistent and credible way possible.
Business is comparable to art, it should be seen as a stage, where every sell is a performance and where the customers will meet new selling experiences, will feel motivated and engage to interact with the seller and the desirable result of such an interaction should always be a win-win situation.
Basically companies are what they charge for, by competing solely on a price basis those same companies have been commoditized providing their customers the perception of little or no differentiation to the competition, and adding little value to their offers, be it a product a system or a service
The challenge for a modern business organisation should be to move to a situation where the customer starts buying from you rather than being sold to . . .
Business as usual is no longer a recipe for success.
Business relationship should be practiced as an act of friendship, rather than merely been seen as a simple process of negotiation. It is about connecting sincerely with people in, a profitable way, but caring for there needs, wishes, and not merely persuading or manipulating them to buy.
If we want to practice value based management, than we should realize that the value of product ranges and brands no longer lies just in their capacity to deliver better margins, but in their ability to develop business relationships which deliver the vital assets and resources that make the difference between perishing and prospering.
Therefore, and in order to stay current and close with our customers we should focus on the R of CRM and create a new form of selling “relationship ”.