Small Business In Action

“The challenge of leadership is to be strong, but not rude;
be kind, but not weak; be bold, but not bully; be thoughtful, but not lazy; be
humble, but not timid; be proud, but not arrogant; have humor, but without
folly.”

~ Jim Rohn

Good leaders are made not born. If you have the desire and willpower, you can
become an effective leader. Good leaders develop through a never ending process
of self-study, education, training, and experience. This guide will help you
through that process.

To inspire your workers into higher levels of teamwork, there are certain things
you must be, know, and, do. These do not come naturally, but are
acquired through continual work and study. Good leaders are continually working
and studying to improve their leadership skills; they are NOT resting on their
laurels.

Before we get started, lets define leadership. Leadership is a process by which a
person influences others to accomplish an objective and directs the
organization in a way that makes it more cohesive and coherent.

Leaders carryout this process by applying their leadership attributes. Although your position as a
manager, supervisor, lead, etc. gives you the authority to accomplish certain
tasks and objectives in the organization, this power does not make you a leader, it
simply makes you the boss. Leadership differs in that it makes the followers want to achieve high goals, rather
than simply bossing people around.

Achieving excellence through performance is accomplished in two major ways. The first way
is taking a proactive stance by unearthing or preventing counter-productive
methods. For example, you might implement diversity and sexual harassment
training programs before they become a problem within the organization.

The second way is to correct performance problems that arise within the
organization. This is accomplished by first, identifying the root cause
and secondly, implementing a plan of action to correct the problem. Although
people are our most important asset, it sometimes seems as if they are our
biggest headache.

There are four major causes of performance problems:

• Knowledge
  or Skills – The employee does not know how to perform the
  process correctly – lack of skills, knowledge, or abilities.
• Process
  - The problem is not employee related, but is caused by working conditions,
  improper procedures, etc.
• Resources
  - Lack of resources or technology.
• Motivation
  or Culture – The employee knows how to perform, but does so
  incorrectly.
•              Watch your thoughts; they become words.
  • Watch your words; they become actions.
  • Watch your actions; they become habits.
  • Watch your habits; they become character.
  • Watch your character; it becomes your destiny.
  • - Frank Outlaw

Maslow’s
Hierarchy of Needs

• 8.
  Self-transcendence – a transegoic
•  level that emphasizes visionary intuition, altruism, and unity
  consciousness.
• 7.
  Self-actualization – know exactly who you
  are, where you are going, and what you want to accomplish. A state of
  well-being.
• 6.
  Aesthetic – at peace, more
  curious about the inner workings of all things.
• 5.
  Cognitive - learning for learning
  alone, contribute knowledge.
• 4.
  Esteem - feeling of moving up
  in world, recognition, few doubts about self.
• 3.
  Belongingness and love - belong to a group,
  close friends to confide with.
• 2.
  Safety - feel free from
  immediate danger.

1. 1.
   Physiological - food, water,
   shelter, sex.