Kevin, regarding the above, you hit the head on the nail. And there you have it! In my work situation, I am good about following all but one of those tips, which I will not discuss here, lest I digress.

Anyways, the problem I’ve seen time and again, regarding leadership is that: a) there is virtually no consistent communication skills betwixt themselves, and b) I swear the leaders way at the top of the food chain tell their store managers to be sure to check all common sense at the door, prior to going inside.

Steve #5, I regard this as “stepping outside of the box.” There is truly nothing wrong with doing this, as long as the project is done correctly and in a timely manner. Anytime I am given a task, I find a way to do it as efficiently as possible; if I have to do it, then let me do it the way that it’s comfortable for me.

Management and leadership are usually orthogonal activities and sometimes they actually clash.

Managers who focus more on status than their work aren’t leaders. Hell, most managers who do a wonderful job of management also aren’t leaders.

Anyway…

Your post made minor mention of a point that I think needs emphasis–the need for a title.

I see so many managers (leaders) out there who are more “into” having the title than they are doing the job.

I have spent the better part of my professional life in management and one of the best things I’ve learned over the years is a line I use with my subordnates all the time. I tell them that “Our jobs are almost exactly the same, I just have a little bit more responsibility than you do.”

And I believe those words and I live those words on a daily basis. A manager willing to get down in the trenches with his subordinates will have their respect forever.

My second thought is that your ideas are very good ones, but in moderation. Speaking up at most meetings is a good idea – having to say something at every one, or not being able to shut up makes you look like a narcissist or blowhard.

And if you’re not careful, you can be manipulated by your coworkers into being the voice of criticism when they don’t have the guts or don’t want to look bad – and while you’re only saying what EVERYone else is saying, you end up with the label as a troublemaker or jerk. I learned this the hard way in grad shool – I should have known that B-school would be fraught with the kind of people to do sneaky stuff like that. Anyway, I could always be whipped up by hearing everyone complain about something, but not do anything. Turns out I was helping resolve the situation for them, but while they benefited from my speaking up, they left me swinging in the wind looking like a jerk who liked to complain, and pretended they had no problem with the situation. Nice. I caught on (slow but not stupid!) finally and learned to shut my mouth, and gosh how weird that people had to learn to stand up for themselves! That one was a bit of a bitter lesson for me, and now I watch to make sure that the hand on my shoulder isn’t actually reaching for my back to stab me :)

I’ve used this one very often. It’s good for everyone, including the person offering the compliment because it breeds instant favor and loyalty from the listener.

What I’ve found to be effective is offering compliments to people who are somewhere in the middle of the pack as far as production. A lot of people are sitting in the middle because management isn’t willing or able to outline proper or doable expectations or directions. A lot of people are floating within an environment of weak or confusing leadership.

When you compliment such a person, it gives them some direction–some of them may never have heard a compliment from anyone for any number of reasons. What ever the reason, when a person who normally doesn’t get compliments suddenly gets one, performance usually increases.

Sometimes managing such a compliment may seem like a stretch, but the outcome usually more than justifies the compliment. People seem to step up when they’re given a pat on the back.

It’s a mystery why more managers don’t put this into practice.

I tend to behave this way myself. Lately I have developed the ability to be “on task” more though so my overall performance is better.

Routine type workers (what my coworker calls “worker bees” which is not a disparagement as she refers to herself this way) are extremely valuable in any organization and do the bulk of the actual operations work. It’s good to have some dreamers on board too to help deal with changing conditions or alternative possibilities for, perhaps, redesigning the routine. Of course in most organizations, “dreamers” do a lot of worker bee stuff too because 95% or mor of most work *is* worker bee stuff.

Also, not all of these suggestions would work in every workplace. My coworkers, for example, are not too timid to volunteer for tasks they are interested in. When there’s a task that nobody volunteers for, 99% of the time it’s because really, truly, nobody wants to do it, because everybody recognizes that it’s going to be tedious and unpleasant, with relatively little glory at the end. If I volunteered to take on all these tasks, I’d get a reputation not as a leader, but as a doormat.

@Stephan F–you criticize your fellow committee members for their lack of action or reluctance to give feedback, but have you considered what you may be doing that could elicit that kind of response, or lack of it? Pushing and prodding can be easily interpreted as bullying, and that doesn’t encourage cooperation.