What is your Leadership style? (self-assessment grid)

What is your Leadership style? (self-assessment grid)

Leadership styles are behavioral traits and personalities which are consistently exhibited by leaders in various situations. Jeremy Tozer explains these Leadership styles in his book “Leading Through Leaders: Driving Strategy, Execution and Change”.

These styles can be divided into 4 quadrants showing the Leader’s predominant style:

• Purposeful

• Inspirational

• Considerate

• Organized

View this self-assessment Grid on Leadership Styles (as per Jeremy’s book)

Purposeful Leader:

- Ensures that results are effective

- Focuses on inventing more than improving

- Challenges norms, anticipates and removes obstacles

- Values intellectual competence

Inspirational Leader:

- Ensures results are in line with values

- Focuses on helping people grow

- Champions the team to achieve results

- Values making a difference

Considerate Leader:

- Ensures that results help people

- Focuses on listening and on sharing information

- Is quick to praise, thank and reward

- Values the individual

Organized Leader:

- Ensures clear objectives, procedures and measures

- Focuses on continuous improvement

- Has a disciplined and efficient approach

- Values logic & physical competence

Leadership Divergence – these are polarities which drive Outcomes

Strategic Leadership         -> Focused on vision, values, mission. Designs changes

Collaborative Leadership  ->  Brings out the best in people. Inspires transformation

Directive Leadership        ->  Clear and firm. Helps overcome inertia

Tactical Leadership          ->  Monitors key task details. Causes incremental improvement

Too Much & Too Little of Leadership Styles

Un-Purposeful Leaders are AIMLESS

Over-Purposeful Leaders are FANATICAL

Un-Inspirational Leaders are DULL

Over-Inspirational Leaders are MESMERIZING

Un-Considerate Leaders are HARSH

Over-Considerate Leaders are GULLIBLE

Un-Organized Leaders are CHAOTIC

Over-Organized Leaders are MECHANISTIC

If you visualize the Leadership Style as a Grid on (x,y) axis, then:

AIMLESS, DULL, HARSH, CHAOTIC would be (0,0) on this (x,y) axis.

If max value of x and y is 3 on this grid, then:

FANATICAL would be (-3,3)

MESMERIZING would be (3,3)

GULLIBLE would be (3,-3)

MECHANISTIC would be (-3,-3)

How to improve Recruitment Quality

How to improve Recruitment Quality

·       Write a job description which gives a realistic preview of the work, and list down the key performance expectations. This gives candidates clarity and attracts those who are seeking this type of role as their next play

·       For broadcasting this job description choose the right medium – one which is frequently visited by candidates that match this type of role

·       Conduct a screening call to find-out whether the candidate has experience in the skills which are mandatory (3 to 5 must-have skills) for performing the role. During this call ascertain whether the compensation expectation matches the offered range

·       For interviewing of shortlisted candidates:

-  Ask detailed questions from the candidate’s recent projects to assess their performance on these mandatory skills. Rate how the candidate’s work and performance matches the job to be filled

-  Pick a ‘challenge’ which the candidate is likely to face in this new role - overcoming which will be critical for successful performance in this job. Ask the candidate to detail a situation in their current job when he/ she faced the same ‘challenge’, what specific actions the candidate took to overcome the challenge, and what was the outcome.

-  Pick 2 to 3 soft attributes required for the role. Ask scenario based questions (what-ifs) about situations needing proper utilization of these attributes. Listen to the candidate’s response and likely actions to be taken. Probe further in case of indistinct/ book-ish answers.

·       When the candidate is answering your questions, listen to the verbal tone and read her/ his facial expression to qualitatively ascertain soft traits such as: motivation, attitude, work ethic, learning ability, team adaptability etc.

Staffing Business: Trends and Opportunities

Staffing Business: Trends and Opportunities

Trends:

· Commoditization: Bulk hire, VMOs will shrink margins (/ fees) for average firms

· Social media usage will grow among Staffing company employees

· RPO & MSP: will be a growing trend as Recruitment becomes more Consultative

· Usage of Mobile Job Apps will ramp-up

Opportunities (& Recommended Action for Growth):

· Improving Recruiting Service level from ‘meeting the expectation’ to ‘exceeding the 

  expectation’  - will help in protecting your margins (/ fees)

· Inbound marketing: Blogging, content sharing etc. - will help in engaging your prospects

· Taking a Consultative approach (versus Transactional) in Recruitment – will help in 

  outperforming your competition

· Providing additional services: resource utilization analysis, conducting performance 

  appraisals, managing surveys etc. - will build value-added differentiation

· Investing in Sales Management and Coaching employees - will help in developing your  

  organization & enabling long-term growth

· Addressing client’s underlying needs in the Human Resource domain – will increase  your 

  visibility and clout inside the client’s C-suite

5 Best Practices for Sales Management

5 Best Practices for Sales Management

The challenge for Sales Managers has been to align the individual sales person’s behaviors to match with the company’s direction.

By driving an ongoing alignment of various teams inside your organization; Sales Managers could increase their business relevance to the customer.

 

Sales Management Best Practices:

·         Provide marketing support services (mailers, brochures, newsletters, social media) for your sales team to develop and close new opportunities

·         Empower your sales team with rich context (deeper client and industry insights) for enabling consultative selling

·         Align your internal staff for linking your company’s unique capabilities to your customer’s priorities

·         Use meaningful content (blogs, whitepapers, informative articles) for stimulating trusted conversations with prospective customers

·         Analyze outcomes and make requisite modifications to improve results

The Science and Art of making Important DECISIONS

The Science and Art of making Important DECISIONS

Sometimes we wonder what goes on inside us while we are in the process of taking important decisions which would have a major impact on us.

Our subject for this discussion is not those urgent situations where-in the decision needs to be taken IMPULSIVELY (fight or flight response). We are discussing only those decisions which require deliberation, consideration and forethought.

The Science of Deciding:

For these decisions our Frontal Lobes (right and left FRONT portion of the brain), Hippocampus, and Prefrontal Cortex is engaged. Also, through our nervous system our entire body is engaged: heart, gut, adrenal glands.

Left Lobe is the seat for: Numbers, Analysis, Reason

Right Lobe is the seat for: Art, Intuition, Feeling

Hippocampus is the Memory center - repository of past events

Prefrontal Cortex is the EXECUTIVE CENTER of the brain

The Lobes (right and left) engage the Hippocampus to provide past instances of similar or almost comparable situations encountered. The heart, gut, adrenals etc. send signals on how the whole body is responding to the thoughts taking place in our brains while we weigh the various paths or options. Now the Prefrontal Cortex takes charge and takes the decision.

The Art of Deciding:

Brains of different people function in a different manner viz. Emotional people tend to give emphasis to FEELING; whereas Logical people tend to give importance to REASON.

It’s important to analyze, understand, and accept our brain chemistry the way it functions when taking important decisions.

The key is to first internalize, buy-in and ACCEPT the decision AND then take the decision externally. Not the other way around: take a hurried decision AND then try to analyze and justify the reasons. Taking the former path will make you more empowered to take actions and more adaptive to the outcomes.

Internalize the decision to see how your body responds to it and what your gut feels about it. By knowing ourselves well - we will be more empowered to take important decisions which are in-sync with our core being.

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective EXECUTIVES

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective EXECUTIVES

You might have read Stephen R. Covey’s top-seller - ‘The 7 habits of highly effective people’. Taking inspiration from the same and adding my own observations and experiences, here are the 7 habits of highly effective executives:

Habit 1: They endeavor for excellence in their domain AND keep track of super performers in their market space

Habit 2: They learn from the past, focus in the present AND lead into the future

Habit 3: They welcome diversity of thought among stakeholders AND collaborate with them to achieve the business objectives

Habit 4: They build dignified relations in their business community AND earn respect among their industry peers

Habit 5: They ascertain performance based on metrics AND differentiate reality from hype

Habit 6: They hold a healthy balance between their individual & business interests AND maintain integrity with their personal values

Habit 7: They foster a learning culture in their organization AND actively seek solutions to overcome challenges faced in their business

Writing a good job description to attract matching candidates

Writing a good job description to attract matching candidates

Once a need is felt to hire or augment a team, there’s pressure to recruit immediately. This often leads Managers to write job descriptions in a rush. They tend to write generic statements based on a template, and at best specify some skills and years of experience.

The pitfall is that these general descriptions don’t give a clear picture of the must-haves and/or soft attributes of the job.

Here are some tips to write job descriptions that are fairly specific and sell the opportunity to candidates. It can also help candidates ascertain whether they are a match for the role.

Analyze previously successful candidates in this role and list 3 to 5 key responsibilities that the person has to perform on a daily basis. Consider various factors to analyze the role such as: knowledge required, degree of autonomy, crucial issues/ problems to be solved.

Next, list 3 to 5 mandatory hard-skills that the candidate must-have in order to qualify for this opportunity.

Then, list 2 to 3 soft-attributes which are required to be successful in this role. Choose from traits such as: quick learning ability, attitude, work ethics, team adaptability, innovative thinking, customer service, communication skills, social aptitude etc. These are unique behavioral factors based on the job type, organizational culture, team dynamics, department structure, market situation etc.

Next, in order to attract applicants give a glimpse of the growth path for this role, possibility to be involved in engaging projects; and added perks to be earned based on performance.

Lastly, write a few self-assessment criteria/ questions for the candidate to self-evaluate whether this is a matching opportunity for them.

Which SALES PERSONALITY fits your business situation: Hunter or Farmer or Developer?

Which SALES PERSONALITY fits your business situation: Hunter or Farmer or Developer?

Normally, we hear about two sales personalities: Hunter or Farmer.

Adding one more: Developer.

Hunters: They are aggressive pursuers of sales leads. Hunters are straight shooters who are well-suited for closing deals. In the short-term they could give a boost to your sales revenue. However, they are ill-suited for business situations which require ongoing relationship building or a differentiation-based approach.

Farmers: They are relationship managers who are good at maintaining existing business or expanding sales in current client sites. Farmers are more suited for Account Management roles in established client accounts. Also, they are suited in roles which need managing a preferred vendor relationship with clients.

Developers: They are builders of new business and revenue enablers. Developers are more suited for roles requiring a consistent pursuit for building new revenue streams. They are relationship enhancers who also rate high on customer service. Also, they progressively build the confidence with the client to position the company as the preferred choice.

So the question is: which type suits a company’s situation?

‘Hunters’ are best suited when you:

•  need to go straight for the ‘kill’

•  already have the credentials/ references to differentiate from your competitors

•  are selling one-off deals viz. cars, appliances, or other commodities

•  know that there’s not much innovation or differentiation needed

Farmers are best suited when you:

•  need to manage an existing business relationship

•  are harvesting revenue based on a preferred vendor contract

•  want to provide for the client’s already defined needs

•  are selling existing products to existing accounts

Developers are best suited when you:

•  need to make a differentiation on an ongoing basis

•  want to consultatively sell value instead of features

•  need to scope-out opportunities and customize your approach to achieve the objective

•  you want to build the relationship and close the sale at the right time