We often make the mistake of thinking that leaders should already have all of the answers. If you want to be a truly influential leader, don’t hesitate to ask questions! Often when we think we don’t have a lot to contribute to a discussion, we hesitate to ask questions. This is a big mistake, […]
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Many times we hold back on asking a question because we don’t want to look uninformed. We don’t want people to think, “They should already know that!” Even savvy business consultants sometimes fall into this trap. But asking questions is critical to both being perceived as a leader, and to getting the information you
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Anyone can lead when everyone is on the same page – that doesn’t take a lot of finesse. What distinguishes a truly effective leader is a facility with handling disagreements and outright conflict. Previously I discussed avoiding the ‘but’ in your argument to help you be more effective in disagreeing professionally. Here’s another powerful
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Five Types of Questions to Add to Your Influencing Toolkit In our last tip, we discussed how powerful questions can help you as a leader and coach. Now let’s explore specific types of questions that are most effective to ask when you want to influence others, and when to use them. 1. Low-Structured Questions
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In order to be a great leader, you want to be masterful at going beneath the surface to really understand your people and the issues they face. It’s not enough for a leader to utilize the process of coaching. The key is to become a masterful coach. There are certain skills that will
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Don’t Settle For Just “Listening” In our last Influential Leadership entry, we discussed how critical it is to incorporate coaching into our leadership style. One of the most underrated coaching skills, equally important to developing client relationships and managing people on your team, is the skill of listening. Did you know that there are different
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Avoid This Mistake When Managing Others You may already be a leader who directly supervises a team of professionals. If you don’t supervise anyone now, this most likely WILL happen as you increase your influence and effectiveness in your organization. Most good managers are good at directing the people they supervise. They tell their
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Disagreements can be unpleasant. Disagreeing the wrong way can create bad feelings and sour a relationship. Avoiding a disagreement can be just as bad. You can mislead the other person into believing you support their ideas, destroying trust when they realize their mistake. This doesn’t even have to have been an active attempt
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Own Your Mistakes…Without Excuses Apologies can be awkward. However, owning up to your mistakes in a very professional way is one of the most important career moves you can make! True leaders don’t hesitate to own up. Think of the famous Tylenol poisoning case. In many ways, Johnson & Johnson didn’t even make
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Have you ever been in a meeting where you were trying to influence the other person, and you noticed that they: Glanced at the computer screen while you spoke? Took phone calls or answered emails? Picked up items from the inbox to process? Got interrupted by a knock on the door? In any way seemed
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