In honor of Barack Obama’s inauguration day, I’d like to bring your attention back to a Dot Connector post from last summer, 7 Leadership Training Tips from Barack Obama.
In that post, I discussed Barack Obama’s leadership style during the campaign, using excepts from a Fortune Magazine article. You’ll see my interpretation of how these leadership training tips can apply to you.
Enjoy!
Do you like to learn the leadership styles of successful people? I find them incredibly interesting as well as a good reminder of core leadership training tips and tricks.
In this article, learn about Barack Obama’s leadership style, via excepts from a Fortune Magazine article that these tips were drawn from. Also, see my interpretations and opinions on how these leadership training tips can apply to you.
Excerpt from the Fortune article: When Barack Obama was selecting his closest advisors, he told each person he wanted zero drama-meaning no backstabbing, damaging media leaks or anything that would detract from the campaign.
Try this: Ask yourself, do you create drama or avoid it? You can get a lot done as a team member and as a leader by ignoring drama and actively working to reduce it. How? Use metrics (i.e. reportable numbers) in your work to completely dissolve “arguments of opinion.” Build effective work relationships. If you’re already in a leadership position, then lead without surprises.
Excerpt from the Fortune article: Obama emphasized his grassroots approach by bringing organizers onto the stage as well.
Try this: Actively look at those around you. Who has done a great job, but maybe hasn’t been recognized? Perhaps there’s someone who just achieved a personal milestone, but something you’ve already done in your career. Take the time to notice them for it. You don’t have to do it publicly – even dropping a simple card in their mailbox is a great way to praise those who don’t expect it.
Another idea: when was the last time you recognized someone in a meeting for the work they have been doing?
Excerpt from the Fortune article: Like a tough law professor, Obama will call on staffers who haven’t spoken up.
Quite often, the best ideas are not spoken, and that’s a shame. Sometimes, the only way you can effectively engage people in a meeting is to call on them. Yes, there will be times that this will not work. The person will just go along with the flow of what was already said, or decline to comment. However, the best ideas are the ones that are most vigorously debated. Other times, you can have a moment of obvious clarity – a “duh” moment – just by reflecting on a random idea from someone in the meeting.
Try this: for one day, conduct your day as if it’s your responsibility to get participation in meetings. You are the “host” of the “party” for that day – trying to connect people with different ideas around a common purpose. Reflect on what you learned at the end of the day – you might be surprised at what you are able to accomplish.
Excerpt from the Fortune article: National finance chairman Penny Pritzker said Obama decided he wanted to run the campaign like a disciplined business.
Especially in the Web Marketing world in which I work, plans change weekly, daily, sometimes hourly. However, having a bigger plan, and over-arching vision, dramatically improves your effectiveness. Anyone can get work done. Some of those can get work done well. However, it’s a rare person who can get effective work done. What is effective work? Work necessary to achieve your goals, your team’s goals, and your organization’s goals at the same time. If you have a bigger goal or plan, you’re much more likely to maintain focus and become effective at what you do.
Excerpt trom the Fortune article: If he’s happy, you know it. If he prefers to do something different, you know it, says (Valerie) Jarrett (an Obama campaign advisor).
Adopt a new style immediately: let those that you work with know exactly what you know and exactly how you feel. This is especially true with leaders. Far too often, we have a tendency to hold back criticism or praise, fearing how the person will react. Delivering both quickly is one of the keys to being a successful leader – whether you lead people or projects. If you hold back criticism, you prevent the person from being able to grow and react to it. When you hold back praise, you limit the person’s feelings of self-worth.
Remember: people rise to the expectations you set for them.
Excerpt from the Fortune article: The idea for Obama University, a unique training program for first-time fundraisers, came not from campaign leadership but from three supporters…
Do you truly allow new ideas to impact you? It’s very easy to bias ideas based on their source. Don’t do it! Keeping a dramatically open mind is a key to growth and productivity. Listen to your Clients, listen to your teammates, listen to your partners and vendors, and listen to anyone and everyone you come into contact with. Within every email, conversation, etc. that you have are ideas that can help you.
Excerpt from the Fortune article: He wants to see disagreements aired in front of him.
I recently had a disagreement with a teammate about how we were interacting with each other. I was forcing my point and forming an opinion about how this person was reacting to me. Then, after a talk with another teammate, I realized I hadn’t been doing myself what I had expected from this person. To say the least, it was a humbling experience, as I pride myself on treating others as I would like to be treated. If I hadn’t genuinely listened, and opened up my mind to being wrong, I never could have resolved the situation or learned from it.
Bottom-line: be humble enough to be wrong.
I’m often asked what books I would recommend for Project Management, Personal Productivity, and Business Strategy. Here are a few of my favorites:
Project Management Books
The Project 50 (Reinventing Work): Fifty Ways to Transform Every “Task” into a Project That Matters!, Tom Peters
Getting Real: The Smarter, Faster, Easier Way to Build a Successful Web Application, 37signals
The Leadership Challenge: How to Keep Getting Extraordinary Things Done in Organizations, James M. Kouzes and Barry Z. Posner
Leading with the Heart: Coach K’s Successful Strategies for Basketball, Business, and Life, Mike Krzyzewski
Business Strategy Books
Only the Paranoid Survive: How to Exploit the Crisis Points That Challenge Every Company, Andrew S. Grove
Your Marketing Sucks, Mark Stevens
Good to Great – Why Some Companies Make the Leap…and Others Don’t, Jim Collins
Microsoft Secrets: How the World’s Most Powerful Software Company Creates Technology, Shapes Markets, and Manages People, Michael A. Cusumano and Richard W. Selby
Body and Soul: Profits With Principles-The Amazing Success Story of Anita Roddick and the Body Shop, Anita Roddick
Personal Productivity Books
The 4-Hour Workweek, Tim Ferriss
All I Really Need to Know in Business I Learned at Microsoft: Inside Strategies to Help You Succeed, Julie Bick
Lifehacker: 88 Tech Tricks to Turbocharge Your Day, Gina Trapani
The Art of Connecting – How to Overcome Differences, Build Rapport, and Communicate Effectively with Anyone, Claire Raines, Lara Ewing
I know, the last think you need is another meeting. Well, listen up, because this meeting is worth having! What is it?
Got a large project you’re managing? Maybe a series of smaller projects, all for the same goal/Client/etc? Just schedule 1 hour, once a week, to meet with the appropriate stakeholders involved. This is your time to shine, your time to show how much you’ve completed, and your time to present new ideas and get buy-in!
If you think about your work in terms of the priorities I’ve outlined previously, then you inevitably have Clients (internal or external to your organization) that you have to work with. Here are some examples:
You see, wherever you work, you’re bound to have Clients.
Now, to manage and complete successful projects for your Clients, you need to foster accountability to each other. A weekly meeting does this for two major reasons:
I know this is a simple idea, but it’s a powerful one. One of the first things I do when assessing a project that has gone off course is see what type of weekly meetings are in place. Typically in these situations, there are none. And, once this sort of meeting is implemented, many project issues tend to go away!
Weekly meetings are a great step toward successful completion of your project. Try them, you’ll see!