Leadership Practical Leadership Skills by Chris Croft

Leadership & Management

• Captain of the Ship Metaphor: Leaders are responsible for everything within their domain; if things go wrong, it's the leader's fault. They must establish systems and training to ensure quality, rather than doing everything themselves. A good leader isn't about doing every task personally (like making every bed on a ship); it's about ensuring systems are in place, people are trained, and there's a clear vision.
• People, Systems, and Vision: Effective leaders focus on having the right people in the right roles, effective systems in place, and a clear organizational vision. Leaders are responsible for people, systems, and vision.
• Delegation: Key for leadership; avoid doing every task. Instead, establish systems and train others to ensure quality. Effective delegation involves giving authority and responsibility, without micromanaging and ensuring the team understands the task's purpose. Empowerment builds ownership. Common mistake: taking on too many "monkeys" (problems that should be solved by the team member). Instead, challenge them to solve the problems, asking about previous attempts.
• Monitoring: Leaders must monitor progress and performance, for example, "Management by Wandering About" (MBWA). Leaders are ultimately responsible for everything within their area. Regular monitoring and having the right people and systems is vital.
• Management Style Options: Leaders can choose different styles for planning and execution, ranging from extensive planning and control to allowing freedom. Styles for planning include "Tell," "Sell," "Consult," and "Delegate". Styles for doing range from requiring checks before action to complete autonomy. Choose a style fitting the situation, skills, and experience of the team, and urgency of the task. Adjust styles as team members gain experience.
• Freedom Ladder: Control levels range from requiring checks before action to allowing complete freedom. The level of control a manager exerts adjusts based on employee performance and competence. Different approaches are possible throughout the planning and doing process.
• Delegation vs. Abdication vs. Empowerment: Delegating is safe; abdication is to be avoided (avoidance of responsibility). Empowerment is vital, building trust and ownership from employees.

Motivation

• Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs: Leaders should build up their team's needs from the bottom of Maslow's hierarchy (survival, security, social, status) to allow them to reach self-actualization. Security is a crucial aspect to motivation, do not take it away for more productivity. People's lower-level needs (survival, security, social) must be met before addressing higher needs (status, self-actualization). Leaders can ensure basic needs are met.
• The Management Potato: Praise strengths, support improvement. Focus on areas of excellence and be positive about weaknesses. Instead of criticism, prompt self-reflection by asking "What will you do differently next time?" and following with "I'll help you next time, if it goes wrong, it is my fault. I will teach you through it" to avoid turning people into "prunes". Positive reinforcement with praise, focusing on improvement, rather than criticisms. Avoid the "sandwich" method (positive-negative-positive).
• Motivation Through Vision: Vision is a core component of motivating others. Money is not a primary motivator aside from meeting basic needs—motivation comes from understanding the "why" behind the work.
• Focusing on strengths, not just weaknesses: Highlight areas of excellence and competence.

Communication & Feedback

• Importance of Thanking: Thanking is important for all needs levels in Maslow's hierarchy; reinforcing positive behaviors contributes to self-actualization.
• Involving People: Involve people in decision-making for motivated employees.

Negotiation & Selling

• Negotiation Principles: Set limits, listen more than talk, have the other party open first (offer beyond the ideal), Trade concessions, be nice. Be careful of round numbers.
• Sales Principles: Thorough preparation is crucial (research, early arrival, smart attire), building rapport within the first 30 seconds is important, active listening and understanding customer needs, connecting features to benefits, and having a closing line. Handling objections using the "peel the onion" method and the "feel, felt, found" method. Ask probing questions to understand needs.

Project Management

• Task Lists: Crucial to project success; create detailed task lists, using tools like brainstorms and work breakdown structures. Avoid using "ongoing".
• Reducing Duration: Consider increasing resources, reducing quality/scope, or overlapping tasks when faced with shorter deadlines (crashing), while maintaining a margin of safety.
• Resource Planning: Use Gantt charts or "Gantt of Gantz" to plan resources and prioritize projects.
• Risk Management: Identify, assess, mitigate potential risks. Score risks based on likelihood and severity and develop mitigation plans.
• Progress Monitoring: Track progress against plans, using Gantt charts; consistent color-coding for completed tasks.

Time Management

• Importance vs. Urgency: Prioritize tasks based on importance and urgency.
• Goal Setting: Set clear, ambitious, and enjoyable goals. Combine work and personal goals.
• Resisting Unimportant Tasks: Learn to say "no", negotiate, and spend more time on more important tasks. Focus on important tasks and negotiate with, or reduce, tasks that are not important.
• Overcoming Procrastination: Use strategies such as visualization, delegation, task breakdown, and routine to overcome procrastination. Break tasks down, make them visible, and begin with the most difficult task. Set boundaries with email, checking at set times.

Monitoring Progress & Tight Grip Strategies

• Freedom Ladder: Adapt management styles based on employee performance and competence using a freedom ladder.
• Tightest Grip Options: Master list, daily list and MBWA to manage oversight.

Situational Leadership

• Tannenbaum and Schmidt model: Model to help plan tasks and consider the level of freedom for planning & execution, with different options for planning and doing.
• Banana Model of Boredom: Practical model related to Tannenbaum and Schmidt.
• Tell vs Delegate: Different leadership styles ("tell" and "delegate"); good delegation involves focusing on the task and the person, giving budget, constraints, and reporting procedures, checking for happiness and motivation. Avoid interfering by instructing the person on how to execute the work (lack of trust).