A professional and effective leader needs to develop strong business relationships with supportive colleagues.  A network of professionals can help expand a leader’s sphere of influence and enhance the ability to make a meaningful contribution within an organization or industry.

Credibility is the perception of trustworthiness.  To be credible, one must be honest and dependable, as well as willing and able to follow through on commitments.  A credible leader is perceived as a trusted source of information and expertise, possessed of the skills and knowledge needed to be successful in the role.

An internal network is a personal support system within the company, comprised of relationships with other individuals that allow access to information, resources, and tools.  An internal network may involve department peers, seasoned managers, colleagues and employees with different skill sets and expertise, as well as veteran employees with knowledge of the corporate structure.

It is important to build strategic relationships with the hierarchy of management in a company by communicating accomplishments, increasing visibility, and sharing information about the team’s progress.  This can enable a leader to serve as an internal advocate for the accomplishments of the team.

Building a positive reputation within the company helps with positioning oneself as a leader.

Example:

• Lead by positive example
• Behave like a leader, recognizing the influence you have on others to present a professional demeanor in appearance and behavior.
• Be prompt and punctual, and do not take inappropriately long breaks or make a habit of leaving early.
• Be honest about frustrations and setbacks but do not vent at the workplace or make inappropriate complaints about the company or higher-ups
• Assume all comments and correspondence are public and recorded and do not say anything you would not want repeated to the whole company
• Encourage optimism in your fellow employees.  Acknowledge concerns, but provide encouragement.

Credibility:

• Establish trust
• Be approachable, with a positive attitude and cheerful willingness to assist
• Advise colleagues of location during the workday, and ensure your schedule is available.
• Establish rapport via providing support and encouragement.  Get to know the people on your team and in your organization.
• Make decisions in a timely manner and respond to requests and questions promptly.
• Be a helpful resource

Network:

• Try to be included at meetings and be a visible presence in the department and company as appropriate
• Attend company gatherings and interdepartmental meetings as appropriate.  Introduce yourself.
• Identify those who can offer good advice and counsel as well as help you navigate corporate structure.  Ask pertinent questions to broaden your knowledge about other departments and teams.
• Identify helpful colleagues in other departments and reach out to those peers in a friendly, professional manner.
• Establish a good working relationship with key decision makers in the department.
• Ask pertinent questions.  Take an interest in what is happening in the company overall.

Visibility:

• Take advantage of opportunities to shine.
• Participate in company events
• Share good news regarding business matters, such as positive feedback from a customer
• Make it clear to management that you are interested in learning and growing as a professional.  Advertise your strengths and capabilities and offer yourself as an internal resource.  Be willing to do more, learn more, and offer more.

Social capital is the goodwill one creates internally within the company/team/department and with external groups like customers and vendors.  It has value for developing connections and networks.  Building social capital is done by investing in relationship with others, providing assistance, pitching in, and being an integral part of the corporate community.  Social capital is expended by asking for favors, advice, resources, or other efforts.

Workplace results are the measurable effects of labor, such as the contributions made to the success of the team, department, or company.  Some are easily measurable, such as sales figures, while others are more difficult, such as improved customer relationships.

It is important to build a store of good will within an organization to expand your sphere of influence and gain supportive colleagues that are invested in your success.

Honesty:

• Be professional at all times
• Tell the truth
• Do not gossip at work
• Speak in a polite and decent manner, avoiding profanity and anything else that will reflect badly upon you

Results:

• Follow through on promises
• Only make commitment that can be delivered.  It is better to promise less and deliver more.
• Maintain standards of excellence in all areas

Knowledge:

• Share your expertise and knowledge
• Don’t hide your talents
• Look for ways to expand your sphere of influence

Participation:

• Build social capital
• Volunteer
• Introduce yourself
• Serve on committees and help out on special projects
• Don’t wait to be asked, offer

A leader is looked at to solve problems.  Others look to leaders for guidance, advice, and direction.  Putting practical strategies to use on the job can help get a leader into the habit of coming up with multiple solutions to problems.  Developing as a leader involves developing skills as a problem solver.

Leadership that is solutions-oriented emphasizes the practical ability to get things done.  Mediating solutions to conflicts or disagreements, finding or acquiring resources, and innovating solutions are just a few of the ways a leader can solve business problems.   An effective leader is recognized by others as a consistent source of solutions to problems.

Mediating:

• Accommodating – agreeing to demands or giving in to complaints.  Effective when the strong feelings are all in agreement and the situation doesn’t matter to the rest of those in the team.  Not appropriate when buckling to pressure from a few vocal people or when it does not fairly represent the company’s needs.
• Avoiding – Ignoring the conflict or complaint.  Only appropriate when dealing with someone that has a history of chronic, unsubstantiated complaints and it is necessary to minimize their disruptive influence.  This is never a long-term solution.
• Cooperation – Helping two people in conflict work together to broker a solution that is acceptable to both parties and meets the company’s needs.  It may involve compromise on both parts, or involve a discussion of the pros and cons of each suggested solution.  It is most effective when there is data that supports one solution over another.
• Controlling – Listening to both sides and dictating the terms of the solution.  This is most effective when the issues are non-negotiable or based on rules and policies.  Not appropriate for complex interpersonal issues and not generally an effective long term strategy.  Works best as a short term solution during a crisis.
• Innovating – Resolving conflict creatively by creating new rules or new ways of working together.  It must be employed in a manner that does not violate company policy or create a precedent unacceptable to other leaders in the company.

Resolving problems is part of the role of a leader.

Solutions:

• Research similar problems and look to the past for previously successful solutions.  Learn from previous successes and mistakes.  Obtain information from those who have worked with similar projects.
• Instead of saying ‘no’, be willing to offer another suggestion or another option.  When pointing out an obstacle, point out a way to remove the obstacle.
• Solicit input from others by asking for advice and keeping an open mind
• Share information about positive results.

Persuasion:

• Advocate for your ideas by persuading others to adopt your point of view or implement your suggestions.
• Communicate your vision for success.  Link your ideas for improvement to corporate or department objectives and present supportive data.
• Demonstrate how your idea can streamline processes, save money, improve quality, leverage available resources, or help the company reach objectives.
• Share details of your plan so others can see how easy it is to implement your suggestions

Conflict:

• Act as a third party that can function as a peacemaker or mediator
• Remain neutral, keeping a good relationship with everyone involved
• Help others to focus on the work rather than on assigning blame
• Reach out to networks of experience for direction and advice for handling the issue, without breaching confidence
• Make suggestions for a resolution or compromise, if appropriate to your job role.

Response:

• Make decisions in a timely manner
• Respond to requests and questions as quickly as possible to demonstrate reliability
• Demonstrate your passion and commitment to work.  Be enthusiastic.

Collaboration:

• Make yourself useful
• Respond to requests for extra help or answers in a helpful and positive manner.  If you don’t know the answer, find it or someone who does know.
• Invest yourself in your team and get involved with the work that is being done
• Be willing to do the annoying or pesky tasks nobody else wants to do

Investment:

• Be an authority on your job role, your team’s work, your company, and your industry
• Develop specialized knowledge and expertise to set you apart from the herd.
• Get training or education to become an expert in your job role
• Attend company sponsored seminars and informational sessions
• Keep up with industry publications and informational websites

Effective communication skills are a critical component of a leader.  Leaders must be able to articulate their message in a clear and professional manner to work towards full understanding.

Active listening requires the focused listening to what a person is saying.  The speaker’s words must be heard, appropriately interpreted, and be confirmed as understood.  Active listening requires the conscious effort to convey interest in a person’s words and encourage the expansion of the main points.  Active listening does not involve snap judgments or arguments with the other person’s position.   The listener should focus intently on the speaker while he or she talks and not judge what he or she is saying.  Once the speaker has explained his or herself fully without having to worry about argument, the listener should restate the speaker’s words in the listener’s own words to ensure the listener understands what the speaker meant.  The speaker then feels as though the listener truly heard what the speaker had to say.

Words should be effective and chosen to accurately reflect what is meant.  They must be clear and unambiguous, as well as polite, professional, and inoffensive.  They should not rely on tone of voice or facial expression to properly convey the meaning and should not assume that the other person can follow the speaker’s train of thought.   Take the time and effort to ensure the clarity of a message.  Avoiding poor word choices includes avoiding vague or unclear words or phrases, slang, made-up terms, jargon, foreign terms not in common usage, and inappropriate used religious terms.

Feedback is the constructive response given to another person regarding their work, ideas, and / or performance.  Helpful feedback is an informed suggestion as to what could be done to improve or further excel.  It should focus on the work rather than be judgmental as to the person.  Feedback is most helpful when it is requested, and when the one providing the feedback has relevant expertise on the subject matter.

Overcommunication is providing more information about work than is absolutely necessary.  For a leader, overcommunication can be a good thing.  Transparency in work life helps keep everyone involved.  A leader should openly share details about projects and ensure other people understand the decision making process as well as the progress of the project.  Overcommunication becomes helpful when it prevents anyone in a work group from needing to wonder about work status or chase down an answer.

Avoid sarcasm.   Sarcasm obscures real meaning, and dilutes the message by distracting from what is actually being said.  Sarcasm can close down lines of communication and eliminate the opportunity for discussion.

Listen:

• Pay close attention when others speak
• Rephrase and repeat to verify understanding
• Take responsibility to ensure understanding rather than relying on the speaker to clarify
• Ask clarifying questions
• Use effective listening with everyone to ensure understanding of what is needed and to encourage others to that they are heard.

Clarity:

• Make effective word choices – Polite, professional, and appropriate
• Tell the truth, but tell it nicely, ensuring that words accurately reflect meaning
• Avoid regional terms, slang, made-up words, inside jokes, unknown foreign terms, or religious terms used inappropriately
• Think twice before speaking, taking a moment to collect your thoughts if necessary
• Reread emails before sending, reviewing for clarity

Feedback:

• Don’t criticize the work of others unless it is requested or in a management position that is specifically tasked with providing performance feedback.
• Provide a balanced view, offering positive comments as well as negative
• Offer specific ideas for improvement.  Suggestions should be practical.
• Provide clear explanations to support the feedback position
• Share success stories
• Ensure feedback is grounded in work or performance rather than in personal judgment.

Overcommunication

• Give more information that absolutely necessary
• Be very clear in all communications and answer questions fully
• Be transparent in work life, openly sharing details on projects and progress with all team members.
• Explain the decision making process to others
• Let people know where you can be found and what you are doing to ensure no one has to wonder about your work status or chase you down for answers.

Developing critical leadership skills can further professional development. Effective leaders:

• enjoy credibility
• have their ideas and actions taken seriously
• make significant contributions to organizational goals
• consistently perform at a level of excellence

Leaders, even if not employed in management or supervisory positions, are people others turn to for device and guidance. Regardless of one’s position in an organization, adopting the best practices of effective leadership can enable one to function more effectively.

Characteristics of great leaders:

• Strong moral code-dependable, accountable, sincere. More interested in results than credit. Ambitious but unselfish.
• Enthusiastic, flexible, passionate about accomplishing work.
• Emotionally stable-able to meet disappointment and setbacks with calm resolve.
• Intellectual-intelligent, creative, imaginative, perceptive, observant, decisive.
• Effective skills in communication, active listening, being helpful feedback
• Service oriented without being subservient
• Work resolutely toward results
• Social-assertive, cooperative, collaborative, persuasive without aggression
• Ambitious, competitive, comfortable with risk
• Set and keep high standards of behavior and performance

Sources of leadership authority:

• Charisma-strong personalities
• Expertise-demonstrated job knowledge-skills and trustworthy information
• Job Role-formal authority provided by company
• Tenure-longevity provided work knowledge and organization expertise

Effective leaders develop a clear vision for success, an image of what the finished product or services of the team should resemble.  A vision for success is linked to business objectives, including the scope of work, the resources required, and the processes or procedures that must be followed.

An effective leader is actively involved in all key aspects of work activity, taking a genuine interest in the work being done.  It is vital to understand the business objectives and to become a valuable resource to the team.

Great leaders must be able to ensure their team understands, shares, and embraces the same vision for success.  This buy-in implies that employees are fully committed to meeting the business objectives set for them.   Securing this buy-in ensures others in the organization will accept your ideas and implement your suggestions.