The Art of Leadership

By: Gina Kellogg-Gardner, MAOL

Art is infinite. An artist never reaches a point of complete mastery. The skill of an artist is in constant development; evolving and transforming, adapting to the moment and becoming fluently versatile in order to experience or achieve a brilliantly authentic outcome.

Leadership is art. Leadership, like all arts, takes patience, practice and persistence. The art of leadership is exhibited by modeling the way, inspiring a shared vision, fostering an environment of innovation, guiding others toward their own excellence and encouraging the celebration of success. To new leaders these artful behaviors can seem daunting and vague. However, the art of leadership can be taught to new leaders by helping them build five key fundamental skills early in their careers that will allow them to successfully adapt and become versatile amongst any given challenge. Take time now to teach new leaders foundational skills, and watch them achieve and succeed beyond unthinkable limits.

Five Foundational Leadership Skills:

1. Determine values: Help new leaders identify what they stand for personally and professionally. Facilitate them through a discussion that will guide them toward articulating their top three values. New leaders need to first understand who they are, and what they personal stand for, before they can effectively model the way.
   
   
2. Articulate vision: Teach new leaders how to describe the future. A new leader needs to learn first how to identify where they are headed, and secondly be able to describe their vision clearly and with conviction in
   order to inspire other
   
   
3. Seek ways to foster personal growth: Encourage new leaders to seek out ways to personally grow. Hold them accountable to following through on continuous learning opportunities. Advancing their education or reading the latest leadership books, choices are limitless.
   
   
4. Learn to partner: Teach new leaders how to identify the strengths of others, and how to align themselves with those who have talents they themselves may not have. Learning to partner fosters collaboration and respect, and diminishes the desire for silos.
   
   
5. Share wins: Ask new leaders to frequently share their successes with others. Meetings, emails or networking sites are great avenues new leaders can use to communicate personal or team wins. Professionally sharing wins helps to highlight the strengths of new leaders and builds confidence!

Industry News - Keeping up with it

By: Karen Rulifson

I just wanted to share a FREE and easy way to stay in touch with industry news and trends...SmartBrief.com. It's a resource that I came across about a year ago that I really appreciate! Based on my preferences, I receive regular emails that provide me with the latest articles and topics of my industry. It takes away the time and hassle of me having to google for articles, instead it comes right to my inbox. I know...it may sound like I'm getting paid to advertise for SmartBrief. I'm not. As SmartBrief states on its website: "SmartBrief publishes industry-specific email newsletters in partnership with leading trade associations, professional societies and corporations. It summarizes from the days most important industry headlines, handpicked from hundreds of newspapers and trade publications - straight to your email inbox as industry newsletters." The industries you can choose from span from healthcare to advertising, business, non-profit, retail, technology and many others. I registered for three newsletters: 1) National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO), 2) Leadership and 3) Workforce. If one of your goals this year is to increase your knowledge about what's happening in your industry, SmartBrief will be a win for you. The website to sign up is: www.smartbrief.com/signup/index.jsp

Tips for Today's Leaders

A new year. A recession and a new set of workplace challenges. Anxious employees. Needed is a new set of behaviors from leaders.

Out are the days of leading from the top and ordering the team to follow your ideas. Today's employees need and value collaboration, diverse ideas, providing input and inspiring and challenging assignments. In a recent Harvard Business Publishing article, "10 Mantras for Emerging Leaders in '09," Vineet Nayar lists guidelines for leaders. What especially resonated with me are the following:

• Accountability - Now more than ever, leaders need to model the way and walk the talk. They need to say what they mean, be transparent and follow through. This builds trust amongst the team.
  
• Lead from the front line - Know what's going on, understand the pain points of the employees and customers. This will help you make better decisions.
  
• Collaborate and ask questions - Utilize the talented team you have, gain additional ideas and insight, challenge processes. This will lead to innovation.
  
• Be nimble - Now more than ever, change is a constant. To be and stay competitive, one must adapt and be a leader of change.
  
• Be positive - People look to you for inspiration and motivation. Be the positive force that keeps them excited about the vision and purpose of what they do everyday.

Read the entire article by clicking here.

Karen Rulifson