Being a leader is about understanding what is going on around you.

In the military, it is called ‘Situational Awareness,’ Often, the people with the most pertinent information about the situation are those working for you.

Questions are powerful tools, and knowing how to wield them precisely is key to becoming a better leader.

How to ask?

If it’s about asking the questions, how do you ask the right questions in the right way?

1. Ask these questions like you care & want to know the answers. You’re not reading from a script; ask with authenticity.
2. You asked, so be prepared to hear answers that you may not like, but time to listen — openly and honestly.
3. The answer you need may not happen the first time you try. But if you ask sincerely and humbly, you will build trust & confidence. So ask regularly, and the quality of the information you gather will improve.

Read about the six things you need to communicate

What to ask?

1. What is your biggest accomplishment this month?

Why?

• This question provides a sense of forward motion and progress.
• When workers relate positive information, it gives them a sense of personal accomplishment.
• Answers give you both oversight and performance improvement potential.
• You have a measure if people contribute in the ways you need them to.

2. What’s your biggest challenge right now?

Why?

• You can begin to understand where the worker is struggling.
• You can learn about pinch points in an employee’s process, work, or company culture.
• It puts your conversation into problem-solving mode because when you know where your team member is struggling, you can do something about it.

Read how not to Eff Up talking to your people.

3. What things should we do differently, or what processes can we improve?

Why?

• People understand that things can be done differently, so being open to feedback from ‘below’ can be invaluable.
• When team members recognize that they can provide value beyond their job description, you can harness this power to improve the company.
• You may not always act on every suggestion, but you’re going to discover some things that genuinely need to change.

4. What resources would be helpful to you right now?

Why?

• By using the word “resources,” you’re opening the door beyond money.
• What you might think employees need is often different from what they want.
• Don’t assume the solution is more people or money, trust the people working on the project to understand what will solve the issue.

Read about how to listen.

5. Is there anything I can help you with?

Why?

• It lets your employees know you’re a human and care about their success and well-being.
• It allows you to understand any personal factors that may influence their work.
• It demonstrates you’re a real human being.
• You improve your working relationship with them by showing sincere interest in their life and improvement.

It’s tough economic times in my home province of Alberta due to a halving of the price of oil, yet there is a cautious consensus that things are stabilizing and people are starting to hire and grow.

Read more about talking to your people in tough times

As people start to hire, they are surprised to realize that there is as much business risk in growth as there is contraction; but what do leaders need to get the full advantage out of growing?

There is a minimal competitive advantage gained from strategy, technology, finance or marketing. These disciplines are essential as they can set one company apart from another, and knowledge of each has become ubiquitous and democratic. Any size organization has unlimited access to the best thinking and practices around those subjects.

The one remaining untapped, simple, reliable and virtually free competitive advantage is a healthy and robust leadership culture.

A leadership culture can eliminate politics and confusion from the environment, cause productivity and morale to soar and prevent good people from leaving. The most brilliant organization in the world can fail if it does not have a leadership culture – look at Uber.

I’ve seen it repeatedly when a healthy leadership culture will always find a way to succeed because it will tap into every bit of human intelligence it has. I have led volunteers & staff to respond to some of the most significant disasters of our time by unleashing human talent.

Why haven’t more companies embraced and reaped the benefits of a leadership culture? 

Quite frankly, it’s hard. It requires real work and focused discipline. Therefore it has no appeal to those looking for a quick fix.

But the biggest reason is that it requires courage. 

Leaders must be willing to confront themselves, their peers, and the dysfunction within their organization with honesty and persistence. They must be prepared to walk straight into uncomfortable situations and address issues preventing them from realizing their potential.

Read more about leading with courage.

What exactly does an organization have to do to develop a leadership culture? There are three simple but complex steps:

1. Build a Tight Leadership Team – Get the organization’s leaders to behave in a functional, cohesive way. If the people responsible for running an organization act dysfunctional, that dysfunction will cascade into the rest of the organization and success.

2. Create & Communicate Clarity – The second step for building a healthy organization is ensuring that the leadership team members are aligned and clear on the organization’s existence and the highest essential priorities. Leaders must eliminate gaps between them so that people have complete clarity about what they need to do to make the organization successful.

Then over-communicating that clarity. Leaders build a culture of leadership personally and consistently repeat themselves and reinforce what is important. This action sets leaders of healthy organizations apart.

3. Reinforce – Leaders must ensure that any process involving people, from hiring and firing to performance management and decision-making, is designed to support and emphasize the organization’s success intentionally.

Can an organization with a healthy culture of leadership fail? Yes. 

When politics, ambiguity, dysfunction and confusion are reduced, people are freed to serve clients, solve problems and help one another in ways that will leave unhealthy organizations behind as you turn the economic corner. 

Healthy organizations recover from setbacks, attract the best people, repel others, and create opportunities that, at the end of the day, create an environment of success.

Leadership is a concentrated experience. Everything you do is immediate, definitive and inexorably tied to your eventual success.

It’s critical that to be successful in business is to understand leadership. That means real leadership, not some watered-down TED Talk or watered down the flavour of the month corporate leadership fad.

You can read the summary below or watch Steve’s video:

Here are the five skills you need the most:

1. The skill of self-awareness

 Success begins within. When you have a sense of who you are, it invites you to do something about it. Having self-awareness amounts to be better advised. The more you know yourself, the closer you can become to being all you can be.

2. The skill of business acumen

Success begins with keenness and quickness in understanding and dealing with a business situation in a manner that is likely to lead to a good outcome. In the competitive environment of business, being the best at what you do is good, making good decisions is great; but a clear, comprehensive understanding of the business environment you’re operating in is invaluable.

3. The skill of relationship-building

Building lasting relationships is the cornerstone of all business success, and respect is at the heart of building business relationships. It is the glue that holds together the functioning of teams, partnerships, and managing relationships. Even with the best products and business practices, you still need strong relationships to succeed.

4. The ability to create an inspired culture

A culture of inspiration and motivation influences others to perform at their best. One of the most important assets of any enterprise and every business is the employees and its culture. Together they create a system of shared passion and commitment, which creates an environment that breeds, talent, growth, development, and creativity.

5. The skill of agility and adaptability

Adapting to change requires the willingness to manage change and to stay open to new ideas, it means to be adaptable to new situations, handle unexpected demands with aplomb, and be ready to pivot at any moment. To maneuver through changes is to learn to be adaptable and agile. So where do you stand with your leadership skills?

Ask yourself the following: What do I need to do to keep up with the pace of business with the increasing complexity of today’s workplace? What can I do today to hone in on my leadership skills to be successful?

There are many leadership skills and competencies that, when combined and applied, go toward making you an effective leader. It is best to remember you could develop each of these skills within yourself. It’s always up to you.

I know—too well from firsthand experience—that being good at your job doesn’t qualify you to be the boss. You have to learn how to lead. That’s why I’m offering to share some of my years of around-the-globe-in-some-pretty-wild-situations experience

If I were to ask you to imagine a heroic commander of a 100,000-man army, what would your mind’s eye see?

Would you picture a 42-year-old, awkwardly tall, pear-shaped, over-weight guy?

Could you imagine someone who was a failed teacher, a failed insurance salesman and a failed real-estate developer?

Well, that was Lieutenant General Arthur Currie.

During WW1, Currie was the Deputy Commander of the Canadian Corp during the Battle of Vimy Ridge and became the Commander of the Canadian Army in Europe. Postwar, with his high school education in hand became the Principle of McGill University.

This isn’t a retelling of a great moment in Canadian history. It is a story of a relative under-achiever who rose to face an unbelievable challenge and the lessons for the rest of us mere mortals.

There is only so much space in history for an Eisenhower, Churchill or Caesar and history is replete with unnamed regular folks like us who work hard and play our parts in achieving greatness.

Here are five characteristics demonstrated by General Currie, and all people, who become great leaders in their own time & right?

Uncompromising Integrity. Do not cut corners or cheat. Though others may be smarter, more forceful, and more creative, never compromised in your work and life.

Read about moral courage

Work Hard. Often when others play or waste time, continue to work. Feel like they are stealing from the company unless you give your best efforts.

Be Personally Responsible. Never blame employers and employees or complain because someone else in the organization was recognized or received a promotion.

Be Decisive. Know that slow decision-making is poor leadership and that analysis paralysis can kill an effort. Instead of living in fear of making the wrong decisions, move forward just as soon as you have sufficient information, not complete information.

Read about making decisions

Read. Good leaders read books, articles, and anything they could to make them a better person and a better leader. Ordinary men and women became extraordinary through constant and continued learning, regardless of the sacrifice.

Like General Currie, most of us are not the smartest, the best educated, or most articulate.

But Like Currie, we can hold high principles & work hard, and through these character traits, we common men and women can become extraordinary leaders.

This meme has been making the social media rounds lately, which sign caught your eye?

Both demand compliance, yet the one is an order and the on the right is a story that causes a physical reaction.

Why is that?

I believe that bad decisions are made when we do not understand why we are being asked to do something …

“if you always tell people why they’ll understand it better, they’ll consider it more important, and they’ll be more likely to comply.

And when the time is right, and you don’t have time to explain fully, they’ll trust you.”

I am all about the explaining the ‘why’ through stories.

Explore more about talking to your people

Humans love stories. Story-telling is the most powerful human communication method. Our greatest leaders, teachers, and communicators know this.

A great story tells us why the hero takes his dangerous journey. Likewise, effective learning also contains the why element. The why ties facts together into a coherent, memorable story.

Why brings meaning to an employee’s actions, otherwise why do it? So, when you talk to your team build a coherent story that contains the why element to:

• Increases employee understanding
• Increases employee perception of importance
• Increases employee compliance

It is the story that is important for all employees.

Feel the visceral power of the story in the DANGER sign on the right.

“We become what we repeatedly do.”
― Sean Covey

This is a checklist of seven simple shifts that can lead to exponential gains.

To gain benefit: print it; post it; and, do at least one action each day.

1. Take the time to say good morning to someone & thank them for coming in

2. Ask someone for their opinion on something & listened to what they have to say

3. Ask someone what is happening in their lives outside of work

4. Tell what is happening in the larger organization to keep people connected to the big picture and the higher purpose of their work

5. Write a personal thank you note to a team member or colleague

6. Make rounds, to stay in touch and talk about your expectations, so your team knows what matters

7. Take time to pursue or read something to enhance your leadership

Attracting people who’ll believe and trust you doesn’t happen overnight. You have to stick with it and continually learn to be a better leader.

Sincere & simple leadership actions draw people’s attention and are the most effective tactic for generating trust and engaging team members.

Click to download ‘7 Simple Shifts – Your Checklist To Being A Better Leader’