What is your leadership style?

According to wikipedia.org, there are three main leadership styles.  Knowing how you lead is important because it will have a great impact on how your team reacts.  Most of us will be able to identify some of our traits in all three styles, however, we each have a dominate style.

A great leader is able to utilize all three styles to effectively lead their team because they understand that members of the group each respond differently.  Many unsuccessful leaders have a “my way or the highway” type attitude regardless of their leadership style.  This type of thinking is dangerous and often leads to high turnover in the organization.

Check out the following leadership styles and ask yourself which type of leader you are and then think about your team and ask yourself what type of leader they are more likely to respond to…

The authoritarian leadership style or autocratic leader keeps strict, close control over followers by keeping close regulation of policy’s and procedures given to followers. To keep main emphasis on the distinction of the authoritarian leader and their followers, these types of leaders make sure to only create a distinct professional relationship. Direct supervision is what they believe to be key in maintaining a successful environment and follower ship. In fear of followers being unproductive, authoritarian leaders keep close supervision and feel this is necessary in order for anything to be done.

Examples of authoritarian communicative behavior: a police officer directing traffic, a teacher ordering a student to do his or her assignment, and a supervisor instructing a subordinate to clean a workstation. All of these positions require a distinct set of characteristics that give the leader the position to get things in order or get a point across. Authoritarian Traits: sets goals individually, engages primarily in one-way, downward communication, controls discussion with followers, sets goals individually, engages primarily in one-way, downward communication and donates interaction.^[1]

The democratic leadership style consists of the leader sharing the decision-making abilities with group members by promoting the interests of the group members and by practicing social equality.^[2]

This style of leadership encompasses discussion, debate and sharing of ideas and encouragement of people to feel good about their involvement. The boundaries of democratic participation tend to be circumscribed by the organization or the group needs and the instrumental value of people’s attributes (skills, attitudes, etc.). The democratic style encompasses the notion that everyone, by virtue of their human status, should play a part in the group’s decisions. However, the democratic style of leadership still requires guidance and control by a specific leader. The democratic style demands the leader to make decisions on who should be called upon within the group and who is given the right to participate in, make and vote on decisions.^[3]

Research has found that this leadership style is one of the most effective and creates higher productivity, better contributions from group members and increased group morale. Democratic leadership can lead to better ideas and more creative solutions to problems because group members are encouraged to share their thoughts and ideas. While democratic leadership is one of the most effective leadership styles, it does have some potential downsides. In situations where roles are unclear or time is of the essence, democratic leadership can lead to communication failures and uncompleted projects. Democratic leadership works best in situations where group members are skilled and eager to share their knowledge. It is also important to have plenty of time to allow people to contribute, develop a plan and then vote on the best course of action.^[1]

The laissez-faire leadership style or delegative leadership was first described by Lewin, Lippitt, and White in 1938, along with the autocratic leadership and the democratic leadership styles. The laissez faire style is sometimes described as a “hands off” leadership style because the leader delegates the tasks to their followers while providing little or no direction to the followers.^{[4][unreliable source?]} If the leader withdraws too much from their followers it can sometimes result in a lack of productivity, cohesiveness, and satisfaction.^[5]

Lassiez-faire leaders allow followers to have complete freedom to make decisions concerning the completion of their work. It allows followers a high degree of autonomy and self-rule, while at the same time offering guidance and support when requested. The lassiez faire leader using guided freedom provides the followers with all materials necessary to accomplish their goals, but does not directly participate in decision-making unless the followers request their assistance.^{[6][unreliable source?]}

This is an effective style to use when:

• Followers are highly skilled, experienced, and educated.
• Followers have pride in their work and the drive to do it successfully on their own.
• Outside experts, such as staff specialists or consultants are being used.
• Followers are trustworthy and experienced.

This style should NOT be used when:

• Followers feel insecure at the unavailability of a leader.
• The leader cannot or will not provide regular feedback to their followers.^[6]

What is  my leadership style? Authoritarian but not to the degree described above (lol).  Many of my clients pay me to give them direction.  Although they have the final say in how their business is run, I don’t think I would be very successful if I were constantly asking them  what they wanted to do or looking to them for complete guidance.  In many instances, people look for an authoritative leader when they don’t know what to do or if they don’t completely understand the task.  We often lose team members trying to be too democratic or too relaxed and these attitudes can be perceived as the leader not having clear direction or control.  It is important to always have democratic elements in your leadership style because you want your team to feel that their opinions are valued, whether you use them or not.  I also see the value in the lassiez-faire leadership style because it has a way of empowering the team but make sure the team is fully engaged and have a clear understanding of their responsibilities. 

References

1. ^ ^a b Martindale, N (2011). “Leadership Styles: How to handle the different personas”. Strategic Communication Management 15 (8): 32–35.
2. ^ Foster, D.E. (2002). “A Method of Comparing Follower Satisfaction with the Authoritarian, Democratic, and Laissez-faire Styles of Leadership.”. Communication Teacher 16 (2): 4–6.
3. ^ Woods, A.P. (2010). “Democratic leadership: drawing distinctions with distributed leadership”. International Journal of Leadership in Education 7 (1): 3–36.
4. ^ “Laissez Faire Leadership Style”. Careers, Finance and Investing. Money-zine.com. Retrieved March 16, 2012.
5. ^ Johnson, C. E.; Hackman, M. Z. (2003). Leadership, a communication perspective (4 ed.). Waveland Press. p. 38. ISBN 9781577662846.
6. ^ ^a b “Styles Of Leadership”. Essortment. Retrieved March 16, 2012

May Business Project: Creating a Sales Pipeline

Sample sales process from clienttrax.com

Many Americans with jobs are living paycheck to paycheck while many entrepreneurs with small businesses are living month to month.  One of the keys to breaking that cycle in business is to create a sales pipeline.  Not only should your business have plans to generate revenue this month but what about next month, the month after that, next year?

I often find business owners who have an overall marketing and/or business plan but they have failed to break it down and assign tasks for each month nor do they have any idea who they will contact in future months to do business with them.  There are many factors that need to be considered because most businesses will find that they have peak and low months yet not analyzing this data will cause you to run discount promotions during your peak months when people would buy your services anyway or to  spend less marketing dollars during low months when you need to be spreading the word.

Your May business project is to begin creating a sales pipeline for the next twelve months.  These strategies should help you to get started…

1. Sort your leads.  What are leads? They are the people/businesses that could buy your product/service.  They should be sorted into hot (ready to make a purchase), warm (considering making a purchase but need more information) and cold (not interested in making a purchase but could do business in the future).  There many systems available to assist you with managing your leads or you can create an excel spreadsheet.
2. Create a sales process for each category of leads.  If someone is ready to make a purchase, what do you do?  I have seen some people who wait a week to contact a hot lead.  Bad idea!  If they are ready to make a purchase, contact them today by phone or in person.  Don’t take the passive approach which could prolong the process and possibly cause you to lose the business.  What about the warm leads?  You should have a follow-up process that provides them with the necessary information to make an informed decision.  As for the cold leads, you should create a process that allows you maintain contact with them so that in the future when they are ready to do business with you, they know where to find you.
3. Ask for the business.  Many of us fear rejection therefore we are afraid to ask for business.  We are afraid to ask people for their money.  You have to let go of that fear.  Most successful business owners are not afraid to ask people if they want to do business with them.  Obviously, you want to be sure that you have something that they want but once that has been established be prepared to move forward.  Have everything that you need handy to close the deal.
4. Heat up your warm leads. Warm your cold leads.  You should have, as described in #2, a process for each category of your leads.  Many times we neglect those persons who are not ready to do business with us… right now.  We often put them on the back burner and forget about them.  Well, you need a plan to turn the stove on and warm them up.  With your warm leads, it could be a phone call, scheduling a meeting or providing a discount/promotion.  Ask your cold leads if you can add then to your email list so that you stay in regular contact and set  reminders to follow-up periodically.
5. Follow up.  If someone says, “Call me back in July because I am really busy this month.” Set a reminder to follow-up in July.  Many business opportunities are missed because of a lack of follow-up.  This is how you create your pipeline.  You want to have calls planned for the six months.  Yes, we want to grab the low hanging fruit, those who want to do business with us today but we also want to have some fruit on the vine for the future.

Having a sales pipeline is essential to the success of your business.  These tips barely scratched the surface but if you are interested in more information; contact me to schedule a complimentary one-hour consultation.  I’m accepting appointments for the next year

Four Tips to Create a Mutually Beneficial Relationship

I often joke with one of my friends that I am not fond of people calling me and speaking French… we this and we that…

Whenever the conversation turns this direction, I begin to listen for the WIIFM… You know, “what’s in it for me?”

It’s not that I am that selfish or self-serving, HOWEVER, I realize that my time is valuable.  The time that I spend working on your project is time that I am not spending writing my blogs, working on my next book, helping my clients or preparing for my next presentation.  Therefore, I have to be sure that I am going to get something out of  this “partnership” because let me assure you, I know that you need me.

So you are probably thinking, she’s really full of herself to say something like that but let’s be honest again… anyone that you call and start speaking French to (we can do this or we can do that) realizes that you need them.  Because if you could do it by yourself then you wouldn’t have called or attempted to initiate a “partnership” that is probably going to entail me doing some work.

Now, let me also distinguish between the work that I do as a Consultant where I am paid a monthly fee and my  compensation has nothing to do with your business revenue, and what we are discussing here.  These conversations usually occur when someone is working on a project and they believe that access to my network or my expertise will be of value to them but they are not looking for a Client/Consultant relationship.

In the spirit of keeping it real, I am going to give you four ideas that you can consider when trying to establish a mutually beneficial relationship (hopefully you already know what’s in it for you)…

1. Money.  Most people want to be compensated for their work.  Plain and simple.  A conversation will flow much smoother if you contact someone and let them know up front that you are willing and able to pay them.  I can’t count the number of times that I have sat through a conversation attentively listening as someone described all of the things that we could do together, with it being very clear how they would make money, and no mention of any compensation for me.
2. Promotion.  Aside from being financially compensated, most people are trying to sell a product/service.  If you have the means to assist with promoting them, this may be of value.  However, don’t think just because you have social media accounts that you post my information to is of value.  I look at whether someone has an engaged community more than the number of friends/followers.  Will your network respond to your post?  A lot of people have small but engaged followers while many more have large, unengaged followers.  You should know if your network has value based on how often they take action when you post something.  Do they read the blog links that you post?  Do they answer questions when you post them?  Do they buy the products/services that you post information about?
3. Barter.  You may have a product/service that I need and an exchange could be valuable to me.  It is dangerous to establish too many bartered relationships because you will find that you are working essentially for free.  Set a limit on how much of your product/service that you will give away per month or year and be sure that what you are receiving is worth what you are giving.  For example, if I am giving away $200 worth of my time and you are offering a $30 product; that may not be the best deal to try to make.  At least attempt to provide a barter that is equal to or at the least you are giving 50% of what you are asking.
4. Passion.  If you can find a person’s passion then they may be more willing to partner with you without asking for anything in return.  However, don’t try to exploit a person’s passion because you could unknowingly give them a bad taste about something that they once loved and I feel pretty certain that karma may intervene in such a situation.  Also be mindful of what you are requesting when playing to someone’s passion.  If know that they will get nothing in return except the joy of knowing they helped someone, don’t make them do a lot of work.  Try to make it as easy as  possible for them to help you.  Also, this tip usually works better for not for profits.  I don’t see too many people being passionate about helping you make money.

I hope these tips are useful!

 

Are you reinvesting in your business?

It really bothers me to see an established business falling apart.  Have you ever been into one of these businesses that’s been around for five, ten or twenty years… and it shows?

As a business owner, your business is one of your greatest asset and you have to take care of it.  In today’s society, you have to not only offer the best products and services but you have to also look like the best.  Here are five areas that you must reinvest in to keep your business at the head of the pack.

 

1. Image is everything. If you have a physical location, it is imperative that your location is spotless.  Even if you can’t or don’t like to deep clean, hire a cleaning company to come in weekly or monthly to scrub your business down.  One of my pet peeves is going into a restaurant with dusty baseboards or dirty curtains.  If the part of the business that is visible to me is not up to par, I can not imagine what is happening behind the scenes.  If you are  not sure about the appearance of your business, ask a few of your close friends (that you can trust to be honest) to give you an examination.  Don’t be offended if they make some suggestions that you didn’t expect but commit yourself to improving your business appearance.
2. Train your employees. Many business owners discount the impact that trained employees can have on their business.  I have noticed that once an employee is hired, the manager may spend a couple of days training the employee then the employee is on their own to make something happen.  This should never be your strategy when hiring employees.  Each week you should seek to teach your employees something new about the company and/or products/services that your company offers.  The more engaged your employees are, the better ambassadors they will be for your company.  However, it is difficult to get people engaged about something that they know very little about.  Have you noticed how enthusiastic employees can be when they first start working with an organization and then it seems like all of that excitement dies?  Many times there is a direct correlation between their thirst for knowledge about their new venture and your ability to quench that thirst.  Once you stop satisfying their need, they get bored and disinterested.
3. Customer relationship management. You need some way to maintain your customer information and to be able to keep it up to date.  Having a guest book at your register is cool but what do you do with the information?  Requesting a name and phone number at check out is great but do you ever use the information?  You should invest in a system that allows you to capture your customer’s information and then a system to follow-up with coupons, information or whatever is relevant to your business.  People expect that if they give you their information, they are going to receive something in return.  Give them what they want.
4. Don’t take marketing shortcuts. There is a difference between taking short cuts and saving money.  Taking short cuts is printing business cards on a home computer that you designed yourself.  Yes, you can and it will save money but the finished product is rarely, if ever, competitive with a professional product that you can buy inexpensively from a business supply store.  Even with brochures and flyers, you can print them yourself but people make decisions about the quality of your product/service based on what is in front of them.  If you are not willing to invest in your business, then why should they give you their money?
5. Networking. You must get out and tell people what you do.  The first step should be to join your local Chamber of Commerce.  In most cities, they are the pulse of the business community.  They are the ones with the database of all businesses in the city and can connect you with the activities going  on your city.  You should also look for other opportunities to spread the word about your business in person and online.  Submitting press releases about events happening in your company or industry may cost a little but can quickly establish you as an industry leader thus enhancing the reputation of your company.

I hope these tips help to build your small business.  Whether you are just getting started or have been in business for years, you need to have a strategy to keep your business fresh in the minds of your customer.  Contact me TODAY to schedule a complimentary consultation to discuss other areas that you can reinvest in your business …. contact@lakeshawomack.com

Do you have a business or a hustle?

I’m not one to knock someone’s hustle…

However, it seems that some people have become confused about the difference between a business and a hustle.  I see some people who have legitimate business but they operate it as if its their hustle while others have a hustle that would swear is a legitimate business.

I’m all about people doing them but I think its important that you know the difference between a business and a hustle.

1. Are you legally established?
2. Do you have a financial account to keep your business and personal finances separate?
3. Does your marketing include resources other than Facebook and Twitter?
4. Do you have a written plan (business, financial or marketing)?
5. Has your core business operation changed more than five times in the last three years?

By answering these five questions, it should be pretty obvious whether you are operating as a business or a hustle.

Let’s take the first question, it doesn’t matter if you are the only person operating the business or if you have five people helping you.  You should have proper documentation for your business which includes a tax identification number and articles of incorporation, if necessary.  This leads to number two.  Without a legally established business, you can not open a business financial account at a banking institution.  You can, however, have an online account if most of your financial transactions are done via the internet with a company like PayPal.  I would advise that you still have a separate personal and business account to make managing your business expenses easier, especially when preparing your taxes.

Skipping to the last question, has your core business operation changed more than five times in the past three years… When you create a business, one of the first things you should do is create a plan.  This can be a financial plan to anticipate your revenues and expenses for at least the first year, a marketing plan to define you target market, how you will reach them and what you will say or a full-blown business plan which includes the previous elements and additional information about your business operations and human resource policies.  By following that plan, you should have a general idea of what your core business will be about.  You may change some of the details of the business but if you find that you are always jumping on the next hot thing then you are not setting yourself up for success.

It takes about three years for a business to begin showing signs of success and profitability.  You need to have a game plan that outlines how you will finance your business during those early years (working part time/ full time, using credit cards, getting a loan, etc) and a marketing plan that extends beyond free social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook.

Having a side hustle is great if you are using it to make extra money or to make money from a hobby.  However, if your intention is to operate a legitimate business that people take seriously then you should make the necessary investments in yourself that will create your foundation for success.

There is no such thing as an overnight success…