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This Month's Featured Article

What Do Leaders Do? by George Hedley

Get over it! People who work for you are not you. They don't think like you and they work different than you. And just because you pay them a good salary doesn't mean they're going to work their fanny off the same way you do. To get them to follow your vision and achieve big goals, you've got to give them a reason to want to follow. People are motivated for their reasons, not yours. It is the leader’s job to discover what makes each person tick to do their best and produce outstanding results.

Think of your children. You tell them what you want them to do, but they don’t always do it. Then you try to bribe them – “$100 for an ‘A’” and they say, "Not enough!" Frustrated, you scream, "If you're not home by 10:00 p.m., I'm gonna kill you!" Well, you don't. You let them off the hook. So they continue to stretch the envelope, as there’s no accountability, no responsibility, and no consequences. It seems like nothing works with your kids, just like with employees.

Do They Want To Do It?
Leadership is really about influencing others to want to do what you want them to do. They key words are "to want to do." They've got to want to do it. You tell and they decide if they’ll do it. When you tell your kids to clean up their room, they decide if they’ll do it based on their needs, the consequences, accountabilities, and responsibilities, which might affect them. Ask yourself: “What makes people want to follow me?” You know what doesn't work (with your children and employees) - confusion, lack of trust, no integrity, no accountability, and no consequences. A lot of managers say, "My people won’t do what I want them to do. I should get rid of them, but I can't afford them to leave, so I don’t fire them.” What kind of accountability is this? If they don't have to do what you want them to do, why should they do more than the minimum to keep their job? You've got to make them want to do it.

What People Need
People need two things – money & happiness. Money includes fair pay at a secure company with competitive benefits. Happiness is the same as being motivated. Leaders motivate people to want to do what they want them to do. This is accomplished with exciting leadership, motivation, vision and direction, holding people accountable, and giving them responsibility. The leader is responsible to encourage and motivate others to put out more energy and effort, with more enthusiasm, so they'll go beyond where you want them to go. There are 4 action steps leaders take to achieve bottom-line results through people.

1. Provide Clear Expectations. People need to know exactly what you want them to achieve – the expected specific results. Weak leaders assume people understand what’s required, don’t take the time to spell out what they want, and don’t make people accountable for results. The norm is to tell people to work real hard and try their best. But, this doesn’t let people know exactly what’s expected. They must be told exactly what results you want: “By Friday I expect you to have this installed and 100% complete. By the 30th of the month all invoices must be out.” Be specific with clear targets and exact results clearly defined. Make sure people understand what the target is, what’s acceptable and what’s not, when they hit or miss it, the consequences for not achieving results, and the rewards for a good job.

2. Recognition & Praise
Leaders provide ongoing recognition and praise to people who do the work. Weak leaders, who don’t take time to thank people for a job well done, get weak results. In a survey why people left their company, over 90% said they'd never been recognized or praised by their boss, ever, for anything. People want and need feedback and positive reinforcement for their contributions and efforts. Leaders give praises at least every week to everyone in their sphere of influence. Use words like, “I appreciate you” and “Thanks for a great job.”

3. Understand The Big Picture
Employees need a clear understanding of the big picture and how they fit in. Leaders share where the company is going – its’ vision, future, positive and negatives, and changes required to be successful. People need to know, otherwise they tend to think the worst. Several times a month I present seminars to managers who come up with great ideas to build and improve their businesses. When they go back to their offices the next day, their people are often afraid they've been scheming how to squeeze them to work harder. That's not reality, but without information, people fear the worse. Leaders constantly tell the real deal – business is good or bad, sales are up or down, productivity is acceptable or not, whether people are doing a good job or not, and the profit picture.

4. Show You Care
Leaders let their people know they care about them as individuals. People need to know you appreciate them; you care about their goals, their future, their kids, and their families. People must know they're important, and their needs and wants will be considered as they contribute to the entire organization’s success. Use these four leadership action steps to get the results you want. Leadership is simple. The hard part of leadership is to do what you know you should do every day. So, go do it!

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George Hedley owns a $75 million construction-development company and Hardhat Presentations. He speaks to companies on building profitable businesses, leaders, and loyal customers. He holds 3-day in-depth "Profit-Builder Circles" open to construction company owners in an interactive roundtable format bi-monthly. The "Profit-Builder System" includes proven tools to always make a profit, build equity, create wealth, win profitable jobs, motivate your people, and enjoy the benefits of owning a profitable company. For information on Mr. Hedley's programs or to receive his free management e-newsletter, visit www.hardhatpresentations.com , call 800-851-8553, or e-mail him at gh@hardhatpresentations.com.