5 Tips to Help You Tackle a Coaching Agile Transition

by Krishna Chodipilli | Mar 18, 2021 | Agile Coaching

“Intelligence is the ability to adapt to change.”-Stephen Hawking

The traditional way of thinking has now become the old way of thinking. As the world is moving towards development, innovation has become a new trend. Curiosity is a part of human nature, so adapting and discovering new things isn’t very difficult. The same goes for organisations and industries; they are now inclined towards agility and change in their working environment.

What Does Agile Transition Mean?

Agile transition refers to transforming an organisation or industry from the traditional way to embracing gradual yet essential changes in the work environment to become more flexible, collaborative and innovative. Organisations now adapt to the dynamic changes in this fast-changing world and adhere to become more adaptable.

What is Agile Coaching?

An agile coach helps organisations, teams, and individuals change their traditional working methods to a more agile and modern practice. In agile coaching, the prime goal is to make the organisation or team more proficient, coordinated, and straightforward to ensure better results, services, and solutions.

An agile coach is responsible for incorporating agile teams in non-agile sectors, extend the agile methods all over the organisation, integrate the best tools, practices and techniques that assist the work in the industry and calculate the results of the agile transition.

Actions that might Disrupt Your Agile Transition

When your company is going through an agile transformation, some of the most common mistakes that leaders make can significantly impact your transition and disrupt, include:

·      Not Putting a Priority on the Organization’s Culture

The culture of a company is one of the most significant parts of an organisation. Ignoring the culture while transitioning to agile can become an obstruction to the easy flow to agility. For a successful transition, changing at the team level will not be enough; how the executive sector operates and influences the company is equally important.

An agile transition can also impact the organisation’s culture and drive some significant cultural changes to increase profit and revenue and improve its conventional working system.

·      Not Recognising and Investing in the Talents of Your Employees

The success of a company is directly proportional to the talented people working in it. To successfully go from waterfall to agile transformation, your company should hire competent people to secure the competition’s top spot. Here, it is to note that the right talent fuels the agile machine; therefore, organisations must invest in their employees to encourage them to take on agile roles and join teams.\

·      Not Recognising that Agility is a Strategic Priority

Most companies limit the agile transition to one part or section of the organisation. Making one arm of your company agile and leaving the rest to operate traditionally might not help you in your company’s overall success. Starting from one sector and treating agility as a strategic approach, making the entire company gradually agile is the best game plan.

·      Not Inducing Innovation in the Core of the Organization

Having a rigid framework in your company limits experimentation and exploration. Developing the right frameworks is an integral part of a company. Still, flexibility and adaptation should also be a part of it. A framework will help your company, and the individuals will not be afraid of a bit of trial and error.

Now that you know these missteps can mess up with your agile transformation, but fret not!

Here are some tips that you can follow to help make your agile transition easier:

5 Tips to Help You Obtain Agile Transformation in an Organisation

“In any given moment, we have two options: to step forward into growth or to step back into safety.” –Abraham Maslow

The core focus of an agile organisation is its customers. They implant customer-centricity in all their sectors. Five tips to help you tackle coaching agile transition in your company are:

1.    From Traditional to Innovative

In a traditional company, people are taught to work like a machine and follow the rules. People get tired of following the same pattern and start drowning in complications. Encouraging innovation and experimentation is a part of an agile organisation. Employees are more open to ambiguity and embrace change more quickly in agile organisations. This way, the organisation can move from its traditional forms to more innovative and contemporary methods.

2.    Be Creative Rather Than Reactive

Encourage the thinking of being more creative in any situation rather than reactive. Our mindset is set on a basic pattern, so adapting to new ideas and thoughts takes time. Coach the people so that, instead of seeing the world from someone else’s perspective, they get a self-authoring or creative mindset that helps us create our view of the world. Agile organisations focus on employing networks of autonomous teams and foster collaboration. It requires the leader to have a creative mindset and continuously tap into employees’ skills, ideas, and potential through trust, freedom, and accountability. It can only be possible by ensuring mutual acceptance at the workplace and respect.

3.    Communication is Key

In coaching agile transitions, the main emphasis should be on communication. Communicating on what initiatives are being taken, reporting company progress and any changes that might have occurred determine its success. If there is a lack of communication in the organisation, it can notably hinder progress and transitions.

4.    Embrace and Encourage Design Thinking

When coaching transitions, leaders must be ready to encourage and embrace change, including design thinking, which focuses on the organisation’s customers. To ensure better customer service and product results, the company should allow the need for design thinking.

5.    Focus on the Agile Culture of the Organization

Shaping the culture of the organisation is the responsibility of a leader. Culture plays a prominent role in agile organisations due to the freedom and independence that agile organisations require. Leaders must be ready to undertake multiple cultural transformations in coaching agile transitions, such as building new behaviours and mindsets, installing new agile mechanisms, and promoting your team’s conviction.

Successful End-Product

When organisations make a successful waterfall to agile transformation, they help their company move forward and enable innovation and productivity in all of its sectors. Changing leaders’ mindsets and transitioning them to a new and agile way ensures their industry’s triumph.

“If everyone is moving forward together, then success takes care of itself.” –Henry Ford

5 Reasons Why Agility is More Important Than Ever in the Enterprise

by Krishna Chodipilli | Mar 18, 2021 | Agile Coaching

“Speed, agility and responsiveness are the keys to future success.” ~ Anita Roddick

Business executives often question enterprise agility, but cannot deny the positive outcomes that most businesses get from more agility. Some time ago, agility in the enterprise was desired by many companies. However, it has become a significant part of the change that most industries should have to ensure business success.

Enterprise Agility

It refers to response to change, the company’s ability to adapt to change when the shareholders, stakeholders, customers, and market change their demands, and how the company handles competitive pressure all come under enterprise agility.

Agile enterprises prioritise value-creating opportunities; they combine flexibility and speed with scale and stability. Their strong centres provide structural stability with organisational strength, which helps them respond fast to the market changes.

“Innovation is key. Only those who have the agility to change with the market and innovate quickly will survive.” ~ Robert Kiyosaki

And what is business agility?

Business agility means that an organization has the ability to adapt and move quickly in order to meet the rapid changes and challenges of ever-changing market conditions and business environment by using an agile business model within an agile culture. By achieving this, enterprises can benefit from competitive advantages and meet customer needs in a much more responsive way. Business agility needs to be part of the overall’s business strategy to result in successful business agile initiatives.

How effective is agility to a business?

Organizational Agility has been shown to increase efficiency and employee engagement as well as operational performance by 30% and increased the speed of change by between 5 and 10 times. Financial performance has been shown to increase between 15%-65% for agile organizations.

What is needed for business agility?

Business agility needs an entire organization that wants to embrace change as well as qualified leaders within a business who understand agility and can implement its techniques and practices to team members within an organization. Agile projects and implementation needs to be part of the overall’s business strategy to result in successful business agile initiatives.

5 Reasons Why Agility is Essential in an Enterprise

Transition to an agile organisation helps businesses gain significant value by achieving change across various dimensions. When companies undergo agility transitions, they measure their results through different metric categories. Some of the positive outcomes of enterprise business agility are:

1.    Improved Customer Experience

Most companies use enterprise agility to meet the ever-changing customer demand, which has resulted in a better customer experience. This change happens due to the shift in priorities. When a company makes its customers its focus rather than the competition, the sales boost to another level.

Another component that attracts customer satisfaction is the agile team. When your customers get their demanded products or services with high standard procedures, it also increases the productivity and customer rate.

2.    Enhanced Employee Engagement

Another area where agility in the enterprise is noticeable is employee engagement. Agile organisations empower employees and teams. Such organisations push decision-making down to create a collaborative work environment that ultimately attracts talent while rewarding the existing employees. Agility also supports autonomy, purpose and mastery in the employees, which lets them grow and work efficiently, resulting in greater productivity.

3.    Better Flexibility

In agile enterprises, agile teams focus more on new priorities. Since the agile enterprise has the operating infrastructure already in place, adapting to changes become more straightforward. In other terms, adaptability to change is part of organisational culture. With an agile mindset, teams can cater to customers’ changing needs and deliver them what they need, which ultimately boosts sales, leading to organisational success.

4.    Enhanced Operational Efficiency

Not to mention, operational performance differs in all departments. When agility is implemented in organisations, it collaborates with all departments to improve the functions. Agility helps organisations to overcome barriers, political sensitivities, and reporting lines. The prime purpose of agility is to structure enterprise as a collaborative network of cross-functional teams, fully equipped with skills required to adapt to change and achieve set goals.

5.    Higher Resilience

Agile companies are resilient to sudden changes as they can successfully adapt to change. This is due to the agile environment; the leaders can redirect the teams and solve problems swiftly, which lets them get back to the original way of working more quickly. The agile mindset of teams in agile enterprises makes it easy for them to respond to change in market or customer demands. Strong, autonomous, and empowered agile teams do not rely on top-down decisions to execute day to day work. Agile teams possess the right skillset and, therefore, can respond to dynamic market needs. It is safe to say that agile teams serve as the stable backbone of an agile enterprise.

Busting Some Myths About Enterprise Agility

Some common myths that people believe about agility in the enterprise are:

·      Agility is for Production or IT Only

Some sectors of an organisation will indeed benefit more than the rest. But most industries benefit more from an enterprise-wide agile transformation. With the enterprise agility framework, an organisation reaps more customer satisfaction and improved performance. It also encourages teamwork, rather than working in silos.

·      Agility is the Same in the Entire Industry

Different departments gain profits from enterprise business agility in diverse ways. The various sectors of a company, such as the Production department, IT department, Human Resources and the Sales department, benefit differently from the enterprise’s agile framework and methodology.

·      Agility Only Promotes Productivity

Agility in the enterprise does improve productivity, but that’s not the only benefit it provides. With more flexibility, speed and better employee engagement, the outcome is much better. Not only does agility improve efficiency and workflows, but it also creates an improved work environment. As such, agile businesses tend to attract more talented people to your organisation as well as increasing staff retention.

·      Any Company Can Implement Enterprise Agility

Enterprise agility should not be implemented without cause. The internal team members in an organisation should assess the problems, develop solutions and evaluate if the correct answer is agility. It should be viewed as a solution.

Closing Thoughts…

These are the reasons why business agility is more important in organisations now. Our fast-paced workplace, the market changes that occur regularly and the increasing customer demands all require organizational agility in enterprises. To stay ahead of the competition and still ensure customer satisfaction, you need to make your organisation adopt an agile mindset and framework.

Why “The game of business used to be like football: size mattered. Then it changed to basketball: speed and agility. Today, business is more like chess. Customer priorities change continually, and the signals given by these changes are vital clues to the next cycle of growth.” ~ Adrian Slywotzky

Leadership Through Change

by Krishna Chodipilli | Mar 10, 2021 | Agile Coaching, Leadership And Management

In today’s world, change and chaos are inevitable, and there is no way around them. As a leader, you need to embrace the change and work your way out through all the mess!

“One of the tests of leadership is the ability to recognise a problem before it becomes an emergency.” —Arnold Glasow

The world around us keeps changing rapidly, and we are forced to make massive changes these days. If you continue leading with the same old traditional ways that your company has always used, it will most likely fail to succeed. Leadership through change is the ultimate solution to it.

What Is Leadership Through Change?

Leadership through change requires simultaneously optimising an organisation’s culture and making investments to enhance business growth. It creates experiences for individuals who develop new possibilities while combining them to initiate strategies that exploit the resources to triumph in the marketplace.

However, those who lead through change in the wrong way can face swift and painful consequences. In this regard, Transformational leadership lets you refine the change leadership into bite-sized chunks for effective implementation.

The organisations that dominate the market possess leadership traits of knowing how to lead effectively through change than anyone else and bring out the best in their employees during such an uncertain changing environment.

“Change leadership is the art and then the science of influencing people to engage in change and then navigating a journey together from their current state to a desired future state.” – Hawkes

Key Strategies for Leadership through Change

·      Staying Purpose-Driven

If your company is facing turbulent times, you need to stay purpose-driven to lead through change successfully. If the organisational leadership lacks a sense of purpose, how will the employees stay on track? It is not just the company that depends on the executive leadership but its people as well.

It is acceptable not knowing what to do at the start; you might even end up being more stressed than you have ever been in your career. However, if you divert all your focus towards your purpose and creating a purpose-driven culture, all the “how’s” and “what-ifs” will eventually be answered.

·      Taking Communication Seriously

You already know how crucial communication is; everyone keeps emphasising effective communication. Many organisations undervalue the importance of communication, mostly during the period of significant change.

Communication, when done correctly, results in significant relationships, which is essential for organisational health. Communication of all the changes and situations must be shared among all the departments to ensure effectiveness. When all teams coordinate with each other, they can perform at a high level.

Leadership through change requires leaders to communicate from a technical aspect while reinforcing the need for inspiration and acknowledgement of their people. So, the next time any change hits your company, no matter how small or big, make it a priority to take communication seriously and give your 100%.

·      Consider Employees as an Asset and Invest in Them

Being a leader, you should know that your most significant assets are the people who work with you. These individuals are expected to carry out your objective and vision through each transition happening at your organisation due to change. It depends on them to make the transition successful or unsuccessful, so it is wise to invest in them.

Depending on your company’s size, try to invest in your people as much as you can. Successful organisations are passionate about building their people to attain a top position in the market.

The investment can be made in several different ways, like initiating team-building exercises, enhancing skill sets, bringing in experts, and much more. Adaptive leadership will help your company thrive through change and show your compassion towards your team.

·      Persistence is the Key!

Honestly, no one likes change, especially your employees. Change initiates a sense of uncertainty, and your people will be tempted to slow down, give up and eventually lose the focus of the overall goal. As a leader, it is you’re your job to instil persistence until you succeed.

There is no doubt that it gets tough to move forward when you feel like nothing is being accomplished or the results are not as you expected them to be. This is where persistence comes in and rescues you. It is one of the most important leadership traits that let your organisation thrive during the phase of extreme change.

Successful Change Efforts

Change breeds fear and uncertainty, which often leads to unsuccessful efforts!

When people are not sure and lack the courage to embrace the change and take the necessary efforts, the successful transition becomes a challenge.

Center for creative leadership researched to figure out the competencies needed for change-capable leaders. They divided them into three major categories and called them “The three C’s of change” for leading the process along with the people.

Let’s take a look at the Three C’s of Effective Change Leadership. When united, these three C’s bring effective change leadership.

1.    Communicate

As mentioned before, in every aspect, the most important factor is communication. But, a leader must know how to do it the correct way. Communicating the change, explaining the purpose and connecting it with your organisation’s values is the key to successful communication. When leaders explain the benefits of change, people tend to adapt to all the changes and stay motivated.

2.    Collaborate

All the dominating organisations have a collaborative culture where they make the most out of each person’s skills and ideas. For organisational leadership, it is crucial to bring people together for each phase, including planning, implementing and executing change. Leaders who work across boundaries and encourage their employees to come out of their caves and refuse any unhealthy competition will most definitely succeed. Thought leadership involves doing all sorts of collaborations rather than including your employees in the change process when 80% of the planning is done.

3.    Commit

Although change is difficult and no one enjoys it, the leaders who were able to negotiate it successfully were willing to step out of their comfort zone and become persistent and resilient towards the goals. Leadership skills include committing with beliefs and behaviours that supported the change. Along with that, they must devote most of their time to it and keep their focus on the big picture.

The Do’s and Don’ts of Leadership Through Change

Leadership through change might seem impossible as you don’t know where the next turn will take you. It is virtuous to learn from others’ experiences to know which road to take and which to avoid. We have gathered some dos and don’ts of leading through change to not repeat the same mistakes as others.

✔ Let Others Know What You Know

One common mistake among leaders is that they keep the bad news or critical information to themselves, and employees have no idea about it, making them even more anxious. They are an equal part of the organisation as you are; you are not the only person feeling confused and troubled at the sudden change. Try your best to engage them and fill them in on crucial details and deadlines. Keep them updated with everything as you find out new information. Keeping your people informed will take away some of their uncertainty, and they will be encouraged to cooperate.

✔ Outline the Action Plan

Once you know how to go, make an action plan and divide the work for each team member. Choose them wisely according to their skills and competencies, utilise each person’s unique talents to enhance the change process. Rather than sharing the broad picture or the expected results, take them through each step of the journey and let them give their input when needed. When they start offering their ideas, it will stir up ownership and boost their confidence.

✔ Reduce Conflicts

While talking about change, how can we forget the growing number of conflicts? When an organisation is going towards a new path, conflicts will arise. Your people might be frustrated at the idea of change or fail to understand their roles. No matter what reason, organisational leadership includes resolving conflicts positively and constructively. In this way, your company’s transition will be much smoother.

✔ Don’t forget to invest time for questions

Going through a transition might tempt you to accelerate through each process in which you forget to give enough time for essential questions from your team. It is necessary to leave the door open for all your people’s concerns and questions whenever they arise. Encourage everyone to share their worries, reserve some time from your schedule for questions and clearing out any queries. Employees usually fail to ask by themselves, so you can ask, “what can I do to help you?” to show them your concern and commitment.

✔ Don’t usher all the elements of change at once

Diving in headfirst into the transition or ripping off the Band-Aid is probably not a good idea, no matter how tempting it may seem at that time. Ushering in all the elements of change at once can be a destructive factor in your change process. Adaptive leadership includes gradually rolling out the change your people are supposed to make and giving them prior notice not to be caught off guard.

Imagine the following events happening at once; new daily schedule, reorganised office space, new riles, and management change. Now think how disruptive it seems to be unloaded at once. Therefore it is never wise to do all things at once and burden everyone, including yourself.

✔ Don’t Forget to Appreciate

Leaders can become so invested in the process of directing and managing that they fail to appreciate or thank their team members when they do good work. But it shouldn’t be like that; take out some time and reflect on the things your people are doing. Start the new day by appreciating them, it not only makes them happy, but they will be encouraged to perform much better in the future.

How to Overcome the Hurdles of Leadership

Leading change can be a lonely experience because you might be the only one with a different opinion. Convincing everyone to look in a new direction and doing something revolutionary has always been difficult. But during these times, you must be determined and not shy away from asking for help.

Being a leader doesn’t mean to figure out everything on your own; leave some room to learn from others who have been through a parallel transition. It will also help you realise how unique your team’s strengths are and how to avoid mistakes.

Staying motivated and resilient are two significant leadership traits. Once you have adopted these, hurdles will not seem that tough to you.

Leave a room for learning while being true to yourself!

Final Thoughts…

Change is constant, it always has been, and we can never be used to it. As a leader, your job is to set a transformational leadership tone in your organisation through change. These strategies will not only improve your organisation’s performance, but eventually, your company might become one of the leading companies in the marketplace.

Leadership in itself is a big task, and when you have to lead your way through change, it becomes even more significant. But a clear vision and determination will make your journey more comfortable!

Living in the time of significant changes: A look at Leadership Traits

by Krishna Chodipilli | Dec 10, 2020 | Leadership And Management

Leadership traits are the personal qualities which help a person to shape himself or herself into an effective leader. The traits help you to work efficiently in different fields. For example, leaders in IT must deal with the rate of industrial change and different complexities like the cybersecurity threats, interaction of modern legacy systems and applications and compliance issues. Leaders help the employees to complete initiatives and meet business goals be it in business or government or education. Factors influencing Leadership traits are:

• Leader
• Subordinates or followers
• Situation
• Other possible factors

Some Leadership Traits are:

A leader should be strong, responsible, respected and should have a solid base. Leaders should be trustworthy, genuine and honest. They should be kind towards their subordinates and should have ethical conduct.

Demonstrating respect for others requires developing and refining:

Empathy. When a leader treats everyone in the organisation with consideration, shows genuine concern for others, listens with understanding and is respectful even if nothing is to be gained from the relationship, it helps the leader earn trust. Empathetic leaders create strong bonds and are seen as less political.

Emotional Mastery. For those in positions of formal power, the most important aspect of emotional mastery may be controlling anger. Outbursts of anger have no spot in the workplace, and can quickly destroy a sense of organisational equity and partnership. A person with this quality says what he or she thinks, but never berates others, and stays calm even in crises. Anxiety is not allowed to interfere with a public speaking or with other things that the leader needs to do. A leader with this quality thinks before reacting and can consciously choose an appropriate response.

Lack of Blame. People who don’t blame others are not defensive; they can reflect honestly on their behaviour and are willing to admit mistakes. When things go wrong, they don’t spend time assigning blame; they spend time fixing the problem. An individual, who demonstrates this core quality, admits fault when appropriate, and does not look for a scapegoat in a crisis.

Humility. Humility is a lack of pomposity and arrogance. It is the recognition that all people are fallible, that we are all combinations of strengths and weaknesses. Individuals who demonstrate humility, as someone has said, “don’t think less of themselves; they just think more of others.” Arrogance derails more leaders than any other factor. A person with the attribute of humility listens to others with an open mind; doesn’t brag or name drop; sees and admits their limitations and failings, and is not afraid to be vulnerable.

Responsibility, at the other end of the integrity base, is the acceptance of full responsibility for personal success and the success of the project, team and organisation. To become responsible requires development and refinement of the following:

Accountability. Leaders who are truly accountable expand their view of organisational responsibility and do what they can to get done what needs to get done, no matter where in the organisation they have to go. They NEVER say, “It’s not my job”. They also hold themselves accountable for making relationships work – they don’t say, “Well, I’ll go halfway if they will”. They take 100% responsibility for making any relationship work. An individual with this feature takes the initiative to get things done; is not afraid to hold others accountable; is willing to cross-departmental boundaries to help with a meaningful project, and takes personal responsibility for organisational success.

Self-Confidence. Self-confident folks feel that they are the equal of others, even when those others are in positions of much greater formal power. They also recognize the value of building the self-confidence of others and are not threatened by doing so. Self-confidence in everyone builds a sense of partnership and helps the organisation get maximum effort and ideas from everyone. A self-confident person has a self-assured bearing; is flexible and willing to change; easily gives others credit, and isn’t afraid, to tell the truth.

Courage. Courageous persons are assertive and willing to take risks. They ask forgiveness rather than permission and are willing to try even though they might fail. They are willing to risk conflict to have their ideas heard, balancing that with the respect that makes constructive conflict possible. These individuals often champion new or unpopular ideas. Further, they will talk to others, not about others, when there is a problem; accept feedback and hear what others say, as well as take the ball and run with it, even when there are obstacles. Focus on the whole. People who focus on the whole thing in terms of the good for the entire organisation, not in terms of what’s good for them or their team. Good leadership refers not only to compete but to ethics and transforming people as well. A leader is responsible for influencing followers to act, complete a task, or behave in a specific manner. Effective leaders influence process, stimulate change in attitudes and values of followers, enhance followers’ beliefs in their worth, and foster the leader’s vision by utilizing strategies of empowerment. Ethical leadership requires ethical leaders. If leaders are ethical, they can ensure that ethical practices are carried out throughout an organisation. Ethical leadership is leadership that is involved in leading in a manner that respects the rights and dignity of others. As leaders are by nature in a position of power, ethical leadership focuses on how leaders use their power in the decisions they make, actions they engage in, and ways they influence others. Ethical leaders demonstrate a level of integrity that is important for stimulating a sense of leader trustworthiness, which is important for followers to accept the vision of the leader. These are critical and direct components of leading ethically. The character and integrity of the leader provide the basis for personal characteristics that direct a leader’s ethical beliefs, values, and decisions. Individual values and beliefs impact the ethical decisions of a leader. Ethical leaders are people-oriented, aware of how their decisions impact others and use their power to serve the greater good instead of self-serving interests. In ethical leadership, the leader needs to consider how decisions impact others. Motivating followers to put the needs or interests of the group ahead of their own is another quality of ethical leaders. Motivating involves engaging others in an intellectual and emotional commitment between leaders and followers that make both parties equally responsible for the pursuit of a common goal. Ethical leaders assist followers in gaining a sense of personal competence that allows them to be self-sufficient by encouraging and empowering them.

Many leaders are competent, but few qualify as remarkable. If you want to join the ranks of the best of the best, make sure you embody all these qualities all the time. It isn’t easy, but the rewards can be truly phenomenal.

Awareness There is a difference between management and employees, bosses and workers. Leaders understand the nature of this difference and accept it; it informs their image, their actions, and their communication. They conduct themselves in a way that sets them apart from their employees–not in a manner that suggests they are better than others, but in a way that permits them to retain an objective perspective on everything that’s going on in their organisation.

Decisiveness All leaders must make tough decisions. It goes with the job. They understand that in certain situations, difficult and timely decisions must be made in the best interests of the entire organisation, decisions that require a firmness, authority, and finality that will not please everyone. Extraordinary leaders don’t hesitate in such situations. They also know when not to act unilaterally but instead foster collaborative decision making.

Empathy Extraordinary leaders praise in public and address problems in private, with genuine concern. The best leaders guide employees through challenges, always on the lookout for solutions to foster the long-term success of the organisation. Rather than making things personal when they encounter problems or assigning blame to individuals, leaders look for constructive solutions and focus on moving forward.

Accountability Extraordinary leaders take responsibility for everyone’s performance, including their own. They follow up on all outstanding issues, check in on employees, and monitor the effectiveness of company policies and procedures. When things are going well, they praise. When problems arise, they identify them quickly, seek solutions, and get things back on track.

Confidence Not only are the best leaders confident, but their confidence is contagious. Employees are naturally drawn to them, seek their advice, and feel more confident as a result. When challenged, they don’t give in too easily, because they know their ideas, opinions, and strategies are well-informed and the result of much hard work. But when proven wrong, they take responsibility and quickly act to improve the situations within their authority.

Optimism The very best leaders are a source of positive energy. They communicate easily. They are intrinsically helpful and genuinely concerned about other people’s welfare. They always seem to have a solution, and always know what to say to inspire and reassure. They avoid personal criticism and pessimistic thinking and look for ways to gain consensus and get people to work together efficiently and effectively as a team.

Honesty Strong leaders treat people the way they want to be treated. They are extremely ethical and believe that honesty, effort, and reliability form the foundation of success. They embody these values so overtly that no employee doubts their integrity for a minute. They share information openly and avoid spin control.

Focus Extraordinary leaders plan, and they are supremely organized. They think through multiple scenarios and the possible impacts of their decisions while considering viable alternatives and making plans and strategies–all targeted toward success. Once prepared, they establish strategies, processes, and routines so that high performance is tangible, easily defined, and monitored. They communicate their plans to key players and have contingency plans if last-minute changes require a new direction (which they often do).

Put it all together, and what emerges is a picture of the truly inspiring leader: someone who communicates, concisely, and often, and by doing so motivates everyone to give his or her best all the time. They challenge their people by setting high but attainable standards and expectations and then giving them the support, tools, training, and latitude to pursue those goals and become the best employees they can be.