Yes, it’s true, some people are born leaders but most leaders are made.

Leadership is a process of getting things done through people and it takes skill. Not everyone can learn all the skills of leadership as well as anyone else, but most people can learn some of them and develop their own potential. A leader is generally working with two things, a job and a group. You can always tell when a leader succeeds because the job gets done and the group holds together. Effective leaders aren’t control freaks, but they encourage people to be co-creators of their future.

As a leader, you need to be ok with people making mistakes. If you’re going to empower people to think more and do more without your direct supervision, they’re going to make some mistakes. It’s an inevitable part of the learning process. But this doesn’t have to be a negative thing. Research on effective leaders makes an interesting point and that is that they don’t use the word “failure.” They may talk about mistakes, but they don’t talk about “failure.” There’s a great quote, “A mistake is just another way of doing things.” Now there’s a healthy way to look at it!

As an effective leader, dealing with mistakes and legitimising them could be as simple as getting your group to write down what they learned from a mistake. It’s important for people to know that mistakes are ok, we all make them, as long as they are a learning experience.

It’s important to acknowledge your group. No one ever outgrows the need for acknowledgement, appreciation and approval and a wise leader knows this. If leaders aren’t sincere and generous in their recognition and rewards, then you can’t expect people to be innovative, group-minded players.

Don’t forget that as a leader, you are still an important part of the group and not separated from it.

MeTag
Now it’s even easier to get people talking about your conference or event via their favourite social media channel. MeTag allows those at your conference or event to share their experience in real-time. Centryc says it also “allows a host of value-added activity to be integrated into and around the event. Even a simple thank-you email sent an hour after the event – personalised with event photos of the guest – creates a fantastic brand connection.” All MeTag accounts are connected to the customers’ mobile phone number and each account holder is given the choice between a physical token, like a card or a wristband, or an RFID/barcode sticker. It’s all about sharing their experience and essentially promoting for you.

In a conference setting another useful application is instant feedback, enabling organisers to make adjustments during the conference rather than waiting till next year to address the feedback received. This type of real-time information is invaluable. It also means that a conference can be much more interactive.

http://metag.centrycsolutions.com.au/

Polldaddy
No longer will you have to worry about gathering feedback forms and collating the information, Polldaddy allows you to create surveys, polls and quizzes quickly and easily. It gives you options in terms of format and question type and can collect responses via your website, e-mail, iPhone, iPad, Facebook and Twitter meaning you can watch your results come in, in real time. There are several options to get your survey out there, you can e-mail the survey link, use it in a banner on your website or use our iOS app to collect responses anywhere. Polldaddy also lets you easily create filters to analyse the data and reports and export the raw data into Excel, PDF, CSV, Google Docs and XML format.

http://polldaddy.com/

iVvy
Are you used to keeping track of an abundance of spreadsheets and handwritten notes? Well, things have changed. Now there’s iVvy, an online event management platform that enables you to keep the details of all aspects of your conference or event in the one place. You can keep track of everything from speakers, sponsors, budgets and tasks, name badges and agendas. It has some fantastic integrations making it easier to market direct via email and sms and to use online registration. iVvy also runs from the “cloud” making it easier for you to access everything you need on your feet at your event on your smartphone or iPad.

http://www.ivvy.com/

And this is just the beginning…

Thanks to PC World, Tech 23 and Tribalise.

1. Who are they?
   Ask your corporate talent for references and marketing material that back up their sales pitch. Great corporate presenters and entertainers have great referees.
2. Know your brief
   Fully brief your chosen corporate entertainment on what outcomes you expect. Communicate what you want whether it be after dinner entertainment, entertainment with a key message, a comedy presentation or even a corporate hoax. Top events teams offer many products – so be specific and let them assist you to tailor the perfect event entertainment.
3. If you’re not sure – just ask
   An expert conference organiser can be there to create your corporate conference programme with you. It’s not unusual for you to be overwhelmed with the thought of programming a conference. Ask for input – it’s their field. Quite often just the one call can offer a one-stop shop for all your conference needs.
4. Make your conference budget work for you
   Inquire about package rates for several activities or shows from the one company. Keep this in mind when you are planning and you can save many precious events dollars.
5. Create a relationship
   Look after your entertainers, corporate comics and talent. Reputable events performers are in high demand and an enjoyable experience is great to assure they will confirm with you for future events.

1. Know what you want.
   Know your event objectives. What is the key message of your conference? What information do you need to pass onto your delegates?
2. Know how to get it
   Fully brief your delegates, guest speakers & your conference organisers of your key objectives. Utilise their skills to deliver your messages in interesting and fun ways.
3. Maintain quality at every turn
   Strongly advise your internal speakers to stay within their allotted speaking time. When it comes to presentations – less is quite often more!
4. The all work and no play philosophy
   Be aware of how much information is too much information. Don’t overload your delegates. Down time is just as important. Make sure you allot free time for reflection and rest. Always book some fun corporate activities and entertainment?
5. Foster the culture
   Book corporate speakers, corporate events and team activities that can offer you a follow up programme to ensure the message can be practically applied in your work place. Conference events without practical uses in the workplace are an indulgence.

Personality clashes, power games and those little idiosyncrasies all add to or subtract from your team dynamic. So how do you get your employees all fired up and working together?

1. Let them go for it!
   Foster an environment of cooperation amongst your employees. With strong team support achieving results is easy. Let the forces within the team come to decisions with minimum interference.
2. Power Teams
   Empower employees by involving them in decision making. Seek ideas and input from your staff – they’ll not only feel appreciated you’ll give them a reason to commit to their projects or tasks.
3. Build on individual strengths
   Focus on your employee’s strengths. Positive affirmations are a great way to motivate your team. Simply take the time to notice when something is good.
4. Be a talent scout
   Place the right people in the right jobs. Get to know your staff and you’ll identify their individual talents and get the results your organisation needs.
5. Practice being a team out of the workplace
   Off site teambuilding events and challenges offer a level playing field. Here you can learn more about your team dynamic and how individual members interact with colleagues and clients. Get this right and the sky’s the limit!

By Candy Tymson

A study of 35,000 managers in Australia and New Zealand over the past decade by organisational development company Human Synergistics, has identified the overwhelming style of management in Australia as ‘avoidance’ which is characterised by a fear of failure, denial of responsibility and withdrawal from threatening situations or people.

Sound familiar?

Such managerial behaviour creates a negative work environment where no one is happy, and most people respond by feeling frustrated, unsupported and letdown. As a result, team members often only do the minimum amount of work to get by, rather than going the extra mile to get results.

As I move around companies, I am surprised how often managers use the stick rather than the carrot approach to ‘motivate’ their teams. Some of it clearly verges on harassment, and yet they seem oblivious to the impact they are having—until a formal complaint is lodged!

Results of Negative Behaviour

A General Manager of a large service organisation called me in to “fix his executive team”. He complained that they didn’t take any responsibility; continually hid problems rather than telling him about them and that there was constant in-fighting and back-stabbing going on among the managers themselves.

It didn’t take long for me to discover what the problem was…the General Manager! When I interviewed his team, they all talked about his humiliating behaviours of yelling at them in front of their staff, continually telling them what needed to be done and generally showing no trust or confidence in their ability to do their job.

As a result the executive team were operating in reaction and self-defence mode—there simply was no culture for innovation or learning.

But how do you tell the General Manager he is the problem? (I’ll tell you later, but first let’s look at what behaviours cause problems…)

The Ten Deadly Behaviours of a Negative Boss

Here are some common behaviours which can generate negative responses:

• Using criticism rather than giving constructive feedback
• Telling rather than involving
• Having unrealistic expectations
• Passing the buck
• Using inappropriate personal comments
• Avoiding any people-oriented solutions
• Expecting everyone to have the same approach as they do
• Loosing their temper over minor things
• Lacking humour—taking everything very seriously
• Never ever acknowledging or thanking team members

The Problem With Negative Bosses

According to American psychologist Steve Wilson, “such bosses are a throw-back to the early days of the industrial revolution when poorly trained, unskilled labour was plentiful and treated as disposable. The boss was king. Owners and managers created layer upon layer of the hierarchical organisation, and only the managers were rewarded for results.

Under this kind of organisational structure, employees develop some of the worst possible work habits and attitudes: they lie and cover up errors and spoilage, they suffer more frequent stress-related illnesses, they don’t figure out how to do their job better, and they adopt the attitude of ‘every person for themselves’”.

But to survive, modern companies can no longer afford to have hierarchical structures—and it is now recognised that management needs to reward every employee—not only the managers—for their contribution as well as their performance.

Going Positive To Get Better Results

So how do you tell a Senior Manager that his behaviour is the problem? I find talking about “perceptions” works well. For example: “are you aware that your behaviour is perceived as creating negative results?” and “by behaving the way you are, you are contributing to the behaviours in your team. For example when you…”

SOME POWERFUL WORDS GUARANTEED TO MOTIVATE

• Thank You
• You’ve done a great job
• I value your contribution
• What do you think?
• Is there another way we could…?

Happy team members are more productive, take less time off work due to health problems and stay longer with an organization thus reducing turnover and retraining costs.

Working with a Difficult Boss

Finally, let me leave you with a couple of ideas on how to work with (and maybe even transform your relationship with) a difficult boss.

• Find Out Their Expectations. Their frustration may be valid if you are not delivering what they want. You won’t know until you ask. When I was running my public relations consultancy I believed I was getting fantastic results for a client, but he was never happy. It wasn’t until I asked “what are your expectations with this publicity campaign?” that I discovered that what he wanted was a story in the Financial Review. When that happened he sang my praises!
• Don’t Take It Personally . Some people are born difficult, others have it thrust upon them—either ignore it or speak up but try not to take it personally.
• Turn The Tables —treat them the way you want to be treated. For example if you want acknowledgement, try acknowledging them.

Candy Tymson is communications and gender differences expert with more than twenty years experience in the fields of marketing and public relations. Based in Sydney, she is the author of “Gender Games: Doing Business With The Opposite Sex”.

Read more about Candy Tymson on our Speakers page.

Q & A with Former Wallaby captain John Eales

How can the corporate world learn lessons from the sporting arena?

John:

Sport represents a lot of what you go through in your daily lives in your business careers. Many of the key areas for success – such as coaching, teamwork and culture are less identifiable in corporations than in sporting teams but are just as important.

For example, in sport it is widely accepted that players at all levels, including the most experienced, require coaching – but in business there’s just an expectation to always perform well.

What can learn from the sporting arena when work gets hard?

John:

Corporations, like teams, need to have faith in the abilities of each of their members, particularly as they move through periods of change. And remember all change looks like a failure in the middle – so that’s when you’ve got to have faith.

Faith enabled teams or corporations to remain composed even in the face of aggressive competition.

Or in say the case of the Wallabies staring in the face of the New Zealand All Blacks rugby team performing the haka before a match?

John

Yes. Another example of sporting faith is sprinter named Carl Lewis, who in 1991 was coming last at the halfway mark in the 100 meters final at the World Championships, and ended up winning the race in world record time.

When Lewis was asked to explain how he moved from last to first place, Lewis replied that he simply didn’t run any faster.

This shows Lewis’ great faith in his own abilities – something corporations could emulate.

What about work life balance, John?

John

There is a need for balance in the lives of both sports stars and company executives – many chief executives give 100 per cent of their lives to their jobs, making promises to their spouses that they will “make it up to them in 15 years” – Although being passionate is important for success, it isn’t as significant as having the right culture and teamwork.

Passion is probably about five per cent of achievement in sport. People would probably be surprised at that.

Read more about John Eales on our Speakers page

By linking people with the natural laws, life takes on a whole new dimension. Only 50% of what happens in life can be explained by the material world. The other is the non material. It’s all about energy really.

For me, people made it all tooo complex. So I have spent the last 30 years studying the mysteries, the Eastern arts and the sciences of the mind. I looked at nature and found everything right there. Spirituality is a powerful addition to anyones life and by understanding the natural laws, you can get access to the deeepest truth, without al the hype. I hope you can join me in Real Spirit – and learn how nature can be your guide to Live with more Spirit in your life.

Read more about Chris Walker on our Speakers page