To succeed in business you need to know what your customers really want. Companies routinely use conjoint analysis, focus groups, customer panels, and other methods to get this info. But traditional research has its limits. To get a true insider view, turn to your frontline employees.
leadership
Take Care of Your Most Reliable People
Most people have someone they can count on when they need something done — and done right. But when you value someone’s reliability, it’s easy to overlook other strengths. Here are three ways to further develop your most dependable people:
The Power of ‘Active Followers,’ from Mission Control to Mountain Climbing
A strong leader needs a team of active followers in order to achieve his or her goals.
Assert Yourself and Influence Your Organization
Assertiveness often gets a bad rap. People who are self-confident and forceful can be cast as pushy and annoying. But when balanced with other critical skills, being assertive can help you excel at other things:
Connect With Your Audience
Great speakers help listeners understand, relate to, and remember a message by telling stories and using analogies. Narratives make messages more engaging and help listeners connect with a speaker.
One Thing Your Performance Reviews Are Missing
Where employee evaluations are concerned, many companies follow a more-is-better approach, measuring performance across a broad — often too broad — range of qualities, skills, and proficiencies. Even so, one crucial element is …
Communicate Your Charisma
Charisma is not innate. True, no amount of practice will turn you into Winston Churchill or Martin Luther King Jr., but you can still win over your followers by changing how you communicate. Whenever possible, express your conviction to a project or idea.
Watch Your Reputation
More than ever, the reputation of company leaders influences consumer buying decisions.
Want Inspired Employees? Start With Yourself
Entrepreneurs have long enjoyed an advantage over their bigger business counterparts in that they realize the importance of inspiring their employees and keeping them engaged and excited about achieving both personal and company goals. To inspire this kind of excitement in others, however, entrepreneurs must remember to first foster it …
Prepare Emerging Leaders for Top Jobs
One of the most difficult managerial transitions is moving from functional leader to enterprise leader. Preparing people for these top jobs needs to start early. Give potential candidates experience on cross-functional projects. If you run a global business, be sure to give them international assignments as well.
Delegate, Then Disengage
Entrusting a project to someone else can be tough. But if you don’t rely on others, you’ll always end up doing everything yourself. You’ll also shortchange those who could learn by taking new tasks. Once you delegate something, don’t be tempted to micromanage the process. Agree on the expected outcomes and just let go. If …
Command Attention like an Executive
Executive presence is not an innate quality; it is a set of behaviors that you can learn over time. Whether you are a natural wallflower or a social butterfly, you can enhance your presence by doing the following: