Success in Personal Leadership and People Selection

Leaders we work with keep giving us their beliefs and advice on how to succeed based on their experiences. Here are beliefs and advice on Personal Leadership and People Selection

Personal Leadership

·In a new job, three things you need to do right away ; get to know your boss and his top three expectations; take action and fix an issue that you have inherited; and identify and establish positive relationships with your universe – the people and their processes that have direct impact on your job.

·Step up to situations you instinctively feel are issues the first time they happen – once you have let them go the first time it becomes more difficult to approach them the second time, and by the third time it's becoming impossible - practice Constructive Confrontation.

·90 to 95 percent of the answers to any organization’s issues lie within the people in the organization – getting that “collective genius” to work is a source of huge competitive advantage.

·Replacing assumptions with expectations is critical to success – and it is done through the establishment of goals that align individual effort with organizational goals.

·Your savings and investments buy you independence and the freedom to make choices – and make you much more effective and valuable as a person not compromised by need when you have to take a stand – on anything.

· 17% of the population learns by reading. That means 83% learn by observing, doing or a combination of the two. Ensure your development processes and programs reflect this reality.

·The biggest mistake is making a mistake and then not admitting it. Leadership is the ability and willingness to step up to mistakes and fix them and be accountable, while others simply wring their hands and hope for the best.

·Your set of skills, experiences and accomplishments have broad application to a variety of opportunities – place a high value on how much you bring to the table.

·Encourage constructive, “what if” dreaming – encourage turning dreams into goals that lead to action that lead to the dream being fulfilled.

·Opportunities will be presented to you - some will be more obvious than others. Train yourself to think in terms of opportunities – particularly if you instinctively think in terms of consequences. Remember, only 30% of the population thinks in terms of opportunities while 70% think in terms of consequences.

·Avoid putting your boss in the position of having to choose between you and another person - bosses really dislike being put in that position. There is a good chance your boss will resent having to do it, and even if you win, you may lose!

People Selection

·If you have a manager who constantly communicates they could do better if only they had better people, you have a management problem, not a people problem.

·In successful organizations, every hire is seen as an opportunity to improve the organization

·The manager of the person being hired must be accountable for the hire decision – it's amazing how many managers do not consider the decision to hire to be their decision.

·Make sure you have a hire process, and insist that it is followed – sloppy hiring leads to all kinds of things – all bad. Most employee lawsuits arise out of poor selection processes and practices.

·Other things being equal, hire the smarter person. Make sure your process can identify applied intelligence as part of the selection process.

· Leaders will know within 90 days whether or not a person is going to make it. If they are not going to make it, they take action quickly.

Andy Cox, President
The Cox Consulting Group LLC Ph: 602-795-4100; Fax: 602-795-4800;
E Mail: andycox@coxconsultgroup.com; Website: www.coxconsultgroup.com
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