While no two leaders possess exactly the same personality or leadership style, effective leaders generally have many of the same characteristics. They frequently a contagious enthusiasm for life, a genuine concern for others, an enhanced clarity of purpose, and a firm commitment to the achievement of worthwhile, predetermined goals. The magnetic force of effective leadership is a tool which draws on the ability to arouse in followers a desire to be like the leader – or to possess some of the admirable qualities and personality traits seen in the leader.  Effective leaders bring out the best in their team members. To do so, they employ leadership traits which can be divided into three major areas: attitudes, behavior, and people skills.  How You Think Goal direction. Effective motivational leaders define clearly the goals they want to reach, visualize them vividly, and work toward reaching them with intensity of purpose. Self-motivation. Never feeling compelled to wait for someone else to tell them what to do, effective leaders rely on their own decisions and actions. Self-motivation propels leaders into purposeful and productive action. Insight and judgment. Determined, effective leaders apply their general intelligence and common sense to the task of learning what works, and what does not work. This trait, practiced efficiently, allows leaders to move ahead without wasting time before making a decision or taking action. Competence and action. Effective leaders face problems and do something about them. They often find themselves in new or unfamiliar situations without guidelines to follow or established patterns to give direction. They are forced to devise creative new paths to their goal, new methods for attaining their purpose, and new ideas for achieving success. Leaders know that some ideas and actions will prove unworkable. Effective leaders rebound from temporary setbacks, risk trying the next creative idea…

A basic part of human nature yearns to achieve, to accomplish, to attain – to do better in the future than in the past. Through the ages, philosophers, poets, heads of state, commanding generals, businesspeople – leaders of all types – have tried to light the fires of enthusiasm and kindle the flame of motivation to glimpse the heights they might reach, the happiness they might enjoy, and the depths of reward they might gain from using more of their potential. The term, productivity, captures the essence of this human pursuit of becoming better and doing better. Productivity, in fact, has earned recognition as the key to personal and business progress, success, and survival. Productivity Defined Since improving productivity is vital in today’s competitive world, a clear understanding of the term productivity is essential. Productivity is defined by some from an economic standpoint. Others take a management viewpoint, while yet others look at productivity from other perspectives. A simple definition that applies to all businesses and individuals is that productivity is the measure of how efficiently goods and services are delivered. Productivity in a broad sense is concerned with the overall effectiveness of getting things done. In a narrower business sense, productivity is doing what it takes to make more money. From a personal perspective, productivity enables you to earn your income. Overall, productivity means making more from your available resources; it means investing time in tasks, activities, or responsibilities that provide a high return to your organization and you. Productivity is determined by working on high payoff activities, and high payoff activities mean spending time doing the right thing, in the right way, at the right time, and for the right length of time. When you spend your time on high payoff activities, you will be more productive. You…

A manager’s primary responsibility is to get work done through other people, and the single most effective technique for achieving this purpose is delegation. Effective delegation is the act of giving someone else the responsibility and authority to carry out an assignment or to represent you or your organization in a specific role. In addition to sharing responsibility, delegation involves communication and training. When teamwork is at its best, effective delegation occurs. Practicing the art of effective delegation is a vital tool in your development as a leader and manager because of these key benefits: 1. You improve your personal time management, leveraging your energy and ideas. 2. You provide motivational and development opportunities for others on your team. 3. You maximize the interests, strengths, and contribution of others and increase the team productivity. 4. You make use of a valuable yet easily overlooked training tool – delegation! The definition of delegation can be expanded to include sharing of responsibilities with team members, other managers, or anyone with whom dividing responsibilities is appropriate and logical. The concepts used for traditional delegation apply with some modification when sharing responsibility. For example, some tasks within your work load may best be accomplished by counterparts of yours. Certain individuals may have special skills or knowledge, information, or relationships that make it more effective for them to complete the work. Keeping in mind the overall goal and being willing to share responsibility, as well as the credit, increases your success as a manager. Effective delegation multiplies your efforts many times over by using the time, knowledge, experience, and creative power of other people. Effective delegation frees you for the planning, problem solving, and tracking required to build a more productive organization. Types of Delegation Choose carefully the team members to whom you delegate specific…