Two Signs of a Great Leader

I spent the afternoon with a leader from another real estate organisation the other day. We were both working on applications for the same industry awards program.

The first sign of a great leader: she shared her knowledge. Even though our agencies are in competition with each other at times, this leader gratefully shared with me insight on what had helped them be successful in these awards programs previously – a real help given that it was our first time entering.

The second sign of a great leader: she made someone else feel special. During our afternoon chat, I mentioned that our office junior had spent considerable time working on her own application in the category of “support person of the year”. Not only did this leader take this knowledge in, but when she saw our office junior a few days later she remembered the conversation and asked her how she’d gone with her submission and spent a few minutes taking time with her. I don’t know if she noticed, but my office junior was not so secretly chuffed that this leader had taken the time to make her feel important and valued.

I’m about to send a copy of this blog post to this leader so that she knows it’s her I’m talking about because my bet is, she’s such a great leader and this generosity of spirit comes so naturally to her, that she won’t have even registered that she did something really special that day.

By Kirsty Dunphey with 2 comments

Where’s your sticker?

Here’s a classic example of motivation gone wrong - a big Australian company that once placed large stickers on employee’s desks declaring them “not competent” (as told to me by a friend and ex-employee of the company).

Now, while most of us could look at this example and clearly see that it’s not going to do much for motivation, as a leader in your organisation, do you recognise when you’re doing this in other, subtler ways?

I know I don’t always.

A criticism might slip from my lips in front of the whole office when it could have been delivered directly to the person in question in private.

A well-deserved opportunity for praise may pass unnoticed, despite feeling great appreciation.

A hastily typed email may not convey the jovial tone in which a comment was meant in your head.

Now, you wouldn’t go and slap a “not competent” sticker on an employee’s desk – but are you a good enough leader to recognise if you just slammed a virtual one down in their inbox or mentally imprinted it on their forehead?

And more importantly, can you adjust the behavior for next time?

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By Kirsty Dunphey with No comments

Your boss knows…

Your boss knows when you stay later at work to finish important tasks by the time stamp on your emails.

Your boss knows when you’re getting through a huge workload by the state of your desk, the empty in tray and compliments they receive about you from other team members.

Your boss knows you’re ready for more when you can get through your current workload efficiently and effectively and you start asking for more development, more responsibility and the training to take on more tasks.

Whether they mention it immediately or not a good boss sees what you’re up to and takes an internal note of it.

They’ll remember it when it’s time for internal promotions, reviews and appraisals.

IF – you’re putting in that extra effort.

IF - you’re showing initiative.

IF – you’re getting through your workload and looking for more responsibility.

IF – you’re showing value.

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By Kirsty Dunphey with No comments

Would you write a reference for your boss?

This week while making an application for a new employee under a scholarship program for our new real estate agency Elephant Property (www.elephantproperty.com.au) I had the strange experience of asking two former employees who had worked with our team under that program to write me a reference!

I’m in the position of still closely following the careers of both these former staff members and I was flattered and brought to tears by what they both wrote which was fabulous (thanks Emma & Clinton) but it got me thinking, how would you feel if your last boss asked you to write them a reference?

Would it be glowing? Would it be honest? Would you even bother?

In reading “Leaving Microsoft to Change the World” by John Wood (amazing book!) one story about his former boss – Steve Ballmer (now CEO of Microsoft – stuck with me.

John mentioned off hand to Steve (arguably one of the most powerful business leaders in the world) one morning that he was planning on running the Boston marathon later that year.

The day of the marathon came and immediately afterwards John caught a flight directly to an important Microsoft announcement by Steve. After the hubbub of the announcement had died down Steve, surrounded by his entourage, walked past John and as he was passing called out “3 hours 4 minutes in the marathon – sensational” (or something to that effect). When John queried how he knew this he said that he makes it a point to know everything about his team.

To me, that’s an awesome leader and if you read Leaving Microsoft to Change the World you’ll see that John Wood writes Steve Ballmer a great reference in what he says about him in those pages.

So, would you write that reference for your current boss or are you perhaps the type of boss that would have that type of reference written about you?

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By Kirsty Dunphey with No comments