Leading with Influence

Public

Ask a question from your peers to help you in your professional work. Seek different points of view on a topic that interests you. Start a thought-provoking conversation about a hot, current topic. Encourage your peers to join you in the discussion, and feel free to facilitate the discussion. As a community of educators, all members of the Career Ed Lounge are empowered to act as a discussion facilitator to help us all learn from each other.

Bruce Bryant

Vision

I really got taken back with the vision part of this training. More often I have only heard vision from the entire company. I am going to impose a vision for my department that is in line with the company but with more apprehensive and direct results from my department. Meaning, I will put together a specific vision for my department goals and simple to understand. The art of leading was very informative, I believe being a coach and having a pacesetting agenda combined is the best plan of action to move a successful team toward the goals of the… >>>

Matthew Hill

Not being the facilitator, can I bring more structure to a meeting?

We have weekly meetings to report on our campus Matrix numbers and Instructor performance. Our meetings are planned for 1 hour and 30 minutes. A majority of the time our meetings will exceed 2 hours, and can go as long as 3 hours. We have Problem Solving, Decision Making, Reporting & Feedback and Status Update Meetings all rolled into one meeting. Being merely a participant in these meetings, what can I do to help structure our meetings better?

Krista Miller

Newbie!

So I just became a manager of a team of 8. We have many issues to deal with and problems planning a meeting time that doesn't interfere with class schedules and team member availability. We have about an hour to allocate 2-3 times weekly to meeting, yet many issues to cover. This hour usually falls between classes. Can we effectively meet in 45-50 minute increments throughout the week, yet still have effective meetings in such a short amount of time?

Mark Roberts

Team Buy In

A big challenge to any manager is to first get the team to buy into your management ideas and goals. The approach needs to take in consideration all aspects of the team. Who they are, skills they bring, and a willingness to learn new ideas. A manager needs to be open minded and guide when needed or let the team run with their ideas, it all come down to what works for your own group of people.

David Landau

Getting member "buy in"

On a team I am involved with the focus seems to be on each member protecting their individual â€œrice bowlsâ€. Any new suggestion is met with suspicion from members trying to determine how it will affect their departments work load I am open to any suggestions, beyond what we have learned in class to counteract this phenomenon.

Cheryl Blain

Corporate Culture

Having completed my dissertation on Corporate Culture, I would like to interject something I've found to be important. Quite often during projects that take a long time to complete (more than 8 months)it becomes very important to bring the whole team back together at critical touch-points to remind them why the project is happening. The Project Leaders need to remind team members of the company culture, it's mission and vision. Often, team members become tired or distanced from the project goals and deep into their specific taks and details. They forget about the dynamics of a team and how strong… >>>

Christine Bitler

Lack of accountability

How do you handle a situation where management is also involved in project execution and fail to hold themselves accountable for dropping the ball? In other words, blame the other team members for their mistakes. I have been involved in projects where I and a fellow team member were "thrown under the bus" many times because they failed to complete their phase of the project. It cost us money, resources, and conflicts arose within the ranks.

Mark Bigos

When to Coach? When to dismiss?

Hello, I am new to my position as dept supervisor of a tech. college.I have a direct report that holds the required license but not the knowledge that goes with it. The D.R. is having trouble with the subject matter. I have tried to coach the D.R. to bring the D.R. up to the required level. At what point do you stop coaching and dismiss?

Pamela Nigrelli

Delegating to your staff

I was hoping to get some pointer's on how I can become better about delegating tasks to my staff? I am new to my Program Director position and I find that I am having problems delegating to my team. Your help in this matter would be greatly appreciated. Pam

William Christie

Four Quadrants of Leadership

If you visualize leadership as a process of attending to 4 â€œquadrantsâ€ you will have the bases fairly well covered. They are Human Resources, symbolic, structural and political. â€œHuman resourcesâ€ deals with the importance of relationships, it involves servant leadership, empowerment and identifying individualâ€™s strengths. â€œSymbolicâ€ is what one traditionally associates with â€œleadersâ€. It involves casting and communicating a vision, inspiring, and modeling. â€œStructuralâ€ involves environmental scanning, analysis and assessing needs which along with getting to know your people from the HR quadrant informs the vision. Finally, the â€œpoliticalâ€ quadrant involves establishing coalitions, networks and collaboration.

Norma Thomas

Leadership

Leadership involves getting others to follow and endorse your vision of change for the good.

Jonathan Myers

To young to be a good leader?

What do you think about a younger person leading a team of people that has individuals older than the leader/supervisor/administrator, ect.

Nellie Ramos

Difficulty letting go

I was recently promoted to manager of my department. I have two people working in my department I am in charge of managing. They have taken over the tasks I used to be in charge of. I am finding it difficult letting go of my old duties, because I feel as if it is not being done correctly. Is there any advice on how to give direction without sounding as if you are nagging. Especially incases when you feel as if this something you have explained before.

Nagib Sued

Meeting "Mind Set"

The most dificult task is geting people to be in the right "mind set" people think of a meeting and imediately assume the worst; come in with a "negative attitude"

Carol Taylor

Team Members

I has been said a leader should be able follow as well as lead, but if the people who the leader is leading it is very hard for the leader to follow. So the point of every getting on borad of the company mission, in my option should be key.

Tracee Bowlin

Communication Effectively

This is very important to success. Effective leaders are good communicators. Get the point across and don't play games.

Douglass Anewalt

Replacing a Previous Leader

I recently took over as leader of a team. Their previous leader accepted a new job and had to step down. What is the best practice for taking over a leadership role from someone else? Should I stick with the decision making process, meeting format, and other rules that the previous leader had in place? I am afraid to change too much because I am the newest member of the team and don't want to shake everything up right away.

Douglass Anewalt

Phone Meetings

I am a team leader for a group of Online Teachers. Each of us works from home and we never meet in person. We have regular meetings that take place over the phone. Does anyone have any suggestions or insights for leading a team that never meets in person? I have trouble encouraging participation. It seems easy for individuals to hide behind their phone receiver and talk very little. Also, do you have any tips for making a phone meeting seem more personal?

Lu-Ping Gamble