July '14 Leadership Development Carnival

Welcome to the July ’14 edition of the Leadership Development Carnival. I’m honored to host this month’s issue. Thanks to the Carnival’s founder and “keeper of the flame,” Dan McCarthy, for inviting me to host.

This month’s Carnival offers a wide range of leadership guidance and perspectives from proven leadership pros for your consideration. I encourage you to bookmark this page or add it to your reading list to ensure you don’t miss even one post!

Thanks to this month’s contributors! Leadership effectiveness grows because of their willingness to share their thoughts & ideas.

Leadership Development Carnival founder Dan McCarthy of About.com’s Management & Leadership shares his post, 14 Characteristics of Amazing Mentors. Mentoring someone has the potential to be one of the most rewarding and satisfying things you’ll ever do in your career. These characteristics can ensure you’re not an “OK” mentor, you’ll be an amazing one.

Randy Conley encourages leaders to Catch People Doing Something Right with his post on Leading with Trust. In his insightful article, Randy shares four concrete ways leaders can foster high morale in their organizations.

In 6 Strategies for Introverts to Master Office Politics, Joel Garfinkle of the Career Advancement Blog presents six proven practices introverts can implement to rise above office politics.

Leaders continue to be squeezed for time and overwhelmed by demands at work. Jill Malleck of Out of the Bluestocking at Epiphany at Work, suggests a more integral approach in her post,  Too Busy At Work? Read this.

Beth Armknecht Miller of Executive Velocity, Inc. explains How to Inspire Accountability In Future Leaders. She says, “Building a culture of accountability with our younger leaders is critical. Helping them understand what accountability looks like and establishing consequences is a required leadership skill.”

Being a leader demands creative thinking, especially when it comes to utilizing people to maximize results. Mary Ila Ward‘s post, 4 Criteria for Creativity: Women Working or Drones? on The Point emphasizes four must-haves for creativity and demonstrates how creative leadership with people resources is more important than creativity with things.

Linda Fisher Thornton of the Leading in Context Blog describes ten trends (consumer behavior, the social sciences, business and human development) that combine to support leading with positive values in her post, 10 Forces Fueling the Values-Based Leadership Movement.

Creating and nurturing great work teams is one of the most important things leaders can do. Developing that ability is an area that is often short changed given all the competing demands on leaders’ time. John Hunter, with the Curious Cat Management Improvement Blog, presents his ideas in Building a Great Software Development Team

Jim Taggart‘s post on his Changing Winds blog revisits Covey’s Begin with the End in Mind. Jim explains, “We’re all aware of the rapidity of change and the accompanying pressures to keep the foot to floor while multitasking an array of activities. What has been lost in the turbulence is our ability to pause and reflect on what it is we wish to precisely accomplish.”

Serial entrepreneur KG Charles-Harris writes on Mapping Company Success about what CEOs really are in start-ups: Chief Hustlers. His post, Entrepreneurs: the Chief Hustler, explains how start-up CEOs are constantly selling their company, their company’s ideas, and their company’s people . . . which is exactly what all leaders, not just start-up CEO’s need to do.

Chip Bell believes there is merit in learning for learning’s sake. His post, Mentoring is Not About Mastery, makes a critical point: in today’s business world with its razor-thin margins, learning must be for result’s sake. Mentors don’t have the luxury of helping protégés increase their knowledge but not their use of that knowledge.

Are your recognition programs having a positive impact? Concerns about fairness, hurt feelings, and spreading the love uniformly are ruining recognition and the results it can generate. Julie Winkle Giulioni‘s post, Ruining Recognition, explains how to get your programs back on track.

Chery Gegelman of the Simply Understanding Blog has a friend who is struggling with her new boss. Her boss won’t admit what he doesn’t know or when he makes a mistake. His behavior impacts the team. Chery’s post, Leadership means Ownership outlines how that boss can make things better.

In her post, 5 ways leaders can be more approachable, Mary Jo Asmus outlines some interpersonal skills that just might be the tipping point in a leader’s ability to go from good to great.

Dana Theus of the InPower Blog asks a great question in her post, Managing People – Do We Really Do That? Dana shares her first management disaster and makes the point that managing people – below us, alongside us, and above us, is all about building relationships.

Evan Sinar, Ph.D. of Development Dimensions International says, “Nothing is more daunting to a leader in a new role than realizing they don’t have the skills necessary to perform well and that they can’t expect much help from either their past or future managers.” Insights from his post, Leaders in Transition: Who Helped the Most? can help address these gaps.

Mark Deterding of Triune Leadership Services is a new grandpa. In his post, 8 Components of Extreme Self Care From My Granddaughter, Mark makes the case that if leaders don’t do an outstanding job of taking care of their personal body, mind, and spirit, they will have an extremely hard time effectively serving those within their sphere of influence.

Robyn McLeod of the Chatsworth Consulting Group presents, Motivation is an internal job, where she shares that a leader’s role is to help those around them find their own internal inspiration and motivators. The leader must be willing to step back and let others go as far as they will go.

The best leaders develop relationship excellence to produce sustainable superior performance. As part of developing relationships, the stars need to intentionally connect with the rest of the team. Michael Lee Stallard‘s post asks, Can Phil Jackson Build the ‘Yankees of Basketball?’

Jesse Stoner of the Seapoint Center blog believes it can seem easier to do the work than take the time to involve others, but success depends on the right balance in focus on results and focus on process. Learn how to embrace the process in her post, Results Driven vs Process Driven Leadership.

Neal Burgis, Ph.D. of Burgis Successful Solutions shows How Everyday Companies Achieve Extraordinary Results without disrupting their current daily routines.

In his post, How Leaders Promote Collaborative Environment, Tanveer Naseer presents four proven measures leaders should take to encourage and sustain team collaboration.

The Lead Change Blog‘s Mary C. Schaefer asks, Are You a Spoilsport or a Spirit Booster? Her post reminds leaders that how they respond to their employees can either encourage those employees, making them feel valued, or discourage employees, making them feel unappreciated.

All it takes is one simple gesture to make a difference. Art Petty of the Management Excellence blog invites leaders to do Just One Thing – The Impact of a Simple Gesture. The time investment is nominal and the cost zero. The payoff is priceless.

Willy Steiner from Executive Coaching Concepts presents 10 Ways to Listen Better and Be Fully Present. His post includes listening tips as well as an exercise on concentrating we all might benefit from.

Three Star Leadership‘s Wally Bock asks, Are leaders born or made? It’s the classic leadership development question. We don’t need to debate it, though. We know the answer.

Joan Kofodimos of Anyone Can Lead says, “Leaders’ daily actions reflect a set of assumptions about what will make them successful, but they often ignore a key factor: allies who will support their success and growth.” Learn more in her post, “Building Others’ Commitment to Your Success.”

Millennials don’t get a lot of love – but Jon Mertz of Thin Difference believes that Millennials Will Be More Empathetic Leaders. Jon quotes a recent survey which found leaders need to lead with clear values and empathy and Jon believes Millennials bring those to the mix.

Last but not least, yours truly offers a recent article at Entrepreneur, titled, “The 5 Secrets of Great Bosses.” In it I describe the five best practice behaviors that great bosses use to serve their employees’ needs beautifully.

Let these leadership experts know what you think of the ideas presented here by posting your comments below.

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