How Executive Leaders Make Tough Decisions
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How Executive Leaders Make Tough Decisions

BySonya Shelton

Making clear decisions is a critical factor to effective leadership. However, many executives suffer from decidophobia, the fear of making tough decisions. Decisions take courage, and courage means taking intelligent risks to move the organization in the direction of the vision. It’s important to gather data and perspectives, and you can use several decision-making models to help you do it well. However,…

Are You Challenging Assumptions In Your Workplace?
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Are You Challenging Assumptions In Your Workplace?

BySonya Shelton

A successful leader once shared that he constantly asks himself one question: “What am I not seeing?” Assumptions are one of the areas that may be a blind spot, and leadership requires us to challenge them repeatedly. What used to work yesterday may no longer apply today, and it’s important for leaders to question and challenge those assumptions. The hardest part about…

Why You Need to Check for Understanding
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Why You Need to Check for Understanding

BySonya Shelton

It happens all the time: we think we’re being understood, but we’re not. And we have no idea. We often don’t bother to check to make sure people understand us, even when it’s critical. It doesn’t help that most people don’t want to admit they don’t get it, especially to the leader. You may get a nod or even an…

How Executive Leaders Stop to Create Growth
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How Executive Leaders Stop to Create Growth

BySonya Shelton

As we embark toward achieving our vision, organizations sometimes continue to do things that either don’t work or don’t support the vision. When someone questions “why do we do that?” The answer is often “we’ve always done it this way.” Sometimes the person answering the question really doesn’t understand the purpose, which means they’re missing information. However, most often, the truth is that…

Strengthen Your Vision by Setting the Context
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Strengthen Your Vision by Setting the Context

BySonya Shelton

As the leader of your organization, you understand the context behind your vision and your decisions. It’s part of the environmental considerations you need to understand. However, not everyone sees the context the same way you do, so it’s important to explain it. To really make your vision come to life, you need to create the whole picture for yourself and for…

Successful Leaders Reinforce the Vision
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Successful Leaders Reinforce the Vision

BySonya Shelton

To keep your team moving in the right direction, you need to reinforce the vision. That doesn’t mean you have to recite it like a parrot; it means getting your team engaged and keeping them engaged. Talk about possibilities in the context of your vision. Celebrate accomplishments in the context of your vision. Have fun…

Executive Leaders Learn to Expand Their Perspective
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Executive Leaders Learn to Expand Their Perspective

BySonya Shelton

Some think you either focus on the vision or you focus on the practical, and that’s just how the world is. But great leaders know they must be able to see both the long-term vision and the next step, and you can learn how to do it. As a leader, your job is to lead…

How to Use the Power of Influence
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How to Use the Power of Influence

BySonya Shelton

Ultimately, leadership is influence. We all influence each other, every day, one way or another. Great leaders influence the behavior of others ethically and intentionally to create value and make a contribution. They understand influence is at the core of all the work they do. At its essence, you want to influence others to create…

Why Executive Leaders Set Clear Objectives
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Why Executive Leaders Set Clear Objectives

BySonya Shelton

Clarity is an important factor to the success of a leader, a team and an organization. If people aren’t clear about their role and what they’re supposed to be doing every day, they will swirl and become less and less effective. To progress toward your vision, you need a clear roadmap and that includes objectives….

Setting Priorities is Key to Leadership Success
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Setting Priorities is Key to Leadership Success

BySonya Shelton

Distractions can tempt us every day. Other people have their own agendas for our time and attention. We might have the best intentions of working on our priorities, but other things get in the way. We may even become so ambitious that we create a long list of priorities, which means we don’t really have…