The book (Procedures & Theory for Administrative Professionals) What do you look

Question

The book (Procedures & Theory for Administrative Professionals)

What do you look for in Leadership? Rank in order of importance the top 5 successful leadership skills found in the chapter section "The Administrative Professional as a Successful Leader." Full-text page numbers 121-125, customized paperback version page numbers may be slightly different, but section title and content is the same.

Justify your ranking using the table format--one column for the skills, another for your reasoning, and another indicating how strong you are in that skill on the 1-5 scale, with 5 being strongest. Provide an explanation for your strength rating.

Leadership Skills Ranking

Rank

(1 is the most important)

Your personal skill strength

(1-5 scale 5 being strongest rate yourself for each skill)

with

Explanation

(you can be strong in many of these skills)

Page 121

The administrative Professional as a successful Leader

You will encounter numerous opportunities for leadership in your job as an administrative professional. They could be as simple as helping a new employee understand his or her duties or leading a small team to select new software. Leadership opportunities could also be more complex, such as leading a team to update the job description for administrative professionals at your organization. Make plans now for your success as a leader. Small successes will give you the confidence to move on to more challenging opportunities. Besides the traits described in the previous section, strive to develop these methods for successful leadership: plan well, communicate effectively, set a good example, invest in relationships, delegate tasks, and ask questions when necessary.

Plan Well

Planning is the process of thinking about the activities required to accomplish a goal—in the case of a team or organization, the desired future of the business or goal of the team. Planning involves set- ting goals and objectives and developing plans for accomplishing them.

Develop Strategies

The first part of planning when you are asked to lead should be to develop strategies. Begin with the end in mind is popular advice that says a lot. If you don’t know your purpose and goals, developing effective strategies is difficult. Here are a few simple steps to get you started:

? Write down the purpose of the group you are leading. Why does it exist?

? Determine the goals of the group.

? Before your first meeting, develop initial strategies for accomplishing the goals.

Take Ownership

Taking ownership is just another way to say taking responsibility. “Own” the responsibility for the success or failure of the group. How will the work get done? Who will call the next meeting? Such decisions are yours as the leader. If you don’t do it or delegate it, it won’t get done. Ownership of responsibility is an important part of the planning process since it helps you define what you need to do and be motivated to do it. Consider this example: You are asked to lead a team of administrative professionals to revamp mail delivery practices. Your first steps in owning responsibility for this assignment are to develop strategies and then to e-mail the team members, telling them what the team needs to do and giving several options of when you’d like to meet. At the first meeting, you remind everyone of the purpose and goals of the team. In a brainstorming session, the team identifies some additional strategies. You work with the group to make assignments, set deadlines, and schedule future meetings.

Communicate Effectively

When leading others, you must communicate your expectations clearly. Writing down your goals will help you make them more concrete and precise. Communicating goals and establishing deadlines at the very beginning is important. If you overlook communicating the goals, your group members will be left trying to ascertain what you want. Similarly, failing to communicate directions and information so they are understood can have serious consequences. When you give information verbally, remember that it is not enough simply to speak clearly.

You need to take steps to ensure your listeners actually understand. For instance, you can repeat what you have said in another way and ask if anyone has questions. Chapter 9 provides additional suggestions for making sure listeners understand. Don’t underestimate the power of face-to-face communication. While technology provides many modes of communicating, a face-to-face meeting is the most effective. It is also sometimes the easiest. Whether you are meeting with an individual or a group, being able to look people in the eye and to observe their body language helps you gauge their understanding and detect any resistance.

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Leadership/ responsibility Leadership

Leadership is a skill for the 21st century administrative professional. an attitude of leadership in all aspects of your life can reap powerful benefits. Part of good leader- ship is setting an example. effective leaders do whatever it takes to complete a job and to do it well, and they expect the same of others. earlier in this chapter, former U.S. secretary of state Condoleezza rice was profiled as a leader. Her first understanding of an attitude of leadership came from the examples set by her family. rice began life in the 1950s in the segregated south. Her grandfather had raised cotton. With the help of a scholarship, he managed to get a college education. He became a Presbyterian minister and raised money to begin a string of private K-12 schools with the goal of giving African Amari- cans the same quality of education as Caucasian children. Despite occasional setbacks and the work involved in constant fund-raising, he remained focused on the goal: preparing African American youth to go to college. rice’s parents were leaders of the African American community in Birmingham, ala- bama, a center of struggle during the civil rights movement. at a time of ugliness and strife, they forged lasting relationships across racial boundaries. rice’s mother taught the baseball legend Willie Mays, who remembers her as a woman who recognized his abilities and encouraged him to pursue them.12

Activity

Whom do you know with a similar attitude of leadership? Describe several leaders in your family background or other leaders you have heard or read about. explain what you believe an attitude of leadership means.

Good written communication skills are equally important. Whenever possible, set messages aside before you send them. Allowing as little as 20 minutes between preparing and sending a message can help you identify unclear writing or missing information. You will learn more about writing effective messages in Chapter 8.

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Whether verbally or in writing, get information to your team quickly. They will feel supported and will be encouraged in their tasks related to the team. Leaders must follow up on both verbal and written communication. For verbal communication, provide a written summary of what was said or reiterate in- formation in a short e-mail. Send reminders of deadlines if appropriate. Arrange for periodic status reports on work that is delegated. Good leaders listen actively and use effective listening skills. Truly listening means you value what other people say and seek to understand their point of view. You will learn more about active listening and effective listening skills in Chapter 9.

Set A Good Example

An effective leader is someone who sets an example. Do you want the people you lead to have a good work ethic, not complain, and work toward the common goal of the group? Do you have a good work ethic? Do you complain? Do you work toward the common goal of the group? The power of modeling the conduct you expect from others is often underestimated. Effective leaders approach the task of directing other people by holding themselves ac- countable and avoiding double standards.

Young adults in leadership positions may experience challenges due to their age and lack of experience, particularly when the group they are leading includes people who are older than they are. If you find yourself in such a situation, leading by exam- ple can be especially helpful. For what you lack in age, make up for in character. Convey the qualities of patience, compassion, integrity, modesty, and confidence. Be honest, do not talk about others in a derogatory manner, and do not use sarcasm. Be professional. Effective leaders lead by example.

Invest In People

Many leaders demonstrate their investment in people and relationships by involving employees in the decision-making process as much as possible. Leaders who ask for input or pose a problem and ask for solutions and options are showing they value the opinions and abilities of their team members. Actually following through with employee suggestions is the key to this investment process. When employees feel they are trusted and valued, they are empowered and are encouraged to do an excellent job. They are also more likely to step up in confidence and themselves be leaders in other situations.

Build Relationship

Good leaders get to know the people with whom they work. They invest time in talking with their team members and are genuinely interested in them.

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Strive to develop these behaviors of effective leaders:

effective leaders promote a spirit of cooperation.

effective leaders praise employees and work groups for their contributions and celebrate those successes.

effective leaders believe the basic human needs of employees are important. (employees must believe an organization cares about them.)

effective leaders recognize the skills and potential of their employees and look for opportunities to help them grow.

Developing relationships with team members is a personal touch that isn’t manipulative but rather is based in a selfless, friendly attitude. Having a good working relationship with those you may supervise in the future will make it easier if you need to correct some behavior or discuss a similarly difficult issue.

Motivate

People are motivated to do work and do it well for a variety of reasons. As you learned in Chapter 1, motivation may be extrinsic or intrinsic. An extrinsic motivation might be a salary increase or promotion. An intrinsic motivation might be the desire for personal recognition or a feeling of satisfaction from a job well done.

Good leaders try to find out what motivates the people they are leading. Then they use that knowledge to encourage these individuals to have a positive attitude and to do their work well. For example, you may notice that Jessica frequently asks you if she’s doing OK on a project you are working on together. You respond by giving her more personal and frequent feedback. This meets her need for additional assurance and motivates her in the task.

Manage Conflict

Effective leaders deal with conflicts that arise within the group they are leading. In investigating problems, an effective leader goes on a fact-finding tour. He or she observes activities and processes, listens objectively, reviews documents such as e-mail, and asks questions. This is not an easy process, and it requires a leader with a professional attitude, one who is willing to look at facts and put emotions and personal friendships aside. Chapter 9 provides additional advice for managing conflict.

Leaders not only act to solve problems when they arise but also look for situations and events that might create problems and try to prevent them. For example, if you are asked to form a team, you can avoid some problems by choosing hard-working and no contentious people to be members.

Delegate Tasks

To delegate is to give the responsibility for a task to another person. A leader who delegates is able to get more accomplished. Delegating also helps cultivate future leaders by giving them responsibility, and it serves as a motivator as well.

Before you delegate, think carefully about the task so you can give clear instructions and communicate your expectations concisely. Try to anticipate questions. If appropriate, write down your directions so the person can refer to them later.

Give the delegated assignment in person, if possible, so you can answer any immediate questions.

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Arrange for the person to check in with you periodically, and make yourself available for these exchanges. Make sure the person knows you are available for questions, and let him or her know the best way to contact you.

Delegating can be difficult because you have to relinquish control. You will need to trust the people to whom you delegate to complete tasks responsibly.

Ask Questions

Leading in any situation will be new at first, and you will naturally have questions. You may be given instructions that are not completely clear. There may be steps or terms that are unfamiliar to you, and the person giving you the task may not realize that. As you progress in your work, is- sues and situations may arise that you need help on. Don’t be afraid to ask!

While you should try to avoid asking questions unnecessarily, always ask when you are unsure. Listen carefully to instructions. Train yourself to repeat them back so you get clarification. When- ever possible, pose questions at a time that is convenient for the other person, and give the person as much as time as possible to respond. For instance, if today is Monday and you need an answer by Friday, e-mail your question today, and include the Friday deadline. If a question is urgent, however, don’t wait. Make sure you get a timely answer.

Never be concerned that a question is too simple or that you should have heard the answer the first time. It is always better to ask than to miss some- thing or do it incorrectly. Asking questions shows you are conscientious, and it instills confidence in your ability to get the job done. Your supervisor can give you a leadership task knowing that if you are unsure about something, you will ask.

Rank

(1 is the most important)

Skill Justification for Ranking

Your personal skill strength

(1-5 scale 5 being strongest rate yourself for each skill)

with

Explanation

(you can be strong in many of these skills)

1 2 3 4 5

Explanation / Answer

Rank

(1 is the most important)

Your personal skill strength

(1-5 scale, 5 being strongest)

with

Explanation

4.5

A penchant for listening, alongwith strong observational and deduction skills have always helped me understand others and put my point across with great effect.

3

A strong eye for talent helps with delegating tasks to the appropriate personnel, however that being said, the more experienced you are, the better you get at it.

4

Having been brought up in a disciplinarian household, the importance of planning had been instilled in me at the very grassroot levels.

In order to obtain maximum efficiency from his team, a leader needs to motivate them. It may be intrinsic or extrinsic. The judgement of which kind of motivation works on which character is an essential and desirable skill.

4

A strong core of communication makes attaining this skill that much easier. Add sound judgement of character to that and you get the perfect template on how to be good at motivating people. The power of well thought out words should never be underestimated.

4.5

A natural tendency towards being observational and curious has always pushed me towards asking questions and gaining more knowledge of the subject at hand. I have always firmly believed in, "You'll never know unless you ask."

Rank

(1 is the most important)

Skill Justification for Ranking

Your personal skill strength

(1-5 scale, 5 being strongest)

with

Explanation

1 Communication An effective communicator can put across his ideas in a manner that helps set expectations and obtain results with utmost efficiency.

4.5

A penchant for listening, alongwith strong observational and deduction skills have always helped me understand others and put my point across with great effect.

2 Delegation Contrary to popular opinion, delegating tasks is not a sign of a weak leader. It, instead, displays and reaffirms the trustworthiness of the said leader in his team and their capabilities. It also helps keep the burnout factor in check.

3

A strong eye for talent helps with delegating tasks to the appropriate personnel, however that being said, the more experienced you are, the better you get at it.

3 Planning Preparing and organising tasks at hand, well in advance, makes the job of a leader much more efficient. It also displays good work ethics and earns brownie points for the leader's character.

4

Having been brought up in a disciplinarian household, the importance of planning had been instilled in me at the very grassroot levels.

4 Motivate

In order to obtain maximum efficiency from his team, a leader needs to motivate them. It may be intrinsic or extrinsic. The judgement of which kind of motivation works on which character is an essential and desirable skill.

4

A strong core of communication makes attaining this skill that much easier. Add sound judgement of character to that and you get the perfect template on how to be good at motivating people. The power of well thought out words should never be underestimated.

5 Ask Questions Whether new at the job or being an experienced war horse, asking questions never hurts anyone. It goes without saying that a professional decorum must be maintained at all times. With that in mind, knowing when to ask the right questions is also quite important. This helps you attain valuable knowledge and feedback.

4.5

A natural tendency towards being observational and curious has always pushed me towards asking questions and gaining more knowledge of the subject at hand. I have always firmly believed in, "You'll never know unless you ask."

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