“The spirit of self-help is the root of all genuine growth in the individual.” ~ Samuel Smiles, 1859

So much advice about leadership and management is based on generalities about what is involved and how you should do better in relation to such external considerations.

Though useful, I think focusing first on your particular possibilities and preferences, as well as your situation, is a more productive place to start. You’ll also feel more motivated to take action.

For example, choose among the following:

• Name the specific management and leadership strengths that are important in your current situation and probably for your future.
• Appreciate the management and leadership strengths you have and the specific abilities you want to develop further.
• Identify and organize ways to develop those specific abilities.
• Assist individuals, groups and organizations to improve performance and outcomes because guiding others is often the best way to learn yourself.

Since management and leadership abilities often overlap and reinforce one another, you may consider them together.

Nevertheless, one difference is that effective leaders tend to inspire others and influence the big picture in the present and future. Effective managers do this too, but they are more focused on getting the work done through others.

Assessment

For each category listed below, jot down up to five of the most important abilities you need to be effective in your work.  On a scale of 1 to 5 (highest), circle the number that reflects your current level of mastery for each, based on how you perform in supportive or at least neutral situations. Be generous rather than hard on yourself in your self-evaluations.

• Working with people
• Working with ideas and information
• Working with things, products and services
• Taking goal-related action
• Enhancing professional qualities and behavior

Appreciating your strengths

• Check all abilities that you labeled 4 or 5.
• Identify any you want to take to level 5.

Preparing for further development 

• Highlight every ability you have labeled 1, 2 or 3.
• Consider whether or not you want or need to develop each one further, checking the ones you do.
• List the ones you will develop further in order of importance to you, your work situation and your professional development.

When these three criteria are met, you’ll see which abilities are best to put at the top of your list. Identify what level of mastery you seek for each of these top priorities and at least two sources to support your development (e.g. workshops, mentor, projects for stretching, self-directed learning).

Image: ryangs via Flickr, Creative Commons

Ruth M. Schimel, Ph.D. launched her career and life management consulting practice in 1983, using an original process to help clients honor their complexity. In 1998, she founded The Schimel Lode, encouraging innovation and collaboration for the public good in the Washington, D.C., area. Ruth has previously been a professor, diplomat and management consultant, and is writing a series of books based on her dissertation on how people can express their courage.

Share Your Thoughts on this article here: Take Your Leadership to the Next Level With a Self-Assessment

In some industries, like film and music, ending up on the “hit list” is a good thing. Fame and fortune are bound to follow.

Unfortunately, winding up on the “hit list” as a manager is an entirely different story.

In the newly-released movie, “Horrible Bosses,” three friends devise a plan to rid themselves of their bosses. This idea seems to resonate with many, as the film has had a strong opening at the box office. Here’s why.

Bad bosses are all around, which means there is a shortage of role models for those interested in becoming a boss that others admire. Don’t despair. There are ways to make it into the Good Boss Hall of Fame on your own. Follow these steps and you’ll be well on your way.

Be yourself

Employees can see right through bosses who try to be someone they will never be. This strategy can certainly backfire as the employee retaliates by pretending to be someone they are not.

This game has no winner. Instead, be authentic. If chitchat isn’t your thing, then be cordial. At least your people will know which personality will be showing up for work tomorrow.

Don’t mix business with pleasure

Working evenings and weekends doesn’t leave much time for a social life. But that doesn’t mean it’s okay to “friend” people in the office. Or worse yet, try to date someone at work. There is a reason why people say it’s not good to mix business with pleasure.

A harassment suit is the last thing you need added to your otherwise stellar resume.

Consistency be thy name

If you’ve ever worked for a boss who said one thing on Friday and another on Monday, you know exactly what it’s like to work for a psycho boss. Employees need consistency from their leaders. It’s okay to change your mind every now and again, but certainly not on a daily basis.

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

Aretha Franklin sang about this years ago, yet the idea of respect is still a foreign concept to many. Respect means treating people the way you’d like to be treated. This includes speaking to people, rather than at people. And let’s not forget the screamers who can be heard two floors below. Screaming in the office is never acceptable, regardless of the situation.

If you are that upset, take it outside and yell at yourself in your car.

Yes, there certainly is a shortage of good bosses who can be role models for today’s leaders. But that doesn’t mean you can’t become a role model for the next generation of bosses.

Image: bradleypjohnson via Flickr, Creative Commons

Roberta Chinsky Matuson is the President of Human Resource Solutions and author of the international best seller, Suddenly in Charge: Managing Up, Managing Down, Succeeding All Around. She is also an Expert for Monster and BostonWorks (a division of the Boston Globe) and a blogger for Fast Company. Sign up to receive a complimentary subscription to Roberta’s monthly newsletter, HR Matters.

Share Your Thoughts on this article here: How to Avoid Becoming a Horrible Boss

Leading well involves leading yourself first.

This seems an exercise in obviousness, though the simplest concepts can often be the most powerful. Leading yourself first means that you’ve got to start with you, on the inside, and that takes some courage and honesty.

As I have worked one-on-one with many leaders in multiple industries, I have identified what I believe are six keys to developing a success mindset:

Key 1: Self-Confidence and Self-Esteem

If you’re a leader, don’t you, by default already have healthy self-confidence and self-esteem? Not necessarily. And don’t confuse ego or arrogance with confidence.

• Confidence suggests that you know what you know, and you also know you always have something to learn.
• Arrogance suggests you think you know it all.

Self-esteem is related to your belief system, especially your beliefs about yourself and how your own self-talk can help or hurt you.

Key 2: Getting Over Yourself

Getting over yourself is about having the self-confidence not to be so self-absorbed. Getting over yourself is about eliminating self-sabotaging behaviors like procrastination, as well. On the other hand, it’s also about helping others, which can create the positive energy we need to lead. It’s about, ultimately, about having a sense of humor.

You’re going to make mistakes—learn from them and move on!

Key 3: Committing to Congruence: Take the High Road

“It is my behaviors that influence, not my intentions.”

Right now you need to make your own commitment to epitomize integrity in all of your actions and interactions as a leader.

You need to make a decision to take the high road, always. Integrity suggests the notion of integration and congruence. Who you are on the inside—intentions—fully integrate with what happens on the outside—actions.

Key 4: Removing Obstacles with Discipline and Perseverance

Ask yourself this question: “What are the current issues, obstacles, problems preventing me from ______?” You fill in the blank with where you want to go, then try to identify both real and imagined obstacles.

Sometimes we perceive that something is an obstacle when in reality, it’s not as bad as we think. Sometimes, we need a coach or advisor to help us work through obstacles, but not investigating them will keep us stuck.

Key 5: Balancing Accountability and Respect

Here’s the trick, the most effective delivery of an honest message balances both accountability and respect, especially if the target of our honesty is someone whom we’d like to influence. It does matter how the message is delivered.

There is a difference between respectful honesty and disrespectful honesty.

Key 6: The Differentiation Factor

In my work with hundreds of leaders, two particular elements differentiate the successful leaders from those who struggle in their ability to influence their followers. You may think, “Well, everyone knows that!” but knowing and doing are different.

Differentiator 1: clearly articulate your vision and get others to follow you.

I find two main errors in thinking when it comes to the vision/mission issue: either there is none articulated, or it’s so vague no one believes it’s important. Your employees believe that you have a vision and they think it’s your job to tell them about it.

Remember that the degree to which you are not specific, someone has to guess or to try to read your mind.

Differentiator 2: confronting issues quickly, directly and respectfully.

Leaders need to respond thoughtfully and immediately to issues that arise. Candor and honesty are the critical currency of good leadership—the art is in the delivery.

It’s helpful if you are willing to redefine confrontation as someone’s ability to respectfully resolve an issue—it does not have to be confrontational. Effective confrontation is direct, specific, and respectful.

Share Your Thoughts on this article here: Creating a Success Mindset

I saw a link on the Facebook page of one of my friends last week to a video called “29 Ways to Stay Creative.”

I have to be honest. I almost didn’t watch the video.

For one, I’m not a big fan of video online. I find it easier to read content than watch it. Second, I’m always skeptical about advice columns on the topic of creativity. Because, let’s face it, we all find our creativity in different ways.

And if you’re reading this right now saying, “I’m not an artist/writer/insert-typically-thought-of-as-a-creative-profession here. I don’t need advice on creativity. I don’t need to watch this video.” …

Well, you’re wrong. Everybody in every profession has to be creative at some point. So keep reading.

But I overcame my skepticism and forced myself  to watch it. And I’m glad I did. It’s not that the video necessarily had any revolutionary advice, but  it reminded me of some important “lessons” that I think many of us forget in our daily life.

Things like:

Step Away from the Computer

It’s easy to read and answer “just one last email,” post “just one more Facebook or Twitter update,” or edit/write “just one more document.” It’s much harder to leave that email unread or document unwritten and step away from the keyboard.

But it’s critical you do just that – be it for 10 minutes or 10 days. Clearing your head clears the way for creativity, problem-solving and rejuvenation.

Today, I’ll be stepping away to visit the new Shady Grove Farmers’ & Artisans’ Market on our campus.

Allow Yourself to Make Mistakes

There are a lot of numbers out there about failure vs. success. One website I visited claims entrepreneurs average 3.8 failures before final success. Not convinced yet?

R.H. Macy founded seven unsuccessful companies before launching the successful Macy’s department store chain.

Henry Ford started five unsuccessful companies before launching Ford Motors.

Walt Disney was fired from his job with a newspaper because his editor didn’t think he had any imagination. (Who had the last laugh there?)

The point? Make mistakes. Just make sure you learn from them. [For those of you who have employees, I'd say also allow -- perhaps even encourage -- your employees to make mistakes... as long as they don't make the same ones over and over and over again.]

Go Somewhere New

Maybe it’s a new restaurant. Or a new town nearby. Or maybe it’s a new country. Regardless of where, a new environment can spur innovative ideas.

And those are just three of the 29 ideas. Others include tips like “Read a page of the dictionary” and “Sing in the shower.”

My own tip:

Read something you normally wouldn’t read.

Maybe it’s a non-fiction book even though you’re a novel junkie… a Harry Potter story when you normally devour crime novels.  Or a business magazine when you’re an US Weekly fan. But reading something new often spurs new ideas or new ways of thinking.

I encourage all of you to watch the video and then come back here and either tell us your favorite tip from the video or add your own advice as to how you stay creative.

Screen shot reprinted with permission from @tofu_design

Robin Ferrier is Communications Manager for the Johns Hopkins University Montgomery County Campus. She is also the immediate past president of the Capital Communicators Group, chair of the PR Committee for the Gaithersburg Book Festival, and chair of the Marketing & PR Committee forLeadership Montgomery. She has inadvertently become a frequent career / professional / job hunt resource for friends and colleagues due to a career path that has included five jobs in 12 years.

Share Your Thoughts on this article here: 29 Ways to Stay Creative… How Many Will You Try?

If you are at the very top of your company, if you are leading a team or unit inside a large organization, or even if you are leading a small group of individuals toward a destination, they all think you know where you are going. They think you know!

But what if you don’t?

In that case, a visioning process is your way out. That is, you’ve got to give yourself permission to Dream Big.

There are two major challenges with Dreaming Big:

1. Getting rid of “The Negative Voice” that interrupts your process to tell you that you can’t have something, that it’s crazy, too risky. You must get rid of The Negative Voice.

If you can’t, at least leave it in the parking lot while you go inside.

Instead, The Positive Voice is the one you want to cultivate, the voice that says, “What if?” and then prods you to push beyond your own current thinking. This voice is the sidekick to innovation, creativity, and invention.

2. Thinking that you have to have a whole bunch of people to help set the vision or strategy. In the name of good intentions, inclusion and shared governance, this emerges as a big mess. Everyone is not in on this process, nor should they be.

Layers of people in your organization have a role to play in carrying out the vision and mission, but they do not set it. You set the vision for your scope of responsibility.

Taking time to do the individual, reflective work is essential before you bring in others to brainstorm with you. What generally happens, however, is that a leader starts to get signs of a rudderless journey and thinks, “We should probably do some strategic planning or something,” which may or may not result in your desired outcomes.

The handoff is how you, as a leader, help craft the transition to the process of executing your Strategic Vision.

The Handoff involves 3 steps:

1. Framing and Language

Many a great vision has died in someone’s head. People who are visionaries must be able to get their brilliant ideas out of the creative parts of the brain and into articulated language.

There are lots of ways to do this: writing, talking, or a combination thereof, but the point is you must be able to use language to convey your vision. This is not only important in the first stage but throughout. 

2. Roll-out and Translate

You and your team of executives or other top leaders in the organization create the message for the roll-out of the vision and the strategy. This is the part where you help people really see themselves in the big picture, important because you want to proactively remove any obstacles to buy-in, to commitment, or to getting on board.

3. Carry the Flag

Continually enforce and reinforce movement toward the vision and fulfillment of the strategy—because you, as the leader, were the one who came up with this vision in the first place. It’s not the easiest part, although it might be the simplest.

When you shift your focus from the big vision, and you drift from it, your group follows.

So a clearly articulated vision helps your team focus on what’s important and offers them a compass by which to navigate their daily decisions and tasks.

Once you’ve articulated your vision, to yourself and to your teams, then you can truly begin to do the work you always intended. Get started by dreaming big!

Image: Fellowship of the Rich via Flickr, Creative Commons

Share Your Thoughts on this article here: Articulating Your Vision as a Leader

So now you know: I watch Dancing with the Stars. And while I’m not obsessive, it’s fair to say that I’ve watched some part of every season since its debut in the summer of 2005.

Now in its 12^th season, Dancing with the Stars is a regular fixture in the TV lineup and among Twitter fans (#DWTS or @ABC_DWTS). Like any reality TV show, however, what’s often more interesting than the dancing is the behavior of the “stars,” both behind the scenes and in the heat of the moment.

Like the dancers, business leaders are front and center in their corner of the universe.

Their staffs constantly watch how they behave. Every leader’s actions are considered in terms of what message each sends and how well each supports the company strategy.

Reflecting on the past few seasons of Dancing with the Stars, I found several worthwhile lessons for CEOs.

Here are five that are particularly relevant in executing strategy:

1. Stay on message.

Understand and embrace the heart of your objective. What is most critical for others to know about what you are doing?

Petra Nemcova (Season 12) aptly demonstrated the art of staying on message – without becoming either annoying or repetitive. It was clear that while she enjoyed the dancing, her primary purpose in participating was to build awareness of her philanthropic endeavors. Petra capitalized on every opportunity to let us glimpse the work she does to “rebuild children’s lives after natural disaster.”

Leaving the competition, Petra gracefully acknowledged her partner – and reminded us: “I’m going back to what my life is about, building schools” with Happy Hearts.

2. Take risks.

Ballroom dancing has strict rules, formal guidelines, and a strong tradition. Yet, even when constrained by such frameworks, sometimes you’ve just got to go out on a limb. Chelsea Kane & Mark Ballas “pushed boundaries with their paso doble.” They earned mixed marks for execution, but praise for giving it their all – and they moved onto the next round of the competition. Further, they learned from the experience and brought that learning to their next dance.

3. Beware the underdog.

It’s fine to stand atop the Leader Board each week. But the biggest threat can come from those at the bottom.

Scan the horizon constantly to ensure a far-flung competitor doesn’t suddenly emerge victorious.

Last season, Bristol Palin consistently earned lower marks from the judges than many of her competitors. Yet her persistence and a loyal following accounted for half of her total score – and closed the gap week after week. She and her partner landed in the finals, placing third overall.

4. Focus on content.

Charisma and charm can take you a long way. Failing to nurture the foundation –  quality, customer service, attention to detail, and flawless execution – is a death sentence.

In nearly every season, charismatic dancers capture audience attention for a time; in the end, only those who also delivered well-executed dances survived.

5. Exhibit grace under pressure.

Missteps are inevitable. What matters is how you behave in the face of one. This season, two stars (Kirstie Alley and Ralph Macchio) dealt with a fall during her/his performance. Both demonstrated poise, grace, and respect for their partners. Both avoided elimination in those weeks, in spite of beautiful performances by their competitors.

Above all, whether you are dancing or running a business, keep your eye on the prize.

More from Women Grow Business:

• Five (more) tips on being a better leader, by Francie Dalton
• Business lessons from Passover, a guest post by Wendy Scherer

Image: Sheree K via Flickr, Creative Commons

Tara Rethore is president, M Beacon Enterprises, and helps business leaders to do what they set out to do. She’s passionate about breaking down complex concepts into a few, critical themes that shift thinking and deliver results. Tara knows what it takes to succeed, to execute a strategy, and to transform vision into reality. Tara can also be found commenting on business strategy, execution, and results on Twitter.

Share Your Thoughts on this article here: What CEOs can Learn from Dancing with the Stars

Every entrepreneur dreams of the growth their business will take. You work alone in your bedroom for awhile, then start hiring people, get an office and everything goes smoothly.

The company culture is fun and vibrant, you have the perfect staff that fits your overall vibe, your clients are incredible, nothing can go wrong… until something does.

Not all entrepreneurs were trained to be “managers.” Recently I wrote a post about being a “leader” rather than a manager, based on Seth Godin’s book, Tribes.

As a business owner, your staff is key to your success, and leading that staff is up to you. You have to rely on them to make good decisions, behave in front of clients and put their best foot forward in every situation.

You expect your clients to understand your company culture and only want clients who fit that. But not all clients are created equal.

While setting up my company culture, I was clear on the fact that I wanted it to be fun, relaxed and laid back, yet hardworking, excited and deadline-driven.

Our clients are always #1 and everything else comes second. But in my view, although the client is the key to success, standing behind my staff is even more important to the success of projects.

If I cannot stand up for my employees, why did I hire them?

Recently, a client reminded me that no business fits every client when they spoke disrespectfully to me and about my staff under the guise of being “helpful.”

Being a relatively young business owner, I understand that I don’t have 20 years of experience in my field but I’ve already proven my success and will continue to do so.

When a client talks down to me and/or my business, I feel disrespected … especially when it’s by another female entrepreneur.

Our dreams include working with people who understand who we are, how we work, why we are fun to work with and those people are thrilled to work with us.

Our clients love our design services, want to come to our relaxing office space, and know that we’re not a typical company.

We’re a little silly, and like to make the sometimes cumbersome design experience more fun.

When confronted with this particular client situation, I felt I only had two options: reprimand the employee the client insulted, or fire the client.

I could shake my head at my employee and just say “maybe you shouldn’t do that anymore” or do what my bosses in the past have done and add it to the employee handbook.

Or I could tell the client that our silliness is part of our company culture and we don’t do “stuffy,” even for our corporate clients.

My decision: fire the client.

No one insults me by talking down to me, nor do they insult my staff without causing me a sudden urge to smack someone. A few years ago, I might have reacted differently and insulted them as well, but part of how we work with people is never to give what we don’t want in return.

Being positive and happy for each other and our clients is one of our main initiatives.

In my experience, mismatched values lead both parties to dissatisfaction. It’s in the client’s best interest to allow them to find a company that fits their values.

And it’s in our best interest not to have to fake our company culture to try to please that one client.

If you take anything out of this, realize that your work environment and employees are like your home and family.

Treat them respectfully and always stand behind them, even if you have to bite your tongue to do it.

More from Women Grow Business:

• What’s her story got to do with me? by Patricia Frame
• Lessons learned from family-owned businesses, by Mayra Ruiz-McPherson
• 4 steps to hiring your first employee, a guest post by Renee Brown

Image: misterbisson via Flickr, Creative Commons

Melanie Spring is the principal and project director at Sisarina Inc., and a regular contributor to, and avid fan of, Women Grow Business. An expert networker, Melanie and Sisarina connect individuals and companies with the tools they need to market and promote their brand successfully and efficiently. Connect with her on Twitter where she’s @sisarina.

Share Your Thoughts on this article here: Standing Behind Your Staff

Entrepreneurs who make big, public splashes quickly, get press, attention, and accolades. Yet the reality of small business and entrepreneurship is that many of these ventures don’t yield splashy results.

Most business owners we know experience more measured growth, with plenty of learning opportunities along the way. Thus, becoming agile is critical to their success. LivingSocial’s engaging CEO, Tim O’Shaughnessy, recently shared his experience and the LivingSocial story at an event hosted by Northern Virginia Technology Council (NVTC).

What I heard was a refreshing treatise on what makes a CEO smart – and most importantly, what other founders and CEOs can do to succeed long after sparking the “big idea.” (You can read the insights as they occurred via my Twitter feed during Tim’s presentation.)

Six insights to be a smart CEO:

• Live your culture – LivingSocial will be the first to admit: “Yes, we have a ball pit.” But O’Shaughnessy also stresses that culture is much more than toys. First, define your culture, then be specific and deliberate about the things you do to live it.

Not every organization needs a ball pit. But every highly effective team must easily integrate new members to remain collaborative and productive. And that’s even more critical for businesses that are growing rapidly and scaling operations.

• Decide core competences early – You can only make so many things a “core competence.” Decide what those are at the outset and act accordingly. It’s tempting to believe that you should do it all yourself or in-house, particularly when you are pedaling as fast as you can to meet customer expectations and balance working capital.

While true “non-essential” tasks are easier to identify and outsource, core competence is what really distinguishes you, is hard to replicate, and helps create competitive advantage. Defining it means taking hard decisions to ensure you’ve chosen the select few that do this.

• Reframe the questions – LivingSocial started as a product and technology company. It saw an opportunity and created a product that leveraged technology to meet it. As O’Shaughnessy looks ahead, he sees “local commerce” and rethinking what product means in that market. Moving beyond product and technology, LivingSocial now incorporates interactions and experiences.

• Lay the track as you go – Small business in particular recognizes the need to implement on the fly. That agility starts with solid leadership that stays focused on the end game and monitors the everyday.

Oddly, as organizations grow, the “everyday” often swamps the strategic imperatives. Leadership means staying on track as you lay that track.

• Get help – Naturally, smart CEOs know their strengths. The best CEOs also acknowledge weaknesses and get help to mitigate them. Local commerce requires local expertise; LivingSocial rethought its organizational model to deliver local products and services.
  

• Let go! O’Shaughnessy looks for entrepreneurial people. Their success, even if that includes launching something on their own, means he’s succeeded.

He’s created a place where people learn, take risks, and keep growing. Doing so, he also ensures that LivingSocial lives its culture while remaining fresh, relevant, and healthy.

Whether your business is experiencing unprecedented growth, steady progress, or just getting off the ground, embracing these six insights can also help you to create an agile organization.

Agility lets you anticipate and capitalize on new opportunities or trends while also avoiding major disruptions. LivingSocial’s experience to date–and O’Shaughnessy’s outlook for the future–certainly attests to the value of agility.

More from Women Grow Business:

• Donna Vincent Roa’s guest post on starting a business in a recession
• Francie Dalton’s tips for managing interruptions at work
• Marissa Levin on the speed of burnout

Image: BenA1974 via Flickr, Creative Commons

Tara Rethore is president, M Beacon Enterprises, and helps business leaders to do what they set out to do. She’s passionate about breaking down complex concepts into a few, critical themes that shift thinking and deliver results. Tara knows what it takes to succeed, to execute a strategy, and to transform vision into reality. Tara can also be found commenting on business strategy, execution, and results on Twitter.

Share Your Thoughts on this article here: 6 Leadership Qualities that Set LivingSocial’s CEO Apart from the Rest

Editor’s Note: this is the second in a guest post series of two on crystal-clear communications by author Stacey Hanke

Um, Er, What I Mean To Say Is…

Another uh, challenge we have, you know, that is preventing, um, us from, like, getting to the point, um, are the words, you know, that clutter, you know, our language.

When you hear your female leaders using these words in italics, how do you perceive them?  Knowledgeable, credible and confident probably don’t come to mind.

The number one challenge women need to overcome if they want to influence, is the ability to replace their non-words with a pause.

We use non-words to buy ourselves time to think about what we want to say.

These words become distracting and your listener misinterprets your message. Instead, give your listeners time to hear and understand your message.

Give yourself permission to think on your feet by replacing your non-words with pauses. Speak in shorter thoughts or sentences.

As a result, you will:

• Get to the point and avoid rambling.
• Hold your listener’s attention.
• Gain control over your message and how you communicate your message.
• Give your listeners time to hear, understand and act on what you say.

When we’re trying to break old habits, it’s difficult to accomplish this grueling task on our own because we’re unaware of our behavior and our word choice.

The key to creating new habits is to receive immediate feedback to make a change.

Without immediate feedback you’ll:

• Continue to be in denial.
• Choose to use qualifiers and non-words.
• Annoy your listeners because you never get to the point.
• Be perceived with a lack of knowledge, confidence, trust and credibility.

How can you make sure your communication isn’t breaking up and negatively impacting your business?

1. Give yourself permission to think on your feet. You may be using over-qualifiers to buy yourself time.

In reality, they don’t help you think on your feet. Instead, they throw you off. PAUSE to give yourself the time you need to collect your thoughts so that you sound confident, credible and knowledgeable.

2. Pre-plan.  Prior to a meeting or face-to-face conversation, take the time to think through your words and choose words that will tap into what’s important to your listeners.

3.  Videotape yourself delivering a presentation, facilitating a meeting or having a face-to-face conversation.  When you review the tape, ask yourself the following:

• “Is what I’m saying consistent with how I say it?”
• “What worked and didn’t work for me and for my listener?”
• “What can I do and say to increase my confidence, credibility and trust?
• Here’s the most challenging question of them all, “Could I sit through my presentation, meeting or face-to-face conversation more than once?”

Enhancing our communication is a lifelong process.

The advantage you have as a leader is that you have numerous opportunities to practice and enhance your ability to communicate with impact and influence.

Practice doesn’t make perfect.  Practice makes permanent.

Want more? Here you go:

• Stacey Hanke’s first post in this two-part series on crystal-clear communications
• Take this quiz from MindTools to evaluate your communication skills

Image: Tim Parkinson, Creative Commons

Stacey Hanke is founder of 1^st Impression Consulting, Inc. Author of Yes You Can!  Everything You Need From A to Z To Influence Others To Take Action.  Visit www.1stimpressionconsulting.com.

Share Your Thoughts on this article here: "Can You Hear Me Now?" Communicating With A Pause To Enhance Leadership

With an incredible track record in the world of integrated communications – plus a great attitude to match – Shonali Burke knows how to grow business and strong partnerships.

And from the start, she’s been a Women Grow Business guest blogger and enthusiast. She’s demonstrated leadership and impact through a range of business communities.

To celebrate a few
She was named in PR Week’s inaugural Top 40 Under 40 List. In 2008, she was one of three recipients of the acclaimed Golden Ruler Award from the Institute of Public Relations for excellence in research and measurement. And now in addition to serving her expanding client portfolio, Shonali teaches communications as Adjunct Faculty for Johns Hopkins University’s M.A. in Communications program.

She now serves as IABC/DC Metro‘s current President. And just last week, savvy CEO Lee Odden of Top Rank Online Marketing named Shonali one of 25 Women Who Rock Social Media.

Great partnership in the works
In light of Forbes recently naming Women Grow Business in its top blogs by women for marketing and social media, she’s an apt and wonderful steward for the blog community.

As I dive into a new phase of business ownership myself, I reflect on how much I’ve learned from WGB – on tenacity and what it means to ‘do good business.’ Shonali has been one of those teachers this year for sure. It is a thrill to see the strengths of this community combine with hers as a new decade takes flight.

She takes the helm officially tomorrow.
And she is regularly out and about on Twitter (@shonali) or at her blog Waxing Unlyrical. Her community involvement is found throughout the blogosphere like her Grow Smart Biz coverage or her support for the recent BlogPotomac Unconference. So look out 2010, a new awesome partnership is underway! I can’t wait to see what’s next.

Congrats Shonali! Congrats to bloggers and readers alike! And hey, when should we take these celebrations offline?!

Founding editor of Women Grow Business, Jill Foster was named by Forbes Magazine as one of 30 women entrepreneurs to follow on Twitter. She teaches communications through social media tools and community engagement in the Washington, DC area. Co-founder of DC Media Makers, she’s addicted to learning digital tech and helping professional women put their most authentic self forward both online and onstage. Her work has been in conversation at The Washington Post, Guardian UK, Huffington Post, and a range online outlets.

She looks forward to talking more on Twitter or at her brand new online home, Live Your Talk.

Share Your Thoughts on this article here: Award-Winning Shonali Burke Becomes New Editor for WomenGrowBusiness.com