Quick Conflict Resolution Tricks: What

Not To Do During A Quarrel

1. Avoid getting in a power struggle. There is a noteworthy relationship between power and authority.
Several times, as power increases, influence decreases and vice versa. Famous sociologist Erik
Erikson noted that children turn out to be emotionally bothered when they hold power they cannot
responsibly control. Clearly defined customs and rules are required to govern life, or people become
self-destructive.

A creative rejoinder you can bring to conflict is an ability to delegate power, allowing others to take
responsibility of their feelings and the event in question. Your authority amplifies when you
empower others as a substitute of getting into power struggles. If you can find a way to minimize
power struggles, you’ll be more successful during conflict.

2. Never detach from the conflict. At first, this might appear contradictory, but it is actually a way to
observe conflict and keep it under check. It is vital that you have a zealous concern for both the
people and the crisis. Business will not run without people, and it cannot operate efficiently until
substantive conflict is handle. Concern is one drive that drives us to find the opportunity in conflict.

3. Never let conflict launch your agenda. Time management specialists recommend it is imperative to
do the important tasks, not the urgent. This standard is often indistinct under the pressure of
conflict, and many chief business matters are ignored in an effort to deal with the conflict.

Outlook is the key. In conflict, the individual must understand both the goals and course in which to
travel. Decision and responses to conflict should equal this overall route. But occasionally urgent
needs obstruct with daily schedules. A time study should disclose that you have spent time managing
priorities and not managing conflict unceasingly.

To help you handle the urgent, don’t waste all your time and energy on one concern.

Furthermore, watch time traps. Are there tasks that always seem to devour your time before you’re
aware it’s vanished? Next, recognize urgent issues, mainly negative or conflict issues. If you notice
one consistent time offender, control that offender.
The strength of the conflict establish which strategies will be the most valuable. It is simple to be
pressed to worst-case scenarios when confronted with a difficult conflict. Those locked into higher
levels of conflict lose their capacity to quantify the intensity of the problem.

Observe the following:

1. People are hardly ever as kind as they distinguish themselves to be.

2. People are hardly ever as malevolent as their opponents identify them to be.

3. Individuals seldom squander as much time thinking about the issues as believed.

4. The inspiration of others are infrequently as planned or thought out as presented. Most facet of
conflict spin off other events and are not the product of cold-hearted scheming.

5. Each conflict has a narration that extends beyond the current. The people and their preceding
patterns of relating spoil the present perception.

How To Protect Your Career

Development By Dealing With
Workplace Conflicts Correctly
Have you ever been at the receiving end of trouble in office? If you have, rest assured that it is not
just you. Conflicts at the workplace are a very common phenomenon.

A lot of people have had their careers threatened by problems with their bosses or co-workers. It is a
really tricky situation; for your reaction to the conflict may well have serious repercussions on your
career planning.

You have to consider your options carefully in order to tackle such conflicts and safeguard your
career. The person or the situation in conflict with you is a key factor in determining what response
would be appropriate under the circumstances. If you are facing trouble from a colleague, you could
speak to one of the supervisors. If on the other hand it is a supervisor you are in conflict with, you
have to approach the next higher level of the management.
An important aspect of career management is that you need to be very careful when you approach
your supervisor with the problem of workplace conflict. All workplaces have groups and sets of
people drawn together by their common traits or self-interest. Naturally you wouldn’t like the
colleague in question and your supervisor to belong to the same clique. However, even if they are
close, you still need to take your problem to your boss. The only thing is you must do so in an
objective and matter-of-fact manner. The last thing you want is to come across as vindictive or
malicious.

If on the other hand the conflict is with your supervisor, you will need to approach the next level in
the office hierarchy. Of course if you are dealing directly with the owner, a career transition could be
your only option. Serious conflict can arise from various issues – unfair treatment, unpaid overtime,
and the like – and need resolving quickly. Naturally, especially since you are facing your boss’s
manager, you need to be tactful and professional in your approach for the sake of your own career
advancement. You will want to contact your boss’s supervisor to schedule an appointment. Divulge
as little information to them as possible when asking for the appointment – conflict resolution might
be quite low in their list of priorities at that point of time.

If you want to keep your career advancement aims on your sights, it is imperative that you maintain
a professional mindset and an objective outlook in a workplace conflict situation. For example, such
an approach could prompt you to methodically keep a record of events, and a summary of exactly
how you were harassed or treated unfairly. It is a good idea to have documented evidence in support
of any serious complaints you make or major problems that you face. You wouldn’t want to come off
as the one with an attitude problem, would you? It would be disastrous for your career if such an
impression is created in front of your boss or your boss’s supervisor.

Running to your bosses every time there is a small problem is bound to undermine your career
development goals. Listen to your survival instinct: it will help you fit into most situations. Any small
issue should be tackled on your own. If it is a serious problem, and persists even after your best
efforts, you need to alert the higher-ups. However, if even that fails, as a last resort you might give
career change a serious thought

Is Workplace Conflict Destructive or

Creative?
Whenever you work with people, conflict is inevitable. The tension created by daily conflict either
results in wasted time, decreased productivity, and poor decisions or the sort of internal competition
that pushes each individual to do their best, if for no other reason that convince their coworkers that
they can do it.
This inevitable conflict is either destructive or creative. The destructive conflict is toxic to
relationships and hurts people and organizations and this is the one that needs managing. In my
experience creative conflict seems to be cultural in nature. It’s how the people themselves react and
address each other and the situations they face together.

If you’ve ever seen “American Chopper” on the Discovery Channel you know what I mean by creative
conflict. There is a lot of yelling going on. These guys are not shy about sharing their opinions when
they disagree with one another. If you were a stranger who walked into their shop you might think
WWIII had broken out.

In fact, that is how they relate to one another – there is no ambiguity, they tell it like it is in the
moment. Imagine how much more they accomplish because they use the tension to air their different
opinions, right now – and then get on with it. It’s possible that this is just a TV show and these guys
have nice quiet meetings in the board room, listening to various committee reports, before the speak
up, but that’s not likely. I bet they are who we see them as being.

In three decades working with family businesses I have seen dozens and dozens of companies who
harness conflict creatively, and in so doing get the most out of everyone as well as optimum results
overall. They don’t waste time on what’s not working just because it was the bosses idea. They stop
what they’re doing and point out the other person’s mistake then show them how to fix it. Nothing
and no one or their opinion is sacred – it’s all about getting the job done.

Sadly I have seen experts try to get them to change their behavior, be more polite to one another and
offer more politically correct input in an ever more constructive manner. In other words they (the
experts) want other people to be more like them.

So instead of helping their clients manage the destructive conflict that exists, they are offering
suggestions on how to fix what isn’t broken.

I am talking about the conflict that distracts employees and managers from otherwise productive use
of their time. Studies reveal that up to 30% of a typical managers time is spent dealing with conflict.
And that 42 percent of their time is spent reaching agreements with others when conflicts occur.

Sometimes destructive conflict is simply because the people don’t like each other. In the universe of
family owned companies sometimes brothers, sisters, cousins, and in-laws are thrown together in
ways none of them like. Conflict is the only way they have of displaying the frustration they feel about
the situation they’re in.
It is no wonder that an estimated 65% of performance problems result from strained relationships
like these. Between employees who are not happy with each other – not from deficits in their
training, skill, or motivation.

The most common way that destructive conflict shows up is about “how” a certain task should be
accomplished. I met a farmer once whose son (age 50) refused to do things the way he wanted them
done. He sited an example by driving me on the back of his four wheeler (you could not get there any
other way) to a field that illustrated his point.

He and his father before him had always plowed the field north to south – his son was plowing it east
to west. I am not making this up. It didn’t have anything to do with soil erosion, conservation, or the
environment – he was doing it this way against his dad’s wishes, just to get his goat. And it was
working.

I bet you can think of things at your company that are being done a certain way because that’s the
way they’ve always been done. And if you’re the one who wants to change history, good luck!

Destructive conflict about how things are being done, what things are being done, and whether or not
a certain thing should even be done can paralyze the organization.

Wasted time arguing about things that don’t matter, an unwillingness to consider another person’s
point of view based on their experience, and the blame game when the results are in all cry out for a
self-help process you can use to manage your differences so that all conflict is creative.

The end result of a successful self-help mediation process is that you (as a group) turn together and
focus on the challenge or opportunity you all face. You see the problem as the stumbling block and
not your coworker.

Self-help mediation tools allow two individuals the opportunity to discuss their assumptions about
the other person’s motives. In many conflicts the simple process of testing these assumptions face to
face using active listening skills will resolve the issue entirely, because the parties realize the conflict
is simply a misunderstanding.

Self-help mediation tools pave the way for more effective decision making. Obviously decisions made
under conditions of conflict are going to be inferior to decisions made when cooperation prevails. If
ongoing conflict (even a low grade resistance to cooperation) is present between people who share
decision-making authority, the resulting decisions are likely to be flawed by the power struggles
between those people.
As business owners we know that good decisions must be based on an optimum quality and quantity
of objective information. So when information is withheld or distorted by those we are depending on
to provide it, the decision cannot be the best one possible.

There is now doubt, workplace conflict resolution strategies – especially those that will allow you to
do it yourself – will save you money, time, energy, and enhance your workplace by helping you make
better decisions, retain your best employees, and design a future course for the business everyone
will actively support!

How to Resolve Conflict Using Street

Negotiation
Conflicts pop up wherever we go. Conflicts happen at work with coworkers and bosses. Conflicts
happen at home with our spouses, girlfriends/boyfriends, sons/daughters, neighbors, etc. Conflicts
happen when we are out on the streets doing our daily errands, such as when encountering a rude
person at the grocery line, or a pushy guy at the bar. To avoid conflict is impossible because we would
literally have to lock ourselves in a box away from others to do so. No, instead we must learn the
valuable skill of negotiating conflicts in a peaceful and productive way. This can be done in six steps
and it’s a process which I call Street Negotiation, or the ability to negotiate a conflict wherever and
whenever you encounter it. Street Negotiation is based on six-steps which has the acronym
P.E.R.P.O.S. In this article, we’ll touch on these six-steps.

Step 1: Plan B

Whenever you engage in any type of conflict or negotiation, you always want to have a back up plan,
or what I call a “plan B.” Your plan B is the best possible outcome you can get for yourself without
having to deal with the person at all. So if I were to ask my boss for a raise because I need more
money to support my growing family, my plan B—should my boss refuse to negotiate with me, is to
have another job offer already in hand. Having a plan B boosts your “acquired” negotiating power
and equalizes the power field, especially when your opponent has more “positional” power than you
do, such as in the case of your boss in this example. A police crisis negotiator may not always be able
to “talk down” a hostage-taker, but their ability to confidently negotiate with that hostage-taker is
grounded in their plan B of having the SWAT team on standby, ready to go full-breach and restore
the situation by force. Your plan B is your main source of power.

Step 2: Emotional Control

Emotions, especially anger, cause reactions rather than logical responses to occur. Reactions are
detrimental to any type of conflict resolution process because reactions are impulsive rather than
rational in nature. Reactions are what our emotional mind thinks is the right choice to distance
ourselves from emotional pain to our ego, but these reactions cause conflict escalation and more
confrontation to result. A good example of a reaction is yelling or arguing with someone who doesn’t
see something our way. In this example, we are allowing our emotional need to be heard and
acknowledged to get in the way of our objective. Just remember the golden rule of conflict resolution:
If they make you react, then they win and you lose.

Step 3: Reduce Their Tension

Now that you have your own emotions under control, now is the time to address the other side’s
feelings and emotions. Remember that feelings need to be stabilized before the problem can even be
addressed. Also remember that what you are feeling may not be what the other person is feeling. You
may think that the situation is a simple misunderstanding, but the other person might think you are
attacking them personally. Stabilize those feelings by actively listening to them without judging or
taking offense at what they have to say, acknowledging their points, and empathizing with them.

Step 4: Persuade

After stabilizing the feelings and emotions involved, you now can direct your attention at meeting
their needs and your own needs. The true essence of persuasion is reframing their wants into what
they actually need. Positions are the demands, wants, and unreasonable requests that the other side
makes. There is only one way to satisfy their position that they initially take, but there are many
creative ways to satisfy their actual needs and interests. Their needs lie underneath their demands
and it’s your job to start digging to uncover these needs. The ability to persuade is the ability to
uncover their needs with question-asking and finding compatible interests that you both share.

For example, John might reject my idea on a company project and insist on his own way by shooting
down my idea. While his position is “his way” versus “my way,” our interests are the
same—completing the project in the best way possible. Therefore my ability to persuade John is by
not focusing on who’s method is the right one, but instead, focusing on our shared interest in getting
the project done right. Objective criteria can be used as a fair standard to determine a fair direction
to follow. Objective criteria involves a set benchmark or past decision to align your decision-making
upon.

Step 5: Options
It’s a fundamental human need for autonomy in life ”to exercise the freedom of independence and
choice. Therefore, by “expanding the pie” by creating mutually-satisfying options that work for both
of you, you can create a win-win atmosphere. Instead of forcing your views on the other person,
create as many workable options as possible for the other side to consider.

Step 6: Solutions

After giving your partner as many options that work for both of you as possible, allow them the
freedom to choose which one they want the most. By guiding rather than forcing, you can lead them
in your direction. But let’s say, they are still uncooperative and things are not looking fruitful for you.
Then your solution is to slowly introduce that plan B that you have in your pocket as an alternative to
the negotiation. Often times, having this plan B will be enough to bring your partner back to the
negotiating table. Whenever you feel that what you can get from the other side is LESS than what
your plan B is, then your solution is to terminate negotiations and implement that plan B.

Key Points

P = Plan B ”Have one ready before engaging the conflict E = Emotional Control €”If you react, then
you lose the game R = Reduce Tension ”Stabilize the feelings involved first P = Persuade €”Reframe
their positions into compatible interests O = Options ”Create many options that satisfy both your
needs S = Solutions ”Let them choose an option or use your plan B

40 Ways To Lead Like The Greats

Solid leadership is a combination of instinct and education. It is born of the inherent versus
environment precept. It is never all of one and none of another, but a balance. Great leaders carry a
charisma: some of it inborn, some of it through the development of skills that bring with them
confidence. That charisma, or as we call it, that “It” encompasses more than sheer charisma. “It” is
the magic that causes people to follow when it doesn’t make logical sense to do so. “It” enables
groups of followers to weather storms, fight uphill battles, stretch their own limits beyond what was
once thought possible, and live on long after the leader is gone. (By studying the greatest leaders in
history, such as Ganghis Kahn, Atilla the Hun and Winston Churchill, we can get an education in the
secrets of “It.”)

Any great leader has an “It” checklist that looks like this:
1. There is a difference between leaders and managers. Managers make sure that things are running
smoothly, leaders create change and followings through vision.

2. Leaders create visions in which others can believe. Leaders enable followers to buy in to decisions
by giving them clear objectives and expectations and them leaving them to use their talents and
strengths to do the work.

3. Leaders understand and honor the words autonomy and empowerment. Leaders know not to do
too much, but to supply their people with the resources and guidance they need to follow through on
their own. Outstanding leaders lead the charge, riding on their horses with the troops, but they allow
each soldier to draw their “bayonettes” as conditions necessitate.

4. Leaders see the totality of their company. Their cross-functional teams know how to work as a
whole enterprise. The best of leaders teach their teams how they are interwoven, and how each team
carries a vital purpose to the whole, and how they fit into the interwoven mesh of the corporate
blanket.

5. Leaders understand the necessity of key subordinate leaders. They know how to hire based on
unique valuable talents and remember to let those talents work for the group. They know that it is
the weak leader who allows his own fears about loss of control to cloud his memory in regard to why
those special talents were brought on board to begin with.

6. Leaders have followers who not only believe in the mission of the organization, but have followers
who are accustomed to winning. Winners believe that goals and objectives can actually be captured.
Leaders hire people who know how to win and thrive on the energy generated by winning.

7. Leaders are curious. Usually they are curious by nature. They want to know why and how things
are done. They ask questions and aren’t afraid to probe into unknown areas to find solutions.

8. Leaders are instinctual. They follow their gut. Their curiosity drives them to accumulate the
necessary information they need so that when decision time comes, it is the gut that has the final say.

9.Leaders understand the saying that a rolling stone carries no moss. Their organizations are not
mossy. They know that the key to success is continual momentum. Momentum breeds momentum.
They carry this forward from product development and reward programs that boost morale, to
customer satisfaction efforts.
10. Leaders reside in the moment of today and tomorrow simultaneously. They are not short sighted,
developing systems and institutionalizing their best strengths in order to succeed today and in the
future.

11. Leaders plan. They know that 90% of their time is best spent planning and 10% is spent on
administrative work.

12. Leaders form partnerships. They don’t pretend to be lone rangers. They know that their success
hinges upon their ability to use other people strategically. The partnerships of successful leaders are
win-win partnerships. They ally themselves with anyone from customers, competitors, vendors and
whatever sources bring the results their organizations need.

13. Leaders are not incremental. They transform. They welcome change and use change to keep on
top of their industries.

14. Leaders admit their mistakes. They know how blame casts a fatal blow to morale and trust. They
do not, however, gravel and seek pity. They acknowledge, learn, and move on.

15. Leaders are masters of observation. They listen, watch, and detect what others overlook. They use
the subtle cues or observations to give them the upper hand when needed.

16. Leaders institutionalize their values, visions, accomplishments and strengths. They know how,
through procedures and systems, to filter their strengths through the organization.

17. Leaders may leave physically, but not spiritually. Their legacies live on long after they have exited
their employment.

18. Leaders don’t hold hands, they shape their organizations through shaping minds. They provide
direction and guide. They do not believe in making decisions for their key subordinate right hands.

19. Leaders give credit where credit is due. They acknowledge and reward achievement and use the
momentum from the accomplishments to fuel further success in their followers.

20. Leaders don’t provide positions out of the goodness of their hearts. They create positions and fill
them based on the objectives and the vision of the company.

21. Leaders remain focused on the company missions and lead their followers to do the same.
22. Leaders are global thinkers. They don’t underestimate the power of the global economy. They
constantly search for ways in which they can expand or benefit upon the global and they are keenly
aware of the pitfalls of turning a blind eye to the global business markets.

23. Leaders know communication. They’re savvy interpersonal and technological communicators.
They know the ins and outs of dealing with various personalities as well as they know how e-mail
connects them to their front line staff.

24. Leaders think outside the box, inside the box and all around the box.

25. Leaders are not afraid to take an unorthodox approach. You’ll never hear one say, “We
don’t/can’t do it that way.” They go beyond the “That’s the way we always do it” mentality to the
“That’s the best way to do it.”

26. Leaders learn from leaders. They look to history, competitors and mentors. They are not too
proud to always learn from those they admire.

27. Leaders know that there is always something more to learn. They are constantly feeding their
minds. They know that the key to progressive transformation is found in ideas. They realize that
success isn’t going to happen. They have to seek new ways in which to make it happen.

28. Leaders give ownership when it is strategically advantageous to do so. They give rewards and
incentives, such as stock options, in order to keep key employees. They understand that rewards give
birth to new successes.

29. Leaders create teams to achieve goals. They know that the meeting of two minds can develop
opportunities that only one mind may miss. They successfully manage the interactions of their teams
in order to meet desired ends.

30. Leaders develop creative ways to cut through unnecessary bureaucracy or eliminate hindering
bureaucratic practices in order to expedite vital activities.

31. Leaders know that in order to keep pace and be innovative, they need to educate and empower
their staffs. They provide training, education, and workshops to keep the minds they lead in top,
competitive shape.

32. Leaders focus their people’s efforts on the customer.

33. Leaders understand that key employees are assets. They are careful about who is hired and
appointed, understanding the ripple effects of putting the wrong people in the wrong places. Gary
DiCamillo, Polaroid’s Chief Executive since 1995, has suffered the woes of poor employee retention,
losing key people in sales and product development. It’s reported that most
of these human resource assets were lost when DiCamillo filled his executive vice-president position
with Judith Boynton, previous controller for Amoco. Key employees were baffled by the appointment
and lost faith in DiCamillo for putting, what they thought, was an unqualified sub-leader in such a
high-ranking position. Polaroid steadily lost $166 million since DiCamillo’s reign, from 1995 through
2000. [Source: Forbes 1-22-01 p. 69.]
34. Leaders know how to eliminate the wrong people.

35. Leaders are decisive.

36. Leaders have the courage to live with their decisions. *

37. Leaders work it out when things go wrong. They face problems head on and deal with the issues
at hand quickly and effectively.

38. Leaders charge forward with urgency.

39. Leaders guard all assets that give them an edge. They are careful to set in place confidentiality
systems and to properly license and trademark intellectual property, inventions and groundbreaking
concepts.

40. Leaders know that even the greatest product is not enough. Often criticized for not acting quickly
enough to develop spin-off products from its PT Cruiser, DaimlerChrysler recently revealed concept
cars based on the blockbuster success of the PT Cruiser. Why? The market will always demand
something new, better, more versatile, etc. The GT Cruiser Concept has a larger engine, the PT
Cruiser Convertible Concept offers a sporty, fun twist, and the Panel Cruiser Concept is offered as a
light cargo vehicle with its 119.8 cubic feet and wood base floor. The original PT Cruiser is one of the
most sought out vehicles by buyers today; it’s sold at full list price and backordered for months at a
time. DaimlerChrysler’s possibilities are endless. What are they doing with the product to renew it, to
increase demand, and to prepare to fill that demand?

Look at the list again. How can you better motivate your staff to perform at higher levels? Do you see
what might be slowing down progress? What might you need to improve upon in your quest to run
uphill and seize the flags of victory? Chances are you’re doing a good job already. The question
becomes, what can you do to convert from good to great? Prosper and enjoy!
How to be a Great Manager
There are several traits that are vitally important for managers to develop and exhibit in order to be
great manager, but in today’s world, the most important trait that a manager must success to be a
great manager is leadership. In fact, without leadership skills and qualities, a manager will struggle
to keep up in a competitive and rapidly changing business world. Managers today who are trying to
learn how to become a geat manager need to have the ability to empower the people that they lead to
be creative, make decisions, and use their strengths to work toward accomplishing goals. Over the
past several decades, the traits of great managers have evolved and changed. Today, there is no more
important quality for a manager than that of being a leader.

The necessity of leadership skills in managers has changed through the years. In the middle of the
20th century, there seemed to be a great deal of emphasis on the manager being a decision maker.
The manager’s main job was to make sure that the processes were in place to achieve maximum
results, and that people were employed to carry out those processes. This management model
resembled a military battalion, with one general placing troops strategically to carry out tasks.
Leadership was about giving orders and following through to see that the orders were completed.

In the past, management has also been somewhat about power. You still occasionally hear people
talk about “climbing the corporate ladder,” but not nearly as often as we used to hear the phrase. The
number of people working under someone today is not nearly as important as the responsibilities
tied to each employee’s job function. The main difference is that employees today are empowered to
use their creativity and ingenuity to contribute and be innovative rather than take and carry out
orders.

The role of leadership has certainly evolved into something different in today’s world. We educate
our future leaders in universities around the world, emphasizing concepts like teamwork and how to
communicate and work with other people. Instead of preparing future managers for a centralized
system where one person is making the bulk of the decisions, employees at all levels of most
companies have the power and ability to contribute and implement their ideas. The main job of a
manager today is no longer to issue orders, but to set a strategic vision and then let the other capable
minds on the team participate in determining how goals will be achieved.

The great news about effective leadership as a manager is that these are skills that can be learned!

There are several easy techniques that managers can adopt that will prepare them to be leaders in
today’s business world almost overnight. Managers today that view their management role as a
power position end up struggling to be great leaders. A true leader has the confidence and feels
secure enough to empower the people he or she manages rather than control them. This paradigm
shift from the old style of management maybe the single most important key to being a great
manager in any business today.

Are You a Manager Or a Leader ?

There’s a difference between being a boss and a leader. Which one are you?

Webster’s definitions of a boss include: A person who exercises control over others and makes
decisions, usually the person of highest rank or authority, a supervisor, a person who commands in a
domineering manner.

In contrast the definitions for a leader include: A person who rules, guides, inspires, escorts, directs,
influences, persuades, and is out and ahead of or at the head of others. They have influence, power,
and commanding authority over those they lead. They tend toward a certain goal or result, are in the
foremost position, and usually “pull” people toward what becomes a common vision. People usually
follow a leader because they want to rather than have to.

Influential leaders, who lead with great ethics, whether they are Presidents, Kings, corporate CEOs,
Girl Guide or Scout leaders, bare some traits in common. They are passionate about what they do
and what they believe in; they are visionaries, can see the “big picture”, and are driven inside to draw
people into what they believe – to jump on the train with them.

A boss in a grocery store sees shelves that need to be stocked, employees that need to be scheduled,
doors that need fixed, floors that need to be cleaned, and the year-end staff social that needs to be
planned. They work toward these ends, seeing them to fulfillment, sometimes in very creative ways.

A leader in a grocery store sees those things too, but he or she also feels excitement about being in
business, or about making profit from people’s need for food and daily household products and how
that profit can be poured back into the store to make it superior over other grocery stores. They care
about, and inspire, their staff, realizing that they are the front line ambassadors of the store. They not
only see where the store is at now, but they also envision what it will look like or how it will impact
their community ten years from now. Whether they actually own the store or not, they make the
store their own.

With a good leader, people usually feel drawn, or “pulled”, into the same vision. Have you ever gone
into a store or restaurant and been treated so well by the staff there that you just knew that you
would return again? Not only did you just receive knock-your-socks-off customer service, but you
also met employees empowered by the vision of a true leader.

A leader usually develops and motivates leaders under them. People who get “fired-up” and
captivated by the vision and rise to the occasion.

For leaders, leadership is a way of life. If there’s leadership spontaneously required at a gathering,
leaders will step up to bat, even if it’s just to open a door as people arrive.

Can a boss be a leader? Definitely.

5 Entrepreneurial Leadership
Characteristics
“Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other.” –
Abraham Lincoln, US-President, 1861-1865

In order to become a fully functioning, successful individual in whichever endeavor you choose to
undertake, you must first cultivate the right attitude and behaviorial traits. No where else is this fact
more true as than when we consider the dominant characteristics needed for entrepreneurial
leadership.

There are effective executives and directors in many fields but most leadership development
programs neither focus on increasing entrepreneurship nor do they employ innovative training
methods. However, you can acquire, develop and robustly practice the requisite entrepreneurial
leadership skills.

According to the late great management expert, Peter F. Drucker, “The entrepreneur always searches
for change, responds to it, and exploits it as an opportunity. Innovation is the specific instrument of
entrepreneurship. (It’s the entrepreneurial) act that endows resources with a new capacity to create
wealth.”

Entrepreneur extraordinaire, Sir Richard Branson, explains why he changed his mind and became
one because he originally “wanted to be an editor or a journalist, (and) I wasn’t really interested in
being an entrepreneur, but I soon found I had to become (one) in order to keep my magazine going.”
So in a very real sense, Sir Richard, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and others like them already had attributes
of the leadership mind-set and they were behaving in similar ways as leaders do too. If you hope to
successfully initiate any commercial, governmental or public service undertaking, you will have to
learn, exhibit and embrace the characteristics of entrepreneurial leadership.

What types of character traits do entrepreneurs have? Are those behaviors really important? In a
word, these characteristics are important because if you don’t possess them, you will have lower
chances in terms of business success. The characteristics are as follows

1. Risk Assessor – this very important aspect of entrepreneurship is probably the most
misunderstood one of all. Many organizational executives are willing to take any risk which presents
itself as a breakthrough or never-before-tried opportunity. But without taking the time and effort to
thoroughly evaluate or explore the potential pitfalls of their new idea, they are not very likely to
succeed in their venture. In the course of doing business, you will always encounter a number of
challenges, problems and situations demanding your prompt attention, decision and resolution.

However, after careful evaluation there are many risks which are worth taking, especially if their
variables can be examined and then worked out and if the majority of these uncertainties are
determined to be good for the business. At those times, you must be willing to be a risk taker,
otherwise you won’t be acting in an effective entrepreneurial leadership capacity.

2. Wise, Smart and Accepting of New Ideas – Most people believe being smart is all there is to being
a successful executive – but wisdom, a willingness to learn new things and an acceptance of new
realities and viewpoints are also necessary traits for winning in your entrepreneurial enterprise.

Of course, your cleverness, keen insights, and witty interactions with others will carry you far
throughout your business dealings. Regardless of your position, today’s complex and pressure-
packed situations compel you to demonstrate mental toughness, alertness of changing circumstances
and intelligence about emerging trends. Those attributes will help you earn the respect and trust of
your clients and all your associates or partners.

3. Executive Leadership Development – It still surprises me to hear someone say that leadership is
just a talent some people are born with. Yes it is true that the raw ingredients and characteristics of
leadership excellence can be hard to detect or find among any random or unorganized mass of
individuals.

There are not many people who naturally have the kind of nerve it takes to lead. However, today’s
innovative training programs easily empower large groups of ordinary people to learn, understand
and adopt the proven fundamentals of entrepreneurial leadership principles, practices and
discipline.

Your executive leadership skills will serve your venture when your personal qualities and behaviors
help you guide, influence, manage and direct people. These abilities will enable you to handle your
business affairs with greater ease and positive emotions.

4. An Inner Passion for Your Enterprise – One essential characteristic of successful entrepreneurs is
the amount and scope of their enthusiastic, passionate zeal they have for their business. We have
seen high levels of this emotional trait in many public service, governmental and commercial leaders
who were also founding members of their organizations.

No executive leadership development or innovative training programs can “teach” you how to have
an intense yearning and desire for your venture. You alone must have, maintain and increase your
enthusiasm for and uncompromising interest in your business pursuits. When your drive,
determination and passion reaches a fever pitch, you will be well on your way towards successfully
operating and growing your business.

5. Honesty, Integrity, Trustworthy – Every organization is built and depends upon positive
relationships. Some management experts say entrepreneurial leadership means dedicating and
investing eighty percent (80%) of one’s time into developing, organizing and strengthening relations
with associates, customers and other stakeholders.

As cinema director, Neil LaBute, observes, “In a relationship you have to open yourself up.” Every
manager knows this is true because without being forthright, dealing sincerely with and providing
access to your clients, the business will not go very far.

Your honesty, integrity and trustworthy nature will enable you to earn the loyalty, custom and good
will of your community, buyers and sponsors and your colleagues.

Obviously, there are other characteristic and behavioral traits needed to ensure success in your
entrepreneurial leadership activities. The five attributes listed above will help you handle most of
your organizational responsibilities, duties and obligations.

These traits also form the basis for successful careers in any industry or profession. If, however, you
can equip yourself with the means to improve your performance, some additional time spent in
innovative training courses will put you over the top.
If you plan on using an executive leadership development program to sharpen your competence in
these characteristics, all you’ll need to do is study market trends carefully, think of a few strategic
options for your venture, provide the capital and you’ll be ready to take entrepreneurial leadership
action.

“The real issue is not talent as an independent element, but talent in relationship to will, desire, and
persistence. Talent without these things vanishes and even modest talent with those characteristics
grows.” – Milton Glaser