Humor + Laughter = Results

“A sense of humor is part of the art of leadership, of getting along with people, of getting things done”.
–Dwight D. Eisenhower

Would you have thought that the most effective and successful leaders use laughter to increase productivity, build relationships, and improve results?

Humor, properly used, will positively influence those around you, promote a sense of comfort and confidence, and reduce tension in individuals and teams.

Numerous studies have been conducted and have found:

  • Humor is a powerful form of persuasion
  • Humor promotes teamwork and camaraderie
  • Humor stimulates creativity
  • Humor improves lines of communication

Humor has also been linked with our emotional intelligence competencies. According to Daniel Goleman,(EQ author/expert) “Research on humor at work reveals that a well-timed joke or playful laughter can stimulate creativity, open lines of communication, enhance a sense of connection and trust, and, of course make work more fun”.

Bryan Lattimore states that humor can be used:

  • As a way to break the ice in stiff or uncomfortable business situations
  • As an effective bonding technique – a wonderful way to build common ground with other employees
  • As a way to break down resistance
  • As a much needed way to improve the content, enjoyment, and ultimately the productivity of meetings
  • As a way to assign work when people can’t take any more
  • As a wonderful way to ease and control tension 

Like any leadership behavior, the use of humor requires skill. For some using humor is a natural talent, for others it’s awkward. Tip: Avoid humor that is sexist, ethnic, political or religious since this is usually at someone’s expense, and is likely to be disruptive and ill received.

Don’t be afraid to step out of your comfort zone and give humor a try! Given that humor impacts the power of persuasion and communication, promotes teamwork, stimulates creativity and effectiveness, and builds trust, are you effectively leveraging humor and laughter?

Leadership and Planning

“Four steps to achievement: Plan purposefully. Prepare prayerfully. Proceed positively. Pursue persistently.”
–William A. Ward

In order to effectively lead your team to success, you as a leader must help them understand how they support the “big picture”.  Individual and team goals and roles must be clearly aligned with those of the organization, and used as the basis of rewards and development planning.

PeopleTek’s Strategic Plan Process

Successful leaders build a plan and use it. At PeopleTek we use and recommend the “strategic plan process.” This plan uses seven steps that help you easily identify where you currently are, and the steps required to get you where you want to be.

The steps in the plan are:

Step 1 – Agree on the mission or objective
Step 2 ­- Agree on the focus areas; we suggest 3 -5 (also called streams)
Step 3 – Agree on the desired result for each focus area or stream
Step 4 – List the CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS (pre-requisites or dependencies)
Step 5 – Identify the ‘AS IS’ for each focus area (be honest)
Step 6 – Brainstorm and prioritize the “HOW TO’s” for each focus area
Step 7 – Ensure accountability by assigning owners to each focus area

Ensuring accountability is critical. An owner must be assigned for each focus area and for each “HOW TO” step, with each step having a target date for completion.

This planning process can also be used for individual development planning. Assess where each individual is, and state where you want them “to be”. Your plan could include specific courses (up-skilling specific functions essential for a job, perhaps technical needs, as well as leadership and soft-skill development.  It could also include cross training within areas of your current company or organization, a mentorship (either to be a mentor or be mentored), and even perhaps plans for a total career change.  Technical and professional networks could also be identified.

Track the progress of your plans, update them as needed, and celebrate your successes!

Invest in Leadership

Could you or your organization benefit by building critical leadership competencies?

PeopleTek has worked with thousands of individuals since 1996 to teach the critical skills needed to be a successful leader.

This training guided me through a series of self discoveries that held the secret of improving my effective leadership behavior, techniques and processes.
—L.  Mahate

For Leaders Of All Levels . . .

Great leaders motivate individuals to envision the future and blaze a path to achieve success.

Our Leadership Journey® program provides both tenured and newly promoted leaders with the tools for becoming a more successful leader.

Learn to understand and appreciate the strengths of individuals and teams, and to identify competencies that have not yet been fully developed.

PeopleTek’s virtually facilitated Leadership Journey program allows individuals and teams to attend from any location, without incurring travel expenses.

Our next virtually facilitated program kicks off March 29th.

Invest in yourself and your organization and take leadership to a higher level; enroll today!

Unpopular Decisions

“There are many qualities that make a great leader. But having strong beliefs, being able to stick with them through popular and unpopular times, is the most important characteristic of a great leader”.
—Rudy Giuliani  

Have you ever been faced with making, and communicating, an unpopular decision? One that doesn’t feel good, but must occur?

Most of us work in a “for profit” environment, and the decisions we make support achieving results and growing our business.

Changes, whether popular or unpopular need to be communicated. Think about what channel of communication you will use. Face to face is best, but not always possible. What would be most effective, from both the perspective of the message sender, and the receiver?

We have young adult children and they share stories about personal relationships being ended by a simple text message.  We suppose it gets the job done, but is certainly not ideal.

For those of you that are football fans, super star quarterback Peyton Manning was released from the Indianapolis Colts.  Manning took the Colts to the playoffs 11 times, captured seven AFC South titles in eight years, won two AFC championships, one Super Bowl title and a Super Bowl MVP Award.  So why was the unpopular decision made?  Manning missed the entire 2011 season due to injuries (he had 3 neck surgeries in 19 months), and although “okayed” medically to play this year, there was still a health risk. As a result, the decision was made to release him instead of paying a $28 million bonus that he was eligible for.

Leadership requires courage, and yes, making unpopular decisions is part of it.

Here are some tips for communicating any decision:

  • State why the decision needed to be made
  • Indicate who will be impacted because of the decision
  • Anticipate and prepare for questions and opposition
  • Openly discuss both positive and negative impacts
  • Listen and feel!

As a leader, you need to be open and you need to build trust in your organization, especially during times of uncertainty and when unpopular decisions must be made.

Principled Business Leaders

Alpha Kappa Psi was founded on the principles of educating its members and the public to appreciate and demand higher ideals in business. . .
akpsi.org

Principled Leaders

Participants attended up to 5 leadership sessions and had the ability for their school to compete against other schools in a case competition.

Alpha Kappa Psi logo; principled leadersLevels of energy and enthusiasm were unsurpassed; some attendees were in their final year of school, others had 1 or 2 years remaining. In the closing ceremony, (where the entire group was assembled), they were asked to “please stand if you’re leader.” We were delighted to see 100% of the attendees stand up. We have NEVER seen that happen in any venue!

Members of the fraternity know their vision and mission statements and live the following values:

  • Brotherhood– Trust, respect, cooperation, companionship, and aid to brother members is the expected norm
  • Knowledge – Education and experience is emphasized and shared
  • Integrity – All actions, whether in business or in life, are guided by honesty, ethics, and fairness
  • Service– Sharing of time, talent, and treasure with society and with our fraternity is a priority
  • Unity – A common understanding of their vision and values that transcends chapter, generation, and profession is utilized to anticipate and create the future

Does your staff, team, or organization know their vision and mission statements? Would 100% stand if they were asked if they were leaders? Having shared values, and knowing what your vision, mission, and supporting goals are things that facilitate success.

Congratulations to the Alpha Kappa Psi brotherhood for their commitment to leadership development, and ultimately, success!