“You can ask a lot from people, when they know you care about them.”
– Jeff Walz

 Louisville Leadership Development Coaching

Great leaders ask for guidance, and a successful leadership development coach is a good place to start. At Momentum Business Results, we teach that the primary responsibilities of any leader are as follows:

• Determine the goals and strategies for the team
• Clearly communicate the goals, strategies, expectations and responsibilities to the team
• Identify and remove any barriers to the team members’ individual and collective success

Note that nowhere on that list does it say that a leader’s role is to motivate the team. Naturally, people typically respond well to a leader who is positive, decisive, caring and willing to put forth as much, or more, effort than is expected of anyone else.  All of which can be very motivating.

But that doesn’t mean it’s the leader’s job to motivate team members to put forth their best effort each day.   Neither you, nor anyone else, can truly motivate people who just don’t want to work…or be there. The best a leader can do, and should be doing, is to create an environment where motivated people can thrive.

Thus, by creating a culture of caring, success-oriented, inspired effort, they continually attract more motivated people to the team. That said, while some people may be blessed with those natural characteristics that make them more comfortable or effective in a leadership role, the skills required to be a strong leader can, like most other skills, be learned and developed over time.

Momentum Business Results clients develop the Leadership skills necessary to:

• Communicate effectively with their team (and others)
• Establish clearly defined goals and strategies
• Use the S.M.A.R.T. (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time Sensitive) approach for delegating responsibility. Every time!
• Use Agreed Upon Actions to ensure that there is clear understanding and consensus as to what is to be done, by whom and by when.
• Deliver good news and bad news in a straightforward manner, with clarity, honesty and compassion
• Manage their priorities to ensure that the most important things are done without delay
• Understand how to evolve from a manager to a leader
• Demonstrate their sincere concern for their team members