Category: Soft Skills

With so much at stake in corporate development, leadership is perhaps the single greatest key in finding the correct decision and then making it count. Here are four principles to help you develop a strong leadership presence and authority.

Planning –

Finding all the information required can be a challenging process however the best guide is to maintain focus on the company objectives. Know what you want to achieve and don’t substitute an emotional direction over a logical one. Having a clear purpose of what you want and how you would see success, can filter the correct information and raise actions as the catalyst.

Training can be a unique solution to fill the obvious gaps however your vision as a leader-with-a-plan can be even more potent in building momentum, especially when shared.

Be prepared for objections, people don’t like change and the why it won’t work must be expected.

Organising –

With a plan comes the task of organisation, though delegation will be one of your strongest tools, prioritisation and time management will be the laws that govern completion. Allow open and frank discussion to engage key figures in the plan.

With others, a clear objective and description of what success will look like will be paramount. Ensure 1-2-1 meetings are given to those who need buy-in. Give them value through responsibility. Getting opinions aired safely will help build trust and challenge problems with options.

Leading –

This is where your personality and character can set the tone. Be prepared for negotiation and conflicts. The latter can be offset by ensuring clear guidance is offered along with support through regular meetings. Be prepared to continually update and refocus energy.

Align the skills required with the work needing to be done and review key personnel through their CV’s and performance appraisals. Make sure you know who the people are that work for you. How they like to work and manage their day.

How they see success in their role.

Ask yourself am I allowing people to grow in their work? Some will love challenge and diversity while others will find comfort and productivity in routine. As a leader you understand the motivators for each behaviour type and the attitude needed to see the work completed.

Every task becomes a sounding board to learn about the individuals and how they best work as a team, so don’t be afraid to try things. When you find a strategy that works use it.

Far too many times a leader will put a goal/reward in place that works then fail to keep it consistent and every time they do this their sincerity is questioned.

Controlling –

Identify performance and efficiency and celebrate what achieved the best results for all concerned. Be a leader of influence rather than a dictator. Far better to build an environment where each voice is given value and thereby allowed to own a difficult position. At the end of the day your strongest controls will be feedback and the data reviewed to identify trends in a concise and logical manner.

What is the STAR?

The STAR technique is a process that helps you to respond efficiently and effectively to those tricky interview questions that ask you to reflect on your experience. It will help you to ace every interview. These types of questions will often begin, “Tell me…?”, “Describe a situation…?” or “Give me an example of a time when…?”. Interviewers ask these kinds of questions to understand how you will perform in the role.

Using this technique, you can match your answer to the question and perform better at interviews by outlining the:

• Situation
• Task required to address the situation
• Action you took to complete the task
• Result of your actions

Explain the Situation

Start by describing a specific situation or problem rather than a general explanation of many situations because this will make sure it resonates. It could be your experience from a previous job; voluntary experience; or any relevant event.

Provide details because the interviewer must fully understand how your situation matches the question they have posed.

Introduce the Task

Make your interviewer understand the objective you were set or your realisation of what was required to turn the situation around. 

Describe YOUR Action

The spotlight is on you therefore describe the approach you took to address the situation.

• Tip #1: Provide precise and methodical detail. What did you do and what were the specific steps you took?
• Tip #2: Keep the focus entirely on you. People tend to use the collective “we” to describe contributions at work since we are often working with a team. When explaining actions in an interview, focus exclusively on what YOU did by using “I” not “we”. 

Own YOUR Result

The most important part of your response. To nail it like a pro, describe the positive outcomes of your actions and what you accomplished. Besides that, put these results into clear context by throwing in some metrics, numbers or percentages.

• Tip #3: This is YOUR moment and YOUR accomplishments so keep the focus on yourself.
• Tip #4: Delight the interviewer by ensuring they understand that the result outperformed expectations.

Modelling STAR 

Example Question:

Give me a specific example of a time when you used logic to solve a problem?  

 

Example Response:

S: Interest in our marketing services was declining with less clients renewing contracts and revenues down.

T: I was tasked with generating new ideas that would revive interest in our services, retain our most important contracts and increase revenues year on year by 10%.

A: I conducted research that revealed increasing competition in the market for traditional services. I decided to prioritise our design capability and overhaul our digital presence to promote this service. I also set-up a special training session for the sales team so they could promote this service in new business discussions.

R: As a consequence, the business won eight pitches for new business. Two previous clients returned to us, which increased sales revenue by 30 % over the same period in the previous year.

Conclusion

Your appearance, passion, values and likeability only gets you so far in interviews.

To ace it, the STAR technique delivers a structure that helps your message chime with the requirements of the job and most importantly ensures you go one better than the rest.