Video:How to Be a Leader in the Workplace

Transcript:How to Be a Leader in the Workplace

hi I'm Lisa Chandler from Chandler Coaches for About.com. I coach managers and senior leaders in private business and corporate settings and I'm going to talk about how to be a leader in the workplace. It's common sense but also complex. It's about achieving mutually beneficial results through your people by building very deep relationships with them.

Leaders Must Communicate

The key is communication. Many leaders don't realize how much they have to communicate so I have 3 key skills which I teach. The art of asking powerful questions, the skill of curiosity and the skill of listening. You can talk to any co-active coach and learn about those more deeply but it's learning how to listen a lot more than speaking and asking questions that really get to the heart of the matter so you can understand what is being said and what isn't - often more important.

Leader Share Their Vision

Of course a leader needs to be able to share the vision and direction for the team. It floors me how often I coach a leader who makes the assumption their team knows what the direction is without ever having involved them or communicated the vision to them. Do this at your peril - you have to have the whole team going in the same direction and everyone needs to know what that direction is.

 Leaders Pick the Right Team 
 

Once you have a shared vision and your team knows what it is it is important to make sure you have the right people on the bus. That phrasing comes from Jim Collin's book Good to Great. There's an old adage that says hire slowly and fire fast and it's really applicable in this leadership situation. Make sure you have the right people on the bus and take swift action to make that happen.

Leaders are Human

The best leaders I've seen have been incredibly human. They've built trust by being trustworthy, they've built respect by being respectful of their team, they have motivated by living their values and convictions, they've been heard because they listen so well. They think what's in it for their team members rather than what's in it for me. These points are key to being an amazing leader in the workplace.

Thanks for watching. To learn more visit us on the web at About.com.