How to become an invaluable leader

This is a guest article by Mary Foley

With reduced resources, nagging uncertainty and pressures to produce results, today’s managers face tough challenges. Organizations are dramatically reducing their ranks of managers who do not add measurable value. At the same time, research shows that middle managers may be the most important people in an organization—but only if they have the right set of skills for today’s work environment.

What do you need to do for others to see you as a leader within the organization? Here are three strategies for you:

Strategy 1: Produce results that matter

Managers exist for one main reason: to make sure things get done. Usually with a shrinking budget, reduced workforce, blurred reporting structures and constant change.

No matter what the challenges may be, to be seen as an invaluable leader today you have to do one thing above all else: Produce results that matter.

It’s that simple and, sometimes, that hard. You can’t produce results that matter unless you know the results that matter. You have to be abundantly clear about the organization/department/team goals.

Kind of know but not quite sure? Invaluable leaders find out and know in detail what the goals are and why—and they orchestrate their team of people toward accomplishing those goals. Not just once a year, but all the time.

Strategy 2: Get smart about office politics

Smart, invaluable leaders know that office politics is simply this: relationships + power.

Most people want positive relationships, including at work. But the idea of power, well, that’s something many people aren’t as comfortable with, and understandably so. Power can be abusive, harmful or strictly self-serving. That’s one side of power. However, there’s another side.

“Office politics” is also another way of spelling “Leadership.” Like leadership, political acumen is the artful technique of making people feel good about themselves while they are helping the organization. For example, on a day-to-day basis, invaluable leaders who get smart about office politics can:

• Allow people at all levels of the organization to move up and around, because politics can give individuals the opportunity to be recognized.
   
• Support their employees, through acquiring the resources they need to get the job done and serving as a buffer between the employees and pressures from higher-ups.
   
• Help the organization as whole succeed, as senior-level leaders use politics to cultivate support and enthusiasm for the organization’s initiatives.

Strategy 3: Brand or be branded

Right now you are a brand within your organization and may not even know what it is. A brand is all about a person’s gut reaction to a person, place or thing. Your brand is what people immediately think of when they think of you. Are you known for your generosity of knowledge, as the gal who makes things happen, someone who listens or the guy who knows his numbers inside and out?

Whether you think you know or you’re clueless, find out how you’re branded by asking at least six people who work with you “What’s the one word that comes to mind when you think of me and why?” You may be pleasantly surprised or a bit shocked. Either way, you need to know the answer if you want to be seen as an invaluable leader.

Especially in today’s constantly changing environment, one of the most powerful ways to boost your brand for yourself and your organization is to be known as the problem solver. When a problem arises in their department most people say “That’s not my job” and leave the solution to others. Invaluable leaders look for problems to solve. They brainstorm solutions, they use their relationships to bounce off ideas, they are creative and they are resourceful.

Discover more ways to succeed at work by joining Mary on Thursday, Dec. 8, 2011 for the Bodacious Business Leader’s Guide to Business: 7 Strategies for Being Seen as an Invaluable Leader.

About Mary Foley

Mary Foley inspires women with practical advice to create sanity for their lives and confidence for their careers—all while having a bit of fun! After setting aside an engineering degree, she built a 10-year career at AOL during the company’s rocky rise to a global brand. She was promoted four times and became AOL’s first head of corporate training.

Foley is the author of three books, including Bodacious Career: Outrageous Success for Working Women. She’s a popular national speaker and former co-host of the Girlfriend We Gotta Talk! radio show. You can be inspired, too! Get her free “Sanity, Confidence and Fun Action Pack” jam-packed full of e-books, mini-posters and other goodies at http://www.maryfoley.com/.

Advertisement