Great leadership skills involves the ability to foster teamwork. I don’t think there will be much dispute over this fact. Teamwork is often discussed and analyzed and most people believe they have a good understanding of this topic. I received a wonderful gift from one of my mentors that really depicts teamwork at its’ best.

Here is the link to the movie called Pulling Together the Movie: http://www.pullingtogethermovie.com/

It can be found with several other free motivational videos at a website called Simple Truths
I hope you enjoy the movie as much as I did!

Partners in Success!

Cheryl

Now you may be thinking I have a typo of some sort, or maybe I am just trying to write a fancy headline to capture your attention (I confess the latter does have some truth).  But the reality is that great followership skills are needed for any successful team!  Want to have great Leadership skills? Learn to be a great follower!

The idea of being labeled a follower has a stigma attached to it.  For example – they are passive, weak people who only do what they are told.  This could not be further from the truth.  Followership is role, just like leadership is.  Both are critical to the success of a team. not everyone can lead at the same time.

Leadership is a fluid role.  When you think about it – everyone at some point in time is a follower.

The formal definition of Followership is the capacity or willingness to follow a leader (Merriam-Webster).  When you think about capacity to follow, it extends beyond following instructions or being able to follow what someone tells you to do.

A good follower brings to the table their integrity, ability to contribute and share ideas, their skills, knowledge and ability to work with others.  Hmmmmm very similar to a leader.

Good Followers are active and can think for themselves.  It’s not about doing what you are told to do.  It is about working with a team to accomplish success of a common goal / vision.

How does this all apply to Network Marketing?

• We all have an upline or a mentor to learn from and grow with.  We take on a followership role in this instance
• Having good followership skills helps us to keep ourselves open to new thoughts and ideas.  Sometimes when we lock ourselves into the “Expert” role, we are not as open to new and fresh ideas from those who may have less experience.  We narrow our vision and limit success in this manner
• We model for our team members success strategies
• It puts us in the position of working collaboratively and place focus on helping others.
  

Below is a great video “The Art of Followership: How Great Followers create great leaders & Organizations

The ability to follow is a indeed a necessary Leadership Skill including the network marketing industry.

If you would like more insight on how you can develop as a leader in network marketing, download Success in 10 steps.  It is free and exemplifies what is needed to have real network marketing success.

Partners in Success!

Cheryl

I came across a very interesting report done by IBM called “Capitalizing on Complexity, Insights from the Global Chief Executive Officer Study” More that 1500 Chief Executive Officers world wide were interviewed for this study.

With today’s economy and high competition, the report indicates that CEO’s face a great deal of complexity like never before.

Creativity is the Leadership Characteristic that the CEOs in this study highlighted as one of the most important aspects of being able to deal with the complexity of the business challenges today.

So how does this apply to the business of network marketing?
Like all other business, Network marketing deals with the current economic state and the competition in the field.  While there are a large number of benefits to this industry, it is not isolated from the rest of the world.  Complexity surrounds us all! It is vital for companies within the industry to be creative in their approaches to building business.

This requires the leadership characteristic of Creativity.  So how do you  develop creativity in your network marketing business:

• Keep an open mind.  In my opinion, this is critical to creativity.  There are many ways of building a network marketing business.  Many of the traditional approaches have been replaced.

• Be flexible and willing to look at new ideas and ways of doing business.  If you have been in the MLM industry a while, you may be resistant to some of the new approaches.  If your business is not where it should be or used to be, consider looking at some innovative ideas.

• Re-examine past practices and toss them out if they are outdated.  Does making a list of 100+ or buying leads really help your business to grow?  Area you alienating your friends? Is it time to stop wasting your time and money on some of these practices?  Really think about this to see if it is still effective for you today.

• Interacting with your fellow team mates including those individuals who are new to the team.  Network marketing is about relationships.  What better way to learn, grow and come up with creative solutions than to interact with those in your business.  Even the new folks can shed a new perspective on a complexity you are facing.

• Finding out what your customer wants / needs.  Developing a relationship with them.  This can lead to creative ways of better serving them.  Having a happy customer is essential.  Think of the impact it will have if they see you are implementing one of their suggestions!

These are just a few insights on the Leadership Characteristic of creativity.  You have it within you and your team, be open to using it!

If you are looking for new ways of doing business that may differ from what you are currently doing now, I encourage you to look at the free report Success in 10 steps. It is free and offers an effective approach that can help your business grow.

Partners in Success!

Cheryl

Merriam Webster defines Courage as the “mental or moral strength to venture, persevere, and withstand danger, fear or difficulty.  It takes courage to build a business.  It really is an important Leadership Characteristic that one must possess in network marketing.

My goal is to share with you my thoughts on Courage and how it can affect your Network Marketing business

Courage does not always roar.  Sometimes courage is the little voice at the the end of the day that says I’ll try again tomorrow. ~ Mary Ann Radmacher

When I think of courage, the things that often come to mind are the acts of the brave fire fighters, police officers, and soldiers. Yes they truly are heroes and give a lot of themselves to help protect us. But Courage does exist in our lives more often than we realize.

Think of your day to day life.  Then take a look as some of the following examples of courage:

• Express your thoughts and opinions
• Stand up for what you believe in
• Go out of your comfort zone
• Start a new business
• Change careers
• Learn or try something new
• Make new friends
• Make amends
• Be open to others’ thoughts and views

In Network Marketing, courage is very much part of the business.  It is evident that a growing number of people are aware of using the Internet to build their business. But still for many, the first thing that comes to mind is making a large list of people, contacting all your friends and family, making cold calls to people you don’t know or getting 100 “No” responses, please rest assured this is very much unnecessary.

Courage is needed to go out of your comfort zone and develop relationships with those who are interested in the business.  It may be to learn skills necessary to grow a successful business.  It can be a shift in thinking, being open to new ways of doing things or possibly just taking an honest assessment of how you are doing. It can be as simple as committing to take consistent daily action regardless of the time spent.  Courage to believe in yourself.

Courage in business does not always involve a huge visible risk.  It is the small steps we take and the courage that goes a long with it that counts.  It is an essential Leadership Characteristic in building your business.

Courage is being afraid but going a head anyways ~ Dan Rather

]]> http://attractionmarketingleadership.com/blog/leadership-characteristic-of-courage/feed/ 4 http://attractionmarketingleadership.com/blog/handling-criticism-is-an-important-leadership-skill/ http://attractionmarketingleadership.com/blog/handling-criticism-is-an-important-leadership-skill/#comments Mon, 05 Jul 2010 23:45:01 +0000 Cheryl http://attractionmarketingleadership.com/blog/?p=360

Dealing with criticism is an essential Leadership Skill. I have just read another brilliant post by John Maxwell regarding this subject –  “When you Get Kicked in the Rear, You Know You’re Out in Front”  Maxwell indicates that criticism is a part of leadership and good leaders must know how to handle it.

He covers 5 key areas for dealing effectively with criticism:

• Know yourself
• Know the criticism and the critics
• Stay Open to Change
• Accept Yourself
• Forget Yourself
  

I highly recommend reading this article.  You can easily access by Clicking Here.  Handling criticism is an important Leadership Skill.

John Maxwell is an amazing leader.  I appreciate his work and find great value in what he has to offer.  His work is a must for anyone wishing to improve their leadership abilities.

10/9/2009 – Please see my update!

I have to confess, this blog is very self-indulgent.  I love studying leadership, learning what attracts people to great leaders, and just about every aspect of this topic.  I was reminded of something very important as I was watching a video by Mike Klingler.  The purpose of the video was not to speak of leadership per se, but he did touch upon this topic.  What I am about to say may seem very contradictory to what this whole site is about.  If you want to be successful in Network Marketing, you do not have to have leadership skills before you experience success.  If you are using the Internet to build your on-line business, what you need to have is concrete, tangible skills.  You need to be able to use social marketing tools such as blogs, squidoo lenses, video postings, article marketing and so on to provide value based content.  You can experience a great deal of success, income and a following by developing competencies in these areas.

So does that mean developing leadership skills is a waste of time?  NO, not at all.  Obviously I place a lot of value on this.  I look at the development of leadership as progressive.  While you are developing competencies and using the Internet to attract others, you begin the process and journey of developing leadership skills for network marketing.  It really makes a lot of sense when you think about it.  If you are a leader, you are a teacher.  If you are a teacher you need to know how to use and apply the tools for success.  Regardless of the methods you use to build your network marketing business there are skills necessary for your ultimate success.  This includes leadership and listening skills.  The beauty of attraction marketing, your focus starts out with learning and teaching tangible skills.  I look at the development of leadership skills as something that occurs a long the way of your success.  With the more traditional methods of Marketing, much emphasis is placed on needing leadership skills before you can experience success.  This can be quite challenging, especially to the beginner.  This is another reason why using Web 2.0 is so powerful and can really help others attain success.

I would love to hear your opinions on this topic.

To your success!

I recently read an article on leadership in Success Magazine called “leading Multitudes, Moving Mountains: Leadership in the 21st Century” by Chelsea Greenwood. The article highlights 7 traits great leaders must have. One of the traits was to Serve Others. Yes we serve our customers, but it is essential that we do the same for the team we are leading.  As Kevin Blanchard, leadership expert so eloquently stated in his new book The Heart of a Leader: Insights on the Art of Influence The flock is not there for the sake of the shepherd, The shepherd is there for the sake of the flock. We need to be working towards fulfilling the needs of our team members.  We need to find out what is important to them.  What are their goals?  What are they striving to achieve?

What does this all mean in the network marketing world?  I think we sometimes assume that one of our primary goals is to achieve financial independence. While this may be one thing we are striving for, there is probably more to it.  One thing you can do as a leader is to get to know your team members’ goals.  What are they striving for? More importantly, how can you give them the tools, support and encouragement to achieve these goals?  What is wonderful about attraction marketing is the focus on giving value and providing solutions.  We need to do this within our teams as well.  We also need to celebrate their successes, which can be more than generating  X number of leads.  Acknowledge their accomplishments. An amazing thing that I have observed is that when you do this, you create a loyal team who really are inspired to give it there all.

Please note: The link to Kevin Blanchard’s book is an affiliate link with Amazon.com.  I recieve commission on purchased made through this link.

Sometimes Leadership is a balancing act.  You need the wisdom to make decisions of when you should be more involved and when to pull back.  I have had the experience to observe the effects of this throughout my career.  I have seen people in leadership positions take on a more relaxed role and not establish any type of structure. They were very laid back. People on the team were lost, looking for direction and getting very frustrated.  I have also seen people in leadership positions take on a more controlling role. They micro managed their teams, checking every little thing there team was doing, and giving very little responsibility to others.  This was very suffocating to the team and demoralizing.  I believe with leadership, you need to balance this all out.  There are some times where you need to be a little more ridgid and times where it is okay to be laid back.

Balancing it all out in network marketing requires flexibility and wisdom.   You need the flexibility to adapt and respond to what is going on in the industry. If you are to be focusing on being a provider of solutions, flexibility is needed to find new ways of meeting those needs. You need the flexibility of helping your downline when they are struggling with an approach to build their business. Remeber that attraction marketing is not like the generic, simplified mlm recruiting methods of the past. You need to be flexible in your approach on when to be more structured and when to be a little more laid back. You may find that a more structured approach with someone in your down line is needed when they are brand spanking new! You are laying the foundation for that person and they need more guidance. The wisdom needed for such decisions come from experience. You need the wisdom to decide what actions to take, what approach you should use, and when to take action. I view leadership as a fluid and flexible. There is a right time and place for different leadership roles.

Have you ever been told by someone in a Network Marketing company that if you don’t succeed with the opportunity, it’s basically all your fault?  I had that experience when I attended a weekend training promoting the more traditional methods of marketing.  Using these old-school MLM methods made me feel like there was something wrong with me. I was not comfortable with using the methods taught and really struggled to build my business.  I felt I needed to change things about myself.  Maybe my “Why” was not big enough, or maybe I needed to develop more confidence.  I also found myself getting irritated.  My experience has taught me that leaders also have a responsibility in a teams’ success.  I was not buying into the trainers belief’s anymore. This was confirmed as I learned more about  Attraction network marketing.  People who are not experiencing success probably need to learn more effective methods of Network Marketing.  There are tons of people who work really hard at the business with very little to show.  It is too easy to shift all the blame onto those people.  Yes it is true that people on your team are responsible for taking action and are primarily responsible for their own success, but a leader with integrity shares some of that responsibility. The following are just a few thoughts on this subject:

• If someone on your team, or someone that you are coaching is not experiencing success, you have a responsibility to discuss this with that person.  It is quite possible that person does not have the right information or tools to effectively accomplish their goals. In addition, they may need a different approach.  Remember that success in network marketing is not about having everyone utilizing a one size fits all type of method.
• Leaders have a responsibility of empowering their team to be successful and to become leaders themselves.  This means providing your team with quality information, tools and skills necessary for success.
• Leaders have a responsibility to keep current with their industry and what methods are most effective for building their business.  They need to keep themselves educated, find a coach if needed, and work on self-development.
• Leaders have a responsibility to keep an open mind.  They need to be willing to look at new ways of doing things as our society grows and changes.  What is working today may very well be an “old school” method down the road.
• Leaders cannot rest on their laurels.  I believe that great leaders continue to work on their business.  They don’t cling onto their past successes.  They lead by example.

I would love to hear feedback and thoughts on this subject.  I welcome your posts!

To your success!
Cheryl

Why is Personal Development so important to Success?
Personal development is something near and dear to my heart.  Without it, I tend to become stagnant.  I like to think of personal development as a way of adding to what you already have.  There was a period of time where I thought I had to change everything about me in order to achieve my goals.  Almost as if I was not good enough. This is NOT what self development is all about.  I was younger then and a lot more naive back then!  A very dear friend pointed out my strengths and that what self development is truly about. I am very grateful to her for this.

So why is personal development so important?  Great network marketing leaders already know the key to their MLM success. They follow other leaders and people they look up to.  They discover new things that they did not know about and make efforts to learn whatever it is they need to learn.  Leaders now that developing skills and knowledge is an ongoing process.  It helps to keep current with what is new in the industry.  If you are going to position yourself as someone who provides solutions, you need to be able to have a wide repertoire of solutions to offer.

What are some Key Areas of Personal Development for Network Marketing Leaders?
If you want to know what areas to focus on, start listening to and following current leaders in the industry. Don’t be afraid to learn about something that you never heard of before or is different from what you have been doing.   If you are using the attraction model of network marketing, it also helps to keep your eyes open on new technology related to Web 2.0.  You may discover new ways to connect with others.  You may also want to pay attention to other types of leaders as well.  Recently Trump University had a webinar on social media and how to use the tools to build your business.  It is interesting to see how other people apply the knowledge you have obtained to their line of business.  Another critical area for all leaders is anything related to relationship building.  This skill will help know matter what business you are involved with.  You need this skill to connect with others.