In my last post I wrote about "The Big Why" - the importance for leaders to communicate the rationale behind their decisions. After all, who wants to be told what to do? And emotional commitment only comes when people understand why.

When was the last time someone told you what to do without explaining the reason behind their directive? What was your reaction? Did you unquestionably cooperate? 

So, you are a leader in a matrix organization. Perhaps you are the Line Manager to whom a Team Member reports directly, although you rarely see each other.

In my last few posts, I have been exploring the behavioral best practices of leaders who Craft a Vision and Champion Execution. 

As I mentioned in both of those posts, our personality styles impact how we lead. Sometimes our natural preferences help in a specific area of leadership. Other times those same natural tendencies hinder our leadership effectiveness. 

I had an amazing visit with a senior executive last week to kick-off a 7-month leadership development program here in Denver, Colorado. Our conversation focused mostly on the concept of execution. 

When people speak of leadership, they often describe visionary and charismatic people. They rarely speak about the need for leaders to be involved in the execution of a vision. But without a focus on execution, a leader's vision often goes unrealized and organizational change efforts fail. Here are a few key principles that guide this executive. 

By Kyle Lagunas

Apple is running a seriously smooth operation in their retail stores. Each employee has a distinct role to play, understands that role, and does his/her part to deliver the level of service we've come to expect from this powerful brand. All of this requires serious alignment of brand, business goals and people process.

Finding the right people to work in the stores is half the battle. There are things that Apple’s retail arm does particularly well in organizational development--things any organization could learn from:

The first week of January is over. Are your people aligned?

Is every team member, from your front line employee to supervisor to mid-level manager and above, clear about the strategic direction of the organization? In most companies, it’s well into the calendar year before team members understand the vision and strategy. If this is the case on your team, you'll probably notice a lack of clarity, confusion and unspoken expectations. The business results you'll experience are lost productivity, low employee engagement, and missed opportunities.

Here is the third excerpt from our recent article on 3 Ways to Derail Team Formation. In Part 1 of this post I talked about the first mistake that derails team formation - Ambiguity of team purpose and vision for the future. Part 2 focused on the mistake of - Hiring a warm body instead of the right person Here's Mistake #3... Dis-orientation Most team members are hired and then thrown into the fire.

Another  common and costly leader mistake that can result in a loss of credibility and trust.

MISTAKE: Solving problems others should solve.

It’s not uncommon for new leaders to solve problems for their team members instead of helping them learn to do it on their own. For the overly controlling leader, you may find it faster to take care of it yourself than to take the time to teach.

For the less assertive leader, it might be easier to do it yourself so you can get around confronting an issue directly.