---------------------------- Have Traffic Fringes in Family and Your World ------------------------------

Observation - A Critical Leadership Skill

by Andrew Cox

Leaders know observation skills are critically important to success - in any dimension. They work hard to develop their own, and to identify the skill in their people.

Leaders rely heavily on the observations of others to test their own impressions, and to add to their body of knowledge about whatever issue is on the table. Observation is learning on the fly – it's not something you sit down to do. And every experience adds to your body of knowledge, leaving you a top asset to your organization, your industry, your family, and yourself.

At the same time that it is such a valuable skill, it's amazing how little value is attached to it by many, many managers. Again and again you'll see people leave a meeting with the statement that it was a waste of their time. When pressed, they will state that they learned nothing, or the meeting was inconclusive, or they weren't the right person the be there, or they felt muzzled.

A suggestion: the next time you find yourself in a meeting where you feel it's a waste of your time, promise yourself that you will take from that meeting at least 3 items of information – perceptions, opinions, facts, observed behavior, that can be of help in your work. Then apply those elements to your relationships. It works – most people don't do it. Most people don't become effective leaders. In the case of most people, they don't even know observation is a highly prized skill.

If you want to be in the top ten percent of whatever you do, work consciously and hard on the development of your observation skills. It will pay off – I guarantee it. If you want to be world class in anything, you gotta develop the skill of observation - seeing the world around you and seeing it every day, in every way, and make observing a habit of thought. The price of success is stepping out - observing the world in all its variety, learning from it, and taking that accumulation of inputs and putting them to use in decision making - in improving intuition - in building relationships.

Ten behaviors and habits of thought critical for developing accurate observation skills:

Sizing up people – people watching

Clarity – seeing the world as it is

Curiosity – asking why

Listening skills

Willingness to set aside personal biases

Willingness to seek the inputs of others

Seeking out new experiences and possibilities

Being comfortable with ambiguity

Knowledge of the behaviors and attitudes of people

Self knowledge – accurately knowing your own behaviors, attitudes and personal skills, and how they impact others

It's easy to get so focused on our own job that we really don't see the forest for the trees, even if we're invited to the highest ranger station in that particular forest.

A personal story:

I was hiking in the Phoenix Mountain Preserve and coming down a steep, rocky, narrow path. Approaching me from below was a young woman, baseball cap pulled down over her eyes, dark sunglasses, hydration backpack, and earphones. I stepped aside to let her pass - hikers ascending have right of way - I said "Hello," and she went past me - within inches of touching me - without acknowledging me! Wow - two people, close enough to touch, no one else around, and not so much as a nod.

Just what does this have to do with observation skills? A lot. This hiker was so into her own zone that nothing around her could enter her consciousness. The birds singing, the green of spring, the warning rattle of a rattlesnake, the crunch of boots overtaking her, the beautiful blue sky - none of it could penetrate her "zone." I see that a lot. Mountain bikers, hikers, runners- all intent on their journey - oblivious to their surroundings except for what is right in front of them - and in danger of missing all kinds of messages. Observation? Other than their own heart rate, miles covered, calories burned, goals met, time elapsed, mountains climbed, Gatorade consumed, how they feel - they could be in a dark tunnel. Too bad for them - they miss all kinds of critical inputs that could help them grow and develop and enjoy the process of gaining physical fitness.

To the extent that we close ourselves off from the unfamiliar; from things that would challenge us; from things that make us think; from things that disagree with our beliefs; from things that can stimulate our senses, we create our own little cocoon - that safe place where we can exist unaffected by all the stuff that swirls around us. Some people call it focus - I think not.

A suggestion. We all need to gain or regain our sense of wonder about new things. Take a different route to work, buy a different newspaper, listen to a different news show, take a run over unfamiliar territory, hike in the woods or mountains - without your IPod, try a different routine at the gym, eat a meal you have never had before. And observe through all your senses. Gaining observation skills is an active, exciting process. It's best accomplished by sensing - as if for the first time - the world around you, and then seeing more than you saw the last time.

Try it - today. Become an active observer of life - and gain greater success - in whatever way you define success.

Andy Cox is President of Cox Consulting Group LLC. The focus of his work is on helping organizations and their people increase their success in the hiring, developing and enhancing the performance of leaders and emerging leaders. Cox Consulting Group LLC was started in 1995, and has worked with a wide range of organizations, managers and leaders - helping them define success, achieve success and make the ability to change a competitive advantage. He can be reached at http://coxconsultgroup.com/

Related Articles <



1.	The Seven Attitude Before Changing Work/Profession If you not find way out how to maintain work which in this time experiencing. Then, deciding to look for other work/profession, it is better you pay attention anticipative things according to
2.	You Experience Of Stress In Job? A employees face work duty exceeding ability boundary, in general will experience of stress in job. According to Terry Beehr and of John Newman (1978) stress symptom in job divided into 3 (three) aspect
3.	Four Principle Develop System Develop system mean to form interaction regularly or labour interdependent between item or group so that become unity which totally to work to to realize target.
4.	Is Me of Including Adult Leader? In the world of job a leader claimed to handle problemss morely adult. Leader have to have adulthood marking. Successfulness and failure of leader very depend on adulthood of attitude, action, and taken decision
5.	How To Control Anger? Anger is one of the emotion form having the character of healthy and fair. Though have the character of healthy and fair, otherwise controlled correctly, anger will generate new problem, like problem at work, family, and relation
6.	Myth and Fact About Defect Worker Defect worker of compared to absent a more regular of worker is not defect so that can influence climate work in Organization?
7.	3 People Skills That Are a 'Must' For Every Leader Great leaders have great people skills. If you are a leader and have terrible people skills you are hurting yourself.
8.	5 Step to Successful Leading Some time ago I listened to Zig Ziglar's audiobook 5 Steps to Successful Selling. The first time I played it, all I could relate it with was the selling of physical products, such as lamps, vacuum cleaners, or computers.
9.	10 Key Attributes To Successfully Climbing the Leadership Ladder When we start in our career, most of our energies and efforts are directed to learning.
10.	Bring Winemaker Wisdom to your Leadership Team My Mission: Enjoy and Learn more about Wines while decanting lessons in leadership from the Wine makers of Mendoza.
11.	Coping With Workplace Stress - Have Positive People To Help You Conquer Stress At Work The things that happen in the workplace can be unpredictable and very overwhelming at times.
12.	Free Your Conscious Mind For Subconscious To Work Your subconscious mind works best when your conscious mind is asleep or pleasantly occupied. In between intending and manifesting must be a temporary period of forgetting.
13.	How to Think Like a Leader Take time out to confer with yourself. Trade minds with people you want to influence. Think progress, push for progress, and also believe in progress. What is the human way to handle this.
14.	I Want To Be A Leader If you want to do or understand something, you start by learning what it is. Leadership is no exception. After reading several books on thec subject, I think that the best starting definition of leadership you can use is
15.	Know What A Leader Is Leadership means different things to different people. Some view it as a quality that belongs only to people of great political or financial power. Many believe it can only be attained by reaching a specific position such
16.	Leaders Manage Goals To Ensure More Is Not Less Leaders manage goals to know when more becomes less. Leaders know there is a place where further effort, energy, knowledge, people resources and money don't really add additional value.
17.	Leadership and Teamwork - Requirement To Get The Job Done Leadership and teamwork often go hand in hand. Teamwork requires leadership with vision of a clear goal, a flow of strong communication and the inspiration and drive to get
18.	Limiting Stress in the Workplace If life doesn't exist without stress then there's no chance of working without stress either. Limiting stress in the workplace, however, is possible.
19.	Observation - A Critical Leadership Skill Leaders know observation skills are critically important to success - in any dimension. They work hard to develop their own, and to identify the skill in their people.
20.	Personal Development Tips - 7 Qualities of a Successful Leader To be truly successful in your life, your career, your community or in any area, you need to develop the qualities of a leader.

My Affiliates



.

.


.
Bookmark and Share my www.psychologyagain.com

The Art Of Original Thinking: The Making Of A Thought Leader Socially, economically, politically, and technologically our world is evolving in ways we could scarcely imagine even a few years ago... Remarkable Leadership: Unleashing Your Leadership Potential One Skill at a Time
	Planning Programs for Adult Learners The ongoing education and training of adults has become a necessity in many professional areas. Yet the staff who set up and administer these programs often lack skills for the very task that is so critical to the success of their efforts--the planning of the programs themselves. Drawing on the tremendous success of the first edition, Planning Programs for Adult Learners, Second Edition covers the development of adult education programs in clear, specific detail. This popular guide contains information on every area of program planning for adult learners, from understanding the purpose of educational programs to obtaining suitable facilities. Thoroughly expanded and revised, the book contains a wealth of new material and examples, and features new information on incorporating technology into the development and practice of adult education programs. Educators and practitioners alike will find this guide to be an essential tool.

	The Leadership Of Joseph Smith: An Adult Manual For The Mutual Improvement Associations Of The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter Day Saints For The Yea The Leadership Of Joseph Smith: An Adult Manual For The Mutual Improvement Associations Of The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter Day Saints For The Yea

	Creating Value Through Skill-based Strategy And Entrepreneurial Leadership The fields of entrepreneurship and strategic management deal with the fundamental processes and forces that affect the start-up, prosperity, and survival of organizations...

	Insights on Leadership: Service, Stewardship, Spirit, & Servant-Leadership These thought-provoking essays look at Robert Greenleaf’s concept of servant leadership--the tenet of empowering employees--and explore how the philosophy of this former AT&T Director of ...

	Unnatural Leadership: Going Against Intuition and Experience to Develop Ten New Leadership Instincts Written by David Dotlich and Peter Cairo-- two of the country’s top executive coaches and educators-- Unnatural Leadership debunks the common notion of the natural leader as a flawless ...

	Mind of a Manager Soul of a Leader The best business managers and leaders often have an adversarial relationship with each other, yet they have one thing in common: the search for that elusive advantage that will propel them and their organizations to greater success. It explores the practical aspects of the schism between managers and leaders, suggesting ways to exploit this natural tension to gain positive results. Offering a wealth of insights drawn from over 15 years as a top management consultant, Craig Hickman shows the ways in which the strengths of these two distinct personality types complement each other. From the strategic analyzer and the strategy planner to the concrete thinker and the visionary to the nit-picker and the risk-taker--he shows how each individual perspective contributes to overall success. While specific chapters are grouped around five major organizational success factors, it is designed for rapid, random access depending on the reader's interests.

A Leadership Series for Successful Living (Unabridged) This highly praised leadership series demonstrates timeless lessons on leadership, success, personal development, and self-growth.... Principle-Centered Leadership How do we as individuals and organizations survive amid tremendous change?.... The Values of Presidential Leadership (Jepson Studies in Leadership) In this volume, presidential scholars from communication, history, law, philosophy, political science, and psychology explore the broader phenomenon of leadership. Like leadership more generally, presidential leadership is a value-laden activity, an exercise in communication, and a collective enterprise. It is also subject to psychological and historical barriers to interpretation. Finally, presidential leadership is instrumental: presidents must achieve their valued ends. Contributors address each of these aspects of leadership in essays on how presidential values are determined or constructed, how they are condoned and criticized, how they are packaged and conveyed, and how they are interpreted and acted upon. Transformational and Charismatic Leadership (Monographs in Leadership and Management) (Monographs in Leadership and Management) (Monographs in Leadership and Ma Transformational and charismatic leadership represent the "new leadership genre." These theories and models represent a set of approaches to leadership (not management) that can help us understand how certain leaders foster performance beyond expected standards by developing an emotional attachment with followers and other leaders, which is tied to a common cause and contributes to the "greater good" or larger collective. It is leadership that is individually considerate, intellectually stimulating, inspirationally motivational, visionary, and of high moral and ethical standards. Transformational and charismatic leadership involve a unique bonding among leaders and followers - emotional attachment, respect, and trust form the basis of these approaches. The purpose of this book is to assess the state-of-the-art of transformational and charismatic leadership theory and methods. The contributors to this volume review the past, critique the p

	The Leader's Handbook Lead your organization into the 21st century with the help of this groundbreaking book that is already creating a stir in corporate boardrooms across America! In a book that does for managers what his mega-bestseller, The Team Handbook, did for teams, Peter Scholtes, who is widely acknowledged as one of the most influential Quality leaders of the decade, shows the real root of management problems. Learn how to stop blaming your workers and start changing the systems with the help of activities and exercises that enable you to immediately begin implementing breakthrough improvements in all your work processes!
	The Six Sigma Leader Peter Pande, coauthor of the bestselling Six Sigma Way (also published by McGraw-Hill Audio), shows you how the same principles that create process excellence can now be applied to management success. He details twenty things reader can do to perfect the skills and habits of a successful 21st century business leader.
	Hesselbein on Leadership (J-B Leader to Leader Institute/PF Drucker Foundation) The woman BusinessWeek called the "grande dame of American management" shares her vision of leadership Frances Hesselbein rose from a volunteer troop leader to become CEO of the Girl Scouts of the USA. During her tenure Hesselbein transformed the Girl Scouts and created one of the most vibrant and recognized organizations in the world. In the course of her brilliant career, she was recognized by Fortune magazine as the "Best Nonprofit Manager in America" and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Now, for the first time, Frances Hesselbein has collected her most incisive and stirring writings on the topic of leadership in one compelling book. The book affirms Hesselbein's specific leadership principles that will give readers the inspiration to go forth and become exemplary leaders. It is also filled with the practical knowledge readers need so they can make a difference every day. These gems of leadership wisdom include Hesselbein's thoughts on innovation, change, diversity, and what it means to be a woman leader. At the heart of the book is Hesselbein's belief that leadership is about character-a question of how to be, not how to do it. Hailed by Warren Bennis, Peter Senge, Jim Collins, Peter Drucker, and others as one of the most innovative and inspired leaders today, Frances Hesselbein gives readers a star to steer by. Hesselbein on Leadership will engage, energize, and motivate readers to do their best and be their best. Frances Hesselbein (New York, NY) is the Chairman of the Peter F. Drucker Foundation for Nonprofit Management and Editor in Chief of Leader to Leader, the premier leadership journal. She is a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the coeditor of numerous books on leadership including The Leader of the Future (Jossey-Bass: 0-7879-5204-4) and The Organization of the Future, The Community of the Future (Jossey-Bass: 0-7879-5203-6).