Muna wa Wanjiru Has Been Researching and Reporting on Leadership for Years. For More Information on Define Leadership, Visit His Site at Define Leadership
Posts Tagged ‘Ways’
A Look at the Several Ways You Can Define Leadership
There are several ways to define leadership. Experts have tried to define leadership using several aspects. A process that influences other people to achieve an objective and guides the company in a way to make it more coherent and cohesive is called leadership. You can also define leadership as a process of leading people in the right direction in order to achieve goals. Leaders apply leadership attributes such as values, knowledge and skills to implement this process in any organization. Leadership ensures that that the organization works successfully and accomplishes the desired goals. Leadership is also defined as a process that can have a positive impact on others. It motivates people to excel in the field they are working.
Leadership does not mean yelling at your followers to accomplish certain tasks. If you are the boss of a company that does not mean you will have leadership qualities. Leadership makes its followers want to accomplish high goals. Thus, leadership will be aptly defined as a process that encourages the followers to achieve their objectives. You can also define leadership as an action that directs the followers to lead a respectable and honorable life. Leadership qualities are not inborn but can be developed gradually through education and self-study. Leadership can also be defined as lernership as it is a continuous learning process. Some scholars have defined leadership as an ability to inspire other people with a dream.
Behavioral theory of leadership defines leadership in terms of relation and behavior of leaders towards their followers. Some leaders are people oriented while some are task oriented. Accordingly, there is participative leadership and directive relationship. Leadership can also be defined as a process that cultivates and nurtures later generation of leaders. Leadership is about awakening the persistence and passion among its followers to get the desired result. Some experts have defined leadership as an ability to transform dream into reality. Leadership does not mean just imparting instructions to its followers but also striving hard to implement and achieve the desired goals. Leadership is a process that persuades people to do the right thing for a better future. Leadership is a process in which one person encourages, inspires and motivates others to work for the betterment of society.
Your actions should motivate people to do more and then become more. It can also be defined as the ability of a senior to persuade his or her subordinates action to implement a course of action. Leadership directs people to inculcate qualities that will make them good citizens of the country. Leadership defines a clear vision for the company and capacity to translate it to reality. Leadership is like a 2 way street. You should have respect for seniors as well as your juniors. Leadership persuades people to go where they do not want to go necessarily but they ought to go. Leadership is a process that makes sure that his followers accomplish the task Leadership is also defined as a set of actions that are implemented in order to create a friendly work environment
3 Different Ways To Monetize Your Blog
Choosing how to monetize your blog is a huge decision! There are many different options and it can be difficult to judge which type your readers will respond to most. Take a look at these different options, and make your choice with your readers and the market overall in mind.
Option 1: Adsense
Adsense is probably the easiest way to monetize — and the most difficult! It’s easy because it’s just a simple code that Google gives you (they even automatically match up the ads for you!). You make money as soon as someone clicks on your ads, whether they actually go on to make a purchase or not. Adsense can also be incredibly difficult. You usually get paid a few cents per click and it can take a lot of traffic for it to add up to something that is even remotely worth your while.
Adsense might be a good thing to test, especially as you’re getting your feet wet with blogging. If you’re in the right market and find the right ad positions and colors, it can certainly turn into a nice hands-off income for you.
Option 2: Affiliate Products
Selling products as an affiliate is a great way to make money. For one thing, you get to earn money from the products without having to fulfill them yourself or deal with customer service issues. Nothing is better than that! The returns are usually higher than with Adsense, provided you’re able to find an offer that converts well with the people who visit your website.
You will have to decide if you want to promote digital or physical products. This decision will likely come down to what kind of niche you’re in and how your site visitors will respond.
Option 3: Creating Your Own Products
After you get a loyal following of readers it’s easier than ever to create and sell your own information product! You’ll have to fulfill the orders and deal with customer service issues, but the tradeoff is that you get to keep all the money! You are also the one who knows your readers best, so you’re likely to come up with an offer that converts extremely well since it’s exactly what they want.
You can write an ebook, create a membership site, deliver a paid e-course, create a video series, or record audio. If you want to make the package even better you can combine a few different approaches to add massive value. The options are endless when it comes to monetizing with your own products. Some of your blog readers might eventually want to become an affiliate of yours as well!
As you look at these different options you might start to feel overwhelmed. That’s perfectly normal! It’s hard to know what the best path is when you’re just starting out with a new niche. A good way to get a feel for the best way to do things is to see what other blogs and sites in your niche are doing. You’re not trying to copy them, you’re simply taking note of what works and using it yourself.
Effective Ways To Get Your Blog Indexed
Getting your blog indexed in the search engines can seem impossible sometimes. It can often be so random! One blog gets indexed in a matter of minutes, while another one takes weeks. While the search engines don’t reveal their exact formula for indexing, there are some methods that have been proven to work for many bloggers out there.
Of course, many people decide that the first thing they should do to get their blog indexed is to submit it to the search engines by hand. There is actually a lot of disagreement on this point! Some people think the search engines look upon this favorably, and other people think that hand submission can hurt you.
The bottom line here is that it really doesn’t seem to hurt your rankings, but it’s best to keep in mind that the search engines “know it’s you” who is submitting the site. What they want are votes of confidence from other established sites out there. That’s why it’s better to concentrate on those.
If you already have a network of sites then you have a huge advantage. All it takes is a relevant contextual link on one of those sites and you’ll often get indexed very quickly. This is especially true If you have access to a site that gets indexed often.
Not everyone has established sites, however! The good thing is that there are sites out there that allow you to put your content on their site. Article directories are one example. If you write an article for a site like EzineArticles.com with a link back to your site in the author’s resource box, the chances are good that you will get indexed fairly quickly. You can also add your content and links to sites like HubPages.com, Squidoo.com, and others.
Another thing you can do is make sure you submit your RSS feed to directories. There are RSS directories out there that alert people (and spiders) that your content has been updated. This can increase your chances of getting indexed. Some examples of sites you can submit to include Feedagg.com and Feedage.com.
Yet another piece of the puzzle is writing great content and updating often. There is no exact formula for this, but we do know that Google likes content! If you can write a few posts right off the bat to show that you’re going to be a great, relevant site, there is a larger chance that your site will get indexed.
If you still haven’t made it into the search engines it is going to take a bit more effort. Usually a combination of a few of these will work well. Also, a little bit of patience goes a long way. It’s not unusual to wait a week or more for the magic to happen! Still, by following the suggestions above you’ll find that you get indexed fairly quickly and often.
4 Ways To Increase Traffic To Your Blog
Are you constantly blogging but the numbers you see in your traffic logs are embarrassingly low? It can be maddening to check your stats and realize that no one is actually stopping by. Don’t give up yet, because there are four great ways you can get traffic fast.
Traffic Tip #1: Do Your Keyword Research
Many bloggers make the mistake of thinking they can just throw some posts up there and expect to get traffic. There is a lot more to it than that! You need to make sure you are looking at the keyword data to find terms that are getting a lot of searches. Ideally, you want these terms to have low competition so it’s easier for you to rank. Once you start basing your posts around these kinds of keywords you should find that you’re getting a lot more traffic.
Traffic Tip #2: Write Enticing Articles Off-Site
Submitting to article directories isn’t just a good way to get backlinks to your site, it’s also a great way to get readers! Sites like EzineArticles.com have their own readership of people who are looking for the exact topic you’re blogging about. If you write a compelling article that leads into your resource box, people will be enticed to visit your blog.
Traffic Tip #3: Give People a Reason to Come Back
Getting traffic in the first place is one thing, but what you want to do as a blogger is have them coming back over and over again. The best way to do this is to create special offers or exciting events. For example, you can give away a prize each week to the new people who subscribed to your list or your feed. You can also run a contest for people who leave answers as comments on your blog posts. Make your blog a happening place to be and people will want to visit often and tell their friends.
Traffic Tip #4: Create Linkbait
Linkbait is when you write a blog post that is so exciting or controversial it gets people to come to your blog, comment, and link to the post. You may share some shocking news or offer an opinion you know is bound to stir people’s emotions. You do need to have thick skin when you write linkbait! Don’t expect everyone to agree with your opinion.
An example of linkbait is going the opposite way everyone else goes. For instance, imagine you have an electronics blog and you decide to review the iPhone. After reviewing the product you decide you don’t like it. You then write to tell your readers why. Since this was a product everyone was gaga over when it first came out the chances are good you would have gotten a strong reaction right off the bat.
There you have it! These are four solid ways you can start to increase the traffic on your blog as soon as possible. When you put these methods to work you’ll realize that the secrets to getting great traffic were in front of you the whole time.
Seven Ways to Supercharge your Strategic Planning Process
Copyright (c) 2007 Gayla Hodges
At this time of year, many companies look to the future and put together a Strategic Plan and/or a Business Plan for the coming year(s). For many, this has become a matter of looking at the last plan and changing the numbers to match new goals. If this is your process, you’re missing a huge opportunity to build the strategic thinking and planning capability of your organization.
Whether you have a team of two, twenty, two hundred or two thousand plus, the strategic planning process provides multiple opportunities to develop employees and positively impact the bottom line. Here are a few suggestions of how to supercharge your strategic planning process and make it a vital part of your organization’s success.
Create Pre-Planning Teams
Charter a team of three or four people to do advance research on industry trends, internal and external factors that will likely affect the future of your company in both positive and negative ways. Build time early in your agenda for a presentation from the team. This not only saves time in your planning session but gives those on the advance team an opportunity to think and learn from the research.
Charter a Stakeholder Audit Team. The size of this team will depend on how many stakeholders you identify. A stakeholder is a person or entity that has a “stake” in your success as a company. Stakeholders might include customers, suppliers, community leaders, etc. The job of this team is to interview these key individuals to get their input about what they need from your organization and/or how you might work more effectively together. This team will need to summarize and analyze the data they collect and bring it back to the planning team for use in the actual planning session.
Be sure to include some of your high potential non-managers on these teams so they are exposed to the process and have the opportunity to think at a higher level than their job usually demands.
Include Bargaining Unit Leaders and HR
If you work with a bargaining unit, include them in the process. Many items become easier to negotiate when Union leaders understand the big picture and the challenges the organization is facing. Also, Union leaders bring the viewpoint of your employees to the table in a unique way that can be very helpful in designing the “people” initiatives you will need to be successful.
Make sure to invite your Human Resources Director/Manager to the table. Many companies put together a strategic plan with multiple “people” strategies without the input of the HR Department. Since most of these strategies will fall to the HR Department for implementation or at least major support, it’s in everyone’s best interest to incorporate their ideas as well as making sure the strategies are implemented “as intended.”
Use an Outside Facilitator
This can either be from another part of your organization or an outside consultant. Either way, your focus should be on the actual strategic thinking and planning. Executives who try to facilitate their own strategic plans are like doctors who try to treat themselves. It’s not the best use of your professional expertise. A trained facilitator will bring out the best in each of those participating in the process, including the leader!!
Include a Communications Professional in the Process
You will want the document you create to be a tool that is used throughout the year. A professional can help you simplify difficult concepts, communicate concisely and format for utility. Remember, the major purpose of the document you distribute to employees is to engage them in the goals of the organization.
Distribute a Copy of the Plan to Each Employee
Make sure your first line Supervisors understand the major components of your plan and, more importantly, how they will contribute to reaching the goals of the plan. Then, have them distribute copies of the plan. Research shows that employees trust the Supervisor that they know more than upper management. So, roll out the plan but give your Supervisors the info they need to explain it.
Keep the Plan Alive Throughout the Year
Include regular updates on progress toward strategic goals in your organization’s communication channels. Bring the planning team back together once a quarter to review the plan and track progress. Showcase teams or individuals who are directly impacting the success of the plan in company communication vehicles. Most importantly, celebrate milestones reached along the way.
Use the Plan
If your copy of your company’s strategic plan doesn’t have dog-eared pages and coffee stains by mid-year, you’re not getting the most out of the plan. As a leader, those you interact with should be so used to seeing you with a copy of your plan that they notice when you don’t mention it. And, since you are their leader, you will begin to notice that they are bringing up company goals, milestones and impacts on a more regular basis as well. This is the power of the plan. It has the potential to engage people at every level of your organization in striving to meet company goals.
You may be thinking, this is fine for larger companies but I’m an Entrepreneur and/or my company consists of only a few people. How will this work for me? It will actually work very well if you think about all those who have a “stake” in your business and engage them in the process. Ask associates, your Mastermind Group, or key individuals you respect from the networking organizations you belong to for their help in building your plan. That way you will not only build a plan, you will build relationships that energize your success.