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Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Sponsors Dinner Miss World Australia

Susie Wilson. Etiquette and Deportment specialist, trained 27 beautiful young women in Etiquette and Deportment.  These photo's were taken at the Sponsors Dinner with the Finalists in the Miss World Australia Pageant 2011.






















VAMP® Creations Etiquette Finishing School, Director, Ms Susie Wilson, will coach Miss World Australia-
Amber Greasley..
http://www.vampcreations.com.au


http://au.tv.yahoo.com/sunrise/video/-/watch/26447235/australias-new-miss-world/

Monday, August 29, 2011

Etiquette: Miss World Australia Crowning 2011

Etiquette: Miss World Australia Crowning 2011: Crowning Amber Greasley as the new Miss World Australia 2011



http://au.tv.yahoo.com/sunrise/video/-/watch/26447235/austra...

Miss World Australia Crowning 2011

Crowning Amber Greasley as the new Miss World Australia
2011








Susie Wilson with finalist




Susie Wilson announcing the Miss Poise and Communications



Susie Wilson training the 27 finalists in Etiquette and Deportment







Ms Susie Wilson
Etiquette and Deportment trainer for the Miss World Australia Pageant.

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

etiquette [ˈɛtɪˌkɛt ˌɛtɪˈkɛt]


Noun1.etiquetteetiquette - rules governing socially acceptable behavior
prescriptrule - prescribed guide for conduct or action
protocol - forms of ceremony and etiquette observed by diplomats and heads of state
punctilio - a fine point of etiquette or petty formality


etiquette
noun good or proper behaviour, mannersrulescodecustomsconventioncourtesyusage,protocolformalitiesproprietypolitenessgood mannersdecorumcivilitypolitessep's and q's, polite behaviour a breach of the rules of diplomatic etiquette

What is the definition of etiquette? Etiquette has to do with good manners. It's not so much our own good manners, but making other people feel comfortable by the way we behave. When asked "What is the definition...

"Etiquette has to do with good manners. It's not so much our own good manners, but making other people feel comfortable by the way we behave. So it's more or less thinking of others and how others perceive us: So that everyone knows the rules for doing things and everyone is in a very comfortable position in society.

So, has etiquette changed much over the years? Certain aspects of it yes, but the basic definition of it remains unaltered. Consider words that were published in 1967 by Funk & Wagnalls, quoted from the book "The Emily Post Book Of Etiquette From Young People" written by Elizabeth L. Post: "Believe it or not, etiquette - or good manners, if you like that phrase better- is one of those basic principles. Rules of good behaviour have been built up over hundreds of years; worthless ones are continually being discarded and those proven to be useful are kept and improved upon."

Many experts say that etiquette is simply showing respect for others and yourself at the same time. So, even though aspects of good manners do vary from place to place and some rules may be added or "tweaked" to keep up with technology or lifestyles - the foundation of etiquette, its meaning, will forever remain strong.

Need further proof? Let's exam the first few paragraphs of the Preface to a book entitled "Today's Etiquette", published back in1941 by DoubleDay Doran and written by Lillian Eichler. It reads: "Good manners are not only indispensable in society, but they have a very practical value in the business world. Breeding is an essential part of the equipment of anyone who wishes to go far in his particular work or profession.

No doubt many failures can be traced to boorishness, to lack of consideration for one's fellows, to neglect of the courtesies essential to civilised living...In both social and business life we seek the people with whom we can be at ease, the people whose manners do not offend us and in whose company we feel entirely comfortable. There is, indeed, nothing that costs less and at the same time is of more value to you than good manners... 

However, it must be remembered that...Just as words die from our language and others are born into it, just as skirts soar to the knees one season and tumble to the ankles the next, so do the formalities and outward gestures of etiquette vary according to the times. Although the spirit of etiquette remains always essentially the same, the expression of etiquette- the rules of conduct which govern social life and our associations with one another- is forever adjusting itself to new conditions..."

So, in other words, learn the definition of etiquette early. Take in all the basic knowledge that you can now, so that you too can adjust to our ever changing world.

Smiles, Susie

Susie Wilson is the Director of Susie Wilson Image Group.
And Vamp® Etiquette Finishing School in Melbourne, Australia.



Susie has been teaching Etiquette and Deportment, for over 2.5 decades. Trainer for the Miss World Australia Pageant in Etiquette and Deportment.

Office: +61 3 9221 6128
Fax:     +61 3 9653 9307

Saturday, August 13, 2011

Leading and Leadership


Leading & Leadership


Goals

Lost in the Leadership MazeYour thinking skills can be considered directional skills because they set the direction for your organisation. They provide vision, purpose, and goal definition. These are your eyes and ears to the future, allowing you to recognise the need for change, when to make it, how to implement it, and how to manage it. You find vision by reaching for any available reason to change, grow, and improve. Just as you perform preventive maintenance on your car, you must perform preventive maintenance on your organisation. Do NOT believe in the old adage, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it," for the people who do, go broke! Treat every project as a change effort. Treat every job as a new learning experience.
End of Leadership GoalGood organisations convey a strong vision of where they will be in the future. As a leader, you have to get your people to trust you and be sold on your vision. Using the leadership tools described in this guide and being honest and fair in all you do will provide you with the ammo you need to gain their trust. To sell them on your vision, you need to possess energy and display a positive attitude that is contagious. People want a strong vision of where they are going. No one wants to be stuck in a dead-end company going nowhere...or a company headed in the wrong direction. They want to be involved with a winner! And your people are the ones who will get you to that goal. You cannot do it alone!
When setting goals, keep these points in mind:
  • They should be realistic and attainable.
  • They should improve the organisation (morale, monetary, etc.).
  • All the people should be involved in the goal-setting process.
  • A program should be developed to achieve each goal.
There are four characteristics of goal setting 
  • Goal Difficulty: Increasing your employees' goal difficulty increases their challenges and enhances the amount of effort expended to achieve them. The more difficult goals lead to increased performance if they seem feasible. If they seem too high, employees will give up when they fail to achieve them.
  • Goal Specificity: When given specific goals, employees tend to perform higher. Telling them to do their best or giving no guidance increases ambiguity about what is expected. Employees need a set goal or model in order to display the correct behaviour.
  • Feedback: Providing feedback enhances the effects of goal setting. Performance feedback keeps their behaviour directed on the right target and encourages them to work harder to achieve the goal.
  • Participation in Goal Setting: Employees who participate in the process, generally set higher goals than if the goals were set for them. It also affects their belief that the goals are obtainable and increases their motivation to achieve them.

The Six Steps of Goal Setting

Although finding a vision can be quite a creative challenge, the process of getting that vision implemented can be fairly easy if you follow the six steps of:

Vision — Goals — Objectives — Tasks — Timelines — Followup



The Five Points of Leadership Power

Al Capone once said that “You can get much farther with a kind word and a gun than you can with a kind word alone.” However, while almost anyone can use power, it takes skill to use leadership. Leadership power is much more than the use of force. Leadership is influencing others to truly WANT to achieve a goal, while power forces others to achieve a goal.
Power refers to a capacity that a person (boss) has to influence the behavior of another so that he or she acts in accordance with the boss' wishes. This power is a capacity or potential as it implies a potential that need not be actualized to be effective. That is, a power may exist, but does not have to be used to be effective. For example, an officer in the Army has certain powers over enlisted personal, but that power does not have to used to be effective. The mere knowledge of an officer's power by an enlisted person has some influence over him or her.
A person has the potential for influencing five points of power over another (French & Raven, 1959):
Five Points of Leadership Power
  • Coercive Power — Power that is based on fear. A person with coercive power can make things difficult for people. These are the persons that you want to avoid getting angry. Employees working under coercive managers are unlikely to be committed, and more likely to resist the manager.
  • Reward Power — Compliance achieved based on the ability to distribute rewards that others view as valuable. Able to give special benefits or rewards to people. You might find it advantageous to trade favors with him or her.
  • Legitimate Power — The power a person receives as a result of his or her position in the formal hierarchy of an organisation. The person has the right, considering his or her position and your job responsibilities, to expect you to comply with legitimate requests.
  • Expert Power — Influence based on special skills or knowledge. This person earns respect by experience and knowledge. Expert power is the most strongly and consistently related to effective employee performance.
  • Referent Power — Influence based on possession by an individual or desirable resources or personal traits. You like the person and enjoy doing things for him or her.

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Happy 60th Birthday Miss World....



Proud Sponsor for the Miss World Australia



HAPPY 60th BIRTHDAY MISS WORLD
Welcome home..
Miss World’s New Look To Celebrate 60th Birthday in London November 2011


Miss World through the years


Miss World is returning home to London to celebrate its 60th Birthday. 

A world record 120 nations will compete for the most coveted crown in beauty. 
The finals will broadcast live from London Earls Court on Sunday 6th November.
On Sunday 29th July, 1951, 26 contestants took part in the first ever Miss World contest, 
as Kiki Haakanson from Sweden was crowned the first Miss World. On our 60th Birthday, 
we are pleased to announce that we will be returning home to London.
Miss World 2011 features new and exciting changes, four dedicated camera
teams will be living ‘in-house’ 
with the contestants at their five star hotel giving exclusive round the clock coverage on
Television and the Web.
The pre-judging process will be shown live on the internet as our panel of industry
 professionals take an in-depth look at the qualities of each contestant and award their marks.
 The pre-judging marks will be revealed on a giant World Scoreboard during the live final
before our star judging panel reveal their own personal favourites and give their scores.
Miss World is the world’s most watched annual TV event, forging links between 
participating countries in a way unsurpassed, by any other global event. 
It is watched by over 1 billion viewers in over 168 countries. Miss World 2011 will
showcase the UK as a leading tourist destination during the build up to The London Olympics 2012.

Messages from Miss World's
Miss World through the years


Sincerely Yours,
Susie

Saturday, August 6, 2011

Proper Table Manners

Susie Wilson Etiquette and Deportment Specialist
http://www.susiewilsonimagegroup.com


Proper Table Manners: 
It's important to make a good impression at mealtime too.




Etiquette is defined as the rules for socially acceptable behaviour.
A  17th century French dictionary gave its meaning as a small sign, label, or ticket.
 “Etiquettes” were placed around the palaces and gardens, instructing fine guests where to walk, where to stand, what not to touch
essentially telling them how to behave!
We have adapted this word from the French to refer to our manners and the proper way we conduct ourselves socially.
There is dining etiquette, telephone etiquette, even golf and surfing etiquette!
Etiquette isn’t new.

 It may have begun with a behaviour code by Ptahhotep, in Egypt’s reign
 of the Fifth Dynasty King Djedkare Isesi (ca. 2412 – 2375 BC).
Ancient Greece and Rome, developed rules for proper social conduct.
Confucius included rules for eating and speaking with his philosophy.
The behaviour that identifies a "gentleman" was codified in the sixteenth century,
in a book by Baldassare Castiglione, Il Cortegiano
("The Courtier"); and remained essentially in force until World War I.

Dining Etiquette:
There are all kinds of opportunities to impress, such as dates, meeting the parents,
lunch with the boss, not to mention the Holidays, plus more and more job interviews are being done over a dinner table.
One faux pas and you can kiss that promotion goodbye or never get to kiss the blind date across from you!
From the beginning of time, the act of eating together has had a pleasant social significance.
The word companion and company comes from the Latin "com-"meaning "with" or "together"
 and the Latin "panis" meaning "bread" or "food".
A companion is someone you eat with!

So that the experience is as pleasant and inoffensive as possible requires developing acceptable techniques of eating.

  “You should wipe your spoon before
passing it to a neighbour."
    "Do not blow your nose with the same
hand that you use to hold the meat”
     -- Erasmus, Dutch humanist and author of the first modern book of manners in 1526.
Maybe we’ve gotten more civilised since then, or maybe not!

Nowhere is a lack of training more quickly betrayed than at the table.
Below are the ten most common faux pas in social dining and how you can avoid them!
1.  Which is my water, bread plate, napkin???
If you remember: liquids on the right, solids on the left, you’ll never eat someone else’s bread again!
That’s your coffee cup to the right of the plate, and your bread plate on the left!








This is a clever way to remember:
Make "OK" signs with both of your hands


The left hand makes the letter
"b" for bread!
The right hand makes the letter "d" for drinks!

Good visual for kids and to help the rest of us remember!

Your napkin is always placed somewhere within your dining territorial borders.
2.  As soon as you are seated, unfold your napkin and place it on your lap.
The napkin remains on your lap (except for use) until the end of the meal.
That’s when the diners are leaving the table, not just when you finish!
If you need to leave the table temporarily, you may leave the napkin in your chair
as a signal to the waiter that you will be returning.
This is also a consideration for the other diners who won't have to look at your soiled napkin on the table!
Use your napkin before drinking from a glass or cup.
At the conclusion of the meal, place your napkin partly folded, never crumpled, at the left of your plate.
 Even a paper napkin should never be crushed and tossed into your plate.

3.  The Place Setting:  The first and only utensil was the dagger, that same threatening symbol
 of violence that you carried with you for defence!
The prevention of violence was one of the principal aims of table manners.
 So there are some serious restrictions regarding knives at the table.
The knife is never pointed at anyone.
A blade pointed outward is a sign that you wish the person across from you harm!!
 Richelieu was responsible for the rounding off of the points on table knife blades in 1669
France in order to prevent further dinnertime bloodshed.
The traditional place setting has the forks on the left side and knives (always turned inward facing the plate)
 and spoons on the right side.
The silver is placed in order of use so that you can follow the rule “begin at the outside and work in” towards the plate! *


















Formal Dinner Place Setting

1.  Napkin
2.  Fish Fork
3.  Main Course Fork
4.  Salad Fork*
5.  Soup Bowl and  Plate

6.  Dinner Plate
7.  Dinner Knife
8.  Fish Knife
9.  Soup Spoon
10. Bread and Butter Plate

11. Butter Knife
12. Desert silverware
13. Water Glass
14. Red Wine Glass
15. White Wine Glass
*You'll note that this table setting is European style since the salad is served after the main course. 
 In America the salad fork would be between #2 and 3 above.
 (The butter knife (#11), used only for spreading butter, should be already on your bread plate.
Dessert spoons/forks (#12) are usually brought in with the dessert, but often the dessert silver is placed above the dinner plate.
The origin of the term dessert is from the French “desservie” meaning to de-serve or clear the table.
Dessert was intended to clear the palate.
4.  No Oars!  Once silverware is picked up from the table it NEVER touches the table again.
Place it on the outer rim of the plate between bites, but never rest silver gangplank fashion, half on the table and half on the plate.
5.   When to Start – in gatherings of six or less people, begin eating only after everyone is served.
For larger groups, such as banquets, it is customary to start eating after four or five people have been served,
or permission is granted from those not yet served.
6.   Bread and rolls are broken off into bite-size pieces (why do you think they call meals, breaking bread!!!)
 and butter is spread on each bite as you eat it.  Never use a knife to cut the bread, nor butter a whole slice at once!
Butter should be taken when passed, and placed onto your bread plate, never directly onto your bread.
7.  Dishes are passed from left to right.  When a waiter serves you, food will be presented on your left,
 and the dish will be removed from your right side when you’ve finished.
8.  Salt and pepper are always passed together, even if someone asks you only for the salt.
 They are considered “married” in proper dining circles.
9.  Hold a stemmed glass by the stem!  This is to prevent chilled drinks, such as white wine
from becoming warmed by your hand, but it holds for non-chilled drinks as well.
10.   The finish – when you are finished with each course your knife (blade turned inward)
 and fork should be placed beside each other on the plate diagonally from upper left to lower right
(11 to 5 if you imagine your plate as a clock face).
This is a signal to the waiter that you are finished.
 And don’t push your plate away or otherwise rearrange your dishes from their position when you are finished
.

There are two styles of eating, Continental and American.  In the Continental style, which is more practical, the knife
 (for right handed folks) is kept in the right hand and the fork in the left,
with no switching unlike the zigzag practice of the American style where the fork is changed
 from the left hand to the right after cutting food.
The left hand is usually kept off the table and in your lap during American style dining,
except when it's being used to hold the fork during the cutting of food.
In the Continental style the fork is held in the left hand with the tines down; the back of the fork up
and the left index finger is placed on the back of the fork, low, for stability.
This works for meat and other foods that can be pierced.
 For other foods (mashed potatoes, etc.) the fork is held in the same manner
and the food is placed on the back of the fork and transferred to your mouth.
Both knife and fork are held while you chew although you can rest them on the plate.
The Continental, which most people consider old world is actually newer!
It was introduced by the British around 1880, but Americans were trying to instil manners on their frontiersmen.
 The new dining methods were rejected as disruptive in the middle of this teaching process.
American society felt it would diminish respect for the strict rules that were being established to remove the barbarian image.
When you are "resting", not using the utensils at the table, but you are not yet finished,
the knife and fork should be placed on the plate like this: 










This silverware placement is a signal to the waiter not to remove your plate!
Of course, this is assuming that the waiter knows some basic table manners!
Now that we know you have favourably impressed everyone with your exquisite table manners,
we hope you get that job, promotion and/or the girl. 







How one places their cutlery when finished.


Smiles, Susie



Thursday, August 4, 2011

Concepts of Leadership

Concepts of Leadership
I used to think that running an organisation was equivalent to conducting a symphony orchestra. But I don't think that's quite it; it's more like jazz. There is more improvisation. — Warren Bennis

Good leaders are made not born. If you have the desire and willpower, you can become an effective leader. Good leaders develop through a never ending process of self-study, education, training, and experience (Jago, 1982). This guide will help you through that process.

To inspire your workers into higher levels of teamwork, there are certain things you must be, know, and, do. These do not come naturally, but are acquired through continual work and study. Good leaders are continually working and studying to improve their leadership skills; they are NOT resting on their laurels.

Definition of Leadership
The meaning of a message is the change which it produces in the image. — Kenneth Boulding in The Image: Knowledge in Life and Society

Before we get started, lets define leadership. Leadership is a process by which a person influences others to accomplish an objective and directs the organization in a way that makes it more cohesive and coherent. This definition is similar to Northouse's (2007, p3) definition — Leadership is a process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal.

Leaders carry out this process by applying their leadership knowledge and skills. This is called Process Leadership (Jago, 1982). However, we know that we have traits that can influence our actions. This is called Trait Leadership (Jago, 1982), in that it was once common to believe that leaders were born rather than made. These two leadership types are shown in the chart below (Northouse, 2007, p5):



While leadership is learned, the skills and knowledge processed by the leader can be influenced by his or hers attributes or traits, such as beliefs, values, ethics, and character. Knowledge and skills contribute directly to the process of leadership, while the other attributes give the leader certain characteristics that make him or her unique.

Skills, knowledge, and attributes make the Leader, which is one of the:

Four Factors of Leadership



Leader
You must have an honest understanding of who you are, what you know, and what you can do. Also, note that it is the followers, not the leader or someone else who determines if the leader is successful. If they do not trust or lack confidence in their leader, then they will be uninspired. To be successful you have to convince your followers, not yourself or your superiors, that you are worthy of being followed.

Followers
Different people require different styles of leadership. For example, a new hire requires more supervision than an experienced employee. A person who lacks motivation requires a different approach than one with a high degree of motivation. You must know your people! The fundamental starting point is having a good understanding of human nature, such as needs, emotions, and motivation. You must come to know your employees' be, know, and do attributes.

Communication
You lead through two-way communication. Much of it is nonverbal. For instance, when you “set the example,” that communicates to your people that you would not ask them to perform anything that you would not be willing to do. What and how you communicate either builds or harms the relationship between you and your employees.

Situation
All situations are different. What you do in one situation will not always work in another. You must use your judgment to decide the best course of action and the leadership style needed for each situation. For example, you may need to confront an employee for inappropriate behaviour, but if the confrontation is too late or too early, too harsh or too weak, then the results may prove ineffective.

Also note that the situation normally has a greater effect on a leader's action than his or her traits. 
This is because while traits may have an impressive stability over a period of time, they have little consistency across situations (Mischel, 1968). This is why a number of leadership scholars think the Process Theory of Leadership is a more accurate than the Trait Theory of Leadership.

Various forces will affect these four factors. Examples of forces are your relationship with your seniors, the skill of your followers, the informal leaders within your organisation, and how your organisation is organised.

Boss or Leader?
Although your position as a manager, supervisor, lead, etc. gives you the authority to accomplish certain tasks and objectives in the organisation (called Assigned Leadership), this power does not make you a leader, it simply makes you the boss (Rowe, 2007). Leadership differs in that it makes the followers want to achieve high goals (called Emergent Leadership), rather than simply bossing people around (Rowe, 2007). Thus you get Assigned Leadership by your position and you display Emergent Leadership by influencing people to do great things.



Bass' Theory of Leadership
Bass' theory of leadership states that there are three basic ways to explain how people become leaders (Stogdill, 1989; Bass, 1990). The first two explain the leadership development for a small number of people. These theories are:

Some personality traits may lead people naturally into leadership roles. This is the Trait Theory.
A crisis or important event may cause a person to rise to the occasion, which brings out extraordinary leadership qualities in an ordinary person. This is the Great Events Theory.
People can choose to become leaders. People can learn leadership skills. This is the Transformational or Process Leadership Theory. It is the most widely accepted theory today and the premise on which this guide is based.

Total Leadership
What makes a person want to follow a leader? People want to be guided by those they respect and who have a clear sense of direction. To gain respect, they must be ethical. A sense of direction is achieved by conveying a strong vision of the future.

When a person is deciding if she respects you as a leader, she does not think about your attributes, rather, she observes what you do so that she can know who you really are. She uses this observation to tell if you are an honorable and trusted leader or a self-serving person who misuses authority to look good and get promoted. Self-serving leaders are not as effective because their employees only obey them, not follow them. They succeed in many areas because they present a good image to their seniors at the expense of their workers.

Be           Know           Do

The basis of good leadership is honorable character and selfless service to your organization. In your employees' eyes, your leadership is everything you do that effects the organization's objectives and their well-being. Respected leaders concentrate on.
what they are [be] (such as beliefs and character)
what they know (such as job, tasks, and human nature)
what they do (such as implementing, motivating, and providing direction).

What makes a person want to follow a leader? People want to be guided by those they respect and who have a clear sense of direction. To gain respect, they must be ethical. A sense of direction is achieved by conveying a strong vision of the future.

The Two Most Important Keys to Effective Leadership
According to a study by the Hay Group, a global management consultancy, there are 75 key components of employee satisfaction (Lamb, McKee, 2004). They found that:

Trust and confidence in top leadership was the single most reliable predictor of employee satisfaction in an organisation.
Effective communication by leadership in three critical areas was the key to winning organisational trust and confidence:
Helping employees understand the company's overall business strategy.
Helping employees understand how they contribute to achieving key business objectives.
Sharing information with employees on both how the company is doing and how an employee's own division is doing — relative to strategic business objectives.
So in a nutshell — you must be trustworthy and you have to be able to communicate a vision of where the organisation needs to go. The next section, Principles of Leadership, ties in closely with this key concept.

Principles of Leadership
To help you be, know, and do, follow these eleven principles of leadership. The later chapters in this Leadership guide expand on these principles and provide tools for implementing them:

Know yourself and seek self-improvement - In order to know yourself, you have to understand your be, know, and do, attributes. Seeking self-improvement means continually strengthening your attributes. This can be accomplished through self-study, formal classes, reflection, and interacting with others.
Be technically proficient - As a leader, you must know your job and have a solid familiarity with your employees' tasks.
Seek responsibility and take responsibility for your actions - Search for ways to guide your organisation to new heights. And when things go wrong, they always do sooner or later — do not blame others. Analyse the situation, take corrective action, and move on to the next challenge.
Make sound and timely decisions - Use good problem solving, decision making, and planning tools.
Set the example - Be a good role model for your employees. They must not only hear what they are expected to do, but also see. We must become the change we want to see - Mahatma Gandhi
Know your people and look out for their well-being - Know human nature and the importance of sincerely caring for your workers.

Keep your workers informed - Know how to communicate with not only them, but also seniors and other key people.
Develop a sense of responsibility in your workers - Help to develop good character traits that will help them carry out their professional responsibilities.
Ensure that tasks are understood, supervised, and accomplished - Communication is the key to this responsibility.
Train as a team - Although many so called leaders call their organisation, department, section, etc. a team; they are not really teams...they are just a group of people doing their jobs.
Use the full capabilities of your organisation - By developing a team spirit, you will be able to employ your organisation, department, section, etc. to its fullest capabilities.

Attributes of Leadership
If you are a leader who can be trusted, then those around you will grow to respect you. To be such a leader, there is a Leadership Framework to guide you:

BE KNOW DO
BE a professional. Examples: Be loyal to the organization, perform selfless service, take personal responsibility.

BE a professional who possess good character traits. Examples: Honesty, competence, candor, commitment, integrity, courage, straightforwardness, imagination.

KNOW the four factors of leadership — follower, leader, communication, situation.

KNOW yourself. Examples: strengths and weakness of your character, knowledge, and skills.

KNOW human nature. Examples: Human needs, emotions, and how people respond to stress.

KNOW your job. Examples: be proficient and be able to train others in their tasks.

KNOW your organisation. Examples: where to go for help, its climate and culture, who the unofficial leaders are.

DO provide direction. Examples: goal setting, problem solving, decision making, planning.

DO implement. Examples: communicating, coordinating, supervising, evaluating.

DO motivate. Examples: develop morale and esprit de corps in the organisation, train, coach, counsel.

Environment
Every organisation has a particular work environment, which dictates to a considerable degree how its leaders respond to problems and opportunities. This is brought about by its heritage of past leaders and its present leaders.

Goals, Values, and Concepts

Leaders exert influence on the environment via three types of actions:

The goals and performance standards they establish.
The values they establish for the organisation.
The business and people concepts they establish.
Successful organisations have leaders who set high standards and goals across the entire spectrum, such as strategies, market leadership, plans, meetings and presentations, productivity, quality, and reliability.
Values reflect the concern the organisation has for its employees, customers, investors, vendors, and surrounding community. These values define the manner in how business will be conducted.

Concepts define what products or services the organization will offer and the methods and processes for conducting business.

These goals, values, and concepts make up the organisation's personality or how the organisation is observed by both outsiders and insiders. This personality defines the roles, relationships, rewards, and rites that take place.

Roles ad Relationships
Roles are the positions that are defined by a set of expectations about behavior of any job incumbent. Each role has a set of tasks and responsibilities that may or may not be spelled out. Roles have a powerful effect on behavior for several reasons, to include money being paid for the performance of the role, there is prestige attached to a role, and a sense of accomplishment or challenge.

Relationships are determined by a role's tasks. While some tasks are performed alone, most are carried out in relationship with others. The tasks will determine who the role-holder is required to interact with, how often, and towards what end. Also, normally the greater the interaction, the greater the liking. This in turn leads to more frequent interaction. In human behaviour, its hard to like someone whom we have no contact with, and we tend to seek out those we like. People tend to do what they are rewarded for, and friendship is a powerful reward. Many tasks and behaviors that are associated with a role are brought about by these relationships. That is, new task and behaviors are expected of the present role-holder because a strong relationship was developed in the past, either by that role-holder or a prior role-holder.

Culture and Climate
There are two distinct forces that dictate how to act within an organisation: culture and climate.

Each organisation has its own distinctive culture. It is a combination of the founders, past leadership, current leadership, crises, events, history, and size (Newstrom, Davis, 1993). This results in rites: the routines, rituals, and the “way we do things.” These rites impact individual behavior on what it takes to be in good standing (the norm) and directs the appropriate behaviour for each circumstance.

The climate is the feel of the organisation, the individual and shared perceptions and attitudes of the organisation's members (Ivancevich, Konopaske, Matteson, 2007). While the culture is the deeply rooted nature of the organization that is a result of long-held formal and informal systems, rules, traditions, and customs; climate is a short-term phenomenon created by the current leadership. Climate represents the beliefs about the “feel of the organisation” by its members. This individual perception of the “feel of the organisation” comes from what the people believe about the activities that occur in the organization. These activities influence both individual and team motivation and satisfaction, such as:

How well does the leader clarify the priorities and goals of the organisation? What is expected of us?
What is the system of recognition, rewards, and punishments in the organisation?
How competent are the leaders?
Are leaders free to make decisions?
What will happen if I make a mistake?
Organisational climate is directly related to the leadership and management style of the leader, based on the values, attributes, skills, and actions, as well as the priorities of the leader. Compare this to “ethical climate” — the feel of the organization about the activities that have ethical content or those aspects of the work environment that constitute ethical behaviour. The ethical climate is the feel about whether we do things right; or the feel of whether we behave the way we ought to behave. The behaviour (character) of the leader is the most important factor that impacts the climate.

On the other hand, culture is a long-term, complex phenomenon. Culture represents the shared expectations and self-image of the organisation. The mature values that create tradition or the “way we do things here.” Things are done differently in every organisation. The collective vision and common folklore that define the institution are a reflection of culture. Individual leaders, cannot easily create or change culture because culture is a part of the organisation. Culture influences the characteristics of the climate by its effect on the actions and thought processes of the leader. But, everything you do as a leader will affect the climate of the organisation.


The Process of Great Leadership
The road to great leadership (Kouzes & Posner, 1987) that is common to successful leaders:

Challenge the process - First, find a process that you believe needs to be improved the most.
Inspire a shared vision - Next, share your vision in words that can be understood by your followers.
Enable others to act - Give them the tools and methods to solve the problem.
Model the way - When the process gets tough, get your hands dirty. A boss tells others what to do, a leader shows that it can be done.
Encourage the heart - Share the glory with your followers' hearts, while keeping the pains within your own.