By Donna Howes, CHRP

Great leaders are perpetual learners, so here is a compilation of the top five leadership tips from each of our four PeopleTalk Fall 2014 cover story sources.

Nancy Mckinstry

Nancy McKinstry
Founding Member,
Minerva Foundation for BC Women

• The relationships that you build, develop and honour will carry you through—be honest, open and transparent and bring heart to the task.
• Make culture change inclusive. It has to come from the CEO and trickle down.
• Address conflict—if there’s an interpersonal conflict, sit down, address it and don’t take anything personally. It is about the business.
• Be a life-long learner and learn from mistakes quickly—don’t be afraid to ask if you don’t know.
• Manage the life cycle of your career and keep yourself in the game. Remember you can do everything; you just can’t do it all at once.

Bob Elton

Bob Elton
Past CEO, BC Hydro
Adjunct Professor, UBC Sauder School of Business

• Establish relationships before getting down to deal with the issues. If you don’t do that the issues generally don’t get resolved as well— especially when a situation is urgent and a decision needs to be made more quickly.
• Learn the value of people who may not speak up or act as quickly—often they are able to help you think differently about an issue.
• Lead from your values—it is largely about connecting who you are with what you do.
• Have open conversations with people about what is important to you.
• Even seasoned leaders need to keep learning and there is huge value in ‘reverse mentoring.’

Lisa von Sturmer

Lisa von Sturmer
Founder, Growing City

• Trust yourself—embrace your decisions with confidence and don’t second guess yourself.
• Create a culture of collaboration—say ‘let’s work together to get the best solution possible” because everyone’s contribution is important before you make a decision.
• Set an annual strategy—create quarterly, monthly and weekly goals and then focus on what’s important not what’s urgent.
• Set soul goals to keep each person’s individual goal alive—it ties into community spirit.
• The emotional side of a workplace is a big driver especially for your people—create the room for the emotional quotient.

Leslie Meingast

Leslie Meingast
CEO, TPD
(formerly known as The Personnel Department)

• Know yourself and your market and see the potential of all your constituents within and outside of your organization.
• Lead by example and lead with purpose by having a personal vision and a company vision.
• Credibility is built on the small things like being on time, doing what you say you will do and saying ‘please’ and ‘thank you.’
• Create a cohesive team by having a common language that will draw a pathway to help everyone get to the same end game.
• Step up and ask if you don’t understand something—clarify it and don’t assume.

Read the full Women in Leadership: Beyond Equality to Business Advantage cover story from PeopleTalk, Fall 2014.

Donna Howes, CHRP is principal of Humanity at Work, a coaching and organization development firm devoted to creating proud and productive workplaces.

(PeopleTalk Fall 2014)