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Leadership

Leadership And Culture

It is the responsibility of leaders to bring about shifts in behavior by having both a vision of integrity for the organization and a strategic plan for ensuring such integrity. This vision must be articulated in a way that is relevant and actionable by employees. A vision that aims too high will not be taken seriously while one that is too pedestrian will not motivate employees. With the spectacle of court TV to avoid, what should a board of directors use to generate a proper picture? The style (or stance) of leadership the board wants to promote demonstrates a capacity to energize subordinates and the public to believe that the organization has risen above its singular contractual obligations and performs at the level for mutual benefit of civil society and stakeholder.

The principal finding of a McKinsey Quarterly survey of more than 1,000 board members is that having focused for a time on accounting-compliance issues, boards are now determined to play an active role in setting the strategy, assessing the risks, developing the leaders, and monitoring the long-term health of their companies.

At one level, the survey underlines the way the Sarbanes-Oxley Act is holding boards–not only in the United States, but also around the world–more responsible for meeting high standards in reporting and controlling the financial affairs of their companies. Yet the implications for governance are even far more reaching. To achieve as much involvement as directors say they want, they will have to use their time in meetings more effectively and develop a new understanding of their roles and responsibilities; otherwise, they will give management the impression they intend to take on day-to-day roles. Moreover, the composition and culture of boards, as well as the agendas of board meetings, will require fresh thinking.

Understanding and choosing the style of leadership necessary to create the desired environment for the organization begins with understanding the various leadership roles available to organizations today.

Leadership as Management: Developed by Friedrich Taylor, this is a managerial role that asks leaders to ensure group activity is timed, controlled, and predictable. This mind-set says little, if anything, about the leadership task of building shared values, trust, and vision. It is silent about the animating essence of business and business people. By relegating workers to the status of “cogs” in the corporate machine, it has scant appeal to the better educated, more aware, and ever-more-wanting people entering the workplace. The need to be rapidly responsive to changes in customer demand for products and services places a strain on the rigid, procedural, control mechanisms developed by this managerial mind-set — to produce traditional outputs with multiple units of the same product to high tolerances and low margins.

Leadership as Excellent (good) Management: This view of leadership, while maintaining the mechanistic operational inclination of the firm, changes the character of the core follower (responding to the pull of the quality movement) and enlarges the domain of the manager. Essentially it retains the idea that leaders and managers do much the same thing. It limits the scope of leadership to just one function — quality improvements — and ignores the full range of capacities of both leader and follower. It does not address the needs of the corporation beyond a focus on high quality.

Values Leadership: This conception of leadership is rooted in the reality of human nature and conduct. The essential human nature is simple; everyone has values and these values trigger behavior. Even as it recognizes the use and importance of values in shaping behavior, out of a false desire to let each person choose their own values, it refrains from advocating any values or even discussing relative merits of alternative value systems. Indeed, it teaches that any value is equal to any other. So it recognizes that values are shaping our lives but fails to address that we do not know how to consciously set our own values systems or evaluate the merits or results of those we see in others. Values leadership clearly has set aside a space to articulate values but seems too timid and unsure to make full use of the space.

Trust Leadership: This view sees its role not so much as a function of the individual leader but as a condition of the group culture. Leadership may be spontaneous at times. Most often, it is a result of specific, planned actions to create a culture conducive to internal harmony and interpersonal trust. The leader’s task is to build a culture of shared values where people can come to trust each other enough to sublimate their differing values so that they can work together. Those accepting this leadership reality see the need for a unified, effective, harmonious culture characterized by mutual trust that allows leadership to take place. It is a collective activity, shaped and controlled by the values-laden notion of harmony as defined by its history of domination by the majority culture. Without a broad and adroit set of critical skills, the trust leader’s search for unity will tend to exclude many important insights, tactics and especially people. This view is likely to accept conformity as consensus or, even worse; it needs conformity and needs to call it consensus.

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Leadership

What is Leadership Training?

The introduction of a successful leader into a management team is a good investment for any organization. Leaders visualize plans, inspire subordinates and plan the required course. Leadership skills comprise of various qualities such as optimism, commitment and the ability to use power effectively.

Leadership training is significant, not only in the world of business, but even in the worlds of sports and medicine. Leadership training is essential for the social and economical set-up of any business. Leadership skills in managers are important ingredients in company’s expansion. These skills are best acquired with the help leadership training. Democratic, autocratic and laissez-faire are the different approaches to leadership training. Each of these is unique and inculcates leadership skills based upon distinct operational patterns.

Training programs are tools that help in the application of leadership skills at work. These skills could have been acquired at leadership skills classes, seminars or read. Individuals as well as organizations specialize in offering leadership training in various fields. There are many organizations that offer online leadership training also. Some of these organizations are even willing to reimburse the money paid for a leadership seminar, if the result is not satisfactory. Leadership training programs are expected to use core and widely agreed upon features of leadership, to bring out the best in people. Leadership involves vision and the ability to influence people and motivate them to work towards it.

Leadership training can be profitable to businesses in a number of ways. It helps to educate the employees, improves their performances and reduces staff attrition. This is beneficial to organizations, as it reduces the cost involved in constantly hiring new employees. It also helps in developing high performance teams. The participants gain a sense of power, which is, the power to guide others and the organization in the right direction, successfully.

Leadership Training [http://www.WetPluto.com/Corporate-Leadership-Training.html] provides detailed information on Leadership Training, Leadership Development Training, Corporate Leadership Training, Leadership Skill Training and more. Leadership Training is affiliated with Leadership Development [http://www.WetPluto.com/Leadership.html].

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Thomas_Morva/44492

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Leadership

Leadership Training Concepts

Leadership training is imparted to individuals who wish to excel in their particular fields of business. There are many important ingredients of any leadership training. It aims to teach skills like time management, management assessment, management skill assessment, executive assessment, management consulting, and other such skills.

There are various leadership training concepts and methods that are employed by those who train people in leadership. Most of the methods are either devised by the faculty themselves for their own training courses or are common ones that are used everywhere. These common leadership training concepts include effective listening where the individuals are taught the benefit of improving their listening skills and building trust with all the parties concerned-including internal people as well as business partners. Other benefits include enlightened leadership skills, future trend analysis in order to stay ahead of the competition, integrated development to improve the functionality of the management, and the like.

Apart from this, various new and improved concepts about business and marketing are also discussed and shared in leadership training programs. These include concepts that involve organizational intelligence, a purpose-driven approach, strategic thinking, and debunking the leadership vision myth.

Many training institutes and courses develop their own leadership training concepts and methodology. The need for this arises because with the changing times since leadership trainings have to undergo certain changes so that they can keep pace with the needs and demands of a modern business and working environment.

Surveys and research conducted by various organizations have proved that leadership training concepts taught in the training programs have made a huge impact on the lives and behavior of the individuals and has meant the difference between success and failure for a lot of organizations.

It is for this reason that any organization that is serious about doing business and growing in the competitive environment cannot afford to ignore leadership training and the various concepts that they teach in such programs. The potential of every individual can be realized only through these programs.

Leadership Training [http://www.WetPluto.com/Corporate-Leadership-Training.html] provides detailed information on Leadership Training, Leadership Development Training, Corporate Leadership Training, Leadership Skill Training and more. Leadership Training is affiliated with Leadership Development [http://www.WetPluto.com/Leadership.html].

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Thomas_Morva/44492

 

Leadership

Leadership – Do You Have It

If you could improve your results by 25-30% what would that mean to you?

There is no magic formula or product to offer. However, sustainable, measurable results of 25-30% increase in productivity IS possible–the answer lies in one word…leadership. Sales are important, marketing is important, PR is important, but without leadership they will all eventually fall short.

Leadership is a word frequently misunderstood and misused. Dr. Creflo Dollar has said “If you don’t know the purpose of a thing, abuse is inevitable.” The same holds true for leadership. Leadership is not based on position or even job function. There are often people who are in positions of “leadership” that do not exhibit leadership skills. Likewise, there are “leaders” throughout an organization who, because they lack the “title,” are not given the opportunity to lead. Everyone has leadership potential; however, it must be developed and true leadership must be understood.

Of all the definitions of leadership, Peter F. Drucker says it best,

“Leadership is not magnetic personality, that can just as well be a glib tongue. It is not “making friends and influencing people”, that is flattery. Leadership is lifting a person’s vision to higher sights, the raising of a person’s performance to a higher standard, the building of a personality beyond its normal limitations.”

Why is leadership so important? John Maxwell calls it the “Law of the Lid:” a business or organization can only grow to the limits of its leadership. If the leadership is weak, it doesn’t matter how great the concept, product or service, it will never achieve financial greatness or market dominance. Fail-Safe Leadership authors Linda Martin and Dr. David Mutchler identified symptoms of ineffective leadership, some of which are listed below (take the full leadership test to see how your organization fares):

 

  • Excessive meetings
  • Lack of personal accountability
  • Difficulty terminating poor performers

Other symptoms include:

 

 

  • Unclear (or complete lack of) organizational goals
  • Cliques (among management/leadership team)
  • Declining customer/membership base

An organization that reflects any combination of the above symptoms may have a leadership challenge. That is not to say there are no leaders, or that you, the reader, are an ineffective leader, it does mean a leadership challenge exists. While these symptoms have dire consequences if not corrected, they can be changed.

 

HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR LEADERSHIP

Before you can expect improved results, there must be a positive behavior change. Any change in behavior is a result of goals that are set (the best goal setting process includes the five critical core elements of goal setting). However, the key to achieving goals rests in our attitude. You may have heard this poem:

Watch your thoughts, they become words.

Watch your words, they become actions.

Watch your actions, they become habits.

Watch your habits, they become character.

Watch your character, it becomes your destiny. (Unknown)

You can not expect sustained, measurable improvement in your results without first changing the attitudes of your leaders. The many “New Year’s Resolutions” that have been set and failed is a perfect illustration. Goals were set, intentions were good but two things happened: 1) you didn’t change your attitude about the habit being changed, and 2) you failed to use all five of the critical elements of goal setting, primarily the consideration of obstacles. Think about it, nothing truly changes until we change our attitude about it.

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Leadership

Strategic Leadership

Mission, vision, values, goals, objectives, and strategic planning are just some of the leadership buzzwords of the late 20th Century. Virtually all professional executives have attempted to understand what all the buzzwords mean and make them a reality. Few have succeeded and most continue to search for what bridges the gap between leadership theory and leadership reality. That bridge may well be the new buzzwords for the 21st Century. They are “Strategic Leadership”.

Strategic Leadership is a process that is simple in its basic form, easily applied, and has the potential of yielding significant results. Leading strategically means having a comprehensive strategy for the immediate future. Unlike strategic planning, which is long term for the whole organization, Strategic Leadership is short term designed for the executive and staff.
Since September 11th, “doing more with less” has been the theme of many organizational budgets. With the economic instability, stock market uncertainty, the war on terrorism, and additional military conflicts on the horizon, many organizational priorities have changed. Many organizations are just trying to survive, as budgets have not increased or, worse yet, some have decreased. As a result, leaders are again called upon to be creative as they strive to accomplish their goals. Having to accomplish more than the available resources will allow, many leaders will be forced to try and accomplish more by doing more. Strategic Leadership offers the professional executive the solution too not only accomplishing more with less but by doing less.

“This short passage describes how an early CEO, CFO, HR Director (Moses) is being overwhelmed while leading the children of Israel toward the Promised Land. Help arrives one day in the person of Jethro, the Priest of Midian (who also happens to be Moses’ father-in-law). After a few days of observing Moses in action, Jethro takes him aside to offer some friendly advice. The following is a very loose translation of the conversation between what may well be the first management consultant-client relationship in recorded history.

Jethro: “Moses, your doing it all wrong! You’re wearing yourself out, as well as your people, by trying to do to much.” (i.e. accomplish more by doing more?)

Moses: “You may be right. I’m putting in very long hours and working harder and harder; but what else can I do? My people expect a lot from me, and I don’t want to let them down!”

Jethro: “Here is a better way to get the job done: Select some trusted subordinates, and instruct them to deal with all but the most important issues your people bring to them for judgment. In that way you may actually accomplish more for your people than you can by trying to do everything yourself.” (i.e. accomplish more by doing less?)

Exodus 18:24-27 picks up the story:

So Moses gave heed to the voice of his father-in-law, and did all that he said. Moses chose able men out of all of Israel, and made them heads over the people; rulers of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens. And they judged the people at all times; hard cases they brought to Moses, but all the small matters they decided themselves. Then Moses let his father-in-law depart… to his own country.” (Lasagna)

Moses took the first of several steps required to implement Strategic Leadership. Strategic Leadership, similar in some respects to strategic planning, is about action, not just a written document that all to often sits on a shelf or in a drawer and is very rarely reviewed. Strategic Leadership is a daily process that should be reviewed at staff meetings. Effective Strategic Leadership is a fluid, dynamic process that requires constant vigilance. Integral to the success of Strategic Leadership is the P.O.L.I.C.E. Leadership Methodology:

P: Planning

O: Organizing

L: Liability/accountability

I: Information/communication

C: Control/accountability

E: Ethics/integrity

The P.O.L.I.C.E. Leadership Methodology ensures that the Strategic Leadership process is grounded on a foundation of accountability. With all of the scandals surrounding CEO’s of both public and private organizations, accountability to all stakeholders has come to the forefront and should make Strategic Leadership very attractive to the professional executive.

Like Moses, the professional executive must take that first step and come to the conclusion that there has to be a better way to accomplish the mission of the organization. The implementation of Strategic Leadership requires an introspective assessment of the programs, goals, and tasks of the organization. Many executives are biased in their assessment, which can degrade the effectiveness of Strategic Leadership. An outside review offers the best, unbiased assessment, to make educated decisions from.

In the second step, the executive is introduced to strategic thinking. “Strategic thinking means asking, Are we doing the right thing? Perhaps, more precisely, it means making that assessment using three key requirements about strategic thinking: a definite purpose be in mind; an understanding of the environment, particularly of the forces that affect or impede the fulfillment of that purpose; and creativity in developing effective responses to those forces.” (Bryson) In assessing those forces that can affect or impede the success, the executive and staff will determine the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (S.W.O.T.) to each strategy. In particular, the executive must be cognizant of the budgetary restraints and political implications (threats) to certain strategies and initiatives. The executive will participate in the “I want” brainstorming session. Every executive in every organization has a vision of what they want to accomplish. Some are more realistic than others. “Fewer have a clear, succinct, and useful vision of success.” (Bryson) Sadly, many of their “I want” to accomplish will not come to fruition. Not because their goals are unrealistic but because so many executives are bogged down with the minutia of leadership (Moses) and can’t get many of the important (critical) things done.

During this session the executive is tasked to list the “I want” to accomplish for himself and the staff within the next year. The executive is encouraged to “shotgun” his ideas for the organization regardless of how unrealistic they may be. At this point, Pareto’s 80/20 Rule is introduced. Count Vilfredo Pareto (1848-1923) was an Italian economist who observed that 20% of his fellow countrymen owned 80% of the country’s wealth. He concluded that their success was dependent upon focusing on the critical few (20%) and they did not waste valuable time on the trivial many (80%). “The Rule and Its Corollary: Pareto’s rule states that a small number of causes is responsible for a large percentage of the effect, in a ratio of about 20:80. Expressed in a management context, 20% of a person’s effort generates 80% of the person’s results. The corollary to this is that 20% of one’s results absorb 80% of one’s resources or efforts. For the effective use of resources, the manager’s challenge is to distinguish the right 20% from the trivial many.” (Hafner) “The leader of an organization must remember that 80% of his problems come from 20% of the workforce; when 80% of your events are not within your control, focus on the 20% you can do something about. Utilizing the 80/20 Rule in tandem with strategic thinking, the executive determines what are the critical few (20%) on the list that he will need to concentrate on. The number of critical few will vary depending on the size of the organization. In addition, the P.O.L.I.C.E. Leadership Methodology is introduced into the process. A major component to the success of Strategic Leadership is the accountability factor. When the critical few and trivial many are established, then who is accountable for the achieving these goals, along with a reasonable timetable, is established.

In the third step, the facilitator will hold a meeting with the executive and the staff. The facilitator will explain Strategic Leadership, the 80/20 Rule, and S.W.O.T. to the staff. The executive will outline his critical few and a roundtable discussion should take place. All of the interactive sessions are informal and directed at achieving consensus through teamwork. All participants will discuss the pros and cons of the critical few. The end result, with the input of the staff, may be that some of the critical few are not feasible. Once a consensus has been reached, the executive will be assigned the task of writing out a strategy (plan) for accomplishing the critical few assigned to him.

In the fourth step, the facilitator will meet individually with each member of the staff. This is the “I will” accomplish development session. “I will” is an action statement. It is not, “I might, maybe, I think so, or I probably can.” The staff member will review each of the critical few that he is assigned and during discussion with the facilitator come up with a strategy (plan) to accomplish the goal. Staff members are not only responsible for their “I will” statement. They are encouraged to be future thinkers and empowered to state what they want to accomplish during the next year. The staff member will be assigned the task of writing out a strategy, and timetable for accomplishing the assigned tasks and the tasks they see as significant to their area of responsibility for the next year. Staff members will have the opportunity to discuss their strategies with the executive.

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