Tag Archives: Effective leadership

Leadership

5 Steps to Developing Your Leadership Potential

Leadership development is defined by Wikipedia as “any activity that enhances the quality of leadership within an individual or organization.” As one might expect from this definition, what constitutes leadership development is highly dependent upon the definition of leadership. We define leadership as follows:

Leadership occurs when one person determines, undertakes, and sustains a favorable and/or productive direction and others follow. It’s not the nature of the direction that determines leadership; it’s the presence of a direction and the existence of a reciprocal relationship between leader and follower.

From this perspective the two primary things that one must develop in order to become a leader are the ability to “determine, undertake, and sustain” a direction and the ability to attract and hold followers. That these are the two main factors in leadership development is nothing new. What is new is our belief that the way one perceives the world determines a great deal of how and in what types of directions one chooses to lead, and how one attracts and holds followers.

While most leadership development focuses on the most obvious and popular definitions and descriptions of leadership characteristics, at Your Talent Advantage we take a different approach. We identify six distinctly different leadership profiles. Each leadership profile supports a set of natural leadership skill potentials that “belongs” to it.

Developing leadership skills is a process that at the macro level is the same for any of the six leadership profiles. But while the process is the same, the specific content – what skills and behaviors are to be developed – changes depending on which profile is being developed. In addition, the type of activities used to develop the skills chosen with each person must be customized based on their specific circumstances. This is true even for people who share the same leadership profile and who need to develop the same skill. This is because no two people will be in the same place in terms of their development nor will their life circumstances be identical.

Everyone has the innate potential to lead, but obviously not everyone undertakes the efforts necessary to turn potential into behavioral skills. While each leadership profile describes a distinctly different type of leadership that varies in approach, values, focus, communication, strengths, and blind spots, each represents an expansion of an individual’s skill that has gone beyond the scope of personal development.

To be a leader requires that an individual step beyond an understanding of themselves and a claiming of their own natural skill base. Development beyond the individual level is what leadership development is about. As such people who aspire to leadership or who represent themselves to others as leaders are held to a “higher standard” than those who do not seek leadership. For this reason, the five skills that all highly effective leaders must develop require more from an individual than other types of personal development. An effective leader must not only understand themselves, but must understand others as well. They must know the skills and blind spots of others, not just their own, and they must be able to adjust and accommodate their behavior to the multitude of differences between themselves and their followers while not losing the distinct leadership profile that makes them effective.

Effective leadership development is driven by these five universal leadership skills. Each builds upon those that come before it, and an individual’s skill as a leader increases as each is developed.

It is these five skills that drive leadership development:

 

  1. Leaders’ build on their natural strengths.
  2. They are aware of their limitations, and seek input from people with perspectives different from their own.
  3. They are aware that any group of followers contains people who see the world differently than they do, and they find ways to communicate effectively to each of them.
  4. They recognize the talents of others, and seek to build teams based on complementary skill sets and perspectives.
  5. They learn to accept/own their natural limitations and develop techniques to mitigate them.

 

Each of these skills and how to apply them will be discussed individually in a series of five articles.

Gary Jordan, Ph.D., has over 32 years of experience in clinical psychology, behavioral assessment, individual development, and coaching. He earned his doctorate in Clinical Psychology from the California School of Professional Psychology – Berkeley. He is co-creator of Perceptual Style Theory, a revolutionary psychological assessment system that teaches people how to unleash their deepest potentials for success. For more free information on how to succeed in life and business doing more of what you love, visit http://www.YourTalentAdvantage.com.

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Gary_M._Jordan/22166

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Leadership

Is Your Leadership Limiting Your Organizations Ability to Grow?

Leadership capacity is more than simply skill development; it’s about performance, growth, transformation and change. For the purpose of our discussion in this series of articles, let’s define it as;

 

“Leadership Capacity is the skilful use of leadership attributes for the growth and development of ourselves, our colleagues and our organization”.

 

Great leaders not only understand how to engage and inspire their teams to get the best results – they understand the need to create participatory and collaborative processes that develop the abilities of the next generation of leaders.

Leadership lays the groundwork for success

Successful companies do not happen by accident. They are the result of building effective leadership capacity and an awareness and willingness to take the necessary steps in identify internal talent and nurture them into the leaders of tomorrow.

Leadership lays the groundwork for success in 3 key ways:

 

    1. Builds an internal development system: Not unlike a great sports dynasty with a deep pool of talent in their farm teams, strong leaders foster leadership in all levels of their organization. When leadership capacity is developed at all levels of the organization, it creates a farm system of future leaders that will be prepared to move up and take on new challenges, preventing the organization from experiencing a future leadership gap. Internal leadership capabilities also create a rich internal resource of new and innovative ideas that management can consult when charting out the future of the organization.
    1. Creates a competitive advantage: Companies that invest in leadership development are the minority. Organizations and their leadership get caught up and focus on the day to day operations of the business – the most pressing issues that drive short term results. They forget to invest time in the future because the ROI is less obvious. When this happens, it is the long term vision and growth potential that tends to suffer because of gaps in leadership transition. If your organization is one of the few that consistently commits to developing internal leadership capacity and is constantly producing future leaders, you will have an advantage over competitors – not only because ideas and innovative thinking are constantly being revitalized, but also the ability to attract the best new talent that can be developed into future leaders.
  1. Fosters innovation: Leaders at the top of the organization need to intentionally gather information from across the organization. To consistently have the ability to grow and stay fresh with your thinking you need leaders at all levels of your organization that are able to evaluate activities and provide honest feedback based on understanding the vision and values of the organization. When employees are given additional responsibilities and the ability to make decisions, this puts them in a position to expand their capabilities, grow as an employee, and develop their skills – which leads to new insights, perspectives, and efficiencies that benefit the broader organization as well.

 

Leadership elevates your ability to grow

Leadership has a direct impact on your company’s ability to grow. While much of the attention about leadership is focused on the leaders at the top of the organization, it is the leaders at the mid-level and front line that have the greatest direct impact on growth.

No matter where your leadership development is as an organization, here are 4 critical elements to consider when evaluating the overall leadership capacity and culture within your organization.

Establish and communicate a clear direction: Strong leaders communicate a vision that inspires and attracts people with shared beliefs and values. Having a clear direction ensures that the correct infrastructure, resources and people are in place to advance the growth process. A clear direction also provides leaders with a measuring stick they can use to gauge decisions, strategy and future planning. A clear direction, clearly communicated is also a highly effective recruitment tool for other top performers.

Define goals and objectives: Leaders that clearly lay out the specific goals and objectives not only for the organization, but for each department, project, and employee make it easier for employees to commit to those outcomes. Everyone needs to be clear on what success looks like in the organization. Leaders that define what needs to be done will have greater success gaining the desired results from their people.

Set standards of behaviour: Outcomes are important – but by themselves can be detrimental to the organization if the “how” is also not clarified. Great leaders understand that leadership starts first through the behaviours they model; however, true leadership capacity is more than simply leading by example. Leaders must create a working environment that fosters and rewards desired behaviour in addition to the desired outcomes.

Embed continuous improvement into your culture: Many organizations are pretty good at the first 3 elements – but fall down in the area of continuous improvement, which is the most critical. This only occurs when everyone in the organization is committed to building their own leadership capacity and helping the organization grow and evolve based on people willing to providing input from across the organization.

If the organization only has direction, goals and behaviours – without the consistent, positive tension of personal contribution and improvement, senior leaders lose the benefit of the wealth of ideas from less senior leaders across the organization. Resultant, the farm system is not strengthened and the flow of innovative thinking is stifled.

What can leaders do tomorrow?

Building out your leadership capacity must one of your prime objectives. Without building your personal leadership capacity, you will inhibit both your personal and companies’ ability to change and grow.

Leadership impacts performance and performance impacts growth. Growth will not happen if people do not perform. Effective leadership builds more effective people, teams, and organizations. When leadership is present at all levels it helps to accelerate business results and makes it possible to fire up change and growth.

Consider this information and think about how it applies to you as a leader and your company. Think about the current state of your leadership and think about ways that you can put yourself in a position to be a better leader and achieve change in your organization – even from the bottom up.

Bill Hogg: Performance Excelerator | Leadership & Employee Engagement Expert| Professional Speaker

Bill is recognized as the Performance Excelerator because of his uncanny ability to navigate change and transform organizations — and measurably improve bottom line results.

Senior leaders hire Bill to influence and inspire higher performing, customer-focused cultures that create long-term, profitable relationships with your customers and excelerate performance, productivity and profits with leaders and employees

For over 30 years, Bill has been a trusted adviser to senior leaders at national and international clients. By drawing on real-life experience, his message is inherently credible and incorporates practical applications that change attitudes and behaviours.

Whether working with boards or operations teams and employees, his no-excuse approach breaks down the silos and gains consensus and clarity throughout the organization.

Bill Hogg provides dynamic keynote presentations, transformative workshops, high stakes facilitation and world class executive consulting.

For additional information email bill@billhogg.ca or visit online at http://www.billhogg.ca where you can download Bill’s 1-sheet or access more articles.

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Bill_Hogg/217905

 

Leadership

Tripping Over Leadership

CEOs’ Tripping Over ‘Leadership’

There is a huge opportunity for success and for us to contribute back into society and business through developing our awareness of nominalisations.

Nominalisations are when we talk about a verb, process or an action as if it is a noun, as if it is an object or a ‘thing’. For example, ‘relationship’. In reality relationship is not something that you can hold, touch, see or a thing you have. Instead we relate as a process.

There are many nominalisations in society, business, and our individual lives that can and do trip us up! I refer to not knowing of the effects of nominalisations on our society, success and in ourselves as a ‘blind spot’. Blind spots are the parts of our ‘maps of the world’ and the ‘map of ourselves’ that we don’t know about yet!

Even at the lofty top of CEO and Leadership, people have blind spots and are still falling over the trip-wire of nominalisations. This time it is the term leadership.

To share some insight, I have gained permission from three of the leaders I am currently coaching, to share their ‘first’ definitions of leadership. Two of these CEOs’ are in Australia and one in the USA. To set the scene, these conversational extracts are from our first session meetings. All three of these leaders are leading over five thousand employees.

Client One – Bob

Coach: So, Bob thanks for giving me such an in-depth outline of the organisation and the people you lead. So I can identify a benchmark of where we are, would you mind sharing your definition or understanding of ‘leadership’?

Bob: Sure, leadership is being the light at the top of the hill, not the lantern… the light…

Coach: Okay, thanks, how does someone know when you are applying your leadership skills Bob?

Bob: It’s bright, very bright…

Client Two – Craig

Coach: Craig, so as I can identify a benchmark of where we are in the leadership coaching process, would you mind sharing your definition or understanding of leadership?

Craig:…(long pause) of course not, do you know how your nails grow?

Coach: Not consciously Craig, no!

Craig: That is how leadership is, if you are born with it, you just have it, if you are not, you don’t, and it’s that simple! Believe me I know!

Client Three – Matthew

Coach: Matthew, just so I can get a grip on your being and doing of leadership, would you mind sharing with me your definition of leadership?
Matthew: Leadership does not exist…

Coach: Great!

Matthew: Leadership is simply management with more POWER!

Coach: Oh… let’s start then shall we?

Talk about tripping over nominalisations! People have fallen so hard from what they held in their believing; that leadership was immeasurable, a thing, that they could happily give their questionable definitions and that would be enough.

During the continuing coaching, we explored what leading could also be. This was the catalyst for their ‘getting back up’ as they were starting to see through the nominalisations of leadership, and that as processes of leading, they are visible to their staff/ stakeholders! Now they were breaking through their blind spot.

From the perspective of any ability, there are governing principles and contextual rules that enable one to develop competency and mastery in a given area. Can you imagine trying to effectively lead thousands or even five people through accepting nominalisations as guides?

When people come for leadership coaching, they know that they are curious about leadership and leadership coaching, but are often unsure why! In reality, what they want is to get asked the questions and receive the feedback that they do not get from within their organisation because of their power position.

There is often mist surrounding their understanding and application of leadership. This most often turns out to be because of… you guessed it, nominalisations. In general though, they come to discover the being and doing of effective leadership. To actualise their fullest potentials, and at some level, they know that their own staff are feeding them many nominalisations, and they want to be able to effectively challenge these.

Blind spots are blind spots, we cannot know what we do not know, this is one of the most valuable contributions coaching can provide in coaching leaders; the opportunity to develop greater awareness. Of course, there are many perspectives on what leadership is. Some of the more useful distinctions floating about name it in single words, such as “leadership is relationship” or “leadership is vision”.

Although these may be useful, it is in experience, leaders and future leaders benefit from realising that leadership doesn’t exist as a thing. Leadership is many processes that can be witnessed and measured. Not unlike to the early scientists who were bamboozled by the opinion that ‘heat’ was a thing.

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Leadership

Good Leadership is Essential to the Success of an Organization

Effective Organizations are Created Through Effective Leadership

Accountability for winning and losing in sports always falls to the top leadership – the head coach. That’s why he gets fired when the team isn’t successful. Likewise, accountability for company success falls to the top leadership. Leadership will make or break an organization. Leadership can create a solid future for a company through vision, planning, morale building, and teamwork. Leadership can also destroy a company’s future.

General Hap Arnold, Chief of Staff of the Air Force during WWII, engaged technical experts to look into the future. This was not an over the horizon look but an in-depth estimation of what was needed 10-20 years in the future. Some of the things planned: supersonic flight, long range missiles, air to air homing rockets, long range bombers, air refueling, etc. All these were to arrive on the scene, even though the prognostication took place before the end of the war. He established early a sense of direction that long outlived him. Industrial leaders could learn much from Hap Arnold.

Morale – Those in leadership positions must create an environment for good working relations in business. Good leaders identify good talent, give them direction, and then get out of the way. Employees will perform when the prevailing feeling is that they are trusted and confidently expected to deliver. Morale is encouraged when employees are supported by management in their requirements, and they are treated as members of an important team. Periodic newsletters from leadership give the foundation of good communications. Highlight good performers and timely accomplishments in the newsletter. This is also the place to include pertinent news relating to the business. Good communication is key to good leadership.

Financial Decision Making – It should go without saying that those in leadership positions should be able to make good financial decisions. Managers should be coached to make financial decisions such as periodic budget allotments, future facility improvements and expansions, hiring plans to meet work goals, and testing requirements. Testing can occur on a small scale or a grand scale, depending on the progress of product development. Some testing can engage large facilities, and this requires long range planning. Long range planning requires leadership and vision.

Motivation of Sales Force – Effective leadership means knowing that the sales force is the point of the interface with the customer. Sales should be technically adept to speak the language of the industry and the customer in particular. Sales should be partnered not only with the customer, but also with internal resources. Responsive to the needs of the customer, the company salesman has an important role to play in the progress of the company and he must be supported by those in leadership positions. Salesmen convey needs of samples to the customer, technical performance information, and cost estimates in various quantities. The adept salesman finds ways to help cut costs rather than sell the highest cost product. They will offer configurations A, B, and C, and then let the customer decide. All pertinent information for the various configurations will be made available. Service to the customer is high on the salesperson’s agenda and it should be high on the agenda of those in leadership positions.

Motivation of Operations to be Cost Effective – Operations can be labor intensive or truly automated to achieve economical production. Good business leadership requires knowing the balance. It takes courage on the part of management to decide that resources should be expended to automate the line. The best way to invest in automation is to make it flexible for present and future needs. This takes experience and talent in operations and support from leadership. Stepwise automation of the manufacturing processes will give confidence to operations and cause minimal disruption. Automate the most obvious applications, and then proceed to other processes. If one plant has proven the benefits of automation, then the process can be duplicated for additional efficiencies. Good leadership will enable operations to make a solid plan for the future.

Cohesiveness of the Organization – Sometimes leadership means that the organization has some fun. The organization needs exercises in partnering to gain mutual respect among the various operating functions and gain cohesiveness of the organization. An annual meeting in a resort location will give them a chance to learn about each other in morning meetings, and then they can relax together in the afternoon and evening. A northern operation can benefit from a meeting in a warmer climate especially during a winter meeting. These can be memorable events for all and the company leadership can learn a lot by interacting with people in a fun environment.

Working Together – An expert in interpersonal relations has said that the one thing that unifies a group is adversity. The difference between good leadership and bad leadership is how well a group works together when adverse adversity strikes. When trouble arises, as it may, leaders must get people to work together to plan for recovery. Learning to work together under adverse conditions can be a gratifying experience. How well employees work together is a direct reflection on the organization’s leadership.

Christine Casey-Cooper is a leadership coach and the author of the satirical book The Crass Captain’s Quick Guide to Management Dysfunction. Visit [http://www.CrassCaptain.com] for leadership and management advice and for some bad boss [http://www.CrassCaptain.com] advice from the Crass Captain.

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Leadership

The Essentials of Leadership

The question of who and what is a leader has vexed most people, as a leader can mean many different things, to many different people. It also has cultural implications as well. Another aspect not considered, is the environment that the leader has to operate within, which also determines the style and form of leadership required. Leadership has also changed over a period of time as well.

If you look in most management books on sale today, as well as those no longer in print, they all have their own their definition of leadership.

Tom Peters is the management guru’s, management guru and in his book, “In Search of Excellence” stated that; ” Leadership is about discovering the passion, persistence and imagination to get results, to be able to find the Wow factor and to be able to think the weird thoughts necessary to learn and thrive in a disruptive age”.

Peter Druker does give the simplified version, “someone who has followers”, but defines leadership as a means to an end and he details the foundations and requirements of effective leadership. Effective leadership for Drucker is thinking through the organisation’s mission and defining it. Then, establishing the mission and visibly though effective communication. It is the leader who sets the goals and priorities with total clarity. Likewise it is up to the leader to define and maintain standards.

Welch is probably the best known “big-businessman” of his generation (CEO and Chairman of General Electric for over 20 years). The Welch leadership way is typified by clarity of thought and forthrightness of direction. For Welch, business leaders who treat change as an enemy will fail. They need to be aware that the very survival of their corporation rests with their ability to adapt – this is the reality they are working in – and to prepare their workers for change. The faster this can be accomplished the better. Welch believes leadership is about Vision not supervision! The Leaders should set a general framework for their team, the vision should be congruent with the overall goals of the organisation but they should avoid too detailed (and therefore restrictive) plans; this can stifle the ability to change. Trying to keep tabs on detailed plans is not the best use of time: Control slows you down! If an employee can’t live up to the values – get rid of them.

John Adair was a Senior Lecturer and Leadership Training Advisor at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. He believes that leadership matters deeply, that good leadership is good leadership irrespective of whether it is within a business, charity, sports team, political party or army regiment. He also believes that good leadership can be learnt and that everyone can improve their leadership ability. Great leaders exemplify the qualities that they expect from others. They do not have to be “experts” in their subordinate roles rather that they should personify the qualities desired. He highlights a core list: enthusiastic, energetic, calm in a crisis, warm and tough yet fair. For Adair, leadership is a privilege – a leader is there to serve his followers.

Rudolph Giuliani is a political leader who came to world attention during the 9/11 attack on New York where he was Mayor at the time. His actions and conduct during this period cemented his reputation for great leadership. His leadership advice is a mix of home-spun common sense coupled with simple practical tasks and advice. He founded Giuliani Partners, a consulting firm offering leadership advice in 2002. The publication of his book “Leadership” in the same year confirmed his reputation as a leadership thinker of our age. Giuliani’s leadership style is very reminiscent of Churchill although he tries to distance himself from him. He states that a daily routine, starting with a morning meeting means that things are routinely followed-up; resulting in early wins that encouraged subordinate staff to drive projects towards successful completion. This allowed him to oversee the big picture, while researching other topics that needed his attention. Once a decision was made, it would be “All Go” with total confidence in ultimate success. In getting on with things, especially in times of crises, instils further confidence in others. If he got it wrong, he insists that the leader has to accept responsibility for the teams’ actions and not blame others. Conversely, give praise where praise is due, you honour those who have done well under your stewardship. Have public values and beliefs in place, give subordinates responsibility, giving team members the benefit of the doubt (at least initially, then if they continually fail in expectations, they can be removed), and stand by your people when things get difficult. Doing this enables and empowers the group and encourages them to be bold in whatever they have been charged with.

Peter Scholtes shared the platform with W. Edwards Deming educating corporations about the “new” philosophy of the Quality movement. His view on leadership concentrates on systems thinking. He believes in transforming leadership from hierarchical command and control into a style of inspiring leadership. System thinking requires leaders to understand their organisations as if it was a system, rather than an entity, therefore leadership is a process or set of processes. The leader has to understand system variation, understanding the difference between common cause variation and special cause variation. Common cause variations are dealt with at the strategic level, while special cause variations are mastered tactically. He states that leaders have to understand people, particularly how people learn, interact, develop and communicate. They also need to understand how poor leadership can de-motivate their staff. The Leader of any organisation must show leadership by providing a totally clear meaning, direction, mission, values and focus, which must come from the heart (not be meaningless slogans and wordplay). Staff need to know what to measure and how to measure it.

My understanding of Leadership is as follows. A true leader acts as a catalyst; by galvanizing people or groups to a common purpose though use of their oratory power to convince others to a stated cause, by practicing what they preach. One definition is that a leader has an instinct to lead those around them, using their skills and knowledge. They are prepared to lead from the front (by example), showing utmost care for those who follow them. These leaders will not hesitate to admit mistakes, ask advice and learn from it. They continually keep re-inventing themselves. They are open to new challenges and are ready to adopt unconventional methods and approaches to achieve their objectives. These leaders also have the ability to take large risks, but they are invariably heavily calculated in their favour. In addition to this I personally include mentoring. I take some people that work for me, who have that indefinable spark of “something”, provide them with guidance, advice, encouragement and responsibility. They in turn, as they develop, generally do the same with those around them. They become advocates, allies and your change agents

I believe that personal conviction, communication, confidence, compassion, skill and knowledge, when taken together, make that person a hero to their followers.

Today David is a Management Consultant, who works at executive level with C Type Officers. He also has business interests in the Equine, Internet and Communications Industry. He speaks on “Business Contingency Planning & Disaster Recovery” and “Project Management” to business groups.

If you need any guidance, assistance of help, please visit

http://www.global-mgmt.com

It does not hurt you to talk in confidence to him.

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