Tag Archives: Leadership Development

Leadership

Potential Leadership Growth: Discover To See If You Are Truly Leading

Potential leadership growth is one of the few business disciplines these days that needs more honest scrutiny. Whether you’re dealing with leadership styles, leadership skills, or attempting to determine a leadership and development plan, personal development is key when building a successful LIFE and business online or off-line.

The choice for personal development and leadership development is really up to the individual. Each person must decide what they will do when it comes to:

  • Self Mastery
  • Taking Action
  • Developing Positive Relationships

 

Honestly spoken, two types of Leaders exist within the self development arena. 1) Leaders and 2) Those Who Lead. Leaders are usually those in prominent positions, like a CEO of a major corporation. Nothing wrong with that.

However, Those Who Lead are leaders who may not be in a CEO position; yet, for the most part, they are more effective leaders because they know WHY they do what they do! They know their calling and purpose in life.

Even if you have the best laid out leadership program, how will you know that you’re reaching your potential leadership growth and developing your leadership qualities that really make the difference?

The following 8 keys to leadership training and leadership development success will help you determine if you are truly leading or just “sucking exhaust!”

KEY 1: OPPORTUNITY
Those Who Lead look for opportunity that help to discover leadership potential. Opportunity exists everywhere! Whether you’re wanting to own your own business, make money online, or start a brick-and-mortar business, opportunities are just lying around for the taking.

Those Who Lead know where to look and what steps to take. They are not afraid to take opportunity “by the horns.” Once you’ve done this, the sky is the limit.

KEY 2: NETWORK
When training for leadership, Those Who Lead know that their “net worth” is proportional to their “network.” Who do you know that will help you succeed and get what you want in life? Which friends do you currently have: Positive or Negative?

Your particular network will determine how successful you can become. Those Who Lead will emulate those whom they associate with in efforts to affect their potential leadership growth.

KEY 3: LEVERAGE
A crucial leadership skill is the use of leverage. Those Who Lead are efficient at leveraging other people’s money, other people’s experiences, and other people’s time. It’s a leadership skill that few ever really develop and implement well when determining potential leadership growth.

KEY 4: FAMILY
Those Who Lead realized the importance and priority of family. They realize that family must come first and business second. They know that it is not worth it to have a successful business AND lose family in the process. It’s just NOT worth it! When it comes to potential leadership growth, be sure to have time for yourself and those whom you love.

KEY 5: RECIPROCITY
Those Who Lead believe in reciprocity, where a Give and Take relationship is understood. Successful entrepreneurs realize that it is better to GIVE than to RECEIVE and that there’s power in the heart of a giver.

KEY 6: PROOF
Those Who Lead establish social proof. It doesn’t matter how many skills you learn, how much knowledge you gain, or how many books you read, without the proof of taking action and getting results, what you do for potential leadership growth is in vain.

KEY 7: CHANGE
Those Who Lead know how vital it is to master change. They know that change is inevitable and that if they do not master change, change will master them. Therefore, change within potential leadership growth doesn’t frighten them.

In fact, change is encouraged! Those Who Lead know that the BIGGER the challenge and intense the change, the more glory there is in overcoming it.

KEY 8: PASSION
Among all the keys to leadership training and leadership development, in the area of personal development, Those Who Lead believe passion plays a huge part in potential leadership growth.

Known to be love and anger all wrapped up into one immense, emotional principal, PASSION illustrates WHY you do what you do. Passion drives you to excellent greatness! Those Who Lead do not rely merely on emotion, but rely on the TRUTH as well.

In conclusion, no matter what you plan on doing for potential leadership growth, know that if you develop and understand these 8 key truths to personal development as an entrepreneur, you will succeed in both life and in business…with a healthy family life as well!

Robert {Bryan} Anthony is a rising Certified Affiliate Online Marketer and Life Coach providing relevant solutions, mentoring, and value to home business owners and network marketers, encouraging them to create their own success story. He teaches how to Start a Home Based Biz using Integrity and Well-Sought after business training.

You can discover more about developing your leadership potential as you discover the answers to 20 most often asked questions about Starting a Home Based Biz. Get 20 FREE Videos at [http://StartAHomeBasedBiz.com]

Also, be sure to join Bryan and the excitement as you become a part of an exclusive group he is currently assisting…a work in progress at [http://MeetRBryanAnthony.com]

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Robert_Bryan_Anthony/721011

 

Leadership

Learning Leadership From History – The Gettysburg Leadership Experience

We are standing among a group of twenty-five or so business executives on a windy, chilly ridgeline in south central Pennsylvania, facing west. To our right is a road, the Chambersburg Pike. Behind us about a mile is another higher ridge-Seminary Ridge and on top of that a building with a cupola. In front and directly behind is a gently rolling field and across the field in front is woodland that extends around to our left. We imagine that it is an early morning, July 1, 1863. We also imagine that we see the dust rising from a line of soldiers in gray uniforms coming up the road.

“You are Brigadier General John Buford,” says our group leader. “You are in command of a scouting element of the Army of the Potomac. You have 2,000 cavalry and two small artillery batteries. Your orders are to find the location of Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia of 75,000 men that invaded Pennsylvania about a week ago. Now you’ve found them. Behind the ridge is a crossroads town named Gettysburg. Ten miles to the south, I Corps with 20,000 Union troops are marching north under Major General John Reynolds. That’s a good half-day march or more. There are 80,000 additional Union troops coming in from other directions, within a day’s march. In front of you are the leading elements of A. P. Hill’s corps from North Carolina under General Henry Heth. You and your cavalry are the only Union forces between the rebels and the high ground behind you. Take a look around at the terrain, what do you see? What are your choices? What are your assets and liabilities? What would you do? How do you know your choice will succeed?”

The members of the group look around, sensing the urgency that John Buford must have felt, and they begin to answer. Soon, the discussion becomes lively, with different options being weighed and debated. The facilitator turns the questioning into a dialogue about finding and recognizing opportunities in the corporate world. Each member of the group talks about how opportunities and risk are evaluated in his or her work unit or corporation and how the leader is sometimes the first the individual to see an opening for doing something new or different. The facilitator sums up the discussion by threading together the comments and refers back to Buford’s decision to hold off the Confederates until Reynolds’ divisions came up. “He was a leader who knew how to calculate a risk; he knew holding the ground was worth it.” Heads nod and reflect on the concept of calculated risk. The group breaks up briefly as different members wander across the ground, deep in thought. Then, the group gathers and heads to the next stop on their way around the battlefield at Gettysburg where another incident and another leader’s actions will be analyzed and discussed.

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Leadership

Business Leadership Development For Managers

Business leadership development plays an integral part in the metamorphosis of a good manager into a great one. Many believe the terms leadership and management to be synonymous, though nothing could be farther from the truth. They are as different as night from day, and a good leader might not make a good manager and vice versa.

However, business leadership development planning can be used to improve the capability of managers to lead and become competent in dealing with people and persuasion rather than position and power. A good leader will have followers as distinct from the subordinates of managers, yet the two need not be mutually exclusive: A good manager can become a good leader, and the development of leadership will not only enhance your ability to lead people and organizations, but also to lead yourself.

Leading oneself is a concept that many find difficult to visualize, but to lead others you must first be able to successfully lead your own life. You must be aware of your strengths and weaknesses, possess self-confidence, but also display humility and not only accept criticism but learn from your successes and failures. You need people to follow you, and not only motivate teams to get things done that need to be done, but also get them to want to do what has to be done. To persuade rather than to order, and to lead them to want to do the right things rather than to do things right.

Although a business needs both management and leadership, it is sometimes necessary to focus more on one than on the other. A business might have a good management structure but little leadership, so will tend to stagnate over time. On the other hand it might have plenty of leadership and energy behind it, but because of poor management is unable to convert that leadership energy into results.

As previously stated, then, business leadership and management are not mutually exclusive, and not only does a business need both but a leadership development program can be used to combine good management skills with good leadership capabilities. Leadership can be learned. The concept of the ‘born leader’ is outdated, and leadership can be defined as forms of behavior in terms of skills that can be learned. Leadership development involves changing a candidate’s behavior to acquire these skills, and achieve competence in leadership.

Being a good manager is not a prerequisite for a good leader, but neither is it a drawback, and the same person can possess both leadership and management skills. That is because both are learned and not innate in a person’s character, so that managers can be developed by their businesses or corporations into leaders. In fact, the best managers are also good leaders.

Nevertheless, good leaders have often been found to possess a higher than average drive and more than the normal share of positive qualities. These traits are also frequently found in good managers, although the competencies needed for leadership can be taught by means of a well designed leadership development program.

Waiting for a leader to emerge naturally is neither economical nor desirable, and certainly not an effective way of planning the leadership structure of a business. If we take a military example, more leaders come out of a military academy than are promoted on the field by virtue of displaying strong leadership potential.

Good leaders should communicate well with those they are leading. Their thoughts and perceptions can help others to follow them. They should also have a positive and confident attitude and be able to instill their confidence in others. With that confidence should also come commitment, and leaders should be able to commit to their actions – committing with confidence breeds confidence in others.

It has also been said that leaders should have high moral standards because people will not follow those they do not respect. Furthermore, good leaders do more than just supervise or manage their teams: they feel a sense of responsibility, and in return the team members know that their leader cares for them and cares for the business. This renders it easier for people to follow rather than be led.

Business leadership development is an important concept for businesses to take on board, and by taking on such a program, managers will find people following them rather than having to be managed. Managers can focus their management efforts on the processes and procedures, and employees will follow them to help convert their ideas and visions into reality. That’s leadership!

Further information on business leadership development is available on [http://www.successanddevelopment.info] where you will also find details of personal development programs and others that will benefit both yourself and your company.You can also get inspirational documentary films in the ‘Giving Back’ section.

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Mohammed_Tanko/552699

Leadership

Leadership Development – A Simple Guide

Leadership development is an industry. A big industry! And yet I don’t know of a country in which it is regulated (if I am wrong, contact me and I will correct that statement). So, you pay your money and you take your chances.

Having said all of that, leadership development is big because it is important and at least some of it works. I know!

Here I will unravel some of the alternatives and the issues relating to the development of leaders, and help you find your way through. I will present you with a number of choices, in the hope that you might be able to decide which approach is good for you.

First, a health warning. Leadership development covers a range of learning methods, the best of which are designed to help you to build on the leadership skills qualities that you already possess.

If you hear of “Leadership Training” it might just be a very basic, taught programme that doesn’t take account of your existing strengths. Find out whether they include any form of self or peer assessment.

Group or individual development

A whole range of leadership development activities use group learning techniques. These include training courses, degree programmes, virtual classrooms, seminars, workshops, etc.

These are great if you enjoy learning in a group – if you feel comfortable contributing and learning from others’ experiences. As leadership involves other people, it is difficult to develop your leadership confidence if you don’t involve others at some point in your learning. The best group based programmes use group exercises and give you opportunities to practice leadership skills. They also have plenty of chance to give and receive feedback.

Individual development covers one-to-one coaching and self-development activities (eg, reading, workbooks, e-learning).

E-learning has come a long way in the last few years and there are some great materials around. Similarly, there are some very good e-books on the market.

These techniques are very focused on you and your needs and they progress at your own pace. But self-study alone can not provide you with the practice and feedback that you might need to build your leadership confidence.

My recommendation? Find a leadership development programme that offers elements of both group and individual learning. Perhaps some workshops or course modules with self-study and one-to-one coaching built in or with coaching as an add-on. But choose elements that are focused on your needs rather than a sheep dip, or one size fits all, approach.

Academic or vocational

Academic programmes are those that are based upon the learning of theory, or upon new research that extends the body of knowledge. They are mainly cognitive or cerebral (to do with the head) and lead to academic qualifications, such as university degrees.

Vocational programmes are more practical in their nature and are concerned with the application of learning to real situations. They tend to focus on skills and less on theory, although they can also lead to vocational qualifications.

Actually, the “or” in the title is not clear cut. Some university degrees are vocational in nature. In the world of management and leadership, the Master of Business Administration degree (MBA) is an obvious example. However, there will still be a large amount of academic / intellectual / theory in any degree programme.

Many organisations run vocational leadership programmes, or corporate leadership training scheme, for their leaders. Some also offer routes to academic programmes for those who do well on vocational ones.

My recommendation? Think carefully about what you want and how you learn best. If you want to develop practical skills – opt for a vocational programme. If you want to understand the theoretical basis of leadership first, look for a suitable academic course of study.

Bespoke or open programmes

A bespoke leadership development programme is one that is designed and developed around the identified learning needs of the employing organisation and the participants. They tend to be run “in-company”.

An open programme sells places to participants from different employers. You can find yourself alongside people from many different contexts. Open programmes are sometimes run “in-company” – but sometimes with little or no modification beforehand.

If it is just you wanting to learn on a group based programme, you will probably have to find an open programme. Unless of course your powers of persuasion as such that you can get your employer to commission a bespoke programme.

Open programmes can have two key advantages. They offer the chance to learn from people from other organisations, to benchmark yourself and to look beyond the familiar. They are also relatively anonymous! You can make your mistakes away from your friends and colleagues.

But some open programmes are not always very sharply focussed. And unless they are chosen around your own needs, they can be frustrating. This is were “bespoke is best” – providing of course that the trainer is any good. A good bespoke programme can offer direct, relevant and directly transferable learning that you can take straight back to work.

My recommendation? Go for bespoke if it is available. If not, ask the providers of the open programme about the programme objectives and compare these with what you wish to learn. Then ask them what steps they will take to identify and address your individual learning needs. If you are happy with the answers, then ask if they will refer you to a past participant who can tell you about their experiences.

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Leadership

Leadership Development – A Strategic Need?

Leadership is vital for any organization’s sustained success. A great leader at top makes a big difference to his or her organization. Everyone will concur with these statements. Experts in human resources field mention the importance of leaders at all levels, and not just that of the leadership at the top. Rightly so. It is not without reason that companies like 3M, Proctor & Gamble, GE, Coca Cola, HSBC etc. have known to put in place processes for developing leaders continuously.

Mention this subject, however, to a line manager, or to a sales manager, or any executive in most organizations and you will probably deal with diffident responses.

Leadership development -a strategic need?

The subject of leadership is dealt with in a general way by many organizations. Leadership is usually understood in terms of personal attributes such as charisma, communication, inspiration, dynamism, toughness, instinct, etc., and not in terms what good leaders can do for their  organizations.  Developing leaders falls in HR domain. Budgets are framed and outlays are used with indicators like training hours per employee per year. Whether the good intentions behind the training budgets get translated into actions or not, is not monitored.

Such leadership development outlays, that are based on only good intentions and general ideas about leadership, get axed in bad times and get extravagant during good times. If having great or good leaders at all levels is a strategic need, as the above top companies demonstrate and as many leading management experts assert, why do we see such a stop and go approach?

Why is there skepticism about leadership development programs?

The first reason is that expectations from good (or great) leaders are not defined in operative terms and in ways in which the outcomes can be verified. Leaders are expected to ‘achieve’ many things. They are expected to turn laggards into high performers, turn around companies, charm customers, and dazzle media. They are expected to perform miracles. These expectations remain just wishful thinking. These desired outcomes can not be used to provide any clues about gaps in leadership skills and development needs.

Absence of a comprehensive and generic (valid in diverse industries and conditions) framework for defining leadership means that leadership development efforts are scattered and inconsistent in nature. Inconsistency gives bad name to leadership development programs. This breeds cynicism (these fads come and go….) and resistance to every new initiative. This is the second reason why the objectives of leadership development are often not met.

The third reason is in the methods used for leadership development. Leadership development programs rely upon a combination of lectures (e.g. on subjects like team building, communications), case studies, and group exercises (problem solving), and some inspirational talks by top business leaders or management gurus.

Sometimes the programs consist of outdoor or adventure activities for helping people bond better with each other and build better teams. These program generate ‘feel good’ effect and in some cases participants ‘return’ with their personal action plans. But in majority of cases they fail to capitalize on the efforts that have gone in. I must mention leadership coaching in the passing. In the hands of an expert coach a willing executive can improve his leadership skills dramatically. But leadership coaching is too expensive and inaccessible for most executives and their organizations.

Leadership -a competitive advantage

During my work as a business leader and later as a leadership coach, I found that it is useful to define leadership in operative terms. When leadership is defined in terms of what it does and in terms of capabilities of a person, it is easier to assess and develop it.

When leadership skills defined in the above manner are present at all levels, they impart a distinct capability to an organization. This capability gives a competitive advantage to the organization. Organizations with a pipeline of good leaders have competitive advantages over other organizations, even those with great leaders only at the top. The competitive advantages are:

1. They (the organizations) are able to solve problems quickly and can recover from mistakes fast.

2. They have excellent horizontal communications. Things (processes) move faster.

3. They tend to be less busy with themselves . Therefore they have ‘time’ for outside people. (Over 70% of internal communications are about reminders, error corrections etc . They are wasteful)

4. Their staff (indirects) productivity is high. This is one of the toughest management challenges.

5. They are good at heeding to signals related to quality, customer complaints, shifts in market conditions and customer preferences. This leads to good and useful bottom-up communication. Top leaders tend to have less number of blind spots in such organizations.

6. It is easier to roll out programs for strategic shift and also for improving business processes (using six sigma, TQM, etc.). Good bottom-up communications improve top-down communications too.

7. They require less ‘supervision’, since they are strongly rooted in values.

8. They are better at preventing catastrophic failures.

Expectations from good and effective leaders should be set out clearly. The leadership development programs should be selected to develop leadership skills that can be verified in operative terms. Since leadership development is a strategic need, there is a need for clarity about the above aspects.

Hemant Karandikar advises companies on business & brand strategy, on business transformation, and for achieving breakthroughs in business processes. He leverages this expertise in product creation projects for companies along with his design associates. He coaches business leaders and executives for developing leadership skills. Hemant founded Exponient Consulting and Learning Leadership.

Previously, Hemant was Managing Director, GWT Global Weighing (now Sartorius Mechatronics) and held position of General Manager at Philips India. He is an alumnus of Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, India.

For Onsite and online coaching for leadership development, please visit [http://www.learning-leadership.com]

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Hemant_Karandikar/300806