Tag Archives: Leadership Skills

Leadership

Leadership Coaching: An Insider’s Guide

What Exactly Is Leadership Coaching?

In the broadest sense, whenever you are working with someone acting in a coaching or mentoring capacity in an ongoing relationship to; raise your awareness, grow as a human being, develop your leadership skills and effectiveness, work through some of the common challenges managers and leaders face, close gaps between where you are now and where you want to be, translate goals into specific actions, change behavior, increase the impact you are having, and generally get better results – you could be considered to be engaged in some form of leadership coaching.

Who Seeks Coaching

Most clients that come to leadership coaching tend to be proactive and take their growth and development seriously. They are typically open-minded, high performers who are used to seeking out the best support and training available. However, a percentage of coaching clients may also be noticing elevated levels of stress or perhaps some early symptoms of disengagement or burnout.

Coaching is most valuable on the more important challenges clients face, or the bigger changes they seek to make, where they do not seem to be making the progress they desire. Generally speaking, the bigger the emotional investment in reducing the current level of discomfort, or achieving the payoff of the most desired outcome, the more someone will benefit from coaching.

How Does The Process Of Leadership Coaching Work?

There are hundreds and hundreds of well-trained and experienced coaches who work with leaders or aspiring leaders, and there is a wide array of approaches they take. On one end of the spectrum, let’s call it the “pure coaching” end, you have coaches who will work with a leader on whatever agenda the client brings to coaching. These coaches may or may not have relevant experience or additional training in any leadership or business competencies. However, if they are well-trained, they can assist the client get clear on an agenda that aligns with what matters to them, identify strengths, pinpoint gaps, evoke growth, set priorities, stay on track and get better results. (I know quite a few very effective and successful coaches who have no background in business or organization life, yet manage to add great value to their clients.)

On the other end of the spectrum, there are many coaches who are not only well-trained in the core coaching skills, but also have dozens of other qualifications and/or relevant personal experience in leadership issues. Let’s call this the “expertise” end of the spectrum. These coaches typically have training in a wide variety of assessments, team intervention protocols, or other specific competencies of common interest to leaders or their organizations. At this end of the spectrum, coaching is often kicked off with some form of assessment, or more elaborate intake process, which sets the learning agenda for the subsequent coaching.

In my experience the majority of leadership coaches fall somewhere in the middle of the spectrum. Here, in addition to being well-trained, they typically do have some relevant experience as a leader, and often have accumulated additional knowledge on topics of frequent interest to their leadership clients such as: common leadership models and competencies, leadership and communication styles, team development, confidence building, stress management, etc. However, here in the middle of the spectrum coaches may not lead with assessments or have as much of a prescriptive approach. Typically the majority of leadership coaches tend to meet whatever agenda a client brings to coaching. (With my leadership coaching clients the 3 most common topics that contribute the greatest value are usually: 1) Learning the various core leadership competencies – which include; challenging the status quo, developing a compelling vision that connects to all constituents, enabling/empowering others, walking the talk as a leader, and mastering the wide range of emotional and communication skills required to keep people emotionally engaged. 2) Understanding the different common styles of leadership, (commanding, pace setting, visionary, coaching, etc.) their strengths and weakness and when a particular style is most effective. 3) Stress and time management. Stress is the silent killer of countless leader’s initiatives and careers, and wreaks havoc with time management, overall energy and happiness levels.

Also, I would estimate that approximately half of all leadership coaching is done in-person, and half is done over the phone. There are some coaching agendas that benefit from in-person coaching. (For example if a coach is observing a client to team interaction.) However, the vast majority of coaching I do is very successfully done over the phone. The benefits of phone coaching is greater flexibility, a greater sense of confidentiality (which often translates into greater candor and thus faster change) and because no travel is involved, phone coaching is often more affordable.

Benefits – How Do I Know It Is Working?

In any coaching interaction, you should experience value quickly. (I tell my clients if they do not get value out of every session, they are free to leave at any time.) You should also expect the coaching process to be overwhelmingly positive. Meaning, coaches are trained to build on your strengths and help you keep emotionally connected to the best possible outcome while you work to close any gaps or move past current obstacles. (There is a good reason for this. Modern neuroscience has shown that none of us can grow or change optimally when we are too stressed out or solely focused on our shortcomings.)

In terms of tangible benefits, over the years there have been a few ROI studies on the value of coaching. One study conducted by MetrixGlobal, LLC, found the Return on Investment of coaching was calculated to exceed 500%.

Other industry studies have shown the percentage of clients reporting topic specific benefits in the following areas:

· Self-awareness: 67.6%

· Setting better goals: 62.4%

· More balanced life: 60.5%

· Lower stress levels: 57.1%

· Self-discovery: 52.9%

· Self-confidence: 52.4%

· Improvement in quality of life: 43.3%

· Enhanced communication skills: 39.5%

· Project completion: 35.7%

· Health or fitness improvement: 33.8%

· Better relationship w/ boss, co-workers: 33.3%

· Better family relationship(s): 33.3%

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Leadership

Why Leadership-Development Programs Fail To Deliver Results?

With over 20,000 books and millions of articles about the critical elements of leadership and its overall impact, the issue of leadership really must be important to organisations.

Most organizations have lavish budgets and allot lots of time and effort on improving employee and manager capabilities and also nurturing new leaders. In the USA itself, companies spend almost $14 billion annually on various leadership programs and many colleges and universities now offer degree courses on leadership.

Moreover, in a study of 500 executives asked to rank their priorities, leadership development was listed by most of them. This shows how important the topic of ‘leadership’ is to most companies. However, many leadership development programs initiated to train employees on leadership skills and qualities fail due to lack of focus.

After getting in touch with hundreds of chief executives about their struggle and observing their more successful initiatives, a report by McKinsey has identified four of the most common leadership development mistakes. We discuss these along with some tips to overcome them in the article below.

Mistake Number 1: Overlooking The Real Need

A critical component of leadership development is reality and on ground situation. It is important to understand that a business leader in one situation does not perform the same way in another.

Most training initiatives are set on the assumption that one size fits all and the same style of leadership skills are required to be groomed into all leaders, irrespective of the organizational culture or strategy.

When designing a leadership program, it is important for the designers to understand the nature of the program. What exactly is the program for and who exactly would benefit from it?

It is very important to focus on the context and equip leaders with a small number of competencies or skills rather than trying to teach them everything. This is sure to achieve a much better outcome.

Moreover, leadership programs generally involve a one-time effort or a few training sessions. But learning about leadership requires revision, and the focus should be on regular experiential learning rather than cognitive learning.

Mistake Number 2: Implementing What Has Been Learned

When it comes to designing the development curriculum, many organizations face a balancing issue. On one side, there is value in off-site programs like university or college settings that offer students time to step back and flee from the pressing demands of a day job.

On the other side, even after basic training sessions, adults generally retain only 10 per cent of what they really hear in the classroom as compared to nearly two-thirds when they are learning by doing.

Moreover, many leaders find it difficult to extrapolate their off-site experience into real work scenarios. Hence, the importance of finding a balance between the two cannot be ignored.

The ability to train participants while also giving them real world experience to apply their newly learnt skills is a valuable combination in today’s business markets. Furthermore, it is important to integrate leadership development components into the project itself.

Mistake Number 3: Underestimating Mind Sets

To become an effective leader, it is important to change behaviour. While many companies do understand that this means changing underlying mind-sets, they are often reluctant to address the cause of why leaders act the way they do, as doing so can be uncomfortable for participants, mentors and trainers.

Moreover, even if there is no discomfort, the chances of them changing their behaviour are low. Moreover, leadership programs should also focus on increasing self-awareness and understanding of how their behaviour affects others, rather than just building competencies and skills.

Mistake Number 4: Not Having Concrete Metrics to Measure Effectiveness

It is often seen that companies pay lots of importance to development of leadership skills but do not ultimately quantify the value of their investment. When businesses fail to keep a track of leadership performance over time, they increase the chances of the initiatives not being taken seriously.

In most cases, evaluations to the leadership development program are given by participant feedback. However, if the scenario is moved to a business-performance program, the assessment or feedback is generally in the form of success or failure, which is probably more valuable.

So, if you are looking for robotic leaders – train them. Alternatively, if you are looking for innovative dealers – develop them over time with real-time experience and empowerment.

Jappreet Sethi

I am a HR & Business Strategy professional with experience of leading HR & People Consulting practice of multinational professional services firms, including a Fortune 500 company in India. I was also Heading CSR at a Forbes Platinum 400 company and a member of its Global Diversity Council.

I am a consultant for start-up ventures in South Asia and have been rated twice as one of the Top 100 employee engagement experts in the world by a New York Times bestselling author.

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Jappreet_S/1328581

 

Leadership

Leadership Development Can Spell the Difference Between Company Survival and Failure

Technology and globalization have brought new and profound challenges never before seen in the corporate world. Companies built through decades of strong market domination crumble in just a matter of months, or weeks even. Emerging issues in politics and religion, disparities in population trends, even destructive weather patterns that are increasingly unpredictable – all these have a huge impact on corporations across the world, regardless of their core competency. The challenges are complex and daunting but one singular idea is fast gaining ground – leadership development is a secure solution to ensure company survival.

Management Versus Leadership

Many people often make the mistake of equating management with leadership when, in fact, these are two completely different concepts. Management is a function of processes and systems and how well they are used to maintain quality or achieve tangible targets. Leadership, on the other hand, is management and so much more.

A manager is defined by his authority vis-à-vis those above and below him in the whole corporate hierarchy. A leader is defined by his relationship to a group of individuals who willingly submit themselves to be his followers. Management depends on acquired skills but leadership relies on more abstract qualities such as behavior, trust, and inspiration. This makes leadership development about more than teaching market theories or communication skills.

Leadership Skills

Some people seem to be born more charismatic than others and are thus theoretically predisposed to leadership but this is not necessarily true. Leadership is much more than charisma, it is the ability to rise up to challenge. Regular people have been seen to rise from the ranks to emerge into a formidable leader. This continually happens regardless of educational background, gender, age or type of business but one thing is common among them – an unmistakable motivation and single-mindedness to bring their team towards a goal.

But can leadership skills be acquired just as management skills can be acquired? With the right specialized leadership development yes, it is possible to teach leadership skills including:

1. Listening. A good leader gains loyal following because he is perceived to understand the concerns of his teammates as well as their goals. Listening is tuning in and being keenly observant of the dynamics within and outside of the workplace.

2. Strategic Planning. Successful leaders know how to anticipate issues even before they arise and are able to maximize the company’s resources to resolve them. Leadership development centers on enhancing critical thinking beyond traditional management theories and practices.

3. Team Building. A good leader builds the company’s strength around its human resources. She does not take credit for successes but acknowledges that any achievement is always a result of a cohesive organization.

4. Management and Communication. Needless to say, a good leader must be well-informed about the company’s vision, objectives, and procedures to ably steer the team in the right direction. He should also effectively communicate these down and across the line so that everyone understands and works together.

5. Adaptation. The current corporate world is so dynamic it is easy to get lost in the complexities of issues and challenges. Sticking to traditional solutions will guarantee failure so an effective leader must be flexible and adaptable. She must be able to think out-of-the-box and turn difficulties into opportunities.

Leadership development requires specialized training to help future leaders realize their potentials. Professional development companies offer leadership training workshops to businesses who want to create a pool of leaders within their ranks. With the company’s survival at stake, it is important to match the challenge of the times with good leaders who can help you achieve your company’s overall goals.

Rob Jackson is President of Magnovo Training Group, a soft-skills training company focusing on corporate team building, classroom training and leadership development. Rob has been a speaker and trainer for over 20 years specializing in effective leadership, personality profiles, relational sales training, executive presence and team building. He has served as President and Chairman on several Executive Leadership boards. In addition to being a Certified DiSC Trainer, Rob has logged hundreds of instructional classroom hours. For more information please visit http://www.magnovo.com.

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Robert_C_Jackson/283640

 

Leadership

Leadership Training Courses – A Unique Experience

It is true that leaders are born not made, but it is equally true that most leaders need a helping hand to discover the power within them. Leadership guidance cannot be replaced by any other training or course. Realizing the importance of proper guidance, leadership training courses have seen a sharp incline in the recent years amongst most people. Even top companies and colleges have started including these leadership training courses in their employee development program and course curriculum in order to groom leaders from the very beginning.

What leadership training courses offer?

Leadership training courses offer you the essentials of becoming an effective and popular leader. They help you to harness the talent within you by focusing on the various aspects of leadership skills necessary to become an effective leader. Two of the most important leadership skills are given below.

Leadership skills: Effective communication

The importance of communication can never be overstated. Its sheer power has been witnessed time and again. Communication can be of various kinds, but its power only increases with an increase in its effectiveness. Effective communication is a hallmark of leadership and so, it is the first stepping stone for any future leader. Leadership training courses help you develop the art of communication so that every time you speak, you impact your audience in a positive way.

A few things leadership training courses focus on when they work on making your communication effective are guiding you to choose the right message, consider the audience perspective, use and benefit of constructive reframes and the most important part of effective communication, which is good listening skills.

Leadership skills: Focus on others

A leader is called so because they ‘lead’ others. The focus on “others” is crucial for being an effective leader. The two most important facets are firstly, to get to know your audience well and understand their perspective, needs and desires. Secondly, you will have to understand what motivates them and develop an in-depth understanding of how you can drive those factors.

Leadership skills: Handling issues

It is one thing to give a speech, and a completely different ball game to handle the most dynamic factor in any organization – its people. Handling people comes naturally to a great leader. But for many, this is a factor that needs to be worked on. Leadership training courses guide you on how to handle different people in different situations. This is a great skill that will be of use to you for the rest of your life.

Benefits of leadership training courses

Now that you have a glimpse of what leadership training courses have to offer, let’s focus on the other benefits.

Company, institutes and individuals may have to spend some amount on these training courses but the returns they offer make them worth every penny invested in them. These training programs return leaders who are ready to make a significant contribution in their field of work. These leaders then act as catalysts in spreading the aspirations to others, and converting more employees and students into leaders in your institute or company.

Leadership training courses are the best investment that you can make for growth.

Effective leadership is not about making speeches or being liked; leadership is defined by results. Various leadership and management training institutes prepares you in leading the world. For more information, click here.

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Isiah_M_Vincent/1586642

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7740812

Leadership

Creating a Leadership Development Blueprint for Your Organization

This is an overall leadership development (LD) blueprint that does not pretend to be all-inclusive but, if you do not have a clue where to begin, it will get you started in the right direction. I know it works because it was the same blueprint I designed and used in creating a LD program within a large Fortune 500 bank a few years ago.

Some unintended, but very favorable consequences, of our leadership program happened to the executive sponsor – our “Champion” – during a monthly meeting with the bank’s executive committee.

They were discussing the trend of the constantly improving metrics in the operations division when the chairman asked our executive to describe how he was doing it.

“I can account for about half of it”, he admitted, “but, beyond that, I don’t have any specifics.”

“What?” responded the chairman. “How can you NOT know everything about it?”

“Because we’ve empowered our leaders down to the line level to make decisions up to a certain financial threshold on their own without having to ask. So the numbers are getting better but I haven’t asked them how…and do not plan to. We have trained them to act and they are doing it. Much better than we ever expected!”

As additional incentive to use this blueprint, be sure to keep this fundamental organizational fact burned into your “memory chip” if you are a Human Resources professional: Human Resources, though its linkage to hiring, firing, training, performance management, benefits and compensation, has a unique and powerful influence on the greatest organizational expense: the workforce.

Therefore, HR has an opportunity UNLIKE ANY OTHER SEGMENT OF THE ORGANIZATION to impact the bottom line if it will consider this simple fact of business life: every dime saved in operations expenses goes directly to the bottom line; i.e., PROFITS.

And, the easiest way to make that profitable impact on the bottom line is to improve the leadership skills in the operations area. This is because employees are more closely tied emotionally to their leader than to their employer! If an employee has a good leader, they will have high morale, maximum productivity, and stay with them through stressful times. If they have a poor leader, they will do the least they can to get by, become clock watchers, and leave at the first opportunity.

It all comes back to leadership skills. Even if an organization could afford a full-blown, LD initiative provided by an outside vendor, many still could not easily send their employees to traditional classroom training because of staffing, workplace locations, or work schedule issues like we faced during the development and implementation of this program.

Therefore, we have modified this guide from the original to use a self-study approach that would allow participants to receive the training they need in spite of any scheduling, work, or training obstacles encountered.

Telephone conference calls, webinars, or web video conferencing can bring a widely dispersed audience together for meetings, sharing experiences, or updates on the program itself and should be a part of the program.

Although we are now using a self-study format as the foundation for this guide that makes it easier to deliver the training, no amount of training is worthwhile without support from an organization’s leaders to make sure the participant applies the skills learned on the job after the training and the participant has the opportunity to share lessons learned and network with peers.

Just as the leaders are expected to protect the organization’s investments in capital improvements, they should be just as diligent maximizing the return on investment in developing their workforce.

Much of what we describe in this guideline will need strong support from a training manager, HR representative, or some strong project manager to act as the primary connection point to answer questions, provide forms, or collect suggestions for improving the program. This person would also be the central keeper of the participant’s electronic development records while being able to send a copy to the participant at the completion of each item in the plan.

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