Leadership Training

The role of leadership in management is largely determined by the organisational culture of the company. It has been argued that a leader’s beliefs, values and assumptions are of critical importance to the overall style of leadership that they adopt.

There are many ways of looking at leadership style (and probably as many styles as there are leaders!).  You can learn more about styles of leadership on our comprehensive Leadership Skills Course in Brighton, Sussex.

Below is a four-point analysis of leadership style. Read the characteristics of each one.

DIRECTIVE leaders are those who take control, make decisions on their own and are self-reliant

COACHING leaders are those whose focus is to develop and empower others

INFLUENCING leaders are those who are confident in their own ability and who can influence others with their confidence

COLLABORATIVE leaders are those who create balance in the work place and work with and through others

Advantages and disadvantages

DIRECTIVE:

- Works well in times of crisis
- Good with inexperienced people
- Effective when time is an issue
- When you are the most knowledgeable
- Can appear over-controlling
- Doesn’t involve others
- Can stifle creativity
- Ignores the need to motivate others

COACHING:

- Develops people
- Improves performance
- Raises self awareness of staff
- Builds trust
- Can be time consuming
- Relies on others to work with them
- Assumes people want to develop

INFLUENCING:

- Mobilises people
- Can be inspirational
- Appropriate in times of change
- May appear manipulative
- Can be regarded as condescending
- May appear too pushy

COLLABORATIVE:

- Builds consensus and ownership
- Motivates people
- Involves others
- Uses others expertise and experience
- Relies on others involvement
- Can appear indecisive
- Relies on other people’s commitment
- Assumes others have knowledge

What type of leader are you?

Review the four definitions above and ask yourself the following questions:

What type of leader am I?

What are my greatest strengths as a leader?

What areas would I like to improve in my leadership?

How am I going to do this?

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Posted by Aaron Charlie in Leadership Training on April 3rd, 2007 | No Comments »

“A vision gives meaning and purpose to your actions. It is the picture on the jigsaw box of life” Anon

Frequently, vision is listed as one of the qualities that effective and successful leaders demonstrate. It is often cited as the difference between managing and leading. Learn more about the importance of leadership vision on our Leadership Skills Training Course in Brighton, Sussex.

Vision is about generating ideas about the way ahead and, more importantly, being able to articulate these ideas to others in such a way as to secure their understanding and gain their commitment to what you are trying to achieve. One of the keys indicators of high-performance teams is shared vision.

A vision is not a vague dream but a desired outcome and creating it involves:

• Having absolute conviction about the issue, the project, your team etc
• Thinking about the desired future and asking yourself what it will look and feel like
• Testing out your ideas on people you trust
• Building a shared vision with the team
• Involving others in the development of the vision
• Ensuring their commitment

Do you have a vision?
How do you share this with others?

How do you inspire others with your vision?

If you can motivate and inspire others, you can take them along with your vision and they can play their unique part in achieving it.

A great deal is written and said about motivation and it is certainly a key issue for leaders to address.

Key strategies for motivating others

• Give staff a clear understanding of the context of their job and the importance of their function.
• Ensure that everyone agrees achievable personal development objectives and action plans.
• Give all members of staff a challenge so that they will feel stimulated and involved.
• Give inexperienced people more attention and provide on-going training.
• Delegate whole tasks to people so that they develop new skills and feel empowered and motivated to take on more
• Encourage employees to feel like a team by involving everyone
• Always give recognition and thanks to those who deserve it.
• Encourage employees to have high expectations of themselves and to see difficulties as opportunities not problems.
• Show genuine concern when individuals appear to be in difficulties at work
• Deal with unsatisfactory performance assertively not aggressively
• Avoid blaming
• Expect excellent performance – and don’t accept poor performance.
• Ensure staff have the time, resources and opportunity to develop the necessary capabilities to achieve success.
• Show you’re on their side by getting resources for them and working on overcoming organisational blockages.
• Make success visible – notice, appreciate, reward, celebrate and publicise success.
• Don’t ask others to do what you are not prepared to do yourself
• Lead from the front!

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Posted by Aaron Charlie in Leadership Training on April 3rd, 2007 | No Comments »

Given that most organisations increasingly work to a team model, a manager’s role as team leader is crucial. The success of a team and its effectiveness is influenced by the quality and skill of the person who leads it. The value that a team and its work add to the overall success of an organisation is influenced by the role of the leader whose job it is to manage the team. You can learn more about how leaders influence and motivate their team on our  Leadership Skills Course in Brighton, Sussex.

What makes an effective team leader?

As with all aspects of management, the styles used by individual team leaders vary. Some may be more task oriented (their main concern is to get the job done) or more people oriented (their main concern is to ensure that people work well together). There is also a distinction between being predominately developmental (seeing human resources primarily as an investment) or predominately conservative (seeing them primarily as a cost).

Leadership style was characterised in the work of John Adair on leadership in 1970′s; work which has been influential in this field ever since. In what he calls Action Centred Leadership, he sees the activity of team leadership as a trinity comprising:

INDIVIDUALS
GROUP
TASK

The ideal team manager takes all three aspects into account all of the time and achieves balance between them constantly. Realistically, this is difficult to sustain permanently! There will be times when there is a target to meet so the task takes priority and if you have a good enough relationship with your team they will be prepared to put in the hours until the job is done! At other times, an individual member of the team may need special support and attention or the needs of the group as a whole have to come to the fore. Thus your focus will shift depending on the circumstance but you must never lose sight of the other two aspects completely and you must bring the situation into balance as soon as you can.

Building High Performance Teams

All leaders want to build high-performance teams and whilst all teams are different, there are certain common characteristics which contribute to high-performing teams. They:

• Share and subscribe to the leader’s vision
• Demonstrate keenness to succeed
• Are motivated by their goal
• Members show commitment to each other, the leader and the goal
• Set and achieve challenging targets which are reviewed regularly
• Members have mature interpersonal relationships which demonstrate trust, openness and respect
• Get satisfaction from what they do
• Learn and move on from failure

How Appropriate is your Style of Leading the Team?

“Self awareness is central to being a successful leader”
Kouzes & Posner, The Future of Leadership, 2001

Understanding your preferred leadership style is important. It also helps to understand the effect your style has on others and when it is most effective. In today’s complex and changing business environment, it is more important to be able to adapt and vary the style to suit the people involved and the prevailing business climate.

Most of us will have a preference for one style over another so what is yours?

Basic principles of leadership

Leadership exists in all walks of life and at all levels in organisations. As a leader in any situation you need to understand these basic principles of leadership:

1. Successful leaders have the ability to vary their style according to the context
2. A more participative style seems to be most effective in most situations
3. Real effectiveness depends on each leader creating and developing their own unique style.

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Posted by Aaron Charlie in Leadership Training on April 3rd, 2007 | No Comments »

Managers and their staff spend more time in meetings than they did five years ago and, despite the use of ‘webinars’ and conference calls, they will probably continue to spend as much if not more time in meetings five years from now!

New technology is great and more and more affordable even to the smallest businesses, BUT its use runs contrary to the benefits of a group of human beings sharing the same space to discuss and decide together on outcomes and strategies.

As a leader you must ensure that meetings make the very BEST use of this human factor and if you are to be an effective leader, you must be able to run effective meetings. Learn how to run effective meetings on our Effective Meetings training course

Why have meetings?

In addition to the management role, meetings play an important psychological role in bringing cohesion to an organisation. Without meetings where you can meet others in the organisation, we would have less attachment to the organisation, a lesser sense of belonging.

Every group creates its own pool of shared knowledge, experience, judgement and folklore. This pool not only helps all members to do their jobs more intelligently, it also greatly increases the speed and efficiency of all communication between them.

A meeting helps every individual understand both the collective aim of the team and the way in which their own and everyone else’s work can contribute to the team’s success.

A meeting creates in all present a commitment to the decision it makes and the objective it pursues. Once something has been decided, even if you originally argued against it, your membership of the team means you feel obliged to accept the decision.

A meeting is a status arena. It is no good to pretend that people are not or should not be concerned with their status relative to the other members of a group; it is another part of human nature. When a group is new, has a new leader, or is composed of people who are in competition with each other, some team members will take the floor as a way of getting themselves noticed; this has been called arena behaviour and is likely to figure quite largely!

In a fast-moving business world, a meeting is very often the only occasion where the team or group actually exists and works as a group, and the only time when the supervisor, manager, or executive is actually perceived as the leader of the team, rather than as the official to whom individuals report.

How are meetings used in your organisation?

Skills for leading meetings

Your job, when leading a meeting, is to ensure the smooth running of the meeting, to enable everyone to participate and to reach the desired conclusion.

10 skills for leading meetings

1. Ability to create a friendly, professional and motivational atmosphere
2. Being prepared for the meeting
3. Clarity of communication and encouraging others to be clear
4. Structuring the meeting: explain the purpose of the meeting at the beginning, say how long it will last, what form it will take and so on
5. Managing individual contributions :do not allow anyone to dominate and encourage participation from quieter members
6. Guiding the discussion in a disciplined way to meet the objectives of the meeting
7. Keeping people to the point
8. Remaining impartial: do not participate too much in the discussion of topics
9. Summarising the main points of each topic before moving on and making a final summary confirming the conclusions reached
10. Acknowledging at the end of the meeting what has been achieved and thanking your team for their active participation

How do you score on these ten points?

Improving your leadership in meetings

Self analysis

At the end of every meeting you lead, get into the habit of taking time to reflect on your performance:

• Did you achieve what you wanted?
• What could’ve been handled better?
• What would you do differently next time?

Getting feedback from others

If you have a trusted ally in the group, ask them to give you feedback on your leadership. How we come across to others is not always the way we think we come across, so some impartial feedback is extremely useful. You can even ask the whole team to give you some constructive criticism to help you; if you can meet the team’s needs in this area, they are going to be willing active participants who are motivated and committed (so it’s worth taking the risk f asking them their opinion!)

Preparation

Before you hold your next meeting, ask yourself the following three questions:

1. What is the objective of this meeting?
2. Can this objective be achieved in another, more time/cost effective way?
3. Who really needs to attend?

When you are clear on these three points, you can go ahead and organise a meeting which will be relevant, useful and motivating to those who attend!

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Posted by Aaron Charlie in Leadership Training on April 3rd, 2007 | No Comments »

What is coaching?

The term and practice of coaching developed in the sports world and has been subsequently imported into the world of business. It has been argued that it is THE most important practice in which any leader can engage.

Coaching should provide motivation, structure and effective feedback. As coaches, managers believe that people can succeed, that they can contribute to their success and that they can identify what people need to be able to do to improve their performance. Whilst coaching may form part of the performance management process of an organisation, it should not be part of the disciplinary process!

Learn more about the importance of coaching on our Coaching & Mentoring Course

The coaching process

It is possible for some managers to be trained counsellors or appointed mentors, but ALL leaders can be coaches (and should be!).

It is important to remember that:

• The purpose of coaching is always to enable the individual to develop.
• It is not a control measure
• It should not be used as a substitute for appraisal

An employee may approach you for coaching but it is more likely that you will wish to use coaching as part of your people management strategy. If you try to force coaching on an unwilling member, it will not be very productive for anyone!

Ideally coaching is not a one-off but a series of planned interventions where you concentrate time to your member of staff for their development and you do not cancel or change the appointment except in extreme emergency!

Coaching skills

The basic skills you need for coaching are the basic skills you need for all people management:

• Active listening
• Questioning techniques
• Feedback skills
• Goal setting

A typical coaching session

Once you have the person’s agreement to participate, the coaching session follows a basic four-step process:

• Establish contract
• Explore development needs
• Suggest alternatives
• Set goals

Establish contract

This is an important step at the beginning of your first coaching session and can be reiterated at subsequent sessions. A contract in this sense is not a formal written contract but is a way of establishing the ground rules for your sessions. It is above all the time when you can reassure your staff member that you are not using the contents of the session for appraisal purposes.

So you need to voice the purpose of the session, your role and theirs in the coaching process, the duration and the frequency of the sessions.

Explore Development Needs

The ideal way of determining development needs is by asking what the person being coached needs to learn and wishes to address. You can then together agree what is feasible to work on in one session. Do not try to force too much on the individual in one go, for they will stand little chance of achieving their goals.

Suggest alternatives

When you are exploring ways forward with your coachee, allow them time to discuss their ideas. You may wish to give them some constructive feedback on performance already achieved if this is appropriate and helpful to them. If they get stuck you may wish to suggest other alternatives; options they may not have considered or may not be aware exist.

DO NOT impose these ideas however, or you are straying out of coaching; suggest them, and ask the person what they think.

Set goals

In the final part of the session the person makes a commit to themselves (and to you) of further action.

Encourage and motivate them to set realistic targets which are clear and concise and have a time scale attached. Remind them that they will be coming back to discuss the outcome with you at the next session.

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Posted by Aaron Charlie in Leadership Training on April 3rd, 2007 | No Comments »

Feedback is often mentioned, either as part of the performance appraisal process or as a stand-alone means of assisting your staff development. But it can be an important source of information and understanding of yourself as an effective leader. It is certainly an essential tool for the effective leader. Learn just how important feedback can be on our Leadership Skills training course in Brighton, Sussex. We can also arrange Appraisals Training on a private basis, with content tailored to your organisation’s processes and policies.

What is feedback?

Feedback is a way of helping another person change their behaviour. Feedback helps the individual to keep their performance on target in order to achieve certain standards and goals. It is a developmental process for the individual who wants to learn how well their performance matches expectations.

For performance to improve, three types of information must be conveyed:

• what is considered to be the appropriate standard of performance
• how their performance measures up to this standard
• how they might improve their performance.

Clearly if you expect a member of staff to perform to a certain standard, then the standard needs to be explained first before giving the task! This is obvious, but how often does it happen?

Guidelines for giving feedback

Focus on performance, not on personality

• Telling someone that they “don’t seem to be able to relate very well to the public” could sound, to the individual in question, like a comment on their personality. Concentrate feedback on the behaviours required in order to dispel this perception (such as giving full attention to customers, making eye contact with them, using their name when possible, returning calls promptly, etc.) will be much more helpful.

Give feedback when the behaviour occurs

• Praise is most effective when it occurs close in time to the praiseworthy behaviour; so is criticism, for stored-up criticism can lead to massive defensive mechanisms being brought into play when it is tackled. Frequent informal feedback is much better than infrequent formal feedback.

Summarise and check

• Ask the individual to summarise the feedback they have just received and try to make sure that they remember both the positive and the negative. Then ask them to reiterate the action plan that you have agreed to remedy any performance deficits/develop themselves for the future.

Feedback is a two-way process!

It just as important that you as the leader receive feedback from your staff as it is that you give feedback to them. You also need to know where your behaviour could change so be prepared to ask for constructive feedback from staff and do not be defensive when you receive it. Listen attentively to what is being said and be prepared to change if necessary.

In other words, do not expect your staff to do something you are not prepared to do yourself!

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Posted by Aaron Charlie in Leadership Training on April 3rd, 2007 | No Comments »

Leadership is a challenge for most people. Being an effective leader when you are in the midst of change is even more challenging! Learn how to lead in changing times on our Change Management Course in Brighton, Sussex.

Remember the following:

1. Accept when change is needed

• Assess and identify the need for change
• Acknowledge the reality and the requirements of change

2. Be positive about new opportunities

• Look for ways to overcome obstacles
• Demonstrate personal flexibility and adaptability to change

3. Proactively promote change

• Take the initiative to shape the business by managing and contributing to its development
• Communicate new developments to others and adopt new approaches they might suggest

4. Reassure and sell the benefits of change to others

• Build confidence by takings things a step at a time
• Explain why change is required

5. Generate relationships of trust

• Be open, honest and supportive and listen
• Recognise when others need support, offer help and regular and constructive feedback

6. Provide a role model for others

• Display confidence in decisions and provide clear explanations for the decisions taken
• Display a positive and proactive approach to achieve outcomes that make a difference

7. Take ownership for resolving issues

• Use your initiative to solve problems
• Ensure all decisions are fair and unbiased

8. Support others in their jobs and development

• Praise and reward innovative behaviour that makes a difference
• Promote skill development for self and others

9. Encourage others to take on new responsibilities

• Encourage others to contribute their skills and opinions and to take responsibility
• Encourage people to be involved and ask them how they want to be involved

10. Focus on delivering good outcomes for internal and external customers

• Communicate and consult with key stakeholders
• Ensure continuity of professional service

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Posted by Aaron Charlie in Leadership Training on April 3rd, 2007 | No Comments »

Many managers are called upon to lead project management teams and achieve specific outcomes. But how effective are these teams generally? Is their success assured or more or less hit and miss? How can the leadership of these project teams play a vital role in the success of the project?

Project management software is of course available but the best software in the world will not help you if you can’t do the key task of leading a team! Our comprehensive Leadership Skills training course will help develop your team leading skills.

What is a project?

Let’s be clear from the start about what we’re talking about. A project is a temporary activity undertaken to create a specific outcome.

When you, as a project leader, accept responsibility for a project, you accept the schedule, timeline, deadlines, resources, and expectations set out at the start. You need to have the details and plans in place to handle whatever arises during a project’s duration – setting appropriate expectations for timelines, milestones, and deliverables. And, to ensure success for each and every project you need to have the right team.

Leading a project team

The success of a team and its overall effectiveness is obviously going to be influenced by the quality and skill of the person who leads it. So what makes an effective project team leader?

As with all aspects of management, the styles used by individual leaders vary. Leaders are individuals and as people will have a tendency to be more task oriented (their main concern is to get the job done) or more people oriented (their main concern is to ensure that people work well together). Effective leadership requires a balance between both task and people orientation.

As a project manager you know that your team has been set up to achieve a particular set of deliverables and the team must commit to this goal.

But teams are made up of individuals, each of whom must share the team’s common objective but each of whom will also have personal objectives, which they want to satisfy through membership of the team. One team member might want to impress the boss, another might be looking for skills enhancement, and another might want to work with another particular team member. Also teams have the group dimension; they are co dependent or inter-dependent.
Take a moment to answer the following questions:

• What type of project leader are you?
• Are you more task or more process oriented?
• How effective is this to your leadership of current projects?
• How can you develop balance in your team leadership?

Building the ideal project team

Do you have a choice of whom you have in your team or are they imposed on you by the project brief? Obviously this will have an effect on the team’s effectiveness.

Clearly it is better if you can hand pick your people. However, these will probably include employees of the organisation as well as contractors, freelancers, associates, stakeholders, quality controllers, contract compliance managers, consultants, suppliers, partners and so on. You may have the final say in who they are but you probably won’t have complete control over the selection of this range of personnel.

It makes it even more important therefore to get them on board as soon as possible.

Bear in mind these key points:

• Get the group to meet together as soon as possible
• Establish your rules for working together; hours of work, reporting lines, decision making procedures
• Clarify your terms of reference; reiterate the expected deliverables of the project
• Get commitment from all team members
• Discuss and iron out any concerns

Above all you need to work out ways to co-ordinate your team by getting everyone to agree on the objectives and schedules for the project.

Don’t imagine that teams only need to be full of paid and official project team members. You can have valuable assistance from informal advisors, mentors, and helpers. This can help project management on a tight budget as long as everyone’s roles are clearly agreed at the outset.

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Posted by Aaron Charlie in Leadership Training on April 3rd, 2007 | No Comments »