Leadership Development is any thing that we do in a planned and repetitive practice to build or develop leadership skills and traits. The overall purpose is to improve the quality of leadership and enhance leadership effectiveness. This includes formal training at the graduate or undergraduate level, specific programs developed by organizations, courses implemented in corporate environments or military and law enforcement training.
These programs are designed to focus on those qualities in an individual or team that are proven to reflect strong leadership. Courses like this will build and hone those skills in an effort to produce a more effective and efficient leader.
Many qualities in an individual lend themselves well toward good leadership. Some people are born with strong skills and traits that make them natural-born leaders but time and testing has discovered that most leadership skills can be learned and developed in anyone who is willing to take the time and make the effort to learn and practice.
As usual, the first step in developing any learned skill is education. Once we know and fully understand what makes a competent leader, it makes the process that much easier. There is a wide variety of study courses designed to help us do this. The most important part of developing strong leadership however, is dependent upon the action we take and effort that is put toward putting this knowledge into practice. Knowing and doing are two widely different things. Developing true leadership requires sustained action until the techniques become habit.
How successful an individual can become in leadership roles is dependent upon those persons learning abilities, the teacher or source of the information and the environment that the student will learn and practice the techniques. The rate at which one can become effectively trained as a leader will also depend on many of the individuals existing skills and behavioral attributes. Some of the more prominent traits that lend themselves well to leadership learning are self-confidence (not to be confused with arrogance,) self-esteem (not to be confused with conceit), communication skills, positive attitude and self-discipline.
The most effective leadership programs will be the ones that focus on sustained efforts over a long period and a broad scope of developmental training. They will focus on applied learning through taking action and actually practicing and monitoring the growth in real world scenarios. Since leadership deals primarily with your effectiveness in working with real people and real situations, confining your learning to classroom can only produce limited results.
Good leadership training will allow the individual to put his or her skills to test in real environments where leadership is truly needed and beneficial. Situations that work best are ones that require a leader to rely on communication, taking responsibilities, developing effective plans to reach specific goals, taking action, providing motivation and achieving real world results.
Sometimes the best training is simply filling the role and applying a proactive approach to learning and applying the best practices. It is up to you to acquire the training or practice that you need to develop yourself into a great leader. Learn everything that you can and practice what you learn often.
Leaders Create Moments That Matter
Life really isn't about time as much as it is about moments. If you think back on your day or your week or your last 20 years what you remember are individual moments that, for one reason or another, were more important to you. One of the skills that many of the best leaders I have worked with have developed is the ability to find or create those moments for others. They know that not every moment is one where we will allow ourselves to be taught. So they either wait for the teachable ones, or they create them.
There are certain times in our life that we are open to new ideas and new ways of thinking. The best leaders understand how to make the most of these moments to literally change the future for us. They look for those infrequent opportunities when they don't have to fight through all of our baggage to help us understand something in a different way. They know that there are two kinds of moments where we are more susceptible to being led.
Right after impact
Impact can mean many things for us but the essence is that something dramatic just happened in our lives and the time around that moment will likely stick with us forever. It could be something as severe as the death of a loved one. It might be a success we had, or a failure. Success and failure both make impact and both are teachable moments. This is one of the reasons that true leaders allow their people to fail on occasion even though it could have been prevented. They know that in the long run what they can help us learn in those moments will far outweigh the temporary setback that the failure represented. Think about the day you got a new job, or lost one. The day you had a baby or the day you graduated college. Things that happen at times like that are a permanent part of who you are and you will forever remember them. There are many less dramatic, but still impactful, moments that happen regularly though and create a perfect opportunity for us to benefit from the presence and the thoughts of a leader who wants to help us.
At the start of something new
Your first day on the new job, the first time you are making a sales call, when you change roles or get a new boss. Real leaders will recognize these as opportunities to help you by taking advantage of these moments to help you change your perspective. These are times when we pause for a moment and make decisions about how we will operate in the new environment and how success will look for us here. We will remember moments like this and they will seem to pass more slowly because we are alive, awake, and focused on the new challenge. I even read a study once that suggested the reason time seemed to speed up as we get older is because we do fewer new things and so we have fewer truly memorable moments.
Think about the important messages that we deliver every day to others when they are clearly not in one of those teachable moments; an argument with our teenager, a rushed conversation with our spouse while we are leaving for work, a meeting where people are feeling overwhelmed by everything that needs to get done. If the message is important, then making sure it's heard and makes the intended difference is important too.
In business, and in life, we often focus on the message we want people to get and the behavior we want them to change. The reality is that we will only help someone make changes if they are open to our ideas, thoughts, and suggestions. Leadership is about more than sending the right message; it is also about sending it the right way at the right time. If you want to be the kind of leader that truly makes a difference for others then find or create those teachable moments and fill them with messages that will be remembered, forever.
I write as committed disciple of Jesus Christ and I give thanks for those leaders who have answered many of my questions over these past fifty or so years. This has happened through simply asking individuals questions or by attending conferences and seminars or by reading and studying the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament.
It does not suddenly happen overnight, but overnight it can slowly begin to happen. On our part it will involve focusing our heart and mind and working in these various areas.
Much confusion could be banished if only we would pay attention to those whose leadership can provide and supply the answers we seek.
Let me suggest and mention just that one matter of debt which is destroying so many lives and relationships and the biblical answers is simple and straightforward but very few want to embrace its light and leadership.
There are many forces around us which bombard us and attempt to influence our thinking and our attitudes and we have to learn and know how to counteract them with courage and determination, and when we have the rules and guidelines it can become comparatively simple. It will be not be easy but it is simple! There is a massive difference.
The principles which we apply to the alarming increase in debt can also be adapted to virtually every other scenario which faces men and women, but another question does arise.
Do people really want real help and practical assistance or do they want to flow with the crowd and be involved in what can become distressing and painful?
We are taught in the letter to the Church of Jesus Christ at Philippi to have the mind of Christ. That means that we are to seek to have the outlook or attitude as given by that powerful leader, Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Again, it is not easy, but it is possible.
Moral and ethical leadership in financial affairs and politics are almost no-go areas but these are the very areas which demand the light of Jesus Christ to shine.
These are the areas where most people have the most problems, and to overlook the help that is available is so unwise. People can do this because of pride, and pride is corrupting sin.
When you take the advice which God offers and embrace the guidance suggested by committed and experienced men of God, you will find real help and peace of mind, although some around you may laugh and mock and ridicule. It has been so since the Church was launched and birthed.
Our loving gracious caring and concerned God calls us to come together and reason together so that the answers to whatever is bothering us may be resolved. Such leadership is scarce but so highly precious and treasured.
Wherever you come across such listen to what is being taught and shared.
There are certain times in our life that we are open to new ideas and new ways of thinking. The best leaders understand how to make the most of these moments to literally change the future for us. They look for those infrequent opportunities when they don't have to fight through all of our baggage to help us understand something in a different way. They know that there are two kinds of moments where we are more susceptible to being led.
Right after impact
Impact can mean many things for us but the essence is that something dramatic just happened in our lives and the time around that moment will likely stick with us forever. It could be something as severe as the death of a loved one. It might be a success we had, or a failure. Success and failure both make impact and both are teachable moments. This is one of the reasons that true leaders allow their people to fail on occasion even though it could have been prevented. They know that in the long run what they can help us learn in those moments will far outweigh the temporary setback that the failure represented. Think about the day you got a new job, or lost one. The day you had a baby or the day you graduated college. Things that happen at times like that are a permanent part of who you are and you will forever remember them. There are many less dramatic, but still impactful, moments that happen regularly though and create a perfect opportunity for us to benefit from the presence and the thoughts of a leader who wants to help us.
At the start of something new
Your first day on the new job, the first time you are making a sales call, when you change roles or get a new boss. Real leaders will recognize these as opportunities to help you by taking advantage of these moments to help you change your perspective. These are times when we pause for a moment and make decisions about how we will operate in the new environment and how success will look for us here. We will remember moments like this and they will seem to pass more slowly because we are alive, awake, and focused on the new challenge. I even read a study once that suggested the reason time seemed to speed up as we get older is because we do fewer new things and so we have fewer truly memorable moments.
Think about the important messages that we deliver every day to others when they are clearly not in one of those teachable moments; an argument with our teenager, a rushed conversation with our spouse while we are leaving for work, a meeting where people are feeling overwhelmed by everything that needs to get done. If the message is important, then making sure it's heard and makes the intended difference is important too.
In business, and in life, we often focus on the message we want people to get and the behavior we want them to change. The reality is that we will only help someone make changes if they are open to our ideas, thoughts, and suggestions. Leadership is about more than sending the right message; it is also about sending it the right way at the right time. If you want to be the kind of leader that truly makes a difference for others then find or create those teachable moments and fill them with messages that will be remembered, forever.
How Do You Optimize Performance Within Your Team
As a leader, you have to put in consistent effort to improve the performance of your team. You have to keep them at the top of their game at all times. Leadership coaching puts a lot of stress on how you can suitably do that. Here are some ways that you may want to consider.
Provide Your Team with a Free Environment to Think
Many leaders prove detrimental to their teams by stifling their freedom of thought and expression. You have to keep away from that. If you stifle your team, they are not likely to prove to be an asset for you. They do not have the environment to come up with positive and progressive ideas. As a leader, it is your responsibility to give them this free atmosphere to think and progress.
Always Keep Challenging Your Team
You need to keep challenging your team. Always give them something to do that can take them to the next level. This should be something they have not achieved so far. The very expectation of achieving something more than what they already have proves to be an incentive. However, do not go overboard with your challenging; that might prove to the detrimental to your team.
Do Not Let Them Be Idle
Though you should not be a taskmaster, you need to always give something stimulating to your team to do. Assign them tasks that they would like to perform. Keeping them idle is something that might backfire. Teams that do not have enough work to do may start performing negatively. An idle mind can be a devil's workshop.
Give Them the Right Appreciation
Teams need to be motivated and encouraged, and this can be done effectively by giving them a word of appreciation when it is due. You should be generous with praise, but never praise anything that does not deserve the praise. Praise, when used effectively, can prove to the right incentive.
These are a few things that can help you in improving the productivity of your team. Implement them and they will help you take your team to a whole new direction.
Emotional intelligence is probably more important than cognitive intelligence for success in life and leadership, especially school leadership. Schools are highly emotional places. The ability to lead in an emotionally intelligent way is critical to your success as a school leader. Executive coaching that includes emotional intelligence assessment is a powerful way to strengthen your school leadership skills.
Emotional Self-Awareness: I'm not talking about the touchy feely, but rather the ability to be keenly aware of one's own feelings and behaviors and their impact on others. As leaders, our emotions and behaviors have a tremendous impact on the people in our school communities, whether we like it or not. Frequently, leaders are quite oblivious to the impact. Assessing, understanding and taking action to improve emotional self-awareness is essential for school leaders to be at the top of their game.
Assertiveness: School leaders must constantly express and defend their feelings, beliefs and thoughts to colleagues, parents, students and other community members. Are you too assertive, not assertive enough or just right in your assertiveness? Do you know how people perceive your assertiveness? We often need to be assertive in leadership roles, and assertiveness is usually welcome by those around us. But sometimes we become overly assertive and create serious problems in our school communities. Finding the right balance in assertiveness can be tricky business.
Independence: Most leaders are self-directed and not dependent on others. In fact, many leaders are too independent and pursue their goals without respect to the implications for those around them. Too much of a good trait in the wrong place or time can be a problem. Leaders certainly need to be independent, self-directed and free of emotional dependency on others. At the same time, as leaders we need to know how our colleagues perceive us and moderate our behavior accordingly.
Self-Regard: Self-regard is about accepting and respecting ourselves, our strengths and our weaknesses. High self-regard requires a deep understanding of self. As school leaders, we are constantly in the spotlight and must often summon up strength in areas where we feel weak. It's okay to project strength even when we feel weak. Sometimes we just have to fake it until we make it. The important part is that we truly understand and respect our strengths and weaknesses.
Self-Actualization: Some people are way too self-actualized. They are in cloud nine of self-actualization and out of touch with reality. The perfectly self-actualized person, who's apparently between cloud four and five, has the ability to set personal goals and achieve them in a way that realizes personal potential in their lives. So, as a school leader, please check your cloud habitation. Where are you in the process of self-actualization as a school leader? Are you actively engaged in setting and achieving personal goals? If not, it's time to get started.
The five areas of emotional intelligence discussed above are part of the EQ-i (Emotional Intelligence Inventory). The EQ-i is an excellent tool for assessing emotional intelligence and becoming a better leader.
Provide Your Team with a Free Environment to Think
Many leaders prove detrimental to their teams by stifling their freedom of thought and expression. You have to keep away from that. If you stifle your team, they are not likely to prove to be an asset for you. They do not have the environment to come up with positive and progressive ideas. As a leader, it is your responsibility to give them this free atmosphere to think and progress.
Always Keep Challenging Your Team
You need to keep challenging your team. Always give them something to do that can take them to the next level. This should be something they have not achieved so far. The very expectation of achieving something more than what they already have proves to be an incentive. However, do not go overboard with your challenging; that might prove to the detrimental to your team.
Do Not Let Them Be Idle
Though you should not be a taskmaster, you need to always give something stimulating to your team to do. Assign them tasks that they would like to perform. Keeping them idle is something that might backfire. Teams that do not have enough work to do may start performing negatively. An idle mind can be a devil's workshop.
Give Them the Right Appreciation
Teams need to be motivated and encouraged, and this can be done effectively by giving them a word of appreciation when it is due. You should be generous with praise, but never praise anything that does not deserve the praise. Praise, when used effectively, can prove to the right incentive.
These are a few things that can help you in improving the productivity of your team. Implement them and they will help you take your team to a whole new direction.
Emotional Intelligence for School Leaders
Emotional intelligence is probably more important than cognitive intelligence for success in life and leadership, especially school leadership. Schools are highly emotional places. The ability to lead in an emotionally intelligent way is critical to your success as a school leader. Executive coaching that includes emotional intelligence assessment is a powerful way to strengthen your school leadership skills.
Emotional Self-Awareness: I'm not talking about the touchy feely, but rather the ability to be keenly aware of one's own feelings and behaviors and their impact on others. As leaders, our emotions and behaviors have a tremendous impact on the people in our school communities, whether we like it or not. Frequently, leaders are quite oblivious to the impact. Assessing, understanding and taking action to improve emotional self-awareness is essential for school leaders to be at the top of their game.
Assertiveness: School leaders must constantly express and defend their feelings, beliefs and thoughts to colleagues, parents, students and other community members. Are you too assertive, not assertive enough or just right in your assertiveness? Do you know how people perceive your assertiveness? We often need to be assertive in leadership roles, and assertiveness is usually welcome by those around us. But sometimes we become overly assertive and create serious problems in our school communities. Finding the right balance in assertiveness can be tricky business.
Independence: Most leaders are self-directed and not dependent on others. In fact, many leaders are too independent and pursue their goals without respect to the implications for those around them. Too much of a good trait in the wrong place or time can be a problem. Leaders certainly need to be independent, self-directed and free of emotional dependency on others. At the same time, as leaders we need to know how our colleagues perceive us and moderate our behavior accordingly.
Self-Regard: Self-regard is about accepting and respecting ourselves, our strengths and our weaknesses. High self-regard requires a deep understanding of self. As school leaders, we are constantly in the spotlight and must often summon up strength in areas where we feel weak. It's okay to project strength even when we feel weak. Sometimes we just have to fake it until we make it. The important part is that we truly understand and respect our strengths and weaknesses.
Self-Actualization: Some people are way too self-actualized. They are in cloud nine of self-actualization and out of touch with reality. The perfectly self-actualized person, who's apparently between cloud four and five, has the ability to set personal goals and achieve them in a way that realizes personal potential in their lives. So, as a school leader, please check your cloud habitation. Where are you in the process of self-actualization as a school leader? Are you actively engaged in setting and achieving personal goals? If not, it's time to get started.
The five areas of emotional intelligence discussed above are part of the EQ-i (Emotional Intelligence Inventory). The EQ-i is an excellent tool for assessing emotional intelligence and becoming a better leader.
Such Leadership When Discovered Is Precious and to Be Highly Valued Because It Is So Scarce Today
Leadership and guidance and direction are so all vitally important when it comes to life's most profound questions and critical dilemmas. Emotion and shame and fear can play havoc in the lives of those who never have basic questions dealt with and answered and that is one reason why Almighty God raises up leaders.I write as committed disciple of Jesus Christ and I give thanks for those leaders who have answered many of my questions over these past fifty or so years. This has happened through simply asking individuals questions or by attending conferences and seminars or by reading and studying the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament.
It does not suddenly happen overnight, but overnight it can slowly begin to happen. On our part it will involve focusing our heart and mind and working in these various areas.
Much confusion could be banished if only we would pay attention to those whose leadership can provide and supply the answers we seek.
Let me suggest and mention just that one matter of debt which is destroying so many lives and relationships and the biblical answers is simple and straightforward but very few want to embrace its light and leadership.
There are many forces around us which bombard us and attempt to influence our thinking and our attitudes and we have to learn and know how to counteract them with courage and determination, and when we have the rules and guidelines it can become comparatively simple. It will be not be easy but it is simple! There is a massive difference.
The principles which we apply to the alarming increase in debt can also be adapted to virtually every other scenario which faces men and women, but another question does arise.
Do people really want real help and practical assistance or do they want to flow with the crowd and be involved in what can become distressing and painful?
We are taught in the letter to the Church of Jesus Christ at Philippi to have the mind of Christ. That means that we are to seek to have the outlook or attitude as given by that powerful leader, Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Again, it is not easy, but it is possible.
Moral and ethical leadership in financial affairs and politics are almost no-go areas but these are the very areas which demand the light of Jesus Christ to shine.
These are the areas where most people have the most problems, and to overlook the help that is available is so unwise. People can do this because of pride, and pride is corrupting sin.
When you take the advice which God offers and embrace the guidance suggested by committed and experienced men of God, you will find real help and peace of mind, although some around you may laugh and mock and ridicule. It has been so since the Church was launched and birthed.
Our loving gracious caring and concerned God calls us to come together and reason together so that the answers to whatever is bothering us may be resolved. Such leadership is scarce but so highly precious and treasured.
Wherever you come across such listen to what is being taught and shared.
Pioneering in Leadership
The leadership model develop by L. Michael Hall Ph.D. is a detailed and measurable model of leadership consisting of seven criteria based on studies of successful leaders.
This article explains the sixth of these criteria, Pioneering, in detail and describe specific steps you can implement to improve your own leadership.
What is Pioneering?
Pioneering is the most obvious of the leadership criteria, as a pioneer is someone who sees a vision and begins acting to make it real, so that other people can follow that lead. Pioneering is about trailblazing and opening up new areas of thought, research or development so that others can follow into previously unexplored territory.
Key Questions for Pioneering in Leadership
The following key questions will help you to apply this criteria in practice to become a great leader.
Where do people already follow me?
If you are already leading in some area by speaking out on something, creating a product or service or by developing new ideas and models of the world then you are demonstrating the pioneering aspect of leadership.
Wherever you are setting forth a vision of a new possibility and then inviting others to share the dream and co-invent the solutions, you a creating an environment that supports others to innovate and follow you on a journey to somewhere new.
Can I communicate a vision clearly and precisely?
For others to be able to follow your vision, you need to be able to communicate it clearly and in a manner which elicits their emotional engagement.
In their article entitled "The New Psychology of Leadership", Stephen Reicher, Michael Platow and S. Haslam presented research proposing that effective leaders can create a shared identity with their followers and thereby influence their perception of the world.
In what areas am I now leading out in?
You may already be a pioneer in one or more areas of your life. Perhaps you regularly introduce new ideas or ways of doing things in your work or sports club, or you might be instrumental in developing social or community activities in your area.
Where else can I lead out?
If there is something you are committed to or passionate about, look at what you currently do in this regard and consider other ways in which you could explore or innovate.
Being a Pioneering Leader
Leaders pioneer by setting forth a vision of a new possibility for ideas, products or services and inviting others to share the dream and co-invent the solutions.
In what ways do you pioneer new directions and create visions for others to follow?
This article explains the sixth of these criteria, Pioneering, in detail and describe specific steps you can implement to improve your own leadership.
What is Pioneering?
Pioneering is the most obvious of the leadership criteria, as a pioneer is someone who sees a vision and begins acting to make it real, so that other people can follow that lead. Pioneering is about trailblazing and opening up new areas of thought, research or development so that others can follow into previously unexplored territory.
Key Questions for Pioneering in Leadership
The following key questions will help you to apply this criteria in practice to become a great leader.
Where do people already follow me?
If you are already leading in some area by speaking out on something, creating a product or service or by developing new ideas and models of the world then you are demonstrating the pioneering aspect of leadership.
Wherever you are setting forth a vision of a new possibility and then inviting others to share the dream and co-invent the solutions, you a creating an environment that supports others to innovate and follow you on a journey to somewhere new.
Can I communicate a vision clearly and precisely?
For others to be able to follow your vision, you need to be able to communicate it clearly and in a manner which elicits their emotional engagement.
In their article entitled "The New Psychology of Leadership", Stephen Reicher, Michael Platow and S. Haslam presented research proposing that effective leaders can create a shared identity with their followers and thereby influence their perception of the world.
In what areas am I now leading out in?
You may already be a pioneer in one or more areas of your life. Perhaps you regularly introduce new ideas or ways of doing things in your work or sports club, or you might be instrumental in developing social or community activities in your area.
Where else can I lead out?
If there is something you are committed to or passionate about, look at what you currently do in this regard and consider other ways in which you could explore or innovate.
Being a Pioneering Leader
Leaders pioneer by setting forth a vision of a new possibility for ideas, products or services and inviting others to share the dream and co-invent the solutions.
In what ways do you pioneer new directions and create visions for others to follow?
All the skills and principles learned in the leadership program must be applied in life. You have to do your best to sustain leadership long after training. You have to make sure that you’re going to put it into practice and you must be capable of doing it in the long run. This is important to efficiently run a business and succeed in life.
ReplyDeleteJeremiah Hicks