The Importance Of Leadership Development

More and more companies these days are seeking for help from various firms that offer leadership development. This is because they believe that the trainings that they give would be beneficial not only to their individual employees but for the betterment of the company in general.

Leadership development is very important for a company because it helps the employees and its leaders to be updated on how to make the company stronger in terms of strengthening its human resources. It is also important because the activities during leadership development reintroduce the employees various concepts that will help them adjust in the company and how to deal with its leaders.

New trends in leadership development training

As defined, leadership development pertains to activities that aim to enhance the skills of leaders of individuals or those that belong in an organization. It is usually categorized into two that include individual leadership development or collective leadership development. Individual leadership training focuses on the behavior of the leader when it comes to achieving the goals for the company and in interacting with employees.

The collective leadership development on the other hand refers to the entire process of enhancing leadership skills. This involves not only the leader him or herself but also include those that surround that person including the people that he or she works closely with. Here, interpersonal skills, social skills and networking skills are assessed to gauge the effectiveness of the leader.

Before, leadership development is conducted through traditional setting which is formal and more on theories on. These are usually through seminars wherein participants usually sit down the whole day listening to lectures and jotting down notes from Powerpoint presentations prepared by the speakers.

Now, there have been drastic changes when it comes to leadership development because it is less formal and more interactive. Aside from prepared presentations, leadership development these days are more personal because it focuses on the issues that hinder the person from bringing out his or her inner leadership skills.

Successful leadership development training

To ensure the success of leadership development training, an effective program is needed. It should be designed in way that integrates a range of developmental experiences over a given period of time. The program should also include monitoring scheme and gathering of feedback.

In making leadership development training effective, it should also combine experiential classroom style programs and business school style coursework. It should also include reflective journaling, executive coaching, and well as continuous mentoring. It should also involve goal setting that should follow an assessment of key developmental needs. Then, the evaluation of how goals can be achieved after a given period of time.

An effective leadership development training should include not only have the component of experiential learning but should also focus on self efficacy which include the right training and coaching as well as visioning which aims to develop the ability of the leader to formulate a clear image. This image should reflect the aspired future of the organization based on skills of the leader that heads it.

Developing Your Leadership Style: Getting Into Leadership Development

Being the boss may sound like a good thing but it's more often a headache when you actually reach the top. This is because, like the employees at the bottom, leaders face a unique set of challenges that is comes part-and-parcel of being where all the decisions are made. Nowadays, leadership development course are all the rage – this is because the people who are in upper management are usually the same people who have the drive to make themselves better to improve the bottom line.

This is because most often the key to a succesful business is good leadership and having a style of leadership that enhances company performance is what most executives and managers are looking for. Here's some steps to follow to get your commanding skills up to par:

1) Self-Assessment Is Where It Begins – Knowing yourself and your capabilities is always at the root of developing your skills. How else can you know where to improve? Start by thinking about what type of person you are – how do you view problems and how do you deal with them? Are you an optimist or a pessimist? Do a simple tally of what you think are your positive and negative attributes.

Next, move on to your skills – ask yourself what are you really capable of; how good are you at dealing with people? Do you know how to write a proper report or plan a proper budget? Would you be able to do your subordinate's job in a pinch?

2) What Are You Going To Do About It? - By this time, you should know exactly what you're capable of and your limitations. This is where you need to get planning. Look at your negative traits – how can you offset or eliminate them? Are they really negative traits for your job?

Are the positive traits that you listed really positive? Being aggressive is nice and fine for a sports meet but may not exactly jibe well with calm negotiations. Next, look at your skills: Are there any holes in your knowledge? Do you need to be familiar with something to be able to work at your maximum efficiency? Developing yourself is mostly about asking questions and coming up with answers to them. While you're doing all of this, write it down – this is important for the next stage.

3) Getting It Done – You've got the plan in hand, now you've got to make it happen. Implementing your plan may be a bit difficult – change is never easy, after all. The first thing to keep in mind is to not give up; self-improvement always pays off in the end as long as you stick to your guns and get the desired results you'll be fine. The other thing is you need to have someone else checking your progress. An independent evaluator makes sure that you are not cheating yourself of your development.

There you have it, the first steps to good leadership development. It can be a bit trying at times but it is rewarding all the same. In the end, remember that improving yourself can only help your business.

Ensuring a Winnable Game: Four Steps to Organization-Wide Strategic Success

We live in a fast-paced, ever-changing world that is filled with many distractions. Our organizations—and the members of our teams—are faced with many competing priorities. How do we help our teams and organizations stay focused to achieve our very important strategic goals in the midst of the “urgent” day-to-day responsibilities? 

Many organizations place their primary focus on creating a strategic plan. The high-level strategic plan helps set the direction for the organization. A company’s strategic objective may include goals for revenue growth, improved customer service, designing a new product, or moving into new geographical markets.

Common Challenges

But much of the important work comes after the plan is created. Bringing the plan to fruition to achieve the strategic goals requires focus, commitment, engagement, accountability, and regular review of progress. And in many cases, it requires people to change their behavior. As many leaders know, getting others to change their behavior can be very challenging—even changing our own behavior can be tough!

The challenges faced by Atrion, an IT services organization, while creating and implementing its strategic plans are common to many organizations.

Too Many Great Ideas. Have you and your organization ever been faced with so many great ideas that it becomes confusing and overwhelming to decide where to start and how to prioritize? Have you ended the year with completing few, if any, of your objectives? Not Enough Communication. Are you communicating the organization’s strategic goals to all your team members, or just to the Senior Leaders? Are all leaders communicating the same message to each of their teams? Does everyone understand the reason and importance of the goals you’ve set, and the company vision? Does each person know how they can contribute in their role? Inconsistent Participation. Is there a compelling reason why team members should participate? Is participation consistent across the organization? Have the leaders helped the team members understand “what’s in it for me?” Is everyone accountable for their participation? Lack of Clarity on Metrics. Are your metrics clearly tracking progress? Are your dashboards or reports easy to read and understand at a quick glance? How do you adjust your behaviors and efforts if you’re not achieving the progress you need to meet your goals?

When I took on the role of director of corporate strategy execution, we were faced with these challenges. But we recognized the importance of adopting a formal, proven methodology.

The Solution: Four Disciplines of Execution

To address these challenges, we selected “The 4 Disciplines of Execution” (or ‘4DX’) based on the research and book of the same name by Chris McChesney, Sean Covey, and Jim Huling. The four disciplines of execution that the authors outline—and we have used to successfully execute on our strategic plan are: 

Focus on the Wildly Important Goals (WIGs). Consider the “law of diminishing returns,” which says that if you try to focus on too many things at the same time, it generally dilutes the focus and effectiveness. Instead, choose two to three strategic goals. Make sure that these are the highest priority to help your organization or team achieve your vision. Act on the Lead Measures. How do you know which activities will help you and your team achieve success? If you wait until the game is over, it will be too late to adjust your strategy and plays if needed. The lead measures need to be activities that you and your team members can influence and be measured regularly. These measures will provide the visibility as to whether your actions are leading to the goal. And if they are not, it will allow you time to change direction. Another important key to success is to engage members at all levels of the organization. If team members feel their role and participation is valued, and are supporting one another, they’re helping to set the team up for success. Keep a Compelling Scoreboard. Have you noticed that your team’s efforts and participation are usually much higher when they’re keeping score, and they can easily track their progress? The healthy competition is a great motivator for each team to do their best. And this visibility also allows you to recognize the accomplishments of the teams, or help coach them to get back on track to achieving their goals. Create a Cadence of Accountability. What happens when goals are set but there isn’t a consistent, formal process for follow-through and accountability? It becomes very easy for strategic initiatives to be side-lined or lost in the midst of all the other competing priorities. It’s critical for the team to set a regular cadence for their meetings, to make weekly commitments for the actions they’ll take to help “move the ball down the field,” and for the team members to have shared accountability to help achieve their success. 

We have used these four disciplines to help us achieve organization-wide strategic success of exceeding our company’s revenue goals, profitability and client satisfaction. We have definitely found that this approach helps to bring the focus, discipline, participation, and accountability to create a winnable game.

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Bagels: The Secret to Building a High-Performing Virtual Team

With more and more companies working seamlessly across cultures and time zones, I am often asked by clients what the secret is to building an effective virtual team. 

The answer is simple: fresh bagels. Okay, the secret is really building trust, but we’ll get to the bagels in a minute. 

The challenge, of course, is that it is much tougher to build trust when your team is split across time zones and continents than it is when you’re able to have a friendly chat across the water cooler every day. So, perhaps a second step needs to be added to help trust develop: getting together. 

I appreciate that there may be logistical and financial challenges for some organizations in getting together, but it is almost certainly a cost less painful than the missing financial targets due to a poorly functioning global team. 

Case in Point 

A team leader in a global IT company asked me to help improve the performance of his project team. He told me: “My team members are all respected experts in their fields and perform to an outstanding level individually; but I don’t understand why they miss their targets as a team by some 75 percent?” 

The client was British and based in Singapore; his team members were based in China, South Korea, South Africa, Japan, and Holland. We talked about teambuilding, and he added: “But that’s a lot of culture and time zones to navigate just to build a team!” 

We went back to basics. I interviewed every member of his team. It quickly became apparent that they didn’t trust each other and, as a result, were holding back from sharing information and collaborating with each other. 

What I found was that, right from the beginning, a few cultural miscues and misunderstandings had spiralled out of control and resulted in a very fractured and dysfunctional team. 

At the first few team conference calls, the Dutch and South African members had led most of the discussions. Hearing no questions or objections from the rest of the group, it was assumed that everyone was in agreement with their proposed plan. 

As time went on, it became painfully apparent that not everyone was on the same page. Deadlines were missed, tasks weren’t completed and, seemingly, much of the inaction came from the team members from Asia who hadn’t spoken up at the group meetings.

The South African and Dutch team members were frustrated and told me: “I thought we all agreed on the plan! But some team members didn’t keep their commitments. They seemed incompetent. I am not sure I can trust them again.”

On the other hand, Asian team members were equally frustrated: “We never agreed with the decision. They dominated the meeting and didn’t ask us for our input. We need more time to process the information and reach our own conclusions. We felt excluded!” 

Over the next year, as the project continued, they communicated less and less with each other and worked in silos. What communication they did by emails and conference calls often led to finger pointing on both sides as the divide between the various groups grew wider and wider. 

Hardly any effort was made to establish positive relationships among the team members, to better understand the various cultures at play within the group, or to resolve the conflicts in a constructive way. 

For example, if the South African and Dutch team members had spent some time understanding Asian culture, they would have recognized that the fact that their Asian colleagues were quiet during the meeting was not necessarily acquiescence or their tacit approval. It was much more likely that the Asian team members were taking the time to process the information due to language barriers or they simply disagreed with the decision but were too polite to challenge. 

On the other hand, if the Asian members had realized that many from western cultures are more direct and require more active involvement, they could have asked more questions and made more of an effort to make their feelings known. 

In the absence of any genuine bonding, along with misunderstandings due to cultural differences and language barriers, the group had each made assumptions about other members of the team and were jumping to conclusions about each other’s motives. It was like a cancer growing within the team that my client simply couldn’t stem. 

The Solution 

I worked with the client to bring the team together for three days—not only to work on their challenges, but also to rebuild trust. 

On the first day, we talked openly about what each of them needed from the others in order to build better teamwork, and the responsibilities each of them had to the others.

It was striking how straightforward their needs were. They all consistently asked of each other: 

be respectfuldon’t interruptlistensay “thank you”apologize if you’re wrong. 

In other words, act with consideration and kindness—the basic human building blocks of trust. Somehow these ideals had gotten lost along the way because there was no rapport among the group.

They worked out what their top five behavioral rules would be for future team interactions to ensure their new-found team spirit didn’t evaporate again. The team leader turned this into a slide which would always appear at the start of every meeting to remind them of their commitment to each other. 

They completed the three-day meeting with a memorable night out eating Singapore’s famous Black Pepper Crab and drinking ice cold Tiger beer. They all returned to their countries reinvigorated. One year later, the team leader called me with the news that his team had just hit 89 percent of its targets. 

Examples of Creating Connections 

The importance of not forgetting the basics can be seen in other ways, too. 

I heard recently of a global virtual team that takes turns, once a quarter, to send local food from their country to other team members around the globe so that they can all share breakfast or snacks together during their regular conference calls. At a recent team video conference, the United States colleagues sent a box of fresh bagels and coffee grounds to introduce team members in the Philippines to an “all-American” breakfast. This simple idea has transformed their calls into something that is the highlight of their meeting and the call is now a vibrant and effective communications forum. 

Another U.S.-based client was struggling to connect with a member of his new team, based in Mexico City, who seemed very slow to respond to email requests. Hiding his growing irritation he asked other colleagues, “What’s she like?” 

The leader learned that the worker had recently had a baby and was balancing work and new motherhood, which explained the sporadic responses. He immediately emailed her, congratulating her on her new arrival and sharing the news that he had become a grandparent around the same time. He even attached a photo of his grandson. Within minutes she responded with a picture of her daughter, starting a dialogue that helped them to quickly build an effective working relationship. 

Five Tips for Moving Forward 

Here are my five top tips for building a virtual team that trusts each other and works as well together thousands of miles apart as if they say in the same room. 

Keep your commitments. Do what you say you are going to do. Keep your promises. This may sound obvious, but keeping your word is absolutely essential to earn trust with other team members.
 Share information equally, transparently, and timely. Make sure everyone, particularly team members in remote locations, are not left out in the communication loop. Give feedback in a culturally appropriate way. Give positive feedback in public and negative feedback in private. Be culturally sensitive when delivering feedback so you don’t damage relationships and trust. Don’t jump to conclusions. Check your assumptions first. Make sure your understanding is in tune with other team member’s cultural tendencies. Listen to everyone’s opinion. Check back to confirm that you understand their point of view. Ask open-ended questions to make sure you are all on the same page. Always take a step back to understand the other person's perspective and pressures and give them benefit of the doubt. Help other team members without being asked. Maybe you’ve heard of the “Pay it Forward” principle? Doing something that is kind and helpful for someone (without being asked) is both a simple act of kindness and powerful way to build trust and rapport. It will also probably make their day. 

In my next blog, I will talk about how to take advantage of best practice and technology to ensure your virtual team is properly equipped to deliver outstanding results.

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What do rejoicing, gratitude and freedom share?

molly published this at 3:00 am

Most of us think that we’ll be happy ONCE we have freedom, but that it’s impossible that happiness can create freedom. Is it? How many of us can recall the last time we really rejoiced? Was it at a wedding three months ago? Perhaps a New Year’s Eve party? How many of us are looking forward to rejoicing next month for Saint Patrick’s Day? A dinner party next weekend?

Both represent both past and future opportunities, but how about right now?

“Rejoice in the things that are present; all else is beyond thee.” ~ Montaigne

How many of us rejoiced this morning because their computer that connects them to the world started right up? …That they’re probably reading this in a snuggly bed while checking their messages on their smartphone? That they’ll be able to goof off today and watch some sports with their buddies; maybe even have a beer or two? That they can stand under a hot shower (until someone flushes the toilet in the downstairs bath and yells at them to get the heck out of the upstairs bathroom)?

These may all sound like goofy excuses for rejoicing (especially that last one), but gratitude is not only the seat of all abundance, but it is also key to realizing your independence. It is in rejoicing and gratitude that you identify that which is important to you.

When you know what is important to you, you can divest yourself from the other stuff that the world says SHOULD be important to you. THAT, my friend, is some serious freedom.

I really take the time now to notice when things are going well. I notice how good coffee smells when making the first pot of the day. …When I’m driving down the highway at dusk and the fields have that buttery-right-before-sunset glow to them …The sound of a kid laughing in the park. All of these are moments that are easily ignored, but they are all gifts waiting to be recognized.

Even when things aren’t so Hallmark-ian, it pays to rejoice: when you lose the Big Account; when you lock yourself out of your car; when you date the wrong person. Each is a gift, waiting for you to see the lesson within so that you can apply it to tomorrow’s actions.

“Real generosity toward the future lies in giving all to the present.”? ~ Albert Camus

I really like the saying, “go big or go home.”? Fully committing ourselves to our actions is where the magic lies. Half measures really do avail you of nothing. Try to imagine a wedding proposal where the man said to his girlfriend, “Yeah, well, the divorce rate stinks, but if you’re willing to give this marriage thing a shot, I’m game. …So, do you wanna get married, or what?” Blerg. (“No,”? by the way – not to a halfhearted proposal such as that).

In order to give our all to the present, we must be prepared. Here are some ways to “train”? for your life:

? Meditate: Even if you can only start with 5 minutes a day, learn how to shut out the external world and tap in to your consciousness.
? Maintain your Temple: this means taking the time to invest in your health – mental, spiritual and physical. A healthy individual is a responsive individual.
? Educate yourself about your industry, career, calling: Success is where preparation meets opportunity, and so spend a few minutes a day reading blogs, articles or otherwise researching the subject that makes your heart sing.
? Reach out to others who have already achieved what you hope to attain: Take the time to understand what is important to these folks; find out what you have to offer them, and connect (comment on their blogs; engage them on a social media platform).
? Learn to recognize opportunity: And then act when your chance presents itself.
? Do the work: This is the part where your action influences your tomorrows.

When we are tied to the past or connected to possible outcomes, we cannot live independently. We are bound by our regret of what has passed or by fears of what is to come. We must learn to fully inhabit the present and be prepared (as best we can) to deal with what happens. Living in the present requires an agility and flexibility which is a natural by product of independence. What are you doing to live fully?

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Molly Cantrell-Kraig is a woman with drive. Possessing an innate sense of purpose and a pragmatic, solution-based approach to empowering people, she fused these two traits in order to establish?Women With Drive Foundation. Based upon its founder’s personal history, Women With Drive Foundation is a means through which Cantrell-Kraig may effect change on both a micro and macro level. By providing women with something as essential as personal transportation in order to transition them from poverty to prosperity, she, through Women With Drive Foundation, seeks to empower women to help them help themselves. Through this action, the individual applicant benefits, as does society as a whole. Follow Molly on twitter as?@mckra1g or?@WWDr1ve (Women With Drive Foundation) or “Like” them on?facebook.

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Engage Teams for Organizational Success

Peter Drucker said, “No executive has ever suffered because his people were strong and effective.” Having a strong and effective team will create engagement and excitement, empowering the team with a “CAN DO” attitude that leads to great momentum for success. 

In fact, we all know that there is a limit to what you can achieve on your own. Therefore, to enjoy greater influence, impact, and income, you need buy-in from the whole team. But many leaders are unsure where to start. 

Hire for Success 

Team engagement actually starts at the hiring stage. First, you must attract the best team for your organization. Spend time in an interview procedure to discuss the vision and culture of the organization. Look out for key areas, such as: character, commitment, courage, chemistry, competency, and compassion. 

If you have inherited a team, I would encourage you still to focus on these 6 Cs. This is because this will build the framework for gaining the culture you need. 

In addition, every employee wants to feel secure in their career, as well as know there is growth opportunity. Leaders who want outstanding engagement from their teams need to display and clearly communicate potential growth opportunities. They also need to identify and work with those employees that they want to grow with these opportunities. 

Build the Best Team 

Clearly, leaders play an important role in leading teams. Equally important, though, a leader must realize that they have a pivotal role in first “building” the team. In fact, there is a big difference in having a team that works “for” you versus having a team that works “with” you. 

The first option is more formal. The team rarely exhibits much vision, and it feels that they are just there to do a job and that is it.  However, when you have the latter, you have created a team that is engaged for success. A team that works with you typically displays:

loyaltypassion ·vision commitment to you and the team desire to be and to deliver the best accountability trust. 

These attributes can be found in many team members, but it takes a leader to uncover them—for them to flourish. 

Avoid Criticism; Offer Engagement 

As I coach and train other professionals, I often see a “Tug of War” between the employer and the employee. This leads to frustration, wasted energy, and a breakdown of trust and productivity. Often, this can be traced back to poor leadership. 

When I train leaders, I often say, “Don’t criticize what you allow to happen.” It can be too easy for a leader to criticize a team member, often behind their back, without actually ever addressing the situation or person. The leader, therefore, allows the wrong things to happen, which ultimately affects productivity. 

One of the best ways to create engagement for success is for the leader to be engaged with the team. When this happens the team is engaged with the leader. Success and engagement is then part of the culture of the team. 

Train for Transformation 

Great leaders are great because of great teams. To see teams engage requires leadership training. When a leader sees—maybe for the first time—what she can achieve with an engaged team, it can literally transform a company. And many leadership skills can be learned, including: 

casting a vision—that has team buy-inidentify and recognizing emerging leadersremoving unrealistic expectations—so the team can exceed its limitationscreating a culture of engagement for success by all. 

To be sure, leading a team is a great responsibility. But the coming year holds many opportunities for leaders to become better at leading themselves and their teams. More importantly, leading a team that is fully engaged in where you want to go is fundamental for increased productivity—and can deliver huge dividends for the organization.

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How to Plan a Great Off-site Meeting

To start off the New Year, a lot of leaders will take their teams “off-site” for a day or more. An off-site meeting can be a great way to develop strategy, get creative, develop a team, learn, and re-invigorate a team. Of course, they can also be like a sentence in purgatory if not planned and run well.
There is plenty of advice on how to run effective meetings, but not enough on planning. A well planned meeting can prevent a lot of the problems associated with bad meetings. Given that off-sites typically involve more time and people than regular team meetings, more thought needs to be put into preparation.
Here’s a few planning tips that will ensure your upcoming offsite is a fun, productive and rewarding experience, and doesn’t turn into and all day meeting from Hell.
1. Ask: “What is the overall purpose of the meeting?” Is it to develop a 3 year strategy? Improve teamwork? Solve a big hairy problem? Sometimes it’s a combination of a few things, but try to keep it to just a few. A great off-site agenda should not look like an extended staff meeting. This is an opportunity to take the time needed to strategize, brainstorm, debate, reflect, and learn.

2. Ask: “What are the desired outcomes?” Desired outcomes are a tangible set of deliverables that describe what a successful meeting would look like at the conclusion. Examples: “A list of 3-5 three year goals”, “A shared vision”, “a shared understanding of each other’s concerns”. Desired outcomes give you a target to shoot for and a way to evaluate the success of the meeting. It also helps drive the creation of the agenda – a way to screen out the clutter that everyone always seems to want to bolt on.
3. Do a “stakeholder assessment”. Who are all the key stakeholders for this meeting and what would a “win” look like for them. Stakeholders may be attending the meeting or they may not. For example, the manager of the meeting leader is a key stakeholder. You won’t be able to please all stakeholders but it helps to least be aware of their needs.
4. Consider the context. What’s going on in the environment that may influence the participant’s behavior, mindset, or participation? For example, is there a pending downsizing? A new team member? A restructuring?
5. Establish the dates. In today’s busy, fast paced environment, the days of multi-day off-sites are over. 1 Day is ideal, two is OK, and anything more than 2 can turn into a death march.
6. Select an overall “theme” for the meeting. The theme will emerge based on the purpose, desired outcomes, and context. Examples of themes are innovation, change, diversity, or playing to win. Having a central theme allows you to creatively tie all of the meeting elements together: agenda, venue, activities, gift, etc…
7. Find the right venue. Work with your corporate meeting planners or do your own search. Most resorts and hotels cater to corporate meetings and can help you select the best room, meals, and activities. You’ll probably work with a conference planner. Make sure you specify AV needs, room set-up, meals and breaks, and any other details. It’s the little details that can make or break an off-site that are often delegated and ignored.
8. Design the high level agenda. This is a creative process, where you begin to come up with ways to accomplish the desired outcomes. There could be teambuilding activities, strategy or problem solving sessions, training, and/or presentations.
The pieces should begin to fit together like a puzzle. I often write the key agenda pieces on post-its, and move them around until they begin to form a nice flow.
9. Develop the detailed agenda. For each major agenda segment, determine the what, who, how, when, and how long. Be realistic! Better to allow for a little slack time vs. trying to cram too much in.
10. Select “extracurricular” activities. Two day off sites often include a dinner and/or fun activity. This down time is a great way to informally build the team and keep the energy high. Pick activities that support your meeting purpose and theme.
11. Select a parting gift – some kind of special memento that supports the theme and creates a lasting anchor for the experience.
12. Fine-tune the agenda. Work with a partner to trouble-shoot potential snafus and make any inevitable last minute adjustments.

Once the meeting starts, be prepared to make more adjustments. Things never go as planned, but if you follow these steps, you’ll improve your chances of having a great leadership team off-site. Good luck!

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