Leadership
5
Copyright © 2001 by Donald Clark. All Rights Reserved.
May 15, 2001: Version 1
Shareware material, see http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/documents/leadershipshareware.html
Table Of Contents
1 - The Pyramid of Leadership 6
I - Leadership Competencies 8
2 - Leadership Abilities 9
Leadership Framework – Be, Know, & Do 10
Two Most Important Keys of Leadership 11
Factors of leadership 11
Environment 12
Leadership Models 14
Leadership Styles 16
Forces 18
Leader Use of Consideration and Structure 18
The Process of Great Leadership 19
Power and Leadership 19
3 - Visioning 22
Getting To the Future 22
The Six Steps of Goal Setting 23
Supervising 25
Inspiring Your Employees 25
4 - Create and Lead Teams 27
Developing Teams 28
Elements of a Team 30
Six Steps to Team Problem Solving 31
Team-player Styles 32
Team Leadership 33
Are you ready to be a team leader? 34
Problems Team Face 34
When To Build Teams 35
5 - Foster Conflict Resolutions (win-win) 36
Performance 36
Motivation 37
Counseling 41
Performance Appraisals 43
Workplace Violence 45
Final Thoughts 46
6 - Assess Situations Quickly and Accurately 48
Planning 48
Executing 49
Problem Solving 50
7 - Coaching and Training 51
Learning 52
Steps to Training and Coaching: 53
Training and Coaching Tips 55
8 - Implement Employee Involvement Strategies 57
Employee Involvement 57
CPI Procedure 58
Analysis Phase 59
Design Phase 63
Development Phase 64
Implementation Phase 64
Evaluation Phase 65
II - Core Competencies 68
9 - Teamwork 69
Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing, Adjourning 70
Team Verses Group 72
Working With Other Team Members 73
Team Checklist 75
10 - Communicating 77
Barriers to Communication 78
Active Listening 79
Feedback 80
Nonverbal Behaviors of Communication 81
Hints on Effective Communication 81
Meetings 82
Presentations 85
11 - Self –Direction 93
Time Wasters 93
Time Savers 94
A Simple Time Management Plan 95
The Big Picture 96
Organization and Task Focus 96
12 - Creative problem Solving 98
Brainstorming Steps 98
Brainstorming variations 99
Selecting a Solution 99
Delphi Decision Making 101
Dialectic Decision Making 101
A Three-Step Radical Thinking Approach 103
13 - Interpersonal Skills 105
The Challenge of Embracing Diversity 106
Becoming the Best 107
Diversity and Leaders 107
How We Tend to Categorize People 108
Culture 108
Diversity Goals 108
Training Diversity 109
Attitudes and Diversity 109
Diversity Team Building 110
14 - Manage Client Relationships 112
Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs 112
Herzberg's Hygiene and Motivational Factors 114
Theory X and Theory Y 115
Keirsey Temperament Sorter 116
Existence/Relatedness/Growth (ERG) 117
Expectancy Theory 117
15 - Build Appropriate Relationships 119
Elements of Organizational Behavior 119
Models of Organizational Behavior 119
Social Systems, Culture, and Individualization 120
Organization Development 121
Quality of Work Life 122
16 - Flexibility 125
Change Acceptance 126
Hawthorne Effect 127
Group Belonging 127
Leading the Change Effort 128
17 - Professionalism 129
Leadership Traits 130
Attributes 131
Perspectives of Character and Traits 131
18 - Financial Awareness 134
Return On Investment (ROI) – 134
Tangible Benefits 135
Holy Grails 135
Capital Spending 136
Federal Regulations 136
Improve Efficiency 136
Riders 136
Employee Developmental Programs 136
III - Professional Competencies 138
19 - Business Acumen and Technical Competency 139
Receiving Feedback 139
Mentoring 139
Experience 140
Final Thoughts 140
Appendix A 146
Steps for Conducting the AAR 147
Glossary 148
Reference 155
1 - The Pyramid of Leadership
"The very essence of leadership is that you have to have a vision. It's got to be a vision you articulate clearly and forcefully on every occasion." - Theodore Hesburgh, President of the University of Notre Dame
Leadership translates vision into reality by inspiring followers to want to experience the change process. And to influence their followers to willingly jump into that experience, leaders need a specific set of competencies[1] to guide their actions. Although competencies will always differ from one leader to the next, having a core set to draw from increases the chance for success. These competencies can be thought of as the inner tools for motivating employees, directing systems and processes, and guiding the business towards common goals that allow the organization to increase its value. This leadership guide is broken into three main parts that form a “Pyramid of Leadership” (see figure 1):
· Core Competencies form the foundation of leadership. Without a solid base, the sides of the pyramid will soon crumble away.
· Leadership Competencies form the basic structure (walls) that separates leaders from bosses by building the knowledge and skills required for driving the organization towards the cutting edge of its business. Without these competencies, a leader has a shallow base from which to work, or as Scott Adams, the creator of Dilbert best characterizes it, "a pointy-head boss."
· Professional Competencies add depth to the pyramid. The main driver of these competencies arrives from experiences and LEARNING from these experiences. While a person might have a firm grasp on the core and leadership competencies, it is only through trial and error, and later through reflection to increase the depth of those experiences, that an average leader grows into a good leader. Each organization requires a different set of professional competencies for each leadership position.
Figure 1
I - Leadership Competencies
Managers are people who do things right, while leaders are people who do the right thing. - Warren Bennis, Ph.D. "On Becoming a Leader"
The following competencies will be discussed in this first section:
· Leadership abilities - Displays attributes that make people glad to follow. Provides a feeling of trust. Rallies the troops and builds morale when the going gets tough.
· Visioning - Applies effort to increase productiveness in areas needing the most improvement. Creates and set goals (visions). Senses the environment by using personal sway to influence subordinates and peers. Gain commitment by influencing team to set objectives and buy in on the process. Reinforces change by embracing it (prevents relapse into prior state).
· Create and Lead Teams - Develops high-performance teams by establishing a spirit of cooperation and cohesion for achieving goals.
· Foster Conflict Resolutions (win-win) - Effectively handles disagreements and conflicts. Settles disputes by focusing on solving the problems, without offending egos. Provides support and expertise to other leaders with respect to managing people. Evaluates the feasibility of alternative dispute resolution mechanisms.
· Assess Situations Quickly and Accurately - Takes charge when the situation demands it. Make the right things happen on time.
· Coach and Train Peers and Subordinates - Recognizes that learning happens at every opportunity (treats mistakes as a learning event). Provides performance feedback, coaching, and career development to teams and individuals to maximize their probability of success.
· Implement Employee Involvement Strategies - Develops ownership by bringing employees in on the decision making and planning process. Provides the means to enable employee success, while maintaining the well being of the organization. Develops processes to engage employees in achieving the objectives of the organization. Empower employees by giving them the authority to get things accomplished in the most efficient and timely manner.
2 - Leadership Abilities
One can never consent to creep when one feels an impulse to soar. - Helen Keller
Good leaders are made not born. If you have the desire and willpower, you can become an effective leader. Good leaders develop through a never-ending process of self-study, education, training, and experience. This guide will help you through that process.
To inspire your team into higher levels of teamwork, there are certain things you must be, know, and, do. These do not come naturally, but are acquired through continual work and study. The best leaders are continually working and studying to improve their leadership skills.
Leadership is a complex process by which a person influences others to accomplish a mission, task, or objective and directs the organization in a way that makes it more cohesive and coherent. A person carries out this process by applying his or her leadership attributes (belief, values, ethics, character, knowledge, and skills). Although your position as a manager, supervisor, lead, etc. gives you the authority to accomplish certain tasks and objectives in the organization, this power does not make you a leader...it simply makes you the boss. Leadership makes people want to achieve high goals and objectives, while, on the other hand, bosses tell people to accomplish a task or objective.
Bass' (1989 & 1990) theory of leadership states that there are three explanations on how people become leaders:
· Trait Theory - Some personality traits may lead people naturally into leadership roles. We have all met a few people like this, such as a High School coach, scout leader, teacher, or a good boss. There are a very few people who have a natural talent for leading others.
· Great Events Theory - A crisis or important event may cause a person to rise to the occasion, which brings out extraordinary leadership qualities in an ordinary person.
· Transformational Leadership Theory - People can choose to become leaders. People can learn leadership skills. This is the most widely accepted theory today and the premise on which this guide is based.
When a person is deciding if he respects you as a leader, he does not think about your attributes. He observes what you do so that he can know who you really are. He uses this observation to tell if you are an honorable and trusted leader or a self-serving tyrant who misuses her authority to look good and be promoted. Self serving leaders are not as effective because their employees only obey them, not follow them. They succeed in many areas because they present a good image to their seniors at the expense of their team.
The basis of good leadership is honorable character and selfless service to your organization. In your followers’ eyes, your leadership is everything you do that effects the organization's objectives and their well being. A respected leader concentrates on what she is [be] (beliefs and character), what she knows (job, tasks, human nature), and what she does (implement, motivate, provide direction).
What makes a person want to follow a leader? People want to be guided by those they respect and who have a clear sense of direction. To gain respect, they must be ethical. A sense of direction is achieved by conveying a strong vision of the future.
Leadership Framework – Be, Know, & Do
If you are a leader that can be trusted, then the people around you will learn to respect you. To be a good leader, there are things that you must be, know, and do (U.S. Army, 1973). These fall under the Leadership Framework:
· BE
- A professional. Seek responsibility and take responsibility for your actions. Search for ways to guide your organization to new heights. And when things go wrong, they will eventually, do not blame others. Analyze the situation, take corrective action, and move on to the next challenge.
- A professional who possesses good character traits. Develop good traits within yourself, such as honesty, competence, candor, commitment, integrity, courage, straightforward, imagination. Develop good character traits within your team that will help them carry out their professional responsibilities.
· KNOW
- The four factors of leadership - follower, leader, communication, situation.
- Yourself. Know yourself and seek self-improvement. In order to know yourself, you have to understand your be, know, and do, attributes. Seeking self-improvement means continually strengthening your attributes. This can be accomplished through reading, self-study, classes, etc.
- Human nature. Know human nature and the importance of sincerely caring for your workers.
- Your job. Be technically proficient. As a leader, you must know your job and have a solid familiarity with your employees' jobs. Train your people as a team. Although many supervisors call their organization, department, section, etc., a team; they are not really teams...they are just groups of people doing their jobs.
- Your organization. Use the full capabilities of your organization. By developing a team spirit, you will be able to employ your organization, department, section, etc. to its fullest capabilities.
· DO
- Provide direction. Make sound and timely decisions. Use good problem solving, decision-making, and planning tools. Keep your team informed. Know how to communicate with your team, seniors, and other essential people within the organization.
- Implement. Develop a sense of responsibility in your team. Ensure that tasks are understood, supervised, and accomplished. Communication is the key to this responsibility.
- Motivate. Set the example. Be a good role model for you employees. They must not only hear what they are expected to do, but also see. Know your team and look out for their well being.
Two Most Important Keys of Leadership
A Hay's study examined over 75 key components of employee satisfaction. They found that trust and confidence in leaders were the single most reliable predictors of employee satisfaction in an organization. Effective communication by leaders in three critical areas was the key to winning organizational trust and confidence:
· Helping employees understand the company's overall business strategy.
· Helping employees understand how they contribute to achieving key business objectives.
· Sharing information with employees on both how the company is doing and how an employee's own division is doing - relative to strategic business objectives.
So basically, you must be trustworthy and you have to be able to communicate a vision of where you are going. Notice how the "Principles of Leadership" in the next section closely ties in with this.
Factors of leadership
The four major factors of leadership are the follower, leader, communication, and situation:
Follower
Different people require different styles of leadership. For example, a new hire requires more supervision than an experienced employee. A person with a poor attitude requires a different approach than one with a high degree of motivation. You must know your team! The fundamental starting point is having a good understanding of human nature: needs, emotions, and motivation. You must know your employees' be, know, and do attributes.