Leadership Development Resources

Are You The Leader In Your Business? Are You Creating Momentum?

2010-09-03T14:04:00.000-07:00

It takes a leader to create momentum. Followers catch it. And managers are able to continue it once it has begun. But creating it requires someone who can motivate others, not one who needs to be motivated. All leaders face the challenge of creating change in their organization. Just as every sailor knows that you can't steer a ship that isn't moving forward, strong leaders understand that to change direction you first have to create forward progress. Without momentum, even the simple tasks can seem insurmountable. But with momentum on your side, the future looks brighter, obstacles appear small, and trouble seems temporary.

My heart skipped a beat when I read these words from John C. Maxwell, the Maxwell Leadership Bible during my morning devotion time. Thoughts sprang to mind of how I sometimes struggle with momentum and most important how my clients struggle with momentum.

During this last couple of years, it has become very clear to me, as an entrepreneur and a service provider, that a primary pain that I have witnessed in my consults and clients is one of momentum. The pain of trying to build and grow a business while struggling to create and keep momentum. Many people start a business with a passion, a passion to serve the world sharing their gifts and talents, but they didn't bargain on having to actually build a business at the same time. Every day they are faced with the challenges of time, money, work-life balance, strained relationships, insufficient skills, and need support and don't know what they need or where to get it. All of these things can cause us to stop in our tracks and not move forward - loss of momentum.

While it is tempting to wait for the next new superstar hire or bright and shiny program to magically create the momentum we need in our business, it is not always the wisest strategy. We are the leaders of our own business destiny.

It does not matter what kind of business you run, or what kind of organization you lead, the number one key that will determine your level of your success will be momentum.

One definition of momentum is the "force or speed of movement". It will decide how high your business will go and how quickly you will get there.

Momentum, by its nature, requires a lot of upfront push to get the ball rolling. Here are a few things that I have learned that can help you create positive and life giving momentum to you and your business.

1. Get clear -

What is important to you? What are you passionate about? How do you want to serve others in powerful ways? What do you want to achieve? How do you want to distinguish yourself from your competitors?

2. Write down your goals, mission -

After getting clear on what you want, create a mission statement for you and your business. Next, write down your goals to help solidify that which you have gotten clear on. Create the steps needed to push forward, give yourself a target date, and don't forget to write how you will know that you achieved it.

3. Put away the notion of perfection -

Growing up in a home with impossible expectations, I lived most of my life chasing after illusive perfection. Every now and then it can still rear its ugly head, but I have learned to strive for excellence, not perfection. When you are waiting around for things to be perfect before you move forward, you don't move- that's the other side of momentum.

4. Take control of fear -

Fear is a major killer of momentum. Afraid to fail, afraid to succeed -we simply don't move, we become paralyzed. We were not designed to walk in fear, but to walk in freedom. Freedom is where energy, creativity and focus live. Make no mistake, I know very well that this is a difficult emotion to acknowledge, accept and embrace. Fortunately, when we acknowledge the fear and its hold on our lives that keep us from where we want to go and meant to be - fear miraculously begins to loosen it hold on us and freedom begins to show up almost saying, "I can't wait to show you all the great things that are in store for you".

5. Put one foot in front of the other -

As Nike's campaign commanded us "Just do it"! Take that first step, complete that first task, even when you don't feel like it. Make the commitment to move forward. Each step that you take and complete will propel you to the next step. It is extremely energizing to our spirits to" just do it". I am reminded of the little ditty from Rudolf the Red Nose Reindeer that runs on television during the holidays, "put one foot in front of the other and soon you will be walking across the floor, put one foot in front of the other and soon you will be walking out the door".

6. Stay positive, seek inspiration -

Read books, listen to audio programs and watch videos that will uplift and inspire you - not only related to your industry, but related to life and managing life with more freedom. Inspirational books of faith and courage, and biographies of others who have gone before and succeeded. Too many times we fall into false thinking that we are the only ones that are being challenged in certain areas. Great news - not so!!

7. Create a circle of trust -

Create a small group of select people that you trust to share your journey as an entrepreneur with. Confidants that you can bounce ideas and challenges off of without the fear of being judged and betrayed. Personally, I found early on in my business that I needed to create a circle of trust with fellow women business owners. Typically people who are not entrepreneurial in nature do not really get us and the challenges we face every day as business owners and service providers. When I need a strong kick in the pants I know that my circle of trust will tell me the truth - in love of course. When I leave those conversations I feel stronger for myself and for my clients. I also feel strong and powerful enough to return the favor when my circle of trust peeps are in need of a kick in the pants - in love of course.

8. Get a support team for your business, you don't have to do it all, you shouldn't do it all -

Hire a business coach, maybe even a personal coach to help you clarify and set goals and business plan for success. In your business, spend time on only those activities where you must to deliver personally to your clients, such as coaching or speaking, and leave the rest to other professionals such as online business managers, virtual assistants, copywriters, web designers - you get the picture. You can't do it all yourself without losing momentum.

9. Embrace momentum -

In John C. Maxwell's book "The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership", he says that, "Momentum is really a leader's best friend. Sometimes it's the only difference between winning and losing." I can't really add more to that - kinda says it all!

I hope that you have enjoyed this article and pray that it has been an inspiration to you - maybe even a kick in the pants. Please feel free to share with me your comments, thoughts and struggles around momentum or any other struggle you are having in your business in the box below. It will be my pleasure to share back.

Brenda M. Violette
Online Business Manager
Website: http://www.VBSVirtualAssist.com
Email: info@VBSVirtualAssist.com

Getting Strong for Leadership - Change a Habit, Improve a Skill

2010-09-03T13:49:00.000-07:00

Leading people to higher levels of productivity is not for the weak at heart. To get strong for leadership, you'll need to take a hard look at some of your work habits. And you'll probably need to improve some of your people skills.

Change a habit? You know how hard this is, but sometimes your effectiveness, your happiness - and even your life - may depend on doing so. Improve a skill? There's nothing easy about that either, especially if you already have a habitual way of doing something. But your success as a leader may depend on changing your behavior.

So what's involved? How does this kind of learning happen?

The first thing you need to know is that all behavior is triggered by thought processes, which happen in the brain. Not in the skin. Not in the muscles. Not in the bones. In the brain. We use different words to describe patterns of behavior, such as traits, habits, routines, skills and strengths. But in the brain, a skill or a habit pattern is the same thing - a behavior pattern - a sequence of perceptions, thoughts, feelings and behaviors efficiently enabled by a web of interconnected brain cells. So unless you consciously decide to do something else, the neural network for a specific skill or habit will automatically be engaged to deal with the situation at hand.

Where do these neural pathways come from?

You aren't born with them. You grow them. Each brain cell has hundreds of tiny filaments called dendrites that are stimulated to grow and connect to the other brain cells that are involved in the behavior.

What stimulates the growth? Repetitions of the behavior. Practice, practice and more practice. 2,500 years ago, Aristotle said this: "Whatever we learn to do, we learn by actually doing it: men come to be builders, for instance, by building, and harp players by playing the harp. In the same way, by doing just acts, we come to be just; by doing self-controlled acts, we come to be self-controlled; and by doing brave acts, we become brave." He was right about this. This really is how we learn behavior patterns.

Hit a thousand tennis balls, swim a thousand laps, shoot a thousand free throws. Do anything the same way over and over again, and eventually the brain cells involved in the activity will be stimulated to grow and connect into a hard-wired neural network.

The good news:

#1 - When this happens, you can perform the new habit or skill without concentrating on doing it. You just do what you usually do, comfortably and automatically.

#2 - The behavior pattern is permanently ingrained in the brain, because the neural pathway is physically interconnected.

#3 - Anyone can do this.

The bad news:

#1 - There's no magic bullet, no quick fix. The only thing that works is a lot of repetition and practice.

#2 - This usually equates to months of consistent application. Even Tiger Woods has to hit thousands of golf balls to change something in his swing.

#3 - If you learn the skill incorrectly, or if the habit you learn is a bad habit, you own it.

The bottom line for managers who want to be strong for leadership:

#1 - The only way to correct a dysfunctional habit or undesired behavior pattern is to go against the grain of your learned behavior long enough to do enough repetition and reinforcement to rewire your brain.

#2 - Instruction, reading a book or watching a video isn't enough to master a new way of doing something. You have to follow through with a considerable period of consistent practical application.

#3 - This means that 99% of the learning has to take place not in a classroom, but in the real world of work and life.

So you can be strong for leadership. But if you want to change a habit or improve a skill, you have to do the work. And if you follow through, what happens in your brain when you master the new skill or habit will seem magical, even though there's no magic in it at all.

Now that you've learned what it takes to change a habit or learn a new skill, I'd like to invite you to get two free ebooks that will help you develop effective leadership skills: "Strong for Leadership" and "Coach the People You Care About." They're packed with insights and encouragement to help you deal with challenges you face every day as a leader. Get your free ebooks at http://www.ProStarCoach.com

Copyright Dennis E. Coates, Ph.D., creator of ProStar Coach, an online virtual coaching tool for leaders.

Learning To Lead: Leadership Development And You

2010-07-30T08:00:00.000-07:00

When you suddenly get the job of heading an organization, it can be pretty overwhelming. The responsibilities inherent in managing people can get to you. This stress is not limited to being the head honcho of an organization. Mid-level managers and team leaders face the challenge of dealing with people on a lower rung and this can be difficult to do in a manner that is beneficial to the company. That is where leadership development comes in.

Being a leader is not exactly a natural talent. Yes, anyone can stand up and give people orders. That may fulfill the most basic meaning of the word leadership but what most organizations or businesses are looking for is effective leadership. That is a whole different story. This is why most top-flight businesses integrate leadership development courses or activities into their business schedule for their management-level employees. This can take the form of a simple class or a business retreat. The aim of these activities is to enhance leadership skill.

If you're a management type, you're probably wondering what these courses can do for you. You're thinking that you've got your department in tip-top shape, meeting all the requirements and not a peep of complaint from the your subordinates, and you did all of it with no help from a course. The problem with that sort of thinking is that you may be missing danger signs that would cause trouble for your department. A leadership development course will provide you with the skills to identify these danger signs and be able to head off any problems that it may cause.

How do courses like these help you attain these goals? First of all, most leadership development courses are rooted in military tradition. It can be said that the first leadership development programs in the world can be found in the rise of modern militaries. This is because an army needs to have a very good corps of officers to be effective. This is when the first official officer training courses came to being and are still being implemented. Of course, learning how to lead needs the appropriate traits: you need to want to learn, have a drive to succeed, seek to improve yourself and be open to new experiences. A leadership development hones these traits into tools that will help a manager to succeed.

Secondly, a leadership development course helps you to develop your empathy. Empathetic leadership leads to better understanding between management and the employees. This better helps to facilitate smooth working relationships and enables the easy resolution of any problems that may come up. Empathy training is a large part of any leadership development course, mostly because management sometimes loses focus on the viewpoint from the bottom of an organization.

Finally, leadership development courses encourages experiential learning. This means that you learn from experiences both on the job and off it. The willingness to learn means also being able to accept that mistakes can happen – the key here is to make sure that those mistakes don't happen again. This developmental way of learning that is open to feedback helps organizations to grow in an organic manner, even after setbacks that maybe crippling.

It should be obvious that leadership development is an essential trait needed for any business in the 21st century. Initiating leadership development courses in your company or joining one on your own initiative can result in increased efficiency and dividends for your company. Try it out and see how much a difference it makes.

Leadership Development: Making Sure It Works

2010-07-26T18:54:00.000-07:00

Most companies nowadays have a leadership development program in place. This is because it's been a proven way to get an internal pool of talent for running a company. This is a lot cheaper than going outside of the company to headhunt a professional manager. The problem is that like all types of educational programs, leadership development isn't an automatic solution.

There need to be several factors in play for it to work the way it's supposed to. It is important to note that participation in a leadership development program means you're earmarked for a promotion – this is why some people want to be able to get the most out of such programs. If you're one of those people, here's a few hints on what you should be focused on:

1) Be open-minded – One of the hallmarks of being a good student of a leadership development program is being open-minded. Leaders are flexible individuals – they are able to accept most situations and turn it into their advantage. There's an emphasis on this during training and hopefully you manage to absorb it into your work ethic. Being open-minded means more than being able to accept changes in your work environment – this also means that you should be open to the chance that you ar mistaken. Negative feedback helps you improve and make you more efficient as a leader.

2) Be a planner - Another thing that leadership training emphasizes is planning. Good planning will almost always assure you of a positive for any situation that you are in. You will not believe how difficult it is to plan sometimes. This is because most people prefer to take things as they come. This is mostly because most of the time we have a laid-back culture. Leadership training does the opposite. It will encourage you to plan – you're not an employee anymore, which means you have to worry about more than yourself. Goal and problem identification, brainstorming solutions and implementation will be focused on in this part of the program.

3) Being pro-active – Leadership isn't just about spouting orders left and right. Leadership is about being an active part of the process. This is what is called “leading from the front”. Haven't you had that energizing feeling when your boss pulled up his sleeves and got down and dirty? Inspirational leadership goes hand-in-hand with active leadership. Don't be passive and sit behind the desk all day; admittedly it's a part of your job but going into the trenches and getting active feedback from your subordinates and gauging the morale of the group is also part of that. Learn to connect with people in a way that establishes a rapport, making you easily approachable. Also, familiarizing yourself with what your people are working with is a great way to win over your team.

Leadership development isn't exactly a snap but it can be condensed into these three things. Try to work on them and you'll be well on your way to the title of the “Boss of the Year”.

Leadership Development: Facing The Challenges Of Leadership

2010-07-19T18:52:00.000-07:00

The problem with being a leader is that it can be often a burden. This is because it's a hard thing to be responsible for other people. Most people try to avoid responsibility as much as they can. However, sometimes, you're drafted into being the head honcho of a team. It can be a small group of people or maybe even an entire department, but the pressure is all the same for you to lead them to success. This pressure to succeed is why leadership development programs are highly in demand nowadays.

Leadership development may sound like some archaic business buzzword but all it boils down to is that leadership can be trained into people. Of course, this is a fact – leading people is a skill like any other and can be taught. Some people are naturally skilled in it but not everyone can be Napoleon or Alexander the Great. Leadership development seeks to inculcate skills and values that will help you lead successfully. How does it do this?

First of all, leadership development focuses on planning. This is why you notice that most programs like these emphasize you to develop a personal plan for yourself. Plans are generally very helpful – like the old saw says “Measure twice and cut once”, it means that you have a clearly defined path to follow. This way there will be no confusion on the way you have to go to improve yourself.

Next, leadership development emphasizes strict self-assessment. People often say that they know enough about themselves but that is, most of the time, wrong. This is because most people like to think well of themselves – they don't like to get into the nitty-gritty details of their personality. This is why self-reflection is often unpopular – people would rather point out other people's faults than having their problematic traits pointed out to them.

Leadership development counselors are strict about you identifying your faults because it will help you deal with them in the future. People need a leader who can inspire them to do their best. A fumbling idiot or an arrogant micromanager is not an inspirational sight. The ability to recognize the problematic aspects of your personality and to either minimize or remove them is one of the hallmarks of good leadership.

Finally, leadership development isn't all just about navel-gazing. It's also about learning skills that are helpful in your job as leader. Some of these skills are administrative ones like balancing a schedule or writing an assessment report. Some of them are about interpersonal skills; part of being a good leader is being able to relate to your subordinates in a way that does not stifle them. Learning how to establish a positive rapport with your team is something that is very useful for a leader. Leadership development also teach you how to bring out the best in others – coaching and developing talent is an integral part of making a world-class team.

That's what leadership development is all about in the end – being able to do your best and to be able to get the best out of others.

Starting Your Own Leadership Development Plan

2010-07-12T18:50:00.000-07:00

Leadership Development: Doing It On Your Own

Leadership development programs are all the rage in the corporate world. The problem with this is that because of the high demand, the price for participating or instituting such a program via an outsider is often exorbitant. There is, of course, a very simple solution for those who want to avail of training in leadership development: do it on your own! It is actually easier than it sounds. Developing your leadership skills is a part of self-improvement and all you need to do that is the will to do so. The following are five steps on how you can draw up and start your own leadership development plan:

a) Goal Identification – You need to set goals for yourself. This is important for all plans because a goal determines your finish line, where you can say that you've succeeded. It can be as simple as improving you performance or learning valuable skills. The emphasis here is that you are setting your goal posts and that you will not be moving them. This is why it is important to choose achievable and reasonable goals to aim for. There is nothing that discourages more than failure and failing to reach your goals can be devastating to your self-esteem.

b) Skill and Value Assessment – Now that you know what your target goal is, it's time to check if you've got what it takes. You need to sit down and have a moment for self-reflection. Get a pencil and paper and draw up a list of your skills and personality traits. You should try to include both good and bad traits so that you can have a complete picture of yourself. Next, look at your goals and your list and see what can help or hinder you. Mark them down – you'll be needing it in the next phase.

c) Action Planning – Action planning is where it all comes together. Determine what you need to do to get to your goals. Look at your skills – are you lacking any? Are there any that can help? If you have any negative habits that may hinder you, take them into account. Yoo do not just make nebulous plans here. You have to settle on solid actions that will help you reach your goal – do you need to attend a seminar? What deadlines do you have to meet? Do you need to read more books? Draw up all of these plans and put them in black and white – this way it seems more solid and achievable.

d) Pre-Implementation Phase – Look at your actions and determine what you need. This is where you tally up the costs in money, time and dedication that you have to put into it. Reschedule your business time and budget your money. This way when it starts you don't have to worry about anything.

e) Action Phase and Post-Action Assessment – Now, you've done all of that, it's time to get it done. The key here is to reach your goal. Do your best and don't falter. Afterwards, when the dust settles, it's time to assess your performance – did you reach your goals? How well did it go? How difficult was it and what lessons will you be taking in to the next time you do this?

There you have it – a simple leadership development plan outline. It's pretty easy once you get the hang of it. So, what are you waiting for? Go for it!

Leadership Development Within Companies

2010-07-07T16:46:00.000-07:00

In the past, companies maintain their office machines better than their employees. Today, however, the most forward-looking corporations are all into leadership development.

This shift in perspective on people had actually been triggered by the long-term shift itself of the world economy. From a total dependence on financial capital, economies all over are now dependent on human capital.

Human resources

In the midst of economic upswings and downswings, companies have realized that money for investment is abundant than ever before. Even in the middle of the present economic crunch, money had been deposed as the number one scarce resource in business.

Human talent, however, is now the scarcer commodity. As the CEO of a top recruiting company says, “Organizations need talented people a lot more than talented people need organizations.”

Companies of a feather

There is now a growing trend of companies who developed their people with opportunities to learn and grow to become higher-performing organizations. A closer look at these companies reveals a striking resemblance of their practices.

Operating all kinds of businesses and based from all over the world, these organizations share similar traits in creating leadership development programs.

Time and money investment

To cut to the chase, running leadership development programs is expensive – both in money and time. CEOs, however, think that this is “the single best investment” they make in their company.

Many companies claim they are all interested in developing leaders. Today, most of the companies evaluate their own executives partly on how they develop people.

Promising leaders’ early identification

Spotting promising leaders early on can result in their earlier development. Some companies who have internship programs use the time the interns spend with them to evaluate their potentials.

Companies who nurture their future leaders early on believe that they have a competitive edge. Their talent reserves become bigger and better than the others.

Strategic assignment choices

In a typical leadership development process, two-thirds of the candidates come from job experience, one-third from mentoring and coaching and a smattering come straight from classrooms.

Mixing job assignments are tough, even if they looked okay at first. Organizations tend to assign people based on what they are good at, and not on what they need to work on. Managers had consistently reported that their hardest experiences were the most helpful in the end.

Developing leaders on the job

There is tension among the CEOs who want to develop their people by moving them about and in their need to develop them in their expertise in certain areas.

Other companies solve it by leaving their leaders in their exact productive places and having them rotated in other jobs through short-term work assignments. They do not leave their present positions but they can take on short additional assignments.

Feedback and support

In learning, if you do not know how you have performed, chances are you will not learn at all and you will not care later. In many companies, feedback is very rare.

Many successful CEOs declared that frequent and honest assessment with plenty of mentoring and support has propelled them to the top.

All in all, companies now view leadership development as a real investment venture, albeit in human forms rather than in cold forms of machines made of metal.

Leadership Development At The Workplace

2010-07-07T16:45:00.000-07:00

Some of today’s leadership development initiatives are now generally conducted inside workplaces. These would usually feature performance support and real world skills applications.

This is done by way of several methods: training programs, coaching and mentoring, action learning and developmental assignments, among others. Real skills application means making potential leaders gain crucial skills within a working organization and facing relevant and real-time issues.

Along with proper performance support (coaching, mentoring, training, action learning, etc.) candidates are immersed with real issues, not lectures. This is in line with the ultimate goal of leadership development which necessitates action rather than just knowledge.

Learning from work

One of today’s development methods provides candidates with opportunities to learn from their present work rather than taking them out of the workplace (and presumably herded to a stolid classroom) to learn. The goal is to integrate their experiences at the workplace with other (leadership) developmental techniques.

There is now an increasing number of organizations whose CEOs are committed to teaching and developing leaders internally. (One big reason is that this leadership development is usually tied to the company’s own business goals.)

In addition, most organizations are starting to recognize leadership as an important component to jobs at all levels. As such, they are committed to producing leaders in their organizations.

Leadership development methods

Some effective leadership development methods outside of the workplace had also been noted by these organizations. One significant factor that came out: the better forecaster of effective executive leadership is emotional resonance with others rather than the expected general intelligence.

Researchers had also uncovered data that specific parts of emotional intelligence and specific behaviors are connected with effective leadership.

Effective leadership

Today, effective leadership is now commonly perceived as crucial to organizational success. Also, there is now more weight placed on leadership development than before.

Even if it is still an important factor, producing individual leaders is no longer the main target in leadership development. Also, the definition of leadership had undergone some shift these days.

More and more, leadership is perceived as not what leaders do. Rather, it is seen as a process that results from relationships – interactions of both leaders and collaborators and not just the competencies of leaders.

Experiences and business objectives

The practices on leadership development inside a working organization are geared to integrate various developmental experiences and their business objectives. This is done in order to produce a larger combined impact.

Some critics declared, however, that this approach is rather more events-based than systemic. One method of systemic leadership development is to make sure participation involves more than simple training.

Meaningful integration

They contend that there should be an array of developmental experiences to be designed and implemented that should be meaningfully integrated with one another. These efforts must also be ongoing and not just a single program or a one-time event.

Ideally, leadership development within organizations should aim in linking a variety of developmental practices (including the work itself) and those of the other HR systems and strategies.

Leadership Development And Personal Competencies

2010-07-07T16:43:00.000-07:00

Today, there seems to be a clear movement in viewing leadership and leadership development not only in terms of leader attributes, skills and traits. Lately, competencies (or requirements) seem to be the center of focus.

In other organizations, leadership competencies have even become the core dimension of leadership development activities.

Competencies

Recently, a 2002 study found that leading-edge companies define leadership by a set of competencies. These are now used to guide leadership development at all levels.

By the same token, a majority of organizations have, on their own, identified and defined the characteristics and qualities of successful leaders.

The question now at hand is this: How then are competencies used in a most effective way in leadership development?

Strategies and business models

In the past, leadership development programs that were put into action had not been very successful in bringing profound changes. This brought a change in perspective among those who implemented them.

Organizations began to develop leaders and leadership competencies that matched and were specific to their particular business challenges and goals. Leadership competencies were then fitted to a best-practice organization’s particular strategy and its business model.

Individual application

Needless to say, this particular perspective had also been implemented and brought to the individual level. This is in answer to the argument that it is not likely for all leaders to possess the same set of competencies to make themselves or the organization a success.

The new perspective is this: Leaders should not be accountable for their particular set of behaviors. Rather, they are to be held responsible only for the desired outcomes.

Beyond competencies

This new perspective goes beyond competencies. The competencies have a tendency to focus on what needs to be fixed rather than attention on the whole person.

In addition, focus is also placed on people’s strengths and natural abilities, and not just on competencies that can sometimes border on the eccentric. Today, development is viewed as leveraging your strengths and minimizing the impact of weaknesses.

Health and leadership

Well-being and individual health at work are also brought out as issues of growing interest and attention, including their relevance to leadership. One question is the relentless stress of constant change and competition in the workplace.

Managing stress and personal styles in avoiding burn-outs are also becoming additional factors to integrate in leadership development. One known factor is that leadership effectiveness is correlated with better health and exercising.

Work and family

Another challenge for leadership development that veers away from standard competencies is the competing demands of career and personal/family life. It had also been recognized that a person’s work and personal life have mutual effects on each other.

At present, there is a need to understand which factors about organizational life are challenged by the concept of work/life integration. There is also a need to pinpoint organizational changes to make way for greater work/life integration.

Leadership effectiveness

So far, the effectiveness of individual leaders is enhanced when they manage multiple roles at home. In leadership development, it is imperative that we continue to learn not just more about organizational benefits but also the benefits a person brings to family and the community as well.

Inspiring People Through Leadership Development

2010-07-07T16:37:00.000-07:00

Leadership development is a process wherein the leadership skills of a person are enhanced through a set of activities. Today, more and more companies make it a point that their employees undergo through leadership development to ensure that they will realize the importance of being a responsible leader.

Aside from enhancing the leadership skills of people, leadership development also serves as a way for people to reflect on their own sets of values towards work and their co-workers in general. It also paves the way for people to be inspired and motivated at all times despite challenging times and without depending so much on others.

Experts say that leadership development is a very important factor in a leader's life because this will help him or her see things in a positive way. This will also enable him or her to overcome challenges by developing an attitude that could withstand trials and failures.

If a leader is inspired and motivated, he or she is able to develop a good outlook in life and this will pave the way for good leadership. In fact, he or she might even be surprised of the things that were able to accomplished in that span of time.

Leadership Development thorough inspiration

If you are one of those who are conducting leadership development, it would be best to include motivation in your talks and sets of activities. To help leaders who are being hindered by their personal issues, it would be best if you encourage them to:

- re-assess themselves. Many leaders think that they know themselves already that is why they decline to do self-assessment regularly. Experts say that these people don’t realize that the more that they decline doing self-reassessment, the more that they get stuck to their own routine which leaves them lesser room for improvement. During leadership development, make them understand that it is best for them to know themselves very well. If they know themselves well, they will know their weaknesses as well as their strengths. Once they were able to identify all of these, it will be easier for them to set goals for themselves that are within their reach and their capabilities.

- start with small and simple goals. Tell them to not put too much pressure on themselves. If you are just adjusting in becoming a leader, it will be best if you tell them to start small and simple so they won't feel defeated when they weren't able to meet the standards the company has set for them. If they start with small and simple things, they are giving themselves the chance to accomplish bigger things ahead.

- keep track of their progress. Monitoring how well or bad they are doing will help them maneuver things and find ways that would best work for them. For new leaders, it would be best to advise them to keep track of how they are doing while you are conducting leadership development. If you do this, they will know what the areas that they should improve on are and what are the things that they should continue doing.

Getting Started With Leadership Development

2010-07-07T16:32:00.000-07:00

If you are in the line of leadership development, then you should constantly update yourself with the new trends and methods in order to get the best out of your participants.

These days, one of the effective strategies that many people use is incorporating self-motivation in the activities that is related to leadership development. They believe that a good leader is somebody who can motivate him or herself no matter what the situation.

Leadership development these days can be done in two settings: the individual setting and the collective setting. The former focuses on the individual traits of the leaders and targets that person’s strengths and weaknesses. The latter is mainly focused on using people that surrounds that leader to. This means that interpersonal and social skills are assessed to be able to help the leader develop his or her innate skills.

One leader at a time

Many people that conduct leadership development start with enhancing the skills of an individual rather than using the group. This is because it is the easiest way to assess the skills of the person to become a leader and would also give them an idea how much more he or she needs to improve.

Those who are into individual leadership development, the major thing that they should focus on is how to instill the value of self motivation in a leader. You must make that potential leader understand that if he or she knows how to self-motivate, it will be easier for them to accomplish greater things for themselves and for the people that matter to them in the future.

Experts agree that for one to be a great leader self-motivation is very essential. This is because knowing how to motivate oneself would help a person deal with challenges that would come along the way. It will also serve as an inspiration that would keep their spirit high no matter how trying the times are.

To help develop better leaders during leadership development, you must help them discover their purpose in life. Indeed, the most powerful thing that can help a person get started to be a better is when they discover their purpose in life. Once you were able to help them do this, they can find the reason in their hearts why do they want to be motivated and become a better leader.

During leadership development, encourage them to always be thirsty and hungry for something. For people to become better leaders they should be self motivated and want something not only for him or herself but also for others. It would be best if you can encourage that leader to use self-motivation to excel and achieve success and don’t be contented with what they have right now. Make them understand that it is best to always be hungry for knowledge so their desire to learn will be fueled.

If they are able to learn new things, there are greater chances for them to acquire new skills that would help them boost their self-confidence later on. These skills will not only make them better persons but will also prepare them to become better leaders.

Get The Best Out Of People Through Leadership Development

2010-07-07T16:30:00.000-07:00

Studies show that in organization, a strong sense of leadership is a must for its operations to run smoothly. It is for this reason that many companies now offer leadership development to potential leaders in various business organizations and also for people who would want to discover the inner leaders in them.

Leadership development pertains to activities that help a person enhance his or her leadership skills. This can either be through formal seminars or in other means such as a team building activity or a retreat. No matter what type of leadership development is preferred—the formal or the laidback setting—experts say that there is one surefire way to get the best our of people. This is by helping them discover the power of self motivation.

A different leadership development approach

Leadership is effective when an organization runs orderly and its people are working in a harmonious setting. This type of leadership, say experts, can be achieved only if the leader is motivated towards one common goal to success.

Studies show that leadership development that incorporates the concept of self-motivation is far more effective because it helps the person look forward to better things in life. These days, there are less effective leaders because many of them have lost their innate means of motivating themselves. When motivation to accomplish a certain goal has diminished, it would be easier for a leader or a potential leader to just give up and live a remorseful life filled with negative things.

Today, more and more people who conduct leadership development try to incorporate motivating the participants because this is one of the keys in helping people get rid of negative emotions. When people are cleared from negative vibes, they will be able to think more clearly and would be able to see things in a positive way.

Helping individuals discover the inner leaders in them

One of the factors that hinder people to lead better is their personal issues and problems. If you are conducting leadership development, it would be best to address the problems of potential leaders and help them motivate themselves.

You can tell them to slow down and set their own pace. Although it is sometimes healthy to be competitive in terms of achieving goals, there would always be times when people will get tired of running after so many things because they don’t want other people to finish before they do. More often than not, people who compare themselves with others are the ones who are left behind without anything because they spend too much time thinking how they could outlast the other person, thus, neglecting his or her own priorities.

To help that person motivate him or herself to be a better leader during leadership development, it would be best that they understand the importance of self-motivation so they won’t feel too much pressure. Tell them that this is beneficial for them because they can rest whenever they want to since nobody is breathing down their necks to finish something.

Developing Your Leadership Style

2010-07-07T16:28:00.000-07:00

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.

Developing Leadership Abilities

2010-07-07T16:23:00.000-07:00

A self-help guru once defined leadership as simply the ability to make things happen using the help of other people’s skills and abilities. Some leaders are quite gifted from birth, but many leaders go through leadership development after being spotted to possess the leadership potentials.

One question: What type of person or personality makes the best leader?

Leadership personality

One can imagine that the person who has the greatest success, heading the largest organization or corporation is the one that makes the best leader. It is possible.

On the other end of the pole, could a person with a little drive or entrepreneurial skills end up being a leader? It is also possible.

Developing leadership skills

Some people are very lucky because they have an easier time developing their leadership skills more than the others. There is no question that certain personality types make better leaders than the rest of us.

The next question is this: What personality types would make better leaders? Each of us fit into some personality types, whether ordinary or on the eccentric side.

Whichever it is, there might be some parts of it that would make an excellent type of leader. On the other hand, your personality type could undergo a leadership development training and become a very effective leader.

The following are some of the more recognizable leadership personalities, different though they are in more ways than one.

Powerful leader

He is the king, the lion in an organization. He is the type of person who wants to be in the driver’s seat.

His personality notwithstanding, the strength of his leadership comes from good decision-making skills which come naturally. His negative aspect is his tendency to be a morale-buster.

However, people will eventually discover his caring heart and they will learn to love and respect him. They might even grew and develop themselves from his challenges.

Perfectionist leader

As an animal, he could be compared to a beaver in the organization. He will be the one who will never forget to cross all the “T”s and dot all the “I”s.

This personality type can handle all the details of the group’s daily operations, but can nevertheless let go of the small stuff. Another good news: everyone he meets will soon learn and share his wisdom.

Peaceful leader

He is the golden retriever, and he can be the hardest to motivate. He can definitely frustrate most of the personality types listed in any group.

However, he has the most compassion among everybody. It is very easy for the rest to share their most personal feelings with him.

Popular leader

This guy is the most fun of all the other leader types. If there is no fun, he will create a fun situation for him and everyone.

His greatest strength is his uncanny ability to rally everyone to meet the organization’s goals. Almost everyone wants to be with him, except of course, the perfectionist.

In his quest to make things fun, he usually overlooks some details that can be important. Or so, the perfectionist would like to think.

You as the leader

What leadership personality would you be? What are your strengths and your weaknesses? If you are to be developed and groomed as a leader, what would you want for yourself?

Being The Captain Of The Boat: Leadership Development And Why You Need It

2010-07-07T16:19:00.000-07:00

When you become a leader, whether it be that of a small team or a large company, the prospect is always daunting. Leadership is always a large responsibility and it can be a crushing burden if not handled properly. History is littered with leaders who weren't able to handle the pressure. Thankfully, we've learned a few things from history – which is where leadership development programs come in.

Being a good leader is not a trait that's spread out in the human population. It's kind of like being a good soccer player or a good player. Some people have the natural talent to be a leader. Some people need a little push in the right direction. The problem with being suddenly handed the big chair is that, unless you've had previous experience, you might not know which of the two are you.

Which is why most employers initiate leadership development programs for those who are in a management position. You might be confident enough in your leadership abilities but those higher-up have to make sure that you are doing the best that you can at the job. The following are two reasons why leadership development programs are good for you:

a) Better self-assessment – Most of the time we're often blind to our own faults. A cursory self-examination will always come up with the result that you may not be perfect but you're not that bad. That's a completely wrong way to do it. When evaluating yourself, you need to be your own worst critic. This is mostly because most other people are not as forgiving of your own faults.

Having a faulty high opinion of oneself is a recipe for disaster – everyone's heard of the arrogant boss or supervisor. You should identify your personal shortcomings before your subordinates do and do something about them. Leadership development programs have a strict self-assessment portion that helps you do this. Additionally, the professional counselors who run these programs can help open your eyes to any troublesome personality traits or habits that you may have.

b)A more aware learning experience – Most leaders learn on-the-job. It's not exactly optimal but sometimes the best way to learn something is to experience it. These learning experiences are often problems at work. The problem with experiencing crises it is sometimes we don't think of it as a learning experience and just pass it off as being part of the job. They do not care to examine deeper into the problem.

This is why they do the same mistakes that resulted in the situation in the first place. Leadership development programs usually give you a better handle on these incidents. A more positive outlook and an inquisitive mind are what these programs encourage and they often result in leaders who know how to identify roots of problems and eliminate them at that level.

There are, of course, several other reasons why you should join leadership development programs but these two are the primary ones. Enter one as soon as possible and prepare to learn to become a better leader.