assessing
outline
Core to leadership is the ability to read other people: their strengths, weaknesses, tendencies, potential. Good leaders take the time to get to know the people they are leading. This is best done by observation of behaviour, by listening and by testing. Much assessment by leaders is either too fleeting or too formal. To really understand someone's behaviour, performance, potential and quirks is not something that can be done either quickly or easily.
The people who work for you are the ones who guarantee your results. If you know and understand the raw material you are working with you will be better able to direct them to better outcomes. Assessment should be both formal and informal. The leader who does not do it properly is short-sighted and, almost certainly, ineffective.
Your people support you by delivering results, support them by using accurate assessment to ensure you are utilising them to their best.
aim
To enable you to accurately assess anyone you are responsible for leading
objectives
- To understand what constitutes a realistic and accurate assessment
- To be able to use assessment to build self-awareness and self-discipline
- To understand the balance to be achieved between formal and informal assessment
- To be able to use feedback to give assessments which are motivational and developmental
- To be able to keep your finger on the pulse
outcomes
- The ability to use formal and informal assessment to build motivation and discipline
- The discrimination to judge when to use formal and when to use informal assessment
- The capacity to deliver both in effective and appropriate ways
- The ability to give honest, accurate assessments with examples
leadership style
outline
Leadership style develops in an idiosyncratic manner. Individuals are often unaware of the many natural leadership abilities they possess and do not clearly understand what constitutes the main, and visible, features of their own style. Experience of your own, and other, leadership styles, their advantages and disadvantages, knowing when to deploy them, coupled with confidence in your ability, is key to being an effective leader.
Different leadership styles yield different results with different individuals: they require, and will respond positively to, the kind of leadership that suits them. The ability to successfully adapt to individuals and situations does not come naturally or easily to most people.
Awareness of your leadership style, the ability to tune it to the situation you are in and to the differing motivation, commitment, skills, attitude, needs, moods, strengths and weaknesses of the individuals you are leading, such that you get the best possible results, results in success, confidence, sureness and charisma.
aim
To be confident in your own leadership style and be able to tune it and use it to best effect
objectives
- To understand your own Leadership Style, what works for you and for those you are leading
- To identify alternative Leadership Styles
- To analyse what kind of different situations require different Leadership Styles
- To understand how different individuals will respond differently at different times to different treatment
- To be able to deliberately choose an appropriate Leadership Style
outcomes
- A clear understanding of your own Leadership Style and how to use it to best effect
- The ability to use other Leadership Styles, when necessary, in an effective way
- The willingness to use the practical relevance of this to improve your performance as a leader
- Ability and willingness to use your increased understanding to help dvelop others to lead effectively
motivation and discipline
outline
Increased competition and pressure at work has seen a mirrored increase in pressure on the internal structure and organisation of companies. This has resulted in re-organisation after re-organisation and either a return to rigid command and control hierarchies or a slide into a lack of management control, indiscipline and anarchy.
It helps to understand, other than money and adequate working conditions, what gives people a higher motivation. To get the best out of individuals and teams it is necessary to give them love and boundaries. Love is given in the form of greeting, conversation and purposeful discussion, approval, rewards and bonuses, special events, recognition and promotion. Boundaries are given in the form of clarity about rules, processes, operating norms and the disciplinary process. Like children, adults respond best when they know where they are, what they are supposed to be doing, where they are going and have a good reason for wanting to go there. This is done by building a clearly-structured working environment with sensible rules and operating norms. This leads to efficiency and minimal time wasted.
The best discipline is self-discipline: when individuals can monitor and control themselves the atmosphere of responsibility which ensues results in higher motivation, better performance, consistent delivery and a better atmosphere in which to work.
aim
To enable you to build motivation and discipline in any team you are responsible for leading
objectives
- To understand what motivates different individuals and how to benefit from this
- To be able to build a high sense of organisation into a team such that self-discipline results
- To develop the ability to achieve a balance between discipline and motivation
- To understand that individuals need both in order to give of their best
- To understand that leaders can do this without it becoming a popularity contest
outcomes
- Ability to motivate different individuals
- A higher awareness of how your own behaviour affects motivation in your team
- The ability to build structure, organisation and discipline in any team
- Insight to apply motivation and/or discipline as necessary
- Ability to use motivation and discipline in a planned, structured way in your team leading to team-members taking increased responsibility
