Leadership Skills Training

A leader doesn’t necessarily have to be a ‘manager’. However, it is difficult to see how a manager could be truly effective without having at least some leadership development training skills.

There have been many research studies exploring the difference between leadership and management. American researcher Michael Maccoby argued that leadership is the relationship between leader and followers, and management is a function that must be carried out in any organization.  Maccoby his definition suggests that leaders are most concerned with building relationships, motivating and coaching others and building trust, whereas the function of the manager is planning, budgeting, evaluating and facilitating.

However, while a leader doesn’t necessarily have to be a manager, it’s difficult to see how a manager could be truly effective without having at least some leadership skills.

This leadership development training course considers the functions of management in leadership roles and discusses these functions in relation to providing a map for their team to work with. Here are some of the topics covered in this excellent leadership course

Forbes highlight difference in  Management Vs Leadership  in their article.

The course we’ll be looking at how people’s views of what makes a good leader and how people can develop their leadership skills. We look at how perceptions of good leadership have changed over the last hundred years or so. Changes in society, technology, the economy, and even politics have all influenced how we define and describe good leadership. These include

• Leadership as a set of innate attributes that make those endowed with them destined to lead.
• Trait theories that attempt to identify certain personality traits that make someone a great leader
• Behaviourist theories that focuses more on what leaders did rather than their style or personality traits, the ability to choose the right response to a given situation
• Transformational leadership that motivate their staff to work harder and achieve greater success

A team is a collection of individuals large or small, with a set of complementary skills necessary to successfully complete a task. Team members operate with a high degree of interdependence and they share responsibility and accountability for their collective performance. A team works towards a common goal with a strong sense of mutual commitment, a genuine feeling that we’re all in this together.

There are quite literally hundreds of theories about the way groups of people grow and change as teams.  This course examine the theory put forward by Dr. Bruce Tuckman in 1965.  In summary, the theory goes

1. When a team is first formed, team members tend to behave quite independently. Most behaviour is driven by the desire to be accepted by the others and avoid controversy or conflict.
2. This moves to a stage characterised by conflict around interpersonal issues which interfere with the task requirements, where different ideas compete for consideration
3. The team then enters a period of consensus and team members adjust their behaviour to adapt. This is also a time when roles and responsibilities are clear and accepted
4. This former stage can lead to a behaviour known as groupthink, exhibited by groups who reach a consensus without critically evaluating ideas
5. High performing and well led teams reach a period where group energy is channelled into achieving the task, not group processes. Group members grow to trust each other to work independently and support the group objective.

People tend to gravitate towards certain roles within a team. Essentially, we have a tendency to be better at some roles than others. When our jobs encourage us to use our natural strengths, we can unlock great potential within a team. When leaders understand the natural strengths and weaknesses of these role profiles, they can more effectively respond to, support and involve individuals within their teams. This part of the course considers nine roles assumed by team members, what they contribute to the team and ways to get the best performance from each.

Feedback is an important part of communication within teams.  Delivering feedback is a skill that many people lack or aren’t confident in doing. Consequently, they make errors in giving it. That can not only leave a nasty taste in the mouth, but can also fail to have the impact they were hoping for.

The course illustrates a helpful model for those in leadership roles to give planned feedback which centres around

• Finding the right time and place
• Recognising what the feedback if for and why it is important
• Asking questions to identify any challenges or blockages
• Name the improvement you want to see happen
• Keep the conversation focused on the issue and do not let it drift into other areas

A goal that sets out exactly what needs to happen is more likely to be achieved than a vague idea. The course looks at the SMART goal setting model. SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and time limited.

Specific – Answer: Who is involved? What has to be done? What resources are available?
Measurable –  The use of baseline data to measure whether you’ve achieved the goal and how close you are at any given time
Achievable – When you are setting goals, you need to know it can be achieved.
Relevant – If people don’t see the relevance of the goal to the team or organisation, they’re unlikely to be motivated to deliver on it
Time Limit – Everyone needs to understand when the goal needs to be achieved by.

Becoming the best leader you can be is about being honest and having integrity, engaging with individuals in your team, engaging with your team as a whole and helping them move forward together.