Don't Leave Greater Success Up To Chance--Employ Increase Your Leadership Skills

xWhat are The Elements of The Change Process (see podcast)

xWhat are some of the barrirs to personal improvement?

We focus on the using training and coaching to develop the influence skills required for success as a transformational leader. To make this happen, one should focus on:

• Skills Development
• Social Influence
• Self-Mastery

Leadership Skills Focus 1: Faster Skills Development

It often makes sense to fine-tune the leadership skill building process prior to getting started. Here, we teach and coach to more how one can master the art of skills develoment.

Leadership Skills Focus Area 2: Increasing One's Social Power and Influence

We use training and coaching to build the leadership skills necessary to exercise different types of influence. For example, effectiveness in the use of influence first depends on the ability to use twelve communication skills. From that point, it is a matter of discretion and judgment which of the nine types of power and influence one develops.

Leadership Skills Focus Area 3: Self-Mastery

What is the difference between advising and mentoring?

Generally speaking, mentors are senior executives who develop a formal or information relationship with someone fairly new to the organization. It’s strength is mentor opens up the vast amout of tribal knowledge important to understanding the culture, can provide excellent visibility to the junior person and can give access to the internal network of contacts. The major disadvantage is few senior executives are good at building skills--the major competency of an coach. A coach also offers a degree of confidentiality that is not always available for those internal. For example, it is highly unlikely that a junior person will open up enough to share some deep seated anxieties and worries.

How can I determine the advisor's expertise?

Good coaches come have both the degrees and the practical real world experience. Trying to figure out the depth of expertise is sometimes a problem. However, the person should have experience teaching and training, have written something either on the Internet, articles or perhaps a book. Should have some knowledge of both psychology and management since both areas are helpful in developing leadership skill in business.

Working with an advisor is a learning process for both parties. The client may never have gone through the process before. The Advisor needs to establish a relationship and determine reasonable outcomes for the engagement.

How do I know if I can get along with the them?

One of the more critical aspects of the engagement is developing the relationship. A person may have expertise but lack the right type of chemistry. It’s hard to know if the right stuff with develop over time but you can always specific a trial period for a fixed length of time for a fixed price. If things don’t work out, both sides can save their face and cut their loses. That said, you should have a pretty good understanding of whether you can work together after a 30 minute conversation.

What process so you use?

We will do Socratic.

Do woman and men have different requirements?

One would think so but just as men are different so are women. One way to this about this is rather than look at male and female, one looks at gender; i.e. masculine and feminine.

For the training part we customize the content for live and/or on-line delivery. The training and coaching approach we use consists of:

DEFINE OUTCOMES

This phase is about

You set goals and define the learning outcomes.

Focus on specific types of problems and application scenarios

Development a set of developmental outcomes

ASSESSMENT

Defining as best we can a baseline

Discuss the “shopping list” of assessments we can use

Perform one to three paper or on-line assessments

Take any assessment results and provide debrief

Go over new insights

Discuss new learning

PLANNING

Planning includes:

The theory, concepts and principles one must understand.

Preparing a reading list

Putting together videos and movies

Choosing podcast materials

Determining whether training materials are presented on-line or live

A suggested set of application assignments.

INSIGHT

In this phase:

Clients read through the reference materials,

and discus any gray areas with the leadership coach

Discuss readings and articles

Develop an approach to application and practice and

agree on an application and practice approach.

APPLICATION

During this phase,

We assist with needed advice,

Provide helpful feedback

Conduct a thorough debriefing.

Discuss what skills were successfully developed.

Focus on what could have gone better.

Determine a future course of action

How often do we need to get together?

It will vary but if we cannot come up with at least an hour during a week, something is not working out.

How long should the engagement last?

This is probably the toughest question to answer. Some skills are relatively easy to build, other more complex ones take a year or more. What complicates the matter more is that we all have bad habits that have been practiced for years that need to change. It can take a very long time to break a bad habit and establish a new one.

How are payments done?

How do ou work on a retainer bases

Is it necessary to meet face to face?

It’s always preferable but if you are in Asia and we are in America for example, this may only happen when travel schedules allow.

Do you do telephone only?

No.

Do you do on-line coaching?

Yes. But we require the use of video feeds so we can see and hear each other and some measure of security and encription to maintain confidentiality.