helmsmanship leadership essentials
TRANSCRIPT
Is it because you’re a memberof a team and they turn to you- because of your expertise,experience or knowledge – totake charge – to lead - puttingyou in the role of ‘leader’,for the first time?
Or have you been promoted as amanager for the first time andnow have others working foryou?
Or were you elected to chair aclub committee or charity?
Have you seen others faced with the suddenchallenge of leadership?
How well did they do?
Are you worried about making a fool of yourself?
Did you feel panic or even fear when asked to lead?
Who will help you or are you expected just to be able to lead – just like that!
You’ve only witnessed poor or bad leadership - andyou don’t want to use those leadership styles asexamples
You were a school monitor and the other kidsreally played you up – will the people you’ve beenasked to lead now do so again?
People have told you that you need charisma tolead – but you do not know how to ‘do charisma’
Could academic theories of leadership help?
Yet, these theories continue to survive – some even after being disproved.
Over 1 million pages on ‘leadership theories’
Theories don’t provide easy answers
Leadership has been studied extensively byacademics who have developed many theories todescribe what leadership is or to help leaderspractise leadership.
Many survive long after being disproved.
It’s said there are over 300 definitions ofleadership!
Many theories are just too complex to be of practical use
For example, try learning 81 differentleadership styles from a grid – such asoffered by Blake and Mouton andothers.
Or how about ‘The Continuum ofTannenbaum and Schmidt’ - similar tothe Leadership Grid but with aninfinite variety of leadership styles.
Many books are written on ‘great leaders’ which lead you
to hope you can extract the qualities and traits that made
Churchill or Margaret Thatcher or Bill Clinton a leader.
It is seemingly easy to express what is observed in leaders.
But research shows conclusively that a person possessing
and practising any or all of these qualities and traits will
not necessarily be followed or recognised as a leader.
You cannot mimic past leaders and their leadership styles
as a way to lead.
Can you learn from ‘Great Men and Women’?
Here’s a leadership style you might recognise ...
Have you worked for someone who bulliedeveryone?
Did they really get the best out of the team?
Does bullying ever work?
Would you want to be a bullying type of leader?
What about examples in your workplace?
There are people like this – have you metone?
For instance, the manager who keptchanging their mind because they didn’twant to upset anyone?
Did it work or did you find that becausethey tried to please everyone they actuallypleased no-one?
Sounds appealing ...
The leader who is everyone’s friend?
The boss who sits at a desk just a few
feet away but prefers to send every
instruction by email.
Ever worked for one of those?
It is so unrewarding – and yet why did
they do it?
People who hide behind emails?There’s more and more of these ...
Are they just shy or never had any social skills?
Maybe you just need ‘charisma’ - and people will follow you?
‘Charisma’ is a trap that many novices make
when learning leadership.
Charisma is an accolade awarded to a leader by
his or her followers, but only after you have
demonstrated you are an excellent and well-
respected leader.
You cannot learn to be a charismatic leader.
If you try to behave with charisma, all you do is
look foolish and pompous – and people will
probably try to trip you up.
First, you need to know the essence
of effective leadership
Put simply, it’s about you
selecting the most appropriate
leadership style to use for
each:
Team
Task
& Situation
You bring your team together to achieve a
task together.
You create an understanding of the role
each individual plays as a part of the team
which is also understood by the other
team members.
You also need an understanding of the
needs of each individual in your team.
As the team leader you need to give purpose and meaning to the task
Is it a new situation or familiar to your
team?
Is it a new team or are there individuals
with little or no experience in your team?
Your leadership style selection will
depend on your analysis of the situation.
The situation is key in leadership
Your implied status
Your manner
How you listen & engage
Your voice
Your stance
Your eye & body movement
And what do we mean by leadership style?
It’s about...
More tips on learning to lead
Match your communications to your
team, giving the reasoning behind
decisions and clear instructions.
Know the rules and procedures of
your business or organisation.
Leadership is learnt experientially, so
set aside time after each leadership
experience to learn and improve.
Over time, with confidence, you will learn how to get more from your team...
...by applying motivational styles
Route to success is to learn from experience progressively
Research has found that leaders failed in
strategic positions if they had not been
through basic leadership learning.
To succeed as a leader, therefore, you
need to learn basic leadership before
progressing to higher levels of leadership.
A learning framework can help
From childhood to adult, the HelmsmanshipFramework makes it easy to learn leadershipprogressively
The Helmsmanship Framework contains only the essentials of leadership learning
Sufficient leadership styles for any situation, team and task.
Key knowledge a leader needs to achieve a task with a team in a situation.
Behavioural tips for leaders.
Techniques for communication with teams and other stakeholders.
Its is suitable for adults, apprentices and children.
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This presentation on leadership is by Roddy Mullin and Tess Harris
Please post this freely on your blog or email it to anyone you believe might benefit from reading it.
Visit our website to find our more about leadership and the Helmsmanship Framework for
Leadership Learning
www.helmsmanship.co.uk
© 2010 Go Lead Ltd