INTRODUCTION TO LEADERSHIP
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COPYRIGHT 2014 – THE COACHING INSTITUTE PTY LTD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of this manual may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, mechanical or electronic, including photocopying and recording, or by information storage and retrieval system without permission in writing from the publisher. Published by The Coaching Institute. For further information contact: The Coaching Institute Suite 40, Albert Square, 37-39 Albert Road, Melbourne VIC 3004 Phone: + 61 3 9645 9945 | Fax: + 61 3 9645 7002 | Email: wow@thecoachinginstitute.com.au LEGAL NOTICES DISCLAIMER While all attempts have been made to verify information provided in this publication, neither the author nor the publisher nor the marketing agents assumes any responsibility for errors, omissions or contrary interpretation of the subject matter herein. This publication is not intended for use as a legal source or accounting advice. The publisher wants to stress that the information contained herein may be subject to varying state and/or federal laws or regulations. All users of this information are advised to retain competent counsel to determine what state and /or federal laws or regulations may apply to the user’s particular business. The purchaser or reader of this publication assumes responsibility for the use of these materials and information. Adherence to all applicable laws and regulations, including federal and state and local governing professional licensing, business practices, advertising and all other aspects of doing business in Australia or any other jurisdiction is the sole responsibility of the purchaser or reader. The publisher and author and marketing agents assume no responsibility or liability whatsoever on the behalf of any purchaser or reader of these materials. Any perceived slight of specific people or organisations is unintentional. FINANCIAL DISCLAIMER Any earnings or income statements, or earning or income examples are only estimates of what we think you could earn. There is no assurance you’ll do as well. If you rely upon our figures, you must accept the risk of not doing as well. Where specific income figures are used, and attributed to an individual or business, those persons or businesses have earned that amount. There is no assurance you’ll do as well. If you rely upon our figures, you must accept the risk of not doing as well. Any and all claims or representations, as to income earning mentioned, are not to be considered average earnings. There can be no assurance that any prior successes, or past results as to income earnings, can be used as an indication of your future success or results. Monetary and income results are based on many factors. We have no way of knowing how well you will do, as we do not know you, your background, your work ethic, or your business skills or practices. Therefore we do not guarantee or imply that you will get rich, that you will do as well, or that you make any money at all. There is no assurance you’ll do as well. If you rely on our figures, you must accept the risk of not doing as well. All business and earnings derived have unknown risks involved and are not suitable for everyone. Making decisions based on any information presented should be done only with the knowledge that you could experience significant losses, or make no money at all. All products and services by our company are for educational and informational purposes only. Use caution and seek the advice of qualified professionals. Check with your accountant, lawyer, professional advisor, before acting on this or any information. Users of our products, services and websites are advised to do their own due diligence when it comes to making business decisions, and all information, products and service that have been provided should be independently verified by your own qualified professionals. All information, products and services should be carefully considered and evaluated, before reaching a business decision, on whether to rely on them. You agree that our company is not responsible for the success or failure of your business decisions relating to any information presented by our company, or our company products or services and their representations.
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Introduction “A great leader's courage to fulfil his vision comes from passion, not position.” John Maxwell I started out as a coach who wanted to make a difference. It was just me in the beginning, and my dog, Buffy. I’d work hard to help people, feel good about my day, and go home. Then business got busy. I needed help with answering the phone and responding to emails. My first staff appointment was a part time PA. It was a disaster. So was my second appointment and my third and my fourth and my fifth. It was SO hard for me to appoint good people, develop them and get them to do what the role required I seriously considered giving up and just keeping it me and my dog. At least she didn’t argue, pout, sulk and refuse to tidy the office. I persisted through necessity. I was doing around 20 hours a week of administration, which made no sense given the return on investment if I just focused on what brought business in. I’m glad I did. I didn’t study anything on leadership, and I definitely attended the school of hard knocks, but eventually I built a team of professionals who are as disciplined, determined and focused as I dreamed they could be. Then I did study anything I could find on leadership… As a result of having an effective team, our business is the leader in its field in Australia. We train more coaches than any other coaching school in the region. We have more success stories than any other school. We have a leadership program within the school for our team and we are focused on improving all the time. Clients now pay a premium to learn how we do this. All of this without me nagging, yelling, wishing and hoping things would improve. I want you to understand what the leader faces each and every day in their organisation, so you can have genuine insight into their challenges and their ambitions. I address the reader as a leader, not a coach.
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SOMETHING YOU SHOULD KNOW: I’m a coach but I don’t believe every situation with every team member lends itself to coaching. In fact, when I see leaders try to ‘coach’ a team member on something that should simply be addressed directly, I see frustration, disappointment and a poor outcome every time. Coaching has impacted my business enormously, but it would be only 5% of what I do to develop my team. Having said that, many of the skills I utilise in my own business have their genesis in coaching, and it’s always my preference to have the team member ‘get it’ through their own personal insights than have me spell it out. So whilst this entire manual is ‘flavoured’ with Coaching ideas Tips and tools Remember you don’t coach every situation. Sometimes the very best thing you can do is to tell the team member where they are not succeeding, spell out to them what success would be to you, and show her how to achieve that success. Not a coaching term in sight. It’s based on what I have applied successfully for the past eleven years in my role as CEO of The Coaching Institute and what I have assisted leaders of other organisations to apply. It also includes the most valuable insights and lessons I have gleaned from studying some truly magnificent leadership books, some of which we’ve highlighted and discussed in the bonus section of this program. None of it is theory. All of it is practical. All of, when applied how I show you, works. To make it work, you need to be a reasonably courageous leader. ‘Getting by’ won’t cut it. Nor will ‘that’s not how I do it’. The way I look at it is this… I’m here to learn so my team can grow. I will continue to learn as long as I am holding my team back. And then I’ll learn some more, so they can stand on my shoulders.
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Understand Leadership Styles and Approach The Purpose of Leadership “People don’t need to be managed, they need to be unleashed” Richard Florida “Leadership is communicating to people their worth and potential so clearly that they come to see it in themselves” Stephen Covey Leadership is MANY things, but it all comes down to one thing – you’re there to help your team to think in a way that – Seeks to challenge their own beliefs and attitudes about what’s possible Allows them to own their role Boosts their personal performance Gives them more job satisfaction Encourages them to contribute to the improvements and innovations in the organization Guides them in how to solve problems in a way that demonstrates good judgement and thought for consequences Allows them to think of others and the impact decisions have on them Helps them become the human being they want to be This form of high-impact leadership encourages innovative thinking and empowers the team to ‘own’ not just their own performance but the outcomes for the entire team. And it sees them as more than just people doing their job. ACCORDING TO A SURVEY CONDUCTED AND REPORTED IN THE DAILY MAIL SIX OUT OF 10 WORKERS ARE MISERABLE. DIG INTO THE SURVEYS AND YOU’LL FIND THAT THE QUALITY OF LEADERSHIP IS AT THE TOP OF THE LIST OF COMPLAINTS. When work shifted to data entry and processing, and involved even more repetitive labour (although less physical) the leadership style became one of greater efficiencies.
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Great intelligence and the ability to think were not high on the attributes needed as a team member. Then, computers came along and much of this labour became automated. People now got hired to ‘think’. Thinkers who aren’t trained in how to think, however, are going to cost the organisation in terms of poor decisions, poor execution and low consideration for consequences. And the management models are still those of the process era. I see leaders themselves with such poor decision making strategies their team doesn’t stand a chance! Compounding this is the fact that many people want more autonomy in their role, they seek independent thinking and welcome opportunities to make decisions. That’s all just terrific, unless the thinking all of this is based on is flawed to start with. Let’s add to this mess even further and consider that today’s technology is probably going to be outdated in the next few years, or even sooner. It used to take over 100 years for technology to be surpassed – and we now see many innovations outdated within weeks or even days of their invention. And the clients and consumers demand the benefits of the new and the latest breakthroughs, so we now have to have a team that can handle, implement and thrive in a rapidly adapting environment or you get left behind. And there’s more… Add to this the fact that to truly succeed in business you must be the innovator, and not one of the pack followers – so now we’ve got the leadership team being required to invent new ways of doing business to stay ahead of the pack, not to mention that they can’t do it alone so they need their team contributing ideas as well... It sounds like chaos, and yes, in many ways it is. But managing chaos in such a way that the team thrives, the business is profitable and the clients are delighted is kinda the whole point. I’ve seen an organisation appoint someone who valued stability and calm ahead of anything else. It took less than one month for sales to plummet, morale to crash and for 100% of the team to talk about leaving. There was rarely a day that went by that didn’t involve the leader needing to do another ‘pep talk’ for another team member who was feeling stressed, overworked and underappreciated. TURNS OUT CALM AND STABILITY IS NOT A GOOD WAY TO ACHIEVE TEAM RESULTS. Yet interestingly, the moment the team was re-engaged, encouraged to think and challenged to life their game, there was mutiny, resistance and a genuine belief that it couldn’t be done. They had become comfortable with the new status quo, even though it meant they couldn’t achieve results. It took a month, they changed their thinking back to what it takes to succeed, surprising themselves and improving the business.
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In Summary It’s time leaders learned how to improve people’s ability to think. Many team members are highly capable individuals who will thrive on this approach. They want to work smarter, they want to be smarter, they want to succeed, they want to thrive. They want to feel genuinely fulfilled by what they do because it counts, has meaning and has contributed beyond themselves. A good day is not ‘getting through the day’. A good day is not ‘it can only get better’. A good day is one where the team member knows that what they did made a difference and they were capable under pressure of finding a way. Give your team that, and you will be amazed at what’s possible. One hundred years ago people were paid for their ability to do physical labour. The dominant management model was master-servant and it was all about getting more return from the labourer for their efforts.
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