Inspirational Leadership

Day 1

The inner game of Leadership

The phrase the ‘inner game’ is a term borrowed from sports psychology. It is a reference to the fact that what is going on inside a person’s head (their state of mind) is crucial to good performance. Here we consider the role perception and beliefs of people who are excellent at leading others.

• Examining your current beliefs
• Reviewing expert beliefs
• Making changes that you feel are appropriate for you

Exercise: applying the ‘affirmation’ technique

Day 1 (cont)

Developing emotional intelligence

It is difficult to make a positive impression on another person, let alone a whole organisation, if we feel nervous, anxious, hesitant or angry. So before we start to lead people, a vital precursor is to recognise and understand our own thoughts, feelings and emotions in order to build and maintain a calm, rational and self confident state of mind. We call this capability ‘emotional intelligence’ and it is one of the core competencies of the effective leader.

• Self-awareness (having sense of our own moods and emotional states)
• Self-management (being positive and calm in the face of stressful situations)
• Social awareness (understanding how other people feel)
• Social skills (influencing the moods and feelings of other people)
• Maintaining self-control through ‘counter thinking’
• 360-degree feedback (understanding how to gain information on how other people currently view your performance as a leader)

Exercise: completing an emotional intelligence audit (as a self-assessment exercise) using real-life examples to practise self-awareness with Counter Thinking

Day 1 (cont)

Understanding the market context

Leadership does not take place in a vacuum, it occurs against a backdrop of economic and political factors. The leader needs to understand these factors if the vision that they develop is to be grounded in reality.

• PEEST analysis

Exercise: conducting a PEEST analysis

Appreciating organisational dynamics

Every organisation has a history, understanding this history is important if resistance to a new vision or company culture is to be avoided. Understanding the specifics of the area to be led involves looking at the origins of the organisation, the existing vision, current values (espoused versus actual), markets served, products offered and key financial ratios.

• organisational dynamics analysis by BMC (Boulden Management Consultants)

Exercise: conducting an organisational dynamics analysis

Day 1 (cont)

Managing stakeholder expectations

Stakeholders (which may include the leader’s immediate team, employees, suppliers and customers) will have an interest in the definition of the vision and values once they are developed. The question for the leader is to ask, “What is each of these groups looking for in a compelling vision?” Then build the answers into the finished vision and values statements.

• Boulden stakeholder-expectations chart

Exercise: completing a stakeholder chart

Day 1 (cont)

Developing the Vision

The vision is a short statement of how the leader wishes the company, department, function or team to be perceived by its customers, be they internal or external. It provides the ‘big picture’ for employees to work towards and generates a sense of purpose and direction. At the organisational level the vision should clearly indicate the market position that the company aims to hold. It must provide a compelling answer to the question “What business are we in?” It must also generate excitement and enthusiasm among the stakeholders.

• Canvassing opinion (getting the thoughts of stakeholders and ‘thought leaders’)
• The rules for a good Vision Statement
• Examples of good and bad Vision Statements
• BMC Vision Template

Exercise: writing a Vision Statement

Day 2

Setting high level goals

In order to translate the Vision into action the Leader sets high-level goals for their top team based on the steps that are needed to begin to move towards the Vision. They then ensure that those goals are cascaded down through the organisation so that each employee has clear work targets that will contribute to moving the company in the desired direction.

• Key Success Factors
• Balanced Scorecards
• Performance Dashboards
• SMART goals
• Assigning Responsibility
• Cascading the goals down through the business (the role of the performance management process)

Exercise: identifying Key Success Factors

Day 2 (cont)

Defining values – creating the company’s culture

Every organisation, work group or team operates in accordance with a set of values or ‘house rules’. These values, which can be implicit or explicit, specify ‘how we do things around here.’ They determine what kinds of behaviour are acceptable and which are inappropriate. In short, they combine to define the company’s culture.

• The structure of values
• Espoused versus actual values
• Model one values (typical ‘default’ values that occur in organisations)
• Creating values – participative versus authoritarian approaches
• Rewarding the ‘right behaviours’ (the link to the Performance Management Process)
• Dealing with negative employees (how to cope with people who reject the values)

Exercise: designing values

Day 2 (cont)

Choosing key initiatives

Leaders drive forward their agenda for implementing Vision and Values by focusing on a small number of key projects or initiatives. These initiatives provide the means for adding a sense of energy and urgency to the Values and Vision. They also give a concrete focus for taking action. Common initiatives include: Six Sigma Programmes, Total Quality Management, Lean Manufacturing, Cycle Time Reduction, Re-engineering etc.

• The role of initiatives
• Connecting with Vision & Values
• Pitfalls and problems
• The advantages and disadvantages of common approaches
• Engaging employees so that they are passionate about implementing the initiative

Exercise: deciding on an initiative

Day 2 (cont)

Understanding power bases

People respond to a request or instruction from a leader because they feel that he or she has a certain level of power or authority to which they feel they should respond. Everyone will respond positively to someone else if they perceive that in a given situation that person is in a position of authority. There are two sources of power that can be used to encourage someone to accept our point of view. These are: personal power (related to the characteristics of the individual) and position power (related to the job the person does.)

• Four sources of personal power
• Five sources of position power
• Understanding how we currently use our power
• Planning to develop and strengthen our power bases
• Dealing with challenges to your power

Exercise: case study on developing Power Bases

Day 2 (cont)

Communication strategies & influencing styles

For vision, values and initiatives to become fully integrated into the company’s daily work routines (or organisational ‘DNA’) they have to be communicated and reinforced on a frequent and systematic basis. Here we consider the ways and means that we have to make the leaders messages come to life.

• The Tannenbaum Schmidt continuum – understanding influencing styles
• Communications cube for planning who to communicate to and when
• CIA speeches (getting the point across in thirty seconds or less)
• Metaphors and analogies
• Publicising success stories
• Visibly promoting people based on living the message
• Link to the business planning cycle

Exercise: populating a communication cube