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leadership development program

Leadership Training and Development Trends for High Performance During Times of Uncertainty

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Leadership Training and Development Trends for High Performance During Times of Uncertainty

In the 12 months since the world was thrown into a near complete shut down due to the spread of COVID-19, the shift in how leadership training is delivered continues to evolve. As we begin the slow return to normalcy, it is worth taking the time to reflect on how the changes we have adapted to have proven successful for developing high performance teams. Though much of our activity has been uncertain for so long, there is also a lot that can be learned from how we handled such uncertainty. What worked? What did not? And what trends will continue in a post-COVID world? 

Online Leadership Training

Perhaps the most prevalent change of the past year has been the significant increase in the use of virtual meeting spaces such as Zoom and Microsoft Teams for conducting leadership development training. Though online training systems were certainly commonplace prior to the pandemic, the necessity for their exclusive use has brought to light the many benefits they provide. When The Leadership Sphere moved the delivery of the Dare to Lead™ Program to Zoom, we were able to continue to provide high quality training to participants across Australia. The ability to develop and maintain connections will continue to be integral to the success of leadership training programs in the future.

Flexible Training Programs

In addition to being able to run live training programs, one of the greatest benefits of online leadership training is the fact that many courses can be self-paced. In a rapidly developing business environment, many individuals in leadership positions are finding themselves to be time-poor. Self-led or self-paced leadership development programs offer the flexibility to engage with the learning in a way that fits in with their schedule. This means that they can continue to deliver high performance in their work without being distracted by the needs of their training. Simultaneously, they can give their full focus to their training without worrying about how they’re going to meet upcoming deadlines. 

Change Management

Effective change management has been one of the most vital factors in business endurance during these times of uncertainty. Unfortunately, many businesses have struggled to cope in the face of it. This has exposed the need for leadership training moving forward to encompass a greater focus on navigating change and succeeding while also dealing with major unexpected disruptions. Managers must now, more than ever, be prepared to lead and support their teams through time of crisis.

Leading Remote Teams

We often think of leadership in a very hands on and face-to-face capacity, however the last decade has seen a consistent shift towards more remote operations for many industries. With this shift, comes the added challenge of leaders needing to manage teams whose members may rarely get to meet in person. This requires that leadership training programs reflect this and ensure the development of skills necessary for this style of business. 

Soft Skills Development

The development of soft skills within the workplace has been a growing focus for some time, and the uncertainty and stress caused by the global pandemic has highlighted how necessary such skills are in all roles, but especially in leadership. In times of crisis, leaders must exhibit higher levels of empathy and emotional intelligence to effectively support and communicate with their teams. Soft skills are becoming more integral to organisational success as workplace culture becomes more important to potential employees.

Where we go from here with Leadership Development

The importance of leadership training and development has always been widely known. However, the disruption and uncertainty caused by the COVD-19 pandemic shone a much needed light on the role that the resilience of leaders plays in succeeding through times of crisis. It has taught us that we can adapt in any situation and that what we learn under pressure can have a lasting impact in how we grow and develop into the future.

For more information about The Leadership Sphere and how we can help you unlock performance through leadership, by supporting your leaders at every level of the organisation with leadership development, executive coaching and high performance team programs please visit our website or call us on 1300 100 857.

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Leadership Training and Development Trends for High Performance During Times of Uncertainty

leading teams

3 Skills Needed for Leading High Performance Teams

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3 Skills Needed for Leading High Performance Teams

Successful high performance teams are a well developed group of diverse individuals who are committed to working together and sharing their ideas to achieve a common goal. They are sought after for their talent and drive. Despite their seeming self sufficiency, high performance teams nonetheless require a someone to lead them in order to maintain their productivity and accomplishment. Without someone in place to engage with the team and propel them forward, even the most talented teams can fail to reach their potential. Effective team leaders know how and when to employ the appropriate management style that will motivate others to achieve success.

Directing

The first skill for leaders of high performance teams we’re going to explore is directing. This is about much more than simply telling others what to do and how to do it (though it’s certainly a part of it). Directing is mainly concerned with the work itself. Directive leaders run the meetings, establish priorities, set goals, and monitor results. These are important skills needed to guide the team in the right direction. High performance team programs work to support this structure. They ensure that all team members know what the vision is and where they are heading. 


Discussing

Knowing how to engage with others on a personal level is an important skill for every leader to have, especially when leading high performance teams. It allows for connections to be formed that are integral to the success of high performance teams. Having the ability to not only discuss issues and resolve conflicts, but also generate new ideas and motivate action are what make high performance team leaders so effective. The HPT Model used by The Leadership Sphere is the cornerstone of the programs used to develop high performance teams. It is a highly collaborative process that aims to develop trust and stronger relationships. Being able to both give and receive feedback is a key component to practical leadership management. Leadership development programs provide a focus on being able to manage group conversations more effectively.

Delegating

Delegating is when team members are empowered to take ownership for their success. Tasks are not so specifically instructed as when they are directed. When delegating, the leader will have identified a task and determined what needs to be done to accomplish it. And instead of also deciding how it will be achieved, they are able to encourage their team to drive themselves to do so. Leaders of high performance teams are able to support their teams in this way because they have the trust in their skills, talents, and commitment. It is part of what makes so many people strive to be a part of these teams. Yes, there is leadership and guidance, but there is also the trust that your manager will support your undertaking tasks self-reliantly. 


Leading high performance teams is no small undertaking, but understanding the important role that managers play in motivating the team towards achieving results is a large part of what makes them so successful. Leaders must be able to balance the goals of their team within the greater organisational goals. In order to do so they need to harness an arsenal of leadership strategies at once and know when the appropriate moment to deploy any particular one is. High performance team programs help to develop trusting team dynamics and provide leaders with the tools to navigate challenges. Leaders of high performance teams are mentors that succeed by encouraging others to reach their goals. 

For more information about The Leadership Sphere and how we can help you unlock performance through leadership, by supporting your leaders at every level of the organisation with leadership development, executive coaching and high performance team programs please visit our website or call us on 1300 100 857.

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3 Skills Needed for Leading High Performance Teams

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Why High Performance Teams Perform Well During Crises

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Why High Performance Teams Perform Well During Crises

When faced with a crisis, there are risks that need to be mitigated and opportunities that we can exploit. Whilst most teams spend adequate time and attention to managing risks, the stand out factor for high performance teams is that they also give attention to the opportunities for growth and in conducting post-crisis evaluations of how effectively things were handled. This leads to improvement in the way we lead through a crisis, any skill gaps within the team, and the creation of new systems, policies and procedures whose purpose is to provide guidance on how to deal with similar challenges that may occur in the future. This is not a blame game but rather a constructive practice that allows businesses to benefit from past experiences. The best teams are able to rise above a purely administrative exercise of identifying new processes and instead spend a good amount of attention on navigating the interpersonal elements that are most important for problem solving. 

This can be a result of the leadership style posing a challenge to the effectiveness of high performance teams performing at their best. High performance team programs focus on building trusting interpersonal relationships that support open communication. By embracing the unique, community environment that defines such teams, we will be more capable of meeting the external challenges that we face during times of crisis.


‘Take Charge’ Leadership 

In certain cases it can appear comforting to have leaders who possess a commanding presence. During times of crisis, having a solitary figure ‘take charge’ of the decision making process may appear to be a positive asset as a solution can be reached much more quickly. Where this approach to crisis management falters is in the lack of clear communication and cohesion.

Crisis resolution is rarely the result of a single executive’s orders being followed. It is instead often due to collaborative efforts and team performance. Not only does collaborative problem solving encourage active engagement from all team members, it significantly reduces the risk of knowledge gaps or biases affecting decisions. Well balanced high performance teams should contain those with a diverse range of skills and experience. Leaders who draw from the expertise of others during a crisis are ensuring that they can make decisions based on the most amount of relevant and available information. This will of course vary depending on the intensity of a crisis, because often leaders are required to make decisions based on the limited information that is available to them. High performance teams tend to trust each other at a higher level going into a crisis, and this creates more resilience and gives such groups the flexibility to navigate through complexity in the heat of a crisis. 

Workplace Politics

Crises create environments that often amplify existing stressors and divisions within even the most successful teams. While it is idealistic to assume that unification will occur under high pressure situations, some socio-political or even competitive splits may begin to prevail. Even when individuals have been placed in the same ‘team’, it does not mean that their personalities or priorities will be perfectly compatible. This can shift focus away from problem solving and towards interpersonal conflict.

That is not to say that those with differing ideas should not be placed on teams together; growth occurs when we are challenged in our ideals. Instead, high performing team members recognise that our voices are not the only voices, and during a  crisis ‘getting louder’ or ‘repeating’ our views over and over again is not always the best way to influence the situation. There are times to call things out and there are times to let others explain their thinking, and that balance is what makes high performing teams rich in diversity and high in confidence. High performance team programs aim to reduce these micro political issues by employing a 360-Degree feedback survey that helps to identify and resolve them before they become hindrances to productivity. Members of successful high performance teams develop the ability to manage group conversations more effectively. In other words, the crisis is often solved before the crisis occurs, because teams have been equipped with the mindset and understanding of each other to navigate through uncertainty. At The Leadership Sphere, we see that one off high performance team workshops will deliver a 3 x return on investment, however, when longer term programs run over 12 months through to a few years, there is a 10 x return on investment. Much research has been put into what creates the 10 x effect on return on investment and it is because teams learn about each other, not just skills and knowledge, but about emotional intelligence, resilience, preferences in response, communication styles, and the softer parts of what makes up a high performing team member. Of course, in such programs there are core skills that need to be developed, however, where The Leadership Sphere are different is that we work with core values first and what makes up a high performing team, and take time to understand this dynamic before pushing volume through high performance skill development.


Burn Out

The stress and adrenaline levels of high pressure situations can invigorate us to perform at our best, but eventually even those who often say they ‘work best under pressure’ will reach a breaking point. Though dedication to the task at hand is admirable, and can sometimes demand sacrifices, it should not come at the expense of mental fatigue that results in lower quality work. 

High performance teams are well equipped at making efficient use of their time. It is especially important during times of crisis that they do not hyper-focus on any singular task for an extended period. Intentional periods of reflection are built into the workday to maintain a sense of clarity on their purpose. 

One of the challenges that small and medium businesses face is that they are often running fast and growth is rapid, and that leaves very little time for this ‘time out’ activities and mentoring. There is a certain discipline and rigour that is required to make time for such activities, and interestingly you save time when you get back on the court! Large organisations on the other hand, are often stripped of human resources in the attempt to reduce cost and increase profitability, for many and varied reasons, and this in turn reduces the time that can be spent in such coaching and mentoring, evaluating situations, and development activities. Either scenario is our reality, and instead of worrying about what is happening, and the cards that we are handled, we instead need to consider smarter ways to get the most out of the time and resources that we have into high performance team building.

Why do High Performance Teams Succeed?

By their nature, high performance teams maintain their productivity in times of crisis because they prioritise a collaborative working environment. They have strong communication and feedback systems in place that allow them to work through issues both personally and professionally. Development programs work to establish the core values that build stronger relationships and drive the team to achieve success. That all sounds like common sense, but then why are only 20% of team high performing? That is a question to answer in another articles, so to will the fact that those 20% of teams who are high performing generally deliver 80% of the results, because the Pareto principle stands true when it comes to high performing teams too!

For more information about The Leadership Sphere and how we can help you unlock performance through leadership, by supporting your leaders at every level of the organisation with leadership development, executive coaching and high performance team programs please visit our website or call us on 1300 100 857.

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Why High Performance Teams Perform Well During Crises

benefits of executive coaching

Why Empathy is the Most Important Executive Coaching Skill

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Why Empathy is the Most Important Executive Coaching Skill

In the past 12 months since COVID-19 has forced many businesses and industries to completely revolutionise their practices, and as a result of such change, there has been a significant increase in the demand for executive coaching. Such a crisis has highlighted for many, the need for leaders to have access to someone who will act as an objective sounding board for ideas and concerns, as well as someone who can offer unbiased perspectives. It’s become a case of supporting the leaders who are supporting others. It may seem as though a crisis of this magnitude would offer little time for leaders to focus on their personal development, there is reason to suggest that by taking the opportunity to freely discuss their thoughts and concerns with an executive coach, leaders can gain energy, productivity, and are able to lead their teams more effectively.

So much of how society has had to adapt to this ‘new normal’ has been completely unknown. The same is true of business and leadership. This has left many executives with little idea of how they could possibly manage their own overwhelm while giving reassurance to their teams, developing new business practices, and attempting to plan for unforeseen challenges. Leaders who find themselves burdened in such ways may benefit greatly from engaging in an executive coaching program that allows them to express their concerns and come up with a plan for how to cope with them. Executive coaches offer much needed relief to these (and many other) concerns that leaders are still facing by relying on the most important coaching skill – empathy. 


Simply by allowing the client to guide conversation through listening and empathising, coaches can assist leaders in gaining clarity on where to prioritise their attention. Interestingly, the best coaches also help leaders to understand what ‘not to do’ as well as actions that can be taken to improve situations. This reduces stress for the client so that they are then able to generate their own new ideas and perspectives. With personalised one-on-one coaching, the specific needs of the client can be met. Successful executive coaching programs are made so by engaging with the client in ways that make them feel as though their concerns are being heard. When we find ourselves in a state of overwhelm, all we really need is for someone to listen to what we have to say without judgment. The best executive coaches know this. They also know that once the client has had the chance to express their concerns, they are often then able to find their own solutions with minimal guidance. At The Leadership Sphere, we have also come to realise that embedding coaching into our core programs, for senior leaders, also helps those senior leaders to deliver more effective coaching and mentoring to their teams, and this has a significant impact on the overall return on investment of leadership development and high performance team programs.


Executive coaching allows leaders to deepen their learning and improve the performance of both themselves, and their team. The personal relationship formed between coach and client is one based on empathy and trust. This means that there is not a one size fits all program. Effective coaching programs are ongoing and encourage the client to drive their own success. This will look different to every leader in a variety of situations. During times of crisis, it is important that the coach can support this growth by knowing the right questions to ask. The ‘right questions’ should be open-ended enough to allow the client to come to their own answer yet remain focused on the issue being addressed. Interestingly, the best coaches ask questions, even when they may feel they have come to the conclusion already, having seen such behaviours before. But it is never about the answer, but about the thinking process to get to the answer, and by role modelling patience and good questioning and listening skills the coach is doing the client a massive service, to their own mindset, but also the way it can change the way they approach other staff in their teams.

– ‘What is within your control that will make a difference?’

– ‘What is especially concerning to you in this moment?’

– ‘Which of your strengths can help in this situation?’

– ‘Tell me more’ (sometimes it’s not a question!)

Executive coaching programs are designed to help individuals focus on reaching their personal goals and become effective leaders. Empathy is in integral skill needed for coaches and leaders to develop the trusting relationship that makes such a program successful. When faced with new and unforeseen challenges, it is especially important that leaders have the emotional support they need to overcome them. By undertaking executive coaching, individuals can better manage their personal concerns and return to their teams much calmer and more focused. We all  know that a calmer and more focused version of ourselves is the best version of ourselves!

For more information about The Leadership Sphere and how we can help you unlock performance through leadership, by supporting your leaders at every level of the organisation with leadership development, executive coaching and high performance team programs please visit our website or call us on 1300 100 857.

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Why Empathy is the Most Important Executive Coaching Skill

what are the benefits of executive coaching

When is the Best Time to Invest in Executive Coaching?

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When is the Best Time to Invest in Executive Coaching?

Executive coaching is tailored leadership development for senior executives, other leaders, and high potential talent. Unlike other leadership development programs, executive coaching is a one-on-one partnership between leader and coach that addresses the leader’s specific goals and challenges. It offers the opportunity to explore and develop the skills that you aspire to possess to be a successful leader. This means that an individual may choose to take advantage of involving an executive coach at any point. There are certain times however, that it may be more beneficial to begin working with an executive coach.


Role or Career Change

One of the many benefits of executive coaching is having the ability to see the in progress effectiveness of the leadership skills they are developing. This may be of particular benefit when an individual takes on a new leadership position or enters a new industry. They may require assistance in navigating the unfamiliarity of their new position. In this situation, the coach is able to provide leadership development training that can be implemented immediately because it is contextualised within the bounds of the specific role.

Managing Conflict and Crisis

Executive coaching can also be a useful tool during times of conflict and of crisis. These moments can be especially challenging when there is a lot of change happening in a very short space of time. Here, the executive coach is a great asset to the individual as an objective sounding board for ideas. Through executive coaching programs, the coach is to help the leader gain a better understanding of their own thought processes so that they are able to resolve issues independently. 

Employee Development

Though executive coaching is often undertaken by C-level leaders and senior executives, it may be worth considering for those who have been identified as high potential talent. Investing in executive coaching prior to the appointment of a more senior role, prepares the individual ahead of time by developing the skills needed to meet their specific goals. This means that when they do take on the new position, they do so with a greater idea of their own capabilities and how they will contribute to overall company success. 

Improved Communication

One of the issues most often addressed in an executive coaching program is the need for better interpersonal communication. This is achieved using advanced leadership tools such as 360 reporting that allows the individual to understand how they are perceived by others, and also improve upon their emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence is an important factor for being able to be understood effectively with people whose communication style differs from one’s own. 

The reasons an individual may have for considering executive coaching can be quite varied and, like executive coaching itself, all depends on what they hope to gain from it. The Leadership Sphere executive coaching programs help to embed new skills, improve interpersonal communication, and assist in change management at the individual, team, and organisational level. What matters most is that the relationship between the coach and the individual is built on trust. Therefore it is important to establish an understanding of where a person has been and where they want to go. Getting the balance of what one wants to achieve and how much they are able to be challenged is one of the hidden skills of a great leadership coach!

For more information about The Leadership Sphere and how we can help you unlock performance through leadership, by supporting your leaders at every level of the organisation with leadership development, executive coaching and high performance team programs please visit our website or call us on 1300 100 857.

Executive coaching is tailored leadership development for senior executives, other leaders, and high potential talent. Unlike other leadership development programs, executive coaching is a one-on-one partnership between leader and coach that addresses the leader’s specific goals and challenges. It offers the opportunity to explore and develop the skills that you aspire to possess to be a successful leader. This means that an individual may choose to take advantage of involving an executive coach at any point. There are certain times however, that it may be more beneficial to begin working with an executive coach.


Role or Career Change

One of the many benefits of executive coaching is having the ability to see the in progress effectiveness of the leadership skills they are developing. This may be of particular benefit when an individual takes on a new leadership position or enters a new industry. They may require assistance in navigating the unfamiliarity of their new position. In this situation, the coach is able to provide leadership development training that can be implemented immediately because it is contextualised within the bounds of the specific role.

Managing Conflict and Crisis

Executive coaching can also be a useful tool during times of conflict and of crisis. These moments can be especially challenging when there is a lot of change happening in a very short space of time. Here, the executive coach is a great asset to the individual as an objective sounding board for ideas. Through executive coaching programs, the coach is to help the leader gain a better understanding of their own thought processes so that they are able to resolve issues independently. 

Employee Development

Though executive coaching is often undertaken by C-level leaders and senior executives, it may be worth considering for those who have been identified as high potential talent. Investing in executive coaching prior to the appointment of a more senior role, prepares the individual ahead of time by developing the skills needed to meet their specific goals. This means that when they do take on the new position, they do so with a greater idea of their own capabilities and how they will contribute to overall company success. 

Improved Communication

One of the issues most often addressed in an executive coaching program is the need for better interpersonal communication. This is achieved using advanced leadership tools such as 360 reporting that allows the individual to understand how they are perceived by others, and also improve upon their emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence is an important factor for being able to be understood effectively with people whose communication style differs from one’s own. 

The reasons an individual may have for considering executive coaching can be quite varied and, like executive coaching itself, all depends on what they hope to gain from it. The Leadership Sphere executive coaching programs help to embed new skills, improve interpersonal communication, and assist in change management at the individual, team, and organisational level. What matters most is that the relationship between the coach and the individual is built on trust. Therefore it is important to establish an understanding of where a person has been and where they want to go. Getting the balance of what one wants to achieve and how much they are able to be challenged is one of the hidden skills of a great leadership coach!

For more information about The Leadership Sphere and how we can help you unlock performance through leadership, by supporting your leaders at every level of the organisation with leadership development, executive coaching and high performance team programs please visit our website or call us on 1300 100 857.

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When is the Best Time to Invest in Executive Coaching?

leadership in 2021

What Does Leadership Look Like In 2021?

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What Does Leadership Look Like in 2021?

Businesses across every industry were forced to make dramatic changes to the ways in which they operate over the past year. Business leaders, managers and their teams have had to adapt rapidly to (in many cases) entirely new procedures. Our senior managers and HR leaders have been at the forefront of implementing these changes to ensure success at every level. How has this last 12 months changed our perception of leadership? How have our expectations of those in leadership changed as a result? The challenges that we faced and will continue to be around as a result of COVID-19 have forced us to take a closer look at what it means to be a great leader, especially during times of crisis, and its recovery. What lessons were learned? And of course, the big question on everyone’s list is what does leadership look like in 2021?

Trust

Leadership is about more than simply being given the role of ‘leader.’ It is an important quality within a person that inspires others to be at their best. Great leaders are able to do this by creating trusting and supportive environments wherein their team are empowered to develop skills and build confidence in themselves. With many businesses still restricting some of their in-person operations, it is even more important that managers are able to trust their employees to continue to perform their role to the same standards expected of them in the office or workplace. Likewise, those same employees must also be able to trust their leaders to provide the same level of support they would receive were they not working remotely. Trust is a big part of organisational performance and evidence suggests that during COVID-19 those high performance teams who already have well established trust, performed equal to pre-COVID-19 if not higher. Yet, those teams with lower trust experienced a decline in performance.

Communication

As with trust, remote operating procedures have highlighted the importance of having excellent communication within a team. It is a skill that we can not afford to overlook. For leaders this means being able to deliver ideas and feedback by being authentic. Authentic in the sense that the language used isn’t comprised of, nor do we hide behind a lot of complicated jargon; rather, it is your own authentic voice. This lets your team know that you are being yourself and not keeping information from them. In turn, this can help to build trust between you and your team. Interestingly at The Leadership Sphere we have seen an increase in businesses looking for high performance teams training, support with development around performance management, and coaching to help senior managers and leaders with giving and receiving feedback.

Emotional Intelligence

Emotional intelligence is an important skill for leaders. Just like trust and communication,it becomes even more important during times of crisis. By developing this skillset through leadership development programs, leaders are able to gain a deeper understanding of the concerns of their team. The key word here being leadership development programs, rather than one off courses, that is a program of ongoing workshops, coaching and reviews that enable self awareness, self reflection and 360 degree feedback along the way. In doing this, they are also better equipped to guide their teams through the challenges they face both day-to-day, as well as on the global scale experienced recently. We can look at the extreme challenges brought on by the pandemic as an opportunity to reflect on our understanding of our emotional intelligence and how this affects the ways we behave during difficult situations.

“Great leaders not only must respond to change, but often be the driving force behind it.”

Flexibility

Change is an ever present part of any industry and must be met with flexibility. Great leaders not only must respond to change, but often be the driving force behind it. Having the ability to adapt quickly to unexpected or unfamiliar situations is a skill that allows for productivity to continue, even in times of transition or uncertainty. Leadership development programs can help leaders learn how to navigate change by giving them the tools needed to become more receptive of innovation. Being a flexible leader means you are able to embrace change and are open to new ideas. There have been increasing requests for support with performance management as part of The Leadership Sphere leadership development programs and high performance culture workshops, and these have been invested by organisations who are looking at change across their business and building more flexibility and resilience into their leaders and senior managers.

What does this mean for the future of leadership?

For leaders moving forward, it is imperative that we continue to embrace each new challenge that awaits us. Not to do so would be detrimental to the success and growth of any business. It is only by reflecting on the successful ways business and leadership styles have been forced to adapt, that we can recognise the path we must follow into the future. By engaging expertise from The Leadership Sphere and building out a leadership development framework and supporting leadership development and high performance development program, managers are able to strengthen their ability to lead with trust and the support of their team.

For more information about The Leadership Sphere and how we can help you unlock performance through leadership, by supporting your leaders at every level of the organisation with leadership development, executive coaching and high performance team programs please visit our website or call us on 1300 100 857.

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What Does Leadership Look Like In 2021?

life styles inventory

Life Styles Inventory (LSI) Explained

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Life Styles Inventory (LSI) Explained

The LSI Explained

There are a variety of performance assessment tools that can be used to identify the strengths of an organisation as well as areas for development. The Life Styles Inventory, or LSI, is an organisational tool that provides these insights for leaders by utilising self-assessment and feedback from colleagues and employees. It is based around the Human Synergistics Circumplex, describing constructive, passive/defensive and aggressive/defensive behaviours. It is a type of 360 Degree Feedback that aims to provide the individual with a full-picture understanding of how they perceive themselves, as well as how they are perceived by others. In this article, we take a closer look at how the Life Styles Inventory works to achieve this and what benefits it can have on individual performance and the organisation as a whole. 

How it Works

There are three components to the LSI that are used to make the assessment:

1. LSI 1 (self-assessment): this tool is specifically designed to help you understand the thoughts and attitudes that motivate your behaviour, how you relate to others, and how you solve problems and make decisions.

The LSI is a survey of 240 inventory items that the individual is first asked to assess themselves in. The answers provided to these items measure how you view yourself on 12 key thinking patterns as being either effective or ineffective.

2. LSI 2 (other’s description): this tool provides objective feedback on an individual’s behaviour as they are interpreted by others.

Eight trusted associates are selected by the individual to answer the 240 items and their results are combined, forming a composite profile that provides insight into how the individual is collectively perceived.

3. The results of each assessment are compared to identify the individual’s areas of strength, as well as those in which they can improve. 

Features of the LSI

When the results of the Life Styles Inventory ar compiled, they form a circumplex (or ‘clock’) to provide a visual representation of how you think you behave in each of the 12 styles. These styles are further broken up into three broader categories – constructive, passive/defensive, and aggressive/defensive. This provides a clear visual representation of the individual’s leadership behaviours.

Benefits

The LSI 1 is part of the Life Styles System that allows the individual the opportunity to take an introspective look at the image they hold of themselves. Unlike many other self-assessment tools, the LSI 1 provides a quantifiable measurement of strengths and weaknesses. This means that there is a concrete starting place for targeting areas of improvement. Results from over 240,000 organisations indicate that there are significant connections between LSI 1 scores and the development of leadership effectiveness, an increased ability to facilitate change, the achievement of self-set goals, and improved relationships with others. 

When used in conjunction with LSI 1, the LSI 2 will provide further objective feedback on the individual’s leadership behaviours in a way that is confidential, reliable, and presented in a nonthreatening manner. Re-testing packs of each assessment also enable individuals to monitor their growth at 3, 6, and/or 12 months after completing their initial assessment. Not only is this a great benefit for the individual, but the organisation is also able to measure the effectiveness of LSI development. 

 

Performance assessment tools such as the Life Styles Inventory can be useful in providing insight into the full scope of an individual’s leadership behaviours. The LSI is one of many different leadership assessment and personality profiling tools that The Leadership Sphere use to assist organisations in identifying key leadership characteristics and behaviours. Each organisation, and each leader, will have different goals they hope to achieve through the implementation of any leadership development program. For this reason, it is important that you are using the right tool for the right job. 

For more information about the Life Styles Inventory (LSI) and how The Leadership Sphere can help you unlock performance through leadership, by supporting your leaders at every level of the organisation with leadership development, executive coaching and high performance team programs please visit our website or call us on 1300 100 857.

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Life Styles Inventory (LSI) Explained

how culture influence communication

5 Benefits of Executive Coaching

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5 Benefits of Executive Coaching

Executive coaching is an important tool of leadership development because it allows those in positions of leadership the opportunity to become responsible for their own learning and development. It differs from other leadership development programs in that it can be a much more collaborative experience between participant and coach. Executive coaching provides an individually tailored approach to helping leaders understand their strengths, how they are perceived by others, as well as creating a safe space for them to grow and work through new ideas. All of this is crucial for leaders who may benefit from the presence of a trustworthy environment in which they can be supported. It also provides a safe place for leaders to take time out and reflect on past, present and future events and that helps minimise risk and maximise opportunities for the leader and the teams they are responsible for.

Navigate Change

Change is constant in all areas of life, but particularly in business. Organisational change can be difficult to implement without the skills to do so. Executive coaching can be a beneficial resource during times of change or transition to aid managers in leading their teams through it. 

Objective Support and Feedback

Executive positions come with the expectation that they will hold the answers to questions posed by their teams. What tends to happen far too often is that the higher a position a leader holds within an organisation, the more difficult it is to receive support. This support can be given by executive coaches who take on a mentor role for leaders. They provide a confidential space that allows leaders to work through issues, new ideas, and make decisions. The objectivity of executive coaching means they can provide constructive feedback free from any potential agenda. Their feedback may stem from their own observations of the organisation or executive coaching programs like the Hogan 360 Report.

Customised Leadership Development

The benefits of coaching encompass the development of critical leadership skills and qualities with time and space dedicated to providing leaders with the opportunity. While there are countless leadership development options available, not all of them will be beneficial to all organisations or indeed, all leaders. Executive coaching programs focus on providing tailored solutions that meet the specific needs of the individual and their position. By customising the executive coaching program to the individual, leaders can achieve their goals and have an easier time incorporating their learning into the workplace. 

While there are countless leadership development options available, not all of them will be beneficial to all organisations or indeed, all leaders.

Improved Productivity to Achieve Results

A main objective of leadership is to ensure that you and your team achieve results. Coaching programs help to enhance goal management and achievement by strengthening skills in performance, support and productivity. Productivity is particularly important for achieving results. There has been a prevalent culture in business of working later and longer in order to ‘prove’ our dedication and commitment; when often all this does is overwork us, create stress, lead to poorer quality work, and in fact, decrease productivity. Executive coaching provides refreshed solutions to bettering work-life balance and productivity that directly leads to achieving results. 

Builds Confidence

No matter who we are, or what position we hold within our organisation, we are all prone to self-doubt every now and then. As leaders, we often feel as though we aren’t ‘allowed’ to be anything less than completely confident at all times. When we don’t, we may begin to overthink or second guess our skills as a leader. Executive coaching provides the opportunity for you to strengthen your existing skills in a way that encourages you to take ownership of your development and become confident in utilising your abilities in the workplace. Coaches can also help leaders to remain balanced over time and deal with the ups and downs that are all part of being a leader!

The benefits of coaching are far reaching not only for the participants, but the teams they lead. Great leaders can not begin or continue to serve their teams without also attaining support themselves. When leaders have the confidence to realise their full potential, they can better navigate challenges and assist their team in reaching goals. For this reason, The Leadership Sphere understands the importance of creating customised programs that are based on leveraging strengths and addressing capability gaps identified using the assessment tool that best suits your situation. 

For more information about The Leadership Sphere and how we can help you unlock performance through leadership, by supporting your leaders at every level of the organisation with leadership development, executive coaching and high performance team programs please visit our website or call us on 1300 100 857.

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5 Benefits of Executive Coaching

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How to Develop and Sustain a High Performance Team

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How to Develop and Sustain a High Performance Team

High performance teams are ones that we all strive to create or become a part of. Why is this? The great appeal of such teams lays beyond their ability to consistently achieve results. In most cases of high performance teams, there is a strong willingness for individuals to go above and beyond in their efforts to contribute to the success of the team. They are motivated to perform at their best because there is an understanding of the inherent value of each person’s role. As a team, they are focused on a common goal and support each other to achieve it. In this article, we will be taking a closer look at some of the factors that make high performance teams possible, and why you should consider incorporating them into your development.

Keep Size in Mind

If you’ve ever tried to speak up in a large group, you understand how difficult it can be to have your voice heard. For this reason, it is important when building high performance teams not to oversaturate them with too many people. However, you must not sacrifice skilled team members for the sake of keeping numbers low. Instead, consider the logistics of coordinating teams and communicating effectively among a larger group. Teams with fewer than 10 members provide a more manageable balance that allows for each voice to be heard. This leads to quicker (and better) decision making as well as greater productivity. 

Inspiring Leaders

For teams to sustain high performance, they most often are led by those who are able to inspire motivation and enthusiasm. These are not the kinds of leaders who simply assign the work and expect it to meet high standards. Rather, inspiring leaders encourage passion from their team that creates a level of dedication that will naturally produce excellence. When we feel that our work has value and that it is important to us, we are more driven to make it the very best that we can. When building high performance teams, consider whether the person calling the shots is capable of this. Not just as a leader, but also when facilitating the volume of each individual member. Remember, the best leaders support and bring out the best in their people, and provide a safe place for people to speak up and have equal say is an important part of this. 

Communication

A team that is given a clear direction is predisposed to high performance. This is of course not limited to assigning tasks at the beginning of a project. Great communication should be rooted in giving and receiving feedback and regular check-ins with individuals that foster strong relationships. The adage “clear is kind…unclear is unkind” is a significant focal point of the Dare to Lead Program that encourages leaders to communicate effectively without being misconstrued or coming across as rude. High performance team leaders keep people focused, informed and on-track. They encourage people to voice their thoughts, and to do so in an honest, clear and deliberate way. After all, there is a real efficiency in clear communication that helps a team get to where they want to in a shorter time, whilst not unnecessarily wasting energy in the process.

Adaptability

To sustain high performance over the long term, your team must be able to quickly adapt to sudden changes. The advantage of adaptability means that there is no stagnation in work processes. The team can identify potential problems early and adapt their processes to overcome these challenges. Adaptable teams can find multiple solutions to every problem, giving you options for each new project. This means that there will always be other ideas to implement if the occasion calls for it. With adaptability also comes the mindset of a champion team, and that is to enjoy the journey as much as the destination!

Trust in Leadership

Finally, the mainstay of each of the qualities discussed above is trust. Specifically, trust in leadership. A leader that is not trusted cannot be inspiring, will be doubted, and won’t be looked to when guidance is needed. Building and maintaining trust within teams should be a top priority. This is something that we cover extensively throughout our Dare to Lead Program and other leadership development and high performance team programs. Trust is the foundation of all healthy relationships, both personal and professional. Leaders who encourage openness and honesty in their teams, must exemplify these qualities themselves. This kind of transparency in leadership shows that you have nothing to hide and builds your team’s trust in you. Trust is also the one element that cannot be falsely manufactured, and that is what makes it so powerful, because when it comes to leadership, people are motivated most by the authentic you, the vulnerable leader who deals with issues with integrity and courage, and helps others to do the same.

When working with organisations to develop their leadership talent, The Leadership Sphere helps to make strategic intent clear for leaders and the people they support, develop capability in leaders to better connect people to the strategy, and enable leaders to contribute in a way that unlocks performance and helps others be the best they can be. To build and sustain high performance teams, you need to keep these factors in mind. As previously discussed, clarity is the key to open communication and vision. Capability is needed in every member, and each member must be able to contribute effectively when challenges arise.  The most important contribution of the leader is to invoke trust and motivation within their teams to reach their highest potential. 

For more information about The Leadership Sphere and how we can support your leaders with leadership development, executive coaching and high performance team programs please visit our website or call us on 1300 100 857.

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5 Reasons Why Leadership Development is Important

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5 Reasons Why Leadership Development is Important

Now more than ever, we are seeing the continued importance of conducting leadership development training. As industries, tools, and technologies continue to revolutionise, organisations must have the staff and leaders in place with the skills to implement the strategies needed to face these changes. Strong leaders are essential for growth and success and taking the time to invest in their development is an important step towards improved culture and productivity. As leaders often fill the vital role of role-models within an organisation, the importance of providing leadership capability development is paramount. Below are five reasons why we believe in the importance of leadership development.


Balance Seeking

A strong indicator of successful leadership is having the ability to quickly and continually adjust their approach in order to manage their team as well as company procedures. Both should be considered as priorities as they are equally important to the overall success of the organisation.   Leaders must also learn how to strike the balance between their role as instructors as well as role-models. Being too much the former risks forming a reliance on instruction and leaves less room for autonomy in completing goals. By providing regular opportunities for leadership capability development, individuals can improve their methods and add proficiency to their existing leadership, organisational, and efficiency skills.

Skill Gaps

Effective leadership is the key to creating and supporting any successful team. In order to do this, it can be helpful to identify the differences between what management requires and what individuals are actually capable of. In some cases, it is a lack of  soft skills such as communication and time management that are preventing them from reaching their full potential as a leader. For some leaders, it is in slightly less obvious areas such as empathy and trust building skills. By investing time for leaders to develop these skills is important for the betterment of their team, as well as the organisation as a whole.

Role Clarity

Role clarity isn’t often brought up in discussions about leadership development, but its importance can not be denied. Not only does role clarity ensure that individuals know what their exact position within the organisation is; it also allows them to see how they and their work fit into the big picture. As leaders, the importance of role clarity is closely linked to accountability. It is an important part of the performance equation and one that is the responsibility of the organisation. For example, one might say that aptitude and motivation are somewhat up to the individual, role clarity is something we as leaders are responsible for and that have an impact on motivation, accountability and therefore performance. A lack of role clarity can be cause for avoidable frustration for individuals or conflict within teams. By reducing job overlap caused by any confusion, leaders can manage and delegate tasks to their teams more effectively.


Employee Satisfaction

On an individual level, employee satisfaction is often measured by the view they hold of how effective the leadership is. Attitudes and productivity are often seen to improve when there is an outward display of trust and mutual respect between employees and management. It is by learning how to foster these positive personal relationships that lead to increased motivation in employees. When the distance between employees and management is shortened on a personal level, team engagement is strengthened in such a way as to allow for an environment of collaboration to flourish. It has also been shown that employee satisfaction has a direct effect upon employee retention. Many surveys have shown that one of the most significant factors in an individual’s decision to exit their role is an absence of loyalty they feel towards their leaders. Simply by learning to engage more personally, we build this loyalty and trust that keeps individuals passionate about their role.

Strategic Problem-Solving

The ability to analyse a problem down to its root cause is one of the most important skills a leader should possess. The hard skill component is problem solving, the soft skill component is how you engage others in the process. Great leaders can exercise the soft skill component by calling upon the knowledge and talents of their team in order to find the best  solution. There is a competitive advantage to developing the problem-solving skills of leaders. In an unpredictable business environment, this kind of problem-solving is a key trait that should not be overlooked. It also helps to build high trust relationships and high trust organisations.

Why this is Important to Company Success

When the five above elements come together in cohesion, the effects benefit everyone. A company’s success can (and should) be measured by more than just the bottom line. Leadership development programs help leaders to bring out the best performance within themselves and their teams in ways that result in the overall success of the organisation. True leadership is more than just managerial skills; it enables you to inspire others to become more dedicated to their role, their team, and company as a whole. 

For more information about The Leadership Sphere and how we can help you unlock performance through leadership, by supporting your leaders at every level of the organisation with leadership development, executive coaching and high performance team programs please visit our website or call us on 1300 100 857.

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5 Reasons Why Leadership Development is Important

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Making The Move To Online Learning For Leadership Development

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Making The Move To Online Learning For Leadership Development

The way we connect, learn, and work has undergone a significant overhaul since the Coronavirus pandemic reached a global scale at the beginning of the year. As we approach the final weeks of 2020, let us reflect on the impact that this shift in operations has had and what lasting effects we may take into 2021 and beyond. Online learning has been one of the most discussed and debated issues to arise in the wake of this continual change. Though the focus has largely been on schools, it is worth investigating how we might approach the topic as it relates to online leadership development. Incorporating virtual leadership programs into your learning and development benefits not just the participants, but the whole organisation. Delivering this kind of training online, participants can take ownership of their own learning. Interesting though is the varied perceptions of what online learning is, and we should note that online learning may be self paced online learning, or a virtual classroom (which is an adapted version of face to face, for learning and development activities such as leadership development, which has best impact when delivered by an expert facilitator, live).

Advantages of Online Learning


Flexibility

Often, face-to-face training programs are run over the course of one or two days thus limiting the amount of time participants and facilitators must dig deeply into the material. When participants are given control over how and when they interact with their program means that they can take the time they need to truly immerse themselves in the learning. It also allows for the learning to take place around a potentially busy schedule rather than interrupting several days work on other commitments. This kind of self paced leadership training makes it possible to revisit topics of interest or misunderstanding as much as is needed. 

Saves on Resources

Just as online leadership programs provide a flexible option for participants, they are also a flexible option for organisations. This is because online training can be delivered at a fraction of the strain on resources as classroom style programs. Several of the costs associated with face-to-face programs can be eliminated – space, time, and distance often being the biggest obstacles. The greatest benefit of this approach is that it may allow for more people to be offered the opportunity to participate as these added restrictions are no longer a factor. As a result, team members would not have to miss out on reaching their highest potential as leaders or developing vital skills.

Progressive Learning

Though virtual programs were popular prior to the outbreak of Coronavirus, the pandemic forced many who weren’t already using the available technology to adapt quite quickly or risk falling far behind. The globalisation of most industries means that in order to be forerunners in the field, you must be embracing of innovation. The switch to remote learning and operations is something that has been occurring more and more over the last decade, even for areas beyond compliance, such as leadership development programs, development of high performance teams, executive coaching and other leadership initiatives. What might have taken another few years to become ‘the norm’ happened rapidly over a few short months. By adopting the use of new technologies as early as possible, the more prepared your leaders (and organisation) can be for the future of learning and development.

Improved Virtual Communication & Collaboration

In addition to gaining the technical skills to keep up with new learning tools as they are developed, participants of online training programs also gain the advantage of discovering how to work with others in a virtual environment. This is an unquestionable advantage in the face of globalising industries. The far reaching access to online training allows participants to take part from anywhere in the world. This provides the opportunity to discuss ideas and network with people with a broader range of past experiences and perspectives, expanding your own cross-cultural understanding. Leaders have adjusted the way they manage teams because of remote settings, and how we coach and mentor in new ways that make staff feel that they are supported, albeit from a different physical location.

It was for these reasons above that The Leadership Sphere made the decision to move the extremely successful Dare to Lead Program from being an in person workshop to an online facilitator-led course. In doing this, we have been able to continue to provide this service in a way that allows leaders in different states and  even countries to come together to share in their learning. In a global environment that is constantly shifting and evolving in new ways, we must prepare ourselves with the skills needed to evolve with it. By making the move to online learning for leadership development we can remove some of the obstacles that may hold us back and instead, allow ourselves the advantage of learning from those with whom we may not have otherwise had the opportunity. 

For more information about The Leadership Sphere and how we can support your leaders with leadership development, executive coaching and high performance team programs please visit our website or call us on 1300 100 857.

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Making The Move To Online Learning For Leadership Development

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Do You Have The Right Leadership In Place to Survive Coronavirus?

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Do You Have The Right Leadership In Place to Survive Coronavirus?

As COVID-19 continues to disrupt the daily workings of all businesses, directly and indirectly, depending on the type of business you are in, we must stop to consider all of the ways in which it has forced us to become innovators. Without the convenience of having our co-workers and clients nearby we’ve become even more reliant on email, phone calls and web conferencing to stay in touch with each other and conduct networking and maintain personal and professional relationships. With many of us working from home rather than in the office, it is more important than ever before that our leaders are well equipped to propel us forward in times of sustained uncertainty. Corporate leadership programs offer businesses the opportunity to provide their leaders with fundamental skills that will allow them to not only survive turbulent times (not only during this pandemic), but to thrive.

Here are three key leadership skills to getting through times of uncertainty:

Accountability

It can be difficult to remain self-motivated when you’re constantly surrounded by distractions and aren’t confined to a formal office environment. Even if you’re an incredibly dedicated person, everyone has their limits. This is where it becomes important for leaders to provide their teams with a level of accountability beyond a mere deadline. Deadlines might ensure that the work gets done, but accountability serves as a greater motivator to produce excellence. Through regular check-ins with teams and individuals, employees are encouraged to assess their own progress and ability to deliver.

Clear Expectations

While we might have resolved the issue of how we communicate with our teams by incorporating a greater use of technology in our work lives, what and when we are communicating can at times be infrequent. Strong communication goes far beyond setting a list of tasks for employees to complete and leaving them to it. Providing clear expectations and understanding of individual tasks, as well as team and company goals, is vital to ensuring those expectations are met.

Resilience

Resilience is a vital skill (yes….. it is a skill!) that leaders and organisations have always had to have but now it has become critical because operating under unpredictable circumstances has now become business as usual. Since the coronavirus pandemic reached its peak in March 2020, the resilience of our leaders has been tested in unprecedented ways. Even great teams will face difficulties at some point. It is how we deal with these difficulties that determine whether we succumb to the pressure or bounce-back stronger. Targeted leadership capability development should include a focus on resilience and creative problem solving.


Knowing what the right leadership capability skills you need can be a confusing proposition, as there are many and varied opinions on what is the right investment. Interestingly, there has been a direct correlation between those organisations that are continuing to invest in leadership development and those who are finding new ways to thrive during these uncertain times. The Leadership Sphere tailors targeted programs to the needs of individual businesses as there can be no one size fits all approach when it comes to executive leadership development. Though there are several skills that prove to be integral to high performance leadership time and again. Without considering the benefits of creating accountability and setting clear expectations, during normal times and in the middle of a pandemic, we can not hope to build resilient leaders.

For more information about The Leadership Sphere and how we can support your leaders with leadership development, executive coaching and high performance team programs please visit our website or call us on 1300 100 857.

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Do You Have The Right Leadership In Place to Survive Coronavirus?

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Trust is the Key to Healthy and High Performing Teams

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Trust is the Key to Healthy and High Performing Teams

A lack of trust in a relationship can be distressing – in teams it can be devastating. It can take a huge personal toll and in teams it can light the fuse of self-destruction. Relationships fracture, shaming and blaming are prevalent, productivity goes out the window, reputations are soiled, and people leave. While not all teams suffer from these extremes of course, the consequences of low or patchy trust severely reduce the work a team should produce and also impacts our own sense of engagement and energy.

Conversely, high trust organisations experience 32x greater risk-taking, 11x more innovation, and 6x higher performance (Edelman Trust Barometer). And at a human level, treating each other with respect and forming good relationships feels like the right thing to do. 

In this article we’ll discuss why trust may be the most important element that needs to be present in a team. In Parts 1 and 2 of this series, we laid the foundation about why braver leadership and fostering more courageous cultures in our organisations matters. In Part 3, we explored vulnerability and in Part 4 we identified that values form the touchstone of who we are and how we show up. And sometimes, our values are all we have as we enter the arena. According to Brené Brown, brave leadership and courageous cultures require four kill sets: (1) Rumbling with Vulnerability; (2) Living into Our Values; (3) BRAVING Trust and (4) Learning to Rise. 

Why Saying ‘People Have to Earn My Trust’ is a Cop Out

Over the years I have heard repeatedly from leaders that people ‘have to earn my trust.’ The problem with this management credo is that it requires others to do the heavy lifting while the person who holds this belief sits back to assess whether they’re up to it. This isn’t how trust works except if we view trust in a transactional sense – you have a job to do or task to complete. Did you complete it successfully? If yes, transactional trust increases. If not, transactional trust goes down. If transactional trust is all you want, then go for it. But transactional trust is just that – it revolves around a task. Real trust, the type that propels a team’s performance, is much broader and deeper. Real trust requires vulnerability and vulnerability requires trust in a dynamic interplay. 

In this article, we will further explore trust – a topic that has been written about extensively, indicating its importance – and challenges. Trust is a big topic. Given that this series revolves around the work of Brené Brown and in particular her book Dare to Lead, we will focus on her framing of trust through the mnemonic BRAVING.

“Real trust requires vulnerability and vulnerability requires trust in a dynamic interplay.”

BRAVING Trust

BRAVING Trust is a mnemonic formulated by Brené Brown (Dare to Lead) and it stands for:

Boundaries: You respect my boundaries, and when you’re not clear about what’s okay and not okay, you ask. You’re willing to say no. Boundary management, as I like to call it, means that we establish our boundaries, communicate them, and then provide feedback if they’re not respected. An example for me is being clear about timeliness around meetings whether in a professional or personal context. For example, if I anticipate being any more than 1-2 minutes late for a dentist or hairdresser appointment, I will phone ahead to let them know. Sometimes they are surprised, but mostly they are grateful for the courtesy.

Reliability: You do what you say you’ll do. At work, this means staying aware of your competencies and limitations so you don’t overpromise and are able to deliver on commitments and balance competing priorities. This can sometimes be a challenge, but the question is ‘Do you deliver what you say you will deliver?’. Again, I see this as related to timeliness and keeping our promises and commitments. If you say the report will be done by Wednesday, to build your reliability muscle, it should be there on Wednesday before close of business.

Accountability: You own your mistakes, apologise, and make amends. In Part 4 (Values), several examples of value-destroying leadership were outlined or what I termed ‘Breakers’ (value-destruction) as opposed to ‘Builders’ (value-creation). All too often we hear and see ‘everyone was accountable and no-one was accountable’. We must strive for single points of accountability. This is different to responsibility, which is about who is actually performing the work. 

Vault: You don’t share information or experiences that are not yours to share. We need to know that my confidences are kept, and that you’re not sharing with me any information about other people that should be confidential. Brené Brown describes people who share information inappropriately as those who try to ‘hotwire connection’. It doesn’t work because people start to wonder what they might share about their conversations with you.

Integrity: You choose courage over comfort. You choose what is right over what is fun, fast, or easy. And you choose to practice your values rather than simply professing them. This is similar to ethical leadership in that we need to determine what is right. Brave leadership is actually doing it, even if its hard. So we can be either ‘in integrity’ with a stated value or ‘out of integrity’. It’s about our behaviours, not our intentions. Someone once said that we judge ourselves by our intentions and others by their actions.

Nonjudgment: I can ask for what I need, and you can ask for what you need. We can talk about how we feel without judgment. We can ask each other for help without judgment. Judgment is very easy and seductive. Our primitive brains, built to help us survive, are prone to judging others. We stereotype, put people in a box, or dismiss them based on our judgement. At the very least, it is likely our approach and behaviour will change around that person as result of our biases and judgment. usually in a negative way.

Generosity: You extend the most generous interpretation possible to the intentions, words, and actions of others. Generosity is closely related to judgment and is in fact the opposite. If we are able to hold a positive interpretation of other’s behaviour, we will open our minds to other alternate explanations to why someone did what they did. Being generous with others allows them to grow, flourish and perform better. It is important to note that being generous in this way doesn’t mean that we don’t hold people accountable. On the contrary, the research suggests that the people who are the most generous are also the clearest about their boundaries – in other words what is okay and not okay. When boundaries are loose or non-existent, then the interplay or dance between two people can become muddied. When boundaries are clear, it is immediately apparent if someone has acted within our boundaries or not.


I recommend that you focus on one element of BRAVING Trust for others and for yourself for 21 days, then shift the focus. In terms of others, you could practice Reliability by being exactly on time for everything (and if you’re not going to be let people know well ahead of time). We incorporate the building of habits such as these via our online Habit Builder application, which helps people track their progress as well as make journal entries to help their learning. In terms of Reliability for yourself, you might set one personal goal around exercise or something else that is just about you – and then stick to it. 

Phil is the Managing Director of The Leadership Sphere, a firm that focusses exclusively on strategy, leadership and performance. He is a Certified Dare to Lead Facilitator, conducting public and in-house Dare to Lead programs for teams and organisations.

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The Results Are Life Changing When You Dare To Lead

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The Results Are Life Changing When You Dare To Lead

In a constantly changing global business environment, it can be a challenge to create certainty for those we lead. While an admiral goal, absolution is not possible due to the inherent imperfections of the world we live in and as a result of human behaviour – we’re all prone to misreading situations and to making mistakes. What can unite us though, and help us lean into our own limitations is embracing the willingness to be vulnerable as leaders. This is exactly what participants are encouraged to do in our Dare to Lead Program. The Dare to Lead Program is based on the work of Brene Brown and focuses on being a more authentic version of ourselves and presents a refreshing way to look at the idea of vulnerability in leadership. A significant amount of time is spent, discussing and dissecting the importance of vulnerability and how closely tied it is to courage. Simply put, we reconnect with the vulnerability as a strength rather than a limitation. Though the course is designed for leadership development, there is a deeply personal aspect of each of the lessons that many find confronting. The biggest take away that participants have had is that they found they were challenged in unexpected ways. It has helped them become better leaders at work and a much better version of themselves on the home front. 

Be brave in ways you have never been before

It’s not often that we get the chance to explore what it means to be brave both as an individual and as a leader. Participants who undertake this opportunity in the Dare to Lead program gain a deeper understanding about harnessing brave leadership as a willingness to act during times of uncertainty. We can not lead bravely without the risk of falling short, because in order to do so we must be willing to do what is right over what is easy. In order to foster an environment of trust, leaders should allow themselves to be perceived as vulnerable. One of the ways this is explored is by thinking about what prevents us from being open and honest in front of others. We are given the tools to learn to recognise these moments when they occur and how to step back and prevent them from overcoming us.

Find courage when things get tough

One of the first exercises of the Dare to Lead program is Container Building where every participant comes together to discuss what behaviours will be required to create a safe environment for everyone to feel comfortable opening up with potential strangers. This encourages the building of courageous cultures that enable us and others around us to be brave. A large part of what it means to have courageous cultures is that it eases some of the difficulty of having tough conversations. In her book, Dare to Lead, Brown writes about the paradox of avoiding these tough conversations in an effort to be polite or kind – an idea that is wholeheartedly rejected. Instead, both she and the course teach us that “CLEAR IS KIND. UNCLEAR IS UNKIND.” All this means is that having the courage to be honest, even when telling hard truths, is ultimately a much kinder act than being ‘nice’ about it. As we reflect on the massive uptake in the Dare to Lead program we can see that the notion of “clear is kind” has always been a big part of leadership development programs and the development of high performing teams, however, said so simply and eloquently and enabling people to build stories around “clear is kind” and the opposite of ‘unclear is unkind” just makes it so much more powerful!

Integrate your unique values into day to day life

The Dare to Lead Program challenges participants to work on themselves and explore what is most important to them as a person as well as a leader.  Our values aren’t always something that we act on consciously in our everyday lives (though of course they can be). In fact, it is when we evaluate our behaviours that we find out that our values are. In doing this, we may realise that the beliefs we hold aren’t as frequently called upon as we thought. Such an exercise can be an eye opening experience for some, taken as an opportunity to refocus our ideals and begin to integrate those we wish to see more of.

Values based leadership is about living and leading with values that motivate others to do their best and that inspires everyone to contribute to the greater good. Some participants have followed the Dare to Lead Program with ongoing conversations via a ‘buddy system’ that is encouraged on the program, and others have taken on coaching from The Leadership Sphere expert coaches, in all cases the impacts have been even more significant, as the ongoing reflection allows the embedment of the core leadership development take aways from the program.

Re-establish trust with yourself and others

It takes quite a bit of due diligence to truly understand what causes us to feel angry or begin to shut down, as well as to understand the connection with feelings of worry, guilt, and shame. We may not always realise that when we react to certain situations with anger or dismissal, we may be experiencing something deeper (like fear or shame). By acknowledging this we can connect with what it takes to build an environment of trust where we can confidently rely on ourselves and others to do the right thing. 

Relearn the importance of self compassion and empathy

It is often much easier to extend compassion and empathy to others when they open up to us, but we don’t always extend these same courtesies to ourselves. What we view as bravery in others can feel like weakness in ourselves. This could not be further from reality. Dare to Lead teaches valuable techniques that help us to be more understanding of ourselves and others as we realise that everyone is doing the best they can. In an interview with certified Dare to Lead facilitator, Phillip Ralph, course alumnus Simone Wright put it another way: “hearing other people’s experiences, while they’re different, are similar.” 

Simone also said of her experience that “there’s an emotional journey in this course that is very strong” – a sentiment shared by many alumni of the course in a way that they found was unexpected. At the heart of the course is the coming together of the personal with the professional. It’s about humanising the workplace. Every person’s journey will be unique as it forces us to do a great deal of introspection about the things we value, feel, and experience. Not only have participants reported seeing a benefit in their leadership roles professionally, but personally as well. The Dare to Lead Program is designed to encourage participants to explore ideas in great detail and allow them to gain a deeper understanding of themselves.

For more information about The Leadership Sphere and how we can support your leaders with leadership development, executive coaching and high performance team programs please visit our website or call us on 1300 100 857.

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Five Reasons Why Executive Coaching Is Critical During Turbulent Times

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Five Reasons Why Executive Coaching Is Critical During Turbulent Times

Executive coaching has been used as an important tool for leadership and business growth. Prior to COVID-19 lockdowns leadership coaching was seen as something important for those on the C-Level journey. However, with COVID-19 restrictions on many businesses, we have seen significant changes to working conditions, with working from home top of that list. With change becomes even more reason to deploy leadership coaching and support for senior executives and for management teams. With quarantine, isolation, and social distancing having significant impacts on daily operations it is unsurprising that we aren’t feeling as connected to each other as we once were. Interestingly, the sense of being ‘connected’ with others is an ongoing theme in coaching and mentoring conversations during business as usual settings, and it is no surprise that this is the number one reason why companies are reaching out to organisations such as The Leadership Sphere to provide structured and supportive coaching services as a way to help people better understand the change process and adapt to new ways of living and working. In this way, corporate coaching programs can have far reaching benefits for individuals and teams and let’s take a closer look at the five reason why executive coaching is critical during turbulent times.

Gain Greater Self-Awareness

Having self-awareness is often overlooked as being a skill because it seems fairly simple. However, we are all the main character of our own lives and the majority of us tend to overlook (or are simply unaware of) our faults or the deeper emotions behind our reactions to certain situations. Coaching programs for managers can help to develop a stronger emotional intelligence that will allow them to become better at understanding where their strengths lay and where there is room for growth.

Become More Empathetic

Learning to truly understand the emotions of other people will lead to stronger relationships with colleagues and teams. This builds trust between leaders and their teams. In particularly turbulent times, trust between leaders and teams could not be more important. When issues arise, they are likely to be solved sooner when an individual knows that their concerns will be met with kindness. There is no hesitation in bringing it to the manager’s attention. The Dare to Lead Program that is run by The Leadership Sphere helps leaders to connect with the mantra of ‘Clear Is Kind’ and provides good counsel around how to apply this to your own life and approach to leadership.

Improve Emotional Intelligence

While self-awareness and empathy are aspects of emotional intelligence, the importance of developing our overall emotional intelligence should not be forgotten. Self-regulation, motivation, and social interaction are also key pillars of a person’s emotional intelligence. It is important to have a strong understanding of each of them. In times of uncertainty they serve us well in terms of building relationships and connecting with each other. When we understand our limits, we know when to reach out for help. Knowing how we react to situations and recognizing our own feelings and being able to observe first before drawing conclusions are all skills that can be developed when provided with the right coach to prompt us to reflect and consider the world through the view of what others are experiencing, rather than simply the goals and objectives that we have in front of us. 

Increase Adaptability

Change is difficult. There’s no getting around that. But change is a necessary step towards fulfilling our potential. In some cases we have no choice but to dive in head first; executive coaching can help to prepare us for this by giving us the skills to adapt quickly. We may even already be capable of this, but don’t always realise it until forced to put it into action. When presented with the opportunity to adapt and grow, we must learn to turn away from the initial ‘stress response’ toward one of curiosity. As the rate of change increases, so too does our need to provide executive coaching services and support for our senior leaders and managers, not in isolation, but as part of a broader leadership development program that is focused on enabling clarity, capability and commitment at every level of an organisation.

Become a Better Leader

The most effective leaders are those who take the time to show their teams that they care about more than just the work itself. Great leaders display compassion and understanding towards those whom they lead. They have invested in themselves (and by extension their teams) by actively trying to develop and maintain trusting relationships with their team on individual levels. A coach plays an important role in challenging us to become a better leader, they ask questions to spark reflection and consider where we are strong and where we have limitations.

What coaching support do you have for your leaders and managers?

When facing times of uncertainty, it becomes more important than ever to ensure that our leaders and managers are well equipped in their understanding of themselves and their interpersonal relationships. In order to effectively lead through turbulent times, The Leadership Sphere places significant value on resolving crises, connecting, and building before returning to work in a new way. By providing leaders with the opportunity to undertake corporate coaching programs, you are giving them the skills they need to develop trust and become better leaders. 

For more information about The Leadership Sphere and how we can support your leaders with leadership development, executive coaching and high performance team programs please visit our website or call us on 1300 100 857.

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Five Reasons Why Executive Coaching Is Critical During Turbulent Times

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How To Transform High Potential Talent Into Future Leaders

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How To Transform High Potential Talent Into Future Leaders

One of the defining characteristics of a great leader is their ability to recognise the talents of members in their team. In doing so, you are able to nurture those talents and provide people with the opportunity for growth and becoming a future leader. One way in which this might be achieved is through investing time in high potential talent programs. A major benefit of high potential talent programs is the focus on building on existing strengths, rather than addressing weaknesses. Other key factors to take into account when considering leadership development programs is determining who will take part, and in fact, how we decide this is significant too. We mustn’t assume that the familiar choices are also the right ones. In order for our future leaders to be part of a global community, they should also stem from a variety of backgrounds and experiences.

Deciding Who Takes Part

When determining who within our teams displays high potential talent, it is vital that we make a conscious decision to remain as objective as possible. A true assessment of talent can not be made if managers are only nominating those to whom they feel personally connected. This is especially true if said managers have been directly involved in a person’s development up to this point. We must learn to look beyond the seemingly obvious choices and consider, without bias, the skills and potential of everyone. By remaining neutral and vetting everyone on an equal scale, we are able to avoid overlooking someone who might not yet be visible in the organisational hierarchy. 

High Potential Experience

On what basis should we now be deciding who we nominate for executive leadership training in order to create this unbiased and equal scale we’ve assigned ourselves? What you and your company require in your leaders will be specific to you, and will be reflected in what you consider to be high potential talent. But it is important that don’t limit this to any one particular skillset. Some individuals may be highly skilled in giving presentations but lack the ability to share what they gained from the experience at on a more significant level.

Focus on Strengths

Often leadership development programs are undertaken in order to solve existing problems or address particular weaknesses. While that is certainly necessary for improving shortcomings, it is a ‘reactive’ approach. In order to transform high potential talent into future leaders, the approach should be a ‘proactive’ one. Think about what your leaders do well already and how those skills might be built upon.  This provides them (and you) with the reassurance that should unexpected challenges arise, they are well equipped to face them. Focusing on strengths is a clear indicator to your team that you value their skills and are willing to invest in their potential. 

Ongoing Learning

How high performance team programs are delivered can be just as crucial to their success as the content within them. While an all encompassing intensive face to face program can excite and motivate participants in their jumping off point, it can also be overwhelming. The ability to connect and incorporate the learning to the daily schedules we operate under keeps it in the forefront of our minds. An example of a staged learning program is The Leadership Sphere’s Dare to Lead program is an 8 week virtual course that requires participants to engage with the material regularly outside of the weekly facilitator lead sessions. Unlike shorter programs, this allows participants to receive further support in their learning as they begin putting it into practice.

Creating a Shared Journey

The benefits of high potential talent programs have far greater reach when they have the support of not only course facilitators, but of their peers as well. By partaking in future leaders development as a team, you are creating a shared experience and a shared journey. The fostered sense of community and accountability produces a collective purpose that can be both inspiring and motivating. 

Becoming Part of  a Global Community

Truly effective development programs should encourage curiosity in having a greater worldview. In times where globalisation is increasing rapidly, having a global mindset could prove invaluable for the growth of any business. Our future leaders would be well served (and well serving) to be given the opportunity for boundary-less learning. Being equipped with an understanding of how international workplace cultures differ from our own, could be what sets your leaders above the crowd.

There are a number of benefits to high performance team programs, and The Leadership Sphere encapsulates many that have been looked at above. Investing in talent development leads to almost limitless growth potential over the long term. 

For more information about The Leadership Sphere and how we can support your leaders with leadership development, executive coaching and high performance team programs please visit our website or call us on 1300 100 857.

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Why Values Work Better in the Arena than Armour

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Why Values Work Better in the Arena than Armour

When we feel frightened, tired, alone, up against it or under pressure, it can be tempting to want to protect ourselves by putting on the armour when we walk into the field or play or arena. When we armour up however, we are much more likely to create the very outcomes we’re trying to avoid – disconnection, a lack of engagement, or trying to preserve our sense of identity – at least how we perceive it or want it to be perceived. This is a powerful paradox. The harder we try to prove that we’re capable, have it all together and are worthy of people’s trust and acceptance, the more likely we are to destroy it. Hustling for our worth is a zero-sum game. It destroys the very heart of leadership – value creation.

The arena is the metaphor used by Brené Brown in her book  Dare to Lead,, based on the speech given by Theodore Roosevelt in Paris in 1910. In this article, we’ll discuss why values might be all you have to take into the arena – and sometimes, all you should take into the arena. 


In Parts 1 and 2 of this series, we laid the foundation about why braver leadership and fostering more courageous cultures in our organisations matters.  In Part 3, we got a better understanding of vulnerability. According to Brené Brown, brave leadership and courageous cultures require four kill sets: (1) Rumbling with Vulnerability; (2) Living into Our Values; (3) BRAVING Trust and (4) Learning to Rise.

The Arena

As Brené Brown says, “In those tough matches, when the critics are being extra loud and rowdy, it’s easy to start hustling—to try to prove, perfect, perform, and please.” In these moments, we forget why we are in the arena, which is particularly interesting given our values – our core beliefs – is what led us to the arena in the first place.

According to the research conducted by Brené and the team, the daring leaders who were interviewed were never empty-handed in the arena. In addition to rumble skills and tools, they always carried with them clarity of values. 

Let’s start by defining values, again through the lens of Dare to Lead. A value is a way of being or believing that we hold most important. Living into our values means that we do more than profess our values, we practice them. Values guide us, prompt us into action, and help us make the right decision.

Why We Need Better Leaders

The central role of leadership is value-creation, whether in our organisations, government, not-for-profit entities or our local school. And in order to create value – at least in the long term – we need to be able to practice effective leadership. I believe real leadership consists of two dimensions or pillars: ethical leadership, represented by asking is it the right thing to do and brave leadership, represented by actually doing the right thing, even if it’s hard.

VALUE-CREATING LEADERSHIP = ETHICAL LEADERSHIP + BRAVE LEADERSHIP

Ethical leadership is best served by firstly knowing our values and then living by them. Brave leadership is best served by taking off our self-protecting armour and leaning into the work with purpose, grit and courage. 

We have seen some very prominent examples recently where ethical decision making and actions were not present and it destroyed value – literally. In May, the mining giant Rio Tinto destroyed two rock shelters that demonstrated 46,000 years of continuous human occupation in the Juukan Gorge in the Pilbara (Western Australia). The aftermath was fascinating and disturbing. 

Rio Tinto’s own internal review concluded that “Everyone and no-one was accountable.” The company stripped around $7million in bonuses from three executives but it didn’t recommend anyone being stood down. 

Shareholders and various stakeholder groups were not happy, believing that the penalty didn’t fit the ‘crime’.  After enormous pressure, Rio Tinto boss Jean-Sebastien Jacques and two senior executives will be replaced after an investor revolt forced the mining giant’s board to escalate its response.

There are numerous examples of failures of leadership, evidenced by the number of royal commissions and inquiries we’ve had in the last few years (e.g. Aged care, Mental Health, use of police informants, Hotel quarantine around COVID-19 in Victoria, and currently Crown Casino and it’s links to Asian syndicates and money laundering).

And every day in our organisations, we still tolerate bad behaviour in the form of bullying, sexual harassment, or people being treated poorly. We must demand a higher standard of behaviour in organisations and society for that matter. We must demand braver leadership. 

The question for each and every one of us is, “Are you a builder or a breaker?” 

Breakers destroy value through their actions or lack of actions, including trying to prove they’re right, using shame and blame to manage themselves and others, leading through compliance and control, not having the difficult conversations, professing values rather than practicing values, leading reactively, resisting change, and getting stuck by failures, setbacks and disappointments. It’s what Brené Brown calls armoured leadership.

Leaders and teams alike face serious problems showing up in a vulnerable way at work; instead, sabotaging themselves and others and killing real collaboration, trust, innovation and creativity. 

Value creators – or Builders – create value by living in accordance with their values and what is deemed to be ethically sound by basic human standards. Builders work to create high-trust, safe workplaces where people can truly show up and be their best. 

Living into our values means firstly knowing our values and then actually living by them. It means being able to foster more humanistic organisational cultures. To do this, we need to continue to develop our level of self-awareness and courage skills.  We need to confront our own cognitive biases, limitations and fears. 

We need to work harder to cultivate braver, values-based leaders.

The author is a Certified Dare to Lead Facilitator. You can find out more about our in-person and virtual Dare Lead Courses here.

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3 Reasons Why Setting Leadership Objectives Is Important

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3 Reasons Why Setting Leadership Objectives Is Important

When an organisation has clear goals and objectives, it provides everyone with a better understanding of what they, as an individual, and as part of a team, are aiming to achieve. That’s why so often we see a focus on mission statements and functional plans that align with the overarching strategic objectives of an organisation. This all looks good on paper, however these goals are not reached in practice unless every member of the team performs as they are expected to do. Of course, each position will require their own set of objectives in order to fully understand the role they play. This is particularly true where leadership comes into play, as we rely on our leaders to be able to make things clear and guide others along the path to reaching these goals. 

Goal setting set the leaders intentions

Goal setting is important because it is crucial to communicate to a team what the expected results should be and the time it will take to reach them. In other words, we are beginning with the end in mind, and that is the outcome. It is equally important to provide a roadmap for achieving those results and how that roadmap connects to the greater good of the team and the customers that your organisation serves. This is the important part that leaders play in goal setting and the reason why leadership development programs to support your senior managers need to spend equal time on clarity, capability and contribution. So often, the ‘clarity’ part is missed because we get straight into the detail of capability as a way to drive the contribution of individual team members. 

Key considerations when setting leadership objectives

Here are a few things to consider when setting leadership objectives:

  • Are your goals specific?
  • How relevant are your smaller goals to your overall objectives?
  • Do you have realistic expectations for achieving your goals?
  • Are your goals challenging?
  • Will you be able to achieve them within your chosen timeframe?
  • Do the goals align to the greater good of the organisation and those you serve?

Responsibilities of Leaders


#1 Driving Focus

When working on a large scale project it can sometimes be very easy to lose sight of the bigger picture if for instance it’s a long-running project or we hit a speed bump. Having leaders who are able to return the team’s focus to the end result can reignite productivity and prevents energy from being wasted on aimless tasks. By focusing on particular objectives we can mobilise our energy, leading to higher and more consistent effort overall. Having defined goals should trigger our behaviour. When we are reminded (or remind ourselves) of our reasons for what we are doing, we become much more motivated to put in the work.

#2 Measure of Progress

By having set and specific objectives we are trying to reach, it is possible to monitor the progress being made. This creates accountability when we might be falling short and motivation to continue when we can see how far we have come. A portion of the Dare to Lead™ Leadership Development Program offered by The Leadership Sphere includes a focus on participants creating and building a new habit. Through regular check-ins they are encouraged measure their own progress in implementing the habit they’ve chosen for themselves. A big part of leadership at the individual, team, or organisational level is having the capacity to deliver, in other words, to do the things that need to be done, even when you may not feel like doing them. Habits aid in getting people to deliver.

#3 Improved Communication

We’ve touched on the importance of clarity when it comes to setting leadership objectives; now let’s look at it a little more closely. We cannot gain clarity and understanding of team goals without effective communication. If our objectives aren’t clearly defined and communicated with us, we run the risk of misinterpreting what was said. This could easily lead to mistakes being made that cost us valuable time, effort and, resources if we have to redo tasks. It would also mean that it’s going to take us longer to achieve our goals which would potentially drive our motivation to complete them down. When we take the time to be as direct and focused as possible, this risk is lessened. By defining what our collective goals are with each other, we open the door for continued communication and collaboration to achieve them.

Setting leadership objectives is no easy feat and ultimately they can be quite subjective. Despite this, it should be important to all organisations and their leaders that their goals are made clear to everyone involved. Without this clarity it can be difficult to determine the progress of our success or give it the focus it deserves. 

For more information about The Leadership Sphere and how we can support your leaders with leadership development, executive coaching and high performance team programs please visit our website or call us on 1300 100 857.

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Considerations for Online Leadership Training

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Considerations for Online Leadership Training

As a result of the COVID-19 global pandemic we have all been forced to reassess the way we operate in our daily lives – both personally and professionally. During this time we have seen businesses make the switch to remote working and transition face to face learning and development programs to an online format. Whilst this has presented challenges as we adapt to new ways of communicating with one another, there have been many benefits, one of them being the way we deliver online leadership and development training. In this article we consider some of the key actions that need to be taken to establish the right virtual learning environment for leadership training.

Before selecting the method of delivery, it is always best to consider what outcomes you are looking to achieve with your leadership training program.

  • Why is this leadership training important?
  • What is your goal? 
  • Who will be involved?
  • What are the areas of leadership development that you want to focus on?
  • Who will be involved in the leadership training?

Once you have determined your reasons for taking on leadership development training, it then becomes possible to explore how that training may be delivered to your team. It then becomes a question of what is the right technology for the task at hand.

Now that we have our “why” there are a seemingly endless number of ways in which we might begin to explore the idea of technology driven leadership training. What is important to think about here is how we might best make use of the technology available to us. Remember that the technology format is not the solution to our leadership problems, but rather, a tool to assist us in achieving our learning objectives.

Technology Driven Learning

The effectiveness of integrating technology into leadership development programs is far reaching. Leadership development experts at The Leadership Sphere were able to move their highly sort after face to face Dare to Lead™ Program to a virtual format within weeks of COVID-19 lockdowns in Australia. Several virtual programs later it has shown that great value can be gained from running leadership development programs in a virtual format using technology platforms such as Zoom and simple functions such as breakout rooms and online collaboration tools to make traditional face to face workshops come alive online. This has shown the benefits of web hosted programs and how participants are able to quickly adapt to new formats without compromising learning. When we spoke with Phillip Ralph and the team at The Leadership Sphere we soon found out that technology considerations for leadership development programs was more than just setting up a simple zoom meeting format. Careful consideration was taken with adopting new program formats, having additional facilitator support for online breakout meetings, and establishing clear communication tools outside of the online workshops to allow pre-reading and other practical tasks to be completed between sessions. Recorded information and other online resources help participants who may have missed a session or needed a little extra help with the content. This all adds up to a fully integrated virtual leadership development program that enables the same (or in some cases more) learning than traditional face to face workshop.

Leveraging Our Virtual World


One might say that over the past decade we have seen many traditional face to face training programs move online and the restrictions brought about by COVID-19 has accelerated that even further. Though there will always be times where conducting sessions in person will be preferable; it may not always be possible, not just because of a global pandemic, but for other reasons such as training budgets, physical locations of teams and other limitations. In these instances having the capability to participate online will ensure that companies and their employees are able to remain at the forefront of their industries. As e-learning continues to rise so to do the options for technology platforms to support it. Knowing what technologies are available can be advantageous even if you don’t adopt the use of all (or even many) of them. Like most things it is about knowing what to use and equally what not to use. Technology may be changing the way we get things done, but it is also allowing us the capability to grow in our professional development. Examples such as the Dare to Lead™ Program delivered by The Leadership Sphere pose benefits to virtual delivery in that a 2-day face to face workshop can now be delivered over a two-month period with short sharp check ins and the time to embed habits and undertake personal reflection through the process. The impacts have been overwhelming with many leaders reporting that they have removed some of the big rocks that were holding them back in their personal and professional lives and that were eradicated because they formed habits over the program and were given space to reflect on what was working and not working for them.

Advancements in technology are continual and can seem intimidating upon first encounter. But it is without such advancements that our learning and development ceases to progress. After all, where would we be if no one had thought to invent the wheel? As do many businesses, The Leadership Sphere implements the use of a variety of technological tools to ensure that we are operating at the most effective capacity. A blended approach to leadership development was always important, however, it seems that in 2020 and beyond it will now become a necessity.

For more information about The Leadership Sphere and how we can support your leaders with leadership development, executive coaching and high performance team programs please visit our website or call us on 1300 100 857.

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The Five Benefits to Leadership Development You Need to Know About

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The Five Benefits to Leadership Development You Need to Know About

There is no denying that leadership development programs make an enormous impact on an organisation’s overall performance as well as to the performance of employees at every level.  The key is for people to be able to recognise their strengths as well as their limitations. It is only after identifying these areas that we may begin to address them. While organisations deserve and should expect a unique program to meet their needs, it is clear that no matter the starting point, the results of excellent leadership programs are the same.

One important goal of any leadership development training program is to provide the skills and know-how to be able to build trust and foster a healthy, safe culture. It could be said that a lack of trust is perhaps the biggest missing link in a company’s potential for success. In a recent survey by Edelman Trust Barometer, they found that only 37% of people thought their company CEOs were suitably credible or trustworthy (1.2). This is an astounding statistic and has a direct impact on performance.

Better communication

When leadership development opportunities are offered to all employees, we begin to see a shift towards an improved communication within teams, between management levels, and across departments. Leadership development programs open up people’s hearts and minds to new possibilities. Lower-level employees are encouraged to share more of their ideas and those in higher positions become more receptive. When employees trust those in management, communication improves, information is shared more freely and individuals are more likely to contribute in forums such as team meetings.

Recognising Talent

This is perhaps the most undervalued benefit to leadership development. Often times, the people who are best suited for leadership already exist within the company. Leadership development programs offer these people the chance to be recognised – particularly those not currently in a leadership role. These opportunities also help to foster a sense of company loyalty and employee engagement, while at the same time improving the efficiency of the business.

Creates Capable Leaders

By providing leaders with the skills they need to successfully navigate the ever-changing and often unpredictable business environment, organisations are able to overcome obstacles much more quickly (2). Capability in leaders also allows organisations to better shape their business strategy from the top-down by ensuring leaders are equipped to implement it.

Improves Company Success

Strong leaders are a fundamental element of successful organisations. When companies invest in placing the right people in leadership positions, other employees are then more motivated to perform better and achieve goals (3). Leaders who are ‘role-fit’ encourage creativity and innovation while simultaneously ensuring their team is focused on their common objectives. Companies who place greater value in leadership development are also shown to have stock market returns that are five times higher than those who don’t (2).

Employee Retention

As previously mentioned, leadership development is an important factor in enhancing company loyalty. Employees are much more likely to remain with the same company for longer when they feel they are being valued and supported by their leaders. In fact, a joint study conducted in 2018 by recruitment firms Accounting Principals and Ajilon found that 53.6% of individuals say “their top reason that keeps them from quitting their job is the loyalty they feel to their team, boss, coworkers or their company” (4). Essentially, what these people are referring to is trust.

What impact does trust have in these areas?

Everything we have talked about above coexists because of trust. Trust is the foundation for so much, including communication, the identification and development of competent leaders, and the fostering of a culture that values and encourages ideas to power up company success.

By taking the time to implement new leadership strategies it is possible not only to improve areas in which a company may be deficient but also to build upon existing strengths. When we look at the benefits of leadership development we can begin to see why such programs are important too, and impact on, all areas of business. Not only this, but we can see how each of these particular benefits stem from having a strong foundation of trust.

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Ten Features of World Class Development Programs

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Ten Features of World Class Development Programs

The times are changing but…

While our world is changing rapidly, it could be argued that our management practices have not kept pace with these changes. In fact, I think we’re trailing badly.

In reality not much has changed in 100 years. The training and development industry largely rehashes old theory and practices and makes the same mistakes. At the most fundamental level however, our overall quality of management and leadership is poor and is based on archaic notions based on the industrial age.

“We should stop trying to make people happy and instead make them better equipped to deal with the challenges of today’s organisations.”

While more than 75% of learners report high levels of satisfaction with learning programs, in our heart of hearts we know that there is no correlation between ‘happy sheets’ and the successful application of program learning and subsequent performance. We should stop trying to make people happy and instead make them better equipped to deal with the challenges of today’s organisations.

We think we’re driving a Ferrari but we’re really driving a vehicle from the 1900’s…

Our Top 10 Features / Practices

Our research and practice in learning and development over two decades has allowed us to assemble a ‘top 10’ list that all development programs should at least consider integrating. I’m not suggesting that programs should have all ten, although that goal is certainly achievable (see Actionable Conversations for example). Programs that manage to incorporate many of the practices are more likely to be effective, sustainable and cost-effective.

So here are our top 10….

1. Solid context

Ensure that programs are framed and positioned in a strong context that includes an assessment of the market / external environment, strategy, the customer and the organisation’s vision for the future. Only then can an organisation determine the type of leader it needs and therefore the type of program it should invest in. We should dispense with generic competency based models and generic programs that are not targeted.

2. Just-in-time & strategic

If point #1 is true (above), it also holds true that training should be more agile, responsive and ‘just-in-time’ to meet the specific development needs now and in the short-term. Too often organisations get caught in the trap of looking too far in to the future to try to determine leadership needs. A more pertinent question is to ask ‘What do we need right now and in the coming 12 months?’

3. Leader-led / expert-driven

Developing people should be led internally – harvesting every opportunity, everyday. This should be a blend of informal in-the-moment; semi-structured (e.g. monthly leader-led conversations around a mission critical theme); or more formal training provided by outside experts who can bring a perspective and skills sometimes not present internally.

“Developing people should be led internally – harvesting every opportunity, everyday.”

4. Real-world & practical

Please don’t read ‘real-world’ and practical as just being focused on skill building or superficial training that doesn’t challenge people around their mindsets and behaviours. The most effective development programs invite people to play at their edge. The best programs are transformational, where participants can never view themselves or the world in the same way again (the ANZ Breakout program was a good example of this where I was the head of program delivery between 2001 and 2007).

5. Transfer of learning is primary

Learning can suffer three fatal flaws: (1) it occurs in a vacuum; (2) is not linked to a learner’s role or business unit objectives or (3) learning remains in the classroom. Research tells us that the most important factor in program participants being able to apply their learning back in the workplace is their manager.

6. Supports both leader and learner

We tell our program participants that their 1-up manager should almost feel like they’re going through the program, such should be the level of communication, sharing and support that happens in that relationship. Unfortunately this is more aspirational than fact. Secondly, programs that are leader-led have the added benefit of developing both the team member as well as the leader running the session.

7. Mechanisms to support accountability

I like to call this the ‘scaffolding’ that helps support learners. Examples include regular development meetings with their manager; scheduling time for reflection on behaviours and approach; formal or informal coaching / mentoring; and perhaps most importantly, developing habits and practices (see # 9).

8. Doesn’t break the bank

This perhaps goes without saying, however if programs are going to be rolled out in large volume then they need to be cost-effective and provide a measurable return-on-investment.

9. Focuses on the pathway to get there

One observation I have made repeatedly is that we over-invest in goal setting and under-invest in the pathways to get there. In other words, you can set all the goals you want, but if you don’t have a plan to get there, the goals are useless. And the pathway to get there is through developing habits and practices that move you toward the goal everyday. Read my post on LinkedIn on Habits and Practices.

10. Reinforced & Rewarded

Accountability is an over-used word in organisations, however if you want people to do something different, there has to be accountability built in to development programs. Also, we are all human. In a world that is quick to criticize or cut-down, the basic human need of support and acceptance is enduring. Reward the right behaviours – and oh, don’t forget to reward the right intention and effort.

By at least considering all ten features in this list and how they might be incorporated in your development programs, you stand a very good chance of delivering what you set out to do in the first place, develop people in a way that makes a difference to them and to the organisation.

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