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Leading the Self, Leading Teams

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Leading the Self, Leading Teams

To truly exemplify what it means to have leadership excellence, you must understand what it is to be led as well as lead. It is the difference between demonstrating leadership and simply having authority. There are four key levels of focus that are discussed when developing leadership excellence. We will be looking into the first two below as they form the basis of this development from which the latter two progress – Leading Self, and Leading Teams.

Leading Self

Great leaders are those who lead themselves well before leading others. Leaders that know their own goals and are capable of clarifying the roles of their direct reports, earn the respect of those on their team. Leadership training programs can help participants to build the self-awareness and emotional intelligence that will allow them to develop a deeper understanding of themselves. The use of assessment tools in leadership excellence programs highlight the level of emotional intelligence participants have and identify methods of improving or harnessing it to develop a deeper level of self-awareness.

Demonstrating the ability to lead the self suggests to others that you are someone who can hold themselves accountable. Accountability is one of the most valuable traits that a self-aware leader can possess. Senior leadership training shows that you are willing to put the work into developing your own skills, and actively making improvements in areas you may lack knowledge of. 

Leading Teams

Training for leadership excellence at the team level is centred around developing group dialogue skills. Establishing a form of communication that uses dialogue specific to the team helps them to have conversations that lead to effective implementation of ideas and improve performance. It ensures that everyone comes from the same place of understanding when it comes to having crucial or difficult conversations. 

Being able to communicate effectively when having difficult conversations means the potential for conflict is reduced and your interaction will be much more constructive. The Dare to Lead™ Program is a type leadership development training that teaches us to lead with clarity. One of the key ideas, ‘Clear is Kind, Unclear is Unkind,’ reinforces the idea that honesty is the most important factor in managing conflict. 

Engaging in an executive training program can help you to understand the importance of being able to lead yourself as well as lead your team. Learning to lead the self demonstrates initiative and a willingness to become a high performing team member. It provides you with a strong foundation of leadership skills should you have the opportunity to lead a team of your own. Being a great leader depends on developing an intersectional skillset of effectively leading the self and leading teams. 

How often do you practice leading the self?

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About the Author: The Leadership Sphere

The Leadership Sphere helps small and medium businesses and larger organisations in Australia, in creating value through leadership. The Leadership Sphere provides a humanistic approach to the way it delivers leadership, performance and coaching services. We work with leaders and senior teams who need to gain increased clarity, build capability and ensure contribution at every level in the organisation, and enable a safe, inclusive and  high trust organisation.

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Leading the Self, Leading Teams

leadership learning goals

The Importance of Role and Goal Alignment

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The Importance of Role and Goal Alignment

Executives understand the impact of goal setting for achieving high performance. For those aiming to grow their business, it is imperative that the goals of the organisation are aligned with team and individual roles. In cases where a lack of alignment exists, there is often an increase in workplace stress and illness. This misalignment is a result of individual’s being unclear of what their responsibilities are in relation to overarching goals. The most successful organisations ensure that every individual has a clear understanding of how their work contributes to that success.

Alignment at all Levels

Having both long and short term goals helps individuals see how their efforts specifically contribute to organisational goals. It is critical that leaders contextualise the daily tasks of individuals within the larger picture of what the team, and organisation, are trying to achieve. Leadership development programs offer participants the opportunity to establish goals that relate directly to their roles. Clarifying the role and responsibilities of each contributor enhances collaboration while also establishing trust between leaders and their direct reports. 

Connecting to Your Goals

When goals are aligned across an organisation, it fosters an environment in which individuals will unite around a common task or idea. The sense of sharing a connection with others has been shown to lead to higher levels of motivation and performance. Training for leadership excellence  shows leaders how to implement methods of engaging teams and individuals with their vision. This provides people with the sense that their work has purpose and a meaningful impact within the organisation as a whole. 

Links Strategy and Performance

In developing leadership excellence, leaders should be aware of the importance of aligning strategy and performance. Setting clear goals that support corporate strategy allows executives, team leaders, and direct reports to easily assess how their performance is contributing to achieving goals and adjust tasks if necessary. Aligning goals throughout the organisation creates a shared accountability between individuals at every level. 

Measure Progress by Goal Setting

By setting goals that align with an individual’s role, they are given a metric by which their performance can be measured. Executive leadership training helps participants to formulate goals for themselves that they are encouraged to track their progress in. Goal setting instills a focus on reaching smaller milestones rather than creating a far off objective that might be achieved ‘someday’. Having specific targets allows you to see how far you have come and motivates you to continue working towards success.

Improves Quality of Feedback

By measuring progress against specific goals, you are able to relate the feedback you give to those goals. A person’s performance may be deviating from those goals. They would benefit from feedback that aims to refocus their attention on the ways in which their role contributes to achieving them. Senior leadership training coaches participants in providing feedback effectively by creating clarity for all employees. 

The importance of role and goal alignment should not be overlooked by leaders looking to develop high performing teams within their organisation. Engaging in a leadership excellence program assists participants in aligning goals within the context of their role. This reduces the likelihood of workplace stress caused by a lack of clarity and direction. 

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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The Importance of Role and Goal Alignment

leadership excellence meaning

Measuring Leadership Excellence

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Measuring Leadership Excellence

Understanding leadership excellence is important for leaders at every stage of their development journey. It establishes a clear measurement of where they have started, how far they have come, and where they still hope to go. Such measurements can be calculated through the implementation of leadership assessment and development tools. Receiving these assessments regularly are a valuable part of any leadership development journey.

When assessing leadership excellence, the two facets most often associated with strong leaders are their character and influence. In particular, it is how a person’s character contributes to their influence that indicates their level of leadership excellence. 

Character

A person’s character is the driving factor behind their ability to influence and lead their team or organisation. Those with a strong character tend to be viewed by others as being trustworthy, responsible, and fair in their decision making. It is these skills that make them appealing and incite positive responses from other people.

It can be difficult to assess for a quantifiable measurement of these aspects of character, but it is possible to gauge these characteristics by interpreting how a person’s peers and employees perceive them. The 360º Feedback Report is designed around this model of assessment. Both the individual and a select group of those they work with are asked to complete a survey that, when compared, provides a complete picture of the leader’s character. 


Influence

Influence is one of the biggest measurements of leadership excellence. Being able to inspire and motivate others into reaching their fullest potential is a critical aspect of your role as a leader. By making use of leadership tools for individuals as well as groups, you begin to form a clearer impression of the impact that the individual’s leadership skills have on the performance of their team.

An individual’s ability to influence the behaviours of those around them stems from their existing interpersonal relationships. Having good character and establishing trust between yourself and others, allows you to build effective interpersonal relationships. The benefits of leadership assessment tools like the Trust Inside Assessments include in-depth measurements of a person’s ability to build trust at both the individual and team level. 

Character and influence are two of the defining aspects of leadership excellence. The higher a person’s character is perceived to be, the greater the amount of influence they are able to impart onto others. To gain a full understanding of an individual’s measurement of leadership excellence, the best leadership assessment tools should be administered at both the individual and group level. 

What characteristics are most important for you as a leader?

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About the Author: The Leadership Sphere

The Leadership Sphere helps small and medium businesses and larger organisations in Australia, in creating value through leadership. The Leadership Sphere provides a humanistic approach to the way it delivers leadership, performance and coaching services. We work with leaders and senior teams who need to gain increased clarity, build capability and ensure contribution at every level in the organisation, and enable a safe, inclusive and high trust organisation.

Let us help you find what you’re looking for!

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Measuring Leadership Excellence

leadership excellence meaning

5 Ways to Develop Leadership Excellence

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5 Ways to Develop Leadership Excellence

Developing leadership excellence should be a top priority for leaders at every level of an organisation. Making leadership assessment tools accessible provides current and future leaders with the opportunity to begin their development journey. Investing in the further education of your organisation’s leaders, ensures that you remain at the forefront of innovation within the industry.

Complete a Leadership Circle Profile™

Developing leadership excellence begins with identifying key areas and opportunities for improvement. Completing a Leadership Circle Profile™ provides a holistic measurement of an individual’s competencies and, more importantly, why they are the way they are. This can have a greater impact than just completing a 360º Feedback Report that only evaluates competencies. Understanding the reasons behind your past behaviours is imperative to being able to take the necessary action to lift your leadership to a higher level. 

Integrate Learning

Forward-thinking organisations understand the critical importance of developing high potential talent, though are concerned about the challenge of maintaining day-to-day operations while training occurs. Actionable Habit Builder is a leadership development tool that allows participants to incorporate their training into everyday practices in a way that creates meaningful and noticeable change. It empowers individuals to take control of their learning by identifying the habits they want to build, and encourages regular reflection to track progress. By integrating your learning, you establish lasting habits that lead to continued success.

Build Team Alignment

Trust and clarity are the two most important factors in building team alignment. Identifying where the lack of alignment lies can help you to re-establish your team’s commitment to achieving goals. Though an unconventional tool for measuring leadership excellence, the Team Alignment Survey will reveal the specific areas that are blocking the team from communicating effectively and what needs to be done to remove those barriers. Collaborative teams are more efficient, will generate better ideas, and share in the responsibility of decision making.

Develop Your Emotional Intelligence

It is widely understood that to be successful in business requires intelligence and expertise in your industry. But to be a successful business leader requires much more than a practical knowledge of the products or services you offer. Long term success in performance also requires having a strong emotional intelligence, or EI. Emotional intelligence is a measurement of your own self awareness, empathy, and emotional regulation. All of which contribute to the way we form relationships with co-workers and clients. Developing a strong EI and relationships with your team will have a direct impact on improving your leadership excellence. 


Leadership Impact

Leadership excellence is often thought of in terms of the level of influence an executive has over the behaviours and resulting performance of others. Effective leadership assessment tools will be able to determine whether an individual’s influence is prescriptive or restrictive. Do they guide others towards goals, or do they create limitations? The Leadership Impact Survey is designed specifically for senior managers and CEOs to evaluate their current effectiveness against their desired impact. When developing leadership excellence, you can not ignore the significance of the influence you have on those around you. 

The best tools for assessing leadership excellence are those that provide valuable insight into an individual’s current behaviours. More importantly, discovering your subconscious or forgotten reasoning for certain actions establishes a starting point for reinforcing strengths, and unravelling weaknesses. For a complete understanding of your impact as a leader, it is helpful to assess your leadership at the individual, team, and organisational levels. 

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 Ways to Develop Leadership Excellence

leadership coaching programs

How Executive Coaching Builds Leadership Excellence

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How Executive Coaching Builds Leadership Excellence

Executive coaching can teach us ways to approach our daily life with balance and mindfulness. Developing leadership excellence provides the opportunity for leaders to build a high-level capacity for visionary thinking in addition to improving the practical skills needed for driving performance within their organisation. Receiving support in their development journey, creates a leadership team that values continual education and improvement to remain competitive. 

Skills Assessment

All leadership coaching must begin with an assessment of current strengths and developmental needs. To get a complete picture of what this looks like, participants will find great benefit in completing both introspective reflection as well as gaining insight from a 360º Feedback Report. Engaging with both styles of skills assessment significantly reduces biases – especially when conducted anonymously – while also demonstrating how your self-perception aligns with that of those around you.

Know the Leadership Skills Most Often Needed

Discovering your areas of improvement will be most effective if you are aware of the core skills leaders most often need. The best executive coaches will be knowledgeable of what these are and how you might work towards building them for yourself. Though it is important that you conduct your own research into these as well. Leadership has been studied for decades and the definition of leadership excellence has altered over time. There are some competencies that have remained consistent. To be an effective leader you need emotional intelligence, expertise, influence, and the right character. Each can be developed, but all will take dedication and hard work to grow into leadership excellence.

Develop Personal Understanding

One of the primary goals of an executive coaching program is to establish a strong understanding of yourself and your personal leadership style. There can be as many ways to lead successfully as there are leaders. Finding what works for you and your team is more important than fitting yourself into a preconceived model of what leadership ‘should’ look like. Coaching for leadership excellence aims to provide participants with a deeper understanding of themselves and how they may use their ‘life-story’ as a touchstone for leadership. It is how your developed personal capabilities fill gaps that make for effective leadership.

Unlock Leadership Potential

The phrase ‘executive coaching’ is not an indication of the seniority of its participants, rather it refers to the high level of leadership skills you are able to develop through engaging with the program. Providing senior leadership training to individuals looking to expand their capabilities unlocks previously untapped potential and creates cohesive leadership throughout your organisation. Leaders who feel more supported will have an increased engagement and overall performance within your organisation. 

The development of leadership skills through executive coaching programs helps to create meaningful, sustainable change at the individual and organisational level. Coaches guide participants to realising the full scope of their abilities through regular one-on-one sessions. Current and aspiring leaders benefit greatly from learning how to incorporate their own experiences into establishing a leadership style that engages and inspires those around them to reach their highest potential.

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.

Let us help you find what you’re looking for!

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How Executive Coaching Builds Leadership Excellence

what is leadership excellence

The Advantages of Leadership Excellence

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The Advantages of Leadership Excellence

In developing leadership excellence we cultivate a workplace environment that encourages constant growth and improvement. Through leadership excellence programs, participants gain the confidence and capability to lead teams effectively. They are role models of behaviours that become standard practice and inspire others to perform beyond expectations. 

Leaves Room for Improvement

Often when we talk about leadership development, people confuse excellence with perfection. It is impossible to achieve perfection, attempting to do so limits creativity and results in more failures due to added pressure. Striving to achieve leadership excellence, allows space for mistakes to be made and performance to be improved with each iteration. Executive leadership training emphasises the importance of reducing workplace stress that frequently accompanies organisation with a totalitarian approach to achieving goals.

For teams to become consistently high performing, it is necessary to both develop and sustainleadership excellence. Sustainability means that there is always the goal of producing the best quality product or service, while also striving to be better in the future. Processes, technologies, and industries progress all the time. Believing that your organisation already has the ‘perfect’ version does not leave room for innovation or improvement. Ignoring the value of creativity will leave you stagnant and struggling to catch up to more open-minded companies. 

Executive coaching programs provide leaders with a means of developing innovative thinking that opens the doors for input from a diverse range of sources. Coaching for leadership excellence requires an established, trusting relationship between coach and client. The right coach will be able to challenge you to expand your capabilities and become more receptive to new ideas. 

Become a Role Model of Leadership Excellence

Leadership excellence programsaim to teach participants ways to coach, grow and develop the people they work with. The most effective way leaders can do this is to set the example of influence they are hoping to impart. It is the actions we perform that others will watch and critique. Your team will notice if you are not living your values. If you are expecting excellence, you must also become excellent. 

It is much easier to influence the behaviour of others and unlock their potential by being the model that you wish to see. Senior leadership training doesn’t only benefit participants, but everyone they work with from then on. What is learnt in such programs impacts the way you lead and develop others. Being the standard and role model of excellence, you not only realise your own potential but the potential of those around you as well. 

Learning how to harness and model leadership excellence can have a number of advantages on individuals at every level of the organisation. While it is important that our leaders provide a clear example of behaviours to be followed, they should also set the expectation that perfection is not the ultimate goal. Leaders who engage in executive coaching programs to develop their ability to influence their teams, will see an increase in overall performance throughout their organisation.

How do you demonstrate excellence in your workplace?

Book a Consultation

About the Author: The Leadership Sphere

The Leadership Sphere helps small and medium businesses and larger organisations in Australia, in creating value through leadership. The Leadership Sphere provides a humanistic approach to the way it delivers leadership, performance and coaching services. We work with leaders and senior teams who need to gain increased clarity, build capability and ensure contribution at every level in the organisation, and enable a safe, inclusive and high trust organisation.

Let us help you find what you’re looking for!

TOP STORIES

The Advantages of Leadership Excellence

leadership learning objectives

How Leadership Excellence Benefits Others

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How Leadership Excellence Benefits Others

In developing leadership excellence we cultivate a workplace environment that encourages constant growth and improvement. Through leadership excellence programs, participants gain the confidence and capability to lead teams effectively. They are role models of behaviours that become standard practice and inspire others to perform beyond expectations. 

Leaves Room for Improvement

Often when we talk about leadership development, people confuse excellence with perfection. It is impossible to achieve perfection, attempting to do so limits creativity and results in more failures due to added pressure. Striving to achieve leadership excellence, allows space for mistakes to be made and performance to be improved with each iteration. Executive leadership training emphasises the importance of reducing workplace stress that frequently accompanies organisation with a totalitarian approach to achieving goals.

For teams to become consistently high performing, it is necessary to both develop and sustain leadership excellence. Sustainability means that there is always the goal of producing the best quality product or service, while also striving to be better in the future. Processes, technologies, and industries progress all the time. Believing that your organisation already has the ‘perfect’ version does not leave room for innovation or improvement. Ignoring the value of creativity will leave you stagnant and struggling to catch up to more open-minded companies. 

Executive coaching programs provide leaders with a means of developing innovative thinking that opens the doors for input from a diverse range of sources. Coaching for leadership excellence requires an established, trusting relationship between coach and client. The right coach will be able to challenge you to expand your capabilities and become more receptive to new ideas. 


Become a Role Model of Leadership Excellence

Leadership excellence programs aim to teach participants ways to coach, grow and develop the people they work with. The most effective way leaders can do this is to set the example of influence they are hoping to impart. It is the actions we perform that others will watch and critique. Your team will notice if you are not living your values. If you are expecting excellence, you must also become excellent. 

It is much easier to influence the behaviour of others and unlock their potential by being the model that you wish to see. Senior leadership training doesn’t only benefit participants, but everyone they work with from then on. What is learnt in such programs impacts the way you lead and develop others. Being the standard and role model of excellence, you not only realise your own potential but the potential of those around you as well. 

Learning how to harness and model leadership excellence can have a number of advantages on individuals at every level of the organisation. While it is important that our leaders provide a clear example of behaviours to be followed, they should also set the expectation that perfection is not the ultimate goal. Leaders who engage in executive coaching programs to develop their ability to influence their teams, will see an increase in overall performance throughout their organisation.

How do you demonstrate excellence in your workplace?

Book a Consultation

About the Author: The Leadership Sphere

The Leadership Sphere helps small and medium businesses and larger organisations in Australia, in creating value through leadership. The Leadership Sphere provides a humanistic approach to the way it delivers leadership, performance and coaching services. We work with leaders and senior teams who need to gain increased clarity, build capability and ensure contribution at every level in the organisation, and enable a safe, inclusive and high trust organisation.

Let us help you find what you’re looking for!

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How Leadership Excellence Benefits Others

building a high performance culture

5 Ways Leaders Influence Performance

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5 Ways Leaders Influence Performance

It is necessary to make use of leadership excellence to drive performance and success over the long term. Many high performance teams are capable of operating independently of direct leadership. Though to truly reach their highest potential, there must be a guiding presence who can assist them in accomplishing greater feats. It is the responsibility of team leaders to inspire and motivate others to outperform expectations by delivering critical business imperatives. 

Encourage Collaboration

A defining characteristic of the best high performance teams is their ability to work collaboratively in service of common goals. Leaders who foster an environment that encourages and relies on collaborative processes, will see consistently successful results in the work their team produces. High performance training programs help teams to establish stronger trusting relationships and to provide clarification on team purpose. This establishes a basis on which strategies and processes can be built. 


Avoid Shortcuts

As companies grow, most executive leaders look for ways to streamline processes without sacrificing quality or performance. Efficiency in productivity can be extremely beneficial, though it can sometimes lead to the creation of shortcuts that do little for maintaining high performance. To combat this phenomenon, leaders must establish clear expectations that can not easily be misunderstood. Leading high performance teams requires exceptional communication so that each individual understands where they are heading and how to get there. 

Be Exceptional Decision Makers

The self-sufficiency of high performance teams is often seen as one of their many beneficial qualities. The role of leaders of high performance teams is that of guide, ensuring that their path to success remains clear. Often this means that they are there to provide answers and make decisions when the team is unable to do so. In developing leadership excellence, individuals are taught to recognise and solve important challenges. Being able to make the right choices for their team is a key marker of the best high performance team leaders.

Show Commitment

Leaders who do not openly display their commitment to their teams, should not expect others to commit to them or their vision. If you are not willing to dedicate your own efforts towards achieving the very goals that you set out, how can you expect your team to do the same? High performance team leaders provide much needed support to those they are asking to realise their vision. In doing so, they create a culture of belonging within their team. Establishing personal connections can have a positive impact on the team’s emotional well-being, productivity, and performance.


Nurture Growth

One of the best, and most direct, ways for leaders to improve performance is to actively advocate for the growth of their team’s skills. Developing high performance teams fosters a sense of loyalty that employees often will reciprocate by making a greater effort in their performance. The quality of work is much higher in teams who share a mutual appreciation with their leaders, than in teams led through fear or intimidation. 

The influence of positive leadership actions can not be understated. Inspiring leaders who understand the complexities of their team and how they operate as a unit will be able to see a greater increase in performance and productivity. By demonstrating their commitment to the growth of their team and being clear communicators, they foster a culture of collaboration and success. 

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.

Let us help you find what you’re looking for!

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5 Ways Leaders Influence Performance

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Defining Leadership Excellence

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Defining Leadership Excellence

It is easy to recognise leadership excellence when we see it, but when asked to define what that looks like many people struggle to identify specific characteristics. The truth is that leadership excellence looks different to everyone. However there are two key areas which, if intentionally cultivated, help to bring us closer to defining leadership excellence. Training programs that focus on these two aspects of excellence should form the basis of your executive leadership development.

Practical Excellence

There is no escaping the necessity for leaders to see to the practical day-to-day operations of running a team or organisation. Ensuring that tasks are completed on time and are of high quality is an important aspect of successful leadership. Demanding excellence from your team is not enough to guarantee that their resulting work will meet high performance standards. It is the role of a great leader to set, and then help them to achieve goals for your team that will push them beyond their perceived limitations. 

To do this, you must be clear with your team about what these goals are and why they are important. Providing them with motivation to reach their goals will result in more success and stronger performance overall. Developing leadership excellence in a practical manner does require that your team has access to the resources they need to achieve the goals you set out for them. This demonstrates to them your own dedication reaching those same goals with excellent results. 

Interpersonal Excellence

Establishing strong interpersonal relationships with the individuals you work with is pivotal to building a high performing team. Developing senior leaders must understand this and strive to create these connections early in the formation of their teams. 

Leadership development programs like Dare to Lead™, teach participants how to form these deeper connections within their workplace in order to build trusting and honest relationships. Gaining a personal understanding of the individuals on your team can have lasting mutual benefits. Learning the personal values and goals of your team allows you to offer support and opportunities for them to develop their skills while they are contributing to a greater vision.

Training for leadership excellence should include a focus on both practical and interpersonal excellence. Individuals who have strong personal connections with their leaders are far more likely to be motivated to perform at a higher standard and aim to reach their goals. Executive leadership programs that teach participants to establish and sustain trusting relationships are the foundation to developing leadership excellence. 

What is the most important aspect of leadership excellence for you?

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About the Author: The Leadership Sphere

The Leadership Sphere helps small and medium businesses and larger organisations in Australia, in creating value through leadership. The Leadership Sphere provides a humanistic approach to the way it delivers leadership, performance and coaching services. We work with leaders and senior teams who need to gain increased clarity, build capability and ensure contribution at every level in the organisation, and enable a safe, inclusive and high trust organisation.

Let us help you find what you’re looking for!

TOP STORIES

Defining Leadership Excellence

leadership skills inventory

6 Skills Needed for Leadership Excellence

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6 Skills Needed for Leadership Excellence

Leadership excellence is not always a measure of how successfully a manager’s directions have been followed. True leadership excellence is much more the result of their ability to inspire their teams to achieve the extraordinary. They must be effective communicators, decision makers, visionaries, students, and coaches. Undertaking senior leadership training programs can help leaders become more effective and successful.

Integrity

Maintaining a consistency in your beliefs and values affords you the ability to lead with integrity. Operating with a guiding set of principles will make it easier not to compromise those values when faced with challenges. To lead with integrity we must first develop an understanding of what our personal values are. A personal values assessment will help to determine how the qualities you value in leadership align with your perception of the current and desired culture of your organisation. Hold yourself accountable, and others will do the same.


Recognition

Everyone likes hearing that their efforts are appreciated. Great leaders know this and express their gratitude freely, no matter how small the contribution. This is not to say that they are over praising individuals when they are meeting expectations. Rather they display genuine appreciation for necessary but often overlooked efforts made that have a significant or positive impact on the project. Acknowledging your team’s ongoing hard work and celebrating their accomplishments, reinforces a strong work ethic and fosters a positive team environment. 

Honesty

The key component of genuine praise and criticism is that it is provided honestly. Compliments mean more to us if the person giving them, truly means what they are saying. Similarly, we are less likely to take personal offence to criticism if we can recognise the truth of it ourselves. An often cited example of this idea comes from Brene Brown. In her book Dare to Lead™, she states that “Clear is Kind, Unclear is Unkind.” This is a significant focus of the Dare to Lead™ leadership development program. It is better to be honest in your critiques to allow for  development, than it is to be vague in an attempt not to hurt someone’s feelings.

Delegation

If you have ever found that your team’s progress on a project has stalled because they are waiting for your approval, you may consider removing yourself from the process if possible. By delegating entire processes to your team and entrusting them with more responsibility, you empower them to make better decisions and become high performers. Engaging them in leadership training programs, and even coaching them yourself, promotes autonomy and accelerated performance amongst your team. Delegation does not mean that your role as leader transfers from you to someone else. In developing leadership excellence, you understand that mistakes will occur. You should still be following up on delegated tasks and providing support when necessary.


Vision

Having a clear vision or direction for your organisation is an integral trait of leadership excellence. Defining this vision and communicating it effectively with your team ensures that each individual understands the goal you are aiming to achieve. Communicating vision and inspiring others to act on it is a trait that is not always considered particularly skilful. This could not be further from the truth. Developing insightful foresight takes just as much practice and experience as any other leadership skill. Doing so can be the difference between a successful execution or an unsuccessful one. 

Learning

Great leaders constantly seek to improve upon their existing skills to keep up and even get ahead of industry trends. Training for leadership excellence means identifying areas that can be improved and building upon already proven strengths. For some, this may require them to identify those areas with the help of a Hogan 360º Report or assessments from an executive training program. Industry standards and processes are always evolving and leaders must evolve their expertise along with it to continue to grow their success.

Building leadership excellence requires dedication to both yourself and your team. Senior leadership training can be an effective tool to help leaders understand their own values and how to become better communicators. Leadership development is an ongoing process that will only result in benefits for you, your team, and your organisation 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.

Let us help you find what you’re looking for!

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6 Skills Needed for Leadership Excellence