Posts

Executive Coaching

4 Ways that Executive Coaching will Help Your Business During Difficult Times

in /by

4 Ways that Executive Coaching will Help Your Business During Difficult Times

Executive coaching was once considered a last ditch effort for addressing toxic behaviour in the most senior level employees. Over time, the industry has evolved in such a way that now coaches are most often brought in to help leaders develop their skills and better perform their role. Companies have also found value in engaging executive coaching as a means of preventing the turnover of key employees, not just the ‘Executive’. As coaching continues to become more commonplace, old stigmas surrounding the practice will continue to dissipate and it will be sought after for its overwhelming benefits.

Develop High-Potential Talent

One of the key reasons that companies might decide to hire an executive coach is to develop their high-potential talent among middle management. When companies are faced with turbulent times, the risk of losing their top talent is something they may fear. To prevent this, they may instead choose to develop the skills of their high-potential employees. Usually, the individual is someone who is already making significant contributions to achieving results and will likely possess a sharp desire to learn and grow. Not only does this mean that employee turnover remains low, it shows the individual that their skills and talents are valued by top management and that they are committed to helping the individual to progress.

Creates Balance for Executives

When executive coaches are brought on board, it is usually to address a specific business problem or aid with transition to a new role. As time goes on and the coach comes to understand the client, they end up also addressing personal issues such as purpose and work-life balance. In a study conducted by the Harvard Business Review, they found that while only 3% of executive coaches are hired to address personal issues, that number jumps to 76% over the course of the coach’s relationship with the client. This suggests that the value of what a coach can provide goes far beyond what they are initially hired to do. During times of uncertainty, this aspect of executive coaching could not be more valuable as the added stress of confronting challenges can take a huge mental toll on the individual. By having another reliable source with whom they can discuss such issues, means that executives are given the opportunity to resolve them. This in turn allows them to have greater clarity and focus when problem-solving.

Choosing the Right Coach

Just as it is important that the individual be willing to undergo coaching, it is equally important that the coach is the right match for the person who is being coached. After all the coach-client relationship often spans a three to twelve month period. It would be a wasteful use of time and resources if the client does not gain any value from the relationship. Great coaches understand that much of their role is simply to be asking the right questions and allowing the individual to discover their own path. Such coaches will put the needs of their client first and not allow them to become dependent on their coach to make decisions. 

It is also important that executive coaches are able to help address personal issues, but there are boundaries, because after all a coach is generally not a health professional and it is not their role to play psychologist. This is not surprising considering how few coaches are hired to assist with personal matters, but interestingly, people often relate to problems at work in a way that by default helps them become better partners, parents and generally a better person in the process. There is some evidence to suggest that coaching those with unrecognised mental health problems can be counterproductive. Given the complexity and difficulty of identifying such issues without proper training it is worth organisations requiring that the coaches they hire have undergone some degree of mental health training.

Coaching for Future Leaders

As the coaching industry continues to expand and develop, we are beginning to see more and more executives turn to coaches to help them better understand their role and improve their skills. The constantly changing business environment means that the need for assistance in navigating it will only become greater. Executive coaches will become an essential part of the learning and development process for leaders across all levels of an organisation. The value and support that executive coaches provide to clients will be recognised as vital. One of the things that we have also found with coaching staff who attend leadership development programs and high performance team programs is that we can take a 3 x return on the development to sometimes as high as 10 x when underpinned by an effective coaching program to embed learning and apply it to business outcomes.

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!

TOP STORIES

4 Ways that Executive Coaching will Help Your Business During Difficult Times

Creating a high performance team

5 Ways to Create a High Performing Team During Difficult Times

in /by

5 Ways to Create a High Performing Team During Difficult Times

When we face unpredictable challenges we need to be able to rely on our team to perform with excellence. To create and cultivate high performance teams, we also need to be constantly on the lookout to recruit newcomers who have proven to be the best in their fields. Unfortunately, there are some extreme challenges, such as a global pandemic, that have caused recruitment to become a low priority in many industries. This does not mean that it is then impossible to build a high performance team. On the contrary, this limitation actually affords us the opportunity to look for high potential and high performance individuals from within the current team.

Look Within

The perfect place to start when creating high performance teams under uncertain circumstances is to draw from the talent you already possess. Building your team from within not only allows individuals the opportunity to advance and develop their skills, but it means that leaders are getting to look closely at some high potential team members who might have otherwise gone unnoticed. The added benefits of selecting from your current team is that it saves time at the beginning when you are building strong interpersonal relationships, as they likely will have already collaborated well before. Meaning that the team as a whole can begin working towards their goals much sooner.

Providing Feedback

One of the best ways to actively build your team and improve performance is to provide clear and consistent feedback. After all, how can anyone get better if they are unaware of any performance gaps? Feedback should be given in a 180 or 360 degree manner that takes into account the goals of the business, the team, and how individuals can be supported to help achieve those goals. This method of motivation also works to encourage teams to do more of what they already are excelling in. It provides them with a clear understanding of what they need to do to achieve results. It is important that an organisation has a good 180 degree feedback process in place that strengthens the relationship between a staff and manager, and they can then move beyond this to apply 360 degree feedback and those results can be revisited regularly. This helps drive accountability not just for results but also for cultural aspects of a role, and encourages continuous development. 

Provide Inspiration

Considering that the day-to-day work of a high performance team is left largely to their own direction, it becomes the role of leadership to be able to continually provide inspiration rather than specific direction. These leaders know how to spark enthusiasm and passion in their teams for the work they are doing. When teams feel that their work has great value, they are better able to come up with creative or innovative solutions. Setting stretch goals creates an internal drive in the team to push themselves further and accomplish more than they thought themselves capable. There is then an increased sense of pride and engagement with the work. Also, in a world that is becoming more complex and with organisations looking for cultural change, the ability to provide inspiration and support a team during all types of business conditions has become even more important.

Trust in Leadership

Consistently, trust is identified as a key element of high performance teams. Not only do the individual members of these teams need to trust in one another, they also need to have trust in their leader. High performance teams are mostly self-sufficient and do not actually require a lot of supervision, but they will on occasion need to have a dedicated leader to help resolve conflict, inspire new action, set stretch goals, and communicate feedback. It is therefore important for the team to be able to trust in that person to make the best decision in service of the whole team’s ambitions.

Why Employers Need High Performance Teams

As the past year has proven, drastic shifts in workplace operations can occur with very little warning or time to prepare. When faced with this kind of disruption and uncertainty of the future, it becomes clear just how vital it is to ensure that teams are able to adapt to these changes. High performance teams are better positioned to overcome the challenges of uncertainty thanks to their experience with working closely under pressure. Investing in high performance teams can reduce staff turnover, achieve better results, and adapt quickly to achieve new 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.

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

TOP STORIES

5 Ways to Create a High Performing Team During Difficult Times

Leadership Skills for Dealing with Uncertainty

in /by

Leadership Skills for Dealing with Uncertainty

Dealing with crisis and uncertainty is incredibly stressful for individuals at all levels of an organisation. For leaders, this poses the added challenge of needing to assuage fears and provide a sense of stability for their teams. Navigating change can make us doubt our effectiveness as leaders, but it is important that we learn to sit with this discomfort in order to face it. There is a strong connection between each of the skills we have identified as being important for dealing with uncertainty. Each on their own can have a great impact on how teams are led, but it is how they feed into one another that makes them truly successful.


Communication

Communication is the most crucial leadership skill to use during times of crisis. When times are uncertain, people rely on their leaders to keep them informed. Even though we may not always have a perfect answer, making sure everyone is on the same page can be an invaluable relief to those who struggle with unknowns. Equally as important as conveying information with clarity, is listening to the concerns of your team. Often overlooked, listening and hearing what others are saying is key to clear communication. By ensuring that we give others our undivided attention when discussing matters of importance, we demonstrate that we value their time and opinions.

Trust

Trust is integral to clear communication. This is especially the case during times of uncertainty. Leaders must not only be in frequent communication with their teams, but that communication requires honesty in order for there to be trust in what you are saying. Great leaders will have already spent a significant amount of time building trusting relationships with the individual members of their team over the course of their working together. Trusting and high performing teams are more likely to succeed at overcoming adversity because their dynamic as a unified group has already been proven.


Vulnerability

Building trust is a large focus of the Dare to Lead™ program, based on the work and research of Brene Brown. She posits that real and lasting trust cannot exist without vulnerability. Throughout the course, participants are invited to ‘rumble with vulnerability’ so that they might gain a deeper understanding of who they are as people and leaders. ‘Rumbling with vulnerability’ is about giving yourself the opportunity to experience moments of uncertainty or perceived weakness. In short, to get comfortable with being uncomfortable. Leading through times of uncertainty is uncomfortable. Learning how to manage effectively while while leaning into the discomfort is a valuable skill that leaders at all levels should develop.

When organisations face challenges that leave many people feeling worried about the uncertainty of the future, it is up to our leaders to be the driving force that guides teams through such significant change. Of course, the continuous communication between leaders and teams is vital for working through these difficulties. For this to yield successful results for the organisation as a whole, there must also be clarity, trust, and vulnerability. No team will remain productive and continue to deliver exceptional results if their leaders are not willing to be honest with them. By embracing all three of the leadership skills discussed above, the uncertainty and ‘what ifs’ will be much more readily overcome.

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!

TOP STORIES

Leadership Skills for Dealing with Uncertainty

leadership performance training

Why Focusing on Performance is Destructive

in /by

Why Focusing on Performance is Destructive

Questions Leaders Struggle With

Over the last several years, I have asked a series of questions of leaders: 

  • What is performance? 
  • What is organisational health? 
  • Where do you think most leaders and organisations focus – performance or health? 

Almost without exception, leaders can answer the first question about performance, but usually in very narrow terms. They might mention profit or products or services. The answers to question two – what is organisational health – varies widely. Generally, people respond with terms like ‘it’s about the culture’, or ‘it relates to how strong your leadership capability is’ while others take the term ‘health’ more literally and believe it’s about the wellbeing of their employees.

Performance and health circles and overlap

To answer the questions from an evidence-based approach, I draw on the work of Scott Keller and Bill Schaninger (Beyond Performance 2.0, 2019) who present some useful definitions and distinctions about the terms, not to mention a depth of research that holds up across industries and sectors.

Performance is what an enterprise does to deliver improved results for its stakeholders in financial and operational terms. It’s evaluated through measures such as net operating profit, and total returns to shareholders. 

Health is how effectively an organisation works together in pursuit of a common goal. It is evaluated in levels of accountability, motivation, innovation, coordination, external orientation, and so on. A more memorable way to think about health-related actions is that they are those that improve how an organisation internally aligns itself, executes with excellence, and renews itself to sustainably achieve performance aspirations in its ever-changing external environment.

Performance and health circles and overlap (including wording)

The Question that Bites

Once these definitions are more clearly understood, I then ask the third question, “Which one (performance or health) do organisations focus on?” The answer is obvious – performance. It is rare for someone to say that organisations have a bias towards organisational health. Organisations should focus on performance to get performance, right? Wrong.

The last follow-up question is “Which one out of performance and health should leaders focus on? Most answer ‘health’ – and then there is usually an awkward silence – as some in the room realise that they have spent a lifetime perpetuating the myth that to get performance you should focus on performance. This is a classic ‘knowing-do’ gap. We know what to do, but fail to take action.  

Knowledge gap and doing

The Magic of ‘And’

The actual answer is BOTH. In a world where ‘either-or’ thinking dominates, focusing predominantly on one or the other is going to be counter-productive. It’s what has been called the magic of the ‘and’. Leaders need to focus on performance AND health concurrently. 

The power of...

However, the view that to get performance we need to focus on performance prevails. Not only does it prevail, but for many leaders it dominates their approach. A case in point was a conversation I once had with a CFO of a large Australian company, who said, and I quote, “We can’t focus on fixing the culture yet because we have invested in a major technology platform that now needs to be implemented.” 

There are many flaws in this thinking. Firstly, you can roll out the gold standard in technology, but if people aren’t aligned behind the organisation’s vision and purpose, then you’re likely going to be flushing a sizeable portion of it down the toilet. I once mentioned that we still seem to tolerate a high failure rate in organisational change (i.e. the change initiative fails to deliver on its promise) to a group of senior bankers. The head of technology acknowledged that they had possibly wasted around $1billion in the last year because of poor implementation. When I queried what he meant by ‘poor implementation’, he replied, “we forgot about the people.” Related to this point, a high profile change initiative is the perfect time to start to shift to a more constructive culture in how it is rolled out. Leaders need to use the initiative as a vehicle to demonstrate the ‘new way’, or aspirational culture in everything they do. Again, it’s an ‘and’. 

Performance and Health Matter Equally

The central premise of our work (and supported by an avalanche of research) is that leaders should put equal emphasis on the health elements of making change happen as they do the performance elements. 

As Keller and Schaninger point out, “Workplaces that are characterized by any or all of competing agendas and conflict (no alignment on direction), politics and bureaucracy (low quality of execution), and where work is “just a job” (low sense of renewal), aren’t just unhealthy for sustainably delivering bottom-line results—they are unhealthy for the human soul.”

Leadership must be the bridge between performance and health.

Performance and health circles and overlap - leadership is the bridge

Organisations that are healthy, however, are places people actually want to be, creating the environment and conditions for people to do – and be – their best. They mobilise and align around important organisational challenges and goals, they create a sense of belonging by fostering high-performance teams, and they foster creativity and innovation through a sense of psychological safety, encouraging ‘smart failures’ and promoting a sense of renewal. 

The Leadership Challenge

In the fast-paced, always-on, rapidly changing world we live in, the need for action and results is a powerful and seductive force. But if leaders focus on this to the exclusion of – or even to a greater extent than – developing organisational health, then it will ultimately come back to harm them and their organisation or team. There are numerous examples where a focus on performance alone has hurt the bottom (and top) line. Think about the leaders you have worked with where they have focused on performance to the exclusion of health. What were the results? In the short-term, probably pretty good. But anything beyond that there was a likely dip in performance and in fact a complete undermining of it. There may have also been substantial damage to the culture, its people, and the goodwill and trust required to run an enterprise.

The leadership challenge is to develop more sophisticated lenses to be able to see – really see – organisations as both systems and as a personal construct. Changing mindsets and behaviours are critical, but if you don’t understand the formal and informal structures and relationships that play out in the organisation, including the way that people take up their roles, then you will be doomed to achieving average results at best. And ‘average’ results in a world where change leadership is generally done poorly, means below what organisations, their people, and those they serve deserve. 

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

TOP STORIES

Why Focusing on Performance is Destructive

executive coaching services

Coaching Trends to Support Your Leaders During Times of Uncertainty

in /by

Coaching Trends to Support Your Leaders During Times of Uncertainty

When navigating uncertainty or change management, we rely heavily on our leaders to guide us through with minimal negative impact. It is important to remember that it is during such challenging times that we must also ensure that support is given to them as well. A great number of unprecedented challenges have been overcome in the past year as many industries were forced to revolutionise their operational practices. Leadership development and executive coaching has been no exception. As a result, several once emerging trends have proven their longevity. These are some of the most prevalent factors that clients are now looking for in a coach.


Authenticity

The added stress that individuals feel during times of crisis, means that their tolerance for platitudes and ‘corporate speak’ decreases significantly. The use of such jargon increases the level of distrust they have in management or the organisation. Leaders undergoing executive coaching while managing a crisis, want the same thing their staff want from them – clarity. The best way to provide clarity is by being authentic in your approach and delivery. How you speak matters just as much, if not more than what you are saying. Throughout her book, Dare to Lead™, Brene Brown explores how vulnerability is often a key component of brave leadership. The Dare to Lead™ program delves deeply into this idea of how vulnerability contributes to authenticity in leadership and how it is linked to bravery.

Not Just for C-level

As the name suggests, executive coaching has long been considered a luxury only available to senior leaders. This perception is changing as companies are recognising the need to support and develop both existing and high potential leaders across all levels. The impact of including leaders at even the directorial or managerial level in executive coaching programs is that it creates the opportunity for those who may otherwise be overlooked for promotion to stand out. It also allows for lower ranking leaders to develop the skills that will be necessary for them to have once they reach a more senior position.

Social Media

Circumstances being what they were in 2020 meant that we saw increased creation and interaction via social media than almost ever before. Many people turn to social media in search of inspiration and tips for finding solutions to their problems. The perceived authenticity of social media over more traditional marketing campaigns is what makes platforms like Facebook and Instagram so appealing to clients. Engaging with potential clients on these platforms provides them with insight into who you are as a person and as a coach before they even speak with you. 

Personalisation

With the prevalent practice of working remotely, the demand for similarly delivered executive coaching services is rising. Potential clients are becoming less interested in general or group programs and more concerned with finding a coach who can help them with their specific personal and professional goals. By choosing to work with a specialised coach, they are prioritising the needs specific to them, rather than spending time they may not have, participating in a full course that will not benefit them. For coaches, this means they will have a greater chance of working with new clients if they are able to provide services that are personalised and have a narrower focus. With so much white noise in our personal and professional lives, and the ongoing pressures of leading through change and times of uncertainty, having a coach by your side that understands you is one of the most valuable gifts we can give ourselves and others in our organisation. At The Leadership Sphere, we see organisations without coaching to support leadership development achieve a 3 x return on investment, whereas those who blend leadership development training with ongoing coaching and leadership development and support, receive 10 x return on investment. Greater spend in terms of money and time, however, the impact on the return is a continued topic of much interest!

Driven to Learn

With the rapid changes that are brought about by a crisis, leaders often find themselves underprepared for the new challenges they face. They can feel as though they are losing confidence in their own skills and effectiveness. Fortunately, this does allow the opportunity for leaders to reflect on their recent performance and assess where their development might be stalled. Uncertainty creates a drive to learn new skills to prepare ourselves as much as we can for any number of possible circumstances. Executive coaching programs offer this opportunity in a way that addresses the specific concerns of the individual. 

When faced with new and unpredictable circumstances, we expose both our strengths and our weaknesses. It is important for leaders that they can recognise each of them in order to continue in their ongoing development. We must expand our view of what executive coaching looks like, in terms of its delivery, content, and presence. As the world continues to shift further into digital spaces, the world of coaching must follow to provide value and support for those that need it. In fact, one might say that executive coaching is a critical part of uncovering where our risks and opportunities are when it comes to leadership development, and from that we can ensure learning is being directed at those areas that will maximise our results!

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!

TOP STORIES

Coaching Trends to Support Your Leaders During Times of Uncertainty

leadership training program

High Performance Training and Development Trends for Building Trust During Times of Uncertainty

in /by

High Performance Training and Development Trends for Building Trust During Times of Uncertainty

In today’s rapidly developing business environment, the idea of what a high performance team looks like is also evolving. Increasingly, we are seeing more and more teams becoming dispersed geographically as the possibility of remote operations for organisations becomes commonplace. Building high performance teams can be difficult. For these teams it is more important to focus on how the individuals interact with one another in service of their goals, rather than the productivity of any one person. As the unprecedented challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic has taught us, this focus becomes especially important during times of crisis and uncertainty. 

Team Structure

Size is a significant factor in beginning to build your team. For high performance teams, a small number is needed to ensure focus and dedication. However, we must be careful not to make it too small, as the resulting lack of diversity can lead to poorer and slower decision making. Conversely, too large and ‘sub-groups’ form that can detract from the team’s objective by pursuing their own agenda instead. Bigger teams can also create ‘herd mentality’ amongst members, allowing the ownership of team decisions to be undermined. 

When selecting individuals to be part of your high performance team, it is also important to consider what skills, experience, backgrounds, and attitudes each person brings forward. This is what we refer to when we talk about diversity within these teams. Too many similar ideas prevent growth and innovation. By drawing team members from a variety of positions and levels in the organisation, there is a greater opportunity for new ideas to arise. 

Dynamics

Once the structure of your team has been determined, it is time to look at how the team performs together. Only after people begin to work together that the dynamics of the team reveal themselves. It is not enough to put the highest individual performers together and expect the team to thrive. Each person must understand how their work contributes to the greater goal or purpose, and how they both support, and are supported by the contributions of others. 

High performance teams are defined by three key dimensions of high performance teamwork. The first is coherence in direction. This is the combined effort of the team to fully understand the goals of the company and the role they play in reaching them. The second is high-quality interaction. Trust is the leading factor in this area as it drives the open communication and ability to embrace conflict that makes these teams successful. Lastly is the cultivation of an environment that encourages innovation and a willingness to take risks.

High Performance Teams Training to Build Trust

Trust is the very foundation of all high performance teams. The support that members provide for one another stems from the understanding that they are all working to achieve a united goal. Therefore, when conflicts do arise or suggestions are made, individuals work collaboratively to come to a solution. High performance training programs that focus on developing strong levels of trust help to establish a greater sense of team for participants. During times of uncertainty, teams that are lacking in trust are more prone to argumentative behaviour and blaming, rather than problem solving. Teams that can come together in the face of crises make better decisions and succeed far beyond the time the challenges are overcome. Even teams that are already considered high performing can benefit from additional development programs. The presence of an external observer may help to identify unknown problem areas and coach them to incorporate tools for overcoming them. 

By bringing together a new team of people, it will alter the structure and dynamics of their performance. To sustain a high performance team’s success during and beyond times of crisis, they must first build and develop a trusting relationship. Training programs that are specifically designed around your teams’ needs are an invaluable resource and certainly an investment worth making to ensure future 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!

TOP STORIES

High Performance Training and Development Trends for Building Trust During Times of Uncertainty

leadership development program

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

in /by

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.

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

TOP STORIES

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

clear is kind unclear is unkind book

Great Leaders Understand – Clear is Kind and Unclear is Unkind

in /by

Great Leaders Understand – Clear is Kind and unclear is Unkind

The adage ‘Clear is Kind, Unclear is Unkind’ is a relatively new concept in the world of leadership development, but has fast become adopted by many thanks to the work of Brené Brown, pioneer and expert in vulnerable leadership. In her book, Dare to Lead™, Brown talks a great deal about the importance of communicating with clarity at all times but most especially when those conversations are difficult to have. What she found while conducting a 7 year study on bravery in leadership is that most of us tend to avoid clarity under the illusion that being indirect is kinder when actually, we’re being unkind and unfair.

Brené Brown explores this further in the following ways:

  • ‘Hinting’ at the issue or telling half-truths to make someone else feel better is unkind
  • Talking about people instead of to them is unkind
  • Not setting clear expectations for others, but blaming them for not reaching them is unkind
  • Saying ‘Got it, on it’ instead of having tough conversations and gaining clarity is unkind


In each of the above points, we can see that what they all have in common is that while employing these strategies may seem as though we are putting the other person’s feelings before our own, we’re not. Instead, we’re trying to minimise our own discomfort with confrontation. In business, this has the tendency to be extremely detrimental because rather than resolving an issue directly, it is being talked ‘around’ and may become exacerbated. By prioritising our own emotional distress, we’re being unkind to the other person – who isn’t being given the opportunity to grow or change their behaviour – or ourselves – who will continue to endure the ramifications.

Learn more about Dare to Lead™

Clear is Kind

To explore this idea further, let’s break down what each statement looks like in practice. Clear is Kind. What Brown is referring to in the first half of her thesis is the idea that clarity in how we communicate is the most effective means of delivering information. There is a significant amount of focus given to this idea throughout the Dare to Lead™ program that encourages us recognise the importance of honesty when it comes to discussing difficult topics or issues. When it comes to delegating projects or tasks, the best thing you can do as a leader is to do what Brené Brown refers to as ‘painting done.’ This is simple yet effective strategy for setting up expectations that only needs to take up a few minutes during your first briefing on the task. To paint done, is to be explicit in what you’re asking someone to accomplish. You’re providing them with an exact idea of what the final result of the project will look like. This not only saves you both time in the long run, but you’ve given a clear expectation of what needs to be done. 

Unclear is Unkind

The second piece of this statement, Unclear is Unkind, is the antithesis of Clear is Kind. Being unclear or indirect about expectations and information can have detrimental implications in the long run. In situations where we can see that a teammate has missed the mark or hasn’t performed their role to their best standard, it can be difficult to engage in a conversation about it. What tends to happen instead, is we speak ‘around’ the core of the issue or we ‘hint’ at the problem and hope that they will pick up on our disappointment. We think of ourselves as being kind in this moment because we’re trying to avoid hurting their feelings. But that isn’t necessarily the case. All we’ve really done is protect ourselves from feeling uncomfortable and it doesn’t help to resolve the situation. It’s unkind to them – they don’t know that there is an issue at all, or they don’t know the extent of it. It’s unkind to you – you will continue to be disappointed and frustrated. In the Dare to Lead™ Program, participants develop the ability to lean into what makes them uncomfortable in order to get to the heart of daring leadership.

Clarity in leadership is an integral piece of the Clarity + Capability + Contribution model that is central to The Leadership Sphere’s leadership development programs. Clarity comes first as it is foundational to both Capability and Contribution. We aim to help leaders create clarity for themselves and the people they support. It drives certainty of purpose and increases productivity. From there it is possible to develop leadership capability that enables a high trust organisation where leaders can contribute in ways that help others be the best they can be. But it starts with being clear and being kind. 

Book a consultation

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!

TOP STORIES

Great Leaders Understand – Clear is Kind and Unclear is Unkind

leading teams

3 Skills Needed for Leading High Performance Teams

in /by

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.

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

TOP STORIES

3 Skills Needed for Leading High Performance Teams

benefits of executive coaching

Why Empathy is the Most Important Executive Coaching Skill

in /by

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.

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

TOP STORIES

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?

in /by

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.

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

TOP STORIES

When is the Best Time to Invest in Executive Coaching?

leadership in 2021

What Does Leadership Look Like In 2021?

in /by

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.

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

TOP STORIES

What Does Leadership Look Like In 2021?

life styles inventory

Life Styles Inventory (LSI) Explained

in /by

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.

The value of the LSI increases significantly when the results are debriefed with an experienced coach. A coach can help the individual interpret the gap between self-perception and others’ feedback, and build a practical development plan around it.

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. 

The Leadership Sphere is accredited to administer the Life Styles Inventory and uses it regularly within leadership development and high performance team programs. If you want to explore how the LSI could work for your organisation, you can learn more about it here.

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.

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

TOP STORIES

Life Styles Inventory (LSI) Explained

how culture influence communication

5 Benefits of Executive Coaching

in /by

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.

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

TOP STORIES

5 Benefits of Executive Coaching

developing and sustaining high performance work teams

How to Develop and Sustain a High Performance Team

in /by

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.

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

TOP STORIES

How to Develop and Sustain a High Performance Team

man standing on a clifftop at sunset

5 Reasons Why Leadership Development is Important

in /by

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.

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

TOP STORIES

5 Reasons Why Leadership Development is Important

working at a desk with laptop and notebook

Making The Move To Online Learning For Leadership Development

in /by

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.

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

TOP STORIES

Making The Move To Online Learning For Leadership Development

team meeting online using Zoom

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

in /by

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.

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

TOP STORIES

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

create vulnerability in leadership

Trust is the Key to Healthy and High Performing Teams

in /by

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.

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

TOP STORIES

Trust is the Key to Healthy and High Performing Teams

Two people shaking hands - how to build trust in a workplace relationship.

Why Can Trust be So Hard?

in /by

Why Can Trust be So Hard?

And Why Should We Care about Answering the Question?

Generally, in organisations and society, we don’t do too well with trust. Yet trust is at the heart of every relationship, and it’s especially critical in the workplace. In fact, the primary factor affecting employee turnover is whether or not a trusting relationship was developed between the manager and the employee. However, 82% of people say they don’t trust their boss to tell the truth and 45% of employees say lack of trust in leadership is the biggest issue impacting their work performance (Edelman Trust Barometer).

…82% of people say they don’t trust their boss to tell the truth and 45% of employees say lack of trust in leadership is the biggest issue impacting their work performance…

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

I know in my career, for example, I have been part of many teams – some were great, some average and some were downright bad! My first job was as a police officer. I spent 17 years in this role – and during this time there were many teams that worked well. On reflection, I think they worked well because, in general, there were high levels of transparency. There was very little game-playing, politics or maneuvering. You knew where you stood. We just got on and did the job, sometimes in very challenging circumstances. However, transparency alone isn’t enough.

Trust as a Multi-Dimensional Construct

To help leaders better understand trust, I developed a model based on the best available information, research and my own experience in terms of what actually works. This model isn’t the work of an academic, but it is based on solid evidence. Making even small improvements in one or more of the five elements can make a big difference in how trustworthy we are perceived as being.

To borrow a principle from Stephen R. Covey, the speed of trust is directly related to the speed of business. In other words, increased trust means increased speed of business, both in terms of execution, relationships, team dynamics and living a fulfilling life.

Five Elements of Trust: Your Key to Building High-Trust Relationships

As can be seen in the model (below), trust comprises five critical and interdependent elements. Over the coming weeks, I will discuss each in more depth.

Picture

So, Why Can Trust be Hard?

Why is trust hard? Because we are human – full of feelings, aspirations, fears and yes, potential.

…it doesn’t have to be this way – and that despite our ‘humanness’, we can live, lead and love in ways that create high-trust, safe and mutually beneficial relationships where we can each thrive…

Our sweaty little egos create fertile ground for disagreement, conflict and poor behaviour. My contention, however, is that it doesn’t have to be this way – and that despite our ‘humanness’, we can live, lead and love in ways that create high-trust, safe and mutually beneficial relationships where we can each thrive and live fulfilling lives. It just takes a bit of work and the right approach.

I’ll be writing about each element in more detail in the coming weeks. I look forward to continuing the conversation with you.

All the best – Phil

Repost this

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

TOP STORIES

Why Can Trust be So Hard?

leadership programs

Ten Features of World Class Development Programs

in /by

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.

What to do from here:

  1. Find out more about our leadership development programs.
  2. Subscribe to get valuable content in the future.
  3. Get in contact: Australia: 1300 100 857 or support@theleadershipsphere.com.au

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

TOP STORIES

Ten Features of World Class Development Programs

LeadershipSkills MyTop

Leadership Skills – My Top 10

in /by

Leadership Skills – My Top 10

The Skills Employers are Looking For Today

What are the top leadership skills sort after by employers? To make this assessment I need to reflect. In 2013, I wrote a chapter in the book “Emerging Trends in Leadership Strategy” entitled The Challenge of the Leadership Gap.

Why the ‘Leadership Gap’?

The reality is that strategy, the execution of strategy and the decisions associated with both functions have become much closer operationally than they were under a more traditional model of management. As strategy has become integral to a leadership / management role, two other things have happened:

1. The context in which strategy is developed has taken on a different shape and is far more complex than in previous times.

2. The responsibility for the execution of strategy has shifted.

Strategy is no longer simply about gathering data on products, customers and competitors. The wider context of the operating environment is now critical to strategic thinking. As well as thinking about industries, markets, competitors and customers, more global and less tangible considerations have become critical to organisational success and profitability. Considerations of the physical environment, political implications and impacts on communities and society more broadly are now just some of the essential elements of the context in which strategy is formulated today.

the leadership gap diagram

Furthermore, as middle management has disappeared and employees have begun to look for meaning in their work, the role of alignment between strategy formulation and the execution of strategy has become a shared responsibility of the senior management team (including the executive) and the rest of the employees in the organisation. As hierarchy has devolved, communication between organisational members – at all levels – has taken on far more complexity and far greater importance. This has led to what I called the ‘leadership gap’ (see figure below).

The (New) Top 10 Leadership Skills Employers Want and Need

Based on the ‘Leadership Gap’ and conversations with dozens of organisations across multiple industries, here is my assessment of the top 10 leadership skills needed (from the ‘outside-‘in’):

1. Eyes ‘Up & Out’

Good leaders have the ability to look outside their own organisation to understand trends in their industry and more broadly, society. They are then able to create a vision (a picture of the future) and mission (purpose) that best serves customers and supports building a strong organisation. Both vision and mission are important. As one of my clients put it (a Catholic-based not-for-profit)…

If there’s no money then there’s no mission!

2. Change Leadership

Leading change is complex because it encompasses virtually everything in our top 10. If leaders aren’t leading change in some shape or form, then they’re probably doing an excellent job managing the status quo. While managing ‘what-is’ is important in terms of producing high quality, reproducible results (think customer service), it is not the main game. True leadership involves mobilising people who are closest to the problem or opportunity and then supporting them to make the necessary changes.

3. ‘Network’ Savvy – Seeing the Whole

image


Many tasked with leadership are too focussed on what’s in front of them rather than being able to think in a ‘joined up’ way. Leaders need to be able to ‘see’ the whole system and understand how it operates in unison. Being savvy means being able to see how the human and mechanical systems (i.e. policies, processes, systems, and structure) work together to create a state of homeostasis – or no change. Being ‘network’ wise will become even more important. As someone once said….

Organisations are perfectly aligned to get the results they get.

4. Politically Savvy

Note that I said ‘politically savvy’, not ‘political’. There is a difference. Building on Leadership Skill 1 (Eyes Up and Out), being politically savvy means understanding the direction and depth of relationships, understanding people’s loyalties (e.g. people, history, ways of doing things, etc.) and finally, understanding the losses we’re asking people and teams to sustain as a result of our change or initiative (e.g. status, resources, money, stability, autonomy, being part of a tribe, etc.).

5. Leading Teams

image

In the future, teams will become even more important. Leaders will need to be able to quickly form a team, separate and re-form faster than ever before to work on discreet parcels of work. Leaders will need the know-how to create a climate of performance and health quickly. In a previous post, I talked about our Team Charter Canvass (below) as a guiding document to do this effectively.

6. Developing People

Developing people could be the most important skill needed for the future. Today, the bias is for action and task completion, rather than growing and developing people. Learning and people’s everyday role functions are still too separated. Leaders will need to think differently by providing learning opportunities at the same time as getting the job done. What would it look like if a minimum of 50% of everything employees did provided a genuine development opportunity? What would be the benefits over time?

7. Building Relationships

It might sound obvious, but the ability to build relationships across functions, silos and diverse interests and agendas can be tricky business. The best build a platform of credibility that comes from being able to achieve results while fostering positive relations. The qualities and skills needed to do this successfully include genuine care for others, empathy and warmth.

8. Trust

Trust is as old as time, but remains fundamental in shaping how we work, live and love. Effective leaders are able to build trust and be trustworthy. Nothing facilitates the speed of business like trust. Good leaders strike a balance between company and personal objectives by being open and transparent, but in the right amounts. It must make sense for the prevailing culture, mood and operating rhythm (e.g. sharing too much information that unnecessarily burden’s people for example).

9. Resilience

Effective leaders have the capacity to bounce back from set-backs and challenges. While they’re not robots by any stretch of the imagination, they have developed personal strategies that move beyond mere survival. In a world where more people are prone to a sense of overwhelm, developing the skills of resilience, particularly a balanced approach to life is vital.

10. Self-Mastery

imageself mastery

Self-mastery is a term that may not be commonly used in business, but it really separates average leaders from the best leaders. While we are tribal in nature as a species, this doesn’t mean we always get along with each other. Unfortunately, we all have egos – and it is our ego that gets in the way of effective leadership. Brene Brown’s research and commentary on vulnerability is insightful. Brown suggests that in a culture of scarcity (that is, feeling we’re not smart enough, thin enough, wealthy enough, etc.), we constantly feel the need to prove to ourselves and others that we are in fact smart, competent, have it all together, etc.

So there you have it – my assessment of the Top 10 Leadership Skills that will best serve organisations now and in to the future. While each of these leader skills requires continuous attention, investment and support, the results for organisations and the communities they serve justifies the effort.

Find out More

We are specialists in powering teams through leadership. If you’re interested in learning more about these programs and how we may be able to work with you to achieve outstanding results, then you can:

Call us on 1300 100 857
Email: support@theleadershipsphere.com.au
Visit: https://theleadershipsphere.com.au/

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

TOP STORIES

Leadership Skills – My Top 10