Welcome,
Leadership Development Services is pleased to present our premiere issue of "The Leading Edge: What Matters," a bi-monthly e-letter addressing some of the critical issues that matter most to leaders like you. Count on receiving:
- Practical tips
- New strategies
- Stories of "What Matters" in action
- Links to articles and other resources
See our blog for new postings every Thursday.
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What Matters: What Leaders Do |
It can be difficult to agree on one leadership definition that works for everyone. We think that Kouzes and Posner's model, as described in their book, The Leadership Challenge, captures the full essence of leadership. Based on extensive interviews with leaders and their direct reports, Kouzes and Posner identified the following five exemplary practices that enable leaders to achieve extraordinary results.
- Model the Way
- Inspire a Shared Vision
- Challenge the Process
- Enable Others to Act
- Encourage the Heart
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Leadership In Action:
Five Exemplary Practices |
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One of our clients struggled with how to develop and manage their talent pool. As a high tech organization, they focused on recruiting topnotch technical experts.
Their emerging leaders had plenty of confidence in their engineering skills,  but were unprepared to take on leadership roles. The result was disastrous when they were assigned their own teams. They micromanaged, failed to communicate, over-focused on tasks, complained about schedules, berated employees and killed morale.
We administered the LPI, a 360-degree feedback survey based on The Five Exemplary Practices, to help each leader recognize what they were doing well and to identify specific behaviors they needed to develop. As a result, teams became stronger, productivity and morale increased. Most importantly, these leaders had a practical tool they could use to enhance their own leadership capacity. |
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Something to Think About: Ten Questions to Raise Your Personal Leadership Effectiveness |
- What values do you voice to your team?
- What leadership behaviors do you need to demonstrate?
- What future do you want to create?
- How do you inspire others?
- What changes do you need to make?
- What small wins can you start with?
- What is the trust level in your group and how can you improve it?
- Where are there opportunities for self-determination and confidence building in your team?
- How do you show appreciation?
- How do you create a spirit of community?
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More to Think About: Reflection and Leadership |
We invite you to make thoughtful reflection a personal habit that you engage in regularly. If you are not used to journalling, it may feel awkward at first, but it is well worth the time and effort. It will give you perspective and help you become a more effective leader.
Bruce Barnett and his coauthors in their 2004 book, Reflective Practice: The Cornerstone for School Improvement, observe that "the meaning of reflection and its value are rarely made explicit in our personal and professional lives." Barnett et al points out that the combination of hindsight, insight, and foresight ensures that you make the most of your reflective powers. We at Leadership Development Services endorse this vison. We define reflection as the ability to critically examine your current or past practices, behaviors, actions, and thoughts in order to more consciously develop yourself personally and professionally. You can liken this process to pulling a rubber band back as far as you can and letting it go. The further back you pull it, the farther forward it goes. So it is with thoughtful reflection; it catapults you forward. For more information, please see: http://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/3107721
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Digging Deeper: Resources |
Kouzes, J.M. and Posner, B.Z. The Leadership Challenge. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2007. [Link should be on The Leadership Challenge. |
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About Leadership Development Services |
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We help individuals and organizations achieve excellence through leadership development. To do this, we provide customized training, facilitation, consultation, and coaching services (on-site and virtual) that improve the quality of leadership and mentoring. We partner with clients to create sustainable mentoring support structures and processes and roadmaps for creating a mentoring culture. We offer innovative and comprehensive leadership development programs to enhance individual and organizational learning and accountability. Our long-standing relationships with clients around the world are testimony to our ability to facilitate results that matter.
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Coming Later This Month:
Leaders Find Mentors
Small Wins |
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