Business leaders looking for meaningful growth are all about investing in their people to cultivate an engaged workforce, and ultimately, achieve higher sales and a stronger bottom line. Here are seven trends we’re watching:
Uncertainty is the new normal. Organizations are launching more change initiatives than ever – as many as five per year, on average. However, the increased uncertainty among companies may be preventing these changes from sticking. Research has found that twice as many business leaders say “the ability to lead change” is a key challenge.
The management talent shortage is intensifying. For business leaders, the top concern during the next few years is the talent shortage. Don’t expect to be able to hire fully capable managers from outside. Instead, hire promising talent early and invest in their training and retention. Look for emerging leaders and, again, invest in them.
First-line leaders matter. First-line leaders make up 50-60 percent of management. They are the linchpin in strategy execution, customer satisfaction and employee engagement. They are the last stop for communicating strategy and enabling employee success. In order to keep up with competitors, invest at least one-third of your total leadership development budget in your first-line leaders. Your bottom line will thank you.
Organizations that focus on people-leadership practices will reap rewards. Research has shown that the ability to lead people effectively is about three times more important to a leader’s career success than other skills and knowledge. In fact, thinking like a leader, coaching your team, gaining results through others and engaging people are the four most critical people-leadership skills. Businesses must ensure that all leaders, and especially first-line leaders, are trained in these four critical practices.
Employee engagement will continue to be a key concern. Organizations with engaged workforces have significantly lower absenteeism, turnover and safety incidents, according to Gallup’s “State of the Global Workplace,” while productivity and profitability are much higher. Having an engaged workforce is a huge market advantage. Leaders need to know the factors that contribute to their team’s engagement.
Leadership is becoming more collective. Leadership during the past 50 years has been about the individual. However, in the last 15 years, this model has become less effective and has transitioned to being more collaborative. Organizations must create multilevel leadership development systems and ensure steadiness between levels of consistent competencies, concepts, language and themes.
Boot-camp training is out. A recent survey of 700 leaders worldwide found that 91 percent of respondents feel they have too much work on their plate. Seventy-five percent said they have “little or no” capacity to “do more with less.” When it comes to education, it’s time to give learners a break – boot camp-style learning is out. Workers are tired and “pedal-to-the-metal” training will only make them more tired. Learning needs to be practical and challenging, but also include chances for team bonding and laughter, quiet time and reflection, free-wheeling discussions with colleagues and a bit of surprise and adventure.
If organizations can implement these trends into their initiatives, they’ll achieve an even more productive year. Source: boston.com wrote by Jocelyn Davis
Of all the big issues facing healthcare organizations, leadership development is the least pressing but arguably the most important. Leadership skills are requisite beyond the CEO's office, particularly in an era when demands for change press on all functions and levels. An executive roundtable at the HealthLeaders Media CEO Exchange, held last fall at The Lodge at Torrey Pines in La Jolla, Calif., discussed leadership development programs for executives and physicians alike, the rise of new leadership competencies, and sources of inspiration.
Some health systems, particularly large organizations with many eadership positions, have long recognized the importance of developing leaders from within. MemorialCare Health System, the six-hospital, $2 billion integrated delivery system in Southern California, has enrolled 20 business-side executives and physician leaders in dual "leadership academies" each year since 1997. CEO Barry Arbuckle, PhD, said, "Below the senior level, closer to the front lines, we spent a lot of time on leadership development. We've had MemorialCare Academy in place for 16 years. We also have now a physician leadership academy. … Those have been an enormous benefit for developing and grooming leaders in the company. If you look at who has been promoted over the last 15 years, you can draw a direct line right back to the academy."
But the leadership requirements for healthcare organizations are shifting with the advent of new payment structures and operational models. New competencies are needed to handle risk management, case management, and medical informatics. "I think leadership is changing rapidly," said Christopher Howard, president and CEO of SSM Health Care-St. Louis. "The ability of a physician to think like a CEO and to deal with the issues that are in front of the lay leaders on a daily basis—the balance sheets, the income statements, every other report and responsibility we have, the ability to grasp and understand that and see a holistic picture—is going to be key for physician leaders of the future."
A Personal Leadership Development Business Opportunity. It's Success Education. The winner of two prestigious awards. Industry experts refer to our unique business model as a "refreshing alternative to franchises & traditional businesses". Now in over 56 countries around the world. A one of a kind pay structure. We're a direct sales company with one profit paid per product sold. But this is not for everyone. I know this, therefore I interview everyone to see if this might be a fit for both of us. I am looking for people who know they deserve an abundant life and are ready to reap the rewards of being self employed. These people are serious about getting significant results in their life, highly motivated and committed to the journey of achieving success with their own business. Source: youtube.com
What entails being a good leader? Throughout history, exceptional leaders have been known to be great communicators who inspire their subordinates and empower them to perform their best. They also possess superior organizational skills, ruling vast empires like they were tending to their backyards. Today's prominent leaders include heads of successful nations, companies, and various organizations. While technology might have developed, the attributes of a great leader remain unchanged. To be a good leader, one must possess some notable attributes though this is easier said than done. When leadership seminars weren't in vogue, leaders were born into a life of greatness. However, today, practically anyone can be a leader with the right guidance and commitment. Various leadership training programs are now available to groom individuals to become better leaders. Coaching is conducted in different ways, and is designed to suit different kinds of people. Various leadership styles apply to different individuals, and leadership roles can range anywhere from managerial, role model, coach, to a mentor approach. While common attributes prevail for every strategy, there are particular aspects of leadership coaching which vary with each person. However, the final result is that each person emerges bearing the skills needed to become a more effective leader. Leadership training and development aims to improve leadership skills that should be possessed by every leader. Effective communication is essential in motivating subordinates and asserting one's self. Leadership is a two-way process which involves communication between you and your team members. It is, therefore, crucial to harbor positive relations between you and your colleagues, while maintaining professionalism. Military leadership development programs originated from education taken by war veterans. In the warzone, leaders must possess advanced planning and organizational skills, as well as innovative thinking to adapt to the many contingencies common in wars. In other instances, such leadership capabilities are perfect for leaders to overcome stressful situations and address unforeseen issues. An executive leadership training program centers on the importance of a leader's overall health to enhance leadership skills and emphasizes on a healthy lifestyle and diet. Healthy leaders are believed to perform exceptionally well. Unhealthy leaders, on the other hand, would often hamper an endeavor's progress when they are unable to attend to their responsibilities because of poor health. Apart from leadership and personal qualities, diet and exercise routines are also taught in these programs. Much emphasis is placed on maintaining holistic wellness so that the mind and body are able to focus on the all-important task of leading. Source: articlesbase.com
Is Barak Obama enjoying the loftiest leadership stage any leader can reach? What about Nelson Mandela? Who between the two has reached the highest leadership stage? How can we know this? How do the leaders gain public fame? How did they take on the stage of public arena? Is there some defining moments that demarcate the leaders' walk to public arena? If indeed there can be such moments, can these moments be captured? If so, can they be lessons for current and future leaders? What can current and future leaders learn from such moments? Yes, there are indeed defining moments and, these defining moments can be traced and captured. Besides, they can be used as learning lessons to current and upcoming leaders. The loftiest leadership stage in the ten defining moments in leadership is Entitlement, when a leader has gained the public fame. The other stages stretching from when a leader is virtually unknown to when he or she is widely known are Emptiness, Experimental, Experiential, Endeavour, Engagement, Endorsement, Endearment, Endowment, Entrenchment, and the loftiest, Entitlement stage. Whether positive or negative, fame is seen as increasing at the same level as the influence a leader exerts in the public domain. Thus, the more a leader is known and recognised, the more he or she exerts influence to the led. This simply means that if a leader is not known, his or her influence is small or none-existent. If he or she is a known public figure, his or her influence is great. In this way, a leader is able to affect the public agenda even more. With the ten stages, the book traces the leaders' life's journey from the time a leader is virtually unknown to when he or she becomes a household name. It traces the struggles, the huddles, the joys, the power and glory, of each stage, as well as the temptation accompanying each stage along the way. The book can be used as a leadership mirror to evaluate where the leader currently is, where he or she is going, and what such a leader needs to do as well as avoid during the current stage. The book also prepares a leader of what to expect in the next leadership and subsequent stages. Why base leadership on fame? Simply put, a leader can simply be described as a dealer with people. At every level, from the home front to the national and indeed international front, leaders affect people either positively or negatively and many time a mixed grill of both. People rejoice when good leadership is in place or likewise mourn when the bad leadership is in place. Therefore, one cannot divorce leadership with follower-ship, and in the latter is where people are. For good or for worse the higher one climbs in the leadership ladder, the more people one affects, influences and touches. This means a man with a wife and three kids will adversely affect his family if that is the only influence he has. A business leader with a thousand people under him or her will adversely affect those people, and so will a president with a country of thirty million people. Then there are those leaders who have no geographical borders. They are bound to affect very many people in one way or another, for good or for worse. Leaders everywhere occupy one of the ten stages of leadership ladder. The ten stages are further divided into four phases. Phase one is known as survival phase when the cup of fame is empty. Phase two is known as success, a phase of relative fame when the cup of fame is half-empty. The third phase is called Success-Significance when a leader is enjoying wide fame, thus the cup of fame is full to the brim. The fourth and last, the highest leadership can go, is called Significance phase when the cup of fame is overflowing cup and the leader enjoys wider fame. Let us see this one further: Emptiness - A LEADER WITH A FLEDGING VISION & UNTESTED VIRTUE Phase one is known as survival phase-The empty Cup of Fame. This phase has three stages, Emptiness, Experimental and Experiential. The first stage of section 1 entitled Survival- The empty cup of Fame is Emptiness. This is a stage where and when a leader is little or not known at all. Both the position such a leader holds and influence he or she wields is limited or non-existent. It is when a leader holds only a fledging vision in mind and untested virtue at heart. This stage is promising, has all potential, but troubles abound and hindrances abide. Nothing but hope and faith is vested in such a leader, hope that he or she will make something out of his or her life or will turn out to be or somebody in the society, and faith that he or she will not disappoint. Therefore, the ‘public' expectation of a leader in such a stage is courageous leadership. Experimental - A LEADER TESTING THE WATERS Two words form the basis of the second stage called Experimental stage. The words are ‘try' and ‘risk' because the stage has bottlenecks which include uncertainty and let downs, misunderstandings and threat posing, rejections and regrets. Well, these are enough to keep the leader's diary full and his or her life occupied. But with all the odds in this stage, and though they do not come easily, there are payoffs as well. This includes baby steps and vision test, exploiting the unexplored potential, knocking doors, building networks and collecting a basketful of learning experiences. This is the stage where the public expect authentic leadership, enough to overcome the let downs on the way to public leadership. Experiential - A LEADER TASTING THE FRUITS The third and last stage in this first phase is called Experiential. This when and where a leader tastes the fruits of his or her labour. The bottlenecks include intense competition as well as a leader settling on laurels by reducing the vision originally cast. It is in this stage that the road branches somewhere, one fork of that road leads to virtue, and the other expediency. This throws such a leader in a dilemma of which to choose from the two forks of the road. Will the leader choose virtue or expediency? This presents a crisis to the leader for both of them offer opportunities or danger. Having been in the field of leadership and having built some following, people's expectations towards such a leader are rising. The most important expectation is that a leader in such a calibre shows some principle standards in all his or her dealings. Endeavour - A LEADER FORGING ON Phase two is known as success -The Half-Empty Cup of Relative Fame. This phase has two stages, the Endeavour and Endorsement. Though both the position and influence are on the increase, position is still greater than influence. Because of this, a leader in this phase is therefore ruling. This phase begins with Endeavour stage, when a leader feels that enough is not enough and decides to move on in leadership ladder. The first characteristic in this stage is that the leader has more than enough, described as successful and that both the position and influence of a leader is on the increase and the leader is desirous to leave a mark in his or her leadership. But there are at least three bottlenecks in this stage, the naked and un-tempered ambition and greed and grabbing as well as the urge to exterminate or at least smoothen out the enemies on the way. The public expect a leader in the endeavour stage to offer integrity leadership, much needed at this stage. Endorsement - A LEADER GAINING PUBLIC ACCEPTANCE Overall the fifth stage, second stage in this phase is known as Endorsement a stage where and when a leader is gaining public acceptance. The dangers in this stage involve setting a secure leadership base or solidify this endorsement for he or she may still feel insecure and in so doing take the path of revenge, settling scores on personal vendetta, surrounding self with cronies, rewarding those who helped the leader up as well as taking people for granted. Opportunities of Endorsement Leadership include proving his or her saltiness and building bridges and mending walls as well as seizing this opportunity to serve the people who voted or put him or her there. Therefore, the led expect such a leader to offer responsible leadership. Engagement - A LEADER GETS SOMETHINGTO DO The third phase is called Success-Significance- The full to the Brim cup of Wide Fame and contains Engagement, Endearment and Endowment stages. For the first time, the leader's influence surpluses his or her position. In the Engagement stage, a leader is engaged, he or she gets something to do. His or her diary is full. The stage is transactional in nature, that is, there is a business-like transaction taking place between the leader and the led. Therefore, there are discussions, communication, concessions, and mutual agreements reached between the two parties. However, transaction work well when every party plays their part and work wrongly when one does not play his or her part well. Transactions being in the business world, it follows the characteristics of misuses found in that world, like underhand and shady deals, as well as breaking promises and lack of integrity. Three requirements needed in this stage are, the minimum requirement, the leader keeping the promise, the optimum requirement, the leader uplifting the virtue of integrity, and, the maximum requirement, the leader raising the level of leadership offered in this stage from transactional to transformational. Taken together, the public expectations of leaders in this phase are public accountability, positive influence, and a show of integrity. The public expectations of leaders in the Engagement stage are transformational leadership, a more superior leadership than mere transactional one. Endearment - PEOPLE'S EMOTIONAL ATTACHMENT TO A LEADER The seventh stage is Endearment stage. While the fifth stage, the Endorsement stage was rather rational in nature, Endearment one goes beyond that to involve and invoke the emotional side of people. In Endearment, people exhume great love and pride and admiration of their leader. However, this may produce the flip side situation where the leader yearns to consolidate all the adoration directed to him or her and yearn to remain the centre of attention. The public expectation of Endearment stage is to offer steward leadership. Thus, their main responsibility and test of leadership to be effective and faithful stewards of the resources they have been entrusted with and the greatest resource being people themselves. Endowment - A LEADER CROWNED BY THE PEOPLE The eighth stage of leadership and fame is Endowment stage, a very high stage indeed and prone to all kinds of dangers and vanities. Crowned by the people either by votes or by increase of customer or client base, or even fans, the next stage, the Endowment leader, believes he or she has special knowledge to lead, and thus taken as a gift of God to the people and not the other way round, is a beneficiary and not the other way round, can enter in the realm of metaphysics and not the other way round. The feeling of nuli secundus, the Latin word for second-to-none may dominate in such a leader. This builds the leader's greatest weakness. Such leaders can capture leadership opportunities by serving a higher cause, and giving people glory. People's expectations of their leaders increase at every level, and become more serious. People expect empowerment leadership, a kind that will improve their lot, not that kind of leadership that will only enrich the leader. Entrenchment - A LEADER IN PEOPLE'S PHYSIC The fourth and last, the highest leadership can go, is called Significance phase- The overflowing cup of Wider Fame which contains two stages, the Entrenchment and the Entitlement stage. While Endorsement stage leaders were approved rationally, and Endearment types approved emotionally, the ninth stage of leadership, Entrenchment stage, leaders' transcendence beyond all these and enter into peoples' physic. This means that such leaders has too great influence that even if they leave the position of leadership, without use of force or arms they still influence any decision to be taken or made. For good or for bad, Entrenchment leaders are very hard to replace and the obvious gap exists between them and any thought replacement. For good or for bad again, everything around these leaders is public. Holding the world to the sway of their influence and power, and using their larger than life space, if these leaders climbed all the way while they are dwarfed inside, they can misuse this honoured position of leadership in more ways than one. The potential and real danger surround Entrenchment leaders are insecurity and power abuse, moral compromise and lapse, breaking of rules, pride, vanity, fantasy and fanaticism all rolled into one. Such can subsequently combine to produce false beliefs in a leader which can lead to the dangers of human rights violations. On the positive side, Entrenchment leaders' influence is so great that their virtues are felt widely and deeply. They should serve the high office better doing two things, one serving the people, and two, mentoring others in leadership. This is encapsulated in shepherd leadership expected of them by the public. Entitlement - A LEADER TAKEN AS A GIVEN When the queen of Sheba parked her train caravans full of gold, camels and precious stones and crossed over from Egypt to Jerusalem to see for herself of the fame she heard of King Solomon, she was responding to King Solomon's last form of leadership, Entitlement leadership, a leadership that makes other kings and queens travel far and wide to witness for themselves the glory associated it. This last and highest stage of leadership rides on greatest fame, greatest power and loftiest glory. However, even such a leader can be larger than life but internally dwarfed. Some of the characteristics of such a leadership are pride, aloofness and a don't care attitude, manipulating and misusing people, squandering state or business resources and, smoothening his or her way through by removing opposition and competition on the way. His or her conscience may die and can transcend from a fellow human being to a demi-god. Once these leaders consistently maintain the negative trends of leadership, they have a final and permanent place for them to go in history- back into permanent and irredeemable obscurity. In such a high position as this, leaders ought to have nothing to prove or lose, nothing to hide or hold back and, at the same time everything give and gain. Even as people offer them permanent entitlement for leadership, the best Entitlement leaders can do is to have no entitlement on their side. They should portray a sense of selflessness as they lead people. Virtues like to nurture and mentor new leaders, to help humanity, to empower others and to leave a positive, lasting legacy are virtues that such leaders are expected to maintain while in such a stage in leadership. The overall public expectations of this phase are a showcase of more wisdom and model to them, portray more of genuine humility and service, shower more praise and appreciation to people struggling with hard life and concerns and, probably a culmination or a combination of all, a more display of greatness that kisses goodness. This is a leadership that can rightly be called servant leadership. Source: articlesbase.com
The reason we have interest in Next Generation Leadership is because the last generation of leadership interpretations were inadequate. They didn't deliver the goods of enabling actual leadership and leadership results, however captivating the leadership framework and stories. Leadership is a field that needs some clarity and usefulness where we outgrow our appetite for "next generation leadership" because the last generation didn't produce satisfaction and effectiveness. We need an understanding of leadership that is fundamental, clear, observable, necessary, executable, rigorous, and learnable. We need an interpretation that brings us closer to the "eternally valid aspects" of leadership, regardless of culture or historical era. Leadership, as with any other field of human endeavor, is a field of distinctions, practice, and discourse. As a discourse, leadership shows up for us based on what story and distinctions we have for it, and these shape and enable the actions we take as leaders. Our personal discourse of leadership may be rich and enabling, or sparse and remote. For many people "leadership" is just a word that names something that is not clear, a bit mysterious, but seems important. They lack the distinctions to see, learn, or carry out effective leadership, though they do experience occasional moments where it seems to happen anyway. Leadership draws tremendous attention with many books, programs, and approaches, as we try to explain, show, inspire, and enable effective leadership. The wide diversity of interpretations and approaches is also a symptom that we don't have a clear shared interpretation of what it is. We don't have, for example, such a wide diversity of interpretations for basic chemistry– it's pretty settled as a field of understanding, interpretation, and practice. We still lack such a foundational understanding of leadership. The diversity of approaches to understanding leadership is reflected in a wide diversity of business leadership programs, business management courses, executive leadership programs, and offers of leadership coaching. "Generative leadership" is the name of the field that has been focused on developing just such a fundamental set of leadership interpretations and practices, to find identifiable fundamental structures and regularities of the ways that effective leaders observe, act, and generate results. We don't believe that generative leadership is the only, final, or right interpretation of leadership, but rather that it provides a fundamental and permanent dimension of leadership interpretation that addresses what is missing in the mainstream common sense. It provides a focus on what is fundamental and non-discretionary about leadership and also provides a frame which allows for variations in style, culture, situation, and historical moment. It acts as a foundation and cross check on other interpretations to increase the value they can provide by addressing the generative aspects of: what is observable, executable, learnable, and produces leadership outcomes. The roots of generative leadership extend back into a discipline called ontological design, developed by Dr. Fernando Flores, and it is related to the field of ontological coaching, developed by Julio Olalla. The discipline draws from many other fields including neuroscience, linguistics, somatics and embodiment, cognition, biology, psychology and emotions. Developed by Bob Dunham since 1981, generative leadership comes from the original questions of "what is action?", and "how do human beings produce action and coordinate action?" These questions are so fundamental that they also provide powerful new answers to other questions including "what is leadership," "what is management," "what is a team," and "what is an organization." These generative answers - which mean ones that are observable, executable, learnable, and that produce the outcome that is named – are based on focusing attention and action on phenomena that are not part of our mainstream awareness. These include commitment based management and coordination, the power of conversations to generate action and results, the role of care in producing passion and ownership, and practice based learning. Some of the key areas of focus of these interpretations include the role of emotions, body, and language in generating action, the role of care in value and satisfaction, and the essential aspects of coordination that underlie effective team performance. In generative leadership acts of commitment, like requests and promises, produce the generative power of language and conversation. All action is understood to be preceded by conversations that shape and determine its outcomes, both through performance and coordination, and through the assessments of the outcomes. All conversations produce some kind of commitment that shapes future action, and the impact of every conversation is based on the coherence of its language, emotional tone, presence and body language. What people listen when others speak is based on their history and background. Leaders know how to connect to the historical listening and the care of others, and to provoke commitment for future actions. The point about these distinctions is that they are all generative – observable, executable, learnable, and always are part of generating the results. This is the power of the generative way of "observing." This way of being an observer - of what one sees and pays attention to - enables being an actor that takes different kinds of action based on these fundamental aspects of human communication, coordination, leadership, management, and teamwork. Although these distinctions are not yet part of our mainstream education and training, they address phenomena that are always present and in which we are always moving as human beings. We are in a situation similar to medicine hundreds of years ago when doctors didn't know or study anatomy, but anatomy was always there determining what was happening as a result of their actions. Physicians became more effective when they became aware of and skillful with what was already there – anatomy, biochemistry, and the systems and dynamics of the body. We believe that leadership and management face a similar historical moment: that practitioners are conscientious, hard-working, and dedicated, but are blind to the anatomy and dynamics of their domain of action, which is there all the time and determining their outcomes whether they pay attention to them or not. To address this Bob Dunham founded the Institute for Generative Leadership in 1998 based on work he and his colleagues have been involved in since 1981. The Institute has trained hundreds of executives, business owners, managers, and professionals through its Generative Leadership Program (the GLP program). Bob's experience includes being an executive in multiple companies, including as Vice President of Motorola Computer Systems, Vice President of Business Design Associates, and Chief Operating Officer of Action Technologies. He actively consults with client companies in management and leadership development. A bit more about Bob: he is co-author of the book The Innovator's Way, the Essential Practices for Successful Innovation with Dr. Peter Denning, published by MIT Press. He designs and delivers multi-year programs in leadership in the US and South America, including the Generative Leadership Program (GLP). He also delivers the Coaching Excellence in Organizations (CEO) program in a joint venture with Newfield Network, one of the leading schools of coaching in the world. He is a guest lecturer in the Executive Certification Program for Presidio Graduate School and in the Leading by Design Fellows Program for the California College of the Arts, and was Adjunct Faculty, Executive in Residence, in the Presidio MBA program in Sustainable Management for three years. Bob has also been published with a chapter in the book Being Human at Work, edited by Dr. Richard Strozzi Heckler, as well as in numerous publications, including Communications of the ACM, Training Magazine, the International Journal for Coaching in Organizations, and the Center for Quality of Management Journal. The intent of the GLP Program, the CEO program, and others that are in development is to provide generative leadership training that enables people to become more self-generating as leaders, managers, team members, and human beings. These programs provide what is not currently available from other forms of traditional and mainstream education and development: as an MBA leadership program, providing a new dimension to current forms of management leadership training, management development, and organizational performance development. We believe that we provide an essential element to what may someday be a degree in leadership that offers actual leadership skill, not just leadership studies.The results of the programs are being demonstrated by our GLP participants and graduates and our CEO participants and graduates that now number in the hundreds. Source: articlesbase.com
360 multi-rater feedback assessments are now used by more than 85% of Fortune 500 companies. They’ve become a foundation of leadership development efforts because they’re like a GPS unit showing leaders their current leadership effectiveness (“you are here”) and mapping a route to increased effectiveness. 360 feedback tools derive their name from getting feedback in all directions; boss, peers, direct reports, and others working with that leader.
Another reason 360s have become so widely used is outlined in Zenger Folkman’s new book, How to Be Exceptional: Drive Leadership Success by Magnifying Your Strengths:
” … very few people have an accurate perception of either their strengths or their weaknesses. This is why we often comically read such facts as “80 percent of American drivers consider themselves above average” and “65 percent of people surveyed believe they are better than average looking in appearance.” Indeed, our research shows that self-perceptions tend to be only half as reliable as those from either peers or direct reports.“
BUT, we’re also seeing a growing backlash against 360 survey feedback tools. Like any tool, the design of the tool and how it’s used makes a huge difference in its usefulness. Traditional assessments and needs analysis look for gaps. And most 360 feedback tools focus on finding and fixing weaknesses.
The Being a Better Leader area identifies a holistic approach to leadership which delves into strong people skills as well as practical, tactical and technical talents. The Getting Things Done area addresses strategy execution as a key to organizational success. Balancing Process & Results is a crucial leadership and organizational skill which helps define processes to increase the success and value of strategic execution while balancing what is truly required to achieve the desired outcome. With ever-changing environmental and economic challenges, organizations also need to excel in the Managing Risk area.
“At SPM Learning, we strive to educate organizations on the importance of leadership assessment and development by providing tools like the Leadership Assessment Tool download. This assessment tool walks through the key leadership needs for a healthy organization and allows the reader to assess their own organization in these areas,” says Catherine Daw, CEO and President of SPM Learning.
Daw continues, “We encourage CEOs to take the opportunity to download the free Leadership Assessment Tool so they can really start to explore their organization’s leadership skills and determine if they have the leaders in place to achieve the organization’s strategic vision.”
CEOs and executives interested in assessing and developing their organization’s leadership skills can download the Leadership Assessment for free at the Leadership Assessment download page. Interested parties can also contact a SPM Learning leadership specialist with any questions or to help with the Leadership Assessment by email at leadership-assessment(at)spmlearning(dot)com.
