These slides will take you through the Resolve Professional Services vision of leadership fundamentals and equip you with the understanding necessary to inspire your teams.
4. What is this all about?
What will you gain?
By the end of this course, you will know the characteristics of a strong leader, the
motivation factors of your employees, and how to communicate with them.
Why is this important?
Powerful leaders inspire teams, enable satisfying work, and foster positive
environments.
This course will teach you to be one of those leaders.
5. What is leadership about?
It is not about you.
Leadership is always about
those you lead.
6. Management ≠ Leadership
Difference of Focus
Difference of Attitude
Difference of Trust
Leaders are not defined by their titles, but their actions.
7. Characteristics of a Leader
Listening Empathy Awareness
Persuasion Conceptualization Foresight
Stewardship
8. Listening
Listening is not the same as
hearing.
Strive to listen to people, to
understand them and where they
are coming from.
10. Empathy
Accept and recognize the strengths
and weaknesses of your employees.
Leadership is not about making
your employees perfect.
Understand your team so you can
employ them properly.
11. Awareness
Be aware of the factors which may
affect your plans.
Be aware of how your actions
affect your employees (self-
awareness).
Be aware of your team dynamics.
View situations holistically, taking
all variables into account.
12. Persuasion
Build consensus and convince
rather than require compliance.
Persuaded people will work harder
than commanded people.
13. Conceptualization
Set a vision for the future.
Visualize what could be tomorrow,
next week, or a decade from now.
Then, make plans to enact this
vision.
14. Foresight
Foresight does not deal with
predicting the future.
Rather, it is about thinking through
the possibilities.
Anticipate the needs of the future.
15. Stewardship
Your team is your responsibility.
You have the ability to inspire and
engage them, and the ability to
cause them worry and anxiety.
Take responsibility for the growth
and care of your team.
19. Reflection
What is your place in the company? (Who do you lead, and who leads you?)
How are you led? In turn, how do you lead others?
Is it driven by positivity, or negativity?
Describe one frustration you have had while leading.
Is there a problem you are having difficulty surmounting?
Describe one frustration you have had in leadership above you.
Is there something that they simply do not seem to understand?
Notes de l'éditeur
Hey everybody. My name is Seth Reid and I am here with Resolve Professional Services. Thank you so much for being here today.
When we first set out to create this training, we thought “Effective Leadership Fundamentals” sounded really nice. It seemed correct. We weren’t quite sure why, it just had that air of sophistication to it. And then we remembered that having an “air of sophistication” unnecessarily is stupid and pointless. So we tried to figure out something a little more descriptive, a little more entertaining, and a little more practical.
I have friends that would absolutely kill me if I told them that we named our course this. Because manipulation has this very negative connotation to it. And I understand why. But we’re not talking about manipulating someone into doing something that is not in their best interest, because it benefits us. We‘re learning how to manipulate people into doing something good for themselves. This is no different than a personal trainer and a coach. They drive the person on to be better. It is easy to see this in a physical analogy. If you’re running a marathon, if you’re lifting weights, and you get to that last mile or that last rep, there’s going to be a large part of your will that wants to just stop. Depending on how much willpower you have, and how well trained you are, it might be small or large. (Example about Russell and Jake and me not being able to get out of lifting) But either way, part of you is going to want to call it quits and be done. Go get a protein shake, sit down on the couch, and watch TV. Whatever it is. But in that moment, being ready to quit, a part of you will still desire to go on. Part of you desires that victory. The job of a personal trainer or a coach is calling attention to that part of your will. Putting a magnifying glass on it, or a microphone next to it. Making it shout above all the rest of your will that says to stop. The job of the coach is to make this small fraction of your will overpower the rest of yourself.
That’s what we’re learning how to do in this course. That’s what leadership is about. You might say it’s manipulating people. But you’re manipulating people into working harder, producing better results, doing more satisfying work. You’re manipulating people into promotions, into better pay, into relationships within your team that last past a project. Let’s learn about leadership. Let’s learn about the kind of manipulation people really desire.
So, despite my best efforts to turn these scraggles on my cheeks into respectable facial hair, my age has not been hidden. I can assure you that I am in my twenties, as of about two months ago. Being so young, you might be wondering what I could possibly have to say about effective leadership. To anyone who is not wondering that, I appreciate it. We can be friends.
So let me go ahead and start out by saying what you’re going to learn today, why it’s important, and why I have the ability to say it. I’m clearly the Millennial here. Or Gen Y. Whatever you call my generation, we’re the youngsters. We’re known for obsessively checking our phones, taking selfies incessantly-speaking of which, I think I may have a new like on my photo… (pretend to check phone). Nope, still just got the one like from my mom. We’re known as being self-absorbed, undisciplined, entitled. We are known for staying at our parents home until we’re forty. We’re known for a lot of crappy stuff. But outside our cultural perception, let me hit you with a couple statistics.
In two years, millennials will have the most spending power of all current generations. In nine years-2025-three out of every four workers will be a millennial. Millennials are important right now, and they’re only going to become more important as time goes.
We’re not here to just learn about millennials. This is just one side of the frame of our conversation. But hopefully, as a millennial myself, I can point out some ways that you are able to connect with us and lead us. We’re not extraterrestrials.
This course will teach the basics of leadership. It will teach you how to engage your employees and your teams in a meaningful way that drives them on to work harder and produce better results with enduring satisfaction. It will teach you how to communicate as a leader, how to motivate your team, and the characteristics you need as a leader.
Leadership builds teams and environments.
Being a leader brings satisfaction through impacting people and cultivating positivity.
A leader benefits a company by developing positive environments where teams thrive.
Leadership is not about you. Leadership is always about those you lead. Your job is to serve them. Let that sink in a little bit.
What are some of your reactions here? Does that sound about right, or is that a new thought?
Well let me qualify that a bit. Leadership is everywhere. There is leadership in the Fortune 500 company and there is leadership in the informal group of goth kids walking around their middle school. This idea of leadership that we’re talking about right now is servant leadership. I may have exaggerated a little bit in saying that it is always about the people you lead. This is one theory of leadership. There are times when you need to recognize that you may need to shift gears a little bit. But servant leadership might be more useful than you think. Its driving factor is the understanding that if your people are taken care of and working hard, they’re being effective. If their needs are being met in the right way, they’ll produce excellent work in return. But servant leadership isn’t about making your employees happy. It can mean that sometimes. At its core though, it is about making your employees the best employees they can be. It’s about crafting a team of people that can accomplish great things. It is, at its core, about believing in people’s ability to succeed. Servant leadership is not the easiest management or leadership method. It may be one of the hardest. But if you want to produce results, if you want to have satisfying work, if you want to build people up, it’s the only way to go.
So let’s talk a little bit about what distinguishes a servant leader from a manager, or other kinds of leaders. We often get in the habit of thinking that a manager, a supervisor, a boss is a leader. And they should be! But if we’re talking about servant leaders, they are not defined by a title. They are defined by their actions.
Managers are focused on results. Servant leaders are focused on enabling people to do good work that ends in results. Difference of focus.
Servant leaders encourage helpful criticism and a flow of ideas, managers shut them down and stick to a rigid process. Difference of attitude.
Managers ask how they can make the system employee-proof. Servant leaders ask how they can empower their employees to think outside the box. Difference of trust.
TRANSITION to characteristics of a leader. Most of our discussions the rest of today will not be exclusive to servant leadership. It’s important to keep what we’ve talked about in the back of your head. But the rest will focus on how to be a good leader, generally.
LISTENING
Understand the difference between “listening” and “hearing”
Listening is about understanding what the person is trying to communicate. You can hear without listening. It happens all the time. As I work on this training, I am hearing other people say random things to other people. But I am not listening to any of them. I am not seeking to understand what any of them are trying to communicate.
A person likes to be heard, but it is when they are listened to that people feel that they are valued.
EMPATHY
Acceptance and recognition of other individual’s talents and limitations in behavior and performance.
Leadership is not about making everyone perfect.
But it is about understanding people in a way that allows you to employ them in a perfect position.
AWARENESS
If you are working on a project that will require supplies, be aware of where you’ll need to get the supplies, when you’ll need to get them. Be aware of what could stop you from being successful-being out of stock, being too expensive.
Understanding of talents and limitations
Leading a team fundamentally requires understanding who your team members are. You need to know the strengths and weaknesses of your team members.
You need to know when to utilize certain members and when to hold them back. If Bill is weak at a certain skill, but excels in another, then do not put him in the weak area. Use his talents elsewhere.
Additionally, knowing your team allows you to know where they need to be trained. Don’t use Bill in the weak areas right now, but understand what he needs in order to be an excellent performer in that field and then bring him that training.
View situations from a holistic position
PERSUASION
Build consensus/convince others rather than require compliance
People respond to negative commands. They respond when they are told, "Do this or your fired". But they don't do their best. They're not excited for the work and they're not excited to be on your team.
But if you convince them and persuade them of the why behind the direction, you gain an excited and ready participant for your vision. If you show them why they're efforts are valuable, you
CONCEPTUALIZATION
Looking beyond the now and considering the future.
No matter what level of leadership you are in, the ability to conceptualize will be necessary.
If you lead a company, you need to be able to visualize the broad future of the organization.
If you lead a team, you need to be able to visualize what the most productive, positive, team looks like.
FORESIGHT
Similar in some manners to conceptualization, but with an emphasis on the ability to anticipate the needs of the future.
This comes in terms of the project and what its needs will be, as well as your team and what their needs will be.
STEWARDSHIP
We have talked and will continue talking a good deal about the welfare of your team.
It’s a critical value to have on your mind. As you lead, look to be a steward of your projects and your teams.
Take responsibility for them and guide them as they grow.
Expert Communicator
Your team needs to know what you are communicating. Quality communication can eliminate unnecessary misunderstandings and bring about a cohesive environment. When you have a message to convey, don’t add fluff. Get to the core of what you’re trying to say. Explain the context for it, whether it is an idea needing feedback or a task needing to be carried out. Be short and to the point, don’t add unnecessary words (that just makes things confusing) and say exactly the information needed.
Patient
Failures will happen. Your team will fall short of what you need, but you need to be able to find patience and work through the difficulties. Not everyone will be meeting the highest bar in all categories. Some people will need to learn, to be trained. Be a leader who trains and works with someone with patience. But don’t be the leader who gets walked over. It can be a fine line to walk. So be clear with your expectations, but within those expectations, work with your team to meet standards.
Kind
You lead a team. They’re your side. Show them that you care for them within and outside the workplace. Greet with a genuine smile. Ask them how they are doing. Some them that they are important to you.
Humble
You may be terrific at your job, but no one is without faults. Understand that you have things to learn as well, and don’t be afraid of correction, even from your subordinates. If a brand new hire comes to you and has a critique, accept it with eagerness. Growth is accomplished through learning and new ideas. If you’re not willing to engage these ideas, you’re going to be static. The book of Proverbs in the Judeo-Christian Scriptures says this: “Whoever heeds instruction is on the path to life, but he who rejects reproof leads others astray.”
Respectful
In line with your humility, recognize that people above you and below you are all working hard (or at least should be!) and have earned your respect at some level. Respect others and they will return the favor. People enjoy working for people of distinguished character. If you make a practice of showing respect to people in all walks of life, your team will notice.
Selfless
Servant leadership is not about the person in charge, it is about the team. A leader is constantly looking out for the welfare of those around him, regardless of what he personally needs. If you’re done with your work and are ready to go home, but someone in your team is swamped with work, having to stay late, help them. Sacrifice your needs for the sake of the people you’re leading. One easy way you can make an active practice of this is the way credit and blame are distributed. When a job is well done, a strong leader always looks to turn the credit back on the team. If your superior is congratulating you on a well done job, tell them that it was really Jim, Sam, and Billy that were responsible and you just happened to be in the area. Don’t be falsely modest here. You can always give genuine examples of the ways your team accomplished something. On the flip side, cover for your team. Show them your loyalty. If they dropped the ball, if there was a failure, it is the responsibility of leadership. Tell your boss that it was your fault that a project was unprofitable.
Forgiving
A leader does not hold on to the mistakes of the past. He looks to rectify a wrong, fix the pattern, and then moves on. In the same vein as the trait of patience, this trait has caveats. We’re always looking to be forgiving, but we’re not looking to be foolish. If you’re seeing consistent failures from an individual in one certain area, find a new way to utilize them. If they have nothing to offer, you may have to let them go. But the main idea here is that you’re not bitterly holding grievances against them. You are genuinely trying to find the best way to use someone’s talents.
Honest
Be upfront with your team. If you are unsure about something, be honest about it. Exude a spirit of honesty with your team, and they will reciprocate. If you have limitations, tell your team. If someone on your team has problems, have a meeting with them. Be direct and honest. Don’t keep them in the dark and then surprise them with some unfortunate news. Your team should be able to trust you.
Commitment
If you want your team to put in the blood, sweat, and tears to achieve your vision and the vision of our superiors, then you better be ready to put everything you have on the line as well. Spend those late nights. If you risk your neck for a project, for something you and your team are striving after, they will too.
Scenario 1
Bill is the manager. Ted, Bill’s employee, comes to him and tells him that the process for completing a task is inefficient and needs to be changed.
What should Bill do?
Scenario 2
Jill has been with the company fifteen years. Tim has been with the company for four months. He tells Jill she is doing her job wrong and could do it better differently. Jill tells Tim he doesn’t get an opinion until he’s “done his time.” Tim comes to Bill feeling discouraged and unimportant.
What should Bill do?
Could Tim have done anything better?
Could Jill have done anything better?