Tag Archive - collaborators

Four Basic Skills of Leadership

March 3, 2010 in Leadership with 38 Comments

leadership basics 300x169 Four Basic Skills of LeadershipThe skills of leadership need to address each of the key elements which make up the ‘problem space’ of leadership: (a) oneself, (b) one’s relationship with one’s collaborators, (c) the system in which one is acting and (d) the goals to be achieved by oneself and one’s collaborators in that system. This entry will cover a numerous skills addressing these various elements of leadership: self skills, relational skills, strategic thinking skills, and systemic thinking skills.

Self skills are how the leader handles himself or herself in a particular situation. Self skills allow the leader to choose the most appropriate attitude, state-of-mind, focus, etc., with which to enter a situation. In a way, self skills are the steps by which the leader leads himself or herself.

Relational skills have to do with the ability to recognize, encourage, and communicate with other people. They result in the ability to enter another person’s model of the perceived world or perceptual space, establish rapport and guide that person to recognize problems and objectives. Since leaders must reach their dreams and accomplish their goals through their influence upon others, relational skills are one of the most important aspects of leadership.

Strategic thinking skills are necessary in order to define and achieve specific goals and objectives. Strategic thinking involves the ability to identify a relevant desired state, assess the starting state, and then establish and navigate the appropriate path of transition states required to reach the desired state. A key element of effective strategic thinking is determining which team members and tasks will most efficiently and effectively influence and move the present state in the direction of the desired state.

Systemic thinking skills are used by the leader to identify and understand the problem space in which the leader, his or her collaborators and the organization is operating. Systemic thinking is at the root of effective “solution creation” and the ability to create functional teams. The ability to think systemically in a practical and firm way is probably the most definitive sign of maturity in a leader.

Do you apply any of the four leadership skills in your life? If so, I’d love to hear about it!

Leadership Alignment

February 16, 2010 in Leadership with 18 Comments

leadership alignment 212x300 Leadership AlignmentToday, it seems that many processes that are related to organizational development, management, and leadership are undergoing an insightful change for a number of great reasons. History shows us that in the past several decades, companies have continued to become more and more complex. This complexity is a function of changes in both the internal organization of companies, as well as their external environment. This greater than ever complexity has given rise to a generation of problems that were not present in the customary organization of the past.

The changes in technology, production methods, the workplace over the past several decades, and the optional space of people working within corporate organizations has grown larger and larger. Especially in technologically intensive areas, people have become highly trained experts who must use their own judgment to make technical decisions (which managers themselves are not always qualified to make). Employees can no longer be viewed as ‘laborers’ doing a specific behavioral task who need to be controlled and watched over. As a result, the skills and demands of valuable management and leadership have also become more complex and refined.

Managers and leaders can no longer be successful by mere decision making or delegating orders based on their title or rank in the corporate hierarchy, rather they must recruit the ‘co-operation ‘ and willing involvement of their collaborators in order to most proficiently and successfully accomplish jobs and tasks. In order to avoid conflicts and assure peak performance, managers must rely more on such processes as persuasion and negotiation as opposed to the processes of command or directives. In other words, as the ‘discretionary space’ of employees increases, the focus of the manager shifts from managing time, tasks and situations, to managing relationships, policy and procedure. Thus, the primary focus in effective leadership and management is moving from the content aspect to the process aspect. Additionally, the increasing globalization of business requires a whole different concept of management and organizational learning.

The world is the company arena. Differences in cultural belief, behavior patterns and values must be respected and incorporated into the daily thinking and activity of managers at all levels. How do you approach this with your team?