Be a winner in 2012.

People often ask me “what does it take to be a leader in today’s complex world?”  Granted, we are seeing unprecedented change in the business world in which we all operate. We are traversing choppy waters and it will take more skills than ever before for leaders to navigate their teams, organisations and themselves through these difficult times.

This is such a massive issue that everyone that’s anyone is either writing about or seeking information about leadership. The voices of those people immersed in leadership and management positions, and those who aspire to become successful and accomplished leaders, are asking the same questions… How do I become a successful leader? How do I inspire my team? How do I build a winning team?

There are hundreds of tools at your disposal and over the course of 2012 I will share with you some amazing techniques you can employ to stand out from the crowd and become a respected, winning leader in your chosen field. But, just like an Olympic Athlete, you will need to train hard. Focus. Subscribe to Leadership-Expert™ (its free!) and visit this site every week to pick up, learn and apply the latest tips and techniques which are guaranteed to give you a winning edge.

Becoming a winner doesn’t happen overnight. You have to train regularly. It takes commitment and dedication. We often can’t do it on our own. We are so much more powerful with these three things:

1. A system we can use.
2. A coach by our side.
3. A group of people cheering us on.

I am so passionate about helping people to develop leadership capability. Hopefully you can see that by how much free or very low cost material is available to you on this site.

So lets start with you. First I want you to shake off the erroneous notion that leaders are born and not made.

Come on me with this journey. I will be your coach and guide. My journey began 20 years ago with my first junior management promotion in the corporate world. Since then I have enjoyed an incredible career reaching the dizzy heights of executive directorship and in recent years an entrepreneur, building and developing my own business and my own winning team of dedicated, inspired individuals. I have become the Leadership-Expert through passion, dedication and connecting with many great leaders and leadership authorities around the world. They helped me publish The Ultimate Leadership Guide – Secrets to Success at Work and In Business (which only Leadership-Expert readers can REDEEM with a 25% Discount using code LE001).

So, I hope you can see I have had to work hard at learning how to become a strong leader in both the corporate environment and in business. I was not born a leader. I became one, through reading, learning, training, having my own coach and through application of some tried and tested principles, which I will share with you now. I have the credentials to enable you to be just as successful. Leadership success starts with you.

You need to do three things:

1. Allocate specific time for self-development
2. Use trusted sources and systems and people to help you
3. Apply what you learn, reflect and then revise your approach where appropriate

There are two ways of doing this:

• The free way
• The low cost way

The free way – action plan:

1. Save this website to your bookmark and subscribe to get all our free information and top tips to enable you to become an accomplished leader.
2. Like us on Facebook to keep up to date that way, or follow updates on Twitter.
3. Allocate up to 1 hour per week (your quietest time) to read the latest articles posted, make notes and apply the principles contained within.
4. Write specific goals for your work each week. What does a good week look like? Who do you need to inspire and motivate this week? What’s the best approach?
5. Apply these goals.
6. Take time to reflect on the success (or otherwise) of your actions. What did you learn? What do you need to do to continually improve?
7. Following this process relentlessly every week you will start to feel and see a difference in your performance and that of your team.

The low cost way – action plan:

Every great leader invests both time and money in self-improvement, training and learning. They follow a system that prompts thinking; action and results. Here is a system I would strongly recommend to anyone looking to become the best in their field. It is a proven system that I use to create the results I want. Although it’s not my system, I have used it for over 10 years and it fascinates me how my progress has always exceeded my expectations. It is based on 5 principles of personal transformation:

1. First, take time out to appreciate your success to date.
2. Learn your lessons (what winning ingredients do you already use?)
3. Shift your limiting beliefs – you can be whatever you want to be.
4. Live your values – what are your personal values?
5. Set and focus on your top 10 goals

I invite you to join me and a growing community of people world-wide who use this system to reach their full potential (and give them a winning edge). To learn more click here.

In summary, becoming an accomplished and respected leader starts with self-development. This leads to increased self-awareness about the impact you have on people around you. Leaders set the tone. Learning new techniques and applying them will give you greater confidence in how you manage and lead your team. With a greater repertoire of leadership tools at your disposal you will be amazed at the response. The most exciting thing of all is that you will realise you have the power to change. Change yourself and change the people around you, so that everyone starts to realise their full potential.

I have described above the process some of the world’s greatest athletes are currently going through as they prepare for the Olympic Games of 2012. To be a winner as a leader, you too must adopt the same techniques and you will be amazed at what you can achieve. As Mo Farah recently said “Don’t dream of winning…. Train for it.”

Click here if you want 2012 to be your Best Year Yet.

 

 

Leadership Training

Welcome to Leadership Expert’s page on Leadership Training.

What is leadership training about? Is leadership training effective? These will be the questions I will be investigating, evaluating and more importantly – solving.

The industry for training indviduals in business or on a personal level to develop their leadership. Training is a rather clinical word, and leadership is a very hard to define subject. Do the two really mix well?

Well, leadership coaches are commonplace in society and are generally being accepted in organisations and as part of peoples schedules.  The leadership training that these coaches offer generally falls into two catergories. Either they’re the masters of oratory that give inspiring speeches and are great for temporarily enthusing staff – or they’re the type that focus on processes and attitudes in the workplace, and suggest practical and effective tweaks to behaviours to help improve leadership in the company.

From visiting organisations, I’ve found that the happiest employees and managers regularly invest in themselves and their personal leadership training. People have often sought out useful leadership books and learning material that will help them along the path to happiness and leadership. These days, many e-courses tend to be rather disappointing, but I’m pleased to recommend one e-course that is still respected by leadership professionals such as myself: The 11 Forgotten Laws. It’s generally seen as an essential and core ‘crash course’ in the laws and secrets you need to know to further your leadership & career and even help find happiness in other areas of your life. Its an excellent base upon which you can build your personal development.

Leadership Traits

Leadership traits are the characteristics that leaders possess that enable them to lead effectively. I’m going to run down 20 of the traits I believe are most important, it’ll be interesting to see how many you feel you already have, and which ones you’re still working on. Leave a comment below to let me know.

The Top Leadership Traits

20. Patience – A good leader needs to show their employees that they’re willing to give them as much time as necessary to see them perform. A manager who roughly attaches arbitary deadlines onto tasks and aggressively chases employees up will only antognise and stress their workforce. Good leadership management is about waiting as well as acting.

19. Continuous Development – Smart people have always sought out useful leadership books and learning material that will help them along the path to happiness and leadership. Most these days tend to be rather disappointing, but one brilliant idea that has recently captured my attention is The Ultimate Leadership Guide which contains all the core teachings of 30 top leadership books,  which is simply an essential ‘crash course’ in the principles you need to know to further your career and even find happiness in other areas of your life!

18. Graft – A brilliant leadership trait is the trait of grafting. There’s a simple rule that most good leaders follow – always do the nastiest job yourself. While being able to delegate dire tasks to others is one of the perks of management, t is important that employees never actually question your dedication to work hard. By simply doing the famously nasty job yourself each year, your staff will never have a doubt over whether it’s fair you have the ability to delegate menial work.

17. Fairness/Equity - Fairness is one of the key criteria by which employees measure their superiors. Quite simply, if you don’t behave in an equitable manner at all times, you will lead no more than a rabble of reluctant workers, and will never gain their respect. Fairness is one of Herzberg’s ‘hygeine’ factors from his popular leadership theory. This means that if you are fair, employees will not be inherently motivated, but merely content. If however you act unfairly and break the rules, employees will be demotivated. Very little upside if you possess this trait but large potential negative effects on motivation if you lack it. Its a tough world, but the message is clear.

16. Modesty - An important note to remember is that in every team you lead, some will be envious of your job or position. These people are also often the most active, amibitious and productive members of the group, so it’s extremely important that you keep them onside. By being modest and humble, you minimise the potential for jealousy within the team, and inspire warmth and affection instead.

15. Appreciates Quality - Simple put, a good leader recognises that quality is the most important gauge of the work done. Always. A culture that cares little for quality will demotivate employees and reduce job satisfaction. Staff must be able to feel good about their work and their skills.

14. Sense of Humour - A practical reality for most leaders is that you’ll spend an awful lot of time in meetings or speaking in public. A good sense of humour helps to put across the message you want to convey more effectively and help smooth over awkward or tense moments in board meetings etc.

13. Wide Outlook – A good leadership trait is to be able to take a step back and take a look at the big picture. This is really one the main purpose of a leader, but so many managers instead choose to get bogged down in small decisions that should really be taken care of by someone else. While everyone is cleaning the deck and preparing the sails, somebody has to be looking where the ship is going.

12. Adaptability and Flexibility - A clear fact in life is that many things you enjoy will change, and many things you despise will quickly improve. As a leader, you must be able to cope with negative change, and also be able to quickly grab opportunities as soon as they appear. Less hesitation, and more asking the question “Ok, so how can I make the best of this situation”.

11. Human Understanding – A leader that can understand their employees and really be able to emphasis with the workforce or team as a whole will ultimately be a far more effective leader. Only by being able to put yourself in the shoes of your employees will you be able to make decisions that will enthuse and motivate your staff.

10. Clarity - Job roles and positions within companies can sometimes be at best – a complete mess. Business leadership is about separately and clearly identifying those roles and responsibilities and ensure that everyone knows what they’re supposed to be doing.

9. Charisma – The skill of oratory has been perfectly demonstrated recently by Barrack Obama’s surge in popularity en route to the white house, and his continued popularity now that he has gained office. The ability to speak confidently and with meaning is a rare one, and carries much merit for those few who posess it. Increased influence and persuasion is just one of the positive benefits of being a leader with charisma.

8. Ability to Delegate – As I mentioned earlier, delegation is one of the perks of being promoted to a leadership position. Why is it then that so many leaders fail to delegate enough? Why do they continue to ‘meddle’ in small, trivial matters, and refuse to give subordinates the real responsibility and confidence to be able to make their own decisions? The answer is because it’s alot harder than you’d think to be able to properly delegate control to someone else. Especially the control over a job you’ve been doing yourself for many years. By undermining your subordinate’s ability to make decisions independently, you’re being a poor leader. That’s why the ability to delegate is one of my top 20 traits.

7. Calmness – Calmness is a leadership trait that again we could do with learning from President Obama. One of the most common pieces of praise I hear from President Obama is how he has stayed so calm under pressure. With the recession, middle east conflict and recent fiascos such as Swine Flu, Piracy and torture memos – it has sincerely impressed many that this man has been able to keep his composure and present a solid front. Any leader that can achieve this will instantly earn respect.

6. Ability to Listen – The fantastic leaders thorough history were also good listeners. Drawing upon the expertise and ideas of all those around you will improve your decision making. It follows that leaders who listen well simply make better decisions.

5. Confidence – Confidence flows through a team just like cheerfulness or a hardworking attitude. If the leader shows hesistation, self-doubt, or a lack of amibition, it will infect the rest of the team. Enthusiastically following an unconfident will really test employees attitude, and this is something you don’t want to be doing. You want to make it as easy as possible for people to enthusiastically follow your lead.

4. Consistency – This is a similar point to fairness. If you fail to be consistent with your attitude, decisions or behaviour, you will be causing unrest in your team.

3. Approachability & Friendliness – While many managers dream of being a superior and ‘feared’ leader, the most effective type of leader is an approachable one. A leader who an any employee can feel like they could have a conversation with will be able to hear about what the quiet dissenters have to say, or what the ‘real’ results of their latest intiative was.

2. Passion and Motivation – It goes without saying that a leadership trait that will be admired is your passion for what you do. Whatever your role, people will respect the fact that you take pride in your work, you enjoy it, and that you will therefore try your hardest to succeed. Passion and motivation will always trump formal leadership training or leadership coaching.

1. Trustworthiness - Ethics and trust has to come right at the top of the most important leadership traits for one simple reason. Nobody will obey, follow, or be inspired by someone they distrust. A good reputation, likeability and respect will be absolutely impossible if you’re labelled as a liar. Regardless of their own mal-practises, people will never be able to associate with an untrustworthy character.

Tips for Leading Multi-Cultural Teams

The modern manager understands the benefits that can be gained from team diversity, but managing a truly multicultural team is not a simple task. While many developed and developing countries are packed with organisation featuring a wide range of ethnicities, often these employees have all lived in the same country for many years and as such are not truly multicultural, as they share much of the same heritage and background.

Globalisation and the international consolidation of industry has led to large, international groups of companies becoming the norm, and with this – comes the really significant changes like language barriers, cultural differences and a plethora of new perspectives, as well as working styles. Whether you’re leading a cross-global project team, or work with internationally seconded employees, you’ll be familiar with the new challenges that these changes bring.

A Uniform Approach or a Tailored Style?

One of the first decisions you have to make as a leader or manager, is whether to use a consistent leadership style in your interactions with all people, or to effectively treat each culture differently. The latter method is simpler, and leaves your mind freer to deal with day to day tasks, however increases the risk of alienating individuals or committing a faux pas.

I believe the answer to this question lies in how many cultures you deal with on a day to day basis. Do you interact closely with a select few cultures, or are you engaged with a far wider number at a further distance?

An example of the latter would be a university lecturer who must teach a class with more nationalities than one could name. In this case, a universal approach to leadership styles seems reasonable. This is for two key reasons: The first is that ensuring one observes the often subtle manners and traditions of a particular culture requires a significant amount of effort, and attempting to do so for a class of 20 students would require more attention than in acceptable. Secondly, a relationship between lecturer and student is more distant, meaning the lecturer would often have to make a ‘best guess’ at the cultural background of the student before tailoring a response – a strategy that again would distract a lecturer from their teaching, and could result in offensive mistakes.

The opposite applies for intimate business relationships with different cultures, for example perhaps you are engaged in a consultancy project with a Japanese client, which means you have work closely with Japanese employees to produce your deliverables. In this case, developing a style of interaction suited for Japanese people is probably the most efficient and effective leadership method.

How to Develop a Uniform Leadership Style

A leadership style that ‘works’ across all cultures is one that is polite, respectful and sincere, as this will always be appreciated. Becoming a multicultural manager is about stripping back some of the traits that are actually culturally relevant to your home country, but not transferable to others.

Generally speaking, for British managers, this would involve:

• Refraining from using sarcasm, displaying cynicism,
• Not using  ‘edgy’ banter that may be taken the wrong way.
• Avoiding the use of colloquialisms unless you plan to put this in context for the listener. “As we would say in England, ‘The early bird catches the worm’.“‘
• Maintaining good body language, as this is more keenly observed by some cultures than others.

Developing a Tailored Leadership Style

In the case of the Japanese Consultancy Project, it would be worthwhile to research how westerners (or visitors from other countries) can best adapt to the often unforgiving Japanese traditions. (This site would be a good place to start). There are two levels of development of your behaviour to suit their culture; The first level is concerned with minimising faux pas, or social mistakes, which may instantly ruin the good rapport you have built up with them. The second level is about truly understanding how the other culture ‘works’, in order to sculpt your behaviour to go beyond the norm, to impress and inspire your multicultural teams.

The first level can be obtained by researching online or in books, guides written to help businessmen and travelers fit in with foreign cultures. The second level requires more forethought, and will be attained after you have built up a host of experiences with the culture in question.

Your Thoughts?

How do you set out in dealing with people from different cultures that you have never worked with before? How do you not only ‘get on’ with them, but lead them effectively? Leave your comments below!

Leadership Pathways – A Worthwhile Course?

5 Top Ways To Introduce The Culture of ‘Fun’ To The Workplace

“Fun” Workplaces are one of the biggest magnets for graduates looking for a bright place to launch their career. Early twenty-somethings, also known as Generation Y, aren’t just interested in a generous salary or promotion potential – they want to apply to companies that have a lively culture and accept that professionalism doesn’t necessarily mean boredom.

So how can you, as a manager, go about injecting a bit of fun into the daily working routine of your employees? Read on for our 6 favourite methods that have emerged in the past few years.

1. Pranks

Everyone enjoys a good laugh, and provided the victim gets to keep a fraction of their dignity – they will too. Having a atmosphere of quirky pranks will gel your team together as a more cohesive bunch. The more stories they can tell about each other, the more they’ll enjoy spending time together. Some suggested pranks:

• Computer Malfunction. This one is a classic prank, which is very annoying for the victim. First take a screen shot of the victim’s desktop. Now set this screen shot as the background and make it a point to hide all the icons and the task bar and lock them. Now if the victim tries to click anything nothing will work. They will think their computer is frozen and will try to reboot and do any and everything to get their computer to work.

• Post-it Prank. You will have to stay back late after your victim leaves the office or come to the office well in advance to play this prank. All you have to do is cover your co-workers desk and the entire cubicle with post-its. In case you want to make it seem more annoying, put funny messages on each of the post-it notes.

• Telephone Mania. You will need an accomplice for this one. All you need to do is get a co-workers phone, and your own phone and dial the phone numbers of two other co-workers you wish to harass. When the phones ring, switch on the speaker phones of both the phones and hold the phones together so that the two victims can hear each other. Once they start talking, just listen to the confused conversation and have the last laugh!

Find more fun prank ideas here. (External website)

2. Special Lunches/Trips

Once, every month – take your team out for a cinema trip and lunch combination. Being together outside of work will really help new teams to bond, and provide a fresh distraction for veteran employees. I have visited over 20 work places in the past 6 months, and when talking to the staff during their day to day business – they sound the proudest when discussing various perks or activities that management arrange on a weekly or monthly basis.

“Every Tuesday, they pop over the road and buy us all Fish & Chips!” they proudly exclaim. My jealousy only makes their smile widen.

Its amazing how buying a simple lunch can sometimes do more wonders for the motivation of employees when compared with an expensive leadership development programmes or other leadership training.

3. Sweets

Buy sweets spontaneously and leave them in the office or workplace. Never underestimate the power of sweets to lift up moods and turn the harshest boss back into a school child as their face lights up.

4.  Humourous Awards

Whether at the Christmas party – or better – every month or quarter, dish out humourous awards to your staff for various funny qualities or achievements. Here are some examples:

• “Change of Address” - For the staff member who never leaves.

• “The Lochness Award” – Staff member least likely to be found.

• “The Torvill and Dean Award” – For skating round the issues

• “The Selective Hearing Impairment Award” – For only hearing what you want to hear

• “The Clock Watcher” – For being out never later than a minute past 5!

• “The Professional Surfer” – For most time spent on the internet.

• “The Bermuda Triangle Award” – For the desk where things go in and never come out!

5. Allow fun!

The most important element of this list is that in order for your employees to have a good time – you have to really let them! Show leadership in playing pranks yourself and having fun everyday. Officially tweaking company policy to incoporate ‘fun’ into the culture will have as much effect as including it in the small print of their contract – unless you show them that you’re truely commited to them having a good time, and that you won’t frown upon workers for trying to do so.

I hope you enjoyed this guide on how to have a more fun office environment. Fun is the greater motivator, so go out and create some!

Author – Simon Oates – leadership-expert.co.uk

Leadership Mentoring – Developing Your Own Style

When you were working yourself up the ladder undoubtedly there were days when you had to drag yourself to work. It wasn’t because of the job or your team mates; it was because the managers said the same thing day in and day out. Motivation was low and the word fun was non-existent

The shoe is on the other foot now and you can make a difference if you think about those rough days in the past. Typically there was one manager with charisma and motivation that gave you energy and motivation causing you to look forward to the day ahead. If you were smart, you realized this and stored it in your memory bank for the future. I am not suggesting that you emulate them totally but remember the experiences gained to develop your own leadership style.

Let me share an experience, when I was a young man I worked with a leader that was incredibly demanding. He daily challenged me, I would learn something new and the next day was proud and wanting to show him I knew my stuff. He without fail would ask me something entirely new and different. It took me quiet a while to fully respect and understand what he was doing for me, developing me into a leader. I thought I hated him but in time I realized he was the greatest mentor of my life. That was his leadership style and it worked, on me anyway.

Several years later I was fortunate to have another mentor that was a walking motivational machine. He was the most inspirational person I had ever met and fortunately for me I was the one he selected to groom. He made work a thrill teaching and sharing his wealth of knowledge.

I soon realized that one leader can make the difference in countless ways. I took a lot from both of these men as both had the same goal but different styles of accomplishing it. The first leader made me excited about coming to work to exhibit my talents while the second one honed my skills motivating me how to expand my knowledge and experiences. I didn’t emulate either one totally but admired and respected each equally and learned how to make a job enjoyable.

This is an article from a guest author – Ron Kirby. You can learn more about him on his profile page at http://www.egsebastian.com/RonK.

How To Build A Responsibility-Driven Culture

By Emmett C. Murphy, Written for Leadership Expert.

In 2003 Lego lost $238 million due to overly complex designs, failed forays into new markets, and costly licensing ventures.  In 2004 they took previously untried steps to restore integrity and profits.  Lego engaged a group of devoted fans to help them redesign a lagging product—Mindstorms, the company’s customizable robotics kit.  This move broke with the creative team’s history of privacy and exclusiveness.  The “Mindstorms User Panel” wanted to be paid in Lego blocks.  They purchased their own tickets to Denmark for meetings.  They routinely replied to single-line queries from the company with multi-page emails.  They enabled the creation of wildly new and unconventional robots, such as toilet scrubber robots and bulldog robots.  After experiencing the pitfalls of insularity, Lego’s decision to partner with the customer was an act of humility.  It was also an act of responsibility.  Leaders who admit they have a lot to learn, that they make mistakes, and that they can’t run the company alone earn respect and engender responsible attitudes in others.  Three key practices of good leadership stem from humility—and inspire responsibility.

Partner with the Customer—Achieve a Shared Vision

Before Lego partnered with its customers, it was at risk of alienating them. Users had begun losing interest in products they considered too complex.  Leaders who do not believe in the partnership model often act out a predatory model, subordinating the customer’s interests; Lego was heading in that direction.  Instead Lego executives traveled to the world outside the organization to guide the customer to the center of organizational life.  This act overtly recognized the organization’s dependence on the outside world and helped build a stronger ethical relationship between customer and organization.  By “traveling outside” to gain new knowledge, Lego executives created a dynamic organizational model that embraced the “constant” of change and the need for continual adaptation.  By working in close back-and-forth contact with their customers, the leaders at Lego also found that partnering with customers meant achieving a consensus.  Rather than compromising or seeking to win, the customer-partner model describes a synergy that comes from achieving a shared vision.

Connect with the Frontlines—Learn From Those Who Know

Leaders who act with humility aim to achieve a shared vision with everyone in the organization.  They want to understand the perspectives of those at the frontlines and adapt to accommodate those perspectives.  Recently Brian Dunn, the chief executive of Best Buy, expressed his faith in following the frontlines—he had been a frontliner himself once.  As a teenager working at a grocery store he had interacted with customers on a daily basis.  His manager regularly asked him what he thought of new policies—for example, the store’s policy of having customers load their own groceries.  “I know it seems simple,” Dunn said in a recent interview with The New York Times, “but just that notion of learning from people who are actually doing the work, and the encouragement he gave me to tell him exactly what I thought really stayed with me.”  Leaders motivated by fear or arrogance remain aloof, removed from their employees.  Those motivated by humility remain physically present and personally connected; they fear ignorance more than they fear confronting mistakes or problems.  Humility drives responsibility:  when leaders focus on customer needs, they train others at the frontlines and elsewhere to move beyond self-interest too.

Understand Work Roles—Don’t Place Blame

Strong leaders respect the careers of others as much as they respect their own. Rather than assuming they know what’s going on in the workplace, leaders driven by humility make a practice of asking questions to understand what others do and what they need.  They practice active listening and seek out quiet environments to interact with others without distractions.  They empathize with their associates and ultimately empower them by reinforcing strengths and resources.  When problems arise, worksheets and scripts can help a leader chart an individual’s work life in a pragmatic and open-minded way.  The work-life map then serves as a tool for learning what changes need to be made.  When a leader finds misalignment in an individual’s work-life map, he or she practices humility by avoiding blame.  The goal of assessments is to transform problems into opportunities and to encourage others to take responsibility for their work, not to engage in a blaming game.

The most responsible leaders don’t let pride get in the way of progress.  They seek a purpose for leadership beyond self-interest, which helps them create partnerships—with customers, frontliners, and associates.  You might say that when Lego solicited its staunchest fans to help with product development, it pioneered one of its best designs yet.

Emmett Murphy, Ph.D., is Founder and President of Murphy Leadership (www.murphyleadership.com), a global leadership consultancy.  Murphy is the author of several books including Talent IQ.   He is currently at work on his new book, Entrepreneurial IQ.

The 4 Essentials Of Strategic Thinking

Is your organization spending too much time seemingly rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic? Are the senior decision makers consistently voicing the need to make substantial change in the face of a complex and dynamic environment yet no real change takes place? Is the organization spending a great deal of time planning strategically but the answers to the questions keep coming out the same? Perhaps the problem is not with the answers, but with the questions. Perhaps strategic planning, a management process, is inappropriate for finding the path to change. Instead what is required is a leadership process, such as strategic thinking, that calls into question all the questions being asked.

Looking for the Right Questions

Simply stated, if an organization does not do strategic thinking before it does strategic planning, it is the same as rearranging those deck chairs. Why? Because in the end no one really cares where the deck chairs are positioned on the lounge deck if there is a great big hole in the boat, i.e., the big hole in the boat presents a much more pressing problem.

Strategic planning is about finding the right “answers” to questions. In strategic planning the questions already exist, they have been decided. On the other hand, strategic thinking is an imaginative process designed to assure that key decision makers are asking themselves the right questions. Strategic thinking does not start with a set of questions. It starts with the proverbial clean sheet of paper. Decision makers form no preconceived questions, disregard any ideas of what works and what does not, making no assumptions about the organization. Optimally, the process includes a healthy vertical and horizontal cross section of the organization. Why? Because you never know where the most valuable information might come from.

But more than that, strategic thinking is an effort to develop industry foresight. As Gary Hamel and CK Prahalad write in their book Competing for the Future, industry foresight often starts with what could be, and then works back to what must happen for that future to come about. Questions are the root of all knowledge, and crafting the right questions provides senior decision makers the ability to imagine the future in the context of present and future risks and threats.

An Overview of a Strategic Thinking Process

Threats or Risks-start with that clean sheet of paper. The process begins with assessing the threats or risks, both internal and external, to the organization. Said another way, it is vital for the senior decision makers to know the internal and external forces impacting their future. Emerging trends in technology, new competitors, customer service, and succession planning could all pose different types of risks or threats. The idea is to get everything on the table so that it is in full view of the decision makers.

Strengths-R&D investment, financial structure, timely distribution, active web and Blog presence and developing people may very well be strengths of the organization. Strengths provide leverage that can be used to gain specific industry advantages or buffer weaknesses. For example, the organization may have a robust web and Blog presence on the Internet having cultivated a large loyal fan base. These relationships are a substantial strength that can be used to assess and develop new products and services.

Weaknesses-What is it that the organization is not doing so well, that needs improvement or is having a negative systemic effect on the rest of the organizations operations or administration? Seeking weaknesses is not an exercise in seeking blame. Inappropriate organization structure, human capital retention, lack of leadership development programs may well be some of the issues that emerge as weaknesses.

Gaps-Identifying the gaps between the strengths and weaknesses as they relate to the real and perceived risks require some type of response and become the grist for the strategic planning mill. Now strategic and tactical strategies can be created, resources and assets assigned and prioritized and the day-to-day job of creating the future and closing the gaps is turned from imagination into reality.

Conclusion

In our rapidly changing, complex world filled with more information than one might have imagined just a few years ago, sorting through the facts, the hype and emerging issues and challenges drives the need to continually rework the organization’s collective foresight. To do otherwise, may result in a small leak turning into a big hole leaving the crew and passengers scampering for the lifeboats saying to themselves, “But I thought we were unsinkable!”

Author: www.leadsimm.com

Leadership Development

Leadership Development is any activity that enhances the quality of leadership within an individual or organization. That’s a wide ranging definition to suit an extremely wide ranging subject. Leadership Expert™ is a web leader in leadership development information – so I hope you find this hub page useful like thousands of others. Our specific leadership development articles are listed below and you can subscribe to our updates in the form at the bottom of the page.

Leadership Development Training : What is leadership training? How much does it Cost?

Leadership Development Programme : What is a leadership programme? How to build a successful one.

Leadership Classes : Are leadership classes an effective way to boost your leadership ability?

Leadership Training : Is formalised training always the answer?

Leadership Courses : The trend towards personal study is increasing.

Leadership Coaching : Is one-on-one coaching the solution to the leadership problems of large companies?

I’m not an organisation. I’m an individual. How can I improve my leadership skills?

Like many things in life – if you look in the right places, you’ll always be able to find a great resource for a bargain. Leadership development is completely intertwined with the idea of self-investment. All excellent leaders regularly invest in themselves – sometimes to great expense. But if you follow our guidance, you’ll be able to build your skills for the minimum cost.

Public Speaking Skills

If you’re looking to improve your ability to deliver confident or inspiring presentations or speeches, we suggest the effective e-course Public Speaking Extraordinare, which we think represents good value at £25/$37.

Next Page »