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Category: Leadership

Leadership and Learning

Few people are born leaders. Most of us need to practice being a good leader, and that’s why leadership development is so important.

In the White Paper: Emerging Trends in Leadership Development in 2019 and Beyond[1], the StratX group have identified key emerging trends for leadership development, including the increasing need to develop self and others and a shifting focus to develop soft skills. In their findings they reflect on the inability of leaders to sit back and say “I know everything I need to know”, as what leaders know today will very quickly be outdated.

Self awareness emerges as a significant skill for leaders, with a well-developed capacity for introspective and mindful reflection on current skills seen as a key capacity. The conclusion: When things are changing rapidly, it is important to constantly learn and challenge yourself.

“Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other.” John F. Kennedy.

Leadership skills can play a large role in career development. Often, technical skills and talent will catapult great and confident performers into leadership positions. Then comes the sudden realisation that there is a lot more to know about communicating with influence and supporting the new team to achieve goals and objectives than first expected. The StratX paper highlights the shifting focus on soft skill development for leaders, reporting that future effective leaders will be managing diverse teams, and changes in technology mean the way work is performed will more often involve team members in geographically dispersed locations.

A people-centric approach is suggested as the key for future leaders, and this will by necessity mean developing skills in areas such as active listening, self-awareness, empathy, building and sustaining innovative work teams and networks, and managing performance and achievement of strategic goals and objectives through the empowerment and genuine valuing of team members skills, expertise and ideas. Leaders of the future will need communication skills to support individuals and teams. They will also need the skills to plan, design, apply and evaluate solutions to unpredictable problems, and identify, analyse and synthesise information from a variety of sources, including information delivered by artificial intelligent entities.

Undertaking a Diploma of Leadership and Management with Wisdom Learning is an investment in your career. If you are a professional seeking to improve your capacity to apply knowledge, practical skills and experience in leadership and management Wisdom has a program to help you harness the best of your abilities, grow them, and use them to meet the challenges that will be ahead of you in 2019 and beyond. Contact us today at service@wisdomlearning.com.au or call us on (02) 6257 8588.

[1] https://www.stratxcorporate.com/industry-insights/6-emerging-trends-in-leadership-development-in-2019-beyond

26 March 2019
Adventures in Leadership

December 2017

The world of contemporary work has a number of dangers and traps for the unwary. One of the more common pitfalls is the feeling of overwhelm that comes with thinking you have to be able to do it all, and often alone. If you can’t, it means you aren’t good enough and shouldn’t be in your role in the first place. It’s been my experience that this particularly applies in leadership. It’s something I see commonly with my coaching clients, in my leadership program participants and, if I’m honest about it, in myself.

I was recently working with a coaching client I’ll refer to as Jane, who was drowning in this overwhelm. Jane was routinely working excessive hours, and had to be put onto a forced leave plan as she had accrued so much time off. Even then, she was still responding to emails and managing tasks and issues remotely.

That shows up a few a risks. Jane was at serious risk of burnout because of the volume of work she was doing, and also because she was putting intense pressure on herself to be all things to all people. Beyond the impact on Jane, she was also a serious risk to the business. By taking on so much herself, she left her business exposed to vulnerability by contributing to an environment of over-dependence on her. The realisation that she was contributing to the problem was a hard one for Jane: it was also the beginning of her being able to do something about it.

This is just one of the symptoms of overwhelm. It can also show up as micromanaging, inability to relax, presenteeism, and – crucially – difficulty in asking for help. Where does this need to be ‘perfect’ come from? And why is it a particular problem when exercising leadership?

This has been a topic of significant interest and study. One contributor to the field, Valerie Young, identifies a number of competence types which shed light on this behaviour. The types include the Perfectionist, who sets excessively high goals even as they’re crippled with self-doubt; the Superwoman or man who pushes themselves to work harder than anyone else; the Natural Genius who struggles most when they can’t get something right first try; the Rugged Individualist who struggles to ask for help; and the Expert who feels the need to master every aspect of their role completely in order to be considered worthy.

I really identified with the ‘rugged individualist’ type Young describes. Difficulty in asking for help is something I have struggled with, but I’ve learnt (the hard way, of course!) that I have to do it.

Recently I was struggling with a complex project I was managing. We were approaching a major deadline. I’d put in lots of time and effort, but had simply been unable to make the required progress. So I reached out to some colleagues I thought might be able to help me get ‘unstuck.’

The end result was that not only were several colleagues willing and able to assist, they were delighted to. They brought with them insights, experience and input which improved the deliverable for my client. And by providing a fresh perspective, they helped me see where my work had strengths, as well as where it could be improved.

Once upon a time, I had thought asking for help was a sign of weakness, and an admission of failure: if I couldn’t do it on my own, then I wasn’t good enough, especially when exercising leadership. With time and experience, I have learnt that this is not the case. Indeed, it’s the exact opposite. According to David Stuart and Todd Nordstrom, writing for Forbes, asking for help makes you a stronger leader in four critical ways: it forces you to grow and develop; it’s a healthy self-protective measure as it reduces your risk of burnout; it strengthens your ideas, insights and output; and finally, it gives those around you a chance to learn something new and grow their own capacity too.

Asking for help might run counter to our traditional ideas of leadership, but the evidence is clear: having the humility and self-awareness to ask for help makes us better, as well as reducing our risk of burnout.

When did you last ask for help? As we approach the end of this year and the beginning of another, consider whether being more willing to ask for help should appear in your list of resolutions for 2018.

To discover more about Leadership and how we can help you apply it in your workplace please contact us

19 December 2017
Leadership development is a personal journey

September 2017

We often know good leadership when we see it; and this is part of the often debated and written about construct of what leadership is. Leadership is a difficult term to define because it is different for each of us – leadership is a journey of development that is life-long. The real leadership challenge is being prepared to see where your leadership journey will take you.

Everyone can maximise their own effectiveness as a leader by embarking on an individual development journey. Just like planning for that long awaited holiday, developing leadership skills requires consideration of the personal values, qualities and attributes that can lead to leadership mastery. The characteristics of effective leadership can be acquired by anyone willing to work on their emotional and inner self. The benefits include both improved leadership effectiveness and greater self-fulfilment. Developing contemporary leadership and management skills will also enhance your career.

At Wisdom, our innovative and flexible management and leadership program is designed to help current and aspiring leaders and managers undertake their personal journeys to greater leadership effectiveness and mastery. Make a commitment to your professional and personal development journey. Contact the team at Wisdom to join one of our upcoming Diploma of Leadership and Management programs today.

Learning and personal reflection is the key which keeps leaders flexible, able to respond and plan, to meet the challenges of organisations today and in the future. And therein is the reality: leadership development is a personal journey.

To discover more about leadership within the workplace and how we can help you apply it in your workplace please contact us.

19 September 2017