Discover The Essence

Of Leadership

© Helmsmanship Go Lead 2010

How did that happen?

It’s your turn to lead!

Is it because you’re a memberof a team and they turn to you- because of your expertise,experience or knowledge – totake charge – to lead - puttingyou in the role of ‘leader’,for the first time?

Or have you been promoted as amanager for the first time andnow have others working foryou?

Or were you elected to chair aclub committee or charity?

It doesn’t matter how

you got to lead

Where do you turn for adviceon leadership?

How do you learn to be an effective leader – and fast?

What’s the immediate problem you face?

Have you seen others faced with the suddenchallenge of leadership?

How well did they do?

Are you worried about making a fool of yourself?

Did you feel panic or even fear when asked to lead?

Who will help you or are you expected just to be able to lead – just like that!

Did some of these thoughts cross your mind?

You’ve only witnessed poor or bad leadership - andyou don’t want to use those leadership styles asexamples

You were a school monitor and the other kidsreally played you up – will the people you’ve beenasked to lead now do so again?

People have told you that you need charisma tolead – but you do not know how to ‘do charisma’

Could academic theories of leadership help?

Yet, these theories continue to survive – some even after being disproved.

Over 1 million pages on ‘leadership theories’

Theories don’t provide easy answers

Leadership has been studied extensively byacademics who have developed many theories todescribe what leadership is or to help leaderspractise leadership.

Many survive long after being disproved.

It’s said there are over 300 definitions ofleadership!

Many theories are just too complex to be of practical use

For example, try learning 81 differentleadership styles from a grid – such asoffered by Blake and Mouton andothers.

Or how about ‘The Continuum ofTannenbaum and Schmidt’ - similar tothe Leadership Grid but with aninfinite variety of leadership styles.

Many books are written on ‘great leaders’ which lead you

to hope you can extract the qualities and traits that made

Churchill or Margaret Thatcher or Bill Clinton a leader.

It is seemingly easy to express what is observed in leaders.

But research shows conclusively that a person possessing

and practising any or all of these qualities and traits will

not necessarily be followed or recognised as a leader.

You cannot mimic past leaders and their leadership styles

as a way to lead.

Can you learn from ‘Great Men and Women’?

Here’s a leadership style you might recognise ...

Have you worked for someone who bulliedeveryone?

Did they really get the best out of the team?

Does bullying ever work?

Would you want to be a bullying type of leader?

What about examples in your workplace?

There are people like this – have you metone?

For instance, the manager who keptchanging their mind because they didn’twant to upset anyone?

Did it work or did you find that becausethey tried to please everyone they actuallypleased no-one?

Sounds appealing ...

The leader who is everyone’s friend?

The boss who sits at a desk just a few

feet away but prefers to send every

instruction by email.

Ever worked for one of those?

It is so unrewarding – and yet why did

they do it?

People who hide behind emails?There’s more and more of these ...

Are they just shy or never had any social skills?

Maybe you just need ‘charisma’ - and people will follow you?

‘Charisma’ is a trap that many novices make

when learning leadership.

Charisma is an accolade awarded to a leader by

his or her followers, but only after you have

demonstrated you are an excellent and well-

respected leader.

You cannot learn to be a charismatic leader.

If you try to behave with charisma, all you do is

look foolish and pompous – and people will

probably try to trip you up.

So how can you learn to lead –and fast?

First, you need to know the essence

of effective leadership

Put simply, it’s about you

selecting the most appropriate

leadership style to use for

each:

Team

Task

& Situation

You bring your team together to achieve a

task together.

You create an understanding of the role

each individual plays as a part of the team

which is also understood by the other

team members.

You also need an understanding of the

needs of each individual in your team.

As the team leader you need to give purpose and meaning to the task

Is it a new situation or familiar to your

team?

Is it a new team or are there individuals

with little or no experience in your team?

Your leadership style selection will

depend on your analysis of the situation.

The situation is key in leadership

Your implied status

Your manner

How you listen & engage

Your voice

Your stance

Your eye & body movement

And what do we mean by leadership style?

It’s about...

More tips on learning to lead

Match your communications to your

team, giving the reasoning behind

decisions and clear instructions.

Know the rules and procedures of

your business or organisation.

Leadership is learnt experientially, so

set aside time after each leadership

experience to learn and improve.

Over time, with confidence, you will learn how to get more from your team...

...by applying motivational styles

Route to success is to learn from experience progressively

Research has found that leaders failed in

strategic positions if they had not been

through basic leadership learning.

To succeed as a leader, therefore, you

need to learn basic leadership before

progressing to higher levels of leadership.

A learning framework can help

From childhood to adult, the HelmsmanshipFramework makes it easy to learn leadershipprogressively

The Helmsmanship Framework contains only the essentials of leadership learning

Sufficient leadership styles for any situation, team and task.

Key knowledge a leader needs to achieve a task with a team in a situation.

Behavioural tips for leaders.

Techniques for communication with teams and other stakeholders.

Its is suitable for adults, apprentices and children.

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This presentation on leadership is by Roddy Mullin and Tess Harris

Please post this freely on your blog or email it to anyone you believe might benefit from reading it.

Visit our website to find our more about leadership and the Helmsmanship Framework for

Leadership Learning

www.helmsmanship.co.uk

© 2010 Go Lead Ltd