Add to the Expertise of Your Leaders with Leadership Training Programs

Posted on February 12, 2011 by Admin

Preparing for a leadership role has often times been a long and steady process. With the current economic status, employees are finding themselves within leadership roles with very short notice. A lack of preparation and training of these individuals can have detrimental business effects. Leadership training programs can help to alleviate the pressure placed on emerging leaders within businesses through the identification of needed skills, characteristics, and knowledge.

The world of work has become increasingly complex. Leaders in corporations and organizations are embroiled in an unprecedented era of financial turmoil. The Great Recession has left leaders looking for role models, certainties, and tools to negotiate the many unknowns of this era. Leadership development training and Experiential learning can offer a fresh look at leadership skills, uncover blind spots, and like the leader to others experiencing the same conditions. Leadership training is available in many modes, on line, classroom, through self help books and even through on the job training. Leaders who feel alienated, stressed out, or in need of more resources can benefit from leadership training. Leadership training can also be applied to those individuals who have “fell in” to leadership roles without the proper training and/or background.

Leadership development training can infuse leaders with the energy and focus that they need to continue to be productive. Leadership training is designed with the individual in mind. Leadership training often includes an assessment of the leaders’ strengths, weaknesses and leadership developmental needs. It can also include tips and strategies on how to negotiate in difficult times. Many leadership training sessions include practice sessions so that leaders can “try out” new behavior in a simulation. Finally, most leadership training programs allow leaders to develop a personal leadership development plan. This plan helps the leader to carry forward critical learning points back to the work place. The leadership development plan reinforces the leader’s ability to make needed and useful changes in their leadership approach. This allows them to become more effective leaders. Leadership training involves not only current uses of instruments, assessments, coaching, and discussion to try and instill change, it also looks towards the future and how businesses are changing concerning which skills and abilities will be relevant for a long time to come.

Leadership training can also include team leadership training, Team building events, which allows leaders to understand how to develop a teams’ ability to produce effective work together. Team leadership training provides leaders with an understanding of how teams operate, or their dynamics, an appreciation for roles that team members play, and how to effectively lead the team toward optimal performance. In short, leadership training is a necessary and vital component in today’s leadership support needs. It allows leaders to develop the right set of skills, the right attitude and approach to complete in today’s marketplace. Leaders who are effectively prepared make a more successful impact on the individuals and groups that they lead, and allow others to do their best work.

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Deming’s 14 Points And Quality Project Leadership

Posted on February 11, 2011 by Admin

Quality is misunderstood by many who think of it only as it relates to the final deliverable, but a quality product is itself achieved only through quality processes focused on efficiency, innovation, and continual improvement, and these require a quality management culture not only in our projects but within our organizations. In chapter two of his 1986 book, Out of the Crisis, Edward Deming presented 14 principles that he believed could make industry more competitive by increasing quality.

Organizational improvements can begin with anyone. While it’s true that our professional domain as project managers is bounded by the project life cycle, our influence is often much greater than that, and quality management is one of those areas where skilled project managers are best suited to be instrumental change agents –first in the culture of their projects, and second, in the culture of their departments and organizations.  As project managers, if we follow Deming’s principles, we can create project environments where quality thrives, not only benefiting our customers and projects but perhaps serving as a tipping point for effecting a quality management change within our organizations.

1. Create constancy of purpose towards improvement

Deming is telling management to stop reacting and plan better for the long-term.

For project managers: What was has been traditionally thought of as long-term planning is no longer achievable.  Business changes too rapidly, and detailed, up-front plans take too long to produce and are always outdated by the time they’re committed to paper.

Yet projects must have a plan that establishes activities, milestones, and priorities, so what we should strive for in our projects is thorough planning based on iterative, rolling-wave, or Agile approaches. Thorough planning uses detailed planning for the short-term with a longer-term view emphasizing constant reviews, re-planning, and risk management, especially for opportunities that can be exploited. This results in a project plan that can adapt quickly to abrupt business and deliverable changes without throwing the project into chaos.

2. Adopt the new philosophy

Deming is telling management to stop being hypocritical, awaken itself to the challenge, and become leaders.

For project managers: People will always see through anyone who says one thing but whose actions are entirely different. Lasting, energizing change starts first with us, and only then will it spread outward and excite others into action.

As managers, our core values can’t just be expressed through our words, but they must be evident in all our actions with our teams and coworkers. It takes time, but as our message and attitude spread to an ever-broadening base of people, a domino effect takes place and the members themselves become believers and evangelists in quality management themselves.

3. Cease dependency on inspection

Deming is reminding management that the need for inspection will decrease if quality problems are prevented in the first place.

For project managers: We all know that prevention is better than inspection, so our project management and execution processes need continual improvement methods built into them to reduce quality problems .

But inspection goes beyond its purely quality connotations. Are we propagating a management style based on inspection? If our team has a tendency to run everything first past us for approval then we may be, and that isn’t good for us, the team, or the project.

Our responsibility as a project manager isn’t to be the funnel through which everyone seeks approval. If that’s what is happening then the project will stagnate and become inflexible. Instead, let’s make sure we create a project culture where the team has the skills, information, and experience it needs to make every-day, rapid decisions on its own.

4. End the practice of awarding business on the basis of price tags

Deming’s purpose behind this point was to eliminate variations in the manufacturing process by having too many suppliers of component goods.

For project managers: Price alone should rarely be the determining factor because most procurement needs go beyond simple commodities. When a project is likely to involve frequent changes, we need vendors who can adapt or offer their own new ideas for responding to those changes, and that isn’t likely to happen when cut-rate suppliers are chosen.

This principle also holds true in our role as the vendor for internal or external customers. We are not just collectors of requirements –we need to be engaged with the customer and stakeholders, understanding their business objectives in order for us to provide the deliverable that best meets their changing needs.

5. Improve constantly and forever

Deming is reminding industry leaders that they have to constantly strive to reduce variation, which leads to quality problems.

For project managers: Continuous improvement is a core philosophy of the PMBOK, but it isn’t like a switch that gets turned on or off. It’s a mindset that is nurtured by the right environment. Members of the team need skills, information, and knowledge beyond their core subjects of expertise, and we should encourage experimentation and reward mistakes made in the search for innovation, which means we need to eliminate blame and ingrain the lessons-learned process in every part of the project.

Large-scale improvements and innovative approaches often come from “amateurs” and not specialists because amateurs are driven by their interest in the subject and less wedded to preconceived notions and ideas.  Chris Anderson, author of The Long Tail, says, “I’ll take a passionate amateur over a bored professional any day.”

6. Institute training on the job

On-the-job training increases efficiency and results in job outputs with fewer errors.

For project managers: Continuous improvement extends beyond just processes. It applies to the hard and soft skills, experiences, and knowledge of the entire project team. Professional development, coaching, and mentoring should be encouraged, acknowledged, and rewarded.

Training doesn’t have to be expensive, and it doesn’t have to be formalized. Some of the best training experiences involve group-led efforts that also serve as team building exercises, such as webinars, vendor demonstrations, and specific discussions on best practices.

7. Institute leadership

Deming wants management to be leaders not merely supervisors.

For project managers: The problem on most projects is not a lack of management but a lack of leadership. Leadership is more about people skills than about project management skills. Few projects have sponsors that view themselves as the leader on the project, and if the leadership charge is not picked up by the project manager then the project is not likely to be successful. A leader translates the project’s vision into actions that excite, inspire, and motivate the project team, and he or she is able to instill a perception that the project isn’t just creating a deliverable; it’s accomplishing something phenomenal for the customer.

8. Drive out fear

Deming tells us that management by fear or punishment is detrimental because it inhibits questions and ideas from the workforce.

For project managers: Fear stifles two cornerstones of quality –innovation and continual improvement.  A fearful team isn’t going to generate new ideas and it’s going to hide its mistakes, leading to a poor lessons learned process.  Deming’s point goes beyond what most of us associate with fear.  Fear is also that little voice all of us hear that suppresses us from speaking up or sharing ideas –fear of failing, fear of sounding silly, fear of making a mistake, fear of missing a deadline, fear of stepping on another’s toes, and so on. Yet these fears are just as detrimental to quality as fear of punishment.

It’s a lack of trust between team members and in the project’s leadership that drives these fears.  If we improve trust, team members will be more willing to share their ideas and question existing processes.

9. Break down barriers between staff areas

Deming wants everyone to realize that each person is a customer of someone and that everybody is a supplier to somebody.

For project managers: Silos and a rigid hierarchy are dangerous not only to the project but to the organization. Innovation and continual improvement come about by somebody seeing a connection that is not inherently obvious, and connections can’t be discovered when one is stuck behind artificial barriers.

We can help break those barriers by exposing people to diverse situations outside their normal environment and comfort zones. Though there is a short-term productivity loss when people work outside their specialty, there is a longer-term gain for the project and organization. This strategy helps build a larger pool of “generalists” in many subjects, and new experiences are a powerful motivator for many people. This approach also improves opportunities for innovative approaches and is a risk management strategy should key personnel leave the project.

10. Eliminate slogans, exhortations, and targets for the work force

Slogans imply the problem is with the employees, but the real problem is with the process.

For project managers: The first point we have to accept is that we are responsible for problems within the project, whatever those issues might be. It isn’t the team’s fault, the customer’s fault, or the organization’s fault –it’s our fault.

The root causes of most project problems are deficiencies in communication, scope, requirements, activity definitions, project planning and re-planning, risk management, and stakeholder involvement. All of these are within our professional domain even if we aren’t the ones personally performing them.  It’s our responsibility to make sure the project processes are performed effectively to a level appropriate for the project.

11. Eliminate management by objectives

Setting production targets only encourages people to meet those targets through whatever means necessary, which causes poor quality.

For project managers: On the surface this principle probably sounds like heresy to most of us –how can a project be managed if targets aren’t set? Well, it can’t, but that wasn’t Deming’s point. He’s talking about short-sighted versus thorough planning. Setting targets in response to a problem without first understanding and addressing the root causes in the processes will only lead to more quality problems.

Milestones are the predominant targets for projects, and they need to be challenging to motivate the team, but they have to be achievable and flexible. Yet flexibility is one of the most common scheduling failures a project manager makes, especially on projects that are very iterative and involve rolling wave planning.

As these projects progress, milestones have to be continually reassessed, and this often means that the original dates get pushed. Too many of us perceive these readjustments as “missing our target” because we’re too married to dates that were only best-guesses or top-down estimates set early in project planning.  We also should be careful to present milestone dates to stakeholders as estimates and help them understand the iterative nature of these kinds of projects — as the project is better understood and the work needed becomes clearer, milestone dates may change.

12. Remove barriers to pride of workmanship

Deming tells us that nobody feels good about producing shoddy work. When management creates an environment that fosters poor quality, employees are frustrated.

For project managers: Recognizing the team and individuals for their contributions and achievements helps instill pride of workmanship. Everyone on the project team should feel that his or her work is recognized and valuable to the project’s success. Sincere appreciation is one of the easiest and cheapest yet most effective motivating agents we can use. Even “failures” and mistakes are achievements as long as there were valuable lessons learned.

13. Institute education and self-improvement

Deming wants everyone, managers and the workforce, to pursue training, education, and self-improvement.

For project managers: Ongoing professional development is expected of certified project managers, but we should also expect and encourage it among our team and coworkers. Nearly every profession has its own certification and continuing education requirements, and our team members will appreciate it if we have a general understanding of their profession’s requirements, recognize them for certification efforts, and help them with opportunities for meeting those requirements.

14. The transformation is everyone’s job

Deming says that everyone is involved in the fixing the processes.

For project managers: This one is easy if we’ve done everything else right because all the other principles will result in quality management culture where everyone is involved in continual improvement and innovation. Having experienced first-hand a quality management experience, the people on our team will in turn spread those ideas to other project teams.

Copyright 2009 J. Alex Sherrer

J. Alex Sherrer is the author, blogger, and webmaster of the Project Management Road Trip. He has been in the information technology field for more than 20 years as a manager, portfolio and project manager, business analyst, software developer, technical writer, and trainer. He’s passionate about reading, learning, and writing, and he enjoys discussing innovation, continuous improvement, organizational theories, and technology topics with others
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Management Training

Posted on July 28, 2010 by Guest Author

Management is an art that most people don’t have time to teach.  The modern business world is fraught enough as it is, with emails stacking up in even the lowliest employee’s inbox while the executive end of the company chases meeting after meeting with little hope of reprieve.  Supplying on the job management training in these terms is well-nigh impossible.  The net result of not supplying management training, though, is that junior management staff rise to high rankings in a company with very little idea of how to effectively do their job.

In steps the management training company.  For comparatively little financial outlay a busy company can send as many executives as it wants on a management training course.  Candidates who complete management training courses invariably return to their posts with the confidence and skills to manage properly.  Given that competent management is something no company can do without, the management training course seems an indispensable expense.

What about impact on the business, though?  It’s all very well sending a greenhorn on a management training week and having them come back fighting fit and ready to delegate:  but what happens to the company’s daily business while all the young execs are off completing trust exercises in the grounds of country houses?

Top level management training companies, of course, have recognised this concern long ago.  Most management training courses are completely adaptable to the timetables of both company and individual – so if a business needs its junior managers on hand at all times, their management training course will take the form of one-to-one intensive seminars held in the company’s own premises.  If a business can spare its employees for, say, one day per week, they may be invited to attend management training courses at a convenient location.  The watchword of modern management training is “flexibility” – management training companies, after all, are businesses too, and they aren’t going to be successful unless they are able to work with the needs of their clients.

Particularly effective management training companies are those that work with individual candidates or small groups:  the mass-market management training seminar still exists, but it doesn’t work so well in the flexible environment of the modern business world.  The best management training models, in terms of deliverable results versus minimum impact on daily corporate running, are those where an individual client is tutored through an ongoing syllabus – where achievable stages are monitored and marked.  Conducting management training in this “Open University” style allows candidates both to continue to perform the normal functions of their job and to see concrete evidence of managerial progression.

Modern management training is as flexible and realistic as the world it is training people to manage in.  With the proper course, aimed at the proper candidate, even the most time-pressed company can come out with a new level of well educated management.

Management training doesn’t have to take employees away from their duties.  Modern management training is flexible, effective and individually targeted – bringing stellar results. For more information visit http://www.righttrackconsultancy.co.uk/.
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Simple Steps In Leadership Development

Posted on July 25, 2010 by Guest Author

Leaders are the people who drive and motivate others and set standards so as to achieve a common goal or target in unity. Leaders motivate and drive their followers and hence can create a group that can be more productive and efficient. Most of the people would have leadership quality within themselves, in order to make them more focused and successful it is necessary that they undergo leadership training which can tune their in-born leadership thus have control and be capable of leading a group more skillfully. Leaders are driving forces of an organization or a company hence the organizations success depends on their skills.

To develop the leadership quality among the leaders of an organization it is quite essential that they be provided with the most proven training for leadership development. To become a successful and inspiring leader following a few simple steps in leadership development can help and bring in flourishing results. There are a range of leadership qualities to learn and acquire to instill the true leader in you. Behind every successful business there is a hand of a capable leader hence developing the quality to make them more capable and efficient is essential to create the most productive and performing team. Leadership training courses can provide the leaders various skills and knowledge with the help of which they can implement new ideas in their team and make their team motivated in achieving objectives and work in harmony yielding the best results. Leaders are the heads of the team hence have to lead the team and control them for that they have to develop their leadership quality in the following ways Setting up of objectives and inspiring the team to achieve the set targets is the first step in developing leadership quality.

Setting up a common objective according to achievable standards and clearly explaining the goals to the team members and assigning tasks to each of the workers according to their skills would enable the team to achieve the objectives and hence lead to the success of the organization. Controlling the work force and ensuring harmony and cooperation among the team is another way of building up efficient leadership in the team. By setting up an example of a dedicated member of the group would motivate the team members to follow their leaders. Working along with the members and solving their problems at the same time training the team to work focused and with dedication are signs of leadership development. Growing them up by increasing their skills can make you a good leader. Evaluating the team of their performance is another step to develop your leadership quality. Well performing members should be encouraged and respected and those who are weak need to be provided the adequate training and knowledge to improve their efficiency.

Preparing reports of individual work force and evaluating the results would help in monitoring the works and assessing the possibility of achieving the targets. Monitoring the work progress would help achieve the targets more effectively and prevents slow down in the process. Undergoing leadership training is another most important step that can develop the most efficient and skillful leaders in the organization. Leadership training programs can build up potential leaders capable to lead to the growth of the business and bring in success all through the year.

The organizations success depends on the leaders that works and drives the workforce to work in unity to make them contribute to the growth of the business. Creating a plan and a workable solution in achieving the targets is another step that can help in leadership development. Planning can organize a leader’s task and enable him in achieving the set goal more systematically. More detailed plans can make the process of achieving targets tangible.

A leader’s job involves a lot of responsibility since they lead a company or a team. Leaders are held responsible for combined actions of his team members hence they need to be very careful while monitoring the works of his followers. Leaders should set standards to their subordinates as they are being followed and are not represented as an individual but as a group. They should be able to maintain a good communication channel and observe each and every process under their control. In order to obtain these skills and develop into a real hero in the business, leaders have to be trained and updated with various leadership strategies and techniques.

Avax Seo is an expert author who enjoys writing articles on marketing related topics including business training development, leadership development coaching services etc.
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Two Questions to Help You Change Your Leadership Style

Posted on July 21, 2010 by Guest Author

Do you want to change your leadership style? Perhaps you’ve discovered something in particular that you want to do, or do differently.

And this, of course, is the problem. You want to change something you do, but the folks in the office just aren’t expecting you to change anything. They don’t WANT you to change anything.

Also, some people around you may be suspicious or cynical. Not all of them, maybe, but enough to make it tricky to change.

So no matter how enthusiastic or motivated you might be to make a change, all of the ‘noise’ around you makes you reluctant, or resistant, to change. The pain of change seems worse than the gain of change.

So you stop even thinking about change. And soon you’re as cynical and suspicious as all the rest. And nothing ever changes.

If this sluggish feeling is familiar to you, then what you’re experiencing is the heavy inertia of ‘the way things work round here’. It’s the power of the status quo to weigh heavy on you and stop you from changing anything.

How can you start the change process? What you urgently need to do is find ways over or round the inertia. And the questions to ask are these:

1. When is it easier to change my leadership style?
2. What will help me to change my leadership style?

First, it’s easier to change your leadership style when you take a new job or a new role in another department. In a new role, you can set out your plans for the new team and you can change the way you manage or lead the team. This is, of course, because no one knows you from your previous role. They don’t know the old boss.

You can also change your leadership style at the start of every new project. Every beginning is an opportunity to restart or relaunch your leadership style.

Of course, you may still have tricky issues to deal with – people asking ‘why the sudden change?’ – so there is something else you need to do: create a Leadership Manifesto to overcome inertia

A Leadership Manifesto will make it easier for you to change your leadership style.
The Manifesto – like a manifesto for a political party – is an outline sketch of what you’re trying to do. And, importantly, it’s also a sketch of HOW you’re planning to do it.

Drafting and actually discussing a one-page leadership manifesto with your team is a great way of getting people moving anyway, and the idea of a manifesto helps people focus round what you’re trying to achieve.

Now your manifesto could address any of the issues you feel are important for the team to address. Here are just three suggestions:

1. Collaborative goal setting versus boss-centred goal setting. You may want to work with people to help them set goals or you may wish to give people targets based on your understanding of their skills and performance in the past.
2. Cross-business collaboration versus cross-business competition. You may want to explore why you believe you should be collaborating with other teams in the business or why you should be competing internally with them.
3. Day-to-day constructive feedback versus end-of-year appraisals. You may wish to create a more open atmosphere and attitude towards ‘live’ performance management. You might want to create an atmosphere where it is acceptable to give practical and constructive feedback. The alternative is waiting for the end-of-year appraisal which is way too late to be useful.

I find that the concept of a leadership manifesto is very flexible and you can use it anyway that suits you. For example, you could with your team develop a change manifesto. Get the team to create their own manifesto for the way things work round here. Invite them to think about, if they were in charge, what would they change?

And finally, make sure that part of your Leadership Manifesto is about making it easy for others to make changes in their role. Give your team permission to change, too. That’s part of your developmental role, which should also be in the Manifesto.

Having an open and understood Leadership Manifesto is all part of building your personal leadership brand. Your openness on what people can expect from you helps them to trust you more, so that when the going gets tough, they know they can rely on you to lead them well.

If you want the leadership success you deserve, get the leadership training you deserve. Download more free articles and leadership training videos from Steven Sonsino, an international business school professor and author of the Amazon bestseller “The Seven Failings of Really Useless Leaders”
Get more FREE videos and articles right now: http://www.deathofleadership.com
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Six Characteristic Stages Of Team Development

Posted on July 17, 2010 by Guest Author

Though we often use the term team as a catch-all for any group of people, there is a distinction between a work group and a team, and there are conditions when one is more suitable than the other. Work groups are more efficient when the objectives are clear and there are only a few options for how to achieve them. A team is best when there isn’t a clear path to the objective, and alternative, creative, or innovative approaches are needed.

When a project needs the expertise of a team rather than a work group, most of us are familiar with Tuckman’s four stages of team –forming, storming, norming, and performing. However, those labels imply that a work group’s development into a team is a naturally-occurring, passive activity. We assemble skilled and experienced personnel and often expect them to materialize on their own into a high-performing team when it really takes the leadership skills of the project manager and project management team to help a work group evolve into a cohesive, focused team.

An extension of Tuckman’s stages is what I call the six characteristic stages of team development. These “6 C’s” are exhibited by the group as it progressively matures into a team, and they help the leader to easily understand the team development stage the group is at and adjust his or her leadership style to foster an environment that’ll help it mature into a team. Another way to think of the 6 C’s is that they are a tool for the leader to engage the group into situations, discussions, interactions, and activities that enhance its current stage of development as well as help it progress to higher levels of performance.

1. Coalesce

Environment In the workplace groups are usually brought together by an external authority, such as a supervisor or manager. Both teams and groups usually have their ultimate goal established for them. If there are a lot of options or flexibility in how the goal is achieved, teams are more likely to find innovative approaches to reach a goal. But regardless of whether a team or group is the best solution, all teams start out as work groups.

One of the key differences between a team and a group is its perception of its goal. Members of a group view the goal as somebody else’s while members of team have adopted the goal as their own. But this perception and internalization of the goal takes time, and though the leader can foster this change, he or she cannot force it onto the group.

Culture Just as a project is most likely to fail early in its life cycle, team development is most likely to fail early in the group’s existence. Even if the group members know each other and have worked together before, there’s little trust, shared vision, or peer accountability. Members are not likely to be committed to the leader or goal yet, and most are unsure of what’s to be expected from them and exactly what their roles are.

Leadership It’s important for the leader to be actively involved with the group and set the correct tone. Group members will get their cues for acceptable behavior from the leader. The leader needs to be direct and open with information to the group. Team ground rules need discussed because this helps clarify expectations and gives group members an opportunity to learn the values of each other. The leader also wants to stress the collective skills and abilities of the group. Diversity is a key ingredient to a successful team, and the leader wants the group to know that it’s their individual differences that make the whole stronger. This is important to reiterate throughout the early stages because it is often these differences that initially spark unhealthy conflict.

Under the stress of tight deadlines and wanting to get things started as soon as possible, the leader may resort to a task-oriented leadership style by handing out duties and responsibilities to the group or pushing his or her own decisions onto the group. This should be done only when absolutely necessary and urgent. Whenever possible the leader should let the group establish its own tasks and make its own decisions because an autocratic leadership style will keep the work group from forming into a team. If decisions must be made autocratically then the leader should explain the full situation and rationale to the group.

The leader must also be personally committed to the goal in order for the group members to believe in the goal as well and later adopt the vision as their own. Can a leader (and subsequently a team) be committed to a goal he or she doesn’t believe in 100%? Absolutely! A vision takes many small steps to achieve, and there are always setbacks along the way. So even if the goal is not 100% to the satisfaction of the leader, he or she must believe the objective is the best that can be accomplished right now for the organization, customer, or project.

2. Conflict

Environment Uncertainty is prevalent during these early stages –uncertainty in each other, uncertainty in how to reach the goal, and uncertainty of expectations and roles. Uncertainty breeds fear and distrust, which are always at the root of unhealthy conflict. If people distrust each other then it will be impossible for new ideas, alternatives, debates, and differences of opinions to be logically discussed by the group. Trust between group members and between the group and the leader is not easily established, and it isn’t established only through quick team-building exercises but instead through consistency in the leader’s actions and words.

Culture Conflict may arise early because of discussions around ground rules, goals, priorities, resources, or the activities the members need to perform. There are generally two extremes at this stage –either the group relishes conflict or it avoids it entirely. Neither is healthy nor beneficial for the group to progress. Some members may be dominant and vocal while others are reticent and hesitate to voice an opinion. Because the group’s goal is still viewed as somebody else’s (e.g., the organization’s goal, their boss’ goal, or the leader’s goal), members may be resentful of the work involved especially if they’re already overworked.

Leadership Conflict should be viewed by everyone as a positive event, because it’s through debate and the exchange of alternative viewpoints that innovation occurs. The difficulty with conflict early in the group’s life cycle is that it’s usually centered on issues that have little value to the project, but these issues still need addressed, and the group won’t progress unless it makes it through these discussions. The leader must establish trust between him or her and the group. If the group doesn’t believe that the leader acts only in the best interest of the entire group with no personal agenda then he or she will be incapable of facilitating the group’s maturity into a team. Generating trust takes time, but it’s remarkably easy:

  • Be open, direct, and honest
  • Be empathetic to others and their views
  • Do exactly what is promised
  • Be a good listener
  • Be unselfish in thoughts, actions, and motives

The leader needs to be the voice of calm and reason. At all costs conflict cannot be ignored and neither should it be allowed to degenerate into personal attacks. The leader will likely need to be the referee to make sure the group follows its own ground rules and to ensure that conflict focuses on the issues and remains impersonal. The leader will likely have to make sure that debate is balanced and everyone is heard by drawing some members out. The group needs to understand that conflict need not be negative and that it’s necessary for the group to be successful.

3. Confidence

Environment When this stage is reached the team members are growing more comfortable with each other’s work styles, skills, strengths, and weaknesses, though there is still occasional frustration between group members over their individual differences. Until commitment and community are established, group members are worried first about their own success rather than the group’s success, and this may express itself as impatience with others who aren’t perceived as “pulling their own weight.”

Culture Having made it through the early formation stages, as a whole the group is more confident that it can reach its goal. Team members are less hesitant about voicing opinions and ideas. Group members are more trusting of each other’s motives, and there may be some members who are already putting the good of the group first.

Leadership The leader will know that the team is moving towards commitment and community when the members begin helping others, mentoring, or assisting each other in activities. The group may appear on the surface to be a team, but it’s still only a work group of individuals. Trust building is still extremely important, so the leader needs to remain involved with the group and be optimistic, upbeat, and forthcoming and honest with information. The leader will also want to make sure the group recognizes its accomplishments and the progress it’s made thus far. Even setbacks are a cause for congratulations when the group has learned from the experience.

4. Commitment

Environment Whereas in early stages a significant amount of everyone’s personal energy was devoted to protecting or ensuring his or her own interest or success, there’s now a greater focus on the group as an entity. There is a positive energy about the group, enthusiasm is increased, and the productivity level is high, but members are generally self-reliant. This will be the maximum level a high-performing work group will achieve, but most members will be committed to the goal only through enthusiasm or devotion to the leader or organization and not because they’ve adopted the goal as their own.

Culture A subtle but important change has occurred –some members no longer perceive the goal as being somebody else’s but their own. This is the primary distinction between a group and a team. When people internalize a vision or goal as their own, they’ll do everything possible to reach that goal. Members are committed entirely to the group’s success, and will begin holding each other accountable and the strength of peer pressure helps keep performance high.

Leadership The group requires less decision-making and direction from the leader. The most important thing the leader can do at this stage is to whole-heartedly support the group, offer encouragement, continue to remind the group of its successes, and maintain an honest, optimistic outlook. The leader wants members to become enthusiastic over the goal through their interaction with other members; otherwise, the goal will continue to be perceived as the vision of the leader.

5. Community

Environment There are now pervasive signs that the group is collectively working and striving to reach its goal. “Community” shouldn’t be misinterpreted to mean that everything is rosy. All teams have and need conflict, and if there isn’t conflict then it’s probably being avoided, which isn’t healthy either. However, unlike in earlier stages when conflict was strained and could’ve torn the group apart, it’s now viewed differently as something that can be logically addressed, discussed, and worked through.

Culture A true team now exists between the members. There’s a real team culture of inter-reliance, respect, and trust between members, and the team is largely self-directing and holding itself and its members accountable. Community can sometimes be too strong, resulting in cliques or groupthink. Both of these defeat the benefit of team.

Leadership The leader needs to remain active with the team, but more as a consultant rather than decision-maker, arbitrator, or facilitator. The leader should exhibit trust in the team’s ability to self-manage and self-direct itself, even if he or she thinks the team is making a mistake. As long as the potential mistake is an acceptable risk, it’s better to let the team handle the situation. If the leader senses that cliques or groupthink is occurring, he or she may need to interject some new personnel or other changes into the group, even though that will temporarily cause the team to regress. Groupthink can also occur when members are hesitant about openly questioning another’s opinion or idea, which is why conflict should not be avoided.

6. Creativity

Environment The main strength of a team over a group is in its ability to explore and find innovative approaches to problems, and that is what will be happening when the creativity stage is reached. The team members have trust and confidence in each other, and are committed as a team to reaching to their goal.

Culture Energy levels are high, and team members are invigorated by working together. Ideas are freely shared and members question each other openly because there’s trust between them that everyone’s motives are for the good of the team, goal, or organization. There is an openness and willingness to question everything. The “old ways” are not automatically assumed to be the best methods.

Leadership The team is self-directing, and the leader should be seen mainly as the team’s champion or cheerleader. The leader needs to stay involved with the team, primarily as a motivator, mentor, and observer, but should avoid being looked upon by the team as the final decision-maker. The leader should have trust and confidence in the team and should be a participant in significant discussions, but the leader will not want to continually second-guess the team.

Copyright J. Alex Sherrer

J. Alex Sherrer is the author, blogger, and webmaster of the Project Management Road Trip. He has been in the information technology field for more than 20 years as a manager, portfolio and project manager, business analyst, software developer, technical writer, and trainer. He’s passionate about reading, learning, and writing, and he enjoys discussing innovation, continuous improvement, organizational theories, and technology topics with others
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Working On Your Personal Development Improves Your Team Leadership Skills

Posted on July 14, 2010 by Guest Author

You’ve always known that you are a team player, and you’ve probably always known that you are ready to take on the task of team leadership. However, what you might not know is that no matter how good you are at team leadership, and no matter what kind of a team player you are, personal development is a way to make you stronger, more successful, and better and what you do, overall.

Personal development means that you are focusing on the skills that you have in order to improve them, and also that you are learning new skills that can benefit you life in general, and of course, benefit the team. When you are working on your personal development, it means that you are never finished learning.

You are a strong, successful person and you are focusing on ways that you can make yourself even more so.

Working on personal development allows you to become even more concrete in the areas that you know you excel, and begin to develop brand new skills that are going to be beneficial to everyone.

Team Leadership Benefits

A team leader is someone who is good at personal development. This is because as you go through life, and as you lead your team, things do not stay the same. Part of personal development is focusing on changing for the better, and helping yourself to learn the skills that are necessary for you to change.

When you become the leader of a team, no matter what that team is dealing with and no matter what level of expertise that team is at, you are going to be working with the same people over time. You are also going to be doing the same things, no matter what business you are working in, and no matter what number of things you have to do as a team leader.

However, as time goes on, you know that you are going to have to change the way you do things. New technologies come to the forefront, and there is always something different that you can do to make your team run smoother and to help your business excel.

Therefore, you are going to have to always be open to change, and ever ready to adapt to the times. Personal development is like going to school – you are going to keep your mind open to new possibilities and you are going to be able to change and grow with the world around you.  No matter what kind of team leader you are to begin with, by working on your personal development, you’ll be able to get much stronger and much clearer in your leadership style.

This is the best way that you can excel at team leadership.

Information on cooking swordfish can be found at the Healthy Cooking Tips site.
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Team Leadership Training: Recipe for Leadership

Posted on July 11, 2010 by Guest Author

Whoever believes that leaders are born and not made, never heard of team leadership training. Companies spend millions of dollars each year coaching managers to become better leaders of people. Why is team leadership training so important, and what can one hope to gain by participating in such a program?

Who needs someone breathing down one’s neck at the workplace? Employees of all organizations need their bosses to be more than mere supervisors. An effective boss is one who plays the role of mentor when required; he must “know the way, go the way and show the way”. Leaders must therefore be sensitive to the developmental needs of their subordinates and committed to mentoring them to achieve success.

A wise man once said, “A leader’s role is to raise people’s aspirations for what they can become and to release their energies so they will try to get there.” This is at the heart of team leadership training. Such programs use a variety of techniques to impart better personnel management skills to managers and leaders at all levels. Would-be leaders are taught the importance of understanding subordinates’ needs; they are guided on the different approaches that are appropriate in diverse people-related situations, so that they do not employ a “one size fits all” tactic. Team leadership training programs are tailored to the specific requirements of the audience – thus, a new supervisor might be introduced to the dynamics of leadership, whereas an experienced manager will be guided on how to hone his or her leadership skills.

Team Leadership Training Objectives

The broad objectives of team leadership training can be set out as follows:

• To help leaders understand each employee’s distinctive personality and their need for supervision

• To train leaders to develop their subordinates into competent and committed professionals

• To equip leaders better so that they can easily take on challenges

• To align the leadership style of participants with that of the rest of the organization

This is achieved by following a scientific process along the following lines:

• Helping participants assess their leadership strengths and identify areas of improvement. Generally this involves a written self assessment exercise, discussions, and group activity.

• Guiding participants to identify the skills and attributes of an effective team leader. Participants also learn why different skills are needed to manage different employee interactions, and the appropriate style of leadership to be employed in each situation. Once the participants are able to identify their individual leadership styles, they are guided on how to make certain adjustments depending on the circumstances.

• Teaching participants best practices in managing relationships with their teams. Useful practical tips such as how and when to schedule group meetings and how to review the team’s progress are also shared.

• Helping participants identify their comfort zones, and potential sources of team conflict. The training imparts insight into how different group members make decisions, communicate with each other and process information. Leaders are taught to manage interpersonal differences for the overall benefit of the organization.

While we have generally talked about what goes on in a team leadership training seminar, such training need not necessarily be on-site – one can also access a wealth of resources in terms of books and videos at sites .

Whatever be the format, ultimately, all team leadership training aspires to create leaders who are “ … close enough to relate to others, but far enough ahead to motivate them.”

Hi, I’m Akhil Shahani, a serial entrepreneur who wants to help you succeed. If you like to work smart, check out http://www.SmartEntrepreneur.net . It’s full of articles and resources to help you start and grow your business successfully. Please visit us & download our special “Freebie of The Month” at
http://www.smartentrepreneur.net/freebie-of-the-month.html
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Time management skills: the keys to success

Posted on July 7, 2010 by Guest Author

The blessed few seem to glide through their working day, ticking off their daily tasks and contentedly dealing with all the interruptions that come their way. These were the kids who always handed in their science homework a day ahead of schedule, and never forgot their calculator for maths.

Most of us aren’t like this. Most of us have to work at our time management skills, training ourselves to organise, prioritise and get stuff done.

What’s wrong with bad time-management? Time-management skills are essential for anybody who wants to succeed in the modern workplace. Gone are the days when you could calculate lunchtime by the position of the sun and plod along behind your oxen without a ringing mobile, a bulging in-box and a spider’s web of a calendar.If you don’t learn to manage your time effectively then you risk forgetting meetings, deadlines and responsibilities, over-committing yourself, rushing work and dying young of too much stress.

What causes bad time-management? Two extreme opposites lie behind bad time-management: over-committing and procrastination.

Some people just love to have too much to do. They might complain occasionally (or regularly) that they never have time to relax, or that everybody expects too much of them, or that they are never fully-appreciated, but the truth is that they cannot survive without a diary full of jobs to do and events to organise.

If you are one of these people, then you might be jeopardising your effectiveness by giving in to the challenge and adrenaline of taking on more than one person can possibly achieve. Stepping back once in a while and reviewing what you have to do and how you ended up promising to do it can work wonders for your time-management.

Others are prone to procrastination. If this is you, then you’ll recognise the symptoms straight away: dawdling over e-mails, making yet another cup of tea (which, twenty minutes later will require a bathroom run), always aware of the elephantine deadline that is looming close, but which you don’t have to deal with … just yet.

The problem with procrastination is that, sooner or later, the deadlines catch up, work has to be rushed, and nobody is happy with the end result. Learning to prioritise your tasks and to stick to your schedule will improve your performance and your job satisfaction.

What can you do about it?

•    Make a list of all the things you’ve got to do. Do include everything: the 30-page report you’ve been hoping would go away; buying ham for your husband’s lunch; taking your dog to the dentist; finishing off the database you started last month. Do not make this list on the back of an old envelope. Invest in a diary or a notebook. Scraps of paper will only end up in the bin.

•    Prioritise your tasks. Put fire-fighting and foundational tasks at the top of your list. Delegate the distractions. Eliminate time-wasting.

•    Schedule. For long-term scheduline, you definitely need a calendar. You can use a computer-based organiser, a wall calendar, or a personal diary. You can buy a leather-bound diary with gold edging, you can invest in a simple wall-chart, or you can even make a calendar yourself. Whatever you choose, what you need is a way to divide the year, the month, the week and the day into manageable portions of time. In each time-slot, you must allocate yourself a task. Bear in mind the importance and urgency of each task and the time taken for successful completion. Under-estimating how much time you need will lead to unnecessary stress, while over-estimation will leave you twiddling your thumbs.

•    Reward system. If you are a procrastinator, then sometimes you’ll need a motivation boost. Make yourself a star-chart, promise yourself a chocolate biscuit or a trip to the cinema or even sometime as simple as a short tea break for the completion of major tasks.

•    Delegation The most important skill that the over-committer will ever learn is delegation. Allow your colleagues to share the workload. Be generous enough to let somebody else try their hand at producing a plan or a presentation or a spreadsheet. If you try to do everything yourself, then others will end up either resenting you or taking you for granted. Improve the performance of yourself and everybody else in your office by sharing around the tasks!

And finally – Taking the time to review your goals and appointments will ease stress and make the time you spend working far more effective. At the end of each day, allow yourself a couple of minutes to think about what you have achieved in the past few hours. The satisfaction of meeting your goals will be the best stimulus to continued time-management.

Simon Buehring works for KnowledgeTrain which offers Time Management Courses in the UK and overseas. He can be contacted via the building a team website.

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The Key Causes of Failure in Leadership

Posted on July 4, 2010 by Guest Author

In my last article I reviewed Napoleon Hill’s list of the 11 attributes that he believed most contributed to the success or failure of a leader, gleaned during his 20 years of interviewing the most successful men and women in America for his book “Think and Grow Rich”.

These attributes are:

  • Self confidence, be knowledgeable about your work
  • Self control, remain calm under pressure
  • Sense of justice, fairness & respect for others
  • Decisive and stand by decisions
  • Organization & planning skills
  • Strong work ethic
  • Neatness & hygiene
  • Empathy
  • Mastery of details
  • True accountability in deed as well as word
  • The ability to achieve through others

In this book, Hill also discusses the 10 major causes of failure in leadership. These are:

The first cause of failure is the inability to organize details. According to Hill “efficient leadership calls for (the) ability to organize and to master details. No genuine leader is ever too busy to do anything which may be required of him in his capacity as leader. When a man, whether he is a leader or follower, admits that he is too busy to change his plans, or to give attention to any emergency, he admits his inefficiency. The successful leader must be the master of all details connected with his position. That means, of course, that he must acquire the habit of relegating details to capable lieutenants”. This failure relates to two key skills required by the successful leader or Project Manager – good organization skills, and the ability to delegate effectively. Too many managers create a project plan at the start of the project, and then do no more than tick it off, as if the project plan can manage the project. A good leader or manager is across the details of the plan, and manages it effectively.

Even more disheartening is the manager who abdicates responsibility rather than delegating responsibility. What’s the difference you might ask? When a task is delegated to someone, consideration is given to the person’s skills and ability to do the task, the amount of supervision required, and their capacity to do the task. The manager keeps track of the task, and assists where necessary. When a task is abdicated, it is farmed off to the nearest person without regards to their capacity, skills and knowledge (and therefore ability to do the job) and with no follow up, save for blaming the poor soul when the task invariably fails, as it must.

The second cause of failure according to Hill is the “unwillingness to render humble service. Truly great leaders are willing, when occasion demands, to perform any sort of labour which they would ask another to perform “.  This is the corollary of success attribute number 6 – strong work ethic. No manager can be truly successful if they ask more of others than they are willing to do themselves, or if they consistently delegate the most odious tasks to more junior staff.

The third cause of failure is an “expectation of pay for what they know instead of what they do with that which they know. The world does not pay men for that which they know. It pays them for what they do, or induce others to do”. This one brought a smile to my face, for I have met many managers and so-called leaders who expect remuneration and respect because they have been in a job for so many years, or they have an MBA or they know influential people. It’s not what you know or who you know – it’s what you actually do that counts!

The fourth cause of failure is “fear of competition from followers”. Hill goes on to state that “the leader who fears that one of his followers may take his position is practically sure to realize that fear sooner or later”. No leader can lead who is continually looking back over his or her shoulder to see who is gaining on them. Great leaders and managers encourage and nurture good people and enjoy working with them.

Someone once told me that you should never be indispensable – as a manager you should always make sure that one of your direct reports is capable and able of taking over from you at a moment’s notice. This means that you need to nurture them, train and mentor them, and trust them. This benefits not only them, but you, should a better opportunity open up.

The fifth cause of failure is lack of imagination. According to Hill “without imagination, the leader is incapable of meeting emergencies, and of creating plans by which to guide his followers efficiently”. Sadly to say, many Project Managers today seem to think that Project Management is a paint by numbers job – build a project plan and then everything will run along tickety-boo. It doesn’t, and it doesn’t help if the Project Manager cannot keep their head in a crisis, modify project plans, risks and issues on the fly, and quickly ascertain viable alternatives when the project is in crisis.

The sixth cause of failure is selfishness. Hill goes on to say “the leader who claims all the honour for the work of his followers is sure to be met by resentment. The really great leader claims none of the honours. He is contented to see the honours, when there are any, go to his followers, because he knows that most men will work harder for commendation and recognition than they will for money alone”. And funny how those managers who do “steal all the glory” are the self same ones who never accept responsibility or take the blame, even for the most minor of problems.

The seventh cause of failure, according to Hill, is intemperance. By intemperance, Hill refers to over indulgence in any pleasures, be they food, drink, drugs, gambling or sex. Hill believed that “followers do not respect an intemperate leader. Moreover, intemperance, in any of its various forms, destroys the endurance and the vitality of all who indulge in it”. Whilst this may seem somewhat quaint today, I think the point he was trying to make is that a great leader does not have time to over indulge in anything (the key being over indulge). A truly great leader always has his or her eyes on the prize!

The eight cause of failure is disloyalty. According to Hill, “the leader who is not loyal to his trust, and to his associates, those above him, and those below him, cannot long maintain his leadership”. A manager who does not trust and respect their team will find the going very tough if they need to call for extra effort from the team.

The ninth cause of failure is an emphasis on the “authority” of leadership. Here, Hill is referring to those leaders and managers who manage through fear and intimidation, rather than respect. Those “I am the boss and you’ll do what I say” types (and yes, they still exist). Hill goes on to say “the efficient leader leads by encouraging, and not by trying to instil fear in the hearts of his followers. … If a leader is a real leader, he will have no need to advertise that fact except by his conduct – his sympathy, understanding, fairness, and a demonstration that he knows his job”.

The tenth and final cause of failure is an emphasis on title. This touches on the subject of positional versus personal authority. A great leader or project manager has personal authority – if they were to be demoted to the lowest rank, they would still have the respect of their peers (and superiors) due to their personal authority. However, many managers rely on positional authority – such as a grand title (Executive Vice President or Corporate Change Manager) or the fact that they report directly to the Board of Directors. Remove them from that role and they are nothing! According to Hill “the competent leader requires no “title” to give him the respect of his followers. The man who makes too much over his title generally has little else to emphasize”.

As with the attributes of a successful leader, I don’t necessarily agree with all of Hill’s choices, but again – it is a very good list. You could do worse than to memorise these. In summary, then, the major causes of failure in leadership are:

  • Inability to organize details
  • Unwillingness to do that which you ask of others
  • Expectation of pay for what you know rather than what you do
  • Fear of competition
  • Lack of imagination
  • Selfishness
  • Intemperance, over indulgence
  • Disloyalty
  • Emphasis on the “authority” of leadership
  • Emphasis on title

Diane Ellis has been a Project and Program Manager for over 25 years, and has written a simple guide to project management called Project Management Made Easy. You can learn more about Diane and her new book, as well as sign up for a free course on Troubleshooting the Most Common Challenges Project Managers Face, at www.ManageThatProject.com.
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