I am training "Leadership, Team-Building & Coaching Skills" for Pryor Learning Solutions this month through January 2019. We explore coaching methods to meet the different needs of team members that maximize team effectiveness and balance individual strengths and weaknesses. Two main factors in analyzing team members are their skill level and attitude about their work.
A team member who is high in skills and low in attitude, like those anticipating retirement soon, is best coached by relating to them and what they have accomplished, encouraging them to do what they are passionate about to improve their attitude at work, such as training less-skilled teammates to impart their knowledge and create a legacy before retiring. Someone who is high in skills and attitude is best coached by empowering and mentoring them to develop themselves while also benefiting the team with more work output. A teammate who is new to the job will be low in skills and high in attitude, they grow their work knowledge through training and development from team members. Lastly, a team member who is low in skills and attitude needs counseling from the team leader to perform at the expected work level.
A team leader needs to be aware of where all of her team members are in skills and attitude at all times, as they can change and require alternate coaching methods in different situations. Effective team leadership is a dynamic practice, attend this class or contact me for consulting in your specific situations.
Leaders should switch their leadership styles to effectively lead in different situations. Research shows that there are four behavioral leadership styles* to choose from:
1 - Directive leadership provides guidance and structure for a team to complete complex tasks with unclear rules.
2 - Supportive leadership provides nurturing care for team members when doing repetitive and unchallenging tasks.
3 - Participative leadership involves the team to accomplish unclear and unstructured tasks.
4 - Achievement-Oriented leadership challenges team members to work through complex and challenging tasks.
How do you, as a leader, help your team members to define their personal, team and organizational goals and accomplish those goals? Directing, guiding and coaching actions based on leadership style should change to suit different work situations to accomplish work goals. Many leaders that I know stick with one preferred leadership style most of their professional career, when they could lead more effectively using the style that works best in the situation that they are faced with.
Please contact us for your leadership development needs and for guidance in more effective leadership style choices.
* From Leadership Theory and Practice by Peter G. Northouse on pages 121-122.
My doctoral program (DOL) asks me to think and write about my leadership style, strengths and effectiveness, to determine what makes me the authentic leader that I am. This requires practicing self-awareness and understanding my internal and external motivators -- components of emotional intelligence, according to Daniel Goleman's Harvard Business Review article, "What makes a leader," that I just read in HBR's 10 Must Reads on Leadership, 2011 (HBR-10).
Part of a recent DOL assignment required me to complete the CliftonStrengths survey online to identify my top five strengths as a leader, which are:
1 - I am an Activator who generates enthusiasm in people to transform ideas into tangibles
2 - I am Futuristic in my vision and self-direction, always planning for the future
3 - I thrive on Input, always craving to know more to broaden my knowledge
4 - I am a Strategic thinker who recognizes and communicates patterns in data and information, and
5 - I am an avid Learner who is always acquiring knowledge and challenging myself to understand different perspectives.
This survey suggested that, in the future, I should start a training or consulting business to help others learn -- which I have already done with Rogers Consulting LLC. After completing this survey, I realized that I am being an authentic leader -- true to my strengths, passion and values. I am using my internal and external motivators to do what I love and help others to realize the same leadership characteristics about themselves, as well as, to start working toward achieving their own authentic leadership. I am thankful to train for Pryor Learning Solutions to enable my authentic leadership and help others do the same!
