Developing Leadership Skills

1. Developing Leadership Skills Session 12 07 January 2012 Civil Service College Dhaka Presentation by Dr. Muhammad G. Sarwar Email: sarwar_mg@yahoo.com Cell: 01821443741

2. Leadership: Course Outline

3. 4 Primary Process in Managing

4. Taxonomy of Leadership Skill

5. Skills needed at different levels High CS IS skr TS Low LL Top

6. Contents of 11th Session: change in organization and role of executives • Change process in Organizations • Influencing Organization Culture • Implementing Change • How Leaders Influence Organizational Performance ? • Constraints on Executives • Conditions Affecting the Need for Strategic Leadership • Key Responsibilities for Top Executives

7. Contents of 12 Session: Developing Leadership Skills • Leadership Development Process • A System Perspective on Leadership Development • Formal Training Programs • Developmental Activities/On the Job Training • Self-Help Activities/Self Development • Facilitating Conditions for Leadership Development

8. Leadership Development Process • In a fast changing economic environment leadership development has been getting increasing importance. • Leadership development is a multibillion dollar business in the capitalist world. • Leadership development can be developed mainly in following 3 ways: • Formal training Programs • Developmental activities/On the job Experience • Self-help activities/Self development

9. A System Perspective on Leadership

10. Formal Training Programs • Formal leadership training could take many forms- short course (workshop) to long program (Executive MBA). • Designing effective leadership training: • Clear learning objectives • Clear meaningful content • Appropriate sequencing of content • Appropriate mix of training methods • Opportunity for active practice • Timely feedback • Trainee self-confidence • Appropriate follow-up activities

11. Special Techniques for Leadership Training • Three techniques widely used in leadership training are: • Behavior Role Modeling based on demonstration and role playing to enhance interpersonal skills. • Case Discussion are used to practice analytical and decision making skills based on events in an organization. • Business Games and Computer Simulations are used to analyze complex management problems and to make decisions based on quantitative financial information.

12. Learning from Experience/On the Job Experience • Much of the skill essential for effective leadership is learned from experience rather than from formal training programs. • Much of learning from experience depends on: • Amount of challenge in the job assignments, • Variety of tasks or assignments, and • Quality of feedback.

13. Developmental / On the Job Activities/Experience • Following developmental activities can be used to facilitate learning of relevant skills from on the job experience: • Multi-source feedback • Developmental assessment • Special assignments • Job rotation • Action learning • Mentoring • Executive coaching • Outdoor challenge programs • Personal Growth programs

14. Multi-Source Feedback

15. Self-Help Activities /Self Development • Techniques of self-help leadership development are: • Develop a personal vision of career objectives • Seek appropriate mentors • Seek challenging assignments • Improve self-monitoring • Seek relevant feedback • Learn from mistakes • Learn to view events from multiple perspectives • Be skeptical of easy answers.

16. Facilitating Conditions for Leadership Development • Support by the Boss: immediate boss can facilitate development of leadership skills in subordinates. • Learning Climate: amount of management training and development occurs in an organization depends on learning climate in the organization. • Criteria for Placement Decisions: Job assignment criteria should be based on adequate developmental opportunities and a logical progression of learning.

17. Ways to support Leadership Trainings of Subordinates • Before the Training • Inform about opportunities to get training • Explain why the training is important and beneficial • Ask others who received training to explain how it was useful • Change the work schedule to make it easier to attend training • Give a subordinate time off if necessary to prepare for the training • Support preparation activities such as distribution of questionnaires • Tell subordinates they will be asked to report on what was learned.

18. Ways to support Leadership Trainings of Subordinates • After the Training • Meet with the person to discuss what was learned and how it can be used • Jointly set specific objectives and action plans to use what was learned. • Make assignments that require use of newly learned skills • Hold periodic review sessions to monitor progress in applying learning • Praise subordinate for applying new skills • Provide encouragement and coaching when difficulties are encountered • Set an example for trainees by using the skills yourself.

19. Creating/Maintaining a Supporting climate for Learning • Make job assignments that allow to pursue interests and learn new skills • Establish work schedules that allow enough free time to experiment with new methods • Provide financial support for continuing education by employees • Arrange special speakers and skills workshops for employees • Establish a sabbatical program to allow employees to renew themselves • Establish a career counseling program to help employees in their career plans • Establish voluntary skill assessment and feedback programs • Make pay increases partly dependent on skill development • Provide rewards for innovations and improvements.

20. Limitations of Leadership Development • Most of the theories of leadership development are focused on improving the skills and behavior of individuals, that is emphasis on leader development rather then leadership development which is a shared process that involves the cooperative efforts of many people. • Little integration of leadership training and on the job experience and self-development in most organizations • The lack of system perspective in leadership development as in most organizations it is not based on strategic objectives.

21. References • Gary Yukl, 2011, Leadership in Organizations, 7th edition, Pearson, chapter 14 • Peter G. Northhouse, 2010, Leadership: Theory and Practice, 5th edition, Sage publication • Robert N. Lussier and Christopher F. Achua, 2007, Effective Leadership, 3rd edition, Cengage Learning.

22. Thanks