Help your managers develop leadership skills
| Pages | 5-5 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/14754390480000568 |
| Date | 01 November 2004 |
| Published date | 01 November 2004 |
| Author | Joanna Knight |
| Subject Matter | HR & organizational behaviour |
5
Volume 4 Issue 1 November/December 2004
HOW TO…
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Practical advice for HR professionals
DEPARTMENTS AT A GLANCE
STRATEGIC COMMENTARY
,
e-HR
,
HOW TO…
,
PRACTITIONER PROFILE
METRICS
HR AT WORK
REWARDS
,
RESEARCH AND RESULTS
,
,
,
,
Help your managers develop
leadership skills
1
DEVELOP A
SENSE OF SELF-
AWARENESS
5
BALANCE
ADAPTABILITY
AND CONSISTENCY
4
AN ENVIRONMENT
THAT EMBRACES
CHALLENGE
3
BUILD THE ABILITY
TO INFLUENCE
OTHERS
2
To be an effective leader it’s
essential to develop an
innate sense of self-
awareness. People will
respond much more
positively to individuals who
engender respect – it’s
essential that leaders know
what they stand for and are
prepared to do to make that
happen.
360-degree feedback can
play an important role in
helping individuals heighten
their sense of awareness,
realize their strengths and
weaknesses and afford them
the opportunity to build and
develop a team around them
to move the business
forward.
To be an effective leader it’s
essential to develop strong
influencing skills. If a
manager works on the basis
that if they don’t comment
on people’s performance
then everything is fine, the
implication is that only
negative feedback will be
given. In this type of culture
people are unlikely to be
highly motivated or
understand how to achieve
peak performance.
Also, many leaders work in
complex environments where
they will need to influence
business partners beyond
their direct authority.
Executive coaching can be an
effective means of refining
influencing skills and
strategies.
It’s vital to create an
atmosphere in which people
feel they are treated as peers
rather than subordinates.
Someone that doesn’t like
challenge is unlikely to create
an environment in which
people are free to question
one another.Leaders must
learn to deal with potentially
difficult conversations
effectively to demonstrate
they are able to take on
leadership issues and resolve
them.
The paradox that leaders
must deal with is that
directness increases
confidence as people know
what the issues are and what
they need to do to address
them.
The balance between
adaptability and consistency
is key to gaining the respect
of employees and effective
leadership.The most
important consideration for
any business are the
outcomes it achieves and
thus a results-driven focus
must be maintained. The
development of the team
must correlate with a positive
increase in productivity.A
good leader will enable
employees to follow their
own path rather than dictate
a definitive route, as long as
the desired results are
achieved and core principles
adhered to.A true leader will
realize the potential of those
around him/her and in doing
so improve morale, drive
change and increase output.
W
hile all leaders have the
ability to manage, only a
small proportion of managers
have the necessary skills to become real
leaders. Strong leadership is essential to
ensure employee loyalty, high
performance and most significantly, to
take a company forward.
The presence of a number of core
skills is what bridges the gap between
managers acting predominantly to
maintain the status quo and leaders
that drive and affect change. Inevitably
a leader will have been a manager at
some stage in their development, but
the issue for many companies is that
the individuals leading their
organizations are still managers in all
but name.
Joanna Knight, director of Berkshire
Consultancy Limited, believes leadership
skills can be taught. Here, she outlines
five key skills that must be developed
before a manager can also be
characterized as a leader.
ENCOURAGE AN
APPRECIATION OF
OTHERS’ SKILLS
A good leader will recognize
the different skills that those
around them bring. Managers
that actively embrace
diversity and truly encourage
creative, idiosyncratic input
will move the employee
relationship on from one
characterized simply by a
transactional “you pay me,I
do my job” approach.
An employee that feels
valued is an employee that
will work harder.Employees
must be aware that their
strengths are recognized,
appreciated and developed
and weaknesses are being
monitored and addressed
rather than being ignored or
punished.
© Melcrum Publishing Ltd. 2004. For more information, go to www.melcrum.com or e-mail info@melcrum.com
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