Training Industry Quarterly - Summer 2012 - (Page 13)

LeADershIP 2.0 | ken BLanChard and SCoTT BLanChard R where are you on your leadership Journey? ick Warren offered some great advice to leaders when he began his mega-selling book, The Purpose Driven Life, with the words “It’s not about you.” For leaders charged with getting work done through the efforts of others, it’s important to remember that, after strategic direction and goal-setting have been set, your role is to serve your people and provide them with an environment that will enable them to perform at their best. It’s not about you. On the other hand, leadership is all about you, because it’s an inside-out proposition. How you lead on the outside is a direct reflection of who you are on the inside. So where are you at on your leadership journey? There are many steps along the way. Here are three milestones and some questions to ask yourself to evaluate where you currently stand. understanding Yourself A lot of leaders don’t understand why some people like them and want to work with them while others dislike them and want to avoid them. They have no real concept of their own positive and negative qualities. The best leaders have a profound understanding of themselves. They understand their strengths and how to leverage them. They also know how to minimize their weaker qualities, which may be liabilities. Successful leaders recognize that while they can’t fundamentally change who they are, they can understand and manage their own choices and actions. How well do you understand yourself? If you want to adopt the best practices of great leaders, continually assess your effectiveness with others. Gather feedback and modify your behavior in a way that serves your team and helps them succeed. Building relationships A study conducted years ago by Lucent Technologies sought to identify the characteristics that contributed to a person’s success over the course of a career. Many factors were considered, including character, intelligence, tenacity, ethics, hard work and ingenuity. After analyzing all the data, researchers found that the greatest contributor to an individual’s success was his or her ability to build and leverage a network of long-lasting, meaningful relationships. More than any other characteristic, it was relationship building that opened the path to influence and success. How would you assess yourself in this second key area? Producing results Leadership is about getting things done — and most often that means getting things done with the help of others. To overcome obstacles and achieve optimal outcomes, leaders must create the best possible environment for their people while simultaneously balancing the need of the organization to achieve results. Great leaders understand that both people and results are important. Maintaining true integrity with people while addressing the multiple needs of the organization and its various stakeholders is challenging. The best CEOs are masters at this. They have happy shareholders, engaged employees and loyal customers. The best leaders hold these three objectives in a dynamic tension. How are you at balancing these three essential priorities? It’s a journey As a leader, you have to build self-awareness, maintain positive relationships, and at the same time, get things done. A daunting challenge, to be sure, but professional growth is a lifelong journey and can start from where you are today. Don’t expect to get it right overnight, or to have everything under control at all times. Sometimes it can seem as if the more you learn, the more you realize how much you still don’t know. Don’t let that stop you from taking action. Take some small steps today to master these three vital skills. Observe your strengths and weaknesses. Make a point of investing in new work relationships. Practice maintaining a both/ and mentality toward people and results instead of an either/or approach. You’ll be growing personally and professionally — and you’ll be leading at a higher level. Scott Blanchard is the co-founder of Blanchard Certified. Ken Blanchard is the best-selling co-author of The One Minute Manager and 50 other books on leadership. You can follow Ken Blanchard on Twitter @KenBlanchard or @LeaderChat and also via the HowWeLead and LeaderChat blogs. Email Scott and Ken. 13 relationship building opens the path to inFluence and success Training Industry Quarterly, Summer 2012 / A Training Industry, Inc. ezine / www.trainingindustry.com/TIQ http://www.blanchardcertified.com/Home.aspx http://www.twitter.com/leaderchat http://www.twitter.com/kenblanchard http://www.howwelead.org/ http://www.leaderchat.org/ http://www.trainingindustry.com/TIQ

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Training Industry Quarterly - Summer 2012

Training Industry Quarterly - Summer 2012
From Where I Sit: The Leadership Perspective
Table of Contents
Ad Index
Guest Editor: Recipe for Leadership Development Success
The Real Power of e-Learning is Social
Too Big to Know … Too Much to Train?
Where Are You on Your Leadership Journey?
Ideal Behaviors for Building Innovation
Going Local: Six Ways to Keep Leadership Development Alive
Building Your Leadership Brand
How Simulations Develop Leaders
Organizational Burnout: How Training Can Help
Increasing Leadership Performance with Emotional Intelligence
Casebook: General Mills: Leaders Teaching Leaders
Tracking Trends: First Step in Leadership Development Training
Tweet Suite
Company News
Closing Arguments: Nature versus Nurture

Training Industry Quarterly - Summer 2012