The pressure is on many organisations across all sectors. Leadership is under the spotlight, needing to step-up, turn from external authority to internal authority; from command and control to empowerment and self-direction.
Effective leaders recognise that power and influence depends in part upon the breadth and quality of the relationships they forge, not on policies, procedures and job titles. Collaboration rather than competition, win/win rather than win/lose and sustainable progress over short-term profits and bonuses are all features of a new leadership paradigm.
The mechanistic model of organisations and individuals has taken almost 50 years to wither, though in some corners of the organisational world it hangs on, and we really must see the end of it if we are to properly motivate, guide and lead our organisations through the challenges in place now and for the foreseeable future.
Are the best leadership attributes learned or within us? Research suggests some, in fact numerous of the key leadership attributes can be learned, developed and deepened with conscious effort and support. Aspects such as understanding the big picture, articulating a clear vision, communicating extensively and with clarity, inspiring and mentoring others, encouraging innovation and creativity, trusting and delegating, introducing change and managing the process, and creating strong teams, are vital to good leaders. All of these aspects and more can be explored and potentially enhanced through executive coaching and leadership mentoring.
Coaching can help leaders raise their awareness of their talents and strengths in the key leadership competencies, to get more from those talents and provide an early warning if the behaviours that underpinned the leader's progress dip towards becoming what's known as derailment characteristics. Derailment often comes through over-confidence, a drop in emotional intelligence and reduced self-awareness.
Coaching helps leaders to develop adaptive behaviours, get back on line and reverse the derailment characteristics. It can be delivered face-to-face or by other media, when the leader needs it and with expertise, commitment, understanding and patience. An effective coaching style is one that makes a practical difference to the coachee, and at the moment, non-directive coaching is a style recommended widely as offering the client deep insights into their leadership practice and meaningful learning.
That's where The Open Channel can help you and those you lead. Distributed leadership requires support to be available to all of those leading, wherever they are in the organisation. In our large, complex service bodies, the space and time to support your leaders at all levels is severely restricted, and a little outside assistance can make all of the difference. Visit us and see for yourself how 'bite-sized,' low-cost support can be provided to your and your team leaders.
www.theopenchannel.co.uk
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