Developing the skills that matter.
A lot is written about transformational leadership but what does it really mean.
Much of the written material talks about embracing change, being accountable and inspirational to the team, having the skill to develop real team engagement and of course the old favourite, the ability to think out of the box.
While many of these ideas are good, they often become a tick list, or even worse a concept that is talked about with no real behavioural change.
So, in day-to-day practice what can leaders and managers actually do to improve their skill set and step into the transformational leadership space.
My experience in training and coaching leaders tells me the very first skill and knowledge the leaders and managers need to master is coaching, the skill of using coaching as a management and leadership methodology.
The coaching tool box gives managers and leaders a powerful way of working and motivating teams and individuals, the skill is asking questions that empower and encourage team growth and self reliance.
I have seen this in practice time and time again, in organisations both small and large, in fact when asked “what is the one professional development outcome I ought to focus on?” I always say, “get yourself some good coaching knowledge and skills”.
Not one of the leaders of senior managers I work with has ever reported back that my suggestion was wrong, they ALWAYS thanks me for this guidance and give me examples of how the coaching skills have improved their leadership and management and over all performance of their teams.
