Managers and leaders are ultimately responsible for the results that they achieve through people, it is therefore essential that they understand the principles involved in raising the performance of their people and teams.
The formula in the above diagram that brings the essential components into focus and causes us to realise that if; expectations, ability or attitude are at zero then results will be too. Continue Reading »
In a previous blog on professional development, I shared that I had submitted my paperwork for the designation of Certified Speaking Professional (CSP); well I am proud to announce that my application was successful.
The Certified Speaking Professional (CSP) designation, conferred by the National Speakers Association (USA and Australia) and the International Federation for Professional Speakers, is the speaking profession’s international measure of professional platform skills. There are less than 600 CSP’s in the world and only 3 currently in Singapore.
If you are a meeting planner or planning a meeting, hiring a professional speaker who has achieved CSP means that you have insured that your event will be a success because the speaker has demonstrated competency in:
In addition the speaker has received excellent ratings from past clients on performance evaluations.
If you are a speaker or want to become a professional speaker I highly recommend that you join an IFFPS association, I am a member of the Asian Professional Speakers Singapore and you can read my blog post on presentation skills.
See you on the platform, Andrew Bryant CSP an expert who speaks on Self Leadership, Coaching and People Development.
When I speak about leadership at a conference or workshop, I often talk about my children, Tasha (3 1/2) and Nathan (22 months). This is for a couple of reasons, firstly and selfishly because I am a proud father, secondly because it builds rapport with the audience and thirdly and most importantly because they are good examples of leadership and influence principles. In this blog post I wanted to share 3 such leadership principles.
Every parent knows that children are great mimics, they watch you like a hawk and duplicate your behaviour. This can be amusing, as when Tasha first started painting her nails after watching my wife or Nathan picking up my tennis racket and saying, “like daddy.” The dark side of this modeling is when children mimic the aggressive behaviour of adults, which was demonstrated by Dr. Albert Bandura with the Bobo Doll experiment and is evidenced in war torn areas of the world where children carry weapons.
Adults to0 model behaviour which is why the leaders of any team or organisation must “walk the talk”, they must be the model for the behaviours they wish to see duplicated. Talk is cheap – action is real.
Both Tasha and Nathan like to clap themselves when they do something right and they both beam when Zurina and I give them praise. As a leadership consultant I know how important it is that I continue to praise even moderately good performance as research by Dr Ethna Reid shows that teachers who get the best results, validate regularly. Successful teachers also alternate between teaching and questioning (testing) for comprehension.
In leadership and management in a hectic paced world it is all too easy to criticise poor performance and to tell rather than ask. In our leadership for managers program, we emphasise and rehearse the arts of validation and asking good questions.
Children love stories and interpret our cultural moral code from those stories. Tasha knows who are the good princesses (coutesy of Disney) and who is the evil queen, Nathan is learning from Thomas the Tank Engine that when you break the rules you go off the rails, he even exclaims very loudly “oh no!” when this happens.
Effective leaders also tell stories that let their followers know what the vision and culture of the organisation is. These stories get retold and strongly influence the behaviour of the team or workforce. When I was teaching coaching skills at Singapore Airlines I noticed how they regularly used stories of exemplary customer service to validate and reinforce the behaviour of going the extra mile service (GEMS).
Perhaps you have other Leadership Principles you have learned from children – feel free to share.
A critical skill of self leadership is the ability to motivate yourself to do what is necessary for your success.
Motivation provides the energy and emotion for us to take action, but did you know that motivation has two directions?
Effective motivation occurs when we are mobilised to move away from what we don’t want and are strongly drawn to what we do want. Motivation is like a rocket with a strong propulsion system to escape gravity and a guidance system to direct it to the target. Continue Reading »
Listen to a Podcast on the the Power of Influence.
Have you ever wondered why some people get what they want and others don’t?
Can I make a suggestion?
Remember a time when you really wanted something; something you couldn’t have right away but something you would have to wait for, you pictured it in your head, you imagined what it would feel like to possess it and you could feel the pull.
Is their a difference between leadership and management? Can managers lead and can leaders manage?
These are perennial questions in the field of leadership development and the answers vary depending on who you talk to.
The concept of a leadership pipeline is that as we start supervising/managing we will be more transactional (performance management) and as we move up through the organisation we will become more transformational (visionary/inspiring). Continue Reading »
How often do you hear someone say, “I love my job?”
Our career coach, Jass Malaney says, this is rare.
Conversations at work are more likely to be along the lines of, “Thank God it’s Friday” or “When my lottery numbers come up I’m out of here”.
Confucius said, “Man who loves what he does, never does a day’s work in his life”.
Is it possible to love your Job? Do you know someone who does? Continue Reading »
Coaching is the “in” methodology for personal development, but what exactly is coaching?
Here are a few definitions:
Do you like to be managed? Or do you prefer to follow someone who knows where they are going and is interested in your development?
A large part of my work is in teaching managers the art of people leadership. People Leadership is getting the best from people by connecting their intrinsic motivators with the goals and vision of the organisation.
The good people leader understands that they must develop both performance and potential. Performance is usually a more tangible measurement in terms of output whereas potential (how ready is this person for increased reward and responsibility) is more challenging to judge. Continue Reading »
It is a common myth that everyone can be a leader. This is not true as many managers do not have the self leadership (self-awareness + authenticity) necessary for leadership; in a addition the manager must want to be a leader and many do not want to shoulder the responsibility that comes with it. Continue Reading »