MBC, Inc. Newsletter Topics on “Leadership”
As Inspired by “The Leadership Secrets of Colin Powell”
By – *Oren Harari
“Why Bother to Develop Leaders”
In General, Powell’s Terms “Leadership is the ability to accomplish more than the science of management says is possible.”
What do you think the General means by the statement above? When you have given a little thought to the statement, you realize, leadership is about; organizational freedom, personal freedom, it’s about personal and organizational growth. Growth in character, confidence, vision, and all the other attributes I have written about over the past few months.
As was discussed a few months ago, leadership is always about the future, even while you are taking lessons from the past. What we haven’t discussed is;
Leadership takes Leadership!
What do I mean by the statement, “Leadership takes Leadership”? First, we need a couple additional pieces of information to consider.
If you are considering leadership development training for your business or organization there are two things to take from the newsletters from the past few months.
One, the topics are only presented in the newsletters, not taught, defined, acted upon, or developed to fit your situation or culture. Neither are they documented at the individual level to bring a personal approach to implementation or use of each attribute.
Two, the sixteen attributes are not supported by your organizational leadership team. This second statement is what I wish to address in this week’s publication.
Leadership takes leadership, in my definition; Top Leadership team must demonstrate support of the leadership development process. They can do this in a couple of ways that prove to be effective. The first thing that must happen is providing leadership training that will allow a comprehensive development of the individual, for each attribute, in a way that is unique to your personal perspective and organizational culture.
The approach at Martin Business Consulting is to present the information about each attribute then allow the participants to work in small teams and write their personal definition of the attribute, how they will personally develop that attribute and how that process will benefit the organization, their subordinates, peers and their leaders. When each student has documented those methods, they have a starting point to continue the development of each attribute. This development will take place over time and will evolve as the organization grows and the internal culture improves.
This approach brings ownership to the individual what I refer to as: “You-Built-It-You-Own-It” now the individual has ownership to MAKE IT WORK!
The second thing is for the organization to provide the atmosphere that allows this continual growth of the individual as well as the development of the organization or business.
How do you do that?
There are probably several methods. One of the most effective I have seen developed over time is the “Leadership Development Luncheon”.
On a scheduled basis (Perhaps once per month), Top Management or Top Leadership schedules a lunch meeting that includes many of the middle level managers and a few (alternate these) first level leaders or as some would call them the first level managers.
At this luncheon, that should last only one to one and one-half hours, have one person prepare a brief presentation of one of the sixteen attributes (perhaps 10 to 12 minutes). Have this person present this to the entire Middle and Top Level Leaders. When the presentation is over another member should lead a discussion of this attribute.
The discussion should cover;
- How is the attribute being developed within the organization?
- How effective is that development?
- What can be done by the organization to improve on this attribute?
The person selected to facilitate this portion MUST ensure that every person in the room participates in this discussion. Whether you open this for general discussion, have a “round-table” format or call on people individually to give their thoughts, ideas and proposals. Full participation can be very important, even critical. This meeting held on a regular basis demonstrates to the organization the importance placed on Leadership Development by Top Management.
Work this process through all sixteen attributes, this would take about sixteen months, by then it is time to start over and continue this activity. This cycle upon cycle of discussion, self-development, personal evolution and the general learning atmosphere has the ability to add greatly to the “Team Growth” of the organization. Bringing everyone closer together as a team, assist Top Management in understanding where talent lies, who needs assistance, and may provide measureable performance as to the effectiveness of your leadership team and the growth and improvement of your leadership team.
Good luck and we will continue to discuss the “Use” of the tools over the next few months.
If you have not received a copy of my CD that has a free audio report about the presentation of leadership training, please contact me (contact info below) and I will send you a copy. This CD is about seventeen minutes in length and describes in more detail an effective approach to the development of your organization’s talents.
Good Luck and Good Leaders
There are three books I recommend as reading to everyone that is interested in understanding the principles of leadership.
- The Leadership Secrets of Colin Powell by *Oren Harari
- The Powel Principles by *Oren Harari
- It Worked For Me – In Life and Leadership by “Colin Powell”
Please talk with your peers and see if they would benefit from this series. If you think they may, please send them to the web site www.mbcincorp.com they may download the free white paper and be automatically signed up to receive all future leadership articles and quality tips.
Thanks to All
Bill Martin – President
931-637-1446
MBC, Inc.
