7 Excellent Ways To Improve Your Leadership Skills!

Did you know that there are 7 really effective yetpowerful ways to improve your leadership learningopportunities?

If you have ever looked at using a leadership skillstraining program, you probably have run smack into one ormore of the following problems:

- leadership training will usually cost you some seriousmoney - in fact, some programs are outrageously expensive

- leadership training programs last for a very short time -quite a few of them run for only one or two days

- many leadership training programs fail to give you someway to support or help you meet your daily challenges

- less than 1% of all leadership training programs couplecoaching and mentoring follow-ups with classroom sessions

- most leadership training programs like to do 'raw datadumps'- the vast majority of them do NOT give you chances to'blend' your learning experiences with supervised practice

This article will help you to find, use and take advantageof every leadership skills learning opportunity youencounter - you will be able to employ your leadershipskills in highly effective, more creative and powerful ways.

Power Strategy - 1 -- Make sure you get clearly defined andsignificant returns on your training investment!

When you spend your money on training are you looking forentertainment, engagement or education?

I don't know about your priorities but I know that I demanda ton of convincing to invest in training of any sort.

I want to get much more from training than I put into it. Ofcourse, your training program certainly needs to containsome entertaining and even engaging aspects to it.

If you want the temporary benefits of watching an actionadventure movie or taking a walk in the park then go for it- but if you need to see your career prospects blossom andvibrantly grow stronger, your training investment mustdeliver more than a mere 100% payback [I suggest you lookfor programs that guarantee you returns of at least 300%].

Power Strategy - 2 -- Spend your money to make more money

Strategy 1 instructed you to seek guaranteed returns on yourinvestment. Of course, that does mean that you do need toinvest your money to get a return on it!

What am I saying? I am not telling you to spend all of yourmoney for leadership training, however I am advising you tomake wise investments of your money. So what does thatmean?

Wisdom says you need to look at every training program as acontinuing investment in both your current and futureperformance. So doesn't it make sense to you that you needto pay for training on a continuing basis?

Leadership training prices should be reasonable and based onyour desire to pay for those incremental benefits that youare likely to receive from your training program over aperiod of time.

Power Strategy - 3 -- See the long view of your trainingneeds

We already discussed the continuing nature of training. Doyou believe that learning is a lifelong exercise? If so, howdo you expect to learn anything of lasting value in just 1or 2 days?

Many leadership training programs feature these short termexposures to the complex job of leading others and yourself.I wonder how you are supposed to master the diverse arts,practices and processes of leadership in less than 12hours?

In those kinds of workshops and seminars, you are told thatyou will come away from the classroom with an in-depthunderstanding of 15 or 20 topics - yeah, sure you will!

By now, it should be obvious to you that the most effectiveleadership training requires LONG-TERM continuous, committedand caring support, follow-ups and assessments from yourtraining provider.

Power Strategy - 4 -- Get the most that you can from everytraining day!

I can hear you talking to yourself - you're thinking thatyou only need to get the most out of everyday youparticipate in a training class, aren't you?

Since you have spent your money on a training class, youwould be foolish not to get the most from that investment.

However, I would like you to consider the fact that everydaythat you're alive is a day for learning, practicing andmastering new skills, knowledge and principles.

If you maintain a daily diary or journal, you should striveto write down your learning-oriented accomplishments. Youwould enter the principle, skill, knowledge [applicable,relevant and practical information you found - not just merefacts and figures but useful, valuable and profit-producingknow-how].

Power Strategy - 5 -- Be open to being helped

Many times, people in leadership training hold the mistakenbelief that only their teachers know how to help them learnleadership skills and principles.

If someone wants to weave you an elaborate tale of how onlyother leaders can show you the 'ropes' or that only thosebuttoned-down, up-and-coming junior executive-types can showyou how to charge into the fray and take no prisoners thenyou're in for a surprise.

Not everyone who has gone before you knows how to lead orknows what they're doing in this new age of knowledge - soyou can forget all those myths and nursery stories rightnow!

When you break free from assumptions like those mentionedabove, you will see how people operating in various walks oflife and those working in different professions or sectorsof the economy from yours can and will add rich, colorfultextures to your tapestry of leadership.

Helpers of all sorts can contribute to your understanding oftheir cultures, operational paradigms and traditionalpractices - these people can be found all around you.

How can your peers, subordinates and non-leaders empoweryour leadership development? It's your task to learn how.

Power Strategy - 6 -- Reach out and grab a basketful ofsupport

The journey towards leadership maturity may begin with asingle step but you'll need a thousand other things to carryyou along your way.

Your leadership adventure will have to be fueled bysustenance of many kinds:

- A written record of your challenges and encounters willhelp you stay focused and encouraged

- Interactions and exchanges with your fellow travellerswill maintain your sanity and stability

- Confessional and consultative sessions with your adviserswill strengthen your resolve and faith

- Daily inspirational readings and pep-talks will energizeyou and feed your soul

- Meditations and prayers will uplift your spirit and enableyour inner being to soar with wings of eagles

Power Strategy - 7 -- Get your acting cues from the director

In essence, a coach is similar to the director of a motionpicture - coaches prompt, instruct, direct and intenselyencourage us to move towards our goals.

You have a better chance of becoming the leader you weredestined to be with a coach working alongside of you. Ofcourse you still need a structured course of learning andteachers who will help increase your knowledge and tutoryou.

A coach will instill a sense of accountability in you, yourcoach will keep the bar raised so that you become accustomedto striving for the highest possible performance.

In your development as a leader, your coach will beinstrumental in helping you examine yourself candidly andrigorously. After a time, you will come to see your coach asthe person who showed you the meaning of reaching for theprize.

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Most successful leaders agree that these kinds of approachesto leadership development work precisely because they becameworld-class leaders through using techniques, tools andresources like the ones you just read about.

Change management expert, Holger Nauheimer, explains how ourdynamically-charged, ever-shifting, global-landscape, callsfor a new spirit of development, "in which individuals, themembers of organizations, experience self-determination andpersonal growth - and participate in creating a world aroundthem to which they want to belong."

Recently reported results in the Wharton School's LeadershipDigest, of a comprehensive study of leadership failures,the following recommendations were given to help promisingleaders avoid potential pitfalls: it suggested that, they

- "should create development plans and opportunities forpromising internal candidates;

- should reflect carefully on their own experiences and,throughout the course of their careers, seek outopportunities to develop their context skills;

- determine the level of support they'll need from theirpredecessor, and perform an intense self-assessment todetermine what other organizational support they will need"

- Experienced firefighter, Lynn Biddison, says the numberone priority for new leaders is: "Establish a rigoroustraining plan for [yourself and] your people"

The last but most important "Power Strategy" I will sharewith you is this -

Be sure to increase the richness, texture, luster, power andscope, depth, capacity, value-added, quality and competencies of your leadership development experiences on adaily basis!

Seek and find only those training programs that can help youfulfill the objectives of these Power Strategies and youwill make laudable, noteworthy and legendary contributionsto your community, organization and our world.

Mustard Seed Investments Inc.Copyright © 2004-2005, All rights reserved

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Bill Thomas publishes "The Leadership Toolkit" - an affordable, all-in-one, interactive, self-paced training program - it will energize your leadership skills, boost your creativity and transform you into a persuasive, empowering leader. Inspire Confidence, Be Creative, Elevate Your Influence - Get "All the Tools You Need To Lead!"