Great Leadership: All in how you think
February 20, 2012
Leadership development has been around for over 50 years. In fact, according to the American Society of Training and Development (ASTD) the business of training and development is a $350 Billion industry with estimates that half that number is devoted to leadership training. While large companies spend on average $2,000 per manager/leader small to mid-sized companies spend on average $900 $1,200 per manager/leader.
But spend is not the best indicator of whether your company can become a top performing company. When you dig deeper into the data on the 12 companies that have been on Fortune's 100 best companies to work for you'll find at the center of their success is having great leadership throughout the organization.
Intuitively, you'll be hard pressed to find anyone who disagrees with the idea that leadership matters. The problem is there are so many ideas on leadership development models that for small to mid-sized companies it's easier to recruit good leaders than figure out how to groom their own. Until now.
Most leadership development programs focus on skills and behaviors. Participants come back from these programs practicing new behaviors but it feels unnatural and looks contrived. What we've recently learned is this continually focusing on behavior just doesn't cut it. And that's why most CEO's are skeptical about these programs. These programs do some good but not enough to create great leaders. What we've known all along is great leaders think differently and therefore behaves differently.
A breakthrough is at hand
You see how you behavior is directly tied to how you think, access the situation at hand, judge and then make decision. If you can change your perspective on how you think then your behavior will naturally follow. Sounds logical? So the key is how to change one's thinking so that you can see, properly assess and act on the best options.
Our research led to a little known assessment profile called the Hartman Value Profile/Mind Scan and a significant body of research describing the key habits of successful leaders. The Hartman Value Profile actually maps how you use information, compare it to what you believe is valuable and would be a good outcome. It also maps what you're most likely to miss as a viable option and there reject what may be the better solution.
When we study great leaders they all have an expensive mindset and set of habits that consistently contribute to their success.
So what is the right mindset?
Great leaders have a growth mindset which means they're curious and open to exploring unconventional ideas. This skills prepares them to deal with uncertain and ambiguous situations which have become common place in the business world.
Great leaders value cultivating and nurturing trusting relationships. They are preoccupied with having clarity on defining success instead of how you get there. In fact, inspiring others to figure out the how creates excitement and inspires high performance within their teams.
Great leaders are comfortable with people who have different ideas, perspectives and even dissention. Great leaders know effectively utilizing the brain power of a talented group of people is the best way to find new solutions to difficult challenges. They don't see the debating of ideas as a bad thing.
Great leaders understand the position or title is not what creates great leaders. In fact, they spend their time nurturing and coaching others to use their leadership at wherever they are in an organization.
Great leaders know how to create a sense of belonging to something bigger for their followers. They effectively connect to others and create social connections that connect others.
Over the next weeks, we'll provide a more information on the research on keys to successful leaders. Contact Coach HR LLC to find out more about Leadership Built To Last or to invite Denise Cooper in to share this powerful new way of gaining a competitive edge by grooming leaders in a quick and cost effective way.
