Leader 2 Leadership

List or Option freaks, how to deal with both

2005-10-10T23:36:00.000+10:00

Leader 2 Leadership - Myers-Briggs: "Two staff, one inflexible about lists and one never finishes. - a key point of difference

Does this ring a bell with you? Myers Briggs is a complex theory about preferences of the individual. "

Leader 2 Leadership - Emotional Intelligence

2005-09-22T23:27:00.000+10:00

Leader 2 Leadership - Emotional Intelligence: "Is emotional Intelligence just about being a people person?
There are so many successful leaders with so many different styles, how can they all be right? Is there a common thread that helps make these people great leaders?

I have been looking around me at work and there are a number of people with attributes I admire, but it was not till I read the article that I realised the common attribute. These people all showed what Goleman refers to as emotional intelligence."

Leader 2 Leadership - How to make the correct leadership decisions, fast, every time

2005-08-29T21:31:00.000+10:00

Leader 2 Leadership - The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: "How to make the correct leadership decisions, fast, every time".
Start with the end in mind - it's not as easy as it sounds.

The second of Covey's habits of highly effective people is called 'Start with the end in mind'

Seeing the heading, I instantly understood what this meant. 'Know your target'. In the few pages I flicked through, before reading the chapter, I saw discussions of visualisation and mission statements. I fully expected it to be an easy read, in the belief I at least, had this one all worked out.

How wrong could I be?"

Leader 2 Leadership - Situational Leadership

2005-06-27T23:53:00.000+10:00

Leader 2 Leadership - Situational Leadership: "The three other ways to be a successful coach:

Until I found out about this, I generally coached everyone the same. Only in about one out of four cases it seemed to work. Thats because there are three other ways of coaching that I simply did not know about."

Leader 2 Leadership - The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

2005-06-25T23:29:00.000+10:00

Leader 2 Leadership - The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: "Yes, I'm concerned but what can I do about it?
*Covey's 1st Habit - Be Proactive (part 2)
The second main component of the first habit is around what Covey calls the 'circle of influence'. While this is quite a basic concept, it probably will have the biggest influence on your behaviour as it did mine. "

Act online training software - Act Secrets

2005-06-18T10:55:00.000+10:00

Act online training software - Act Secrets: "Managing Client Relationships for the small to medium size business: Act Software
Client Relationship Management is a very difficult function to perform for most small businesses. Often the procedures that exist worked well in the beginning, but with all the other more tangible needs demanding time, little focus is put to the increasing demands of CRM.
Act Software is designed for the small to medium business. Priced for up to 50 users it is the key CRM tool for many businesses world wide. I am very impressed with this software but I was struggling with remembering all the functions and really getting the most value out of the tool. I bought all the books and tried to use the online help but in the end I required a consultant's help. This is where I met the designer of a fantastic tool.

I like being shown how to do things and act6secrets does just that, when I want and when I need it. For the cost of just a few consultants' visits and the convenience of when I want it, I am a constant user of Act6secrets to ensure I get the best out my investment in this great CRM tool. When I have major events, I often have temp staff help me. No matter their experience with Act, with just 15 minutes using Act6secrets they are able to start doing productive work. I could not ask for anything more. I highly recommend this tool.

I have seen user courses for Act that cost four times as much and you walk away with only a memory! If you already have Act software running you may be struggling with some of the advanced features or training up new users. Captured live has an affordable solution. Online training, when you need it.

Procedures around CRM help to ensure the natural skill of one individual can be spread amongst other staff members, taking both the pressure off and the risk away from one individual. Some basic procedures will help ens"

Leader 2 Leadership - Leadership Style

2005-06-17T21:54:00.000+10:00

Leader 2 Leadership - Leadership Style
Leadership style is a matter of choice and personal preference. Here are some key books and links.

Leader 2 Leadership - Resources - the best leadership books

2005-06-17T20:27:00.000+10:00

Leader 2 Leadership - Resources - the best leadership books: "Best Leadership Books
These are some of the best leadership books that I have come across.
I will continue to add others as time goes by."
There are also piles of links to some great Leadership resource sites!!

Leader 2 Leadership - Leadership Quote

2005-06-17T20:25:00.000+10:00

Leader 2 Leadership - Leadership Quote
There is nothing like some good Leadership quotes to make your point or to use as a trigger to help you focus your efforts.

Leader 2 Leadership - Educational Leadership

2005-06-17T20:23:00.000+10:00

Leader 2 Leadership - Educational Leadership
I am collecting links and respources related to educational leadership. Go to this link for continually updating books and links.
Cheers
Stev

Leader 2 Leadership - Leadership Skill

2005-06-13T18:42:00.000+10:00

Leader 2 Leadership - Leadership Skill: "Books on Leadership Skill as well as piles of links. You nned to dig around to find what is going to help you fill the gaps you feel you have in Leadership Skill "

Leader 2 Leadership - Leadership training

2005-06-13T18:41:00.000+10:00

Leader 2 Leadership - Leadership training: "Books on Leadership Training and piles of links. There is lots available through the net, so you are not reliant on where you live."

Leader 2 Leadership - The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People Habit 1

2005-06-13T18:36:00.000+10:00

Leader 2 Leadership - The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: "Now when I first heard this I thought this basically meant 'do stuff'. Proactive people to me were people who simply did things rather than sit and watch, they took the initiative. So to me this was going to be an easy one, and being the first I thought it should be.
WRONG!"

Leadership Quality

2005-06-01T22:35:00.000+10:00

people have been mailing me about aspects leadreship quality. So true to form I have started to collect together all the resources I can find on Leadership Quality:

http://2leadership.com/res_leadership_quality.htm

Cheers
Steve

Leadership Styles

2005-05-31T19:23:00.000+10:00

Every leader has their style.

Vital to you being sufficiently selfaware is knowing and understanding both your own and the leadership styles of those around you.

Here is my collection point of resources specifically looking at Leadership Styles.

Leadership Styles

cheers

steve

Leadership Seminars

2005-05-31T19:19:00.000+10:00

For those of us who want to hear it from another the Leadership Seminar is the way to go. There are even internet products that enable that seminar feel in your own home. Here I have collected stuff aboyt Leadership Seminars.

Leadership Seminars

cheers

Steve

Leadership Quotes

2005-05-31T19:17:00.000+10:00

Leadership books are full of quotes. There is also a pile of quotes on the internet. Here I have collected these in one place all about Quotes.
http://2leadership.com/Res_LeadershipQuotes.htm

cheers

Steve

Leadership Development

2005-05-29T21:06:00.000+10:00

Hi
Here are a lot of articles and links about the development of Leadership programs. There is lots here so take your time. Many of these links are training courses targetting specific types of ledership.

Cheers
Steve Wright

Educational Leadership

2005-05-29T20:55:00.000+10:00

Hi
For those of you writing to me about educational leadership. I have collected together resources on the topic.

This topic is all about improving the quality of education. Articles about the philosophy from journals and magazines.

Teaching styles and classroom culture.

Cheers
Steve Wright

Women in Leadership

2005-05-28T23:38:00.000+10:00

I have collected together a pile of links relating to Women in leadership.
People have been asking about specific Women in Leadership roles information. While I cannot really provide much I thought collecting these resources would add to the bredth of the Leader 2 leadership site.

Cheers
Steve.

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People - intro

2005-05-22T23:45:00.000+10:00

I have decided to start with this text as simply far too many people have said to me I should - it clearly has an enormous following of people who found the message rang true for them.

In the introduction Covey talks about how we perceive reality based on certain beliefs or paradigm.

As an example, he tells the story of a ship in a fog, apparently on a collision course with another craft. The captain, having become quite agitated at the other crafts refusal to alter course, experienced a significant paradigm shift when it was realised that the other craft was a lighthouse. The captain then faced a situation in a new light(no pun intended). His reality and behaviour altered by the new understanding. The message is that often we forget that what we think is reality, is only what we see. Just ask any magician!!

A strong thread through this first section is that people don't do things to you. They are acting on their reality in the same way as you are seeing motives behind their actions based on what you can see. When the feeling of being "done to" rises we too often look to blame something external. What Covey is saying, is that only by understanding the perceived reality of the do'er, can we find the common reality necessary to both appreciate the true middle ground.

This is not easy. When I have been in the position where I was sure someone was doing something just to get back at me, I struggle to even consider their position in any unfiltered light. I have needed someone I trust to take me aside and say "Listen Steve, no matter what you think, this person is doing this because they truly believe it for the good of the group". This was something I would not even had heard from the person in question, and frankly was not that easy to hear from my then trusted coach. Covey has a great quote "What you are shouts so loudly in my ears I cannot her what you say" -how many times has that been the case?

He speaks of an "inside-out" approach to problems, that means to start with ourselves and what’s happening on the inside. As an example this approach says that private victories precede public ones, that keeping promises to ourselves precedes keeping promises to others.
"Character is a composite of our habits"
"habits are the intersection of Knowledge, Skill and Desire."
These statements under pin the rest of the book.

Covey talks about three levels of maturity. Dependence where everything is about "you"(someone else) that we are dependent upon. Independence, where its all about I - I am responsible and I can do it. This is where I feel many leaders stop. With the confidence of only themselves they try to drive others to their dreams.

Interdependence is where its all about we. Being a natural introvert, this is something I have to learn. I am far more comfortable doing my stuff on my own. The thought of having to rely on others for part of my dreams does not feel natural. That may be a bit harsh, in fact there are a few individuals I have worked with where is has not been an issue of leadership, more of partnership. My issue is to expand these to a wider number of people.

Covey talks about how interdependence can feel like dependence and therefore not a step forward. Often phrased as "doing their own thing" or being liberated people move back from potential interdependence to independence.

The rest of the book is divided into three main parts. The first three chapters deal with taking people from dependence to independence. Now if you are like me, you think this is a step you have already taken. This maybe so, but these chapters are going to heighten our self awareness and cement us at or above the level of independence. Covey describes these as "Private Victories".

Habits four to seven are the "Public Victories" that will move us from independence to interdependence, and the last habit is about continuous improvement.

Covey then talks about efficiency as the necessary balance between return and investment. Or as he calls it Production and production Capacity (P/PC). An interesting quote here for me was "..always treat your employees as you would have them treat your best customers." He speaks of how you can employ people but the extra special part of the individual has to be won, passionate employees are there for more than the money, is the way I see it. This is where the interdependence and trusting those you work with all starts to come together.

The final message of the introduction is:

"No one can persuade another to change. Each of us guards a gate of change that can only be opened from the inside".

For me this is a moment of commitment. I feel that I have a choice here and now. I can leave the gate closed and go on as before, or open it and dive into the rest of this text "..and see how deep the rabbit hole goes" as Morpheus said.

Be brave, be famous.

Cheers Steve

PS: I strongly advise getting your hands on a copy of this. Here are some links:

The book

The Audio CD

Every copy others have shown me have clearly been heavily used!!

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

2005-05-18T13:28:00.000+10:00

I am starting with this book as people have told me its an excellent text in the area of self awareness, and a good basis for any great leader. While I am reviewing the book in detail, I am only speaking to parts that rang bells for me. There is clearly a lot more to the text that I will only grasp after a second and third read.

I have been told by many people I respect as exceptional leaders, that this should be part of any successful leaders personal library.

I strongly advise getting your hands on a copy of this. Here are some links:

The book

The Audio CD

Every copy others have shown me have clearly been heavily used!!

Cheers
Steve

This is going to be big...

2005-05-04T14:48:00.000+10:00

Hi
I now have the domain http://www.2leadership.com up and running. It points to a central site where I am going to collect the full text versions of the articles, along with a pile of useful stuff for us Accidental Leaders.

The curriculum is building up with focus on aspects such as leadership style, vision, behaviour as well as aspects of EQ and self awareness. I am pulling stuff from all over the place for this so stay tuned...

cheers
Steve

The Accidental Leader

2005-04-29T20:25:00.000+10:00

Here we are. Welcome aboard day 1.

First I would like to look at where we are starting.
After a number of years in our respective jobs we have, through no real effort on our parts, picked up some leadership responsibilities. It may be just a few staff, or it maybe a significant group of say 40 people. Either way, we seem to have ended up with responsibilities that all our training never really equiped us for. Sure, we may be great developers, graphic designers, firemen or mechanics, and this may be why we are now leading a group of these people, but it sure as hell does not mean we are any good at it.
Now is the time to act. Like it or not, we have another job now that is a lot harder, that we have not trained for. You might have done courses of even a few weeks duration, but leadership does not come out of courseware. It comes from an awareness and belief in yourself and I am told, a lot of guts.
I need to learn this as much as you do, possibly more.

The Plan!
The plan is to run this for a year starting about mid June 2005. Each month I will focus on an aspect that I am currently discovering about leadership, give references and tell stories. Lets all add our comments and share our experiences. Think of this as an online group experience.

As a start, feel free to add in here some ideas of broad areas that you would like covered. Over the next month I am going to plan out the content for the first four to six months.

I don't know where this is going to end, but please come along for the ride, what can we loose.

cheers for now.
Steve