The 4 Ways Leadership Development Will Help Your Business Accomplish Goals in 2017

 

Written September 12, 2016 

 

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Are people born leaders or are they made?

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I’ve been asked that question countless times in the past 15 years of running People Values. Having worked with thousands of business owners and leaders, I have an answer for you…

Here it is: “I don’t know and why does it really matter?”

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If your leaders are in their position because they own the company, were promoted from within or recruited then hired, whether they are a born or self-made leader doesn’t matter.

Here’s the only thing that matters: The people in the leadership roles in your organization need to be the most competent, motivated and productive people in your business.

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Your Leaders Set the Example in Your Company…

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If your leaders aren’t productive, how can you expect their employees to be?

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Your leaders need to lead by example. If they can’t show up for work on time every day, get along with others or accomplish the goals in their own position, you can’t expect their employees to do it either.

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If your business fell short of reaching productivity (& profitability) goals in 2014, don’t wait… start taking action today to make sure you don’t fall short again in 2015.

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The best way to start improving the performance of your team and business, is to start with improving the performance of your leaders.

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The 4 Ways Leadership Development Will Help You Accomplish Goals in 2015

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Once again, if you didn’t accomplish your goals in 2014, you need to make some changes this year. And the sooner the better.

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Think about it: Every day you wait to develop the team you need to become more productive and profitable, you’re business is getting further and further away from reaching its potential in 2015

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There are many things you can do to improve the performance of your team. Here are some of the things our clients have told us they are going to work on this year:

• Create written performance standards & policies

• Team building and motivational programs

• Initiate a performance review processes (or as we suggest, a “Performance Development Interview” process)

• Hire a business coach

• Develop incentive based pay programs

• Replace non producers

• & the list goes on and on…

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You can spend tens of thousands of dollars to do all these things, but none of them will have the positive effects of more effective leadership.

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Because at the end of the day, you still have a leader running these system or managing your people that doesn’t communicate well, or manage tasks well, etc.

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That’s why before you do anything this year, you need to make sure your managers have the skills required to accomplish the important goals you have set for 2015.

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The following are all benefits of an effective, professional Leadership Development Program… along with exactly how it will improve your business:

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1. Align Management

Many times, the problem is not that the manager is ineffective, it’s that they are not in alignment on their main objectives. They are working to accomplish the goals they thought were most important, but since the goals are not in writing or they have changed, their bosses have completely different goals in mind for the position.

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An effective Leadership Development Program will help managers prioritize which goals are most important to achieve and align your management team to accomplish these set goals.

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2. Know the Perceptions of Others

Most people perceive themselves differently than those around them (& especially those that work for them) do. If your team perceives that you don’t listen to them, or delegate effectively, or care about developing others, well… then you don’t. Here’s why: Perception is Reality.

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An effectively Leadership Development Program will help your managers understand how their bosses, peers and those that work for them perceive them compared to how they perceive their own performance.

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3. Assess Skills

The skills a manager needs are different than the skills needed for other positions. That’s why many times when a TOP Performer in a certain position is promoted into a management position, they fail.

 

But they don’t need to be demoted or continue failing, because sometimes all it takes for them to succeed is an assessment of their skills. The best way to assess skills is to see what others perceive as their strengths and weaknesses.

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There are 18 Universal Management Skills – an effective Leadership Development Program will assess a manager’s strengths and weaknesses in these unique skills required to lead and motivate others…

and most importantly provide a list of the skills they need to enhance to become more productive.

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4. Customized Action-Steps to Improve

The problem with most books or Leadership Development programs is they don’t create a customized Action Plan for the leader to improve. Your leaders are busy and if you have them take part in a leadership program that doesn’t give them a customized, step-by-step program to improve their skills, you’re just wasting your time, money and you can’t expect a more effective management team in 2015.

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An effectively Leadership Development Program will provide your managers a Self-Development Program to not only enhance the skills they need to improve their performance, but help them improve the things they are doing well to take their productivity to new heights.