In our recent blog on How To Be a Better Leader in Three Minutes, we investigated the importance of top-to-bottom training, giving your people time, communicating well and setting your own expectations – vital areas of leadership.
However, there’s a bigger picture here, because your leadership style and the type of leader you are impacts employee motivation, effectiveness and productivity.
The hunger for leadership learning is there – ‘90% of CEOs are already planning to increase investment in leadership development because they see it as the single most important human-capital issue their organisations face (McKinsey)’.
| Many trainers are getting it wrong
One of the first things addressed in The Icehouse Leadership Development Programme (LDP) is understanding leadership style and preferences and how that can drive business growth.
It’s a vital area that’s often overlooked by the majority of leadership training courses – not surprising then that 75% of organisations rate their own internal leadership development programmes as ineffective (Brandon Hall Group).
It’s obvious when you think about it – different business situations often require different styles of leadership and individual employees need to be mentored in a myriad of different ways.
| What’s your leadership style?
The academic textbooks will state that your leadership style will be an extension of your personality, and most likely fit in the eight or nine accepted leadership styles defined by the experts.
Are you a transformational leader? Do you inspire employees in an environment of intellectual stimulation? Maybe you cleave to the laissez-faire style of leadership by taking a more ‘hands-off’ approach – leaving employees to get on with their tasks.
| Perception over reality
Hopefully, you’re not a David Brent, as it’s virtually impossible to decode subjectively what type of leadership style you have. You may think you know, but impartiality in this matter is practically impossible. Thankfully help is at hand – because more often than not, the leadership style a leader thinks they have, could be very different from reality.
Once you have your style identified, how can you align it closely to a successful and winning business strategy? What improvements can be made to make sure your leadership style is harnessed in a way to get the very best out of you and your team.
| Why do many leadership courses fail?
Great. You attend an internal course, get told you’re an x, y and z leader, and then you’re sent away to go and run your business exactly as before.
View rarely are you given actionable plans and strategies which you can implement into the business based on your leadership style, or discover how that can impact in other areas of the business. This where many leadership development courses do not deliver. Without any practical application and tailored advice relevant to you and your business, it’s hard to make a difference.
Whatever leader you are, the LDP is designed specifically for managers in privately-owned businesses who want to refine their leadership skills and contribute more to the success of the business.
Get in touch with your leadership style to drive business growth through the Leadership Development Programme.
For more business ownership and leadership advice check out more of our blogs.