To help you identify what motivates you, consider from among
the following categories of typical motivators. Rank the categories,
starting with “1” as the highest. You might have several
categories that rank a “1”. Don’t worry about getting
your ranking to be “perfect”. The point is to go through
the process of thinking about what motivates you. Consider discussing
the results with your supervisor, friends, etc.
__ Career Development/Success
__ Caring For/Supporting Others
__ Comfort/Relaxation
__ Fun/Recreation
__ Health/Balance/Energy
__ Influence/Leadership
__ Learning/Knowledge/Discovery
__ Materials/Possessions
__ Recognition/Praise
(it’s OK to seek this – in some environments you have to seek it …)
__ Security/Money/House
__ Social/Affiliation/Popularity/Acceptance
__ Status/Prestige/Stand Out/Reputation
(it’s OK to seek this … some roles require some of it)
__ Task Accomplishment/Problem Solving/Achievement
__ Teaching/Guiding Others
__ Vitality/Energy
__ Others? __________________
Comments:
Are there other comments you could make that would help you (and maybe others)
to more clearly understand what motivates you? Please take a moment to consider
this question and describe any answers below.
For the Category of Leadership:
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Also, scan the Recommended Books listed below.
They have been selected for their relevance and highly practical nature.
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In addition to the articles on this current page, also see the following blogs that have posts related to Motivation. Scan down the blog’s page to see various posts. Also see the section “Recent Blog Posts” in the sidebar of the blog or click on “next” near the bottom of a post in the blog. The blog also links to numerous free related resources.
A major function of leaders is to support the motivation of other individuals and groups. (There is debate as to whether a person can motivate another versus whether a person can only support another to motivate themselves.) There are approaches to motivating people that are destructive, for example, fear and intimidation. While these approaches can seem very effective in promptly motivating people, the approaches are hurtful, and in addition, they usually only motivate for the short-term. There are also approaches that are constructive, for example, effective delegation and coaching. These constructive approaches can be very effective in motivating others and for long periods of time. Different people can have quite different motivators, for example, by more money, more recognition, time off from work, promotions, opportunities for learning, or opportunities for socializing and relationships. Therefore, when attempting to help motivate people, it’s important to identify what motivates each of them. Ultimately, though, long-term motivation comes from people motivating themselves.
The topic of motivating employees is extremely important to managers and supervisors. Despite the important of the topic, several myths persist — especially among new managers and supervisors. Before looking at what management can do to support the motivation of employees, it’s important first to clear up these common myths.
1. Myth #1 —“I can motivate people”
Not really — they have to motivate themselves. You can’t motivate people anymore than you can empower them. Employees have to motivate and empower themselves. However, you can set up an environment where they best motivate and empower themselves. The key is knowing how to set up the environment for each of your employees.
2. Myth #2 — “Money is a good motivator”
Not really. Certain things like money, a nice office and job security can help people from becoming less motivated, but they usually don’t help people to become more motivated. A key goal is to understand the motivations of each of your employees.
3. Myth #3 — “Fear is a damn good motivator”
Fear is a great motivator — for a very short time. That’s why a lot of yelling from the boss won’t seem to “light a spark under employees” for a very long time.
4. Myth #4 — “I know what motivates me, so I know what motivates my employees”
Not really. Different people are motivated by different things. I may be greatly motivated by earning time away from my job to spend more time my family. You might be motivated much more by recognition of a job well done. People are not motivated by the same things. Again, a key goal is to understand what motivates each of your employees.
Research shows this isn’t necessarily true at all. Increased job satisfaction does not necessarily mean increased job performance. If the goals of the organization are not aligned with the goals of employees, then employees aren’t effectively working toward the mission of the organization.
Nah. Not true. There are some very basic steps you can take that will go a long way toward supporting your employees to motivate themselves toward increased performance in their jobs. (More about these steps is provided later on in this article.)
1. Motivating employees starts with motivating yourself
It’s amazing how, if you hate your job, it seems like everyone else does, too. If you are very stressed out, it seems like everyone else is, too. Enthusiasm is contagious. If you’re enthusiastic about your job, it’s much easier for others to be, too. Also, if you’re doing a good job of taking care of yourself and your own job, you’ll have much clearer perspective on how others are doing in theirs.
A great place to start learning about motivation is to start understanding your own motivations. The key to helping to motivate your employees is to understand what motivates them. So what motivates you? Consider, for example, time with family, recognition, a job well done, service, learning, etc. How is your job configured to support your own motivations? What can you do to better motivate yourself?
2. Always work to align goals of the organization with goals of employees
As mentioned above, employees can be all fired up about their work and be working very hard. However, if the results of their work don’t contribute to the goals of the organization, then the organization is not any better off than if the employees were sitting on their hands — maybe worse off! Therefore, it’s critical that managers and supervisors know what they want from their employees. These preferences should be worded in terms of goals for the organization. Identifying the goals for the organization is usually done during strategic planning. Whatever steps you take to support the motivation of your employees (various steps are suggested below), ensure that employees have strong input to identifying their goals and that these goals are aligned with goals of the organization. (Goals should be worded to be “SMARTER”. More about this later on below.)
3. Key to supporting the motivation of your employees is understanding what motivates each of them
Each person is motivated by different things. Whatever steps you take to support the motivation of your employees, they should first include finding out what it is that really motivates each of your employees. You can find this out by asking them, listening to them and observing them. (More about this later on below.)
4. Recognize that supporting employee motivation is a process, not a task
Organizations change all the time, as do people. Indeed, it is an ongoing process to sustain an environment where each employee can strongly motivate themselves. If you look at sustaining employee motivation as an ongoing process, then you’ll be much more fulfilled and motivated yourself.
5. Support employee motivation by using organizational systems (for example, policies and procedures) — don’t just count on good intentions
Don’t just count on cultivating strong interpersonal relationships with employees to help motivate them. The nature of these relationships can change greatly, for example, during times of stress. Instead, use reliable and comprehensive systems in the workplace to help motivate employees. For example, establish compensation systems, employee performance systems, organizational policies and procedures, etc., to support employee motivation. Also, establishing various systems and structures helps ensure clear understanding and equitable treatment of employees.
Steps You Can Take to Support the Motivation of Others
The following specific steps can help you go a long way toward supporting your employees to motivate themselves in your organization.
1. Do more than read this article — apply what you’re reading here
This maxim is true when reading any management publication.
2. Briefly write down the motivational factors that sustain you and what you can do to sustain them
This little bit of “motivation planning” can give you strong perspective on how to think about supporting the motivations of your employees.
3. Make of list of three to five things that motivate each of your employees
Read the checklist of possible motivators. Fill out the list yourself for each of your employees and then have each of your employees fill out the list for themselves. Compare your answers to theirs. Recognize the differences between your impression of what you think is important to them and what they think is important to them. Then meet with each of your employees to discuss what they think are the most important motivational factors to them. Lastly, take some time alone to write down how you will modify your approaches with each employee to ensure their motivational factors are being met. (NOTE: This may seem like a “soft, touchy-feely exercise” to you. If it does, then talk to a peer or your boss about it. Much of what’s important in management is based very much on “soft, touchy-feely exercises”. Learn to become more comfortable with them. The place to start is to recognize their importance.)
4. Work with each employee to ensure their motivational factors are taken into consideration in your reward systems
For example, their jobs might be redesigned to be more fulfilling. You might find more means to provide recognition, if that is important to them. You might develop a personnel policy that rewards employees with more family time, etc.
5. Have one-on-one meetings with each employee
Employees are motivated more by your care and concern for them than by your attention to them. Get to know your employees, their families, their favorite foods, names of their children, etc. This can sound manipulative — and it will be if not done sincerely. However, even if you sincerely want to get to know each of your employees, it may not happen unless you intentionally set aside time to be with each of them.
6. Cultivate strong skills in delegation
Delegation includes conveying responsibility and authority to your employees so they can carry out certain tasks. However, you leave it up to your employees to decide how they will carry out the tasks. Skills in delegation can free up a great deal of time for managers and supervisors. It also allows employees to take a stronger role in their jobs, which usually means more fulfillment and motivation in their jobs, as well.
7. Reward it when you see it
A critical lesson for new managers and supervisors is to learn to focus on employee behaviors, not on employee personalities. Performance in the workplace should be based on behaviors toward goals, not on popularity of employees. You can get in a great deal of trouble (legally, morally and interpersonally) for focusing only on how you feel about your employees rather than on what you’re seeing with your eyeballs.
8. Reward it soon after you see it
This helps to reinforce the notion that you highly prefer the behaviors that you’re currently seeing from your employees. Often, the shorter the time between an employee’s action and your reward for the action, the clearer it is to the employee that you highly prefer that action.
9. Implement at least the basic principles of performance management
Good performance management includes identifying goals, measures to indicate if the goals are being met or not, ongoing attention and feedback about measures toward the goals, and corrective actions to redirect activities back toward achieving the goals when necessary. Performance management can focus on organizations, groups, processes in the organization and employees.
10. Establish goals that are SMARTER
SMARTER goals are: specific, measurable, acceptable, realistic, timely, extending of capabilities, and rewarding to those involved.
11. Clearly convey how employee results contribute to organizational results.
Employees often feel strong fulfillment from realizing that they’re actually making a difference. This realization often requires clear communication about organizational goals, employee progress toward those goals and celebration when the goals are met.
12. Celebrate achievements
This critical step is often forgotten. New managers and supervisors are often focused on a getting “a lot done”. This usually means identifying and solving problems. Experienced managers come to understand that acknowledging and celebrating a solution to a problem can be every bit as important as the solution itself. Without ongoing acknowledgement of success, employees become frustrated, skeptical and even cynical about efforts in the organization.
13. Let employees hear from their customers (internal or external)
Let employees hear customers proclaim the benefits of the efforts of the employee. For example, if the employee is working to keep internal computer systems running for other employees (internal customers) in the organization, then have other employees express their gratitude to the employee. If an employee is providing a product or service to external customers, then bring in a customer to express their appreciation to the employee.
14. Admit to yourself (and to an appropriate someone else) if you don’t like an employee —
Managers and supervisors are people. It’s not unusual to just not like someone who works for you. That someone could, for example, look like an uncle you don’t like. In this case, admit to yourself that you don’t like the employee. Then talk to someone else who is appropriate to hear about your distaste for the employee, for example, a peer, your boss, your spouse, etc. Indicate to the appropriate person that you want to explore what it is that you don’t like about the employee and would like to come to a clearer perception of how you can accomplish a positive working relationship with the employee. It often helps a great deal just to talk out loud about how you feel and get someone else’s opinion about the situation. As noted above, if you continue to focus on what you see about employee performance, you’ll go a long way toward ensuring that your treatment of employees remains fair and equitable.
To round out your knowledge of this Library topic, you may want to review some related topics, available from the link below. Each of the related topics includes free, online resources.
Also, scan the Recommended Books listed below. They have been selected for their relevance and highly practical nature.
There are many perspectives on the definition of mentoring, especially since the relatively recent popularity of personal and professional coaching. Traditionally, mentoring might have been described as the activities conducted by a person (the mentor) for another person (the mentee) in order to help that other person to do a job more effectively and/or progress in his or her career. The mentor was probably someone who had “been there, done that” before. A mentor might use a variety of approaches, for example, coaching, training and counseling. Today, there seems to be much ongoing discussion and debate about the definitions and differences regarding coaching and mentoring — so you might also see the topic of Coaching.
Based on the evaluation questions, what might you need to improve in order to do even better on that evaluation? Consider the many guidelines in this topic.
Today mentors can and should provide expertise to protégés (males) or protégées (females)–essentially less experienced individuals to help them advance their careers, enhance their education, and build their networks. While mentoring is an important aspect to leadership training, it does not hold to a typical training environment or process; however, its tradition has existed even longer than traditional training.
Wikipedia always comes to the rescue when you need immediate clarification and not too much depth. It describes “mentoring” as a process that always involves communication and is relationship based, but its precise definition is elusive. There are two basic types of mentoring involving the training and development process that we are concerned with in this forum:
the new-hire mentor. In this case, a more experienced person, not necessarily one of the people high up in the company hierarchy but high enough “sponsors” a new employee, giving them a polite tour of the corporate culture and then there is
the high-potential mentorship. Usually, when we think of mentoring, we think of this kind–where especially selected employees are offered the opportunity to develop a relationship with a senior leader.
The new-hire mentor, as a mid-level employee, has nothing to lose and everything to gain if he treats his own mentee to real training, and guides him or her in the same way as the higher-level mentor; and his mentee would be a fool not to accept it.
Both fit Wikipedia’s general definition: “Mentoring is a process for the informal transmission of knowledge, social capital, and the psychosocial support perceived by the recipient as relevant to work, career, or professional development; mentoring entails informal communication, usually face-to-face and during a sustained period of time, between a person who is perceived to have greater relevant knowledge, wisdom, or experience (the mentor) and a person who is perceived to have less (the protégé).”
Even so, can you train mentors and mentees to maximize the benefit and miss the formality imposed by training?
I think it’s possible, but there has to be some structure–points that focus and provide opportunities for mentees to learn important points of interpersonal and public communication, problem- solving/leadership techniques, company technical expertise and time management.
The only difference here and regular training is that the mentor is the trainer. Once the mentor is aware of the need for this focus, most leaders/senior management understand the need for training, and some would even welcome some structure to a system that is still sorting itself out.
Let’s face it: a mentor with a plan–that’s training. The new-hire mentor, as a mid-level employee, has nothing to lose and everything to gain if he treats his own mentee to real training, and guides him or her in the same way as the higher-level mentor; and his mentee would be a fool not to accept it. In the case of a high-potential mentorship, the bigger problem may actually be the trainee, the protégé or protégée–better known as the mentee who feels entitled to special treatment.
…it is important to note that Tom Wolfe’s novel, The Right Stuff, is not about those men who do have “the right stuff”…but rather what is perceived by the public as “the right stuff.”
In this situation, we simply can’t train for the mentee position; someone has to be anointed–which, by the way, is not intended to be a negative sense. By virtue of being in that prime position, we may have someone who will only take direction from his or her mentor. That is why it is the mentor that must “do” the training.
To be one of the “anointed ones,” someone has to be noticed–having those qualities perceived by the company or its leaders as “the right stuff” to be a leader of the future. That being said, it is important to note that Tom Wolfe’s novel, The Right Stuff, about the early space program is not about those men who do, in fact, have “the right stuff” defined by what is needed to fly a rocket into space, but rather what is perceived by the public as “the right stuff.” We know now that the Mercury astronauts were not selected for their ability to fly jets, but rather their reputation, and physical ability to take the rigors of space. Monkeys and dogs did sit in the same place and perform the same functions.
Unlike Wolfe’s message, which was not one of promise or fulfillment, the mentor program of today–just like the mentor program of days long past–still strive to select the very best and make it work. No one will argue the importance of such a program to the retention of key personnel and corporate knowledge.
A mentor will sometimes see himself or herself in an employee and decide this person with their guidance and wisdom can one day run the company. To make the mentoring process work, there has to be a deliberate effort to mold and shape an individual. Shadowing alone is not enough. Training mentors to train their mentees may be one way. Mentors who take the job seriously stand to do great things for a company’s future and much for their own legacy.
Mentoring in Europe has existed since at least Ancient Greek times. It’s really only since the 1970s that mentorism has spread in the United States, mainly in leadership training contexts. It has been described as “an innovation in American management.” If done well, the mentoring process will indeed serve the individual by providing the necessary exposure to the reality, the best training an employee can have, i.e., the experiential training needed to do the job.
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The concept of power often evokes negative impressions. For example, referring to the use of power can infer that people are being dominated, manipulated or coerced. However, similar to the concept of conflict, power almost always exists in organizations. Recognizing and managing it can be very healthy for organizations and personnel. The following links provides overviews that progress from basic to a little more advanced.
Think hard work is all you need for career success?
Jeffrey Pfeffer, at Stanford University Graduate School of Business disagrees. In his latest book, Power: Why Some People Have It and Others Don’t, he argues that what you need to succeed in the workplace is, above all, power.
He was asked in an interview with BNET “What is the biggest mistake people make when it comes to achieving power?”
He answered: “I see a lot of people who voluntarily give up the opportunity to have a lot of power by saying things like, ‘I won’t play the game.’ That won’t get you anywhere.” Sources of Power
As a coach of talent, part of my job is to help career starters and emerging leaders see that they have power no matter where they stand on the corporate ladder. It’s a matter of recognizing and capitalizing on it. There are two sources of power.
Formal or Position Power
This is based on your title – manager, supervisor, senior vice-president, etc. With it comes the ability and responsibility to reward (provide someone with a raise or plum assignment) and punish (discipline someone or limit access to resources). However, there’s another.
Informal or Personal Power
This is based not on your position, but on you. You have the ability to develop expert power (based on highly valued knowledge and skills) and associate power (based upon who you know and who knows you).
Which is easier to obtain?
In most cases its personal power. Here are five ways to increase your informal power and not feel you just playing the game. Take a look at these past posts.
Know What’s Going On: Information is power so be on constant alert.
Have Skills Will Travel: This is what you bring to the employment table.
Develop a Strong Brand: It conveys your distinctiveness as a professional or leader.
Enhance Your Reputation: Toot your horn occasionally and have others do it as well.
Build Good Working Relationships: They are the bread of career life so eat often and hearty.
Career Success Tip
True power, to get things done, does not come from a title or position. Rather it comes from the value (your expert power) you produce for your internal and external customers. Figure out ways to make a positive impact (your associate power) on the key people in your career world. That’s how you build power careers.
On a scale from 1 (low) to 10 (high) how much personal power do you have right now to achieve your career goals? What can you do to get it to a 10?
Do you have great ideas but can’t seem to get people to listen?
A recent email from a frustrated manager who, like many of us, has great ideas but finds it difficult getting them accepted and implemented. Perhaps a boss is too busy putting out fires to pay attention. Or, in the give and take of a meeting, your suggestions get lost.
In her years of writing about successful leaders, Rosabeth Moss Kanter of Harvard Business School, states that “getting ideas off the ground requires personal credibility and power.” Here’s what she advises — Four Influencing Strategies:
1. Showing up: The power of presence.
It’s a cliché but true that 90% of success in life comes from just showing up. Digital and other remote communications are efficient, but there’s much to be said for being there – face-to-face with others.
2. Speaking up: The power of voice.
It’s more than making noise. It’s being articulate, putting your ideas into words that get people to listen and see you as a leader. If you’re uncomfortable with public speaking, get a coach, take lessons, join Toastmasters and then stand up and do it.
3. Teaming up: the power of partnering.
As you move into leadership, you technical or business skills aren’t enough. Success, at this stage of your career, depends more on building good relationships inside and outside your organization. So start “playing with others”.
4. Not giving up: the power of persistence.
Everything can look like a failure in the middle. Keep at it, make mid-course adjustments and surprise the naysayers. All successful people have dealt with self-doubt, but they keep on going. So can you.
Career Success Tip
There have been excellent big ideas which couldn’t get off the ground because they lacked proper uplift and effort. On the flip side, really good small ideas have revolutionized our lives. What’s the difference? Perhaps it’s these four influencing strategies. What do you think?
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Also, scan the Recommended Books listed below. They have been selected for their relevance and highly practical nature.
This topic in the Library is about activities to guide other individuals. These activities are useful especially during supervision of employees and might be considered an aspect of leading other individuals. See Leadership (Introduction).
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Also, scan the Recommended Books listed below. They have been selected for their relevance and highly practical nature.
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It’s the small things everyday that can bring down employee morale and it’s
the small things everyday that can raise it as well.
When money is tight and raises are non existent or when the heavy work load
seems never-ending, managers tend to forget the “basics” of management-
that the supervisor’s recognition and appreciation are the key drivers for employee
motivation and morale.
Here are seven quick, inexpensive things managers can do that will keep workers
motivated during tough times.
1. Say thank you.
Show appreciation for good work by baking a batch of cookies for the team or
surprising them with pizza,, or sending them flowers, chocolate or a bunch of
balloons. It shows your people that you care and appreciate them.
2. Have informal coffee talks.
Pull an entire work team together to openly talk about what’s going on in the
world and how it affects business. Encourage employee questions. This decreases
negative rumors and also gets employees focused on work rather than on griping.
3. Surprise with spontaneous treats.
Rent an ice cream cart or a popcorn machine. Take coffee and donuts to each
person’s work station. How about a package of Lifesavers™ during a stressful
time?
4. Offer stress relief activities.
Hire a local massage school to offer free 10-minute chair massages once a week.
A distinctive and fun way for a company to convey that it recognizes the rough
times and it cares about their staff’s well-being.
5. Support community involvement.
Provide company time for teams of employees to serve dinner at a local shelter,
help build houses, adopt a family for a holiday, or collect money for a common
charity. It not only serves as a motivator in that people feel they are doing
something with a purpose but also creates a positive public image.
6. Make people feel valuable.
Talk with key employees about the types of projects, training, or experiences
they would like to have. Times may be tough for people to get jobs, but your
best people are also the most marketable. One of the main reasons people leave
or are unmotivated is because they don’t feel valued by their manager or company.
7. Free car washes.
Express exterior car washes cost around $5 per wash. That means for $100, you
can give 20 employees a shiny car every month. Or have a fund raiser for a community
organization on your parking lot. They bring the people and the supplies and
you pay them $5 for each car washed. This tells the employee you appreciate
them and tell the community you care.
Supervision Success Tip
Sometimes, simple works best. These seven morale boosters are a great way to
create positive energy, develop pride and keep workers motivated during tough
times.
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Also, scan the Recommended Books listed below. They have been selected for their relevance and highly practical nature.
Delegating is a critical skill for supervisors at any level. Delegating involves working with an employee to establish goals, granting them sufficient authority and responsibility to achieve the goals, often giving them 1) substantial freedom in deciding how the goals will be achieved, 2) remaining available as a resource to help them achieve the goals, 3) assessing the quality of their effort and attainment of the goals, 4) and addressing performance issues and/or rewarding their performance. Ultimately, the supervisor retains responsibility for the attainment of the goals, but chooses to achieve the goals by delegating to someone else.
Delegating is different than work directing. Work directing is telling someone what to do and how to do it. There usually is much less freedom as to how the employee does the task, and many times is much less ownership, participation and learning on the part of the employee, as well.
Delegation can sometimes be a major challenge for new supervisors to learn because they are concerned about giving up control or struggling to have confidence in the abilities of others. Supervisors that can effectively delegate can free up a great deal of their own time, help their direct reports to cultivate expertise in learning, and can develop their own leadership skills — skills that are critical for problem solving, goal attainment and learning.
What do you want to improve about how you delegate? Consider the many guidelines in this topic.
How to Delegate for Growth and Performance of Your Employees
Thomas R. Horton, in Delegation and Team Building: No Solo Acts Please (Management Review, September 1992, pp. 58-61) suggests the following general steps to accomplish delegation:
1. Delegate the whole task to one person.
This gives the person complete responsibility for doing the task and increases the person’s motivation to do the task, as well. It also provides more focus for the supervisor when working with the person to understand that the desired results should look like.
2. Select the right person to delegate to.
Assess the skills and capabilities of the person to be sure that individual can actually accomplish the task. Does he/she have the knowledge, skills and abilities to do the task? If not, the person might need training. Or, perhaps the task should be delegated to someone else.
3. Clearly specify your preferred results.
Provide information on what the results should look like, why those results are desired, when the results should be accomplished, who else might help the person, and what resources the person has to work with. You might leave the “how to accomplish the task” to be decided by the person. It is often best to write this information down.
4. Delegate responsibility and authority – assign the task, not the method to accomplish it.
Let the person complete the task in the manner that he/she chooses, as long as the desired results are likely to be what the supervisor specifies. Let the person have strong input as to the completion date of the project. Note that you may not even know how to complete the task yourself – this is often the case with higher levels of management. Make sure that others in the organization understand that this person has both the responsibility and the authority to complete the task.
5. Ask the person to summarize back to you, a description of the results you prefer.
Explain that you are requesting the summary to be sure you effectively described the results to the person, not necessarily to be sure that the person heard you. That explanation helps the person to not feel as if he/she is somehow being treated as if he/she is untrustworthy.
6. Get ongoing non-intrusive feedback about progress on the project.
This is a good reason to continue to get weekly, written status reports from the person. Reports should describe what he/she did last week, plans to do next week, and any potential issues that might arise. Regular meetings with the person provide feedback, as well.
7. Maintain open lines of communication.
Do not hover over the person to monitor his/her performance, but do sense what he/she is doing and do support the person’s checking in with you while doing the task.
8. If you are not satisfied with the progress, do not do the task yourself!
Continue to work with the person to ensure that he/she perceives that the task is his/her responsibility. Look for the cause of your dissatisfaction. For example, is it lack of communication, training, resources or commitment of the person?
9. Evaluate and reward the person’s performance.
Evaluate achievement of desired results more than the methods used by the person. Address insufficient performance and reward successes.
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that have posts related to Counseling. Scan down the blog’s page to see various
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click on “next” near the bottom of a post in the blog. The blog also links to
numerous free related resources.
Similar to mentoring, there are many perspectives on the definition of counseling,
especially since the relatively recent popularity of personal and professional coaching.
Traditionally, counseling might have been described as the activities conducted
by a person (the counselor) for another person (the client, friend, etc.) in
order to help that other person to solve a problem in regard to themselves,
someone else or some other situation. An untrained counselor might provide counseling
primarily by offering advice. A professional counselor might work with a variety
of other tools, eg, assessments, diagnosis, treatment plans, deep listening,
values clarification, direct advice, etc. The approaches and variety of tools
used by a professional counselor depend a great deal on their training and paradigms
(overall views) of the counselor, eg, psychodynamic, behavioral, humanistic,
etc.
Today, there seems to be much ongoing discussion and debate
about the definitions and differences regarding coaching and mentoring,
and also counseling.
To round out your knowledge of this Library topic, you may want to review some related topics, available from the link below. Each of the related topics includes free, online resources.
Also, scan the Recommended Books listed below. They have been selected for their relevance and highly practical nature.
The aim of this topic is to orient the reader to personal coaching, its many benefits and applications, different kinds of coaching and some coaching models, core skills needed by coaches, and additional resources about the profession and coaching. The topic will be useful to you whether you plan to use coaching informally on yourself, others, teams or organizations, or whether you seek to become a professional coach. The topic also will help you if you want to start a coaching service, whether it’s a new organization, expanding a current organization, or starting a new product or service.
If you think you would benefit from coaching, see our one-on-one coaching services.
If you are a coach and want to expand your toolbox of services (in this very competitive market of coaching), then learn Facilitating Group Coaching.
Sections of This Topic Include
NOTE: The following links are to topics that are included later on below on this page — and each topic includes yet more links.
What is Coaching? How Does it Compare to Other Fields or Professions?
The field of personal and professional coaching has grown rapidly in the past 15 years and, as with most fields and professions that experience this kind of growth, there are many different perspectives on coaching. Here’s a definition that perhaps most people would agree with. (There are more perspectives provided in the next section, immediately below.)
Coaching involves working in a partnership between coach and client(s) to provide structure, guidance and support for clients to:
Take a complete look at their current state, including their assumptions and perceptions about their work, themselves and/or others;
Set relevant and realistic goals for themselves, based on their own nature and needs;
Take relevant and realistic actions toward reaching their goals; and
Learn by continuing to reflect on their actions and sharing feedback with others along the way.
Coaching can be especially useful to help individuals, groups and organizations to address complex problems and/or achieve significant goals and to do so in a highly individualized fashion, while learning at the same time.
Many people believe that coaching is different than training and might describe training as an expert convey certain subject matter to a student in order for the student to do a current task more effectively. Those people might add that training isn’t as much of a partnership as a coaching relationship. Many might also believe that coaching is different than consulting and might describe consulting as especially using advice to help another person, team or organization to solve a problem. Others might assert that a good consultant would use skills in training and coaching, depending on the needs of the client. (A more progressive view is that a consultant is someone in a role to guide and/or support change, but who has no direct authority to make that change happen. Thus, an advisor, trainer, facilitator or coach would be a consultant in this situation.)
Many people assert that coaching is a profession, while others assert that it is a field, that is, that coaching has not yet accomplished a standardized approach, code of ethics and credibility to be a profession. This topic in the Library alternatively refers to coaching as a profession and a field.
There is no standardized approach to a coaching program that all practitioners agree on, much like there is in medicine where standardized procedures are used for certain maladies. Rather, each coach focuses on a particular type of, and approach to, coaching that suits his/her nature and interests, and applies that approach to the types of clients that most closely matches the coach’s passions, interests and capabilities. However, the reader can get an impression of a general framework that seems common to the approaches of many coaches.
How the framework is implemented depends on the coach’s training and any particular model or school followed by the coach. Also, there has been a dramatic increase in the number of coaches and, consequently, increasing competition among them. One of the ways that coaches can differentiate each other is by how they customize their coach process to seem even more powerful and unique. The framework seems to be:
Forming a relationship with the potential client, including assessing if the client is really ready for coaching, orienting the client to personal and professional coaching, and clarifying how both the coach and client prefer to work together.
Establishing a mutual agreement or coaching contract, including about the roles of the coach and client, ground rules for working together, frequency of meetings, confidentiality, etc.
Developing client-centered goals to be achieved during the coaching project, the goals of which depend very much on whether the coaching is performance- or well-being-oriented.
A series of face-to-face and/or phone-based meetings with the coach and client, including ongoing questions, affirmations, accountabilities, etc., to identify relevant and realistic actions the client can take to achieve the goals and learn at the same time.
Evaluating the coaching, both during and shortly after the project, which is made easier if the coaching was based on mutually agreed goals.
Thus, it’s likely that many coaches would have many opinions about the above rather simplified description The following links are to resources that describe a similar framework.
In contrast to a coaching program, which includes the above framework, coaching can be done in a one-time conversation. The conversation might include a small sampling of the type of support that a coach would give in each of the meetings in a coaching program. One of the hallmarks of coaching is the use of questions. (It’s important to acknowledge that the primary use of questions is not unique to coaching; consider, for example, Action Learning (developed in the 1930s or self-directed Rogerian Therapy heralded by Carl Rogers.) Here’s an example of the difference between a coaching conversation and a common chatty conversation, when trying to help someone.
See a 25-minute video that explains what coaching conversations are, what good coaching
is, when to use and not use it, format of a coaching session, good coaching questions to ask, and what successful coaching really is. From the Consultants
Development Institute.
Laser coaching involves one or a few short, usually concise and forward-focused coaching sessions to address an urgent and/or very specific issue. It also can be used to demonstrate the coaching process to a potential client. It’s also useful for very busy people who are reluctant to commit to a long-term program.
A coaching culture is where many people in the workplace instinctively coach in their communications with each other — they deeply listen and understand each other, generate relevant and realistic actions
to make progress on current priorities — and learn at the same time.
You might have realized some benefits that you might gain from coaching. That’s not enough. You also need to be ready to work with someone in a relationship where the other person (the coach) is there to help you — you need to be ready to accept that help. Here are some quick assessments to help you think about whether you’re ready for coaching.
What Does Coaching Cost? How Long Does Coaching Take?
This is a little like asking “How much does a car cost?” because the cost and duration of coaching depend on what you want to accomplish by using a coach and also on your nature when being involved with a coach to meet your needs. However, the following links are to a variety of types of coaches and perhaps it’ll be useful to scan their information to get a sense for fees, duration and even how they work with clients. (We are not endorsing the following sites or coaches.)
Performance coaching aims to enhance the performance of an individual, team, project or organization, especially to establish and achieve desired goals, whether they be goals for individual, team, project or organizational development. The very popular business coaching is usually a form of performance coaching. Performance coaches are often — but not exclusively — hired by organizations, rather than by individuals.
Well-being, or being coaching, aims to enhance the quality of life for an individual, for example, to support the individual to accomplish more personal or professional development, such as enhanced health, meaning and satisfaction in his/her life. The very popular life coaching is usually a form of well-being coaching. Well-being coaches are often — but not exclusively — hired by individuals, rather than by an organizations.
Long-term change, whether in your career, work or organization, usually begins with yourself, so self-coaching is an extremely important capability. Self-coaching can be done for yourself at any time.
One-on-one coaching is perhaps the most well-known form of coaching and is what most people think of, when they think of coaching. The process and manner in which this form of coaching is done depends very much on the particular coaching model, training and nature of the coach. An important topic is how coaching compares to therapy (see What is Coaching?).
Peer coaching is increasingly popular because it can be done spontaneously
when needed and is low-cost because coaching experts typically are not being
paid for services. There are many different perspectives on, and designs of,
peer coaching.
There are various forms of group coaching. For example, a coach can coach each member one at a time or support members to coach each other (a peer coaching group). Many people assert a difference between group coaching and team coaching. Action Learning is a very popular form of group coaching and is used by most Fortune 1000 companies in the US, as well as being very popular in Europe. Many people would consider team building to be team coaching.
Organizational coaching aims to enhance the performance of a unit in the organization (a department or process) or the entire organization. This type of coaching gets best results when its goals are closely aligned with the business goals of the unit or organization.
Some Common Types of Coaching and Virtual Coaching
There are numerous types of coaching and the number seems to increase with each type of work, interest or challenge that people experience. In this section are some of the most common types. For example, there’s business coaches, creativity coaches, career coaches, executive coaches, health and wellness coaches, financial coaches, life coaches, leadership coaches, marketing coaches, relationship coaches, sales coaches, small business coaches, spiritual coaches, team coaches, work-life coaches … and the list goes on and on. Coaching is so popular, and there are so many types of coaching, and the rate of those entering coaching is so high — that there’s a growing industry in training coaches and getting business for coaches. Here’s an overview of a few of the most common types of coaches.
Business Coaching
A business coach helps business owners or members of the organization to improve the business by using the philosophies, models and tools of coaching. The business coach also might impart knowledge
about various functions of business, for example, planning, marketing and finances (many coaches might argue that coaching does not involve imparting expert knowledge, but that depends on the coach). Some people might consider a leadership and executive coach to be a business coach because that type of coaching usually occurs within the context of a business.
Career coaches help individuals to discover what they want to do as a vocation, plan their careers, increase job satisfaction, and sometimes to make a career transition, or even to advance in their own careers.
A coaching model is a framework that concisely depicts the concepts and approach of the approach to coaching. There are many models, and it’s best for a coach to know more than one. Here are some examples. The purpose of this listing is not to suggest which models are best, but rather to give the reader a sense of what a coaching model is. (Some people refer to “methods,” rather than models.)
If you plan to do some coaching, whether you want to become a professional coach or not, be sure to review the above information, at least the major sections “Understanding Coaching” and “Coaching as a Service,” in this topic before reviewing some of the resource referenced in this section.
Before you consider more about doing coaching either as a profession or just as a skill to use in your life and work, you might get an impression of your skills in coaching now. Take this quick test.
The list of “tools” needed for coaching is an expansive, long list because coaching is a relationship between people — and people are very dynamic “systems,” so there are many tools needed in cultivating and maintaining that successful relationship (some of the tools are already listed in the previous section Useful Skills for Coaches).
Although many people believe there is a difference between the nature of coaching and consulting, guidelines for professionalism and working with clients can be very similar.
The following resources are to help you think about whether to learn a lot more about coaching. If you want to be really good at coaching, or even to be a professional coach, then certification in coaching is the best way to ensure professional skills and to establish strong credibility. See Some Coaching Training Organizations and Associations.
This topic assumes that you already have expertise in coaching and are thinking about starting a business to be a professional coach. The guidelines in this topic are focused on helping you to start a new organization, expand a current organization, or start a new service. If you do not yet have expertise in coaching, you should review much of the contents of this overall topic, and then certainly practice coaching in a variety of venues, including with evaluation from other professional coaches and clients in your coaching. Certification in coaching is the best way to ensure professional skills and to establish strong credibility. See Some Coaching Training Organizations and Associations.
Learn More in the Library’s Blogs Related to Coaching
In addition to the articles on this current page, also see the following blogs that have posts related to Coaching. Scan down the blog’s page to see various posts. Also see the section “Recent Blog Posts” in the sidebar of the blog or click on “next” near the bottom of a post in the blog. The blog also links to numerous free related resources.
To round out your knowledge of this Library topic, you may want to review some related topics, available from the link below. Each of the related topics includes free, online resources.
Also, scan the Recommended Books listed below. They have been selected for their relevance and highly practical nature.
It seems there has been an explosion of articles about leading and leadership and what to do to be a great leader. Their suggestions can seem so broad and wide-ranging that it can be difficult to know just what to do next when trying to lead. Some seem so romanticized and idealized that it is hard to imagine anyone being a truly great leader. Yet, there are some practical skills needed in leading, and they can quite different depending on whether you are leading yourself, other individuals, groups or organizations — and on the situation each is in. This topic provides the resources to develop those skills. However, if you want to truly understand leadership (and this topic assumes that you do), then you should be acquainted with its broad context, including the diversity of theories, models and styles in leadership. This topic mentions all of those, as well.
The guidelines and resources in this topic are not sufficient to develop strong competencies in leadership. Those competencies come from extensive experience in applying that information.
Books and trainings about leadership often start by defining leadership. It is based on the premise that if you can come to your own definition, then you will be more clear about whether you are successfully leading or not, and you will be able to explain to your followers how you are leading them and why. When coming to your own definition, it helps to consider others’ opinions and definitions.
Leadership Defined (includes numerous definitions of leadership)
There are hundreds of definitions of leadership and this is not an attempt to come to a consensus on a definition. The hope is to get readers to reflect on what they believe about leadership. It is also an attempt to give blog participants a general sense of how certain “experts” are describing leadership, in the hope that you may come to your own definition, which can then be used to guide your work.
What is Leadership?
Some view leadership as a series of specific traits or characteristics. Others see it as comprised of certain skills and knowledge. And some, me included, think of leadership as a process. This view of leadership, as a process, places an emphasis on social interaction and relationship. This is the idea that leadership is a type of relationship, one that typically includes influencing others in a certain direction. This leads to my current working definition of leadership: Leadership is a relationship that involves the mobilizing, influencing, and guiding of others toward desired goals. This definition does not assume that the goals are shared or even explicit. The word desire simply means that someone in the relationship, perhaps just the person in a leadership role, wants a particular outcome. The following are some definitions that have a bias toward leadership as a process:
“Leadership is a process of giving purpose (meaningful direction) to collective effort, and causing willing effort to be expended to achieve purpose.” (Jacobs & Jaques)
“Leadership is the process of influencing the activities of an individual or a group in efforts toward goal achievement in a given situation.” (Hersey & Blanchard)
“Leadership is an attempt at influencing the activities of followers through the communication process and toward the attainment of some goal or goals.” (Donelly)
“Leadership is defined as the process of influencing the activities of an organized group toward goal achievement.” (Rauch & Behling)
“Leadership is interpersonal influence, exercised in a situation, and directed, through the communication process, toward the attainment of a specified goal or goals.” (Tannenbaum, et al)
It has been my experience that many organizational leaders, knowingly or unknowingly, view leadership as a set of specific traits or skills. Below are a few definitions that are grounded in skills and, to a lesser extent, traits.
“Leadership is a function of knowing yourself, having a vision that is well communicated, building trust among colleagues, and taking effective action to realize your own leadership potential”. (Bennis)
“Leadership is about articulating visions, embodying values, and creating the environment within which things can be accomplished.” (Richards and Engle)
“Leadership is the creation of a vision about a desired future state which seeks to enmesh all members of an organization in its net.” (Bryman)
“It is a complex moral relationship between people, based on trust, obligation, commitment, emotion, and a shared vision of the good.” (Ciulla)
These definitions are entirely valid perspectives — they are simply different from a leadership as process perspective. Having said that, it is my impression that, overall, definitions of leadership are becoming more process and relationship oriented.
How Important Is It to Have a Definition of Leadership?
In my role as a leadership consultant it is not necessary for me to share my clients definition of leadership – but it is important to know whether they have a definition and, if they do, what is included in that definition. If there isn’t an understanding of what leadership entails it diminishes the likelihood that the client will get what they want from our relationship. It is similar to a client looking to hire a consultant to increase employee engagement and, after digging a bit deeper with the client, discovering that what they are actually looking for is a way to improve the efficiency of work processes.
Most definitions of leadership are in regard to leading other individuals. However, a common assertion is that you cannot successfully lead others unless you first can successfully lead yourself. That includes having skills in, for example, career development, personal development, personal productivity and personal wellness.
Thus, perhaps are more accurate and encompassing definition of leadership is “the nature of activities in clarifying direction and influencing progress in that direction”.
Is Leading Different than Managing? (Pros and Cons)
Traditional views of management associate it with four major functions: planning, organizing, leading and controlling/coordinating. However, many educators, practitioners and writers disagree with this traditional view. They see leading as being quite different than managing. Yet, others continue to see the four functions as being highly integrated. After reading about the different opinions and definitions, what do you think?
View That Leading is Different Than Managing
Maintaining the Delicate Balance between Leadership and Management
Management and Leadership are two very different systems of human behavior. Both are essential to the success of an organization; yet, like the repulsing polarity of two magnets, they push against one another and, if not kept in balance, can end up ejecting one or the other causing great damage to the organization and its people. It is difficult, yet necessary, to maintain both strong leadership and strong management simultaneously.
People are naturally reluctant to step into change and the discomfort we experience when we find ourselves in the midst of ambiguity. Much of what we call “organization” is the struggle to reign in that ambiguity and bring things back to a state of equilibrium. Management is about developing systems and processes that enable us to take dominion over chaos. It is an attempt to create a semblance of order and constancy in an inherently complex situation. It’s about designing plans and systems for monitoring progress and controlling outcomes. It involves solving problems, giving reports, having meetings, and developing policies, all for the purpose of bringing things to a place of efficiency, where the ambiguity is dispelled and people can feel comfortable again.
The problem is that, in a rapidly-changing environment, equilibrium can be deadly. The external environment today is a bit like whitewater rafting. To survive, you have to constantly shift your weight from one side of the raft to the other, thrust your paddle first to the left and then to the right, or use it to push off a rapidly approaching rock. This is when you need leadership rather than management.
Leadership is about change. It’s about helping the organization define its vision, one that can take advantage of opportunities and avoid oncoming threats. It’s about challenging people to grow and to unleash their yet untapped potential. It’s about inspiring people to step into uncharted territory. Leaders get nervous when things are running too smoothly; often introducing innovative ideas just to stir things up a bit. CEO, Renato Beninatto of Milengo, a translation and localization industry, uses the term “chief instigator” to describe his job. Whereas managers constantly try to adjust to change, leaders are in the business of producing change.
It’s important to understand that both are necessary for success. Unfortunately, some organizations I have been acquainted with continue to value management over leadership. In these situations, the leadership function can be mistakenly identified as subversive to the organization’s welfare. The call for unity is often a demand that those with innovative thoughts keep them to themselves. The status quo is confused with the sacred. If organizations are to stay afloat and thrive in today’s volatile environment, they must recognize that leadership is essential. In the Bible there is a saying about putting new wine into old wineskins and thus causing the wineskins to burst because they lack flexibility. The new wine must be put into new wineskins. Management tries to hold the wine in a manageable form. Leadership is the process of changing from the old, dried-out, leaky wineskins to the new, more resilient, more adjustable forms.
View That Separating “Leading” from “Managing” Can Be Destructive
Another view is that to be a very effective member of an organization (whether executive, middle manager, or entry-level worker), you need skills in all of the traditional functions of management, including planning, organizing, leading and coordinating activities — the key is you need to be able to emphasize different skills at different times.
Yes, leading is different than planning, organizing and coordinating because leading is focused on influencing people, while the other functions are focused on “resources” in addition to people. But that difference is not enough to claim that “leading is different than managing” any more than one can claim that “planning is different than managing” or “organizing is different than managing”.
The assertion that “leading is different than managing” — and the ways that these assertions are made — can cultivate the view that the activities of planning, organizing and coordinating are somehow less important than leading. The assertion can also convince others that they are grand and gifted leaders who can ignore the mere activities of planning, organizing and coordinating — they can leave these lesser activities to others with less important things to do in the organization. This view can leave carnage in organizations. Here is an example of a too-common situation that occurs in organizations when certain individuals see themselves as quite apart from the activities of planning, organizing and coordinating resources. Founder’s Syndrome — How Organizations Suffer — and Can Recover
Additional Perspectives About Leading Versus Managing
TO TRULY UNDERSTAND LEADERSHIP, KNOW ITS BROAD CONTEXT
It helps to be acquainted with the different major theories because it helps you to see leadership from a variety of different perspectives and, thus, to deepen and enrich your understanding of leadership in general. There are a variety of classifications for organizing information about leadership. In this section, a theory is considered to be a set of general ideas about why a certain system (for example, a person, process, team or organization) is behaving the way that it does. A model is a general framework that depicts a theory in action. A style is a particular nature or manner in how a theory or model is applied. Even those classifications can seem to overlap in the following paragraphs.
Major Theories: Different Principles and Explanations of Leadership
Most theories view leadership as grounded in one or more of the following three perspectives: leadership as a process or relationship, leadership as a combination of traits or personality characteristics, or leadership as certain behaviors or, as they are more commonly referred to, leadership skills. In virtually all of the more dominant theories there exist the notions that, at least to some degree, leadership is a process that involves influence with a group of people toward the realization of goals. — Steve Wolinski
This theory focuses especially on what highly effective leaders do. This theory is often preferred by educators because behaviors can rather easily be seen and duplicated. The major criticisms are that it doesn’t help leaders know when to use certain behaviors and to share their motives for using those behaviors.
This theory states that a leader’s effectiveness is contingent on how well the leader’s style matches a specific setting or situation. And how, you may ask, is this different from situational theory? In situational the focus is on adapting to the situation, whereas contingency states that effective leadership depends on the degree of fit between a leader’s qualities and style and that of a specific situation or context. — Steve Wolinski
This theory focuses especially on the behaviors needed to help a group to improve its effectiveness and achieve its goals. The theory identifies the specific functions needed by leadership for addressing certain situations.
This theory focuses on the traits and actions of those who are considered to be great leaders, as if they were born with those traits of leadership — that leadership is a trait of those people, more than any skills that they had learned.
This theory is about how leaders motivate followers to accomplish identified objectives. It postulates that effective leaders have the ability to improve the motivation of followers by clarifying the paths and removing obstacles to high performance and desired objectives. The underlying beliefs of path-goal theory (grounded in expectancy theory) are that people will be more focused and motivated if they believe they are capable of high performance, believe their effort will result in desired outcomes, and believe their work is worthwhile. — Steve Wolinski
This conceptualization of leadership reflects a philosophy that leaders should be servants first. It suggests that leaders must place the needs of followers, customers, and the community ahead of their own interests in order to be effective. The idea of servant leadership has a significant amount of popularity within leadership circles – but it is difficult to describe it as a theory inasmuch as a set of beliefs and values that leaders are encouraged to embrace. — Steve Wolinski
This theory suggests that different situations require different styles of leadership. That is, to be effective in leadership requires the ability to adapt or adjust one’s style to the circumstances of the situation. The primary factors that determine how to adapt are an assessment of the competence and commitment of a leader’s followers. The assessment of these factors determines if a leader should use a more directive or supportive style. — Steve Wolinski
This theory states that learned knowledge and acquired skills/abilities are significant factors in the practice of effective leadership. Skills theory by no means disavows the connection between inherited traits and the capacity to be an effective leader – it simply argues that learned skills, a developed style, and acquired knowledge, are the real keys to leadership performance. It is of course the belief that skills theory is true that warrants all the effort and resources devoted to leadership training and development. — Steve Wolinski
This theory postulates that people are either born or not born with the qualities that predispose them to success in leadership roles. That is, that certain inherited qualities, such as personality and cognitive ability, are what underlie effective leadership. There have been hundreds of studies to determine the most important leadership traits, and while there is always going to be some disagreement, intelligence, sociability, and drive (aka determination) are consistently cited as key qualities. — Steve Wolinski
This is a theory that focuses on the exchanges that take place between leaders and followers. It is based in the notion that a leader’s job is to create structures that make it abundantly clear what is expected of his/her followers and also the consequences (i.e. rewards and punishments) for meeting or not meeting these expectations. This theory is often likened to the concept and practice of management and continues to be an extremely common component of many leadership models and organizational structures. — Steve Wolinski
This theory states that leadership is the process by which a person engages with others and is able to create a connection that results in increased motivation and morality in both followers and leaders. It is often likened to the theory of charismatic leadership that espouses that leaders with certain qualities, such as confidence, extroversion, and clearly stated values, are best able to motivate followers. The key in transformational leadership is for the leader to be attentive to the needs and motives of followers in an attempt to help them reach their maximum potential. In addition, transformational leadership typically describes how leaders can initiate, develop, and implement important changes in an organization. This theory is often discussed in contrast with transactional leadership. — Steve Wolinski
Major Models: Different Frameworks and Elements of Leadership
The following models usually have a suggested framework and/or set of elements to implement that model of leadership. However, some of the following models have also been mentioned as theories or styles. As with the different theories, an acquaintance with the different models can further your understanding of leadership. After reading about the different models, which one(s) do you favor and why? The model that you choose depends on a variety of factors. See How Do I Know Which Theory, Model and Style to Use?
Adaptive Leadership
The adaptive leader needs to be able to connect organizational change to the core values, capabilities, and dreams of the relevant stakeholders. The adaptive leader seeks to foster a culture that collects and honors diversity of opinion and uses this collective knowledge for the good of the organization. The adaptive leader knows that change and learning can be painful for people, and is able to anticipate and counteract any reluctant behavior related to the pain. The adaptive leader understands that large scale change is an incremental process and that he/she needs to be persistent and willing to withstand pressure to take shortcuts. — Steve Wolinski
Appreciative leadership asserts that we all never fully “arrive” … instead, we all do the best we can a day at a time, using the best tools and resources that are available to us. Appreciative leadership shares generative stories and practical tools that can help each of us to feel that we belong and are valued, and to walk that path a little more consistently and consciously. In so doing, it may help others do the same – and make the world kinder, better place. — Steve Wolinski
Authentic leadership asserts the need for leaders to be truly authentic human beings in their roles as leaders. Authenticity has a variety of interpretations in this approach, ranging from being respectfully honest and direct with others in the moment to be fully self-realized human beings. Critics assert that we must be careful about how we interpret authenticity so that we do not romanticize and idealize the concept to the extent that no human being could ever achieve that status – and thus the approach inadvertently becomes inauthentic in itself.
Dynamical leaders pay attention to three conditions to ensure an effective, highly functioning organization: coherence, resilience, and fitness. Coherence can be thought of as an interdependence of parts. Dynamic leaders are constantly scanning their environment for potential surprises, and regard blips and trends as pieces of a larger puzzle to be solved. Resilience is the ability to integrate, re-calibrate and recover quickly when challenged. — Steve Wolinski
Heroic leadership is when followers are greatly influenced by a leader in whom they have strong confidence to solve complex problems and achieve great goals — in that sense, the leader is their hero. Critics caution us to not take this to extremes, that is, that the hero is not to be seen as someone who can save us from any situation. Rather, the heroic leader is someone that we greatly respect and, thus, we are willing to follow him or her.
This approach to leadership is from the believe that “today is so interconnected and interdependent that leaders need to differentiate situations that are complex from those that are complicated – think Everglades (Complex) versus Rolex watch (complicated) or customer relations (Complex) versus financial spreadsheet (complicated).” — Carol Mase
The VUCA framework focuses on the competencies needed to lead and act effectively in a Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, and Ambiguous world. The framework is based on the premises that the world is changing rapidly as never before and, thus, any static form of leadership soon becomes obsolete. — Carol Mase
Different styles of leadership can range from very directive and influential to very supportive and consensus-based. The style that you use depends on a variety of factors. After reading about the different styles, which one(s) do you favor and why? The style that you choose depends on a variety of factors. See How Do I Know Which Theory, Model and Style to Use?
Autocratic leaders rarely solicit information from those they lead, rather these leaders make decisions based on their own perspectives, assumptions and conclusions. This style is the opposite of the participatory leaders.
Charismatic leaders influence others by the nature of their personality, for example, by being highly visionary, inspirational and motivational. As with other styles of leadership, the charismatic leader can influence others for highly moral or immoral reasons.
Participative leadership is when the leader encourages other to take part in decision-making and problem-solving. It can range from decisions being made by the leader after suitable discussion to decisions being made by consensus of the participants. This approach often results in stronger understanding and commitment to the outcomes of the participation.
This style can be seen as a hands-off style in which the leaders delegate responsibilities and decisions to the followers. The leaders do not see themselves becoming involved unless their is a problem that requires it.
Different Domains of Leadership — Each Needing Different Skills
There are at least five different domains or primary areas of focus of leadership, each of them requiring somewhat different skills in leadership. This is often forgotten. For example:
Leading yourself requires skills, for example, in self-confidence, assertiveness and stress management.
Leading other individuals requires skills, for example, in delegating, mentoring and coaching.
Leading groups requires skills, for example, in team building, facilitation and team performance management.
Leading organizations requires skills, for example, in strategic planning, organizational change and organizational performance management.
Leading communities requires skills, for example, in community organizing and collaboration.
The skills in leading can increase in complexity as the primary focus of leadership expands. Also, the types of the skills can overlap and be highly integrated with each other as the primary focus expands.
HOW TO LEAD YOURSELF, OTHERS, GROUPS AND ORGANIZATIONS
How Do I Know Which Theory, Model and Style to Use?
Key Considerations When Deciding How to Lead
Your decision depends on the following. If you are leading another person, group or organization, then you might discuss the considerations with the other person or the leaders of the group or organization.
What you believe to be the most important explanation for successful leadership (which theory you prefer?)
What you believe to be the most important framework and elements in successful leadership (which model you prefer?)
Your natural style (do you prefer mostly to give advice to direct others or ask thoughtful questions to bring out wisdom and conclusions from others?)
Whether you are leading yourself, another individual, a group or an organization (different skills are needed for each)
The culture — the nature — of the other person, group or organization
The above considerations can make it rather challenging when trying to determine how to lead. That is why leadership development programs often focus on desired competencies. A competency is a set of needed knowledge (new useful information), skills (effective application of that knowledge) and abilities (natural or instinctive expertise to use skills in a variety of situations) to do a certain task or job.
Competencies can be identified by using a variety of methods. For example, by observing others who already have strong skills and abilities in leading. Another source is to research various best practices or standards of excellence in leading. Then a training and development program is customized to develop those competencies in others.
Some Suggested Core Competencies to Lead In Any Situation
Various experts would disagree on what skills and practices should be required for leaders in organizations. Various roles and skills are listed throughout the next sections in this topic. However, it would be difficult to undertake them without having the following core competencies.
There is a vast range of articles suggesting core competencies for leaders. Many of them are referenced in Miscellaneous Perspectives
How to Lead Yourself
Reminder: As stated above, there are several considerations when deciding how to lead. Be sure to read How Do I Know Which Theory, Model and Style to Use? before using the resources listed in this section.
Most information about leadership seems to start from the opinion that leading is about leading other people. However, you cannot effectively lead others unless you can first effectively lead yourself. Thus, this is the most important area of leadership.
Also consider The “Butterfly” series in the subsection “Systems-Based Leadership” in the section Major Models and Approaches.
How to Lead Another Individual
Reminder: As stated above, there are several considerations when deciding how to lead. Be sure to read How Do I Know Which Theory, Model and Style to Use? before using the resources listed in this section.
The activities in leading other individuals who report directly to the leader in an organization is often referred to as Supervision, so that topic also might also be useful to you.
Reminder: As stated above, there are several considerations when deciding how to lead. Be sure to read How Do I Know Which Theory, Model and Style to Use? before using the resources listed in this section.
Note that some experts believe that the dynamics of a collection of about 12 people or less is quite different than a collection of 12 or more — 12 or more becomes more like what we think of as an “organization” with a distinct culture. Many people think of a “team” as apart from a group — they think of a team as a collection of people with a specific purpose and organized to achieve certain goals.
Reminder: As stated above, there are several considerations when deciding how to lead. Be sure to read How Do I Know Which Theory, Model and Style to Use? before using the resources listed in this section.
The topic of leading large groups and organizations is often referred to as organizational change and development. Thus, the topic Guidelines, Methods and Resources for Organizational Change Agents will be especially useful to those following the links in this section.
Do you want to change anything about your style or leadership skills? You can improve your skills in a rather informal approach or in a carefully designed and systematic approach. The latter is often referred to as a leadership development program. Here are guidelines for either approach.
The vast majority of guidelines about leading for-profit and government organizations also apply to nonprofits, so do consider the above information in this topic.
There is a great deal of anecdotal information about leadership — much of it seems more in the realm of spiritual development than leadership. For example, leaders are encouraged to have integrity, compassion, vision, charisma, fortitude, humility, listening skills, decision-making skills, problem-solving skills, authenticity, strong ethical principles, continuous learning, courage, wisdom, humor, tenacity, balance, strong sense of purpose, assertiveness, facilitation skills, planning skills, knowledge of the industry, change management skills, coaching skills, delegation skills and meeting management skills.
They are encouraged to deftly switch between different modes of leading, e.g., adaptive leadership, appreciative leadership, authentic leadership, charismatic leadership, heroic leadership, participative leadership, servant leadership, transformational leadership and VUCA leadership but rarely autocratic leadership or Laissez-Faire leadership.
Here are some additional perspectives about leadership.
Learn More in the Library’s Blogs Related to Leadership
In addition to the articles on this current page, see the following blogs which have posts related to Leadership. Scan down the blog’s page to see various posts. Also see the section “Recent Blog Posts” in the sidebar of the blog or click on “next” near the bottom of a post in the blog.
To round out your knowledge of this Library topic, you may want to review some related topics, available from the link below. Each of the related topics includes free, online resources.
Also, scan the Recommended Books listed below. They have been selected for their relevance and highly practical nature.
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