Category: Leadership Skills

Everything in coaching hinges on listening – it is the key to the coaching session. Listening is also essential for personal and professional success. Even though we know listening is important – active listening is not always a common practice. Active listening shows respect and that you desire to learn and understand the speaker. Here are some active listening skills:

Summarize or paraphrase – occasionally, repeat back what you heard the speaker say such as, “So I heard what you are saying is…” or “It sounds like…” This will increase your ability to concentrate on what is being said and assure you understand the message.

Use the pause button – let the speaker finish what they are saying. Avoid talking over them or jumping in to finish their sentence. Listen – pause – then express your own points.

Observe for non verbal cues – gestures, body language, emotions, eye movements, tone of voice and inflection offer more than just the words. If on the phone, listen for energy shifts, pace and what is not being said.

Ask questions to get a better understanding – “can you say more about that?” or “help me understand what you mean”.

Focus on the speaker – minimize external distractions and multitasking to capture the full essence of what is being said. For internal distractions, practice re-focusing your attention on the speaker when your mind wanders.

What additional active listening skills work well for you?

For more resources, see the Library topic Personal and Professional Coaching.

Greetings

The plan is to dialogue this week about how leadership is, or might be defined. 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. What do you think?

Do you agree that defining relationship is a worthy effort…or is this much ado about nothing? What is your definition of leadership? If you don’t have one, and this is an important topic for you, I suggest that you take some time and create a working definition. It would be great if you would share your definition with the rest of us — but coming up with a definition is an exercise that is ultimately meant for your benefit.

Current competency models in the field of Human Resources (HR) share common themes. Among them is the necessity of the HR professional to serve as a credible activist. This becomes even more important to the HR professional who is in an organization that still sees HR as the party planner or the corporate police. Below are some tips on building credibility in the workplace.

1. Learn the Business. As mentioned in my previous post, learning the business of business is essential in gaining credibility. Understanding how the activities of the HR department impact the goals of the organization will help you speak the language of the organization. If you are in a high sales culture, learn what HR activities impact sales revenue and create measures to prove it.

2. Keep Commitments and Meet Deadlines. Doing what you say you are going to do and meeting deadlines builds reliability. If something prevents you from doing so, be sure to keep others informed with updates.

3. Own Your Mistakes. If you make a mistake, don’t try to hide it or place blame on others. Admit when you are wrong. If necessary, ask for feedback on how you can improve or share what you have learned from the mistake. If an apology is in order, apologize.

4. Learn to Ask and Listen. Listening is often one of the most difficult of the communication skills. However, failing to ask the right questions and then listening to understand could result in the wrong message being communicated out.

5. Explain the Reasons and Help Find Alternatives. There are going to be times that the HR professional in the building has to say no. Being charged with the responsibility of mitigating risk is essential to the role. Keep in mind that managers sometimes have the perceptions that HR is there to be the police and find ways to say no. Instead, find ways to say yes by helping managers find alternative solutions. This is where the ask and listen skill becomes critical.

6. Use Empathy and Keep Emotions In Check. Showing empathy to others does not mean that you agree, it simply means that you understand the emotion they are feeling. Not acknowledging this emotion sends the message that you are not listening or do not care.

Further, be careful with emotions. While positive emotions can fuel our success, negative emotions can destroy our credibility. Emotions and logic do not always work together well. For example, it is human nature to become defensive when one feels attacked; however, letting emotion take over for logic in this case increases your risk of saying things that you will later regret. Find a tactic that works for you in keeping your emotions in check. One tactic is to count silently for a few seconds before responding. Regardless of the tactic you choose, remember that objective judgment is another essential competency in the HR profession.

7. Give Credit where Credit is Due. Acknowledge the good work of others especially those who work under you. People feel threatened and lack trust for leaders who try to take credit for their ideas and work.

What else can you add to this list? Your thoughts, comments and questions are always encouraged!

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For more resources, See the Human Resources library.

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This blog is intended for people that are involved with, or want to be involved with, the “mobilizing, influencing, and guiding of others toward desired outcomes” (this is our beginning definition of leadership). This blog aims to provide learning and resources on all-things-leadership through the sharing of ideas, articles, theories, research findings, and opinions. But we also want to create a context for ongoing dialogue and generative conversations about leadership ideas and leadership practices. This means that we want to share existing information about leadership but also engage with our fellow bloggers in the co-creation of possible solutions and strategies to apply to your specific leadership related issues, questions, situations. In essence, we hope to differentiate ourselves from blogs that simply provide lists of the skills, values, beliefs, and attitudes that are required for leadership success.

Having said this, this blog is for everyone and anyone, from those new to the realm of leadership, as well as individuals with advance knowledge and expertise in leadership. So our plan is to begin the blog by providing an overview of a number of fairly common and general leadership topics. The idea is to then delve into more specific topics based on the expressed interests of the bloggers involved.

Schedule

In view of this approach, we have provided a schedule of topics for the first six weeks that are fairly broad.

Week 1: Possible Topics and Categories

Week 2: Definitions of Leadership

Week 3: Leadership and Management (Differences and Similarities)

Week 4: Theories of Leadership

Week 5: Leadership Development

Week 6: Competencies

This is week one and the topic is possible categories and topics that might be addressed in future blogs.

Possible Topics — Your Preference?

Below is a list of possible leadership categories and topics. I want to invite you to answer one or both of the following questions (of course other questions or comments are also welcome):

1) Which of the topics listed below would be most helpful (and/or intriguing) to learn about and discuss?

2) What topics are missing from the list that you would find helpful (and/or intriguing) to learn about and discuss?

Category: Leadership Models/Theories/Approaches

• Transformational
• Transactional
• Servant
• Adaptive
• Charismatic
• Neo-Charismatic
• Authentic
• Situational
• Integral
• Appreciative
• Complexity
• Primal

Category: Leadership Competencies/Skills

• Overview
• Competency models
• Role in assessment, selection, and development
• Competency model development
• Critiques of competencies

Category: Leadership Development

• Approaches
• Case studies
• Best practices
• Pipeline development/Succession planning
• Leader involvement in development
• Nature and nurture
• High potential
• Action learning
• Coaching
• Feedback
• Mentoring
• Derailers

Category: Leadership Assessment

• Approaches
• Use in selection
• Use in development
• Personality
• Cognitive
• Simulations
• Multi-rater feedback
• Interviews
• Assessing potential
• Assessing readiness
• Critiques of assessment

Miscellaneous Leadership Topics and Categories

• Leaders as Coaches
• Leading Organizational Change
• CEOs
• C-Level Leadership
• Boards of Directors
• Non-Profit Leadership
• Leading Cross-Culturally
• Global Leadership
• Building and Leading High Performance Teams
• Leading in Complex Organizations
• Leading Self/Self-Awareness
• Power and influence
• Leadership Ethics
• Leadership Typologies
• Current and Emerging Research
• Leaders and Family Owned Businesses
• Non-Profit Leadership
• Cultural Influences/Differences
• Leadership and Gender
• Use of Language
• Leadership Styles
• On-boarding
• Expat Re-entry
• Leadership in Times of Crisis
• Graduate Programs in Leadership
• Physician Leaders
• Peer-coaching
• Social Responsibility
• Retention
• Role in employee engagement
• Strategic Thinking
• Systemic Thinking
• Situational Leadership
• Leading from a Distance

I am privileged to be the Coaching Blog Manager for Authenticity Consulting. This Blog will be a forum for learning, idea exchange, and discussion with you, our readers.

I became a Professional Coach in 1999. At that time, there were only about 10,000 coaches and handful of coaching schools available – the main ones being, Coaches Training Institute and CoachU . In telling people that I was a Professional Coach, they would inevitably ask, “What Sport?”

Fast forward to 2010 – the coaching industry has exploded. According to the ICF Global Coaching Survey it is conservatively estimated that there are now 30,000 (some say 50, 000) active coaches worldwide and that the coaching industry generates approximately 1.5 billion annually. It is predicted that the coaching industry is still in its growth phase and that there will continue to be a demand for coaching services and coaching career opportunities.

Here are some of the topics our Blog will initially feature.

• Define coaching: distinctions between coaching, consulting, mentoring, counseling
• How does coaching work?
• Types of coaching
• The coach-client relationship
• Coaching ethics
• What to look for in selecting a coach
• Coaching skills and tips
• Coaching trends

I welcome you to participate by posting a reply with your thoughts, comments and questions regarding coaching.

For more resources, see the Library topic Personal and Professional Coaching.

The co-hosts for this blog are Steve Wolinski and Steven Ober. You can learn more about the hosts by clicking on the “Read more” link beneath their respective photos on the right of this page. The blog will also include posts from guest writers and interviews. You can learn more about this blog by clicking on the “About” tab located under the header.

• Before using the blog, please take a few minutes now to read about the policies. Go to Policies under the header.
• Feel free to share a comment about a post. Just click on the link “Leave a response” under the post in the body of the blog.
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• You can also use email to get notified when there are new comments to a post. When you click on “Leave a response” under the post, check the box to be notified of any follow-up comments.
• You can get a lot of visibility to your work by being a guest writer. Many of the Library’s topics consistently rank in the top 10 of Google search results. Go to Guest Writer Submissions under the header.
• See the many Related Library Topics listed on the sidebar. They contain 100s of free online, articles related to the topic of this blog.
• Read the many other useful blogs in the Library. Go to Library’s Blogs in the sidebar.
• Search for any topics you’re interested in. Use the Search box at the top of the header.
• If larger text would be easier for you to read, just click on the 3 “A”s above the header until the text is large enough for you to easily read.

If you have any questions, just use the Contact Us form at the bottom of each page.

Welcome!

I’m Pam Solberg-Tapper and I’m the host of this blog. You can read more about me next to my picture in the sidebar. This blog will be about various aspects of coaching, will focus especially on practical tips and tools, and will include posts from guest writers. You can learn more about this blog by clicking on the About link just under the header.

• Before using the blog, please take a few minutes now to read about the policies. Go to Policies under the header.
• Feel free to share a comment about a post. Just click on the link “Leave a response” under the post in the body of the blog.
• You can use RSS or email to get copied on any new posts in the blog. Go to To Subscribe under the header to select RSS subscription or email subscription to get updates.
• You can also use email to get notified when there are new comments to a post. When you click on “Leave a response” under the post, check the box to be notified of any follow-up comments.
• You can get a lot of visibility to your work by being a guest writer. Many of the Library’s topics consistently rank in the top 10 of Google search results. Go to Guest Writer Submissions under the header.
• See the many Related Library Topics listed on the sidebar. They contain 100s of free online, articles related to the topic of this blog.
• Read the many other useful blogs in the Library. Go to Library’s Blogs in the sidebar.
• Search for any topics you’re interested in. Use the Search box at the top of the header.
• If larger text would be easier for you to read, just click on the 3 “A”s above the header until the text is large enough for you to easily read.

If you have any questions, just use the Contact Us form at the bottom of each page.

Welcome!

For more resources, see the Library topic Personal and Professional Coaching.