Developing Leadership Strategies

First Published in 2003. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Imagine Being In The Middle of a War... And not only that, you're the leader of a small team there trapped in the middle of the war. What would you do? Developing Leadership Strategies shows you how to become effective when you're in charge by using the power of traits like accountability, humility, and others uses to lead team. If you've ever lead a team, you know how tough it is. You've got to manage your responsibilities well, including training, decisions, and much more. And to top it all off you also need to lead from the front to set a good example for your team! Leadership is the most challenging of human endeavours. It is often misunderstood. It can bewilder, mystify and frustrate even the most dedicated practitioners. Leaders at all levels are often forced to use theoretical guesswork to make decisions and lead their troops. It doesn't have to be that way. There are principles that can be applied and tenets that can be followed. There are skills that can be learned and manoeuvres that can be practised and executed. There are leadership strategies and tactics that have been tested and proven on the battlefield, in business and in life. Here are my 3 favorite lessons from this book about leadership: ✓ To see the best move forward for your team, take a step backward, even literally if you have to. ✓ Effective leadership means having enough humility to do things like picking up brass. ✓ If you want everything to run more smoothly, learn to communicate well. Ready for a big boost to your leadership skills?

Developing Leadership and Management Skills is essential reading for anyone studying the Level 5 CIPD L&D module of the same name as well as all learning and development professionals looking to develop the skills of leaders and managers in their organisation. With a thorough grounding in scientific management, leadership theories and the similarities and differences between leaders and managers, reader will fully understand the distinction between the two roles. There is also comprehensive coverage of the role of L&D in developing leaders and managers including designing learning interventions, using e-learning and blending learning, talent development, succession planning and employee engagement. Developing Leadership and Management Skills also includes guidance on how L&D professionals can ensure ownership and success of leadership and management development programmes. This includes indicators of success, individualised interventions and how to demonstrate and communicate achievement of success ensuring that L&D professionals have all the tools they need to effectively develop leaders and managers in their organisation.

It’s estimated that U.S. companies spend over $14 billion annually on leadership development --Match that number to the abundant and growing research that finds most leadership development to be ineffective, and the conclusion is a phenomenal amount of waste. The remedy for this situation is to have business strategy drive leadership development instead of creating programs that match a one-size-fits-all approach to leadership. This book's approach, called Strategy-Driven Leadership Development (SDLD), puts business strategy first. It maintains an emphasis on building leadership programs around what it will take to make the business successful as opposed to implementing a program in the hopes that it will benefit the strategy. The result is a differentiated and targeted approach called Intentional Leadership Development, which provides the structure for transforming how leadership development is undertaken. At the heart of this book, however, is the explanation of how small, incremental changes in action and perspective create meaningful changes in the way leadership is developed. The focus is on the leadership behaviors associated with success for any company. Some companies may need leaders with better financial acumen while others may require better teamwork for success. These skills are learnable and when the energy of an organization is behind it, then leadership development can be transformational. The authors method "retools" prior leadership efforts – the emphasis is not on previous failures and restarting with new programs. There are many effective ideas and actions that are currently embedded in leadership programs, but they miss the critical element of tying their efforts to the business strategy. Strategy-Driven Leadership changes the way organizations think about and drive their leadership talent initiatives among their current and upcoming leaders. The book is filled with research, science-based information, case studies, and practical hands-on tools on why and how this Strategy-Driven Leadership Development model will transform company leadership approaches.

Based on the popular Developing Leadership Talent program offered by the acclaimed Center for Creative Leadership, this important resource offers a nuts-and-bolts framework for putting in place a leadership development system that will attract and retain the best and brightest talent. Step by step, the authors explain how alignment with strategic goals and organizational purpose and effective developmental experiences are the backbone of a successful leadership program. An authoritative and useful book, Developing Leadership Talent is an essential tool for any leadership program.

This book focuses on the element of leadership that has largely been neglected in the literature: character. Often thought to be a subjective construct, the book demonstrates the concrete behaviors associated with different character dimensions in order to illustrate how these behaviors can be developed, and character strengthened. Based on research involving over 300 senior leaders from different industries, sectors and countries, Crossan, Seijts, and Gandz developed a model for leadership character that focuses on eleven dimensions. The book begins by setting the context for the focus on character in business, asking what character is and whether it can be learned, developed, molded or changed. Next, the book focuses on each dimension of leadership character in turn, exploring its elements and the ways in which it can be applied in a business setting. The book concludes with a summary of the key insights, an exploration of the interactions between the character dimensions, and a call to the reader to reflect on how to develop one’s own and others’ leadership character. Bridging theory and management practice, Developing Leadership Character will interest students and practitioners alike. Readers will benefit not only from a new, robust theoretical framework for leadership character, but will also learn how character can be developed further.

How organizations can effectively put experience at the center of the development process Research increasingly and conclusively shows that effective leaders continue to learn, grow, and change throughout their careers and that a significant part of this development occurs through on-the-job experiences. Co-Published by the Society of Industrial and Organizational Psychology and sponsored by the Center for Creative Leadership, Using Experience to Develop Leadership Talent provides real-world strategies, best practices, lessons learned, and global perspectives on how organizations effectively use experience to develop talent. Provides an in-depth look at a variety of leader development initiatives that have taken up the challenge of putting experience at the center of the development process Written by senior practitioners who have implemented initiatives they write about Shares new development planning tools, systematic approaches to managing the assignments of high potentials, tools to educate managers on how to find assignments that meet their employee's development needs Includes online resources that allow employees to search for development opportunities Describing challenges and practices in multinational companies around the world, Using Experience to Develop Leadership Talent will serve as a focused guide to how organizations can use on-the-job development to reshape leader development practices that better integrate work and learning.

“It’s not the magic that makes it work; it’s the way we work that makes it magic.” The secret for creating “magic” in our careers, our organizations, and our lives is simple: outstanding leadership—the kind that inspires employees, delights customers, and achieves extraordinary business results. No one knows more about this kind of leadership than Lee Cockerell, the man who ran Walt Disney World® Resort operations for over a decade. And in Creating Magic, he shares the leadership principles that not only guided his own journey from a poor farm boy in Oklahoma to the head of operations for a multibillion dollar enterprise, but that also soon came to form the cultural bedrock of the world’s number one vacation destination. But as Lee demonstrates, great leadership isn’t about mastering impossibly complex management theories. We can all become outstanding leaders by following the ten practical, common sense strategies outlined in this remarkable book. As straightforward as they are profound, these leadership lessons include: Everyone is important. Make your people your brand. Burn the free fuel: appreciation, recognition, and encouragement. Give people a purpose, not just a job. Combining surprising business wisdom with insightful and entertaining stories from Lee’s four decades on the front lines of some of the world’s best-run companies, Creating Magic shows all of us – from small business owners to managers at every level – how to become better leaders by infusing quality, character, courage, enthusiasm, and integrity into our workplace and into our lives.