Last month we featured questions to ask yourself while going through a period of change or uncertainty and these were very timely for many of you. August is often a time for reflecting and refocusing as we enjoy going on holiday, relaxing at home or simply the fact that our working environments are slightly less hectic.
This month we are exploring questions about leadership and how we can become somebody that more people want to follow. I think the quote below summarises it nicely.
“Leaders must be close enough to relate to others but far enough ahead to motivate them” John Maxwell
We hope you enjoy this newsletter and that it leads your thinking as we begin to enter Autumn (though as I write this it could be the middle of summer, wonderful weather!).
Featured Topic: Effective Leadership
At Pelican we are passionate about helping you to develop as authentic and inspiring leaders, leading others from the ‘inside out’.
If you find these questions useful do forward them onto a friend or colleague.
20 questions to ask yourself about your leadership style. Thanks to David Kelly for helping to compile these.
- Do I have a good understanding of my values and beliefs and how these impact my leadership style? How can I become more self aware?
- Am I aware of the shadow that I cast as a leader? What would I like my shadow to be?
- Do I have a vision for my team/organisation that I really believe in myself and is it inspiring and motivational for others?
- Do I have an effective strategy to communicate this vision and gain real buy-in from my people?
- Have I a clear understanding of the business we are in and am I up to date with developments in our market place? How can I make more time for this?
- Has my team an agreed set of values that drive our behaviour within and outside of the team? How is it clear to everyone that our values are more than just words?
- How do I demonstrate that my own actions have been driven by these team values?
- How can I show more of a genuine interest in my people?
- What motivates each one of my team?
- Has each individual had a chance to discuss and agree their short, medium and long term objectives?
- What are our agreed and transparent methods of measuring objectives?
- Have we agreed time scales for review and assessment of progress?
- How can I provide each individual with more support?
- How am I demonstrating that I value, support and endorse this plan?
- Do I readily deal with conflict within the team and between myself and other team members ?
- Do I regularly ask for feedback about my strengths and development needs from my team?
- Do I care deeply about the business and the people I lead?
- How I am making a difference?
- How am I coaching and challenging myself to think about things from many perspectives?
- How much more of my ‘true self’ can I bring into the work environment?
If you’d like to explore how you can lead yourself, your team or your organisation more effectively please contact us.
Activities last month
Coaching Surgeries
A Coaching Surgery enables people in an organisation or department to sign up for 30 minute short, sharp, focused coaching sessions. The feedback from these ’speed coaching’ sessions has always been very positive.
'Being Resilient’ booklet
I’m delighted to say that there has been continued interest in the hard copy version of my booklet. We are selling the ‘Being Resilient’ booklet for £5.75 and will offer a discount for bulk purchases. Please contact us if you’d like buy the booklet to support a team event, as a present for your team members or as a tool to encourage people in your organisation to think more resiliently.
I’m still working on my next booklet ‘Being Effective’, I hope to be able to tell you more next month.
Website
We have also been busy making some additions to our website this month, you’ll find new information about our associates and the types of workshops we offer.
What is coming next month?
Next month we have a lot of workshop activities, exploring issues such as empowerment, trust and effective communication. We have developed some exciting new tools for tackling these challenging issues a creative way.
More next month, when the Featured Topic will be Effectiveness.
Warm wishes
Helen
