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Skills for Developing Yourself as a Leader 3 Chapter Skills for Developing Yourself as a Leader

Introduction Your First 90 Days as a Leader Learning From Experience Building Technical Competence Building Effective Relationships with Superiors Building Effective Relationships with Peers Development Planning

Your First 90 Days as a Leader Figure 3.1: New Leader Onboarding Road Map

Before You Start: Do Your Homework Candidates should gather as much information about their potential company as they can. Some good sources of information include Web sites, annual reports, press releases, and marketing literature. Use Facebook, LinkedIn, Plaxo, and other social networking sites to set up informational interviews with people inside the organization.

The First Day: You Get Only One Chance to Make a First Impression New leaders have two critical tasks to accomplish the first day on the job: meeting their new boss and meeting their new team. The first meeting with the boss should happen in the boss’s office and be about an hour long. Key topics to discuss include: Identifying the team’s key objectives, metrics, and important projects Understanding the boss’s view of team strengths and weaknesses Working through meeting schedules and communication styles Sharing plans for the day and the next several weeks

The First Two Weeks: Lay the Foundation The first two weeks should be filled with meeting with many people both inside and outside the team. The key objectives for these meetings are: Learning as much as possible Developing relationships Determining future allies

The First Two Weeks: Lay the Foundation (continued) One-on-one meetings with key team members should provide the leader with answers to critical questions. What is the team member working on? What are the team member’s objectives? Who are the “stars” a level or two down in the organization? What are the people issues on the team? What can the team do better? What advice do team members have for the new leader, and what can the new leader do to help team members?

The First Two Weeks: Lay the Foundation (continued) New leaders should schedule one-on-one meetings with all their peers to build rapport. During these meetings, the new leader should discuss the following: Their peers’ objectives, challenges, team structure, etc. Their perspectives on what the new leader’s team does well and could do better Their perspectives on the new leader’s team members How to best communicate with the boss How issues get raised and decisions made on their boss’s team

The First Two Months: Strategy, Structure, and Staffing During this time period, the leader is gathering more information, determining the direction, and finalizing the appropriate structure and staffing for the team. Tasks to be performed include: Gathering benchmarking information from other organizations Meeting with key external customers and suppliers Meeting with the former team leader, if appropriate

The Third Month: Communicate and Drive Change The two major events for the third month are to: Meet with the entire team Meet off-site with direct reports (if the team is large). The new leader should have developed a vision of the future. Things to do now include: Articulating how the team will win Identifying the what, why, and how of any needed changes Defining a clear set of expectations for team members

Learning From Experience Leadership practitioners can enhance the learning value of experiences by: Creating opportunities to get feedback Taking a “10 percent stretch” Learning from others Keeping a journal of daily leadership events Having a developmental plan

Building Technical Competence Technical competence concerns the knowledge and repertoire of behaviors one can utilize to complete a task successfully. Followers with technical competence earn greater rewards, exert influence in their groups, and have greater say in decisions. For leaders, technical competence is related to improved managerial promotion rates, better training skills, lower rates of group conflict, and higher motivation levels among followers.

Building Technical Competence (continued) Both leaders and followers can improve technical competence by: Determining how the job contributes to the overall mission and success of the organization Becoming an expert in the job through education, training, observation, and teaching Seeking opportunities to broaden experiences by working on team projects and visiting other parts of the organization

Building Effective Relationships with Superiors Building an effective relationship with superiors involves understanding the superior’s world by: Learning the superior’s personal and organizational objectives Realizing that superiors do not have all the answers and have both strengths and weaknesses Keeping the superior informed about various activities in the work group or new developments or opportunities in the field

Building Effective Relationships with Superiors (continued) Building an effective relationship with superiors requires followers to adapt to the superior’s style by: Clarifying expectations about their role on the team, committee, or work group Listing major responsibilities and use them to guide discussions with the superior about other ways to accomplish the task and relative priorities of the tasks Being honest and dependable

Building Effective Relationships with Peers Research suggests that a key requirement of leadership effectiveness is the ability to build strong alliances with others, such as peers. Building effective relationships with peers involves: Recognizing common interests and goals Understanding peers’ tasks, problems, and rewards Practicing a Theory Y attitude

Development Planning Developmental planning is the systematic process of building knowledge and experience or changing behavior. Peterson and Hicks claim that there are 5 interrelated phases to developmental planning: Identifying development needs Analyzing data to identify and prioritize development needs Using prioritized development needs to create a focused and achievable development plan Periodically reviewing the plan, reflecting on learning, and modifying or updating the plan as appropriate Transferring learning to new environments

Conducting a GAPS Analysis The first phase in the development planning process is to conduct a GAPS (goals, abilities, perceptions, standards) analysis which involves the following steps: Identifying your career objectives Identifying your strengths and development needs related to your career objectives Determining how your abilities, skills, and behaviors are perceived by others based on 360-feedback or performance reviews Determining the expectations your boss or organization has for your career objectives

Identifying and Prioritizing Development Needs: Gaps of GAPS

Bridging the Gaps: Building a Development Plan There are 7 steps to developing a high impact development plan: Step 1: Career and development objectives Step 2: Criteria for success Step 3: Action steps Step 4: Whom to involve and reassess dates Step 5: Stretch assignments Step 6: Resources Step 7: Reflect with a partner