This newsletter I have pleasure in introducing a wonderful Associate and

experienced Consultant, based in Auckland, New Zealand. Karen provides a range of

seminars and consulting designed to help “realign” your leadership focus for both
work and personal situations.

What Makes a leader?

In a management textbook, Donelson Forsyth outlined several decades ago what

was then the conventional wisdom of requirements for leadership. He listed things
like achievement drive, adaptability, alertness, energy, responsibility, self-confidence
and sociability.

Leadership author John Gardner’s “things leaders need to have” included physical
stamina, intelligence and judgment, eagerness to accept responsibilities, task
competence, a capacity to motivate, skill in dealing with people, the capacity to win
and hold trust, the capacity to manage and decide and set priorities—and of course,
if at all possible, charisma.

Warren Bennis’s list of leadership qualifications begins with "a guiding vision" and
includes passion, integrity, trust (and trustworthiness), curiosity and daring, a
"congruity" between visions and a leader’s life, personality and reliability.

In The Leadership Challenge, James Kouzes and Barry Bosner list as the "five
fundamental practices of exemplary leadership" to "challenge the process," "inspire a
shared vision," "enable others to act," "model the way" and "encourage the heart."

Colin Powell’s "Leadership Primer" has 18 points, beginning with "being responsible
means sometimes pissing people off".

You begin to get the point. Leaders are left with literally dozens of things that are
expected of them in their new roles. Questions like how in the world can I keep these
dozens of things in my head all the time? How can I be speaking to someone and be
thinking, am I modeling the way right now? Am I pissing people off enough or am I
seeking their approval too much? All loom large.

What makes a successful leader? More than anything, great leaders seem to
embody many and varied qualities, to reflect them naturally rather than making a
study of them. They have a good sense of what the context demands and a sense of
self. They take the time to understand their own direction, so that they can help point
others in their right direction.

Are You Leadership Material?

What type of leader are you? According to Type theory all of us are capable of
leading, but we lead in very different ways. Awareness of our own strengths and
weaknesses enables us to focus energy more productively. It also helps identify
causes of stress and areas for growth.

Explore the following 4 groups of strengths and weaknesses: see which resonates
most clearly for you. Remember, don't use these groups to box yourself in - you are
much more than a "Type". Do use them as another tool to add to your kit of
leadership communication and development skills.

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A VISIONARY Leader

Strengths:
- Looking ahead and seeing new possibilities
- Conceptualizing and designing, especially with regard to organizational change
- Setting high standards, particularly intellectually
- Seeing right to the heart of complex issues or problems
- Seeing the larger picture, the larger context

Weaknesses:
- Not easily showing sensitivity and appreciation to others
- Not following through on details, getting bored with routines
- Losing people with their fascination for complexity
- Being elitist
- Being impatient with those they don't perceive as competent

A TROUBLESHOOTING Leader

Strengths:
- Being ingenious and resourceful in getting things done
- Being honest and straightforward, “telling it like it is.”
- Having a practical approach to concrete problems
- Being adaptable and flexible
- Taking risks

Weaknesses:
- Being impatient with the theoretical, the abstract, the conceptual.
- Being impulsive and unpredictable, not looking before they leap
- Creating crises to have something exciting to do
- Not liking to produce written documents
- Not taking a stand, seeming indecisive.

A CATALYSING Leader

Strengths:
- Drawing out the best in people
- Working with and through people - participative leadership
- Good verbal and listening skills
- Being sensitive to the organizational climate
- Expressing empathy
- Being creative
- Getting people to work effectively and harmoniously together
- Learning new things, particularly about self and others

Weaknesses:
- Being too generous giving of time and self to others
- Deciding on the basis of personal likes and dislikes
- Giving too much autonomy and freedom
- Being too easily hurt
- Placing too much focus on people, not enough on organizational goals
- Having trouble “biting the bullet” especially when it may mean hurting people

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A CONSOLIDATING Leader

Strengths:
- Being realistic and practical
- Being decisive
- Paying attention to rules, policies and regulations
- Bringing a planned, organized approach to work
- Being dependable, steady workers, good at following through
- Being thorough, systematic and precise, especially with details

Weaknesses:
- Not always being responsive to the need for change
- Being a “rule is a rule is a rule / if I made an exception for you I’d have to make an
exception for everybody” person
- Deciding things too quickly
- Being impatient with delays and complications
- Having an excessive concern for crises that may never occur

Sourced from It Takes All Types! by Alan W. Broadsword, Baytree Publication Company

Changing_Course is a professional development series providing training

interventions using the either the Insights or Myers-Briggs Type Indicators, which
results in improved:
- communication
- team building
- leadership
- stress management
- motivational skills

To register or for more details, contact Karen Taylor at changing_course

(changing_course@hotmail.com)

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Dynamics of Leadership

Additionally, the InfoWorks International Dynamics of Leadership Program provides

customizable modules to help build sound leadership skills. Modules include:

• Introduction to Leadership

• Your Role in Managing Processes

• Harnessing the Power of Teamwork

• Your Role in Team Motivation

• Managing Change

• Managing Policies & Practices

• Are You Really Listening?

• Communication & Work Styles

• Your Role in Positive Reinforcement

• Positive Coaching That Impacts Performance

• Counseling to Restore Performance

• Your Role in Performance Management

• Developing Team Member Capability

• Priorities-Getting a Hold of the Job

• Team Leader’s Checklist-90 Day Plan

Email InfoWorks (infoworks@infoworks.com.au) for more information.