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Archimedes’ Principle, the Growth of Civilization and Leadership Development

Leadership

March 8, 2015

Archimedes’ Principle, the Growth of Civilization and Leadership Development

Can there really be a culture of innovation? We often associate the word “culture” with fixed systems and values. We think of it in terms of tradition rather than innovation. However, these two things don’t have to be mutually exclusive. You can have a tradition that encourages free thought and new ideas. One of the main aims of leadership development is to create a freethinking tradition within your company.

If you look back at the history of civilization, you’ll find that the most successful ones were those which tried out many new things, experimenting continuously and encouraging the growth of arts and sciences. It’s only when a civilization becomes too rigid that it starts to fall. As a leader, how do you prevent this from happening in your team?

Encourage Quality

The final aim of every company is to make more money. So sales are important. However, the quality of your product also matters. The quality of work that your employees do makes a difference. It doesn’t matter whether that work is in the sales and marketing department or the HR department. You always know good quality when you see it.

Encourage your team members to be quality-oriented rather than quantity-oriented and you’ll find that they’ll come up with more ideas about improving the way the company works rather than just doing more of what’s required from them.

Encourage Time Outs

Do you remember the story of Archimedes who was doing his best to discover what is currently known as the Archimedes principle? He tried really hard to figure out this principle but was unable to do so. Instead of wasting more time, he decided to take a break and go for a bath. And as he was lying in the bathtub, feeling relaxed, the answer just popped into his head. That’s when he ran out into the street half-naked shouting “Eureka!” (I’ve got it).

The point of the story is that the answer sometimes comes to you during a time out. So it’s great to have hard-working team members who put in the hours necessary to make your business successful. However, you should also encourage those working with you to take time outs as and when needed. Encourage them to spend time with friends and family or just lounge in the break room if they’re tired. You’ll find that happy, relaxed employees come up with much better ideas than tired ones.

Basic Principles of Church Leadership Training

Spiritual

Matthew Schoenherr

November 19, 2014

Basic Principles of Church Leadership Training

Church leadership training differs from other forms of leadership training in that there should be an emphasis on training leaders to be servants. In contrast, most business models are led from the top down. The concept of leading as a servant is Christ-centered and could be thought of as leading from the bottom up.

Qualifications of a Church Leader

The Apostle Paul listed several qualifications in the 3rd chapter of 1st Timothy. Such things as being above reproach, exhibiting self-control, possessing a calm and gentle manner, able to resolve conflict, able to teach, stays away from foolish arguments, and understands the value of the family. Church leaders should be humble, seeking the good of others in the church. Church leaders love God and love those they serve. They are ever mindful of the example of Christ getting a basin of water, a towel, and proceeding to wash his disciples feet. Those in leadership seek to do for others as they would have others do for them. In the example of Christ, Jesus is seeking to teach his disciples to do for each other as he has done for them.

Characteristics of Church Leadership

The dynamic of church leadership can be challenging because it is based on meeting the ever changing needs of many different types of people. Therefore, in order to meet those needs, the Church must have a wide range of competent and trained leaders able to administer the scope and breadth of leadership. Church leadership begins with the pastoral staff who must lead with vision. It is written: “without a vision, the people perish,” (Proverbs 29:18). Most, if not all churches will need leaders to reach out to shut-in’s, seniors, singles, youth, and marriage and family groups. Most of these leaders will be volunteers from the congregation.

Ways To Implement Church Leadership Training

Consider using a co-op model for pastoral leadership. Instead of having a Senior and Associate Pastors, use the title Senior Pastor or simply, Pastor for all pastors on staff. Hi, my name is John and I’m one of the pastors here on staff.
Search for ways to clarify the language of the Church and of the Bible. Instead of sanctification or redemption, try to use illustrations that describe Biblical concepts. People don’t want to think they need a doctoral education in theology before walking through the doors of your church.
Create camaraderie with a weekend retreat.
Utilize an online prescence. Broadcast services, studies, and teaching through the use of television, radio, internet, podcasts, and mobile apps.

Use Your Past Experiences in Leadership Courses

Leadership

Matthew Schoenherr

November 17, 2014

Use Your Past Experiences in Leadership Courses

Sometimes, people think that they have to be very experienced if they want to lead other people. They might assume that you can’t be a leader if you’re young or you don’t have too much experience in the field. However, being a leader isn’t only about how much you’ve done in the past but also about how you utilize your experiences. Do you learn from your experiences or do you forget about them once they’re over? Leadership courses can help you put these things in perspective.

Owning Your Experiences

If you think about it, everyone has had experiences. Even the most uneventful lives are composed of doing things, seeing things and understanding things. If you work a 9-5 job, you’re still going to work, either by public transportation or by car, both of which can be experiences in themselves. You’re spending eight hours a day dealing with certain people, tasks and problems. You probably know enough about your field and these people to write a novel. Consider The Devil Wears Prada which is a book about spending a year working in the fashion industry. It’s not far-fetched to imagine that the author spent a year working in this industry herself before she wrote the book. Most creative work, leadership included, is autobiographical in nature.

Going Over Your Past Experiences

When it comes to leadership, the most important thing is learning to deal with people. In order to do this, go back over your experiences with individuals you have met in your life. When have your relationships been successful and when have they fizzled out or ended with a bang? What types of behaviors do you need to adopt and what types do you need to avoid? Are there certain personalities that you work well with and others that you don’t?

Providing the Support That People Need

A leader can’t afford to work well only with certain people. You have to be able to deal with all types of personalities. Sometimes, it’s about adapting your behaviors but sometimes, it’s about getting through to that other person and letting them know that you are on their side. After all, this is what everyone looks for in a leader. They want someone’s praise, appreciation and support. No one can live without the support of others.

Often, you may find that people grow angry with you when you’re giving them support but it’s not the type of support that they need. Someone might need encouragement to be a writer but you keep telling them they’re doing a great job in their current occupation which is not what they want to pursue. So being a leader is about having the finesse to dig deep into a person’s heart and figuring out what they really need before you’re able to give it to them.

Management Training Classes: Learning the Art of Communication

Leadership

Matthew Schoenherr

November 9, 2014

Management Training Classes: Learning the Art of Communication

When it comes to human communication, there are two different theories. One theory, based on the psychoanalytic model, suggests that things that are festering inside you should be allowed an outlet. So you need to share exactly what you’re feeling with people.

On the face of it, this sounds like a good idea because it promotes honesty and sharing your feelings. However, depending on how you feel, sharing your innermost thoughts may actually lead to a breakdown in communication. If you feel negatively about certain people or the things they may have done, then constantly telling them how you feel is likely to lead to arguments and fights. This may not be a bad thing if you’re sure that ridding yourself of that person is the best thing for you in that moment.

However, if you’re still interested in keeping that person in your life, it might be a good idea to refrain from making negative comments about their present or past behavior. This is the theory put forth by other writers such as Dale Carnegie who wrote the seminal book How to Win Friends and Influence People.

According to Carnegie, the cardinal rule of communication is “Don’t criticize, condemn or complain.” This is the rule he puts forth in the first chapter of his book. If you’re close to someone like a spouse, a sibling or a co-worker, constantly criticizing them, even for small things, can really affect the quality of your relationship.

Carnegie suggests that relationships such as these can be improved immensely if you just take the time to say something good about the other person rather than something bad. Biting your tongue may not come easy but it has its benefits in the long run.

When you take management training classes, you learn the comparative benefits of these two models of communication. It may not always be a good idea to bite your tongue because certain attitudes or behaviors do need to be pointed out. Racism or sexism can’t be tolerated. You can’t just led them slide. On the other hand, if you’re always pointing out what your colleagues have done wrong rather than what they’ve done right, you might end up alienating everyone in your work environment.

Think you know executive leadership training? Here are a trio of things you may not have considered.

Leadership

Matthew Schoenherr

August 30, 2014

Think you know executive leadership training? Here are a trio of things you may not have considered.

Executive leadership training can be difficult to implement in an organization. We want to help simplify the process. Use these three handles to start your training off in the right step.

1. Small Mistakes Now… Or HUGE Ones Later? The best reason to start leadership training early is to minimize huge risk in the future. Companies need to start putting young leaders into leadership roles earlier. Why? Wisdom is gained from making mistakes. The sooner we force leaders to understand that failure is NOT fatal, the sooner the company profits from their experience. Why are we waiting so long to bring young leaders along? We think we are protecting them, but the opposite is true Forbes confirms this:

On average, supervisors are 33 years of age (which means that many are younger than 33) but less than 10% receive training below the age of 30, and less than 1/4th of leaders receive training prior to age 35. This suggests that more than three-quarters of managers receive no formal training for their first position. They make mistakes that they could have avoided. They establish bad habits that need never have begun.

2. You ARE the Expert! Look for ways to raise up internal experts. What is the old standard for qualifying as an expert? You must live more than 50 miles away from the company you are providing executive leadership training. When was the last time you asked someone on the “inside” to provide training? One of the main reasons to stop outsourcing leadership projects comes from a 2005 Deloitte Study that found, “Outsourcing often reduces organizations’ responsiveness to market changes and poses internal political, organizational, and cultural challenges.”

Ask your best leaders to take on the challenge of executive leadership training because you will save time, money, and the fear of compromising valuable intellectual property. Experts need not be 50 miles away… they might be five feet away, or just across the hall.

3. It’s Not A Knowledge Issue. Make sure attitudes are in check. You can provide all of the executive leadership training you want, but if the leader does not have a good attitude, all of that training is for nothing. The reason is simple. Leaders with negative attitudes:

…do not listen effectively and avoid responsibility and accountability. They also blame others and are threatened by other views. Moreover, they do not seek or value feedback, see disagreement as conflict and their mindset is survival.

Before launching into a knowledge-based program, investigate personality profile tests or psychological assessments. Although a negative attitude can be toxic in the workplace, it is “fixable” and is a very good place to start with your executive leadership training.

To talk more about this, or anything else, please contact us.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/joefolkman/2014/06/18/the-urgent-need-to-develop-global-leaders-for-company-growth/

http://www.forbes.com/sites/johnkotter/2014/06/26/the-fastest-way-to-build-leadership-in-your-company-insource/

Executive Coaching: Empowering the Reluctant Leader

Leadership

Matthew Schoenherr

August 28, 2014

Executive Coaching: Empowering the Reluctant Leader

“We were surprised, shocked really, to discover the type of leadership required for turning a good company into a great one…Self-effacing, quiet, reserved, even shy – these leaders are a paradoxical blend of personal humility and professional will.”
~Jim Collins, from his bestselling book “Good to Great“

Sometimes the best leaders are the ones who are reluctant to step into the limelight. In fact, at times, it’s hard to convince them to step into a leadership role. They are fully capable leaders. They are highly respected by their peers and subordinates. However, it may be difficult for them to see the potential in themselves that everyone around them easily recognizes.

It’s easy to identify a reluctant leader. They are the first to give credit and the last to accept praise. They always put the good of the team ahead of their person goals. A reluctant leader isn’t looking for personal gain or glory. This genuine humility is one reason they often have the greatest potential to be successful leaders.

Reluctant leaders can benefit greatly from executive coaching. When these leaders have someone speaking into their life and calling out their potential, they become more confident in their role as a leader. While their skills may be very apparent to those around them, they need to realize and understand those skills in order to effectively lead.

Executive coaching can be the key that helps unlock their talents. As confidence in their own leadership skills increase, the team following them will feel more empowered. A reluctant leader naturally focuses on the team, and this focus allows them to easily recognize the strengths within their team. A good leader is passionate about developing others and recognizing the talents of others.

Please contact us for your professional leadership training needs.