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PERFECT PHRASES for LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT
Hundreds of Ready-to-Use Phrases for Guiding Employees to Reach the Next Level
By Meryl Runion, Wendy Mack The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
Copyright © 2011Meryl Runion
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-07-175094-3
Excerpt
CHAPTER 1
What Is a Dynamic Leader?
Phrase books aren't explicitly about presenting new leader models or concepts. They're about translating concepts into words for success in specific situations. However, to direct readers to success, phrase book authors need working concepts of success to weave into their writing. Wendy and I developed and defined the Dynamic Leadership Style and honed the phrases in this book accordingly. The phrases here support you to speak as a Dynamic Leader yourself while you take your employees to the next level of emerging leadership.
If you are what author Jim Collins calls a Level 5 Leader, you're probably also a Dynamic Leader. If you have what author Stephen Covey calls interdependence, you're probably a Dynamic Leader. If you have what author Noel Tichy calls a teachable point of view, you're probably a Dynamic Leader. If psychiatrist Carl Jung would declare you to be individuated, or psychologist Abraham Maslow would consider you to be self-actualized, you're probably a Dynamic Leader. If you see your own response as the greatest leverage you have in any situation, you're probably a Dynamic Leader. If you value these qualities and characteristics in employees, this is the book for you.
In the preface, a Dynamic Leader is defined as someone who empowers others to lead. That definition is expanded here:
* A Dynamic Leader has outgrown all forms of victimhood and tyranny, including manipulation and coercive power tactics, in favor of magnetic influence based on reciprocal engagement and confluent communication.
* A Dynamic Leader progressively clarifies and refines his or her own leadership philosophy and shares it eloquently with others.
* A Dynamic Leader serves organizational mission, vision, and values instead of personal power needs.
* A Dynamic Leader knows when to lead, when to manage, and when to stand down.
* A Dynamic Leader sees problems and obstacles as invitations to outgrow the perspectives that created them and to embrace higher perspectives to transform them.
* A Dynamic Leader uses Beginner's Mind to obtain fresh perspectives.
* A Dynamic Leader knows the stage a developing leader is at in his or her development process and engages that leader at the appropriate level.
* A Dynamic Leader empowers others by engaging their greatness more than by instruction.
* A Dynamic Leader progressively clarifies and refines a unique point of view by integrating input from self-reflection, study, mentoring, coaching, and feedback.
* A Dynamic Leader doesn't need the word leader in his or her title to take ownership of an area of influence.
* A Dynamic Leader measures personal leadership ability and that of others by the ability to empower others.
You can get a broader overview of what it means to be a Dynamic Leader by reviewing the Dynamic Leadership Index in Appendix A and online at www.speakstrong.com/leaderinventory.
Since every phrase in this book reflects what it means to be a Dynamic Leader and is developed to build Dynamic Leadership qualities in your employees, you can simply read on.
Leaders Need to Develop Leaders and Manage Succession
"I can go on vacation for two weeks and no one calls me with questions," Bob rejoiced. "My people can handle anything that happens." Bob is a leader who developed his employees into leaders. Bob empowered others.
He's also a leader who prepared for the possibility of his sudden departure. If Bob's uninterrupted vacations didn't get your attention, maybe this will. Bob left his position after seventeen years without creating a leadership vacuum.
The information and phrases here help you prepare for the future by developing leadership skills in employees, ensuring smooth succession transitions.
Succession Planning—It's Not Just for Senior Level Leaders Anymore
Although more than 80 percent of companies surveyed focus their succession planning efforts on the top three levels of their hierarchies, research shows a dramatic trend toward extending succession planning to retain high performers across all levels. They know they need consistency at every level.
The Immediate Need for Leadership at All Levels
Even when succession planning isn't an issue, this book fills an important need. Organizations require flexibility to adjust and adapt to a transforming business climate. We face too many internal and marketplace changes to be able to rely on precedent or attempt to control our organizations. Overworked leaders and executives can't adapt alone. We need employees who take charge, innovate, challenge outdated status quos, and implement change. The biggest differences between a successful company and an unsuccessful one can be how fast it responds, changes, and acts. Having leaders at all levels of the organization ready and empowered to make and implement decisions is key to that agility.
Exponential Resourcing
The dynamics that impel us to develop leadership potential and rely on the strengths of our employees also create a work-force that is increasingly receptive to stepping up to meet the challenge. With proper development, employees can think like mini-CEOs of their own domains, regardless of scope. They can envision what action is called for in the same way the CEO does. That's good news—and the good news doesn't stop there.
When employees shift from being followers to being leaders, the effect cascades. Partnership-based operational structures are becoming increasingly common, including worker-centered, self-organized, and self-designed teams. Books about leaders without titles fly off the shelves as leadership dynamics permeate every organizational level. De facto leadership becomes a norm.
Phrases That Empower Action
This book provides phrasing to transmute leadership from top down, command and control to dynamic partnership models. Our changing leader-development climate requires new tools to encourage, mentor, and coach employees at every level to be leaders who are empowered to act. Leaders need to develop leaders, and leaders need the approach and the phrases to do that.
Defining and Integrating Leadership and Management
A Dynamic Leader is someone who empowers others to lead. But what is the difference between a leader and a manager? We'll start by noting the tremendous confusion on the topic in the literature and workplace.
Flawed Thinking in the Leadership-Management Dialogue
In 1985, authors Warren Bennis and Burt Nanus claimed in their book Leaders: The Strategies for Taking Charge, "Managers are people who do things right and leaders are people who do the right thing." The catchphrase became a cliché and source of confusion.
First, the assertion created a false dichotomy that suggests that not only are the functions of leadership and management distinct, but they are in opposition to one another. To many, it implied that managers don't do the right thing and leaders don't do things right.
Second, the phrase distinguished managers from leaders. It is more accurate to distinguish management activities from leadership activities. In the real world, leaders also manage, managers also lead, and even nonleaders and nonmanagers both lead and manage (which is why leadership development is needed at all levels).
Third, the claim incited a valuation of one function over the other, with leadership generally winning favor over management. As a result, leadership training la
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Excerpted from PERFECT PHRASES for LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT by Meryl Runion. Copyright © 2011 by Meryl Runion. Excerpted by permission of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc..
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