Introduction

This chapter introduces the reader to key concepts that will be explored throughout the book.  Critically it introduces the reader to the key elements of the leadership approach and tools that underpin their ability to leverage the full potential of people and teams. 

Key concepts introduced include:

• Great results are achieved by leveraging the full potential of people
• Potential is encapsulated in both our capabilities and the strength of our spirit
• A leaders job is to build and leverage both capabilities and spirit to optimize performance
• Getting beyond ‘beige’ or compliant contributions – the things people do because they have to
• Inspiring discretionary effort – the effort people bring when they have deep emotional ownership of results
• The tools in the ‘toolkit’ and why they matter

Chapter One:  Foundations of success

This chapter defines the approach to engaging with people most likely to inspire followership and exceptional contributions.  Often I observe leaders operating at the polar ends of two extremes. One, I refer to as the intellectual leader; the other, the empathetic leader. One leads with his head, the other with his heart; one is often viewed as the ‘results guy’, while the other is considered a ‘nice guy’. Both of these leaders bring strengths to a business, but their shortcomings can undermine their ability to optimise performance in themselves or their team. This chapter explains that to drive optimal results an integrated approach with balanced focus on results and people is needed.

Key concepts explored include:

• The need for an integrated approach
  • Balanced focus on results and people
  • Strengths and pitfalls of a results driven approach (the intellectual leader)
  • Strengths and pitfalls of a relationship driven approach (the empathetic leader)
  • Why bringing the two together matters
• Inspiring followership
  • Earning trust and respect – the non-negotiable foundations of success. 
  • Being real – the power of authentic leadership
  • Ownership and Accountability - extraordinary results demand genuine commitment and hard work from the boss
  • Leading the Way  - why leading by example builds the confidence and belief in a leader needed to inspire them to follow

Chapter Two: The Managers Toolkit

To build and leverage both capability and spirit the integrated leader applies critical tools.  This chapter provides an overview / framework of the toolkit.

Key concepts explored include:

• Importance of compelling vision and clear strategy
• The role of culture management
• Recruitment – the backbone of HR strategy and practice
• Communication is king – both strategy and approach matter
• Performance management is a leaders most important role
• Learning and development underpins success now and in the future
• Reward and recognition doesn't need to be hard or expensive
• Change management isn’t an event it's a journey
• Human Resources can be a leaders best friend

Chapter Three: Inspiring connection through vision and strategy

This chapter explores the key ingredients of providing a clear vision for the future and the plans for getting there.  It then explores what leaders must do to ensure every member of the team understands the role they must play and is passionate about succeeding. 

Key concepts explored include:

• Articulating where the organisation is heading and why they are going there
• Laying out a clear plan to achieve the organisations objectives
• Linking company vision and strategy with the role of every member of the team
• Understanding current reality and what needs to change
• Building a strong sense of personal value as well as purpose

Chapter Four:  Creating Culture

This chapter aims to equip leaders for the knowledge to strategically manage the development of their organization and team culture. Whether creating a new culture or shifting one of a well-established team, this chapter provides a framework for leaders to influence and ultimately create the culture most likely to drive success.

Key concepts explored include:

• What culture is
  • Culture is created from the collective behaviours of people
  • Behavioural impacts on performance
  • Culture is contagious
• Culture as a competitive advantage: leveraging the power of an organisation’s culture
• Defining culture
  • Defining the unique culture that will best enable each business to achieve its objectives
  • Applying a dynamic approach to managing culture to ensure it evolves with the needs of the business
  • The importance of focusing on the core values of Trust, Integrity, Collaboration and Accountability 
• Driving culture
  • Setting culturally aligned expectations
  • The importance of valuing what people achieve and how they go about it
  • Leading by example
  • Holding people accountable
  • Identifying and addressing cultural misalignment

Chapter Five:  Recruitment

This chapter explains why recruitment is the backbone of any HR strategy.  It provides a framework for ensuring the organizations ability to find the right people, attract them to join the team and optimize the chances they will stay once they come on board.

Key concepts explored include:

• Building great teams through effective recruitment strategy
  • Grow your own - an internal recruitment approach focused on accessing leadership, specialist technical capabilities and other core competencies from within the organization.
  • Hiring capabilities in from outside the organisation
• Effective recruitment practices – driving a powerful process
  • Planning – job design and selection criteria
  • The buy / sell equation – understanding the employment value proposition
  • Candidate care
• Candidate Assessment
  • Assessing competence
  • Ensuring culture alignment
  • Recruiting for career and motivational fit
• Selection tools
  • Successful interviews
  • The role of psychometric and abilities testing
• Getting the best from recruitment consultants

Chapter Six:  Communication is King

This chapter explores the most important characteristics of effective communication. Critically it argues the central importance of communication in inspiring commitment and optimising performance. 

Key concepts explored include:

• Keeping people appropriately informed particularly about things that impact them
• Leveraging the full potential of people by tapping into their ideas and insights
• Making well informed decisions by tapping into what your team knows and believes
• Gaining buy-in by ensuring people feel appropriately consulted
• Fostering healthy working relationships through communication approaches
• Leveraging communication to achieve high standards of staff retention and engagement
• Positively influencing the culture of the team through what you say and how it’s said

Chapter Seven: Performance Management Fundamentals

In this chapter the audience is provided with a framework for effectively managing performance, which includes three key priorities: providing clarity, coaching for success and holding people accountable.  The depth and breadth of the content in this chapter may require it to be broken down into two including 1) Performance management excellence 2) Driving performance improvement

Key concepts explored include:

• Clarity – setting expectations and ensuring people understand what they need to do and how they need to go about it.
• Coaching - Success demands that leaders take a ‘hands on’ approach to guide and develop staff
  • Monitoring performance
  • Providing guidance and delivering feedback
  • Developing capabilities though experience
• The power of tough love
  • The truth is a gift of opportunity that enables people to understand their reality and take ownership of driving their success
  • How to deliver honesty with sensitivity
• Accountability - Ownership for success must be shared by the individual, the team and the manager
  • Encouraging shared ownership
  • Measuring performance standards
  • Conducting appraisals
• Applying consequences
• What to do when things aren’t working
  • Fundamentals of managing a performance improvement process. 
  • How to identify the cause of performance issues
  • Step by step guide to developing and implementing improvement solutions

Chapter Eight:  Learning & Development

The opportunity to learn and grow is amongst the most commonly stated reasons people give for staying with or choosing to leave an organization.  A critical strategy for talent management and retention leaders must play an active and hands on role in supporting members of their team to develop their capabilities and progress their careers.  This chapter explores strategies for developing the capabilities of people at all levels and stages of their career.

Key concepts explored include:

• Facilitated learning
  • The value of training and workshops as well as how to choose the right ones
  • The role of coaching and mentoring
  • Further education – knowing when it’s important and can add value
• Experiential Learning
  • Promoting well – setting people up to succeed not fail
  • Secondments that really do aid learning
  • Getting the most from seminars and conferences for the whole team
  • Learning through participation: projects and special assignments
• Self-Learning
  • Encouraging personal awareness and accountability
  • Leading people to observe themselves and reflect

Chapter Nine:  Reward & Recognition

While some people are undoubtedly motivated by money, it’s the thanks and appreciation that people receive that is most likely to encourage commitment and effort.  This chapter puts salary and other financial incentives in their place and guides leaders to understand how to ensure people feel fairly rewarded and recognised for the contributions they make.

Key concepts explored include:

• The extent to which money matters
• Getting the money part of the equation right – ensuring people feel fairly compensated
• The value benchmarking can add
• The role of acknowledgement, appreciation, credit and ultimately thanks
• Understanding what to reward and recognize
• Looking for opportunities to praise and why it works
• Linking reward and recognition to performance management

Chapter Ten: Leading Change

This chapter is focused on the role all managers play to successfully lead their teams through transformational change.  Underpinning this chapter is a focus on ensuring an understanding of the non-negotiable nature of trust in successfully driving change.

Key concepts explored include:

• Creating a compelling vision for the future
• Defining and articulating current reality
• Communicating successfully throughout the journey
• Drivers of engagement through change
• Identifying champions of change
• Scoping  and planning for change
• Monitoring and managing progress
• Identifying and managing people related risk
• Why a leader needs trust to influence the thoughts, feelings and behaviours of their team through times of change

Chapter Eleven:  Leveraging HR

Many of the leaders we work with fail to effectively leverage the support of the HR staff within their organisations to support them to achieve their people leadership objectives. This includes CEOs and business owners who are ineffective in their approach to influencing the performance and contribution of their HR departments.  This chapter looks at the role of HR and how business leaders can ensure a strong ROI of these critical resources.

Key concepts explored include:

• The role of HR and how they contribute to business success
• A formulae for successful partnering relationships
• The capabilities and services that are reasonable to expect
• Influencing the organisations investment in HR capabilities and tools