Documenti di Didattica
Documenti di Professioni
Documenti di Cultura
COMPETENCIES
Individual competencies
Communication styles
Teamwork
Self motivation
Speeches
Self management
High performance
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BALANCING INTER-PERSONAL SKILLS WITH
PROFESSIONAL SKILLS
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Whereas there are more scientific approaches, two ways exist to quickly
identify the personal styles of others. The first is to listen to the words that
others use; the second is to observe how they dress. Words and dress are
key indicators of values, attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors:
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UNDERSTANDING INDIVIDUAL COMPETENCIES TO
BUILD SUCCESSFUL PERSONAL AND
PROFESSIONAL RELATIONSHIPS
● Personal
● Professional/technical
Personal competencies...
Personal competencies are about who we are, and have both intra-personal
and inter-personal components. Intra-personal competencies are about the
self. They include the basics of anticipation, aptitude, comprehension,
deliberation, preferences, and stress tolerance. Inter-personal competencies
include both oral and written communications, and the ability to build
relationships with others.
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Professional/technical competencies...
When used broadly, the terms apply to domain knowledge in subject areas,
and the accompanying technical skills. Subject areas include both arts and
sciences disciplines - business is both an art and a science. Subject areas in
business include: legal, finance, human resources, information technology,
program management, engineering, operations, and business development.
The accompanying technical skills have mental and physiological
requirements, depending upon subject area.
When used narrowly, the terms apply to occupations. Professional
occupations include accounting, architecture, consulting, law, marketing,
medicine, and sales. Technical occupations include construction,
engineering, and information technology. These terms are used by
government agencies to classify jobs.
Enterpriship competencies...
For example, executive directors of charities are faced with the need to
find innovative ways to raise funds, to motivate others to contribute, and
to manage resources on tight budgets.
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Playing to strengths and accommodating weaknesses...
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USING COMMUNICATION STYLES THAT
ENTERTAIN, INFORM, CONVINCE AND PERSUADE
EFFECTIVELY
Every industry and function has its jargon. For example, talking to bankers
about interest rate sensitivity, to product developers about time-to-market,
and to manufacturing enterprises about overhead costs builds rapport.
Salespeople prefer words that convey energy and excitement; medical
practitioners prefer words that suggest care and well being; accountants
and attorneys prefer precise language; and technologists prefer words that
convey solutions.
Because people often make decisions on emotion, and then justify them
rationally, it is essential to use motivational language. Whereas ultimately
that means using persuasive language, the entertaining, informing, and
convincing styles are useful for raising emotion.
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During negotiations, the parties must never be off guard, and all language
to entertain, inform, convince, and persuade should be chosen carefully by
understanding the needs of the audience and their backgrounds. Therefore,
it is necessary to determine what motivates an audience and what it aspires
to - their industry and functional backgrounds provide clues.
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Informative style - appropriate at larger "town hall" style meetings:
● Discuss what the complicated the situation, what the problems were,
and how solutions were reached
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Convincing style - appropriate for smaller meetings where the audience
needs to be convinced of an idea or condition in order to modify behavior:
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Persuasive style - appropriate for small meetings where the audience
needs to be persuaded to do something based upon an opportunity or
threat:
● Answer "how does the audience get there from here?" - use either the
"analytical" approach or the "bottom-line" approach supported by
facts, statistics, and metrics
Every individual operates within their own world from which they
perceive events, situations, ideas, conditions, opportunities, and threats.
Their personal style determines what they aspire to and what inspires
them. It is important to understand the personal style of each individual
member of an audience so as to use a communication style that gets
results.
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THE CASE FOR TEAMWORK
- TOGETHER EVERYONE ACHIEVES MORE
Groups are loosely coupled because they are heavily dependent upon
individual contribution. The work is defined by job descriptions (either
oral or written) that list the tasks that must be performed. Each member
may perform the same tasks, or a subset of all of the tasks that collectively
produce the output from the group. Each member is accountable to a
supervisor for their work, who is in turn accountable for the work of the
entire group to a higher authority. It is the responsibility of the supervisor
to ensure that the work accomplished by each member, and the group as a
whole, meets quality, efficiency, and productivity standards. Camaraderie
within and between groups results primarily from personal relationships
among the members.
Teams are tightly coupled, which means that the members work together
coherently. Whereas the roles and responsibilities of the members may
differ, teamwork requires mutual accountability. The members recognize
that to get work accomplished successfully, they benefit from the
synergistic effects of sharing and building on knowledge, skills, and
experience. As a team, the members collectively achieve results that
would not be possible individually within budget and schedule constraints.
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If management acts as a team, then they will foster an environment for
teamwork both within and between organizational units. When
management is not behaving as a team, silos are more likely to emerge.
Members must share the values, mission, and vision for the enterprise
within which they establish the values, mission, vision, objectives, and
goals for the team itself in an environment of shared learning. If an
individual member does not share the team's purpose, they cannot be
committed to its success, and will ultimately either drop out or be pushed
out.
Teamwork offers potential for broader and deeper ideas and solutions than
those of individual contributors because of the opportunity to leverage
diverse backgrounds. The greater the diversity of the team, the greater the
breadth and depth of results. Weaknesses in the knowledge, skills, and
experience in one member may be offset by those of others. The tighter
the fit between the team members collectively and constituent
beneficiaries, the more valuable the results are likely to be.
It is important for a team to have a set of guiding principles from which all
points of view can be heard and discussed. Without such principles, there
is a danger that the majority of team may miss a minority point of view
that represents "out-of-the-box" thinking or experience that makes a
difference. If the minority point of view is accepted after debate, it can be
developed by the interdependent members collectively into something
greater that meets or exceeds the wants, needs and expectations of the
constituents.
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It is the higher order effects of teamwork, through leverage and debate,
that create synergistic solutions beyond the reach of the individual
members. As a consequence, the team members benefit by learning from
each other as opposed to purely from their supervisors alone. Hence, the
enterprise and its constituencies benefit collectively and individually -
together everyone achieves more.
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SELF MOTIVATION - LEADERS CAN'T LEAD WITHOUT IT
Positive attitude:
Ambition:
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Confidence:
Commitment:
Self assessment:
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Competence includes:
● Personal - intra (self) and inter (relationships with others) - oral and
written communications, and appearance
***
Leaders cannot attract followers unless they are self-motivated; they can
manage but they cannot lead.
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DELIVERING MEMORABLE SPEECHES AND PRESENTATIONS
Speeches are given to larger audiences with whom the speaker may not
necessarily have a relationship; presentations are given to small audiences
where the speaker does or wants to have a relationship.
Physical skills:
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Stationary feet project confidence:
● Don't touch
Content organization:
● Collect thoughts by point and then address the audience with eye
contact
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Visual aids support spoken words:
● Keep simple
Lighting and music must not distract but can change the mood of the
audience:
● Stimulate
Asking for questions engages the audience. The speaker should clarify
when questions will be invited - throughout or at a designated point before
the summary and wrap-up. For large audiences, questions can be
submitted on cards, but must be treated fairly.
● Restate the question back the the audience - rephrased to help frame
or clarify the original
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***
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BUILDING AND MAINTAINING
TEAM MOTIVATION AND MOMENTUM
It is essential that teams operate within the context of the values, mission,
and values of the enterprise, otherwise organizational silos can result.
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Power-centric leaders use rewards and punishments, and may micro
manage. Micro managers may take credit for themselves, and prevent
others from advancing. Empowering leaders build and maintain both
motivation and momentum to gain results, from which others can advance
over time.
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PRINCIPLES OF SELF MANAGEMENT
– STRENGTHENING ANTICIPATION, DELIBERATION,
AND STRESS TOLERANCE
Prioritization:
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The list should be visible, reviewed, and updated on a regular basis.
Attention must be given to resolving AA items, and the eliminating of as
many C items as possible.
New items will be added to the list from time to time, and the list should
be recreated from scratch as necessary. Old C items usually drop off in this
process.
Time management:
The key is to determine the time frame for each activity, and layout
schedules in blocks of time with slots. The activities should be listed and
prioritized, and then assigned to the slots. Schedule contingency should be
allowed for by assigning up to 85 percent of the available slots. That way,
if there are overruns, or if unanticipated events occur, there is some room
within the schedule to accommodate extra activities. Priorities should be
reviewed regularly.
Space management:
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The further parties are located from each other, the less they are motivated
to communicate, especially if they are on different time zones. Crises are
the exception, and actually force parties to communicate. Effective
globalization requires establishing strong communications capabilities
between the various parties around the world.
The Chinese practice of feng shui is becoming more popular in the West.
Definitions vary, but in general the practice relates to organizing
environments and the objects within them, such as facilities and
equipment, to promote balance, happiness, harmony, health, and
prosperity.
Resource management:
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Follow-through:
Stress management:
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Stress reduction techniques include:
Personal values and guiding principles form a system of beliefs that set
expectations for individual behavior and decision making that can be
applied to personal, professional, and enterpriship activities.
***
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STRIVING FOR EXCELLENCE
THROUGH HIGH PERFORMANCE TEAMS
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A "leader-managed" team serves under an appointed leader who
establishes the objectives and goals. An empowering leader enables the
team to become self-managed, and potentially self-directed over time.
Self-managed teams work together based upon direction from the leader-
manager or another higher authority. Cross-functional teams operate
across organizational units (functions and business units). Although it is
hard to achieve in practice, in theory the entire enterprise is a cross-
functional team.
Self-directed teams are formed in two ways - either because they were
commissioned by a higher authority, or because of a breakdown in
leadership causing a void. When commissioned, responsibility has been
delegated by a higher authority because the team members have
commitment, competence, and momentum, and have earned the
opportunity to be empowered. However, with empowerment comes
accountability to the higher authority and the enterprise.
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Operating within the context of existing plans, policies, and performance
measures, high performance teams take the pressure off of management to
find methods for doing things well, and provide a feedback loop to future
plans. High performance teams innovate, solve problems, and execute
operational processes with high standards for effectiveness of the results,
and for the team itself.
● Reducing time-to-market
The standards for behavior include the basic ingredients for teamwork
and:
● Encouraging lively debate that includes the views of both internal and
external constituents, encourages varying opinions and points of
view, respects diversity, and avoids criticism and personal attacks
● Exceeding expectations
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By enabling high performance teams to work close to the front line,
management can focus on the overall direction of the enterprise. Morale
improves because decisions are made by those who are directly involved.
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For more information...
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About Nigel A.L Brooks...
www.nigelalbrooks.com
www.bldsolutions.com
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THE BUSINESS LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION
13835 NORTH TATUM BOULEVARD 9-102
PHOENIX, ARIZONA 85032 USA
www.bldsolutions.com
(602) 291-4595