Training Portfolio

Leadership in business management is defined in its simplest form as the action of leading a group of people or organizations. It is a dimension that is highly dependent on the ability of an individual but also one that can be learned and continually developed. There are styles of leadership which have been existing since the dawn of the species and those that have been identified recently, each having specific scenarios or industries that they apply best in. Effective leadership encompasses the balance between the application of ability and experience to arrive at the required outcome.   

Leadership in business management enables an individual to set goals in accordance with the expected outcomes, the scenario and the needs of the people around them with a confidence that does not waver in the face of lost popularity due to an objective decision. It holds a unique starting point for every individual that engages in it as it is a combination of intelligence, psychological make-up, training and experience. Even while considering intelligence, psychological make-up and experience, few of us can become effective leaders with the lack of training.   

The transition from being the employee that performs hands-on tasks to the person that manages the people that perform-hands on tasks is one that is a recipe for failure if appropriate guidance and training is not provided. Training not only enables an individual to absorb the knowledge and practice the basic skills required to be a good leader, it also allows a good leader to explore the various styles of leadership that exist and enables them to update their arsenal to put to use when some scenarios demand different styles of leadership.   

Leadership in business management involves taking up responsibility and accountability for individual and team actions. It includes heavy lifting in terms of decision-making involving competing objectives, amidst people management which is a complex and nuanced task. Leaders empower employees to navigate complex goals, manage resistance and try to align everyone to the common goal despite the varied interests. Mastering this, with all its intricacies and complexities is what makes leadership an art.  

Leadership in business management constantly challenges an individual to develop their competencies and update their existing skills in this fast-paced business world. In a leadership hierarchy, a low-level manager would need to have basic leadership skills but as they progress to become mid-level and top-level managers, their analytical skills must grow to complement the array of leadership skills and styles they gain through the journey. The more challenges they face in the wider range of tasks they engage with, greater is the need and motivation to imbibe additional leadership competencies.  

The current trend in leadership is strength-based leadership where goal setting and action planning play to the strengths of the leader. DiSC is one such tool that enables leaders to identify their dominant dimension, be it Dominance, Influence, Steadiness or Compliance. Leadership in business management involves an individual having innate intelligence, psychological make-up along with experience, training and the ability to continuously update oneself in order to lead a group of people or organizations in a manner that caters to both business and people goals.  

Business leadership competencies are a particular combination of skills, knowledge and abilities that represent effective leadership within an organization. There isn’t one exclusive set of leadership competencies that works across all organizations.   

Types of Leadership Competencies

There are certain competencies that are essential for every leader, regardless of the industry and organization they are in: 

• Social Intelligence – Social intelligence is one of the best leadership competencies. It is about one’s capability to understand different social situations and the ability to operate efficiently in these social situations
• Conflict Management – This is a leadership competency that involves helping others in the organization in escaping or resolving interpersonal conflicts. Conflict management is related to the reconciliation competency. Rather than choosing between two apparently opposite opinions, or asking people to accommodate, you find a way to combine them
• Decision-making – Decision-making is one of the essential business leadership competencies because it’s at the center of a leader’s activities. A good leader is aware when to make a decision by themselves, when to take their team members’ opinion and when to step back and let others decide
• Sharing a Compelling Vision – The company’s vision – what your organization wants to be at some point in the future according to its goals and aspirations – is an important motive why people want to continue working for you. Leaders need to be able to share the company’s vision in a compelling manner. It should get both other people in the organization as well as applicants behind it
• Change Management – Some changes in the organization are relatively small while others take place over a longer duration. Automation processes many organizations are going through right now is a good example. Effective leaders know how to develop, support, and counsel their people through these various organizational changes
• Interpersonal Skills – Interpersonal skills are also referred to as people skills or soft skills, such as active listening, giving and receiving feedback, (non) verbal communication, problem-solving skills, and teamwork
• Emotional Intelligence – Emotional intelligence is another business leadership competency which is about our ability to perceive people’s emotions and emotional situations and also manage our own emotions.  Emotional intelligence is made up of several elements like self-regulation, self-awareness, empathy, motivation and social skills
• Being a Good Coach & Being Faithful – Leaders need to be a good coach, not just for those in their team but also for their peers. This requires knowing when to gently push someone to go outside their comfort zone, giving useful feedback when needed, and helping people find their personal vision. Faithfulness is vital for leaders in building and maintaining strong relationships with the people they manage. 

Different leadership positions in an organization may require different sets of skills, knowledge, skills, and leadership competencies. Therefore, a lot of organizations work with a leadership competency framework, a collection of competencies they have determined as key for success which is significant for their leaders and their organization and crucial for adequate succession planning. 

• Inclusiveness – Good leaders know how to create a work environment in which everybody feels invited. They make sure that every employee is treated respectfully and equally, has the same services and opportunities, and can participate and flourish. Putting it in another way, good leaders are inclusive
• People Management – Good people management is crucial when it comes to leading others. According to the leadership level, this involves the process of administering the training, development, motivation, and regular management of employees. Good leaders give their teams the 5 c’s of people management: context, clarity, courage, consistency, and commitment
• Learning Agility – Leaders need to quickly adapt to rapidly changing circumstances since they have to support and guide others and the organization through these challenging times. As such, agile leaders do not fear change; rather they embrace it. Good leaders know the importance of continually developing, growing, and using new strategies to deal with the increasingly difficult problems they face in their organizations
• Industry knowledge/expertise – These days people frequently change jobs more often than they did in the past. Developments in some areas go so quickly that it becomes impossible to stay on top of them with everything else leaders have on their agenda. Effective leaders, however, know that it’s still vital to develop a certain expertise in the area and company they’re leading in
• Managing Yourself – This goes for your workload, emotions, schedule, etc. You need to be able to manage yourself first, if you’re leading others. This goes for your emotions, workload, emotions, schedule, etc. Being well-organized, planning ahead, and prioritizing are essential leadership competencies here
• Courage – Not every decision of leaders will be an easy one and sometimes making decisions means taking a big risk which requires courage. Courage also is about adhering to your values and people and guarding them in front of others when necessary
• Organizational Citizenship Behavior – This is a term used to describe all the positive and rewarding employee actions and behaviors that aren’t involved in their formal job description. It’s anything that employees wish to do, that supports their coworkers and benefits the organization as a whole

Business leadership competencies depend on the industry, organization, and even a leader’s level within the organization. It’s important to understand what competencies are necessary for leadership success in an organization so they can make better decisions when it comes to appointing, developing, and promoting leaders. 

Becoming a manager is a natural career progression for most professionals and comes with a host of responsibilities that many are unprepared to cope with. Most organizations promote employees for performing well technically as individual contributors, not taking into account their people management abilities. This results in skill gaps for early managers and supervisors.  However, by getting trained in key leadership skills for early managers and supervisors these gaps can be bridged.  

Here are key leadership skills for early managers and supervisors that can enable their success in this critical role: 

1. Teamwork and Collaboration – Every manager should be able to build a strong team with a strong sense of collaboration. Having worked as individual contributors for a significant part of their career, early managers find it difficult to come out of the silo mentality. Building a team is about hiring the right people and building a culture that is supportive and collaborative to achieve team results.  
2. Giving Effective Feedback – Giving effective feedback is critical to the success of any manager. However, it is not easy. Manager must overcome inherent human traits like biases and the need to be liked and focus on feedback to improve performance backed by relevant data. However, most managers struggle with a fine balance between giving no feedback or giving unconstructive feedback.  
3. Time Management – Another important leadership skill for early managers that contributes to the success of a manager is time management. Since managers have to balance their own activities with the supervision of team, they often find themselves overloaded with tasks. A result is either constantly working late hours or compromising on individual or team tasks. Effective time management can enable managers to prioritize work effectively.  
4. Delegation Skills – Closely linked to time management are delegation skills. Managers cannot succeed if they insist on doing everything themselves. Delegation not only frees the time of a manager to focus on more critical tasks, it also helps in developing the skills of the team members, makes teams more independent, keeps team members motivated and helps in succession planning. However, delegating effectively needs training and thought – various factors like skills of team members, their level of motivation, reason for delegation etc. need to be considered to delegate effectively.  
5. Emotional Intelligence – At the heart of leadership skills for early managers is the lack of emotional intelligence. It is important for a manager to understand and practice emotional intelligence where they are aware of their own emotional triggers and those of others. An emotional outburst in a critical situation does great harm to not just the working relationship but also the personal brand of the manager.  
6. Coaching Skills – A manager is also expected to play the role of a coach. As a coach, a manager is required to enable the team members to get things done and deal with difficult situations. A manager is not always required to give the solution to every problem but nudge the team members in the right direction.  
7. Developing & Motivating Teams – One key aspect of the managerial role is to develop and motivate team members. A manager should be able to recognize the motivators of each team member and leverage that motivation. The manager should also be able to create personalized development plans for each team member, considering their strengths and challenges. The most common mistake a manager makes is to treat each team member the same – provide same incentive and development opportunities to all. A manager needs to recognize that individuality of each team member and personalize interactions with them as much as possible.  
8. Decision-Making – This is another important skill for the success of a manager. Managers are often faced with situations where they need to take decision – sometimes in an ambiguous environment or sometimes the unpopular decisions. A successful manager should be able to navigate through such decision-making scenarios with utmost professionalism and effectiveness using various tools and strategies.  

Many people come with an inherent capability and skills to be successful managers. However, all these skills can be taught and honed through learning interventions. What is important is to provide learning and training opportunities to the managers, either before promoting them or in the early days of being in the managerial role. 

To be effective, leadership development courses need a fair degree of planning. By concentrating leadership training programs and other development activities on the unique strategic environment and your organization’s main leadership development goals, a methodical approach pays dividends. It is important to create and implement a solid leadership development course for a company.  

Leadership Development Courses

To create an effective leadership development course, follow the given steps:  

• Assess and identify talent – A leadership program generally necessitates a larger investment in the individual. To ensure its success, this usually means allocating a budget. The manager or supervisor must also be involved. The reason for this is that the targeted individual might be forced to take on additional responsibilities or go through training, which will pull their focus away from their current obligations. The target employee(s) of this plan must also want to participate in it. Even while it might seem like a great opportunity, there can be one or two employees who opt out or delay their involvement. This could be as a result of the employees’ lack of interest or other personal commitments. Not every employee aspires to hold a leadership position, even if they possess the necessary skills
• Determine the leadership style – Future leaders may be expected to have a particular leadership style inside the organization. The culture of the company and its operational needs may decide this
• Determine the key leadership competencies – An effective leadership development course requires identifying core leadership abilities required for the organization’s present and future success. These skills serve as the foundation for the developmental plan. Making sure the next group of leaders is ready for both current issues and potential calamities requires developing them
• Assess the leadership key competencies – The company will have to analyze the selected employee(s) against the important leadership qualities specified in order to determine what the leadership development plan would include. Where the employee has skill gaps will be evident from the evaluation’s results. Find and/or provide the best professional development options for the employee to address the gaps
• Design the leadership development course – To design relevant leadership development courses for your workers, consult your organization’s Learning & Development subject matter experts. Include as many learning options as you can to provide the employee with a comprehensive learning environment
• Conduct continuous 360-degree leadership assessment – You want to know if your leadership development course is successful and accomplishes its objectives. Because of this, you’ll need to create a method for monitoring a worker’s development both during and after a leadership development plan is finished. One of the techniques is a 360-degree assessment of the leadership from significant stakeholders. The success of the employee and the plan is ensured by ongoing feedback and participation. Engagement during the process enables the plan’s objectives to be modified in real-time to reflect organizational changes. Finally, the worker grows into the leader that the company needs

Above all else, leaders need to think about their team members and upcoming generations of leaders who want to be ready for the difficulties that lie ahead. They may be alarmed by the unpredictability of the currents, but they are also fascinated by the opportunities that present themselves during crises. To invest in your future leaders and ensure that the relevant talents are identified and developed in real time, create effective leadership development courses. 

People are most willing to attend training that enhances their technical knowledge that is relevant to their jobs and has direct, concrete applications in their world. However, when asked which of the following would greatly increase their effectiveness at work, the number one response is always leadership development courses. 

Leadership development courses are programs that help leaders develop the three primary responsibilities of an executive. Leadership is the process by which an executive guide, directs, and influences the behaviors and working styles of others in order to achieve the organization’s common goal. It is defined as having the ability to influence and motivate others. An executive has three fundamental responsibilities: they need to craft vision, build alignment, and they should champion execution. There’s a lot of skills that goes into each of these responsibilities.   

When leaders lack a clear vision for the group’s future, they rely on day-to-day revelations to guide them through the execution process. They have a collection of goals, plans, and schedules, but they don’t see the underlying tapestry that connects everything. They are much less likely to notice when their priorities are off track or when opportunities pass them by. Vision, on the other hand, is more than just making good use of one’s time and resources. A truly outstanding vision elevates our work. It piques our interest. It speaks to our human need to do something meaningful with our lives. 

Consider the difference between a beaver building a dam on instinct and a group of people building the Indira Dam. The Indira Dam vision entailed reimagining not just a river, but an entire landscape. That vision unleashed an incredible array of possibilities for the land and the community. Visions are intended to motivate and inspire us. They speak in a way that is uniquely human. This should be taken into account in your leadership development courses.  

Following the creation of a vision, the executive’s second responsibility is to build alignment. Building alignment is the act of gaining buy-in for the vision that has been created, and it is critical in moving from imagination to reality. Building alignment is as important for an executive’s development as vision. It is centered on people and thus as complex and unpredictable as human relationships. Every day, the full range of human motivations, personalities, cultural understandings, perspectives, and needs can be found in your workplace. People you work with may be seasoned veterans or new hires with vastly different backgrounds and levels of responsibility. 

However, achieving alignment requires ensuring that everyone understands their role in making the vision a reality. An executive also understands that alignment is not something that can be checked off a list. Alignment is a dynamic, ongoing process that necessitates constant monitoring and realignment as circumstances and needs change. By staying connected, an executive can quickly detect when alignment begins to wane and devote the time and energy required to restore it. This should be taken into account in your leadership development course.   

At its most basic, execution is the process of turning a vision into a reality. Not just any reality, but the right reality, one that transforms the imagined future into a true accomplishment. Execution is the process by which organizations and teams turn good ideas into results. While an executive may or may not be directly involved in day-to-day implementation and production, they are always accountable for ensuring that people have everything they need to do their jobs effectively. The successful execution of a vision requires a strong commitment. This should be taken into account in your executive development program. 

It is critical for developing an executive to have a thorough understanding of all three responsibilities; thus, when designing leadership development courses, keep these critical responsibilities in mind.  

5 ELEMENTS OF SUCCESSFUL LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT COURSES

According to Harvard Business Publishing Research, while the majority of organizations have leadership programs, only 7% consider their program to be “best in class.” This statistic indicates that many leadership development programs do not benefit either the leader or the organization. Great leadership development courses begin with equipping leaders with the best skills and behaviors. They would use these abilities to confidently lead the team and drive organizational performance. Here are five elements that should be a part of leadership development courses. 

Coaching 

Coaching is the most effective way for leaders to maximize the potential of their team members. Every day, moments of coaching occur, and a leader with strong leadership skills would fully utilize the moment and turn it into a valuable learning experience. According to Gallup research, only three out of ten employees believe they are encouraged to advance. If leaders are taught coaching skills, they will be able to boost an employee’s productivity. Leaders can encourage team members to perform better by providing feedback and guidance. 

Accountability 

Leaders understand that their success is dependent more on the performance of their team rather than their own. Leaders understand that they will not be treated as individuals and will not be evaluated as such. They are responsible for their team’s performance as well as their own, and they must accept responsibility for the outcome of their team. You can ensure that leaders can hold direct commitments to their team members by teaching them about accountability. This allows everyone to succeed and achieve the desired results. 

Change management 

A company cannot remain static in time. Employee turnover, market changes, company growth, and a plethora of other factors all contribute to ongoing change. If the changes feel like a tidal wave to employees, leaders must be prepared to guide them through the transition. This would necessitate training leaders in the management of change before it occurs. Hence, all leadership development programs should include change management training. 

Influence and Negotiation 

Effective leaders inspire and persuade others to help them realize their vision. They will understand that it is not about who has the most power but who has the most influencing power to achieve the result if they learn how to be strong influencers. Rather than imposing authority on employees, leaders should cultivate relationships with them. That would be a win-win situation, resulting in completed projects and delivered results. Hence, training in influence and negotiation should always be an element of all leadership development courses. 

Communication   

Communication is not a skill that leaders can learn simply by reading about it or watching a presentation about it. Communication occurs at all hours of the day and night in a leadership role. However, it is not a new skill for leadership development. Communication is a basic skill that has been and currently is a part of most leadership development courses today.   

To bridge the gap between excellent leadership and where you are now, a new approach to training and development is required. Look for company-specific challenges as well as the requirements of today’s leaders in order to design successful leadership development courses for all parties involved. 

In the simplest terms possible, a leadership development course may be described as an attempt by the coach to help a person recognise and achieve their genuine potential. The ultimate aim of the course is to enable the person being coached to excel in their performance. Employees that participate in workplace development courses receive the abilities, information, and resources necessary to perform well. Leadership training has positive effects on the individual, which aids the organisation in achieving its objectives. Although it is relatively new, it has had great success all around the world. Therefore, most firms today, are enthusiastically providing leadership development courses. 

The traditional “command and control” method does not appear to be effective in businesses today. A strategy is required in the new workplace environment to guarantee resilient employees’ inventiveness and good performance. Additionally, it has been discovered that the most important feature of leadership courses is providing training. Leaders who have access to effective development courses have the ability to react quickly to the swift changes taking place in the business world. Leadership development courses employ scientifically proven activities and techniques to help leaders grow. The course ensures holistic, long lasting positive results on the trainee and the trainer. The course attempts to instill qualities of coordination, cooperation, motivation, and self-determination in an individual.    

A leadership development course is very important as it works with individuals to help them gain self-awareness, clarify goals, achieve their development objectives, unlock their potential, and act as a sounding board. It epitomizes innovation, fun, coordination, physical dexterity and also gives an individual the zest to move ahead, step by step. A step-by-step process helps individuals experience the transition from awareness level to levels of immense performance and satisfaction.  

 
It is not possible to have a fruitful outcome of the coaching session, if effort is not made in gaining clarity on the needs and expectations of the one being trained. Leadership development courses discover the facets of the cube that the client wants and needs to work upon. By using the powerful technique of questions and a profile from assessments, the trainer helps the trainee walk towards positive transition in an enlightened and focused manner. Programs for leadership development are important for several reasons. They foster better decision-making, boost productivity, create better teams, and develop future leaders in your organisation who have a management style that promotes a pleasant working environment. 

The Everything DiSC profile assessment refers to any of the research-supported assessments online designed to help professionals engage in effective communication with others. Everything DiSC has quickly emerged as an influential corporate evaluation and training tool. It helps people at all layers of an organization or company adequately appreciates themselves and others. The everything DiSC profile assessment establishes a common language to strengthen communication, teamwork, relationships, improves productivity and quality of the workplace. With the four-quadrant theory, Everything DiSC system offers a side-glance into people’s behavior, helping them appreciate and hook up with others more efficiently.     

Workplace  

The Everything DiSC Profile assessment for the workplace comes in handy for employees positioned at any role. The whole Everything DiSC Workplace equips entry-level staff, frontline managers and even top-brass executives with a powerful assessment instrument. They will gain knowledge of their personality style, their co-worker’s behavioral styles, improve communication and recognize the differences.    

Sales  

Everything DiSC Profile assessment offers an in-depth, adjustable DiSC-centered sales program that enhances the efficacy of your campaigns using fundamental concepts. It improves communication and sales relationships by spelling out  DiSC sales styles, identifying and appreciating customer’s DiSC buying trends and adapting pitch-persons DiSC behavioral dimensions to satisfy customer demands.   

Management  

Everything DiSC Profile for executives allows personalization of programs using customizable learning concepts that help managers. It improves and shapes managerial styles, communication, and employee engagement.  

Leadership Development  

Everything DiSC Profile assessment equips leaders with made-to-measure and strategic leadership skills for success. It targets leaders across all industries and experience level. The detailed development and assessment tool teaches learners about leadership styles and improves efficiency. The evaluation plays a vital role in executive coaching, direction and career development programs. It works on three principles for effective leadership, Vision, Alignment, and Execution.     

Adaptive Testing for Reliability      

The Everything DiSC system integrates Adaptive Testing program frequently found in a vast majority of advanced psychological assessments. Adaptive Testing supplies the respondent with questions depending on their earlier issues and answers. It works in the shortest space of time and renders the most accurate DiSC reports in corporate training.  

Benefits of Adaptive Testing  

• Extensive compilation of vital information for profiles and reports 
• DiSC behavioral dimensions identified with scalpel-like precision 
• Concise, customized assessment 
• Peculiar DiSC styles accounted for 
• Resolution of irreconcilable DiSC styles 
• Participants get unfettered access at no additional costs 
• Mass evaluations and private branding of profiles   

It has become increasingly difficult for businesses to develop leaders who are capable of steering their ship through turbulent times. The solution to this challenge may well lie in a leadership development course based on a statistically validated and well-researched behavioral tool such as Everything DiSC Work of Leaders. 

Everything DiSC Work of Leaders is a classroom training and personal learning experience that connects unique leadership styles to real-world issues. This course integrates the best practices of 300 leaders in over 150 organizations, the essential insights of the world’s most prominent scholars, and more than four years of additional research to provide participants with a clear path to more effective leadership. The unified model of leadership- Vision, Alignment, and Execution- allows leaders to develop a deeper understanding of their leadership styles and the way their tendencies affect their effectiveness in particular situations.    

The VAE acronym stands for Vision, Alignment, and Execution. By understanding these three areas in-depth, you are likely to have a thorough understanding of leadership. 

Who developed it? 

Julie Straw, Mark Scollard, Susie Kukkonen, and Barry Davis describe the VAE model in a well-researched, thought-provoking book titled “The Work of Leaders.”. 

Do you know how the VAE Model works? 

The VAE Framework includes three major categories that are interdependent and are described in the book as follows: 

1. Crafting a vision: envisioning the improved future state that the group will achieve through its efforts. 
2. Building Alignment: Getting everyone in the group to understand the direction and commit to it.  
3. Championing execution: ensuring that conditions are in place so the imagined future can become a reality. 

Everything DiSC Work of Leaders is built on a solid foundation of current age leadership development courses and the facilitation are designed to be highly engaging, yet informative. In addition to games, activities, and group presentations, the training aims to encourage powerful conversations that steer businesses in the right direction. A number of off-the-shelf facilitation kits are available that are designed in a modular format and which include training material, videos and ideas for experiential learning. Businesses can take advantage of this technology to conduct high-volume training at a low cost. 

The follow-up 

Unfortunately, most leadership development courses do not achieve their final objectives due to poor or no follow-up. Everything DiSC Work of Leaders offers a convenient online follow-up mechanism with minimal effort. A Comparison Report can be generated using the EPIC System when comparing two participants. The reports compare two leaders based on their similarities and differences and provide strategies on how each can benefit from the other. 

Everything DiSC Work of Leaders Group Report reveals which leadership practices are most natural to your team. This assessment was designed to supplement the Everything DiSC Work of Leaders Profile. Each participant’s data is compiled into the Work of Leaders Group Report to provide a composite picture. By exploring the group’s overall strengths and challenges, the graphs illustrate the group’s approach to Vision, Alignment, and Execution. 

Leadership Training Module for Individual Contributors 

Leadership has become the focus of learning initiatives across organizations. With the high degree of impact these initiatives can have and the investment of time and money it needs, leadership training modules should be designed with utmost care.  

The objectives of leadership training for individual contributors involve understanding who is a leader, qualities of a leader, major leadership theories, different leadership styles and differentiating authority, accountability and responsibility.  

It is essential to understand the difference between a leader and a manager. A manager is someone who plans and allocates tasks to others, controls problems, is task oriented and organizes. A leader on the other hand, is a person who shows direction, inspires others, motivates and influences the team, and not only creates a vision but also ensures effective alignment towards it and its execution.  

So, here are some topics that must be covered in effective leadership training for individual contributors: 

Qualities of a Leader

To gain a perspective about influential leadership it is important to know about the varied traits and qualities of a leader. A Leadership Training Module aims at honing these skills and traits of a leader. 

Leaders are generally expected to be great orators, creative, diplomatic, knowledgeable about different group functions, systematized, and compassionate. These are some of the skills of a leader.  

The various traits of a leader include inspiring others, being dominant, having faith in self and being confident about one’s decisions, displaying high accountability, managing different challenging situations, volunteering to take responsibility, being energetic, resilient to stress and assertive. Effective leadership training for individual contributors addresses all these traits to make leaders more effective in their role. 

Leadership Theories

Leadership training for individual contributors should be designed in keeping in mind the basic theories of leadership to help leaders identify their style. There are several theories about the leadership but this would include few of the basic theories.  

• Great Man Theory (1840s) 

The Great Man theory simply suggests that leaders are born and not made. It suggests, the qualities to become a leader are innate and not developed. A person who turns to be a leader is considered Great Man. These conclusions are not based on any scientific evidences.  

• Trait theory (1930-1940) 

Trait approach suggests that leaders have certain common characteristic traits and any person with those traits could fit in the shoe of a leader. But studies were unable to justify the hypothesis. Because some of the individual have been successful leaders without having the innate traits and some others who had the suggested traits have not succeeded.  

• Behavioural Theories (1940-1950) 

Behaviour theories emerged with a view that not the traits but the actions determine an influential leader. So, they suggested leaders are made and not born. They divided leaders into two groups: People oriented and task oriented.  

• Contingency Theories (1960) 

This theory of leadership argues that there is no single style or way, and they are based on situations. The efficiency of a leader will depend on his situation and usually a leader has maximum potential when the team or his followers are responsive.  

Leadership Styles 

There are several types of leadership styles, but here the basic three types that should be discussed in a leadership training module. They would include: autocratic, democratic and delegative. Understanding leadership styles can enable the leaders to make a conscious choice about which leadership style can be most effective in a given situation.  

• Autocratic, is a leader who decides plans and structures all the tasks by himself and assigns task to the team without engaging them in the decision-making process. He is concerned with the tasks
• Democratic, this type of leader has a collective decision making style. He includes the group in discussion but the final word remains with the leader
• Free-rein, the leader permits employee to delegate tasks, make decision, etc. but the consequences of the decision are faced by the leader. He is person-oriented

Differentiating authority, accountability and responsibility

Leadership training for individual contributors should ensure that leaders understand the difference between authority, accountability and responsibility. This understanding can significantly contribute to how a leader performs his/her tasks and eventually succeeds in the role.  

• Authority is the power to command others to behave and act in a particular manner
• Accountability is being liable, dependable or answerable to personal and team’s actions
• Responsibility is act taking charge for the consequences and sharing success with team

Responsibility could be delegated to the team mates but accountability stops with the leader. 

LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS   

Organizational leadership programs should concentrate on fostering the development of a few key skills that are necessary for a leader to be successful. A few of the competencies that are crucial to address through organizational leadership programs for developing leaders are outlined in this article:  

• Taking initiative – An action-oriented person is one who enjoys working hard, is vivacious, moves quickly, takes risks, and seizes possibilities. In the long run, this could lead to boredom or burnout. An effective leader must be action-oriented, self-assured, able to organise and prioritise activities, and develop commitment and passion for the work
• Approachability – A leader needs to be approachable in order to succeed and have an impact on their team. He should have the ability to build connection with others, be cordial and pleasant, listen to others, and maintain compassion. Therefore, organizational leadership programs should lesson on how to personalise, choose approachability, not be afraid to approach others, and maintain an appropriate level so as to prevent conflict or criticism
• Business savvy – A skilled leader is familiar with how the company operates, is aware of current policies and potential future changes and the level of competition and survival tactics in the market. To survive in the field, a leader must stay informed about changes or upcoming trends in the market. Thus, addressing this trait and offering techniques to enhance it should be the main emphasis of effective organizational leadership programs
• Command abilities – A leader must enjoy leading others, take a moral stance, and mentor those around them during difficult times. Therefore, it is crucial that organizational leadership programs take these needs into account. It must also emphasise teaching people how to lead, be impartial, and handle conflicts
• Delegation – An effective leader is one who trusts his team, delegates regular and vital jobs with ease, allows others to take on responsibility, and empowers them to work independently. Lack of effective delegation results in a backlog of work and missed deadlines. The boss may become overly meddlesome, which makes it challenging for the team to work. Therefore, mastering the art of delegation is crucial for a powerful leader
• Values & Ethics – Employees would only be inspired to do so if the leader upheld the principles and followed the regulations. A leader must also be adaptable so that, if necessary, changes to the way they operate can be made. Being stubborn causes performance to suffer and leads to subpar outcomes
• Perseverance – The trait of a leader that is most admired is perseverance. For a leader, it is most crucial to have the fortitude to overcome obstacles and advance toward the end objective without becoming disheartened or exhausted. This quality in a leader motivates the team members to remain focused and reach the goal. Therefore, this need should be addressed in the organizational leadership programs so that future employees realize its significance
• Strategic Quickness – A leader must have the ability to foresee the future and identify potential outcomes. This makes it possible to create effective strategies and programmes that sustain the organisation over time. This necessitates the leader to be strategic, inquisitive, have a broad outlook, and make predictions about the future

Employees must be committed to their organization’s goals and values, remain focused on their jobs, and love their work in order to be motivated. They must also be committed to organisational productivity. Therefore, a leader’s responsibility is to maintain employee motivation. As a result, organizational leadership programs  must contain methods for raising and sustaining employee motivation levels. 

By tying business objectives to the organization’s broader mission and vision, a leader can facilitate the execution of the vision they have created. An organization invests in a leadership development course as a perk to keep and develop its leadership resources. According to a study, businesses without such a program had worse business outcomes than those with mature leadership development programs. There has been an increase in C-level employee training during the last ten years. Traditionally, strengthening a leader’s personal leadership skills was the main goal of leadership training. Companies have come to understand that the effectiveness of any program for leadership development depends on a variety of elements, including: 

• Qualities of each learner
• Program for developing leaders’ quality and focus
• The leader’s superior’s backing for changing behavior

Given their potentially packed schedules, leaders must be trained utilizing a blended strategy that combines several delivery channels like eLearning, podcasts, classroom instruction, and coaching. These individuals may not always benefit from classroom instruction; instead, they will require a variety of learning opportunities, including one-on-one coaching, challenging tasks, industry speaker sessions, mentoring, and hands-on experience. Leadership development courses typically last longer, anywhere from a month to a year. Although the majority of businesses outsource their leadership training, the majority of them still carry it out in-house because for leaders, the organizational environment is crucial.  

For leaders, there is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all strategy. When choosing the modes of learning, there should be openness. It is critical that we always adjust the situation to the advantage of the aspiring leaders because each one has various behavioral strengths. The advantages of having a leadership development course are as follows: 

• Sculpts the corporate culture – Your company’s culture can be inferred from how you treat your staff. When a firm invests in your wellbeing and personal growth, the workers take this seriously and work hard to make sure the business is successful in everything it does. 
•  Retains the workforce – After identifying the potential leaders, the organization helps the business invest in them to develop the next generation of leaders

Here are some difficulties encountered when giving a leadership development course since oftentimes, leadership training without context and purpose can be a complete waste of money. 

• Any leadership training’s impact will be challenging to quantify. A sudden shift in conduct is not anticipated. The learning must settle over time. To ensure that learning is maintained, recurring follow-up sessions are an option
• The entire effort may be a waste if there is no strategic alignment between the learning intervention and corporate objectives. To ensure that the program agenda achieves and serves the program’s primary goal, brainstorming must take place from the program’s outset
• What is in it for me is the largest obstacle for leaders to continue to be involved. This question can be answered by involving the participants in the program’s development; doing so makes the learning journey more relevant and increases leadership buy-in

One of the most prevalent issues that businesses want to keep addressing is leadership effectiveness. Therefore, the secret to development is well-planned interventions with smaller learning chunks. According to reports, businesses spend much on external leadership training. This increases the necessity of spending money on pertinent and efficient leadership development courses. 

ONLINE LEADERSHIP TRAINING PROGRAMS IN INDIA  

In today’s competitive corporate world, one can never stop learning. Skills not only impart key knowledge, but they also help you get certified. There are many online leadership training programs in India that can help expand your skill-set and boost your chances of making that important upgrading. 

Leadership Certificate Programs

Leadership is a vital tool in the stock of managers. While many are of the view that great leaders are simply born, some say you can grab the right skills with the right course. Doing a course in leadership helps you enhance your horizons and change your management style. Online leadership training programs in India are very interesting, and doing one can put you in the eyes of senior management. Certificate programs like entry and high-level leadership programs include a leadership course specific to technology. There are also programs for women in leadership that cover specific topics like digital leadership, the psychology of leadership, business strategy and change management.   

Online Executive MBA

There’s always the executive online MBA for those who missed it previously. This course is very prevalent among executives who want to take their career to the next level while working in companies. A perfect online executive MBA helps participants develop basic skills and competencies that they can then implement in the business world. The online executive MBA is one of the best online leadership training programs. The program focuses on leadership, strategy and innovation, and aims at preparing participants to be leaders and forerunners. A number of institutions offer online executive MBA programs in India.  

Times TSW in collaboration with various IIMs offers various leadership development courses which are quite famous among mid-level executives looking to expand their management skillset. The courses are held online, and you also get a lot of study material when you register for the course. If an executive wants to progress in the business world, these courses are for him.  

Communications

For a lot of managers, promotions are difficult to come by due to poor communication skills. While speaking and writing may seem like competencies, we’ve been good at since childhood, employers want more. They want workers who listen and talk like experts. Communication skills are important for training workers, making deals, negotiating, and meeting a customer’s requirement. If an executive wants to advance in his career, he needs to build a solid base of good communication skills. Business Communication courses can help them deal with fear, develop a creative formula, and learn how to use verbal and body language, all essential skills for any job. 

Online leadership training programs today have become popular because managers now understand there isn’t really an end to learning. Although leaders set the direction, they are required to use management skills to lead & guide their team to the right destination, gently & efficiently.  

Learning is an integral part of personal and professional life. With an ever-improving environment for online training, employees find it a great way to enhance their skills to move up in their career. It is very important to understand how you can use all the available channels to learn and choose the one that best suits your learning style.  

Lately, online training is being practiced more and more. Training programs which were once delivered only in the traditional method (class room training) are now available online. This represents an easy and comfortable way for a manager to take up the training, for e.g., PMP Certification, to gather the required knowledge and upgrade their skill set. Online leadership training programs are a great alternative to traditional classroom learning, especially for managers who can’t afford the time to take up classroom courses.  

Let’s see some of the advantages of undergoing managerial training online:  

• Self-paced programs: Online training is a better alternative to the traditional training programs. Employees who aspire to become managers or managers who wish to move up in their career, can undergo online programs. More importantly, some of the training courses are available online for free. These online training courses are a great way to gather knowledge and boost their confidence level. Online leadership training programs provide access to a variety of content once the manager registers for an online course
• Career growth: Managers can take online courses or even complete additional degrees online while still continuing with their present job. Also, taking online managerial training indicates that the manager is very determined to succeed, and wants to stay ready for any new challenges
• Offer more individual attention: Since a direct instructor is assigned while taking up an online training, all the clarifications are answered directly. Many times, a question might arise after class or while studying. Rather than trying to remember it to get it clarified in the next session, e-mails can be sent directly to the instructor. This enhances a manager’s desire to learn
• Nurture future leaders: A manager should be very strategic about developing and nurturing future leaders. Quality leadership is a mix of the right qualities and right training. It is the responsibility of a manager to identify candidates who have what it takes and provide them with the right kind of online leadership training program. All these offers a great career roadmap to employees, thereby increasing retention
• Implement an effective leadership style: Managerial training helps an organization to implement the right kind of leadership style for an organization. There are a number of leadership styles – each with their own ups and downs. Managerial trainings can also help individual leaders cultivate their unique leadership style that their team members will best respond to. 
• Retain your people: Most people who resign their jobs don’t quit their job – they quit their bosses because they are ineffective. By investing in the right kind of online leadership training program, organizations can retain efficient people, which in turn reduces the recruitment expenses that are incurred when recruiting a new candidate
• Instant Feedback: In the traditional training method, assessments are verified by individuals, which is time consuming. By having a good LMS assessments are done automatically. Also, feedback is provided instantly while the subject is still fresh in their minds

Online leadership training programs teach individuals the abilities they need to become capable and all-around leaders. A competent leader should encourage, inspire, and aid in the development of people who report to them while also ensuring that the team’s objectives are consistent with the organization’s overall objectives. 

ONLINE LEADERSHIP TRAINING PROGRAMS

Nothing has disturbed business continuity more than COVID-19, leaving organizations exposed to unforeseen challenges. Online leadership training programs are designed to help organizations meet their challenges and accommodate their remote learning needs. Just because an executive no longer sits in a classroom doesn’t mean his learning period has gone. As an executive, he is aware of the value of an employee who is committed to self-improvement. Well, the same goes for an executive, a company leader looking to make his next big move up. If an executive is serious about taking his career to new heights, he should be willing to learn and grow. Online executive training programs offers you the opportunity to do just that at a pace that works with your agenda. 

These skill-building online courses offer a wide range of subjects that will help any executive reach the highest point of the corporate ladder. Online leadership training programs allow executives to engage with teachers, industry leaders, and a global set of associates in a straightaway virtual environment. These contemporary programs often blend offline lessons and assignments to enhance your understanding of the materials. The benefit of this layout is that you’ll receive a thorough content in short, absorbable sessions held over several weeks. These fully immersive virtual programs provide a convenient schedule for global executives and help gain knowledge for immediate impact. Delivered online with live access to the faculty throughout the learning experience, these unique programs offer greater engagement through class discussions, case studies, effective group exercises, and networking with associates. 

Online leadership training programs are an innovative approach to organizational change that utilizes the power of face-to-face learning and the exceptional reach and impact of online learning. These trainings are meant to design different management levels. Developed for executives seeking to enhance their skills in an adjustable digital format, these online programs help them build and enhance critical skills that set the stage for their professional success. Special care is taken to ensure that the combined experience expected is carried through to these online programs and executives experience a highly conducive and engaging learning environment. These programs are designed keeping in mind the ever-changing demands of business executives. Leadership training can help them hone the skills necessary to flourish in high-level positions and help them develop the optimal leadership qualities for their career and organization. 

Strong leadership requires a blend of various skills that changes at the pace of technology. It’s important for executives to develop and polish their leadership skills to be successful. Leadership training can help shape them into the leader they want to be, keep them on top of the latest leadership approaches and teach them how to shape the next generation of leaders in their organization.  Each of these programs is designed to help executives learn the latest leadership skills and techniques so they can sharpen and apply them at their organization. 

These online leadership training programs focus on specific leadership topics such as team leadership, crisis leadership, negotiation skills, providing executives with useful insights into what makes a leader exceptional. They explore complicated issues such as self-awareness and learn skills to attract talent, and lead others to eminence. These programs will provide participants with a detailed understanding of the obstacles that organizations face in increasing diversity and racial harmony, offering a wide range of solutions for eliminating these hurdles and creating more inclusive organizations. 

Empowering executives to maximize the impact of their teams, online leadership training programs examines how to develop team harmony and how to harness the power of teams through better decision making and leadership. Moreover, executives learn to maximize their impact as a leader during times of change. 

Here are some of the best online leadership training programs for managers to quickly climb the corporate ladder. 

Business Strategy

Business strategy is the management of resources within an organization to help the company achieve its strategic objectives. The planning process and models may vary within companies, yet strategic management is vital for any flourishing company. Strategic planning includes setting goals, doing competition evaluation, determining the internal organization, strategic evaluation and ascertaining the right management is in place. Strategic management needs people to identify risks and recognize opportunities. Executives in strategic management roles have to ensure their organizations are operating effectively. These executives have a wide range of competencies. They’re good at analysis, business training, market research, and communication. There are several courses too, that can help them brush up their strategic management skills. 

Marketing

In today’s ruthless business environment, it is essential to capture the chance to develop better customer insights to beat your competitors. Marketing management can teach managers how to cleverly create value with their customers, then capture and communicate that value imaginatively. Managers will learn how to use data and insights and have useful evidence-based results. They will learn about customer criterion and be a better decision-maker and a dealer.  Online courses in marketing management are meant to help executives move further in their marketing careers. If you haven’t done your MBA and are working in a company in the marketing department, you could think about doing this course. Moreover, marketing management is very extensive that has many courses under it. Executives can choose and enroll in one of the best online leadership training programs  

Finance

All managers need to have a primary knowledge of finance in order to make the right decisions that’ll affect the future of the company. Managers can’t avoid numbers. This is all the more important if they’re from the marketing background, and noticeably uncomfortable with understanding the company’s financial workings. Well, they can’t be ignorant anymore. There are many online executive courses in finance that will provide them with the basic financial information, something that’ll come in handy as they progress and their position gets bigger.  

Leadership is all about working out the direction that the team or organizations needs to go in to succeed. Online leadership training programs help managers learn these skills.  

A manager plays a very crucial role by acting as the catalyst for the teams. Apart from that, managers need to be the coordinators and middlemen communicating between team members, teams and the management. It is crucial that a manager rightly utilizes all his resources to ensure that success and productivity is increased. 

As a manager, one needs to provide direction and structure to the team, along with a motivating environment for the team to perform to their fullest of abilities. Hence, it is a journey for someone to move from an individual contributor to manager. It is not just thinking from an individual perspective but to think about the team as a whole. One needs to focus on the strengths and challenges of the team, delegate, and essentially align the entire team to the organizational goals and values. These are some crucial reasons as to why effective management training becomes important for managers to flourish in their role.  

In order to for training on effective management to take place, one needs to keep in mind to address the following important aspects:  

• Even high potentials fail to shine as a manager due to many reasons, such as, not knowing how to leverage the expertise of the team, not pushing the team to perform or develop, etc, could bring the entire team down. Thus, the training program needs to gauge these issues and create an outline that would address these reasons
• Next point to be kept in mind while developing an outline for a training on effective management is to address the different dilemmas a manager would face. Some of the dilemmas could be people orientation vs task orientation, self vs team, delegate vs not delegate, etc. Addressing these through a training program would help managers to step up their performance
• Some of the most important skills any manager would need to exhibit effectiveness, can be classified under three broad buckets as personal excellence, team excellence and organizational excellence. In each of these buckets can be placed several skills a manager needs to possess: 

1. 1. Personal excellence: planning and prioritizing, ownership and accountability, emotional intelligence, time management, networking skills, etc. 
   2. Team excellence: directing and delegating, creating a motivating environment, developing team, trust, conflict management, handling diverse workforce, etc. 
   3. Organizational excellence: change management, decision making, problem solving, customer centricity, risk management, strategic thinking, etc.  

While each of these aspects can be addressed through separate training programs, but depending on the need and skills to be addressed or developed, the training outline needs to pick multiple building blocks to be made into an effective management training outline. Creating a customized outline based on the target audience is a crucial aspect in any program outline and it is essential to address multiple skills through one program either as a two-day program outline or as 4 half-day programs or 2-hour virtual sessions on various skills.  

To conclude training on effective management, need to be focused on understanding the problems, addressing the dilemmas, combining various skills that can boost the performance and a mode of delivery that will be most effective. 

Every year, some of the most talented and top performing individual contributors are promoted to the role of managers by the organization in the hope that this would replicate their earlier success in their new role. However, it has been noticed previously that the enthusiasm that is expressed when announcing these promotions is not always followed by the comprehensive support and guidance that is required to navigate through this major transition in their career. 

A Deloitte report of 2014 reported that an average of 29 percent of organization’s L&D budget is spent on training first-time managers. It is not enough even if it sounds like development. Thereby, it becomes significant to recognize the factors that have a critical impact on ensuring that this investment is maximized and so there are no pitfalls to be experienced in the last-minute.  

Grovo found that most first-time managers didn’t have the right training to be effective on the job despite the contrary expectations of leaders that newly promoted managers are aware of the expectations that come with their role. It was further found that 44 percent felt unprepared for the role and 87 percent wished they received more training.   

Why Train a First-Time Manager?

Due to the impact a manager can have on the team, they are expected to be successful. Problems could be created by a bad manager such as unproductive staff. Health issues can be caused by low productivity levels, lack of engagement and unhappiness. As a result, companies spend a lot of money on the treatment of these issues. 

A study found that a high and unnecessary staff turnover occurs due to employee’s admittance to leaving an organization due to a bad boss. This could also lead to loss of high-quality talent that could be more expensive to replace.   

Training a First-Time Manager Should Ideally Include the Following

Personality Assessments

Self-awareness is an important aspect in leadership. A proper understanding of individual differences, communication styles and modulation of inappropriate behaviour made critical skills effective. Before promoting the new employees to managerial position, it is wise to make them self-aware and provide better understanding of themselves. The profile created through the personality assessment can provide an insight into the type of manager they will be. 

Strengths Profiles

Personality assessments should be ideally followed upon with good strengths profile. There are psychological assessments that will highlight the strengths and weaknesses of the manger, which will provide insight to in turn mange them and ensure that their work is effective. Training first-time managers through strength profile, that is providing them insight on their strengths makes them six times more likely to be engaged and effective in work.  

New Manager Curriculum Courses

The five primary skills deemed as important for the success of first-time managers. Training a first-time manager can be carried out through in-person workshops, virtual remote workshops, or on-demand videos for self-paced learning ensuring that it covers everything a first-time manager need to learn.  

The five primary skills are: 

• Ensuring a smooth transition from individual contributor to first-time manager  
• Effective feedback 
• Coaching 
• Delegating 
• One-on-one meetings 

It was found by Global Leadership Forecast that millennial managers loathe the long, traditional PowerPoint-driven lectures. They prefer or demand that training first time managers be: 

• Personalized 
• Ongoing 
• On-demand 
• Mobile 
• Coaching-based 

It has also been found that podcasts, short on-demand webinars, book summaries, and even AI-powered chatbots are revolutionizing the online education world which is why one should consider incorporating these methods in training a first-time manager. While training a first time-manager, training first-time managers should stop on the account of the training being completed but it should continue despite the successful transition of the employee.  

Every manager desires to give best to their trainees. Training programs for management trainees and otherwise, helps in developing skills, ideas, gaining experience and knowledge to improve the overall performance of trainees. 

Employing management trainees focuses on onboarding youthful and innovative people in the organization who could take future leadership positions. Organizations employ them from best of the colleges and put a lot of investment in their training and development so they could scale up on hierarchical structure.  

However, it’s observed that management trainees are promised a lot of things during the time of interview and hiring process but that gets lost somewhere over a period. This is basically on the grounds that Management Trainee programs begins with a lot of enthusiasm and hype but fail to convey wanted results. Therefore, achieving desired outcomes from the training is in the top list of many organizations and institutes.  

Tips to Consider

Here are some of the points when taken into consideration can decrease the risk of failure of training programs for management trainees – 

• Be specific about the exact number of management trainees the organization wants to hire during a year. This will help Human Resource / Onboarding team to plan better and give their entire focus on implementing the training programs and future engagements accordingly 
• Next, let the management trainees know the reason they have been hired and what does the organization expect from them. They should be constantly reminded that organization is working for overall development of the trainees which will help them to become future leaders
• The next step is to have a plan for structured training programs with the design and timeline in place post which one can work backwards from the set plan. This step is very important as it plays a huge role in achieving the future objectives
• Inform and involve the managers of the trainees regarding the need for the training program and how it will help their team in achieving long term goals and objectives. Managers need to be oriented in handling the management trainees and achieving the targets
• Track the progress of the program and make necessary changes wherever required if you feel the necessity. Taking feedback at this step would be very beneficial for overall development of the organization
• No training program is complete until the outcomes are measured. Review and update your training program if they don’t meet your planned goals. You can make use of employee feedback once the training is done in the form of inputs to improve your training next time. Taking feedback is very important in any training. You should always check- 

• • What new skill/ knowledge did the trainees gain from the program? 
  • In what manner they will apply this knowledge or skill?  
  • Any area of improvement they found in this program? 

It is very important to make trainees feel that they are important to the organization and the organization is providing them a platform which can help them in their overall growth and development. They must be involved in their development process and perceive the organization as giving them control of their learning journey. This will keep the interest of management trainees in place and will help them to give their 100%.  

Learning is often considered to be a normal part of working and personal life. Online environment is changing continuously, and it represents a great opportunity for learning. It is very important to understand how you can use all the available channels to learn and choose the one that best suits your learning style. 

Of late, online training is being practiced more and more. The online leadership training programs, which were once delivered only in traditional method (classroom training) are now available online. This represents an easy and comfortable way for a manager to take up the training, for e.g., PMP Certification, to gather the required knowledge and upgrade their skill set. Online leadership training programs are a great alternative to traditional classroom learning, especially for managers who can’t afford the time to take up classroom courses.  

Let’s see some of the advantages of undergoing online leadership training programs:  

Self-paced programs: Online leadership training programs are a good alternative to the traditional training programs. Employees who aspire to become managers or managers who wish to move up in their career, can undergo online programs in their own time. More importantly, some of the training are available online for free. These online trainings are a great way to gather knowledge and boost their confidence level. Online trainings provide access to a variety of content once the manager registers for an online course.  

Career growth: Managers can take online courses or even complete additional degrees online while continuing with their present job. Also, taking an online leadership training program indicates the prospective employers that the manager is very determined to succeed, and want to be prepared for any new challenges.  

Offer more individual attention: Because a direct instructor is assigned while taking up an online training, all the clarifications are answered directly. Many a times, a question might arise after class or while studying. Rather than trying to remember it to get it clarified in the next session, e-mails can be sent directly to the instructor. This enhances a manager’s desire to learn.  

Nurture future leaders: A manager should be strategic about developing and nurturing future leaders. Quality leadership is a mix of right qualities and right training. It is a responsibility of a manager to identify candidates who have the qualities and provide them with the right kind of leadership training that is available online. With intuitive platforms, future leaders can be trained at pace comfortable for them, training them to take new leadership responsibilities. All these offers great career roadmap to employees, thereby increasing retention.  

Implement an effective leadership style: online leadership training programs help an organization to implement the right kind of leadership style for an organization. eLearning contents developed understanding the needs help in transforming an individual into an asset of the organization. 

Retain your people: Most people who resign their jobs don’t quit their job, they quit their bosses because they are ineffective. By investing in the right kind of online managerial training, organizations can retain efficient people, which in turn reduces the recruitment expenses that is incurred when recruiting a new candidate.  

Instant Feedback: In the traditional training method, assessments are verified by individuals, which is time consuming. But by having a good LMS, verifying assessments and tests are done automatically, and feedbacks are provided instantly while the subject is still fresh in their minds.

HOW TO MANAGE PEOPLE EFFECTIVELY

People management is a multidimensional process, which involves management of work, people and operations. Human resources are the most indispensable asset of an organization. It is difficult to maintain a workforce in balance and focus on operations simultaneously without management. Hence, it is essential for managers to take care of people’s diverse needs and behaviour as individuals to treat them as a group.  

A manager’s duty is to bring out and enhance the talents of the people working under them and help them overcome their weaknesses. A manager should keep in mind that each employee has got different personal problems to deal with and should not pressure anyone into doing things that could disturb them. These problems may be low salaries, peer pressure or a feeling of being stuck in the workplace. Managers should understand that employees have a private life and while they work on achieving goals for the organization, they also have to work on achieving their personal life goals because both the dimensions of their lives are separate and not connected. 

Achieving the collective goal is impossible without all employees working in harmony with full dedication and feeling like they are being heard rather than ignored. In order to develop team spirit and coordination in these individuals, group dynamics and team building is required. 

What are group dynamics and team building?  

Group dynamics refers to the interaction of people in a group. It is the process of two or more people in a group making connections through communication by sharing ideas or knowledge or exchanging facts. Individuals have their own paces and interactions depend on them. The objective of group dynamics is to identify and work upon social processes that affect the aspects of the group such as their familiarity and comfort in working together which will lead to group development and better collective performance. The interpersonal relations, group formation, and member participation play an integral role in people management.   

Group dynamics include five stages: 

• Forming – The first stage is group formation. In this stage, group members are complete strangers or acquaintances. Disconcerting formality is present. They are more concerned about their personal needs and require guidance from the leader
• Storming – communication beings in the group at this stage. However, they still take time in identifying as a united team. This results in some individuals presenting their emotions where they might think they aren’t being heard. This further leads to more competition. The leader must rectify this by assigning them various tasks to work together on
• Norming – The individuals of the group/ team start feeling familiar and relaxed around each other by this stage. There are a positive atmosphere and people feel part of the team. People collaborate with each other and ‘I’ is replaced with ‘We’
• Performing – This is the peak of group dynamics and people management. People work in a positive atmosphere where personal differences are discarded; complete trust and openness is developed. The group becomes highly productive and motivated to accomplish a common group objective
• Adjourning – When the group objective is accomplished, the group is either adjourned or a new objective is framed, and the group development process starts from scratch.   

Team building incorporates various activities and events designed to build a cohesive force between individuals which motivates them to work together as a team to achieve the organizational goals.  

The first step towards team building is to set clear goals and objectives. The management should then develop mechanisms for communication, such as e-mails and newsletters, as well as problem-solving mechanisms. Once the team members are decided, the managers should assign a team leader. Team building and people management activities should be carried out early on to build trust and motivation in team members. As well as, it can also be done for teams that don’t always work with each other but are at a similar position as a manager across departments.  

These activities can include both indoor and outdoor activities such as go-karting, card games and any other innovative activity which boosts team spirit. CSR activities are great for making teams work in more profitable ways for the company. Also, management should celebrate team members’ accomplishments and birthdays. Conduct regular meetings and keep a check a track of the work done by team members to achieve the goal. Team building ensures better communication, more motivation and ultimately boosts productivity. By applying these group dynamics and doing team building, you can achieve the desired results. Remember, a group that plays together stays together.

MANAGING EMPLOYEES’ PERFORMANCE 

Managing employee performance is very important as it lets you properly check the efficiency of the worker, find out who is working hard and who isn’t. It helps to properly balance your workforce and improve your company’s overall output. This is one in a complete set of functional and behavioral qualities that, when fully utilized, can help lead to professional success. It explores the critical components all leaders much possess, which are crucial to the performance management process. A leader has a significant responsibility of managing and measuring performance both his and those of his direct reports. Therefore, it is necessary for you as a leader to get familiar with your company’s performance, management processes and procedures.   

Unskilled –

Those who are unskilled – 

• Are unable to use goals and aims to handle self or others
• Are not regulated in assigning and measuring work
• May not certain about who is responsible for what
• Are not well -organized, just assign tasks to people, or lack priorities or goals
• May not be able to manage time in an orderly way
• Cannot provide feedback for work in progress
• Don’t set up ways and standards for people to measure themselves

Skilled –

Those who are skilled – 

• Clearly give responsibility for decisions and tasks
• Set clear objectives and measures 
• Survey process, progress, and results
• Design feedback loops into work

Overused Skill –

Those who overuse their skill – 

• May be too controlling
• May always watch someone specially to criticize them
• May recommend too much and not authorize people

Importance –

When it comes to managing employee’s performance, what you don’t know can bother you. More clearly, if a manager doesn’t know exactly how well their employees are performing, they will have no idea how to appreciate the workers who are excelling. Nor will they know when to help or even fire those who are not performing well.  

• Maintain Increased Employee Efficiency – One of the most important reasons for managing employee performance, is to keep the employees working in an efficient and productive manner. Performance measures ensure that employees work hard and well or face a poor evaluation. Once evaluated, employees can be managed through encouragement to keep up the good work, otherwise they can be managed through further training and coaching
• Identifying Strong and Weak Links – The continual use of performance evaluations helps to track an employee’s efficiency and productivity over a period of time. This in turn allows you to identify which employees continually perform beyond expectations, and which ones fall short. You can then manage extraordinary employees through promotions and extra responsibilities, and the underperformers through temporary degradation or termination
• Determining Appropriate Compensation – In certain work environments, managing employee’s performance can be tied to employee compensation. It makes sense that if a consistently hardworking employee deserves a promotion, then they might also deserve a pay increase. Similarly, if a consistently unsuccessful employee deserves a demotion, then they should not be given a pay raise until they raise their level of performance. Proper communication with employees eliminates confusion, raises performance, and constricts everyone’s focus to company priorities. This helps in achieving improved results and leads to profits
• Performance Management – This is about helping an organization achieve its mission and goals by working with staff to improve their and the company’s effectiveness through setting goals and clear expectations, providing feedback to staff regarding their goal- related performance, providing training programs that help employees improve their skills and enhance performance, rating employee performance frequently to ensure expectations are met, recognizing and rewarding performance that meets expectations
• Performance Management Drives Business Growth – To understand what drives your company’s success, it’s essential to measure your employees. They are the ones who produce your product and serve your customers. Thus, the management must develop measures that drive and track employee progress. 

Managing employee performance is the core of performance management, and it is key to growing your business. The metrics of your company should be making it easy to track employee progress. To truly understand what drives your company’s success, it’s essential to measure your employees. They are the face of your organization, the ones who make products and serve your customers.  

Some Remedies for managing employee performance are – 

• Set Goals – You should set goals before assigning tasks. This will help focus people’s time and efforts and allow them to perform more efficiently as most of them don’t want to waste time and perform well. The organization must identify its goals and communicate them in such a manner that they are understood by everyone within the organization
• Involvement of Employees in Setting Goals – When people have a say in how goals are set and measured, they are more motivated. They are just as likely to set the goals higher than you might. Since all are different, you need to match the goals to everyone you manage. They each respond differently to goals. Some perform better when they are assured of reaching the goal ahead of time while others like stretch goals. Try to relate the goals to everyone’s issues. Don’t treat people alike when it comes to what and how you set goals
• Clarity – Being clear about goals is very important, how they are going to be measured, and what will the rewards and consequences be for those who exceed, just make, or miss their goals. Communicate both in writing and verbally if possible
• Feedback – Most people are motivated by process feedback against agreed upon goals so give as much as you can. This will help me them adjust in time to achieve the goal; they can make midway amendments. It also depicts what they are doing is important and that you’re ready to help
• Be Flexible – Things change all the time. Be ready to change goals midway when faced with contrary information. Visualize what could go wrong
• Pursue Positive and Negative Rewards and Consequences – Celebrate the exceeders, compliment the just made its, and sit down and discuss what happened with the misers. Deliver the reward or consequence you communicated. If you don’t do what you said you were going to do, no one will pay attention to the next goal and consequence you set
• Set Goals for Yourself and Your Career – Get used to measuring yourself. Ask your employer to help in setting goals and providing you continuous feedback. That way, you’ll know better what effect the goals have on others

Measuring employee performance is the core of performance management, and it is key to growing your business. The metrics of your company should be making it easy to track employee progress. To truly understand what drives your company’s success, it’s essential to measure your employees. They are the face of your organization, the ones who make products and serve your customers.   

Measuring employee performance is vital to an organization’s success. Organizations that can look deep inside their and discover the inadequacies that exist, as well as the elements that work, position themselves for great success. When the employees and management work together toward a common goal, the company will achieve new levels of growth, innovation and profits. It brings in continuity in improving skills and outcomes is an important part of the performance management review process. It lets you deliver more efficient processes and more focused management data to drive employee engagement and performance. The result is increased efficiency, growth and improved profitability. It is one of the best ways to invest in your company’s talent. When workers share the company’s business goals and are provided with the tools needed to develop the skills to reach those goals, the organization will achieve a common purpose and job satisfaction.   

Psychometric Tests for Leadership Positions

Leadership development courses are an important area of focus for any L&D function. Effective leadership development courses lead to improved business outcomes, a more cohesive organization, and greater business adaptability. As a result, it is critical to ensure that leadership strengths are effectively leveraged and that challenges are addressed through initiatives such as training and leadership development courses. The first step in leadership development is to better understand leaders – what motivates them, their strengths and challenges, and others’ perceptions of the leadership inventory. This is where psychometric assessments for leaders come in handy. 

Wiley’s Everything DiSC has a suite of leadership assessments focused on four key leadership perspectives: business, interpersonal, intrapersonal, and team. Wiley’s three different psychometric assessments aid in understanding these leadership perspectives and creating better leadership development courses: 

Everything DiSC Work of Leaders – The DiSC Model and the VAE framework are used in the Everything DiSC Work of Leaders to help leaders understand their leadership preferences, strengths, and challenges, as well as where they stand in terms of leadership best practices. Julie Straw and colleagues conducted four years of research on 300 leaders from 150 organizations. The assessment defines leadership as a one-to-many relationship that proceeds through a three-step process.: 

• Crafting a Vision 
• Building Alignment  
• Championing Execution 

Each stage of the leadership process has three motivations and two behavioral best practices. The assessment assists leaders in determining their DiSC style. This allows them to better understand their own leadership preferences, strengths, and challenges. The VAE Model and its associated behavioral best practices provide specific insights into each leader’s position in relation to global leadership best practices. This assists leaders in developing effective leadership development courses. 

Everything DiSC 363 for Leaders – The 363 for Leaders is Wiley’s second leadership assessment. This is a 360° survey that provides valuable feedback to leaders on eight leadership dimensions and the practices that go with them. The survey solicits responses from the respondent, direct reports, manager, peers, and others. This assists leaders in determining how various stakeholders perceive their leadership style. To identify gaps in the leadership brand, an analysis of self-vs. others feedback is provided. The assessment is based on the DiSC Model, but the results focus on the leadership dimensions rather than the leader’s individual DiSC style. The survey is called a 363 rather than a 360 because it offers three improvement strategies. 

Five Behaviors of a Cohesive Team – Wiley’s third leadership assessment focuses on developing cohesive leadership teams. This assessment combines the DiSC Model and Patrick Lencioni’s Five Behaviors Model. The assessment is divided into two parts. The first focuses on identifying each team member’s DiSC style through a self-assessment. The second component is the team survey, which collects feedback from all team members and rates the team on the five behaviors of a cohesive team, which are trust, conflict, commitment, accountability, and results. The report also discusses how each team member’s DiSC style affects the five behaviors. This leadership team assessment assists them in identifying dysfunctional team behaviors and developing an action plan for building a cohesive team. 

Psychometric assessments for leaders provide evidence-based and unbiased insights into leadership behaviors. Such insights are invaluable and an effective first step in creating impactful leadership development courses through leadership coaching or training.