“Invest in Your People”

Leadership Development

Are Your Leaders Lost without their GPS?

In today’s business environment, organizations need everyone, both leaders and team members to be actively engaged in driving the business.  However, if your leaders are like the leaders in many organizations, they are overwhelmed and unclear about their role, their organizational boundaries, and their authority.  This lack of clarity and feeling of being overwhelmed is often exacerbated as they navigate through complex and bureaucratic organizational systems that may leave them feeling exhausted, hopeless, and stuck.  Leaders spend the majority of their time just trying to keep up, putting out the next fire, and fighting roadblocks. 

It is time we acknowledge that our leaders are just getting by at best, being constantly stuck on “defense”, in reactionary mode.  Our leaders are not leading anything, as they are unable to be on “offense”, proactively ensuring the execution of organizational strategy by planning, developing, inspiring, and improving the business through the people that drive it forward.    

Leaders are searching for the mystical ingredients that will make things easier.  They are searching for simplicity, clarity, and an engaged workforce that supports one another and works toward a common goal.   Leaders want answers to questions such as:

• “How am I supposed to devote time to developing others when I am so overwhelmed with my own responsibilities?”
• “How do I get my employees to “Own It” and be more engaged in the business?”
• “How do I change an environment that is content with being reactive?”
• “How do I explain and communicate strategy to others when it is unclear to me?”
• “How am I supposed to manage the competing and conflicting priorities that are part of my day to day work?”

If your leaders feel this way more days than not, they probably feel as if they have been abandoned by the organization, lost, and unable to acquire a signal on their “GPS” to get themselves back on track. They are unclear about where to go and how to get there.  They are lost without a clear leadership guidance tool and the proper behaviors necessary to navigate through the challenges and detours that are a natural part of achieving goals through engaged people.

So how can I help my leaders navigate this challenging environment and drive engagement and accountability?

DEVELOP VISIBLE LEADERSHIP SKILLS:  WE ARE ALL LEADERS!

Many organizations have invested a massive amount of time focusing on initiatives such as updating their facilities, implementing lean and six sigma tools that often become the flavor of the month, and other “point in time” diagnostic efforts that don’t seem to deliver much value.  Although these initiatives are important if done in the right context, often overlooked is the most critical investment – developing our people in a way that will engage them to the business and deliver sustainable results. The development of people that CSI is referring to encompasses the entire organization.

It has often been said that leadership is all about authority and the title that goes along with it.  At CSI, we believe that nothing can be further from the truth.  Leadership is not about job titles or authority, it is about action and behaviors.  It’s about the ability to influence outcomes and inspire others.  Leaders can and must be found at all levels across the organization.  There is a critical need to develop individuals to learn and apply key behaviors that inspire others, spark influence, and drive to sustainable results and outcomes.  High performance is achieved only when everyone on the team, not just a select few choose to lead.

Eight Foundational Attributes of Engagement

To place a framework around the key behaviors required to generate the output of increased engagement, CSI has identified the Eight Foundational Attributes of Engagement.  These attributes must be understood, practiced, and measured to elevate engagement within a team or organization.  These attributes support the foundation that is the overall Leadership GPS Model and move leaders to “transformational” thinking around the goals, people, and systems required to ensure long term success.  Highly engaged employees are described as having “it”; it is as if they have somehow found the secret magical recipe to inspire and influence others.  They are described as having presence in the way that they incorporate the behaviors defined under each attribute into the work environment in a natural, “the way we work around here way”.  The impact can become cultural when an organization works toward shifting the paradigm and provides the support, training, and coaching needed for this transformation. 

What are these Eight Leadership Attributes of a Highly Engaged Workforce?  Join us for our four part series as we unveil and unpack each of the 8 leadership attributes.

Click Here to View Part One

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