6-1

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P6
Basic Leadership Skills

Leaderships Skills
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.

6-3

Learning from experience

Communication
Listening
Assertiveness
Guidelines for effective stress management
Building technical competence
Building effective relationships with superiors
Building effective relationships with peers
Building credibility

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1. Learning from experience

6-4

Creating opportunities to get feedback

Taking a 10 percent stretch
Learning from others
Keeping a journal
Having a development plan
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1. Learning from experience

6-5

Creating opportunities to get feedback

Being perceived as approachable and sincere
in the offer of open-door policy
Asking for feedback about perceptions of
your behavior
Take psychological tests and use periodic
surveys or questionnaires

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1. Learning from experience

6-6

Taking a 10 percent stretch

Taking risks and reaching beyond comfort zone
Determined efforts to improve leadership skills
Seeking an opportunity to be chair of a
committee
Doing something new of different gradually
decreases
Model something very valuable to others
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1. Learning from experience

6-7

Learning from others

They can learn from others (any others)
Should not limit their learning by narrowly
defining the sorts of people they pay attention
to
Asking questions and paying attention to
everyday situation
Active observation
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1. Learning from experience

6-8

Keeping a journal
Writing a journal increases the likelihood that
leaders will be able to look at an event from a
different perspective or feel differently about it
Can reread earlier entries
Provide a repository of ideas that leader may
later want to use more formally papers, pep
talks, or speeches
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1. Learning from experience

6-9

Having a development plan

A systematic plan outlining self-improvement
goals and strategies will help leasers take
advantage of opportunities they otherwise might
overlook
Developing a systematic plan also will help
leaders priorities the importance of different goals
so that their efforts can be put into areas with the
greatest relative payoff.
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2. Communication

6-10

Know what your purpose is

Choose an appropriate context and medium
Send clear signals
Actively ensure that others understand the message

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2. Communication

6-11

Know what your purpose is

By knowing the purpose, a leader or follower
can better decide whether to communicate
publicly or privately, orally or in writing
These decisions may seen trivial, but often
the specific content of a message will be
enhanced or diminished by low and where it
is communicated
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2. Communication

6-12

Choose an appropriate context and medium

Leaders should praise followers in public and punish
them in private
Selecting physical and social settings that will
enhance the effectiveness of any communication
More formal communication is enhanced when the
follower remains standing when the leader is sitting or
if the leader communicates across the desk to
followers
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2. Communication

6-13

Send clear signals

Use familiar terms, jargon, and concept
Know the level of expertise, values,
experiences, and expectation
More effective communication if the nonverbal
signals match the content of the message

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2. Communication

6-14

Actively ensure that others understand the message

Practicing two-way communication and by paying
attention to the others emotional responses
Get clues about the clarity of the messages by paying
attention to the nonverbal signals end by their
followers
When verbal and nonverbal messages seem to be
incongruent, it may be because the message sent out
to them was unclear
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3. Listening

6-15

Demonstrate nonverbally that you are listening

Actively interpret the senders message
Attend to the senders nonverbal behavior
Avoid becoming defensive

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3. Listening

6-16

Demonstrate nonverbally that you are listening

Your nonverbal behaviors show that you have turned
your attention entirely to the speaker
Individuals who are actively listening establish eye
contact with the speaker
They do not doodle, shoot rubber bands or look away
at other things
They show they are genuinely interested in what the
speaker has say
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3. Listening

6-17

Actively interpret the senders message

Understand what the sender truly means
Look for the meaning behind someone elses
words
Keep a mind open to the senders ideas
Withhold judgment about the senders idea
until they have heard the entire message
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3. Listening

6-18

Attend to the senders nonverbal behavior

Being astute at picking up on senders
nonverbal signal
Much of the social meaning in messages is
conveyed nonverbally and when verbal and
nonverbal signals conflict, people often tend to
trust the nonverbal signals

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3. Listening

6-19

Avoid becoming defensive

Defensiveness lessens a persons ability to
constructively make use of the information
Acting defensively may also decrease followers
subsequent willingness to pass additional unpleasant
information
Leaders need to avoid the temptation to explain how
the other person is wrong and should instead just try
to understand how he perceives thing
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4. Assertiveness

6-20

Use I statement
Speak up for what you need
Learn to say no
Monitor your inner dialogue
Be persistent
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4. Assertiveness

6-21

Use I statement
Take responsibility for what you say
Specify what you believe and what you want
Use first-person pronouns when you speak
I think his academic record looks fine, but we agreed only
to consider candidates with at least five years experience. I
think we should keep looking.

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4. Assertiveness

6-22

Speak up for what you need

Virtually everyone will need to ask superiors,
peers, or subordinates for help at some time
Ask for help from others when they need it
Do not apologize to much or justify yourself for needing
help. Giving a brief reason for your request often helps. Do
not beat around the bush, hinting at what you need and
hoping other get the message. Do not play on someones
friendship. Do not take a refusal personally.
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4. Assertiveness

6-23

Learn to say no
No one can be all things to all people but it takes
assertiveness to say no to others
Leaders may need to say no to their own superiors at
times to stand up
Keep your reply short and polite. Avoid a long, rambling
justification. Do not invent excuses. Do not go overboard in
apologizing because you cannot do it. Be up-front about
your limitations and about options you could support. Ask
for time to consider it if you need to.
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4. Assertiveness

6-24

Monitor your inner dialogue

Most of us talk to ourselves, though not out loud
Assertive people have self-talk that is positive and
affirming
Leader is not defeated by his own self-talk
Leader to become more aware of their own
counterproductive self-talk, confront it, and change it

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4. Assertiveness

6-25

Be persistent
Stick to the guns without becoming irritated,
angry or loud
Seek their objectives, even in the face of
another persons excuses or objectives
Standing up for his own rights

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6-26

5. Guidelines for effective stress management

Monitor your own and your followers stress levels

Identify what is causing the stress
Practice a healthy lifestyle
Learn how to relax
Develop supportive relationships
Keep things in perspective
The A-B-C model
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6-27

5. Guidelines for effective stress management

Monitor your own and your followers stress levels

A person experiencing excessive stress might

manifest various symptoms apparent to
everyone but him or her
Develop the habit of regularly attending to
some of the warning signs that your stress
level my be getting too high

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6-28

5. Guidelines for effective stress management

Stress symptoms:
Are your behaving unlike yourself?
Has your mood become negative, hostile or
depressed?
Do you have difficulty sleeping?
Are you defensive or touchy?
Are your relationships suffering?
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6-29

5. Guidelines for effective stress management

Have you made more mistakes or bad decisions
lately?
Have you lost interest in normally enjoyable
activities?
Are you using alcohol or other drugs?
Do you seem to have little energy?
Do you worry a lot?

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6-30

5. Guidelines for effective stress management

Are you nervous much of the time?
Have you been undereating or overeating?
Have you had an increase in headaches or back
pains?

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6-31

5. Guidelines for effective stress management

Identify what is causing the stress
Causes of stress always will be obvious, but that is not true
Some times the problems are clear enough even if the
solution are not
It may be difficult to identify the root problem
Problem solving can be applied constructively to managing
stress, but only if the problem is identified in the first place
Then, a plan for minimizing stress or the effects of the
stressor can be developed
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6-32

5. Guidelines for effective stress management

Practice a healthy lifestyle
The best ways to minimize stress
There are no substitutes for balanced nutrition, regular
exercise, adequate sleep, abstention from tobacco
products, and drinking only moderate amount of
alcohol (if at all) as keys to a healthy life
Exercise is also an excellent way to reduce tension

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6-33

5. Guidelines for effective stress management

Learn how to relax
Some people just do not know how to relax
Some people prefer alternative relaxation techniques to
exercise: deep-breathing techniques, progressive muscle
relaxation, and thinking of calming words and images can
be powerful on-the-spot calming techniques to reduce
arousal level
The effectiveness of these techniques is somewhat a
matter of personal preference, and no single one is best for
all purposes or all people
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6-34

5. Guidelines for effective stress management

Develop supportive relationships
Another powerful antidote to stress in having a network of
close and supportive relationships with others
People who have close ties to others through marriage,
church membership, or other groups tend to be healthier
Leaders can play a constructive role in developing mutual
supportiveness and cohesiveness among subordinates, and
their own open and frank communication with
subordinates is especially important when a situation is
ambiguous as well as stressful
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6-35

5. Guidelines for effective stress management

Keep things in perspective
Managing stress effectively depends on keeping things
in perspective
This is difficult for some people because they have a
style of interpreting events that aggravates their felt
stress
Individuals who have relatively complex self-concepts
are less susceptible to common stress-related
complaints
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6-36

5. Guidelines for effective stress management

The A-B-C model
Cognitive approaches to stress management
Changing a persons self-talk about stressful
events
A. Triggering event (knocking your bosss coffee onto his lap)
B. Your thinking (Darn it! But it was just an accident)
C. Feelings and behavior (apologizing and helping clean up)

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6-37

5. Guidelines for effective stress management

A particular incident can be interpreted in
several deferent ways: increase feeling of stress
and distress, or maintain self-esteem and
positive coping
You will become better at coping with stress as
you practice listening to your inner dialogue
and changing destructive self-talk to
constructive self-talk
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6. Building technical competence

6-38

Determining how the job contributes to the overall mission

Becoming an expert in the job
Seeking opportunities to broaden experiences

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6. Building technical competence

6-39

Determining how the job contributes to the overall mission

Knowledge and repertoire of behaviors one can

bring to bear to successfully complete a task
Leader acquired technical competence through
formal education or training in specialized topics,
on-the-job training, or experience and many
studies have documented the importance of
technical competence to a persons success and
effectiveness as both a leader and a follower
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6. Building technical competence

6-40

Becoming an expert in the job

Enrolling in formalized education and training
programs, watching others, asking questions, and
teaching others
Observing how others handle work-coordination
problems, achieve producing goals, discipline team
members, or develop team members with poor skills
Trying to think of as many different criteria as
possible for evaluating another persons actions
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6. Building technical competence

6-41

Seeking opportunities to broaden experiences

Try to pay a variety of positions in order to better
appreciate the contribution of other team member
Perform tasks associate with other positions
Visit other parts of the organization in order to gain an
understanding of its whole operations
Interact with members of other work units to get
opportunity to develop new skills

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6-42

7. Building effective relationships with superiors

Understanding the superiors world

Adapting to the superiors style

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6-43

7. Building effective relationships with superiors

Understanding the superiors world
Try to get a handle on their superiors personal and
organizational objectives
Loyalty and support are a two-way street, and just as a
superior can help subordinates attain their personal goals
Superiors are not supermen, they do not have all the
answers, and they have both strengths and weaknesses
Keeping superiors informed about various activities in the
work group or new developments or opportunities in the
field
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6-44

7. Building effective relationships with superiors

Adapting to the superiors style
Some executives fail to get promoted because they are unable
or unwilling to adapt to superiors with leadership styles
Clarify expectations about role and responsibility
Talk to others who have worked with a particular superior
before
Develop effective relationships with superiors need to be honest
and dependable
Superiors value workers who have reliable work habits,
accomplish assigned tasks and the right time in the right order,
and do what they promise
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6-45

8. Building effective relationships with peers

Recognizing common interests and goals

Understanding peers tasks, problems, and rewards
Practicing a theory Y attitude

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6-46

8. Building effective relationships with peers

Recognizing common interests and goals
Acknowledge shared interests, values, goals and
expectation
Establishing informal communication links is one of
the best ways to discover common interests and values
Be open and honest in communicating
An effective way to establish relationships with other
is to meet with them in context outside of normal
working relationships
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6-47

8. Building effective relationships with peers

Understanding peers tasks, problems, and rewards
Building a cooperative relationship with others
depends on knowing the sorts of tasks others perform
in the organization
Lending a hand whenever peers face personal or
organizational problems
People should not underestimate the power of their
own sincere encouragement, thanks, and compliments
in positively influencing the behavior of their
colleagues
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6-48

8. Building effective relationships with peers

Practicing a theory Y attitude
When a person assumes that others are competent,
trustworthy, willing to cooperate if they can, and
proud of their work, peers will view that person in the
same light
Recognizing someone elses strengths and weaknesses
It is important to decide whether to focus energy first
on improving the relationship or to focus its solely on
the task
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9. Building credibility

6-49

The two components of credibility

Building expertise
Building trust
Expertise x trust

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9. Building credibility

6-50

The two components of credibility

Expertise and trust
Ability to engender trust in others
Seen as trustworthy, strong sense of right and wrong,
stand up and speak up for what they believe in protect
confidential information, encourage ethical discussion
of business or work issues, and follow through with
commitments

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9. Building credibility

6-51

Building expertise
Technical competence and organizational and industry
knowledge
Determine how the job contributes to the overall
mission
Become an expert in the job through formal training
or teaching others, and seek opportunities to broaden
their technical expertise
Expertise is more than experience.
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9. Building credibility

6-52

Building trust
Clarifying and communicating values
Building relationships with others to create a
high level of mutual trust
Leadership is a moral exercise
Spend time listening to what they have to say
Leader who build trust may be better able to
influence and get work done through others
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9. Building credibility

6-53

Expertise x trust
Leader vary tremendously in their levels of both
expertise and trust
These differences have distinct implications for
leaders wanting to improve their credibility
Leader who do not strive to live up to their ideals or
fail to follow through with their developmental
commitments are likely to be seen as less trustworthy
than those who do
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9. Building credibility

6-54

The credibility mix between expertise and trust:

1.
2.
3.
4.

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High expertise and high trust

High expertise and low trust
Low expertise and high trust
Low expertise and low trust

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6-55

THANK YOU

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