This podcast is AI-generated from the PDF of our talk materials. Once again, NotebookLM has delivered a fairly impressive podcast based on our content.
Talk Summary
In the talk, Pascal and I asked the audience to share their thoughts and experiences on what makes an ineffective and effective leader. We then shared stories based on our experience coaching leaders and various coaching techniques and tools to tackle issues such as conflict, poor decision-making, lack of focus, and weak delegation. Finally, we highlighted the the value that coaching can provide to leaders in their personal and professional growth.
The Challenges of Leadership
The presentation begins by acknowledging common difficulties in leadership with questions such as:
Why is leadership so hard?
Why do I sense so much pushback to my ideas and actions?
We invited the audience to explore the question: "As a leader what is the MOST DIFFICULT thing to change in your organisation?” as an interactive poll and we got expected answers such as “culture”, “mindset” and “people”.
Even though those answers are often valid, we highlighted that, typically, the most difficult thing to change is ourselves. Great leaders are often willing to lead by example and change themselves as part of the process to change things around them.
Characteristics of Bad and Good Leadership
Together with the audience, we then explore the characteristics of bad and good leadership. The answers can be grouped around these broad categories.
Bad Leadership
Focus on Self
Poor Listening
Lack of Empathy
Poor Communication
Resistance to Feedback
Arrogance and Lack of Self-Awareness
Micromanagement and Lack of Delegation
Good Leadership
Are Coachable
Observe & Listen
Are Keen to Learn
Adopt Servant Leadership
Provide Clarity Around Them
Grow Their People & Themselves
Addressing Specific Leadership Challenges
We then provided several brief descriptions of coaching scenarios designed to tackle particular difficulties. These stories, based on our experience, illustrate common challenges and introduce applicable tools or techniques.
Delegation ("Who's got the monkey?"): This story focuses on the process of delegation, prompting reflection on what to delegate, why, the environment of delegation, and the necessary knowledge transfer and conditions. We also introduced the Delegation Poker and Delegation Board tools from Management 3.0.
Leading Complex Organisations ("I don't know what's going on..."): Mentions techniques like "Reverse Gemba Walk", "Flow-based Organisational Design" (with Flight Levels) and “Data-Driven Business Management” within a coaching context, suggesting a focus on gaining a deeper understanding of the organisation's dynamics.
Conflict Situations ("Tension and conflict situations"): Emphasises the use of Nonviolent Communication (NVC) principles through questions focusing on facts, feelings, unfulfilled needs, and requests.
Decision Making ("No one challenges my ideas"): Introduces techniques like "Sparring Partnerships" and "Carnegie's Hot Seat" (linked to "Liberating Structures - Troika Consulting") to foster critical thinking and challenge assumptions.
Busyness and Lack of Focus ("Busy schedules & lack of focus"): Highlights the importance of self-reflection, goal setting (identifying "3 main Goals"), prioritisation (saying "NO"), and scheduling.
The Power of Coaching in Leadership. In our experience, great leaders engage in frequent coaching discussions and run regular actionable experiments enabling their continue growth as leaders.
A call to action!
At the end of the talk, we encouraged the audience to write a Letter to their Future Selves including 3 experiments each participant would like to run over the next month.
In 30 days, their self-addressed letters will be reaching the mailboxes.
In the meantime, feel free to reach out to Pascal and I if you would like to explore these topics, tools and practices further.
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