Leadership and Influence

Developing tomorrow's leaders

This is the public version of our highly successful in-company Leadership and Influence Program. It is designed for organisations who have a small number of people they wish to develop at any one time.

It is designed to create leaders who add significantly greater value to your business as individuals and are equipped to influence others around them to do the same.

It is a mix of input, practical workshop exercises, 'homework' where the delegates take their learning and APPLY it to your business to have an immediate impact and 121's where we help them overcome personal roadblocks to peak performance.

The program consists of six modules held over a three-month period with 121's between each.

PILLARS

This is NOT a training program in the traditional sense. When putting together any program such as this, I believe:

We can offer opportunity, engaging content and an environment in which people can develop, but they need the motivation and desire to take advantage of it
Real learning takes part when people implement and reflect on what they have learnt
Peer-level learning groups offer significant and long-lasting learning benefits
A mixture of group and 121 usually works more effectively
The involvement of, and review of progress by their manager, is key to motivation and embedding the learning
For development programs to really deliver we need to work with ‘mindset’ as well as skills, knowledge and techniques. Mindset is what helps people act wisely in the moment, taking an approach that is most likely to work in a given situation rather than slavishly following what they have been taught is ‘right’.

Module 1
HUMANS

Whilst categorising people into groups is important in business - e.g. employees, teams, bosses, suppliers, partners, customers and shareholders, it is critical to also see they are humans if we are to be a successful leader. Understanding the fundamental principles behind how humans work is the cornerstone of any successful leadership development program.

Module 2
A world of opportunity (and challenge!)

Leaders have an ability to see both the pig picture and detail. They understand first WHY something needs to be done before they consider WHAT is to be done. In this module we look at the business environment, the changes taking place and identify those that pose the most critical threats and opportunities for us (and our prospects/customers).

Module 4
My team

We now start to narrow the focus down to the delegates own teams. We look in more detail at their own key relationships - customers (internal and external), suppliers (internal and external) and partners where relevant. We answer the questions?

How do our suppliers rate us as customers? How do we rate them as suppliers? What conversations do we need to have to get further clarity on how to improve our relationship?

We then ask the same questions about our customers?

Module 3
Our business

In this module we start to look at the delegates own business - the key functions and how they interact through the key processes (how work/value gets delivered). Keeping the threats and opportunities of the previous module in mind, we look at the strengths and weaknesses of how we operate and what we will need to stop, start and keep doing in the way we operate if we are to take advantage of the opportunities and mitigate the threats.

Modules 5&6
Me

In this module we get to the practical skills of handling the four critical conversations of a leader - agreeing expectations/outcomes, giving and receiving feedback, challenging those who fall short and coaching others to improve their performance.

We conclude with the delegates producing a personal development plan for the next year to share with and gain the support of their organisation.

Feedback

The following is feedback from previous delegates:

Not really sure where to start. To say working with Simon has had a very positive affect on ‘me’ is an understatement.
Firstly, and this is an easy one - working with you was one of the best things that happened to me this year. I have loved our sessions and always tried to be really open with you - and myself.
Simon is exceptionally perceptive and very quickly was able to identify my ‘stumbling blocks’, showing me what they are and how to deal with them. And he managed this very challenging exercise in a very supportive manner, making me feel confident and energised, and nothing holding me back.