Matching Your Leadership to Their Needs

At the end of a recent Vision Alignment session, I was approached by a participant. Expecting him to bring up some aspect of the Shared Vision process, I was shocked when he told me his biggest takeaway for him came from a casual rabbit hole we traveled where I explained IMPACT Leadership and the importance of adjusting your Leadership Style to meet the Readiness Level of the employee.
 
That led to an engaging discussion on the value he took from that and how he felt it would shape his pathway going forward. That was a moment of IMPACT for sure!
 
IMPACT Leadership is one of my favorite topics because it is so often overlooked by leaders. When you bring up the importance of flexing your leadership to what they need versus leading the way you like, people will always nod and say of course. But why then do they rarely do so?
 
I wrote about IMPACT Leadership back in March in my blog post titled, Use IMPACT Leadership to Flex to Their Needs. I also brought it up in 4 Leadership Assumptions to Avoid.
 
In my more intensive IMPACT Alignment sessions, we focus on IMPACT Leadership to help you identify what you need to do as a leader. We combine that with IMPACT Communication where we work through your SOCIAL STYLE Model™ to understand how you engage them based upon their communication style. 
 
This week, I will be putting a team of managers through an IMPACT Leadership Skill-Up session. It’s a 2-hour workshop that helps the attendees apply the IMPACT Leadership process with their team members and they walk away with a specific action plan on how to engage their team.
 
Here is a breakdown of the IMPACT Leadership Skill-Up.
 
Engaging Your Team
We begin by having them identify key people they engage through leadership activities. Sometimes participants are not managers or team leads, so we have them consider people that they advise or guide through processes.
 
We then list out specific tasks, projects, roles or activities in which they engage their team. We reflect on how they explained the work and delivered expectations. This gives us a starting point for how they are currently interacting with their team.
 
Identify the Readiness Level
We have a series of activities that assess the skills/abilities of the employee as well as the confidence/willingness to do the work. We require specific examples as well as areas where they need to grow.
 
Based upon this we can determine their readiness level for the specific activity. The key is to recognize that depending upon the activity itself, a person’s readiness level can change and as a leader, this must be understood.
 
Identify the Required Leadership Style
Based upon the Readiness Level identified, we then match up the Leadership Style to provide the right leadership they need. Since an employee’s readiness level can change depending upon the activity, a leader’s style must adapt as well. We can’t take a one size fits all approach. 
 
They determine what is needed by their team and they identify specific actions and approaches to work in those situations. We avoid generalizations.
 
Taking Action
Recognizing the Readiness Level of the employee and understanding the Leadership Style that is needed, we work then to formulate a commitment plan.
 
We offer two tools to allow the participant an option that is most comfortable for them. 
 
The K.S.S. tool is very straight forward because we look at three basic questions:
K: What do I need to Keep doing?
S: What do I need to Stop doing?
S: What do I need to Start doing?
 
The other tool is the Be Better Today tool where the leader identifies 3 areas to focus on flexing their leadership style to help their team. They then list 3 specific actions to support each of the focus areas. 
 
The Follow-Up
The creation of the commitment plan is a great thing because we know written plans that are regularly reviewed with a mentor or peer group gives a 95% higher chance of success compared to those who don’t. 
 
So, follow-up is critical either through an accountability partner or part of our IMPACT Coaching  process.
 
The ability to flex your leadership to what is needed by your team along with the commitment to your team is what will help you grow as a leader, Beyond Today.

If you are interested in finding out more about IMPACT Leadership, you can DM me or contact me through our website by clicking HERE.

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