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Leadership and management are two distinctive and complementary systems of action. Excellence in both distinguishes successful companies. Leadership requires a shift in orientation from focusing on management as process of control to developing and articulating a vision, planning appropriate strategies, developing the ability to change rapidly, and building a committed workforce.
A leader persuades employees to work towards his or her vision of the future. He or she creates, sells, and drives the strategy of company, serves as a spokesperson, takes charge, pushes for action, creates culture and instills a sense of urgency to achieve the company's goals. A leader is also a model, a tone setter, a symbol and a guardian. What derails leaders are poor communication skills, excessive dominance, self-centered focus, impatience, failure to build alignment behind organization goals, etc. An understanding of what makes a leader and taking action to achieve this will increase a company's chance of success.
Leadership is the key to why some companies succeed and others fail. Successful companies have leaders who manage through times of change, shape culture, accomplish their goals through their people and nurture other leaders. To do so, they must have many skills: creating and communicating a vision; developing strategic planning; focusing on key organizational issues; dividing responsibilities, authorities, tasks and functions; hiring and selecting the right people; guiding a team; resolving conflicts and above all increasing the profitability of one's business area. Leadership skills can be learned. Powers Consulting provides an overview of leadership, explains the skills needed for becoming an effective leader, and helps people in leadership positions identify their strengths and areas in need of development.
Leaders demonstrate a commitment to innovation and continuous improvement in organizational performance. This means leading initiatives to change the structure, systems or talent mix to more effectively support business strategy. Too often change strategies forget the human element and fail. Powers Consulting will enable leaders to understand the dynamics of change, identify when to take action to initiate a change process and help create and implement solutions that will energize the company.
Just as executives plan other aspects of their business carefully, they need to have a systematic approach to human resources to assure that the organization will have the right people ... in the right jobs ... with the right skills ... at the right time ... and be able to link their development to corporate goals. Powers Consulting will provide the skills to identify human resources strategic issues and analyze their impact on your organization.
As more companies do business internationally, cultural competency has become critical in enabling success in the 21st century. An understanding of differences is crucial to marketing, negotiating, selling or communicating to diverse markets or customers. Powers Consulting will help leaders identify the skills needed to succeed in a global environment, to understand the dynamics of culture and develop skills to work effectively in a global setting.
Sometimes a leader needs someone with whom they can discuss ideas, to help strategize and plan from an objective point of view. At other times, a leader may want or need to improve certain specific skills such as public speaking or running meetings more effectively. In sports an athlete succeeds with the help of a coach; so do executives. Powers Consulting will provide coaching in person or by phone with e-mail support that is totally confidential and may include assessments and observations.
Women face unique challenges for success in the business world. Powers Consulting will equip women with the skills women need to think and behave strategically. It focuses on understanding organizational culture, developing organizational savvy and learning when and how to implement change. It includes lessons from successful women, discussions of values, assumptions and leadership behaviors and the ingredients of an effective career strategy.
Many of the most admired companies in the United States have programs in place to develop leaders via one-to-one relationships between existing leaders and more junior professionals. The more senior of the pair takes on the role of mentor in which he or she serves as an advisor, coach, and friend to the more junior person. This relationship not only conveys technical information, but also the ins and outs of relationships in the organization. The mentor can also act as a sponsor who helps assure that the junior professional gets good exposure to the right people and the right assignments. Powers Consulting offers two types of mentoring interventions: teaching managers how to mentor and coach; and designing a formal mentoring program for the organization
Leading a Diversity Initiative Maximizing and capitalizing on workplace diversity is a challenge facing today's companies. Coca-Cola, Texaco and Commonwealth Edison were all faced with lawsuits that led to huge settlements because they failed to manage this challenge. Whereas most companies today have diversity awareness programs, it is becoming clear that these programs do not address the fundamental structural issues. Unless the underlying concepts get integrated into the fabric and structure of a company, the company remains at risk. Powers Consulting interventions and programs are aimed at devising a sound strategy. Many of the most effective leaders have been shown to demonstrate high levels of emotional intelligence (EQ). EQ is related to getting results, mobilizing employees, and building consensus. It affects the ability to listen and work with others, and is twice as important as any other factors in predicting outstanding performance and impact on the bottom line. But what is it? Can it be developed? Powers Consulting will explain the four elements of EQ, demonstrate how EQ can be developed and enhanced, and show how to assess employees and coach them to greater productivity.
In his classic book, Management in Turbulent Times (1953), Peter Drucker indicated that managers are often at a loss where to put their priorities. Should he or she concentrate on managing the work process, creating greater efficiencies, profitability, building upon structural strengths, marketing new products, entering new markets, survival techniques building the capacity to survive a blow or adaptability to change? Managing effectively means managing the fundamentals as well as managing for tomorrow and navigating through the not so perfect storm in between. It means knowing which management and leadership style will get the most out of a particular group and increase their productivity.
The pattern is a familiar one: an outstanding employee is rewarded with a promotion to his or her first supervisory position. Before long, everyone's expectations and hopes are dashed as the "shining star" fails in the new assignment. Being a successful supervisor requires more than technical excellence. The skills and knowledge needed are not intuitive, and Powers Consulting can be the difference between success and failure for the first time supervisor. We offer a customized training program designed to make new leaders all that is expected of them -- and more.
How do you motivate your employees? The simple, but surprising answer is, "You can't!" Powers Consulting can train supervisors and managers to find and appeal to the motivation that lies within their employees. They will understand what motivation really is, and how to make it work for all concerned.
One of the most dramatic means of empowering employees is also one of the least understood: Participative Management offers employees the opportunity to have a voice in matters that affect them. The impact of this technique on organizational effectiveness goes far beyond the expectations of most managers and executives. Dramatic improvements in dedication, loyalty, productivity and workmanship can be achieved.
Diversity applies to everyone. It is not an absence of standards, adding or deleting holidays or Christmas trees, or having food festivals once a month. It is about creating an environment where everyone can be most effective, most productive and help the organization meet its goals. The demographics of the workforce are changing dramatically. While the richness of this workforce offers employers opportunities never before seen, many are ill equipped to manage in this new environment. Deep-seated biases and beliefs prevent many managers from making their workforce all that it can be. Powers Consulting offers consultations and seminars customized to a company's needs that will increase the cohesiveness of the organization and enable its employees to focus more productively on the company's goals and objectives.
Most managers do not have an understanding of team dynamics or the way leading a team differs from managing people in a traditional structure. This program develops an understanding of the role of teams in an organization and explores the various behaviors of individual team members. Powers Consulting will help leaders identify when to use a team to accomplish a task, how teams need to be structured, techniques to assist in the selection of team members, how to build healthy productive team relationships and steps to improve team effectiveness.
We live in a "meeting" society. The average individual in our society will sit through nine thousand hours of meetings in a lifetime - more than one full year. Organizations spend thousands of dollars on these events, yet most people groan at the thought of attending another gathering. Meetings are often mismanaged, they get off track, are interrupted, take too much time, have unclear agendas and lack effective leadership. Powers Consulting will equip employees with the knowledge and skills needed to plan and conduct meetings effectively so as to maximize participation and achieve desired outcomes.
This highly interactive and practical program involves direct practice with specific feedback not only on the organization of presentations, but also the use of voice, language, gestures, movement and eye contact. Participants will learn to focus on customer issues, organize ideas, prepare to deliver with impact, use visual aids effectively, examine and use nonverbal communication and plan presentations to have maximum impact.
Negotiation
is a process that must carefully balance the attainment of desired goals
with the preservation of relationships. The skills required to do this
effectively can be learned. Powers Consulting offers training for executives
and managers who can apply these skills to many aspects of the management
process. |
