Course Outcomes

This leadership course targeted to individual contributors and non-managers will:

  • Outline how one can lead without holding the title “manager” or “supervisor.”
  • Debunk popular myths surrounding leadership.
  • Explore eight building blocks of successfully leading with or without authority.
  • Provide participants with concrete tactics for increasing their influence and leadership credibility.

Course Overview

Being a leader has less to do with a title or position than it does with the leadership behaviors a person exhibits. This leadership development course is designed for individual contributors and others who don’t hold a formal management title but wish to learn how to leverage a combination of skills to lead within their organizations. The course looks at leadership traits, leadership myths, different types of power, a leader’s building blocks, the importance of appreciation, and the value of “can do” and promoting a positive outlook.

Program Objectives

At this program’s conclusion, participants should be able to:

  • Define the attributes strong leaders share.
  • Identify common leadership myths.
  • Explain different types of power and how they can be leveraged to influence others.
  • Describe eight areas where they can take action to build their leadership skills and credibility.
  • Explain how language choices can affect the extent to which a message influences others.
  • Demonstrate methods for expressing gratitude and sharing credit.
  • Develop a plan for staying upbeat and adopting a positive outlook for the purpose of influencing others.

The following outline highlights some of the course’s key learning points. As part of your training program, we will modify content as needed to meet your business objectives. Upon request, we will provide you with a copy of the participant materials prior to the session(s).

Workshop Outline

Walk This Way: Understanding What Makes a Leader

This program begins with a discussion of what a leader is and the challenges of leading a group when you don’t have “manager,” “supervisor,” “president,” or some other title in your formal job responsibilities. During this segment, participants will identify the traits strong leaders possess and the benefits those traits afford these people, those who come in contact with them, and their organizations.
 

Myth Busting: Debunking Junk and Confirming Tasks

The next part of the workshop looks at ten common leadership myths. Participants will consider each myth and rank them in order of their prevalence and ability to damage an organization. Following that exercise, the group will look at the various activities in which leaders take part versus those typically addressed by someone with a formal management title.
 

Legitimate Influence: Understanding Power

Power comes in many different shapes and sizes and from a variety of sources. Regardless of the type or source, leaders must have legitimate power to be successful long term. This program segment takes a look at work pioneered by John French and Bertram Raven. During this part of the workshop, participants will consider eight types of power and how each works. Next, the group will identify times when they’ve used different types of power and the lessons they learned from those experiences.
 

Building Blocks: A Leader’s Material

Many factors combine to create a great leader. In this course component, we will consider eight building blocks: drive, self-awareness, competence, vision, the ability to question the status quo and look for ways to improve, comfort with risk, skill at handling failure, and strong people skills. Working in teams and through a variety of hands-on activities, we will examine each area’s importance and discuss methods for growing the skills.
 

Minding Ps and Qs: Choosing Language for Leading

Strong leaders know how to leverage language to their advantage. In this seminar segment, we will take part in a series of exercises related to language choices and discuss why some words and phrases work better than others. Next, we will discuss techniques for opening dialogues, framing conversations, providing feedback, handling criticism, and disagreeing with others. 
 

Appreciation: Private and Public “Thanks”

Strong leaders know how to share the spotlight or give it to someone else altogether. In this part of the program, we will explore the importance of recognizing and appreciating others and how those skills can grow a leader’s credibility. We’ll discuss opportunities to express both private and public thanks, appropriate ways to highlight someone’s work, and why “thank you” tends to have a multiplying and boomerang effect. 
 

Promoting the Positive: Looking for Lemonade

Nobody likes to be around a Debbie downer or negative Ned for any great length of time. They suck the life out of a room, hamper productivity, and cast a mood of doom and gloom. Strong leaders understand the importance of being positive and focusing on what can be done instead of what can’t. This final part of the course pays special attention to techniques for steering away from a sour attitude and instead adopting a positive outlook. During this segment, we will pay particular attention to actions participants can take to leverage optimism to increase their influence.
 

At the program’s conclusion, participants will have an understanding of what it takes to lead in an organization regardless of whether they hold a formal title.