6 Part Elite Leadership Programme
In 2020, Mission Mindset launched an Introduction to Elite Leadership programme for C-suites, delivering it virtually over 6 hour-long sessions. Our first client was Dashboard, an emerging, forward leaning pipeline-technology company, with whom we explored the 5 priority elements of leadership in High Performing Teams in order to accelerate their leadership maturity. Over 6 weeks, we explored the motivation, alignment, leadership styles, understanding, communication and coaching that exists in high performing teams, driving productivity and growth.
Introduction
Why leadership? Humans are wired to collaborate and it’s what makes us the dominant species on earth. However, collaboration is simply more successful with good leadership and organisational success and failure can almost always be traced back to good or bad leaders. Incredibly though, many leaders have little or no formal leadership training, so how do they know what shadow they cast or their level of competence? A growth mindset and some formal leadership development sets leaders apart and sets them up for success. Consider also some simple statistics:
- 5% of employees per annum resign due to poor leadership at a cost average of £14k each.
- Organisations high in leadership maturity gain 37% more revenue per employee.
- An average person who takes sick leave will take 21 days off work due to stress/ anxiety- traceable back to poor leadership.
Lastly, good leaders are not only good for productivity, they’re good for society. Good leaders promote humans to work happily together and lead more fulfilling lives in high performing teams.
Motivation
In the Motivation session we compare high performance teams and tribes, where
people derive purpose and belonging and how elite leaders meet individuals’ needs, balanced with those of team and task. Deliberately establishing an elite performance culture is key- the climate, values and identity- multi-faceted and needs careful curation. Also, we look at why purpose, autonomy and engagement as intrinsic motivators trump extrinsic motivators like salary every time.
Leadership Style
The style you lead with impacts on climate which directly affects team
performance. Many people are unaware of their core style and some are surprisingly negative. We explore how to build trust- a key indicator in high-performing team- focusing the use of the most effective leadership styles to express authenticity.
The standout feature of a high performing team is transformational leadership and how these leaders engage, create connections, tap motives and tie members’ identity with the identity and fortunes of the organisation they build together.
Understanding and Communication
Outstanding leaders understand that the route to success is through relationships, so why not sharpen the tools you have? The 4th instalment of this programme
looks at mainstream and novel ways to develop understanding (self, others, organisations, stakeholders and change) and how to communicate better. Active listening and effective questioning are central to understanding what’s really going on and well-developed Emotional Intelligence vital in building those relationships.
Communicating through consistent narratives, Authentic leaders inspire dedication and commitment by expressing values, purpose and goals in the most human way: telling a meaningful story.
Alignment
Organisational alignment, so that every last bit of horsepower is harnessed in delivering
the desired outcomes is another feature of a high performing team. Culture, purpose, vision, strategy and plans must match up and resonate with the team that will deliver it through consistent, repeated and powerful narrative, tying identity past with present and future. In a VUCA environment, elite teams build outcome- focused strategy and operationalise it using values and narrative so people are empowered and everyone understands and embraces their part.
Coaching
Want to do the best for your organisation and its people by developing them and realising their potential? Want to improve performance, agility and productivity in the face of adversity?
Simple coaching techniques are the most powerful skills you can learn to enable your
transformational leadership. In adverse, chaotic situations, it’s natural to want to use more ‘command and control’, but elite teams thrive instead by blending it with high levels of delegation and ad-hocracy. How? They build a coaching culture that develops individuals, builds trust and gets the organisation working as one agile, resilient organism.
In Mission Mindset’s 6th and final session of its Elite Leaders programme with Dashboard, we draw it all together by covering the principles of coaching and performance management- practical skills and knowledge which can be used by transformational leaders every day to boost long term individual and team performance.
