Learning about playing the guitar is relatively easy, there are a lot of books that explain chords, patterns, modes, octaves and the like; you can even learn every note on every string of the fretboard without even touching a guitar

However, it is not until you actually try and move your fingers from string to string on the fretboard that you will start learning to play the guitar!

The same can be said for tennis, dancing, swimming ………

And the same can be said for leadership!

Learning about leadership is not difficult; you can read about situational leadership, transformational leadership, transactional leadership. You can study “great” leaders and what they did and said. You can watch films like Twelve Angy Men, To Kill a Mockingbird or Remember the Titans.

But it is not until you start trying to influence others to contribute to success of some kind that you will start learning how to incarnate your leadership.

If you want to practice scales, modes and the like on your guitar you can lock yourself away in your garage, if you want to practice backhand lobs and slicing with your tennis racket you can go down to the local tennis court; but where do you go to practice your leadership?

Where do you go to practice dealing with those contradicting your facts?

Where do you go to practice dealing with those challenging arguments?

Where do you go to practice responding to criticism of your ideas?

Where do you go to practice staying calm when under pressure?

Where do you go to practice responding to personal attacks?

Where do you go for a leadership workout?

If you are looking for a safe, yet challenging, environment to test your leadership and receive concrete and actionable hints & tips to increase your leadership impact; drop me a mail at boblarcher@boblarcher.com to set up your personalised leadership workout!

Bob

I help people to develop their interpersonal skills, usually within a leadership or teamwork context. If you are looking to develop your leadership, I might be able to help. I’ve been doing this for almost 40 years; roughly four thousand days of seminars, workshops, conferences, coaching, offsites, webinars, etc. – put back-to-back that makes almost ten “full” years.

boblarcher.com

The post Leadership Workout appeared first on BobLarcher.

Leadership is about influencing others to contribute to success; it’s something we can all do; you do not need to be “a leader” to do this.

You can influence people to contribute to success through your ideas, through your emotions, through how you hold yourself and through your values, and none of this requires you to be a leader.

Myth n°2 Leadership is more important than management

Leadership & management are equally important

Leadership & management are like two sides of a coin; to get real value you need both sides.

Leadership is about influencing & motivating people to go somewhere & management is about providing the methods and resources to get there.

Myth n°3 Leadership is about making decisions

Leadership is about ensuring decisions are made

Leadership is a team sport, it is about getting diverse and often conflictual inputs and coming to a collective decision.

Myth n°4 Leadership is about being the expert and having all the answers

Leadership is about having all the questions and getting the best out of experts; if you know more than those around you, you have the wrong people around you.

Myth n°5 Leadership can be taken away from you

You can give up your leadership, but it cannot be taken away.

Leadership is incarnated through everything you say and do; it is not until you decide to stop saying things and stop doing things that you will stop having an influence on others.

Bob

I help people to develop their interpersonal skills, usually within a leadership or teamwork context. If you are looking to develop your leadership, I might be able to help. I’ve been doing this for almost 40 years; roughly four thousand days of seminars, workshops, conferences, coaching, offsites, webinars, etc. – put back-to-back that makes almost ten “full” years.

boblarcher.com

The post Five Leadership myths. appeared first on BobLarcher.

The majority of my work has been within the corporate sector, but I have also worked with charities, SMI’s, Start Ups and the public sector; I have worked widely in Europe, and I do what I do either in English (my first language) or French (mon deuxième langue depuis presque 35 ans).

Without blowing my own trumpet, I like to think that I am quite good at what I do; I have been working with some of my clients for over 30 years – so I guess I must be doing something right.

My Leadership Transformation Conversations are a mix of coaching, training, advising and discussing around real leadership issues, either face-to-face or via Zoom, Teams, GMeet ……

I can be used as a “sounding board”, a “sparring partner”, a speech writer, voice coach, or whatever you need to enable you get the solutions you need to solve your leadership issues; be they personal, organisational or societal.

I am trained and accredited for a variety of “personality” questionnaires; leadership, Mental Toughness, team working, 360°’s, Jungian types ……. and I am familiar with most of the major “inventories” used within the world of people development.

I offer a “one-off” Leadership Transformation Conversation for those who simply need to sound out their ideas, through to a series of scheduled Leadership Transformation Conversations for those who feel the need for more depth and time to reflect on their issues.

The longer sessions can include

• initial context alignment session
• email and text messaging support
• simulations
• between-session “homework”
• in-promptu calls as needed
• personality assessments and debriefings
• journaling and goal tracking

Here are some things people have written on their coach assessment forms at the end of my coaching sessions with them

“Felt good right from the start, Bob created a good and trustworthy environment”

“Good and focussed feedback at the end of the role plays”

“Bob has really helped me in my development”

“From a very early point in the coaching I gained confidence and trust in the coach”

“Bob has a very down to earth and pragmatic approach”

“Bob provided some really useful insights as to how I could more effectively influence my stakeholders”

If you would like to engage in a game changing Leadership Transformation Conversation, then do not hesitate to contact me by mail at boblarcher@boblarcher.com for a free chat.

I do not charge for an initial discussion and I will not pester you with marketing if it doesn’t work out between us.

Bob

I help people to develop their interpersonal skills, usually within a leadership or teamwork context. If you are looking to develop your leadership, I might be able to help. I’ve been doing this for almost 40 years; roughly four thousand days of seminars, workshops, conferences, coaching, offsites, webinars, etc. – put back-to-back that makes almost ten “full” years.

boblarcher.com

The post Leadership Transformation Conversation appeared first on BobLarcher.

If you have to spend all your time telling your team what to do, when to do, where to do, how to do, and who to do it with …. you have a problem.

If you have been promoted to team leader or manager because you are the best at what your team does, you have been promoted for the wrong reasons.

The days of the expert manager, who knows better than all of those around her or him are long gone.

The role of a manager today is not to have all the answers, but to be able to find all the answers; again, if you are more intelligent than the collective of intelligence of your team, you have the wrong people in your team.

Clearly, there are some limits; not knowing anything about the “subject matter” of what your team does can create credibility issues. However, between knowing nothing and being the expert, leaves room for manoeuvre.

The role of a manager today is to maximise the team’s autonomy in organising, carrying out, and developing the work they do.

Does your team have autonomy in carrying out its activities? Are team members autonomous in implementing their skills to carry out the tasks that are assigned to in compliance with the requirements to be met? Or do you have to be on their backs making sure everything is ok?

Does your team have autonomy in organising activities? Are team members autonomous in identifying the tasks to be carried out and distributing them among the team while setting objectives and parameters for their achievement? Or do you have to define, structure and schedule the work to be carried out?

Does your team have autonomy in the management of internal and external relations? Are team members autonomous in interacting with the internal services on which they depend to carry out their activities as well as with external service providers, clients and partners? Or does all communication have to be validated and go through you?

Does your team have autonomy in the evolution of their way of working? Are team members autonomous in developing their way of working; improving processes or procedures, identifying new skills required and associated training programs, etc.? Or is it you that initiates change and transformation in the way of working?

Being a team manager is less about being a “manager expert” directing a “team of resources” and more about being a “manager resource” supporting a “team of experts”.

Any thoughts?

Bob

I help people to develop their interpersonal skills, usually within a leadership or teamwork context. If you are looking to develop your leadership, I might be able to help. I’ve been doing this for almost 40 years; roughly four thousand days of seminars, workshops, conferences, coaching, offsites, webinars, etc. – put back-to-back that makes almost ten “full” years.

boblarcher.com

The post From Manager Expert to Manager Resource appeared first on BobLarcher.

“Leadership is the readiness to stand out in a crowd”
John C. Maxwell

We all have the ability to influence others, we do it all the time; persuading a group of friends to go to the cinema rather than the theatre, convincing others that they have taken the wrong route up the mountain, getting a group of colleagues to reconsider a decision they have made, etc.

So, why is it we can do it on some occasions (or in certain situations) and not on others? And why is it that some people seem to be able to do it all the time, regardless of the occasion or the situation?

My personal belief is that it is not the situation itself that enables us to incarnate our leadership capacity but the perception we project on to the situation; it may be the external event that triggers the process but it is our internal perception of the situation that enables us or disables us in terms of our leadership. I’m sure you’ve all heard the “little voice” that says, “I can’t do that”, “they all know better than me”, “they are all more experienced than me”, “they will laugh at me if I ask that question”, etc. We also have the little voice that says “of course I can ask the question”, “they may be more experienced but I have a great idea” – the incarnation of our leadership depends both on which little voice shouts loudest and on which one we listen to!

“Those who believe they can do something and those who believe they can’t are both right”
Henry Ford

We all have those negative thoughts (what I call leadership disablers), parental injunctions, limiting beliefs, self-fulfilling prophecies, nightmares etc. For each negative thought there is a positive leadership enabler, adult permissions instead of parental injunctions, dreams instead of nightmares, liberating beliefs instead of limiting beliefs, seeing opportunities instead of threats, etc.

Here is a list of what I see as some leadership disablers and the corresponding enablers:

For most of us it’s not a black & white affair, few of us are completely on one side or the other, we all somewhere in between and oscillate from one side to the other; in fact I’m not sure that hearing only the “enabling voice” is necessarily a good thing – it can maybe lead us to think that we are somehow superhuman.

So, how can we stay tuned in to our enablers? We need to gag that little voice that is telling me that “it’s all going to go horribly wrong, that I am going to fail and that everyone will laugh at me” and tune in to the other little voice that is saying “it’s going to be really successful, that everyone will appreciate my input and people will thank me for speaking up”

“Inaction breeds doubt and fear, action breeds confidence and courage”
Dale Carnegie

Although it’s not easy, it is possible to stop giving meaning to events, it is possible to stop judging and evaluating ourselves, thereby stopping the little disenabling voice in our head. If you catch yourself judging yourself (I can’t, I shouldn’t, I must, etc. …), be aware that there was some type of internal thought that you projected onto the situation/event – the judgment is something you added to the event or the thought.

Once you can make a distinction between the event/thought and the meaning you added, the judgment will disappear – or at least diminish.

“If you hear a voice within you say  you cannot paint, then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced”

Vincent Van Gogh

Bob

I help people to develop their interpersonal skills, usually within a leadership or teamwork context. If you are looking to develop your leadership, I might be able to help. I’ve been doing this for almost 40 years; roughly four thousand days of seminars, workshops, conferences, coaching, offsites, webinars, etc. – put back-to-back that makes almost ten “full” years.

boblarcher.com

The post Liberating your leadership appeared first on BobLarcher.

The ability to engage in dialogue with others is a key leadership skill in terms of building relationships.

Dialogue is much more than a simple conversation or a discussion or debate, dialogue is about “seeking a greater truth”; it is about getting beyond individual perceptions, interpretations, subjectivity and judgements and coming to a kind of shared understanding and meaning.

Dialogue is about shared inquiry, it’s a way of thinking and reflecting together. It is not something “you do to” other people; it is something “you do with” other people.

A good example of dialogue is the film “Twelve Angry Men”, one of the jury members is unsure of the verdict and he says that he “just wants to talk”; in fact, what he does (or tries to do) with the other jury members is to enter into dialogue with them. He doesn’t name call, he doesn’t criticise, he doesn’t attack, he is empathetic, he stays focussed, he asks a lot of questions, he accepts his own doubts, and he tries to learn more about the situation from the view points of the others.

Dialoguing is not easy, we all have our “preconceived ideas”, our “certainties”, our “truths” and putting them to one side is difficult.

We are often not aware of behaviours that can interfere with dialogue; here are some common things that we do without thinking:

• we can become so engrossed in our subject that we spend a lot of time talking and do not give others a chance to speak
• as we are so engrossed in our subject, we give so much detail that people can’t grasp what is essential
• we discount things that others say that seem unimportant to us and rather than “reformulating” what they, say we “redefine” it to suit our purposes
• in worst case examples we can criticise people rather than dealing with their contributions or ideas
• our desire to “finish” can lead us to flitting between subjects without coming to any real conclusions.

Avoiding the above is not easy, we generally don’t do it intentionally and we need to pay attention to our state of being and to how we are talking and listening.

For the being part, I try hard to stay constantly present; although I may have a “mind full” of stuff that could be useful I try to remain “mindful” to what is actually happening “here & now”; avoiding falling into the trap of thinking about what happened last time or what might happen next time.

For the talking part, I use the WAIT principle – Why Am I Talking?

• Is what I’m saying pertinent, useful, necessary, etc?
• Am I taking too long to say what I have to say?
• Am I simply repeating what has already been said?
• Am I giving too much information?
• Am I taking up someone else’s time?
• Etc.

For the listening part I use the “4 ears” approach

• Listening to facts – what is actually being said; facts, figures, when, who, how, where, etc.
• Listen to emotions – decoding feelings about what the person is saying; does the person seem comfortable or uncomfortable with what she/he is saying
• Listening to demands – is the person asking for or expecting something not “directly” stated
• Listening to myself – my filters; my preconceived ideas, the fact that I know the person and hence know what they will say, what I’m “levelling” because it is unimportant for me, what I’m “sharpening” because it is important for me, etc.

It’s not easy and we can all “loose it” on occasions; we can momentarily “switch off” and loose the thread, we can get carried with giving “supporting” information, we can listen less to someone because we consider that they don’t know what they are talking about, etc. etc.

Like all skills it need “purposeful practice” to become competent.

If you have enjoyed reading this article, please feel free to share it

If you would like to benefit from my almost forty years of designing & delivering customised, personal, team and leadership development interventions (programmes, courses, workshops, off-sites, seminars, coaching, …………….) at all organisational levels; do not hesitate to contact me.

Bob

I help people to develop their interpersonal skills, usually within a leadership or teamwork context. If you are looking to develop your leadership, I might be able to help. I’ve been doing this for almost 40 years; roughly four thousand days of seminars, workshops, conferences, coaching, offsites, webinars, etc. – put back-to-back that makes almost ten “full” years.

boblarcher.com

The post Leadership & Dialogue appeared first on BobLarcher.

However, you can learn to have more positive impact on more people more often.

Everything you say and do is communication, just as everything you don’t say and don’t do, is also communication

“You cannot, not communicate”

Paul Watzlawick

Having impact is very similar; everything you do (or not) will have an impact on those around you. Speaking loudly may mean that you are seen as assertive or arrogant and speaking softly may be taken for being timid or respectful.

“Perception is in the eye of the beholder”

The first step in increasing your impact on others is understanding how you are perceived by them; you may think that you are “the best thing since sliced bread” but if they perceive you as “a stale loaf”, that’s how they will react to you.

You need to know how you are perceived, others will react to you with their perception of you, not your perception of you.

Are you perceived as determined & focussed or stubborn & blinkered?

Are you perceived as spontaneous & enthusiastic or impulsive and extravagant?

Are you perceived as understanding & empathic or acquiescing and passive?

Are you perceived as structured & disciplined or rigid and dogmatic?

You are, undoubtedly, perceived as a mix of all the above and hopefully more on the positive side than the negative; however, whatever the perception is, you need to understand it – and take it into account!!

If you feel you are showing determination & focus and others see you as being stubborn & blinkered, you need to understand why. Do you need to say things differently, do you need to hold yourself differently, etc.

You may well be saying to yourself, “I don’t care how I am perceived, that’s their problem not mine”

Being self-confident is not the question; how to have more positive impact is the question. If people have a negative perception of you, it is unlikely that will be impacted positively by you – and that’s your problem!

So, how can we increase our positive impact on people?

Our impact comes in, at least, four distinct ways:

You can impact people intellectually through well thought out and structured arguments, backed up with facts and figures.

You can impact people emotionally through enthusiasm, spontaneity and empathy coupled with a sociable style.

You can impact people physically by looking ready, energised and engaged.

You can impact people spiritually through being authentic, open and aligned to your values and showing that you are there for something “greater” than yourself.

Ideally, you will impact people by showing them that you are knowledgeable, exuding empathy, look the part and that you are in it for something bigger than yourself.

I have been helping people to develop their personal impact for almost 40 years now; I can’t promise that you will become a “powerful persuader”, a “champion convincer” or a “incredible influencer” overnight, but I can provide you with concrete “hints & tip” and “do’s & don’ts” that will clearly help you to have more positive impact on more people more often

Do not hesitate to contact me, either through LinkedIn or by mail at boblarcher@boblarcher.com

Bob

I help people to develop their interpersonal skills, usually within a leadership or teamwork context. If you are looking to develop your leadership, I might be able to help. I’ve been doing this for almost 40 years; roughly four thousand days of seminars, workshops, conferences, coaching, offsites, webinars, etc. – put back-to-back that makes almost ten “full” years.

boblarcher.com

The post Having Impact appeared first on BobLarcher.

The film is a leadership seminar in itself.

Here are my 12 Leadership Lessons – 12 amongst numerous

Lesson 1 is “standing up and being counted”, quite possibly the essence of leadership.

In the film, eleven people have voted “not guilty” and it just needs one more vote for the defendant to be condemned to the death penalty; however, the one more vote doesn’t come. When asked, by the jury chairman, “and who votes not guilty”, juror n°8 unhesitatingly raises his hand – unlike some of those who had voted guilty.

Going against the current is never easy, everyone is convinced of the idea or decision, and you are not sure; what do you do? Do you “go with the flow” or do you put your hand up and be counted?

You think you are doing something “noble” in standing up for what you think is right and, almost immediately, people start to “shoot you down”.

Making a stand for something you believe in is a real hallmark of leadership; Lincoln, MLK, Gandhi, Jaures and many others all stood up for what they believed in, and they were all shot down.

Standing up and being counted doesn’t necessarily mean getting assassinated, but it will undoubtedly get you a lot of diatribe and people digging into the smallest “mistakes” you committed in the past.

You do not have to be a saint to incarnate your leadership, but you do need to be prepared to suffer the “slings and arrows” when “taking arms against a sea of troubles”

Lesson 2 is “Be prepared” this is quite possibly a precursor of the previous lesson “Stand up and be counted”; it’s the being prepared that, maybe, stops you getting shot down.

This scene with the knife is an excellent example, not only of being prepared, but also of the use of “Kairos” (the right or opportune moment)

Juror n°8 asks for the knife to be brought in, fully knowing that he has exactly the same knife in his pocket. He lets juror n°4 open and manipulate the knife but says nothing about the knife in his pocket.

He simply questions the possibility of the existence of a second knife and lets the tension build up to the point where juror n°3 (the “nemesis” of juror n°8) becomes excited; it’s at this moment that he stands up (having been seated up till now) and produces the second knife.

Of course, he could have shown the second knife earlier and it would undoubtedly have had an impact; however, by waiting and changing his body position, he creates not only an intellectual impact but also an emotional impact – and we all know that an emotional impact creates a longer lasting memory than an intellectual impact

Lesson 3 is “Take Risks” another leadership hallmark; taking risks shouldn’t be confused with being reckless.

Juror n°8 proposes a second vote, but this time a “secret vote”, as opposed to the first, “hands-in-the air” vote

If we go back to the first scene and analyse the first vote, it is clear that there were people “unsure” how to vote and simply followed the crowd – the risk taken by juror n°8 to have a second vote is a calculated risk, “if one person changes their mind, we continue, if all eleven of you vote guilty, I’ll vote guilty”

Being aware of what is going on around you, is essential if you want to influence others; you need to be aware of your “supporters”, your “enemies” and your “floating voters”. Jurors 3, 4, 7 and 10 are clearly not going to change their minds and their vote easily, whereas jurors 2, 5, 9 and 11 seem more ready to be influenced.

You need to decide when and with who, to use your energy – don’t waste it on your enemies until you have built up some support.

Lesson 4 is “the importance of the first follower”, a “tipping point” when influencing others.

Up to this point, juror n°8 had been on his own; not everyone was attacking him or criticism his position, but no one was actively supporting him.

Being the first follower is not easy, you can be seen as a traitor and as letting the others down; it is also not easy to admit that maybe you were wrong or that you have been convinced by someone else’s arguments.

Having a first follower (or followers) helps you to keep going; others believe in what you are saying or doing and are willing to side with you – you are no longer the only black sheep!

Another excellent example of the impact of the first follower is the “Dancing Man” video which can be found on YouTube. A guy on his own is dancing at a rock festival, after about a minute he is joined by a second person, then a third and then everyone is up.

The first follower shows to everyone, including yourself, that you are “not alone”.

Lesson 5 is “systems thinking”. The scene based around the discussion of the metro train passing in front of the window is an excellent example of this,

Juror n°8 fights hard to stay focused while juggling with multiple pieces of information; the speed of the train, the woman in the opposite apartment, the cry of the boy, the body hitting the floor …….

Leadership is not about having plenty of answers, but it is about having plenty of questions and pulling together different, and often opposing, pieces of information to come to a holistic answer.

It is often easier to see a problem as a linear series of events; this however, leads to peripheral blindness.

He involves others by asking them questions, “have you ever lived near a train line?”, “do you think he could have heard the boy?” ……

It’s by looking at an issue collectively and from different angles that robust solutions can be found.

Lesson 6 is “The Ladder of Inference” (a model created by Chris Argyris), the old man’s apartment scene is a very good example of the model in use.

Everyone, except of course juror n°8, has accepted that the old man in the appartement below was able to get out of bed, walk to the door of his appartement and see the young boy within 15 seconds.

Eleven jurors have “concluded” that it is possible. After some discussion, juror n°8 asks to see a plan of the apartment and slowly digs down through, assumptions, beliefs and interpretations to finally “reenact” the event complete with a mock bed, a limp, a door to be opened and someone with a stopwatch – 45 seconds!

The reality, not assumptions, beliefs or interpretations, is that it would probably have taken the old man around 40 seconds to get out of bed, walk to the door of his appartement and see the young boy – not 15 seconds.

We all have own ladder and, even if it starts at the same point as everyone else’s, because of different experiences we will not all end up at the same end point

Sometimes we need to persuade everyone to take the journey “up the ladder”, together

Lesson 7 is about “self-doubts”. The washroom scene is somewhat different from the others, juror n°8 is not “in the thick of the action”.

First, he interreacts with juror n°7 and then juror n°6 comes in and after a short exchange, says to juror n°8, “and what if you are wrong; what if you convince all of us that the boy is not guilty – and in fact he is”

The look of self-doubt is important in terms of leadership; if we become too rigid or too fixed in our thoughts and ideas, we can block out other possibilities.

As he said himself early in the film, “I don’t know if he is guilty, but I have some doubts”

My interpretation of his behaviour throughout the film is not that he wants to convince the others that the boy is not guilty, but rather to get them to realise that they also have doubts – and he does this by expressing his doubts.

Lesson 8 is “leadership is about we” and puts the spotlight on another juror; it is not only juror n°8 that shows leadership during the film.

Juror n°11 is one of the quieter members of the jury and not prone to emotional outbursts; however, he makes a plea for “collectiveness” in the decision-making process finishing his short speech with, “this is one of the reasons we are strong, we should not make this a personal thing”

The lesson, “leadership is about we”, is at the heart of collective decisions.

It should not be individuals simply “defending” their point of view, often with diatribe as their only arguments; it shouldn’t be a debate with winners and losers and it shouldn’t be a discussion with agreements to differ.

Leadership is about we and the only communication process that leads to we, is dialogue.

As Jim Kouzes said, “Leadership is about relationships, and strong relationships are built on mutual understanding. You can get to that mutual understanding only through conversation and dialogue”

Lesson 9 is “the importance of adapting your style”.

I will focus on juror’s n°3 and 4, but there are many other examples of how juror n°8 adapts his posture, his words and how he say’s things to the other jury members.

Juror n°3 is a kind of emotional volcano waiting to explode, whereas juror n°4 is (at least seems) much calmer and rational.

The dominant style of Juror n°8 is not dissimilar (although slightly more emotional) to that of juror n°4; he only loses his temper once, early on in the film, when others start playing “noughts & crosses”. He remains generally calm and factual, always present without being omnipresent.

He “deliberately” and “consciously” uses his emotions to goad juror n°3 into saying “I’ll kill you”, and then simply asks, “did you mean that”.

He, again, deliberately, uses his patience and, this time, factual questioning to push juror n°4 to the point where, for the first time, he starts to sweat and lose his apparent calm.

He uses two different approaches, with two very different people, to achieve the same result; to show to both that maybe there is a crack in their arguments.

Lesson 10 is “Beware of prejudices”, this comes from the tirade by juror n°10, a stalwart of the “guilty camp”.

This is a very powerful scene, where even those “on the same side” as juror n°10 slowly take their distance by either moving away or turning their backs.

After his tirade, juror n°8 is the first to speak; he could easily have criticised juror n°10 for being bigoted, instead he simply says, “It’s very hard to keep personal prejudice out of a thing like this, and no matter where you run into it, prejudice obscures the truth”

I would reformulate the last part of the quote to say, “prejudice obscures doubt”; there is often no “one truth” and prejudices often stop as seeing alternatives or possibilities that, when combined, could lead to a collective truth.

Lesson 11 is, quite possibly my favourite scene, is the from the final scene in the jury room, when juror n°8 hands his “nemesis” his coat.

This scene sums up, at least for me, what leadership is all about; it’s not about criticising people, it’s not about attacking people and it’s not about belittling people. Leadership is about disagreeing with people’s ideas, arguments and points of view – it’s not personal.

This scene also sums up quite nicely the behaviour of juror n°8 through the film, “determined and empathic”, he allows himself to be attacked, ridiculed and criticised but does not attack or criticise the others.

Too often, today, leaders seem to engage in diatribe when what is needed is dialogue.

Lesson 12 is not a particular scene but something that is shown throughout the film, “The power of questions”

Socrates only had questions in his “toolbox” and he made a great reputation for himself by using the judiciously.

Questions are one of the hallmarks of leadership; questions open up avenues to be explored. Some may lead to dead ends; some may lead to one-way streets and some may lead to new horizons.

It’s these new horizons that allow groups to get beyond “groupthink” and, finally, make robust and truly consensual decisions.

Leadership quite possibly more about having all the questions, rather than having all the answers.

Bob

I help people to develop their interpersonal skills, usually within a leadership or teamwork context. If you are looking to develop your leadership, I might be able to help. I’ve been doing this for almost 40 years; roughly four thousand days of seminars, workshops, conferences, coaching, offsites, webinars, etc. – put back-to-back that makes almost ten “full” years.

boblarcher.com

The post Leadership lessons from 12 Angry Men appeared first on BobLarcher.

Le comportement d’une personne peut être pris pour modèle :” sa conduite doit être un modèle pour nous tous “.

Un modèle de personne possédant au plus haut point certaines qualités et caractéristiques qui en font un représentant d’une catégorie, un parangon, un type.

Est-ce le cas pour le leadership ?

Les modèles du leadership sont très nombreux dans la littérature, on y rattache fréquemment des profils types illustrés par des rôles attendus, des valeurs et des qualités comme l’humilité, la réceptivité, la créativité, l’audace, l’intégrité, l’endurance pour décider, convaincre, entraîner… On cite également des figures emblématiques comme Mandela, Gandhi, JF Kennedy, et bien d’autres modèles parfaits.

On évoque souvent des “great” leaders comme des “saints parfait menant des batailles héroïques contre des adversaires insurmontable” ; alors qu’ils étaient ou sont simplement des êtres humains avec toutes les faiblesses que nous avons tous. Ni MLK, ni JFK, ni les autres étaient “parfaits”, ils avaient tous leur côté obscur.

Ces modèles deviennent des référentiels vers lesquels il faut tendre pour être conforme aux représentations énoncées.

La formation, l’apprentissage, le mimétisme, l’évolution et le développement personnel sont autant de voies recommandées.

Il faut correspondre au modèle qui reste très théorique voire utopique.

Mais la confrontation à la réalité de la vie à tendance à éroder le modèle en question durant les phases de son application concrète au jour le jour – Comme disait Henry Mintzberg, “Le leadership, comme la natation, ne s’apprend pas en lisant des livres”.

Cet aspect réel du modèle résulte de l’expérimentation et du retour d’expérience. Il devient alors “MON modèle à moi”, celui qui me va bien en réponse à mon contexte professionnel. Je construis ma voie au fur et à mesure.

Nous avons tous nos faiblesses et nous avons tous notre côté obscur ; nous devons en être conscients, l’accepter et en tenir compte lors de nos interactions.

Comme disait Carl Jung, “Connaître ses propres ténèbres est la meilleure méthode pour faire face aux ténèbres des autres.”

Suis-je pour autant devenu un modèle pour les autres, c’est-à-dire un référent qu’il faut suivre, copier, auquel il faut essayer de s’identifier ?

Chacun peut bien sûr par des allers-retours entre les différents modèles copiés et ses propres expériences élaborer son chemin. Son exemple peut inspirer les autres pour qu’à leur tour ils développent leur parcours d’élaboration de leur propre style de leader.

Il faut se méfier des modèles idéaux qui peuvent devenir au mieux des chimères et au pire des carcans contraignants en opposition avec la quête d’authenticité que chacun est en droit de rechercher.

Inspirez-vous des modèles pour créer le vôtre et inspirez à votre tour les autres, c’est la chaîne de la vie.

Bob

I help people to develop their interpersonal skills, usually within a leadership or teamwork context. If you are looking to develop your leadership, I might be able to help. I’ve been doing this for almost 40 years; roughly four thousand days of seminars, workshops, conferences, coaching, offsites, webinars, etc. – put back-to-back that makes almost ten “full” years.

boblarcher.com

The post Modèle de leadership et leadership modèle ? appeared first on BobLarcher.

Listen to their issues

Encourage them to take the lead

Ask them for alternatives lines of action

Delegate interesting activities to them

Explain and give meaning to them

Respect their constraints

Share your experience with them

Help them to develop new skills

Involve them in decision making

Provide them with feedback

Bob

I help people to develop their interpersonal skills, usually within a leadership or teamwork context. If you are looking to develop your leadership, I might be able to help. I’ve been doing this for almost 40 years; roughly four thousand days of seminars, workshops, conferences, coaching, offsites, webinars, etc. – put back-to-back that makes almost ten “full” years.

boblarcher.com

The post LEADERSHIP appeared first on BobLarcher.