Welcome to the Leadership Training Blog for JCI Philippines members; this post on Leadership Skill Training about “Setting The Example”.

A good leader, as people always assert, is also a good follower. That is why to become a good one, the leader must be setting examples to demonstrate his natural traits and to show his constituents that he is one with the management in instituting calls to action.

There is so much a leader must do to be able to lead by example. It simply isn’t enough that he initiates the move to be the first to do an intended and called action. There must be other demonstrative means to give the leader the opportunity to prove that he can lead by example.

First of all, the leader must prove to everyone that he is ready and willing to take part in any consensus or policies set by the group. A leader can’t direct his members to observe silence inside the premises of the company if he himself is violating this regulation. Likewise, a leader can’t tell his members to strive to do the best in all efforts if he himself isn’t exuding exemplary and above-standard initiatives.

Leaders must be willing to sacrifice personal convictions for the sake of implementing a management program. For example, if the leader is into patronizing imported products, he must strive to change this attitude if the management wants to intensify patronage of their own products. The leader must show people, especially those who personally know him, that he is trusting his own company’s products. He must readily drop imported goods just to show his trust in the company’s own goods. That is an ultimate show of support for management and leadership by example.

The leader is the figurehead, the topmost employee of a company or the topmost member of an organization. He must show to the world that he is in command. Though, at times, he must exude and show people that he can also be a good follower. An example would be a leader who strictly wears uniforms. All employees are strictly asked to wear proper uniforms when going to work. If not going into an important meeting with outsiders, the leader could show everyone that he is also a good employee if he would initiate to wear the uniform himself. Of course, human resource won’t always have the guts to tell him to strictly follow uniform regulations, but it would be a very nice gesture if the leader would follow the simple policy without any ado and without being told to do so.

Indeed, setting examples as a leader isn’t a hard task to do.

Leadership Skills Training Empowers Problem-solving and Visioning
By Bill Thomas

Leadership skills training programs empower you to influence, persuade or inspire others. Well constructed training programs should result in improved, more effective leadership skills for your colleagues and you.

“They say, best men are moulded out of faults, And, for the most, become much more the better For being a little bad” - William Shakespeare.

This article describes how excellent leadership skills training courses energize and develop strong problem-solving, decision-making, visionary leaders.

As you work through your leadership skills training program, follow these steps to examine your leadership performances and enhance your skills through practice and continual assessment.

STEP ONE: Use Your Situation To Identify Needs, Problems, Pay-offs and Opportunities.

Effective leaders employ the techniques of perceiving, scanning and reading the hidden realities formed by the social landscapes, transactional patterns or organizational shapes associated with the situations facing them.

Therefore, investing your attention, time and efforts into discovering potential outcomes for each circumstance is certain to bring you very lucrative returns.

You must learn how to adopt reliable methods to question or test, investigate, evaluate and determine your opportunities.

Those procedures should enable you to unlock the possibilities for increasing growth, resourcefulness or productivity contained within your situations.

The success of your leadership training program depends on the quality of solutions, decisions and alternatives your ’scouting’ skills are able to generate.

STEP TWO: Empower Your Success With A Vital, Vivid, Vibrant Vision!

Did your leadership skills training course teach you how to write vision statements? Have your statements caused excitement in others, were they inspired by your vision, did your vision survive the test and ravages of time’?

Your visionary view will evolve from the findings, conclusions and answers you developed in Step Number One. Your images, examples and concepts of your future must address those opportunities, solve your problems and satisfy your burning desires.

You’ll want to heed Tom Peters’ advice, “If a window of opportunity appears, don’t pull down the shade.”

Communicating a truly powerful vision means opening up the curtains and revealing the:

- Blazing glory of your personal and organizational values,

- Sparkling wealth-potential of your human resources and capital assets,

- Glimmering pavilions which reflect the time-horizons of your hopes, love and faith.

In short, you want your vision to describe the physical, intellectual, spiritual and developmental traits of your envisioned reality.

By including your associates, partners, suppliers and customers in your vision-creation efforts, everyone will know:

- What the vision looks like,

- What they think of the vision’s merits,

- How others will be motivated by it and believe in its goodness,

- How much and in what ways they will grow when it is fulfilled.

STEP THREE: Take Advantage of Your Opportunities to Resolve Problems

When told about a difficulty at one of his factories, industrialist Henry Kaiser reportedly replied, “Trouble is only opportunity in work clothes”!

Apply the lessons learned through your leadership skills training to discover new solutions, for confidently deciding on priority courses of action and envisioning avenues to better tomorrows.

Effective leaders empower, encourage and enable creative, far-seeing, resourceful people - use your leadership training program to take your people and yourself to a higher plateau.

When you do, you’ll enjoy the satisfying success of positive growth!

Mustard Seed Investments Inc. Copyright © 2005, All rights reserved.

Bill Thomas presents “The Leadership Toolkit” - serious leadership training for professionals, managers, executives, entrepreneurs and specialists. Discover how to energize your leadership skills, boost your confidence and get new knowledge through our articles, newsletters & programs at: http://www.leadership-toolkit.com/Leadership_Toolkit.html

Welcome to the Leadership Training Blog for JCI Philippines members; this post on Leadership Skill Training about “The Cost To Become A Good Leader”.

What does it cost to be a leader?

This is a difficult question to answer especially for leaders who are striving to develop and learn all they can to become an effective one. Good leaders aren’t born. They are made, and the making process does not run overnight. It takes years and for some, it takes a lifetime.

What are the costs of becoming a good leader? So much investment must be put into place for a leader to become a good one. To have insights and theoretical knowledge about leadership, the initial investment of a leader must be his knowledge. Leaders aren’t high school graduates or college undergrads, although there are some good leaders who lack appropriate education. Handling and managing an organization or a company entails a lot of insight and knowledge on the part of the leader so he will be able to come up with sound, profound and really intelligent judgments and decisions for the group.

Investing in knowledge can be the biggest investment in terms of financial and physical factors. That is because acquiring knowledge will require leaders to enroll in college and post graduate courses to facilitate thorough and more advanced learning. You know that education isn’t affordable at times. And so the leader must strive to spare some money for the growth of his intellectual capacity.

Another costly endeavor for leaders is imaging. Leaders must always look dignified and presentable. A leader can’t effectively preside over a board meeting if he shows up at the conference in a gym outfit. As a leader, you must dress to impress. Physical attributes initially catch attention and command respect among people, as several studies suggest. You don’t need to invest in designer clothes, though. Just be presentable regardless of the brand you are wearing, your constituents and members will treat you in a meeting or a social function with great respect.

The costliest investment in becoming a good leader isn’t the one directly concerning the financial aspect. The biggest cost a leader must bear is the investment of time. Time is gold, as they say. If you want to make it good in becoming a really good leader, you must devote your time to the responsibilities and calls to action of the position. A leader must show the organization members or constituents that he is on call 24-7 when it comes to concerns regarding the office. That is what it costs to become a good leader.