My Favorite Leadership Programs
David McLaughlin
Creating modern leaders. Speaker I Coach I Author I Consultant I Facilitator - Leadership, Organizational Development, Management, Human Resources, Soft Skills, Emotional Intelligence, Mindfulness
Who is to say what is the best of anything? There are many different ways to achieve the best just by changing the metrics. I am always cautious when I see that something is #1 at anything. I am a born skeptic. I want to know what the parameters were that made them #1. But you know what there is no debating about? Favorite. My favorite band is the Rolling Stones. And you can’t prove otherwise no matter how hard you try.
I have been in leadership, adult learning and organizational development work for well over twenty years now and managed an L&D function for most of those years while also serving on boards and committees responsible for related output. I have facilitated, reviewed, implemented, created, been pitched, sat through, watched, read, zoomed, audibled, webinar-ed, summarized, written theses, on all of these topics. I still don’t know what the best programs are. But I can tell you what my favorites are and I get asked all the time. So, I thought I would share them with you today. There are many other great programs that I can also highly recommend…and do. But these are my absolute favorites that I can fit in a reasonably sized article.
Stephen Covey wrote this masterpiece book in 1989 and it is also an incredible training program from the FranklinCovey organization. It is about self-leadership and the importance of identifying your personal values and purpose. Before you do anything else, I recommend you start here in your leadership journey. Virtually everything else you study will be pulling from this.
I have seen a thousand leadership models in the pursuit of the perfect model. There are no perfect models. It all depends on what is right for your organization. The Five Practices of an Exemplary Leader model is as good as you can get for a “one size fits all” model. If I didn’t have a model and needed one, I would adopt this.
When I saw Jeremie Kubicek, the co-founder of GiANT, explain the Support/Challenge Matrix, it completely changed the way I lead people. Challenge them to do great work and provide them with the emotional and resource support they need to get the work done. Focus on those two things every time and you are a long way towards being a great leader.
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I cannot even count the number of times I have just drawn this triangle and led an all day discussion with an executive team. It is an extremely powerful tool towards achieving results. But be prepared to engage in deep and honest discussions.
This takes the Crucial Conversations model (outstanding on its own) and expands on it to diagnose and resolve commitment issues.
It is so much fun to work on leadership and cultural values. But at some point, somebody has to do the actual work of the organization and fulfill the mission. OKRs is about execution and implementing strategy. I have seen and implemented many different models to do that. OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) is my favorite. It is eerily similar to Franklin Covey’s Four Disciplines of Execution (4DX) model which I also love. The main difference between the two is OKRs focuses on a quarterly cadence, which I believe is outstanding for accountability. I give the edge to 4DX in explaining how to have the accountability conversations related to execution. Study them both and you will have masterclass skills.
There are many other topics leaders must know to be successful that do not have particularly outstanding programs. Topics like DEIA, financial literacy, mindfulness and emotional intelligence are important to know and master.
I am interested in what your favorite programs are and what you have had success with! Share in the comments.
David B. McLaughlin is the founder of Pendulum Coaching, LLC and host of the podcast,?The Mindful Leader.?David is a popular speaker and coach on mindfulness and emotional intelligence. You can learn more at?pendulumcoaching.com?and sign up for his weekly email newsletter. But wait, there’s more! He also made a blues album that is available on all streaming platforms!?Find out more at?thatsfantasticentertainment.com.??
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2 年Great observations. Change the metrics and achieve results
Group Products Actuarial Manager at American Fidelity
2 年This is great. I have to admit I was skeptical about OKRs, but I’ve found the accountability to be helpful when it comes to those “important but not urgent” projects. I’m not usually one to pick favorites but I really liked Richard Sheridan’s book, Chief Joy Officer, and I like thinking about how I can be that kind of manager for my team.