In these most challenging times, people are looking for leadership. They are looking to you for leadership. There are three core leadership skills that are critical to be the leader that people will want to follow-building trust, storytelling, and delivering bad news.
In these times of turbulent change, building trust is more important than ever. This program will focus on identifying the "enemies" of trust (e.g., incomplete communication, inconsistent messages). To be the leader that people will follow requires that you build three kinds of trust-Personal (Do they trust you and your leadership?); Organizational (Are the decision-making processes clear and transparent-and fair?); and Strategic (Is the organization doing the right things in terms of goals and strategies?)
Second, a highly effective leader must inspire others and storytelling skills are essential. Storytelling is "the language of leadership" and it is a skill that is so critical to keeping people focused on your leadership and achieving mission success during times of turbulent change. This program will outline the elements of effective storytelling that will inspire people to follow your leadership.
Finally, leading change during these challenging times frequently involves the delivery of bad news. Nobody likes to deliver bad news, but you can develop the skills and the ability to more effectively deliver bad news and keep people engaged and motivated. This program will outline a three-phase model of leadership skills (and self-management tips) for communicating bad news more effectively-Preparation, Delivery, and Transition.
Robert J. Bies (Ph.D., Stanford University) is Professor of Management and Founder of the Executive Master's in Leadership Program at the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University. In addition, he is co-author of the book, Getting Even: The Truth About Workplace Revenge-And How to Stop It, which is published by Jossey-Bass.
Identifying the "enemies of trust"
Strategies for building three kinds of trust-personal, organizational, and strategic
How to inspire others to follow your lead through the power of storytelling
The delivery of bad news as a three-phase process-preparation, communication, and transition