They both have stuff to teach businesses, that’s what!  There have been quality BBC articles and vids recently on new sources of inspiration for business development.  One was comedy.  You don’t have to think too hard to realise that the skills necessary in stand-up – creativity, improvisation, confidence, communication – are directly transferable to the world of work.

Neil Mullarkey leads the way here.  You can read about his training organisation – called Improvyourbiz – and workshops here.

The next was about the use of wolves to model leadership and team-working skills! I noticed that several other coaching and training blogs have flagged up this remarkable story.  However they didn’t provide any more information than was in the original article.

Using my amazing research skills I’ve managed to track this story to its source.  The organisation who runs the training is called Team Venture.  The exact name of this course is ‘Natural Leaders – Trainings with Wolves and Horses for Executives’.  Chief instructor Dr. Janet Nagel, an Outdoor Trainer with a PhD in Engineering and project management experience at executive level.

As a trainer, I find both these directions extremely exciting.  It makes me wonder, What other untapped areas of learning experience exist out there?  Anyone for Star Wars?

Image credit: belgianchocolate.

The latest next big thing in management is something called ‘post heroic leadership’ (PHL).  ‘Post’ is one of those trendy prefixes – much like meta and multi – that keeps popping up everywhere.  Of course, it means after or subsequent to.  This being the case, just what exactly is ‘heroic leadership’?

A guy called John Huey was one of the first to make the distinction in a 1994 Fortune article called The new post-heroic leadership.  He described PHL as a style of ‘virtual leadership’ in which those in power delegate responsibility out to the staff.  How?  By creating a working environment in which staff have the resources to solve their own problems.  Staff do not depend on a ‘hero’ to intervene and ‘save’ them.  But these new leaders do take on themselves the responsibility of modeling those values that the organisation espouses.

Twinned with this is a strong distinction between ‘leaders’ and ‘managers’ that allows workers to be the first without the second.  This is just acknowledging what we know to be true anyway – the line of leadership cuts across a manager/staff distinction regularly.  While management is about keeping the organisation running, leadership involves ‘getting things started and facilitating change’.

This new paradigm of leadership is expressed in phrases like the following:

• “Leadership is a verb, not a noun”
• “Leadership is defined by what you do, not who you are”
• “Leaders are those whom others follow”

And the reasons for this shift?  Traditional hierarchies are breaking down, and power based on position alone looks ridiculous given the frequently equal educational levels of team members.  As the quantity and scope of workplace tasks increase, successful delegation must become institutionalised, the rule rather than the exception.  And for an organisation to succeed in the 21st century, it must employ the talents of the all, not the few.

It sounds great.  Who could object?  Well me, actually.  And I’ll explain why in the next blog in this two-part series.

Until then, here are a few other articles on the PHL model.

A Framework for 21st Century Leadership

Leadership and Intelligence: The Essential Traits for Leadership Effectiveness

POST-HEROIC LEADERSHIP: Managing the Virtual Organization

The Greatly Exaggerated Demise of Heroic Leadership: Gender, Power, and the Myth of the Female Advantage

Image credit: Stinkie Pinkie.

Emotional Intelligence (EI) is more than just a sign of the times or the latest management trend – although it is both. Work has changed to become more complex, fluid and pressured than ever before. There is recognition of the need to maximize individual performance: not just know-how and the ability to do, but how you feel about what you know and do.

Studies prove that the difference between average and outstanding performers at work lies in the ability to blend IQ with EI.

This course will cover self-confidence, motivation, organizational awareness, inspirational leadership, conflict management, and the whole range of ‘soft skills’ necessary in the hard world of modern management.

Venue: Queen’s University, Belfast

Date: 17/04/08

Time: 9.30 – 4.30

To book contact Marc Forte at QUB on 028 9097 5260/5261 or email m.forte@qub.ac.uk. Discounts available for multiple bookings.

There are many business workshops and training events that are designed for businesswomen. Have you noticed how they tend to cover the same sort of themes? Conflict management skills for women. Assertive communication skills for women. Confidence building for women. Isn’t all this slightly reactive and belittling? Haven’t businesswomen in 21st century Northern Ireland moved past these stereotypes yet?

Beyond the Glass Ceiling is different. Instead of assuming what women need, we will address what real women want. Instead of patronising women by ‘helping’ them play catch-up, we will equip women to move ahead. Our workshops will achieve this by addressing some workplace issues with an openness and honesty that is rare, but that everyone welcomes when it arrives.

In this training programme we have selected four topics that are of pressing relevance to every professional woman. Instead of the usual 1-day course, each workshop lasts a morning. You can select to attend any single workshop, or choose whatever combination interests you. The workshop style will be open and enjoyable, free from padding, and will place a premium on workplace reality.

Men from Mars: How to Win Respect with Male Colleagues

Tuesday 6th November, 9:30 – 12:30

“Why should I have to ‘win respect’ from my male colleagues?” Respect should be based on merit. I’ve earned respect because I’m good at my job, better than many of them in fact. That’s enough.” Well, yes and no. Yes, it should be enough. But no, it often isn’t, in point of fact. That’s a crying shame. But women can either face the realty and overcome it, or complain about it and achieve nothing. This workshop assumes that the first option is the best, and offers women some real-world insights to succeed in the respect game.

Respect is a powerful tool. It secures the trust of your male bosses, the ear of your male equals, and the admiration of your male subordinates. That’s a lot of males. In the first place, we will look at how the male mind thinks regarding job performance. Why do your male colleagues seem at times abrupt, calculating, mischievous, flippant or critical at work? How come they brag, cover up their mistakes, pretend to know what they don’t, start fights, and steal your praise? Do women have to act like men to win respect? What sort of women do men like working with anyway? We will focus on what men want and how to communicate with them for win/win workplace solutions.

Schmooze or Loose: How Smart Women Win at Office PoliticsTuesday

13th November, 9:30 – 12:30

The instinct of many women is to avoid office politics like the plague in an effort to maintain integrity. It is perceived as tricky, trivial and testosterone-fuelled. It is a game played by the guys for the guys. The result? Promotion passovers, ineffectual networking, and a sense that real power is forever beyond your grasp. It seems the choice is politics or failure. So if the grubby task of politicking cannot be avoided in a 21st century business environment, the question is, how can women get it right?

And the answer is to understand that politics is all about communication and relationships, two skills at which women excel. This workshop will focus on the art of ‘organisation awareness’. It will teach women how to discover and employ their political nous in a way that is positive and authentic. As a result, you will be enabled to rise above petty power-plays and interpersonal conflicts, influence outcomes and get buy-in for ideas at the same time as building a reputation as a go-to person. Skill in organisational awareness is the smartest way of gaining access to the resources, information and opportunities that lead to workplace success for everyone, regardless of gender.

Image is Everything: How to Win Without Words in BusinessTuesday

20th November, 9:30 – 12:30

“Everyone sees what you appear to be: few experience what you really are”, wrote Machiavelli 500 years ago. Modern psychology backs this notion up. Fifty-five percent of the information we convey when talking to a stranger flows through our clothes, posture, gestures and expression. Only seven percent of ‘believability’ comes from our words. How is this relevant? Think how all work situations depend on our communications with others. Then think of how much is tied up with how we look and how we express ourselves…regardless of what we actually say.

Women have known this for far longer than men. Men focus on the verbal, literal meaning of a message, to the exclusion of the visual and vocal emphases. It was women who invented power-dressing in the ‘80s; it is women who take time over their appearance, and choose clothes that are appropriate and impressive. This workshop will assist women to hone their already high powered skills in non-verbal communication with specific reference to the workplace. Part of the workshop will focus on body language in the context of interviews, presentations and influencing. The second part will be led by a specialist in corporate style for women.

No More Heroes: How Leadership Belongs to Tomorrow’s Women

Tuesday 27th November, 9:30 – 12:30

Why is it that when the word ‘leader’ is spoken, a male image is automatically conjured up in the minds of most? This sexism is being challenged recently by models of leadership that transcend the old vision of a leader as a lone, charismatic force-of-nature who takes tough decision in dicey situations. These new models are collaborative, interactive; they reject the old command-and-control hierarchies. A leader now is someone with skills in emotional and relational intelligence, someone who is ‘post-heroic’, someone who is more likely to be a woman.

This workshop will encourage women to recognise, trust and utilize their own leadership styles in workplace and business contexts. The newly recognized interactive leadership style historically preferred by women can be valued and rewarded as highly as the traditional authoritarian style has been for men. Good management practice is now strongly associated with a consultative style and a high level of interpersonal skills. We will also suggest that women have a greater capacity to alter their leadership styles to suit the demands of the situation at hand. That is why the future is yours.

Cost:

Any 1 half-day workshop – £200Any 2 half-day workshops – £375Any 3 half-day workshops – £525All four half-day workshops – £650

10% discount for members of NICCI, B4B or Women on the Move.

Venue: Belfast Business Centre.

Contact info@sensei-winbeforehand.co.uk or 028 9043 6634 for more information or to book.