Everybody wants quick,
practical information that will aid them to become successful in whatever they do.
Learning quick management tools is easy but leadership is more of a challenge as it's as
much about who you are than a set of skills. As much about how you do it as what you do.
The Leadership Manual is the first practical reference guide for busy professionals,
managers and entrepreneurs that addresses both sides of the leadership challenge - your
authentic self and your skills.
The authors have surveyed a
large number (500) of leaders in a mix of organisations to identify the key challenges,
problems and issues that individuals say they face - this manual addresses those
questions.
The Leadership Manual
provides fast, practical information, suggestions, ideas and steps to encourage the reader
to use their full leadership potential in every situation they face at work.
Features
The first really
practical guide to leadership - a ready reference to core skills and style has never
been done in this way before.
It's the Fast Thinking
Manager's Manual equivalent for people who want to be leaders, not just managers.
Based on real research about
what a broad spectrum of real leaders want to know.
Table of Contents
The introduction sets out
who the book is for and how to use it. It explains how leadership differs from management
in a practical way with the aim of giving the reader clarity as to what it looks and feels
like when they are expressing leadership. Real examples are used to illustrate leadership
points in every situation.
Questions answered here are:
What is leadership?
Is leadership genetically
programmed?
Can we believe everyone can
be a leader?
Is leadership a trendy word
for management?
Section I: A Journey Not a
Position
Chapter One: Leadership Not
Leaders
The first chapter argues the
case for leadership rather than 'leaders' explaining the difference. It was John
Lennon who said: "We don't need any more leaders." The chapter asks: Do you
see yourself as a leader? It explains why so many people are uncomfortable with the term
and argues that each one of us has some leadership potential to use at work. The problem
is how? The practical steps to resolve this are to become self- aware and build self-
belief. Included in this chapter are practical steps to establish the authentic self.
Chapter Two : Leading and
Learning - Why Mistakes are Good
Learning is at the core of
leadership and one of the best ways to learn is to try something and if it fails, learn
from the experience. The best leadership is always followed by learning so how can we
apply this and turn mistakes into positive outcomes.
Chapter Three : Expressing
Leadership
No two leaders are going to
be the same. It's important that you keep your personality, your beliefs, your essential
self at the heart of what you do and how you do it. As discussed in Chapter 1, people only
follow authentic leaders - even when leaders are 'bad'. What can we learn from this?
What we do know is that to be effective leaders must be believed and 'walk the talk'.
Your style has to be true to yourself and there has to be substance under the style.
Increasingly people only follow leaders who they believe have 'earned the right' to
lead. This chapter looks at how you have earned the right and how you show that to the
world.
Questions this section will
answer
What makes a good leader?
What is the contribution of
a leader?
What is the transition from
being a manager to being a leader?
How do I walk the talk?
Why is my visibility, as a
leader so important and how do I do it?
As a leader, what am I
frightened of and what is holding me back eg risk or intimacy?
What behaviour gets in the
way of my leadership?
How do I know I'm being a
good leader, what will I see in my team?
How can I keep creativity in
leadership?
How do we cope with the
isolation/loneliness of being put in a leadership role?
What makes a leader rather
than a dictator?
How do you lead from the
middle?
Is leadership compatible
with being open?
What do leaders do wrong?
Section II : Leadership
Capabilities
Chapter Four : Leadership
Begins with You- First Thing in the Morning/Last Thing at Night
What is the first thing you
do when you arrive at work? What should it be? How to set yourself up for the day and
finish at night. This practical chapter really shows the reader the difference between
management and leadership in ways they can use every day.
Chapter Five: Dealing with
Obstacles
If we see leadership as a
lifelong learning journey and obstacles as boulders to make us stop, think, learn from and
remove then we can use our leadership potential to deal with them so they never come back
again. It is how we deal with them mentally, emotionally and physically and this chapter
shows the reader how.
Chapter Six: Emotional
Intelligence - The End of Frustration, Anger, Despair
An important part of
leadership is to recognise emotional intelligence for when under pressure at work it is
this that will influence leadership rather than IQ. A quick practical lesson on EQ and how
to use it.
Chapter Seven: Empathy -
How to Stand in Someone Else's Shoes
Empathy is a skill that is
invaluable in expressing leadership. Did you know this ability develops around the age of
four to five years of age and is present in other life forms? How do you apply this
ability at work and how can it help you.
Chapter Eight: Engaging
People
Engaging people is one of
the most difficult quests in leadership. So how do you engage and motivate people around
you? How do you inspire people and take them with you? Building trust and expecting the
best from people is one way. Another is to make their personal goals part of the team
goals.
Chapter Nine: Vision
There has been much talk of
vision in leadership but what exactly is it and how can it be used every day through
leadership? What makes a 'good' vision? How can vision help you focus?
Chapter Ten: Leading upwards
and across
When a boss is a controller,
bully or ideas poacher then it is difficult to know how to express your own leadership.
The leadership lesson here is - you are not responsible for your boss but you are
responsible for yourself. Using leadership to deal with poor leaders.
Leadership skills: Questions
this section will answer
How can I enable all people
to make a difference?
How can I motivate and
inspire people?
What is the difference
between leading a large and small team?
How do leaders handle
overlapping responsibilities?
How do we tackle our less
performers in the team?
How do we show we actively
listen to ideas?
How do you lead poor and
good team members?
How do you lead different
sorts of people?
What is EI and what has it
to do with leadership?
Section III: Developing
Leadership All Around You
Chapter Eleven: Recognising
Leadership in Others
When we realise that each
and every one of us has some leadership potential it is a challenge for leaders to
recognise and develop this. The next assumption though is to look at those who report to
us - but we should in fact look upward, across and below, we should look at everyone we
come into contact with, with this aim. So how do we begin? The first two steps are to
establish how leaders are selected in your organisation; and then to identify leadership
role models that 'fit' with what is required in the organisation/your department. What
is it about them/what do they do that is so right?
Chapter Twelve: Influencing
Upwards
Those above you have to
communicate a clear sense of direction. Managers wait to find it out - leaders
participate and influence the process. This chapter shows ways of doing this that develops
your leadership and theirs and includes creating an ethos of service rather than
arrogance.
Chapter Thirteen: Developing
Others
There is a tendency when
busy to choose the same couple of people to do the challenging work because you know you
can rely on them. The problem with this is that others never have a chance to develop
including their leadership potential. This chapter offers simple steps to take to develop
leadership potential to others thus growing a team who all contribute their best.
Chapter Fourteen: Unblocking
Organisational Barriers
Whether 'bad' leaders or
bureaucratic inertia, the result is often a feeling of powerlessness. How can you tackle
these in a way that will result in change for the better? We know that most people leave
because of their boss or frustration leaving a vacancy for someone el
This section ancate a clear
sense of direction to everyone?
How do we select leaders and
is it effective?
How can we bring leadership
to make things happen at middle levels?
Are followers responsible
for making leadership effective?
How can we build teams of
leaders rather than individuals?
How can I teach or encourage
leadership learning?
Who are our role models?
What can I learn from them?
How can I learn from
experience of bad leadership?
How can I influence bad
leaders from underneath?
How can you turn staff at
all levels into leaders?
What can I do to create
leaders who serve people rather than expect people to serve them?
What can I do about senior
managers who don't want to be leaders?
The Leadership Manual is a
mentor for those who seek to express their leadership.
Section IV: My Leadership
Challenge
Chapter Fifteen: Beyond the
Rubicon
The relationship you have
with your organisation is fundamental in whether you will use your courage to transform
yourself and others. How do you feel about what the organisation does? What are its
strengths and weaknesses? How do you feel about those you work with every day? How do you
feel about yourself at work? What are your strengths and weaknesses? Do you want to be a
leader? Do you want to transform what you do, how you do it and challenge others to do the
same? This chapter challenges the reader at this point because not everyone is going to
want to complete the journey. Here we aim to help the reader move forward but they first
have to realise they are stuck.
Chapter Sixteen: Being a
Leader
It was Warren Bennis who
first changed our perception of leadership from doing to being and so the book concludes
with the reader's own challenges and shows that when being a leader the reader will be
able to face any challenges now and know how to begin. They will be shown how to use a
Leadership Log at work and the chapter will conclude with a final challenge.
The questions answered in
this section will be:
Is leadership any different
in my organisation than others?
Does good leadership add
value? How do we value leadership?
How do I deal with the
expectations of those who want to be leaders?
How do I lead in a matrix
organisation?
How do I recognise
successful leadership from the point of being led?
How do I get leadership away
from boxes to tick?
How do I/we change whole
organisations?
About
Author
Hilarie Owen is a successful
author, international conference speaker and founder and Chief Executive of the Institute
of Leadership. Hilarie is the successful author of three leadership books including Creating
Top Flight Teams based on two years research with the RAF Red Arrows. Previously she
enjoyed a successful corporate and consultancy career throughout Europe, the US and the
Middle East.
Vicky Hodsgon is a Director
of the Institute of Leadership. She has worked extensively in primary education where her
experience included establishing environments enabling responsibility to be taken and
leadership to be developed. At masters levels she has researched emotional
intelligence and collaborative learning. Since joining the Institute she has worked
linking EI to leadership.
Nigel Gazzard is a
Director of the Institute of Leadership Learning and Practice. Awards from the Institute
of Directors and South West Excellence have recognized his leadership skills. Nigel also
has a diversity of experience working with Universities in Eastern Europe, and as a
visiting university lecturer in the UK. He has a fascination for leadership, research,
development, and practice and holds a Master of Arts in Leadership Studies.
358 pages