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LEADERSHIP SKILLS
Trần Thị Bích Nhung
Email: tranthibichnhung.cs2@[Link]
Introduction to the course
Materials:
- Northouse, P. G. (2016). Leadership: Theory and practice. (7th edition). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.
Assessment:
- Individual report
- Group presentation
- Final examination
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Contents:
Unit 1: Introduction to leadership
Unit 2: Power and influence
Unit 3: Trait, Skill and behavioral approaches
to leadership
Unit 4: Situational approaches
Contents:
Unit 5: Contemporary approaches
Unit 6: Team leadership
Unit 7: Developing leadership skills
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WHAT CAN YOU DO TO BECOME
A LEADER ?
Unit 7: Developing
leadership skills
Trần Thị Bích Nhung
Email: tranthibichnhung.cs2@[Link]
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Contents
Formal training
Developmental activities
Self-help activities
GROUP DISCUSSION
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Leadership skills can be developed in a number of ways:
Formal training
Developmental activities
Self-help activities
The effectiveness of developing leadership skills depends on organizational
conditions, such as: support from top management, reward systems, values to
support continuous learning…
1. Formal training
Formal training programs are widely used to improve leadership skills
Most large organizations have management training programs of one kind
or another
Many companies send their managers to outside seminars and workshops
Most training programs are designed to increase generic skills and
behaviors and more for lower and middle manager than for top managers.
Training usually more emphasizes on skills needed by managers in their
current position than on skills needed to prepare for promotion
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1. Formal training
Training can take many form, from short workshops (a few hours and focus on a
narrow set of skills) to programs (one-more years and cover a wide range of
skills).
Consulting companies conduct short leadership workshops
Most universities offer management development programs (Mini MBA,
executive MBA) that take 1-3 years to complete on a part-time basis.
Companies compensate employees for the cost of attending outside workshops
and courses.
Large organizations (e.g., GE, ACB, Unilever, FPT…) operate a management
training canter or corporate university for employees
1. Formal training
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1. Formal training
The effectiveness of formal training programs depends on how well they are
designed.
Specific learning objectives: behaviors, skills or knowledge trainee are
expected to acquire from the training. What will be learned and why and
how the training is worthwhile for trainees?
Training contents should be clear and meaningful, focus attention on
important things. The model and theories should be simple enough to be
remembered and relevant enough to help trainees interpret their
experiences
1. Formal training
Appropriate sequencing of content: training should progress from simple
to more complex ideas. Complex material should be broken into
components or modules that are easier to learn
Training methods: Role plays are difficult to use in a large class. Lecture
longer than 30 minutes may lose the interest and attention of trainees, so it
is desirable to shift from lecturing to discussions and exercises.
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1. Formal training
Active practice: Trainees should actively practice the skills to be learned.
Practice should occur both during the training sessions and afterward in
the job situation.
Relevant, timely feedback: feedback from a variety of available sources,
and feedback should be accurate, timely and constructive.
1. Formal training
Enhancement of trainee self-confidence. The trainer should
communicate expectations of success and be patient and supportive with
trainees who experience learning difficulties. Trainees should begin with
simple behaviors to more complex behaviors.
Appropriate follow-up activities: Complex skills are difficult to learn in a
short training course with limited opportunities for practice and feedback.
=> hold a follow-up session at a appropriate interval after completing
training program to review progress in application of learned skills.
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1. Formal training
Special techniques for leadership training:
Technical skills: lectures, demonstration, procedural manuals, equipment
simulators
Conceptual and administrative skills: cases, exercises, business games,
simulations
Interpersonal skills: lectures, case discussion, role playing and group
exercises
1. Formal training
Behavior Role Modeling
Case discussion
Business games and simulations
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1. Formal training
Learning from experience
- Special assignments provide an opportunities to develop and refine
leadership skills during the performance of job duties.
- Coaching and mentoring can be used to help managers interpret their
experiences and learn new skills.
- Learning from experience is affected by amount of challenge, variety of
tasks or assignments, and quality of feedbacks.
1. Formal training
Amount of challenge
- A challenging situation involves unusual problems to solve, difficult
obstacles to overcome, and risky decisions to make.
- Managers are required to deal with change, influence people without
authority, handle external pressure, and work without much guidance or
support from superiors
=> Manager to seek new information, view problems in new ways, build new
relationships, try out new behaviors, learn new skills, and develop a better
understanding of themselves.
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1. Formal training
Amount of challenge
- Experiencing success in handling difficult challenges is essential for
leadership development. Manager learn new skills and gain self-
confidence.
- Managers who experienced failure earlier in their career were more likely
to develop and advance to a higher level than managers who experienced
only a series of early successes.
1. Formal training
Variety of Tasks or Assignments
- Diverse job experience require managers to adapt to new situations and
deal with new types of problems => require different leadership behavior
and skills
- Special developmental assignments, rotating managers among positions in
different functional subunits of the organization, assignment in both line
and staff positions, making both foreign and domestic assignments
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1. Formal training
Relevant feedback
- Get accurate feedback about their behavior and its consequences and learn
from them.
- Some managers are willing to accept feedback, others who are defensive
and insecure tend to avoid or ignore information about their weaknesses
- Learning from experience is greatest obstacle at higher levels of
management. They are isolated from all and ignore or discount criticism
from others who are not so successful.
2. Developmental activities
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2. Developmental activities
Multisource feedback or “360 degree feedback”
- Has become a popular method for management development.
- Can be used for a variety of purposes, but primary purpose is to assess the
strengths and developmental needs for individual managers.
- Standardized questionnaires filled out by other people.
2. Developmental activities
Multisource feedback or “360 degree feedback”
- The effectiveness of multisource feedback programs depends not only on
the type and form of feedback, but also on how it is presented to managers
- (1) Managers just receive a feedback report and are left to interpret it alone
- (2) Managers receive feedback report followed by a one-on-one meeting
with a facilitator
- (3) Managers attend a group workshop with a facilitator to help interpret
their feedback reports
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2. Developmental activities
Developmental assessment centers
- Traditional assessment centers utilize multiple methods to measure
managerial competencies and potential for advancement, including:
interviews, aptitude tests, personality tests, situational tests, a speaking and
a writing exercise.
- In the past, most assessment centers were used only for selection and
promotion decisions, but in recent years, assessment centers have been
used for developing managers.
2. Developmental activities
Developmental assessment centers
- Use more intensive measurement procedures and a more comprehensive
set of measures to increase self-understanding, identify strengths and
weaknesses and assess developmental needs.
- Feedbacks are obtained from people who interact with the manager
regularly and from observation of the manager in simulations and exercises
- Information about experience, motives, personality traits, skills, interests
and aspirations.
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2. Developmental activities
Developmental assignments
- Developmental assignments can be carried out concurrently with regular
job responsibilities, whereas others require taking a temporary leave from
one’s regular job.
- Managing a new project, start-up operation, chairing a special task force to
plan a major change or deal with a serious operational problem…
- Working in an assessment center, serving in a temporary liaison position or
visiting assignment in another organization.
2. Developmental activities
Job rotation programs
- Managers are assigned to work in a variety of different functional subunits
of the organization for periods of time (6 months to 3 years)
- Individuals change jobs for developmental reasons, not as the result of a
promotion decision.
- Managers learn how to establish cooperative relationships and deal with
new types of technical problems
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2. Developmental activities
Job rotation programs
- Job rotation also has some costs.
- One cost is lower productivity for the rotated individuals
- Another cost is lower satisfaction for people in the functional units who are
required to accommodate and assist the managers.
- It is difficult to determine how much rotation is desirable or how long
managers should remain in each position
2. Developmental activities
Action learning
- Is used for combining formal training with learning from experience
- Individuals or teams conduct projects on complex organizational problems
and develop solutions
- Projects are selected to facilitate the development of cognitive and
interpersonal skills rather than technical knowledge.
- The types of project are very diverse, take from several weeks to several
months
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2. Developmental activities
Action learning
- Many action learning projects are linked to formal training, but an
alternative approach is to link the project to a process of mutual coaching
and mentoring
- The effectiveness of action learning for developing leadership skills
depends on the type of project, the composition of the team, type of
coaching provided.
2. Developmental activities
Mentoring
- Mentoring is a relationship in which a more experienced manager helps a
less experienced protégé
- The mentor is usually at a higher managerial level and is not the protégé
immediate boss.
- Mentors can facilitate adjustment, learning, and stress reduction during
difficult job transitions.
- Mentoring is also affected by some demographic factors: age, gender…
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2. Developmental activities
Executive coaching
- Leaders who receive coaching are usually a high-level executive.
- The person who provides the coaching may be an external or internal
consultant.
- External coach provides some advantages such as: wider experience,
greater objective and more confidentiality.
- Internal coach offers other advantages such as: easy availability, more
knowledge of the culture and politics, better understanding of strategic
challenges and core competencies
2. Developmental activities
Executive coaching
- Coaches also provide advice about how to handle specific challenges,
dealing with a difficult boss or working with people from a different
culture.
- Advantages: convenience, confidentiality, flexibility and more personal
attention.
- Disadvantages: high expense of one-on-one coaching (so personal
coaching is used primarily for executives), the shortage of competent
coaches.
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2. Developmental activities
Outdoor Challenge Programs
- Involve physical activities performed by a group of people in an outdoor
setting.
- Is required mutual trust and cooperation among group members.
- The purpose of outdoor adventure programs is personal growth (self-
confidence, self-control, risk-taking and willing to give and receive trust)
and team building (mutual trust and cooperation).
2. Developmental activities
Personal Growth Programs
- … are designed to improve self-awareness and overcome inner barriers to
development of leadership competencies.
- … are based on a series of interrelated assumptions about people and
leadership.
- Participants are usually managers who do not work together, but sometimes
a personal growth program is conducted for an intact management group.
- …
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3. Self-help Activities
4. Facilitating conditions for leadership development
a. Support by the boss
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4. Facilitating conditions for leadership development
a. Support by the boss
4. Facilitating conditions for leadership development
b. Learning climate
- Make job assignments that allow people to pursue their interests and learn
new skills
- Establish work schedules that allow enough free time to experiment with
new methods
- Provide financial support for continuing education by employees
- Arrange special speakers and skills workshops for employees
- Establish a program to help employees to renew themselves
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4. Facilitating conditions for leadership development
b. Learning climate
- Establish a career counseling program to help employees develop self-
awareness and find ways to achieve their full potential
- Establish voluntary skills assessment and feedback programs
- Make pay increases partly dependent on skill development
- Provide awards for innovations and improvements
- Use symbols and slogans that embody values such as: experimentation,
flexibility, adaptation, self-development, continuous learning and
innovation.
GROUP DISCUSSION
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