Getting A Grip On Leadership Ebook

Does any of this sound familiar?

• You’ve got staff members grumbling in their coffee; the boss is jumping up and down; or worse, key clients are threatening to take their business elsewhere.
• Your staff don’t seem able to manage without your constant supervision; you’re overloaded with work; your family complains that they need a photo on the fridge to remind themselves what you look like; and you’re feeling increasingly frustrated with your senior position.
• Or, maybe you’re running a voluntary organisation, and some of your committee have let you down. What’s even harder – you can’t get too tough or you’ll find yourself running the whole show! You rely on their good nature to contribute: there’s no pay packet to hold over their head as an ‘inducement’ to perform!
  Then, hard on the heels of your frustration, you begin to doubt yourself. What sort of leader are you? Should you give up and crawl under a rock? Take early retirement and disappear into the sunset? Go back to your old job and pretend you’ve no ambitions to succeed at a higher level?

If you’re like many people who find themselves in management or leadership positions, you’ve had minimal training for your role. You may have been very good at some part of the business, but that doesn’t automatically confer leadership brilliance.

What LaVonn and Robyn have found through years of trial and error is the need for a practical ‘how-to’ guide for manager and leaders – but the shelves are pretty bare.

So how have people learned these skills? What is available?

• Most people learn by trial and error, making mistakes as they go.
• In-house mentoring from other managers is valuable but usually fragmented: relevant mostly to specific topical issues.
• Volumes have been written on leadership attributes, Fortune 500 CEOs and leadership theory, but little on how to be a leader.
• Leadership is taught as knowledge but leadership is a competency: a competency includes not only knowledge, but also skills and attitudes.
• Of the books that are practical, many of their examples are of top leaders, so far removed from the day-to-day experience of most folk that acquiring their skill seems like an impossible dream. We’ve used real examples of ordinary folk doing extraordinary work.

This book won’t solve all your challenges. You will still make mistakes. But now you have an easy reference book with a step-by-step process, and real-life examples to encourage you when hidden alligators snap at your oars and threaten to tip your boat!

The authors haven’t spent time debating semantics like the difference between leadership and management. In fact, they’ve chosen to use the terms interchangeably. Some pundits say management first, leadership second. Others vow the reverse. At the end of the day, does it really matter? People just want the simple explanations; they’ve got jobs to do, and they just want to get on and do them to the best of their ability.

Managers and would-be leaders crave for a system; with this book you’ll have it in your hands.

So, what’s this system?

There are four essential commonsense components of leadership: four questions to answer. Apart from a few obvious shifts of emphasis, they’re the same common sense basics for individuals in their personal relationships, people running teams within commercial organizations, and those who make a contribution with some form of voluntary service.

Part 1: Foundation – Who are you? To lead others, first know yourself.

• Let’s get it right from the beginning – who are you and what’s your purpose?
• What do you stand for? (or not stand for!)
• History is a great teacher
• The place of power
• Here I come, world – I’m good at this!

Part 2: Vision and Strategy – Where are you and your organisation going? Create a plan.

• All planning is not the same – learn to think strategically
• 12 steps in strategic planning
• Strategic planning for life

Part 3: Climate – What’s it like to work here? How to build a positive workplace.

• The individual in the workplace
• Communication is King!
• How the leader impacts the climate
• Feedback, criticism and appraisals
• How to deal with conflict
• How to get the message not only delivered, but also understood

Part 4: Synergy – How to work well together

• What are my team’s wants, needs and strengths
• How do I get the best out of them?
• Into the future – leaders who can lead through change

You’ll find it very easy and quick to find help in whatever area you’re currently challenged by, using the comprehensive index and the key point lists at the end of each chapter and section.

What others are saying about Getting a Grip on Leadership

“Congratulations to you and your colleague on a practical, yet inspiring publication. Your four fundamentals for effective leadership say it all.”
Sister Thomas Welder, President, University of Mary, North Dakota, USA

"You have written a blueprint for success that's perfect for today's on-the-move business executive - and those who hope to be! Behaviour profiling to foster team building, leadership lessons to drive productivity, a 'lead from the front' directive - it's all in there!"
Pamela A. Schmidt , Vice President, SIA Marketing, Schmidt Insurance Services

"This book should be required reading for everyone.  I found it clear, practical, and easy to read.  Its exploration and development aspects give readers guidance on actual implementation. The section on strategic planning with tracking tools is thebest I have seen.  Congratulations on a well-written book"
Linda Knodel, Senior Vice President/Chief Nursing Officer, St. Alexius Medical Center,
Bismarck,  North Dakota, USA

Summarised - ‘Required reading for everyone … clear, practical, and easy to read … gives readers guidance on actual implementation… Section on strategic planning with tracking tools the best I’ve seen.’
Linda Knodel, Snr VP/Chief Nursing Officer, St. Alexius Medical Center, Bismarck, North Dakota, USA)