Mark Edward Brown's Blog

A consultant friend of mine is often hired for his expertise on workplace leadership. Although few people realize it, there are many different leadership styles out there.  In a recent conversation we had we discussed how to develop good leadership skills.

Some leaders prefer a very hands-on approach, trying to get involved in everything that is going on. Others prefer to step back and allow their underlings to shine. But whatever leadership styles are exhibited in your workplace, you will get much higher productivity if you make sure that your leaders are the strongest they can be.

Leadership skills training is designed to do exactly that. The problem is, there are a baffling variety of leadership skills training programs, and no two are the same. Some of them, in fact, are quite awful. I first became interested in leadership skills training about 10 years ago. I was in one of those old-school seminars involving ropes courses, team building activities, and all of that other Boy Scout type studd. Although it was fun for some of us to pretend we were 15 again for a weekend, I doubt we really gained anything from it. The leadership skills training program was ridiculous, and the instructors were just like camp counselors. We were grown men, and it was insulting to our intelligence to subject us to such a program.

This is what led my friend to develop his own leadership skills training seminars. It became obvious that Good Leadership Skills training usually fell into one of two groups. The philosophy was either dog eat dog, or all for one. In other words, leadership skills training was either based on a totally individualistic perspective in which the goal was to do as well for yourself as possible, or on a team-based perspective in which you’re supposed to do everything so that the team itself could succeed. Neither of these leadership skills training philosophies seemed to work for him so he wanted to work on something else.

For me, the key to successful leadership skills training is to encourage independent thought. It is not important to indoctrinate your clients with some philosophy of self-actualization, or of collective benefit. Presumably, they are mature enough to tackle such philosophical questions on their own. Leadership skills training is all about skills. It is about allowing people to develop their natural leadership abilities to best work in a style that they choose. Leadership programs help the most when they allow people to develop their own personal managerial styles.

What’s your leadership style?  Leave me a comment and let me know.

Mark Edward Brown