Leadership BBS110

Develop and expand your leadership skills! Leadership skills are needed in all facets of our society: business, politics, religion, youth services, and leisure industries, to mention only some. This new course is relevant to all of those areas, developing your understanding of, and capacity to apply leadership skills.

What is a leader? Conservative definitions focus on the leaders authority and ability to get things done the leader as:

• authority, a person with the acknowledged power to direct and control others
• achiever, a person who uses their power to set and achieve goals
• manager, a person who directs others to achieve established goals
• anyone who emerges as a leader and is accepted as such by the group, formally or informally.

Popular current concepts of leadership define the leader as:

• an enabler, a person who enables others to experience or achieve something)
• a motivator, a person who aspires to goals or ideals and inspires others to achieve them
• an innovator, a person who inspires others to adapt, change directions, try new ideas, take risks.

Leadership is important in society.

Leaders are needed, and found in all aspects of our daily life, from the workplace to the school ground; and from the social club to government. When leadership is good, there is an increased probability of things being achieved with greater efficiency, and a higher level of satisfaction amongst all concerned.

Good leadership is however not something a person is born with. Certain personal traits, such as Self confidence, may give some an advantage over others; but effective leadership requires more than simply a forceful personality that is capable of dominating everyone else.

A leader is not the same as a manager or supervisor! Managers & supervisors are able to cause things to happen because they have legal authority to enforce orders.

Leaders do not cause things to happen because of any legal authority. People follow leaders of their own free will; and leadership skills are those skills that allow a leader to effectively communicate with, and influence the actions of their followers

Leadership contributes to order, motivates productivity, and influences the way in which resources (human and material) are used. Leaders are people who are in a position of power, and who use that position to influence the environment in which they abide, and the others who share that environment.

Positive leadership enables things to happen. The leader in effect influences the environment in a way that encourages certain actions. Negative leadership disables things from happening.

Course Structure There are seven lessons:

1. Introduction to Leadership (nature and scope of leadership)

• Defining Leadership
• Leadership and Group Culture
• Leadership & Accountability
• Theories of Leadership
• Leadership Styles
• Situational Leadership
• Contingency Theories
• Style Theories
• Informal Leadership
• Inspirational Leadership
• Path Goal Theory
• Instrumental Theories
• Four Framework Leadership Model
• Scope of Leadership
• Leader Responsibilities
• Sources of Power for a Leader
• Professional Leadership

2. Leadership Characteristics/Qualities

• Good Leader Characteristics
• Leadership Potential
• Emotionally Intelligent Leadership
• Cognitive Barriers to Leadership
• Nature vs Nurture: Leader Qualities
• Self Assessment

3. Interpersonal Relationships

• Interpersonal Skills
• Empathy
• Influencing Others
• Perception
• Self Knowledge
• The Thought, Feeling, Action Cycle
• Developing Self Awareness
• Self Disclosure
• Assertiveness

4. Communication Skills

• The Communication Process
• Body Language
• Basic Principles of Communication
• Factors Affecting Effective Communication
• Awareness
• Intent
• Listening
• Providing Feedback
• Paraphrasing
• Reflective Responses
• Summarizing
• Preventing Ineffective Listening
• Open Questions
• Communication Barriers

5. Team Building

• Benefits of Teams
• Elements of a Team
• Establishing a Team
• Types of Team Members (Collaborators, Communicators, Challengers, Contributors
• Team Leadership
• Team Leader Responsibilities
• Decision Making in Teams

6. Systematic and Lateral Thinking

• Metacognition
• Perception Formation
• Bases for Perception
• Information and Perception Formation
• Gestalt Theory & Patterns of Perception
• Schemas
• Perception Formation Implications for a Leader
• Lateral Thinking
• Win-Win Negotiation
• Systematic Thinking
• Legal Liability

7. Applications

• Explain the significance of leadership for a specific project or event.
• Identify the role and tasks of leadership, in the same project.
• Integrate factual information with theoretical information to derive a sensible solution to a leadership problem in a sensible timeframe in the same project.
• Plan the development and building of the team to achieve these aims in the same project.
• Plan actions for sustaining and motivating the team to achieve the aims.
• Provide information on the plan of action to organize the event.

Aims

• Describe the nature and scope of Leadership.
• Determine the qualities which are required in a leader, in different leadership situations, including the workplace, recreation industries and developmental applications.
• Manage interpersonal relationships in support of effective leadership.
• Communicate leadership messages effectively to those you lead.
• Explain methods that may be used for effective team building by a leader.
• Select appropriate thought processes to follow in order to deal with different leadership problems.
• Lead teams through innovative and creative processes

  Be a Better Leader

  • At Work
  • At Play
  • In Your Community

Leadership skills are needed in all facets of our society: business, politics, religion, youth services, and leisure industries, to mention only some. This new course is relevant to all of those areas, developing your understanding of, and capacity to apply leadership skills.