For Positive Leaders, Three Levels of Leadership Skill--How Do You Rate?

Hi, Everyone,

Welcome to the mid-month short powerful What You Say Is What You Get®: Positive Leadership Power Newsletter from Dr. Linne Bourget, April 2018  Three Levels of Leadership Skill-What Level Are You? How Do You Rate?

Leaders come in all skill levels...how high is your skill level?

Why does this matter for your business results?

What results so leaders at different skill levels produce with their teams?

Using the dance of lead and follow as a metaphor for your business, here are three categories of leaders:

1. Champions: I dance with leaders who are national champions and have invested heavily with professionals for their leadership skills.

2. Competitors: I also dance with competitors who invest in working with professionals to build their leadership skills and are working their way up, not at the champion level. 

3. Social Dancers: I dance  with men who come to an occasional workshop or watch videos but do not invest in working with professionals to build their leadership skills, they are there socially rather than for dance (business) leadership excellence.

What impact do these leaders have on my dancing, i.e. your business results? I have extensive training from professionals, no longer compete, but do showcase performance dances and work with a national champion to keep building my skills, am an advanced dancer (business contributor).

Bottom line results of leadership skill level:

1. The champions I dance with know more moves, lead much better, have much better technique, are much better partners, try new moves they are working on with me, and collaborate superbly in improvisation.  They dance the music (respond to the external business environment) faster and more fully, are more fun to dance with, see my dance strengths and dance me at my ability.  They are all  younger and do not “dance down” due to the age difference. They see what I can do and give me challenging moves. (Strengths-based leaders get the most from their teams.)

They always make it clear where they want me, (give clear direction) and give me space to add my own moves (create room for different styles on the team). I love the fun, presence, challenges and as a result I dance (perform in business) better, follow more precisely, more creatively, more energetically, and match their style better while adding my own moves (focus more on what you as the leader want, add creative innovation in your teams). They never hurt me (they know protecting team members is crucial). I trust them with unusual moves even while my back is still recovering from the car accident. (I.e. Your teams trust you when you take business risks.) We "accomplish" much more per song (per meeting) than lower level leaders do.
“Leadership is the wise use of power. Power is the capacity to translate intention into reality and sustain it.” Warren G. Bennis

2. With competitors, we collaborate well, they do fun moves, and some are very talented at co-creating a dance to the music (again, responding to the business environment).  They are usually clear in direction, protective, creative, present, and leave me space to add my own moves....but not always. Some dance me at my own level, and some under-dance me due to age, assuming I can’t do some types of moves, which I can do. (Agism in business is frequent.) Sometimes they do some weird move that hurts my neck, because they don’t have the training on how to lead neck moves yet. Result:  I dance well with them but don’t give them 100% until they prove they will not hurt me, I follow carefully but again unless I can trust them consistently, I will not add as much of my own creativity if they pull me out of my move, not paying attention. In business, this means you are not getting the full ability, commitment and innovation from your teams unless you consistently show great leadership skills.  Hit or miss always misses. We often accomplish much per song (meeting), but not consistently.

3. Social Dancers: I dance less with them, as they do not invest in their leadership skills and may hurt me, under-dance me hugely, make me look awkward, not hear or dance the music, provide no challenge, lead roughly, and do not collaborate, but just expect me to follow all their moves and add nothing of my own.  Frustrating, boring and no fun! You can see how this affects your teams, they are not likely to produce great results for your business! We "accomplish" much less per song (meeting).

Which type of leader are you?
How do you rate?
How committed are you to invest in your leadership skills, to be the best leader and get the best results from your teams for your business?

Positive Paradigms Promote Profits! My clients are committed to their success and invest accordingly.

“Leaders know the importance of having someone in their lives who will unfailingly and fearlessly tell them the truth.” Dr. Warren Bennis, consultant to 4 U.S. Presidents, author, 30 leadership books.

I appreciate all your positive leadership!
Peace and prosperity,
Dr. Linne "The greatest challenge is taking responsibility for your own greatness." Dr. Linne's Power Quote
 "Build on Your Best" Systems for Leaders, Consultants and Coaches
Dr. Linne Bourget M.A. M.B.A. Ph.D.
www.oldpowernewpower.com www.whatyousayiswhatyouget.com
480-767-1717
http://www.linkedin.com/in/oldpowernewpower
Blog: http://drlinnebourget.blogspot.com/
Economist, Change/Leadership Expert
Fortune 10, 50, 100 Consultant to Executives
Pioneer, strengths-based leadership,
Founder/CEO Institute for Transformation Leaders & Consultants
Consultant, Speaker, Author: From Old Power to New Power - Which Leaders Will Survive?
Co-author with Mark Victor Hansen, Deepak Chopra, Amazon #1Bestseller, Wake Up Live the Life You Love-Finding Personal Freedom
Author, What You Say Is What You Get® Positive Leadership Series:
The Secret Language of Great Business Results
Positive Quotient® PQ & Appreciative Quotient® AQ Questionnaires "Build on Your Best"
Copyright 2004-2018. All Rights Reserved. Dr. Linne Bourget, M.A., M.B.A., Ph.D.

Welcome to the  short powerful What You Say Is What You Get® Positive Leadership Power Newsletterfrom Dr. Linne Bourget, May 2017

Honoring Mothers and Vets, The Blended Positive Leadership Model  

For Mothers  

First, this Mother’s Day, Appreciation and Gratitude to you ladies for mothering your children, other family members, co-workers, your churches and communities and all other mothering often unrecognized...this is very important...the feminine hand is a crucial balancing and nurturing force in our world.

For Our Vets

And to our amazing Vets,  for Memorial Day, we are so grateful for your service and sacrifices...without you we would not have our freedoms or our nation!! My father, a U.S. Army Colonel, was gone for long stretches and suffered from PTS when he returned, which harmed the family, as there was no counseling...they just called it “shell shock” or “battle fatigue”, but I honor his service to our country greatly.

Blended Positive Leadership

As you know from previous newsletters, I am working on the dance of lead and follow in preparation for my showcase dance.  It is a very special blended leadership model as he leads and I follow but we are also team members collaborating in choreography.  He asks what I want, then adds to that from his expertise as a professional. He wants me to have what I want and to show me off well, and I want to show him off well too.

As this unfolds, I am not a traditional follower and he is not a traditional leader, so we are blending the two roles, leader/follower and team members.

So far we have had no confusion or conflict in combining these roles despite technical difficulties with video, music, etc.  How is this possible? We have a good foundation.

What is Our Foundation for This Blended Model? How Can We Do This?

Here are my initial thoughts...this is an ongoing learning process.

1. We have danced together for years, so know each other’s strengths.

2. From our first dance we have always danced well together...good connection.

3. We bring positive energy and commitment to our dances, via our positive values (hire people with positive values).

4. We both give positive feedback (the core of my leadership work).

5. We hear the music (external environment) similarly.

6. He leads extremely well and clearly, making challenging moves easier.

7. I follow well, having extensive training as a follower, yet being trained in “active following” as a dancer and positive collaborative teamwork, I add both to following.

8. We both have many years of experience as dancers, he as a professional, I as an amateur. (Hire people with experience.)

9. We are both creative in interpreting music choreographically (business strategy responding to the external environment).

10.We both know many dances, so have a lot of moves to choose from (experience in many business situations).

11.He sees my ability to do more than I am aware of!!(Very rare, usually I do this for clients! Feels great!)

Results to date:  Choreography and styling (marketing, PR) are coming along well, with little backtracking and re-doing. The moves are advanced moves, with just the right amount of challenge for me. We have Latin, Jazz, West Coast Swing and Hustle included in a dance lasting one minute and 45 seconds (multiple complex demanding time-pressured business requirements).

“A leader who appreciates the best will create more of it.” 

Dr. Linne’s Power Quote

Stay tuned! In future editions I will be drawing more parallels to business leadership and how to apply this blended leadership model.  Millenials expect leadership like this, so good to learn about it!

 "Build on Your Best" Giving you the power to predict, profit, & protect 
Dr. Linne Bourget M.A. M.B.A. Ph. D www.oldpowernewpower.com www.whatyousayiswhatyouget.com Pioneer, strengths-based leadership, Master Intuition System 
Founder/CEO 480-767-1717 Institute for Transformation Leaders& Consultants 
Strategist, Consultant, Speaker, Author of From Old Power to New Power – Which Leaders Will Survive? Co-author with Mark Victor Hansen, Deepak Chopra, Amazon #1Bestseller, Wake Up, Live the Life You Love - Finding Personal Freedom 
 Author, What You Say Is What You Get® Series: The Secret Language of Great Business Results Dr. Linne's Leadership Guides Series Positive Quotient PQ® Questionnaire Appreciative Quotient AQ® Questionnaire Secrets of Powerful Appreciation for Parents and Children, 2 CD Audio by "Dr. Appreciation" Appreciation: The Secret Key to Magical Marriage Power Course on Intuition for Business Leaders! 

"The greatest challenge is taking complete responsibility for your own greatness." Dr. Linne Copyright 2005-2017. All Rights Reserved. Dr. Linne Bourget, M.A., M.B.A., Ph.D.