Let me introduce an effective workshop for managers and team leaders
STRONGER LEADERSHIP
MAKE AN IMPACT AND INSPIRE OTHERS
Powerful techniques to bring out your best as a leader and develop your people with care and confidence
Would you like a deeper understanding of human nature and honest, effective ways to have a greater influence on your team’s attitudes, decisions and behaviour?
Whether we run a small family business or a large company with hundreds of employees, its development and success depend largely on its leaders’ ability to solve problems and make the most of resources such as time, money, people and experience. Leaders need to be ready to make decisions, take action and guide their people effectively, whatever circumstances arise.
The quality of a leader’s decisions, willpower and influence depends to a large extent on their everyday patterns of emotional wellbeing. Dr Barbara Fredrickson’s research in positive psychology has shown how our emotional state acts as a gateway to knowledge, abilities and creativity, while also having a substantial effect on communication and influence.
That makes it essential for a company’s leaders to cultivate a constructive emotional state that helps them make better decisions and take effective action, allowing the business to benefit from the best they have to offer.
Managers and team leaders are among a company’s most valuable resources, and leadership skills play a crucial role. A leader’s responsibilities include making decisions and ensuring the team acts on them. This requires a relationship in which people want to follow their leader. Leaders need to sell ideas, inspire others, make difficult decisions, solve problems, mediate, handle unexpected challenges and maintain enthusiasm and ambition, while also taking responsibility for the team’s job satisfaction. When things go well, a strong leader gives the team the credit; when things go badly, they take responsibility. “No pressure, dear leader, but don’t mess this up.”
A strong leader can fulfil this role with confidence and resolve, in good circumstances and bad. That is why leaders need a deep understanding of human nature and effective techniques to:
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Keep their own emotional state as strong and steady as possible.
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Maintain constructive attitudes.
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Have a positive influence on the attitudes, decisions and actions of the people they serve and lead.
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Cultivate a culture of psychological safety and ambition, creating a happy, motivated team that works together towards meaningful goals.
Although many people recognise that leaders play a key role, too few appreciate how strongly the following factors affect their performance:
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The leader’s energy and wellbeing: their emotional state.
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The leader’s attitudes and beliefs: their mindset.
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The leader’s ability to influence others: their impact.
The Stronger Leadership workshop is designed to develop skills in these areas so that leaders can stand confidently and inspire others. After the workshop, participants will have a deeper understanding of:
- The psychological foundations of performance, achievement and enjoyment.
- What really influences a leader and their decision-making.
- The forces behind human behaviour.
- Why people will go through fire for some leaders, but not others.
- The power of emotional states and how to put that power to work for us.
- Why some people can barely be persuaded to do their work while others are consistently ambitious.
- Human needs and how to use this understanding to improve communication, increase our influence
and empower others.
This workshop has been offered through Reykjavík University’s Open University since autumn 2017 and has received a very enthusiastic response.
The Stronger Leadership workshop runs for 10.5 hours over three sessions. Email bjartur@bjarturgudmundsson.is for a quote tailored to your needs and priorities.
Objectives:
The ideas and techniques develop the ability to activate emotions that improve access to inner resources. These are resources we already possess but cannot always readily draw on: information, abilities and creative thinking. The workshop helps participants understand how they can take charge of their emotional wellbeing and use that skill to make better decisions and lead others.
By using the techniques, participants can improve their daily wellbeing, confidence and belief in their own abilities. The techniques also encourage an emotional state that improves the quality of decisions and actions. During the workshop, I guide the group through the techniques so participants can experience them first-hand and see how they can apply them in their leadership roles and other areas of life.
How does the workshop work?
Stronger Leadership is a 10.5-hour workshop delivered over three sessions, filled with active participation, humour, enjoyment and energy. The workshop combines inspiration and learning, introductions and explanations of the techniques, and practical training that lets participants experience them first-hand. The presentation is lively and enjoyable as participants learn to enter a peak emotional state and apply the techniques in their leadership roles.
