Answer Poll on Linkedin.

The post Linkedin Survey: Difficult Conversations appeared first on Leadership Potential Accelerator.

Video Series

The post The Bad Manager | Good manager Video Series appeared first on Leadership Potential Accelerator.

Our last article talked about what factors lead to leadership training falling short of expectations. Today, we will look at a recent case study conducted by a client to measure the success of their leadership training using the LPA method.

The LPA method incorporates all the critical factors needed to ensure that companies can enjoy the long-term benefits of our leadership training. They include:

A recent client compared the efficiency of their leadership competencies before, during, and after conducting the LPA journey. The assessment asks, do you believe the person who received feedback has become more or less effective in the following areas?

• Very Much Effective?

• Much Effective?

• No Change

Being a role model?

• Very Much Effective? 31%
• Much Effective? 48%
• No Change 21%

79% Increase in performance being a role model

Partnership Thinking?

• Very Much Effective? 12%
• Much Effective? 70%
• No Change 18%

82% Increase in performance demonstrating partnership thinking.

And, there were more results to show. How successful have leadership programs been? Have you experienced similar results?

If you would like to explore the possibilities, contact us at 317-643-2572. 

The post Lastest Research demonstrates success of Leadership Potential Accelerator appeared first on Leadership Potential Accelerator.

The post Video: Accelerate Your Leadership Potential appeared first on Leadership Potential Accelerator.

Leadership Training alone can not fix a company’s organizational and leadership problems. Yet, companies have been willing to pay for the chance to impact change through training. Globally, in 2015, companies were spending $356 billion on training programs. Did they achieve a good return on their investment? What are the keys to implementing effective change in any organization?

Here are some simple ideas to consider when exploring Leadership Training in your organization:

Are training that your company is buying created for your organization based on your company values and core leadership competencies or is it basically an off-the-shelf program?

Senior management drives change based on a clear set of business objectives. Those objectives need to be driven by a clear set of company values. Senior managers need good information to make decisions. And, their people need to be comfortable sharing data no matter how bad it may be. Employees need to receive guidance and opportunities to practice in a safe environment how to give and receive feedback.

Is the company open to honest feedback from employees?

Politics plays a role in most companies. Employee gamesmanship and positioning are detrimental to senior management and the company. They tend to provide information senior management wants and not necessarily what they need to hear. Companies need candid feedback about impediments to efficacy and execution, including senior management’s conduct. Even if it sounds strange, a lot of participants that are sent to training do not see the connection between the workshop they are attending and their daily work.

Is the training relevant to the business?

Company setup needs to reflect the openness to the changes made to move forward. The content and direction of the training need to be relevant to the industry. Don’t use training companies that offer off-the-shelf content that does not even use your industry terminology. And it requires a combination of workshops, coaching, and assessment of skills.

What happens after the training? Does the company offer ongoing coaching and training consulting to achieve positive change?

The problem with most leadership programs is that they end. Employees go back to their everyday lives, and old habits creep back into the day-to-day operation. Successful programs provide ongoing support and training to help managers apply what they learned to their daily routine. Change happens over time.

Can you measure the impact of your training on the organization?

As a continued follow-up to your leadership journey, can you measure the progress? Is it positive, negative, or static? A positive leadership journey will take time to impact change. Leadership and culture must be in it for the long haul and commit to creating a safe environment, a culture of openness, and leadership for all business units.

At LPA, we can help your organization reach these strategic objectives with our Leadership Potential Accelerator Program, addressing the pitfalls most companies find themselves with leadership training. And you will be able to track the improvement of your leadership skills.

The post Why Do Most Leadership Trainings Fail? appeared first on Leadership Potential Accelerator.

CEO ALD Automotive Hungary

Today, we are talking with Olena Tymofiyiva, CEO of ALD Automotive Hungary. ALD Automotive offers corporate fleet management and long-term leasing services. They carry out more than 1,700,000 cars worldwide in 43 countries. Owned by the French group Société Générale, which is the dominant financial institution of the eurozone. ALD Automotive is a leader in both Europe and Hungary.

As CEO for Hungary, Olena provides great insight into leadership expectations through practical experience, observation, and leading teams.

What is something that you expect from ALL your leaders? 

First of all – the attitude. Being passionate and determined toward what they are doing.

Another important detail is higher-than-average standards. Standards become habits. And then habits become outcomes. Exceptional results are almost always achieved by humans with higher-than-average standards.

Do you think you need to be a born leader or can you become a great leader by developing leadership skills?

Well, it is definitely both. Leadership is a mindset. There is no universal definition of what makes the best leader. In the same way chefs specialize in certain cuisines or musicians master specific genres, leaders can lead in different ways.

The only things, probably, that keep someone from becoming a sound leader are lack of character, effort and desire. Everything else can be developed. It’s not what you’ve been given, but rather what you do with it that matters.

Some people mistakenly believe that a leadership “title” gives them the “authority” to lead and be more effective. I would say, if you need a title to be heard, you don’t have a voice probably. 

What is the role of self-reflection in your opinion as a leader?

Taking a step outside of yourself is very powerful. It helps leaders in three different directions:

1. Acknowledgment – facing the fear & disabling its ability to frighten you

2. Gratitude – having a moment of gratitude and compassion for yourself and other people 

3. Setting goals to grow – taking actions toward meaningful things based on true values

What type of leadership development do you think works best?

I strongly believe that only ability to learn, unlearn and relearn makes people agile and ready for challenges. Seeking, acquiring and sharing knowledge should be a continuous process throughout the life of a leader, to benefit your career and keep you ahead of the game. It’s a well-known fact that humans who changed the world are those who were brave enough to change themselves first. 

How can leaders maximize their potential?

The first and most important thing to know about leadership is that it’s not a position. It’s a process. Your ability to lead others is only as good as your ability to be the leader of you. Before you can maximize your leadership potential with others, you should be well-led yourself. One of the powerful tools to use is coaching and mentoring, as well as constant re-evaluation. It gives a sense of direction, accountability, and allows leaders to measure how they are doing.

What advice would you give today’s leaders to follow in our complex world?

Stay curious. Exceed expectations. Be ambitious. Shift from reactive to proactive. 

Take calculated risks to learn continuously and stay out of your comfort zone. It’s ok to have fears, but it is important to find the strength to face and overcome them. By default, we do things we like and enjoy. When we start doing uncomfortable things, we grow. 

If you see a problem and want to do something about it, act. If someone else is doing something inspiring, help. You have nothing to lose. Don’t expect anything in return.

Listen to diverse opinions and feedback. Surround yourself with people that inspire you. Who you work with is equally if not more important than what you work on and where you work at. 

Instead “all or nothing” – each step matters. Instead “life is a competition” –life is an adventure. Enjoy it.

The post Conversation with Olena Tymofiyiva appeared first on Leadership Potential Accelerator.

What is the impact of being open to Learning?

I want to share the success story of the French owner of a car part designing and manufacturing company.

Their HR manager asked me to run a training for their shift and team leaders. The training was tough because I was bombarded with complaints about dire circumstances and many smaller and bigger critical working conditions.

I felt that participants were so full of negative thoughts that it was nearly impossible to make them pay attention and open them up for learning.
So I offered them to share their problems with the owner. They gave me their green light, and since they felt that someone cared about them, they started to be active in the workshop.

How to react to employee feedback

The day after the training, I sent a text message to the owner and told him that I heard some complaints about the working conditions in his company and asked him if he wanted to hear about them. He immediately shared his availability with me, and in a few days, we had our first meeting. He even booked a meeting room in a hotel to have a safe place for confidential discussions. He took notes and listened carefully to every word I said. He sometimes stopped me and asked for clarification.
A week later, he called me and asked if I was willing to coach him and told me about the changes he initiated. I was so impressed by his speed of action!

During his 10-session coaching journey, he did a lot of self-reflection about the management culture in his company. Very soon, his organization saw some significant changes. The reforms enacted were over 15 years ago.

Yesterday I attended a company event with his management team. He was also there. I observed how carefully he was making sure that nobody had to stay alone at dinner. He even put together tables so that people could sit together in bigger groups. Attention to detail has always been essential for him. It felt amazing to think back on how huge the impact of self-reflection, willingness, and ability to change can be. The once “cold” owner became an exceptional, inspiring leader with superior emotional intelligence. He needed openness for feedback, even if it hurt a lot sometimes, to look into the mirror, unlearn old habits, and learn new tools and techniques for his management skillset.

Want to learn how Learn – Unlearn – Relearn can help you? Contact Us

The post When somebody is using “Learn-Unlearn-Relearn” concept appeared first on Leadership Potential Accelerator.

What are some parallels between coaching, time management, and saying no?

Does the expression “To-do list” ring a bell? Have you ever created one? Have you ever been frustrated for not being able to finish your tasks? Or have you ever attended a training after which you thought, “It was so interesting, and there was so much great content in it!” And what happened after a few days and weeks? If someone had asked you what your takeaway was, what would you have said? Would you have been able to articulate the main area of focus clearly? It is not hard to believe that research shows that an average human being remembers only 10% of what you hear after 24 hours. 

How to focus

That is why the most significant responsibility of every trainer is to make sure that it is clear what the participating potential or existing leader should remember. What determines what should be in focus? It depends on a lot of different factors. What are the critical leadership competencies of the organization? What are the key values reflected in the behavior of the leader? What are his current strengths and areas of development? On a scale of 1-10, how motivated is the leader to work on the given area? After putting all those questions in a blender, the right focus area will emerge. 

Through a straightforward process of designing and facilitating the LPA journey, the participant receives feedback, a combination of the observation of all participants and the trainer. Out of this 5-6 pages document, the participant decides one and only one area of focus. It is tempting to list several items. Evidence shows that leaders tend to define many activities not just for themselves but also for their team members. 

What happens in a lot of cases? Only a fraction of the activities listed on the to-do list is accomplished, which causes frustration and lack of motivation. In the worst case for some perfectionists, this results in burn-out because they will do more than they can. As a leader, it is the critical responsibility to say no in two ways: 

1. One is to themselves. When the manager thinks about what they want to accomplish, they have to say no to most tasks. They should be able to delegate and restructure the jobs. One of the easiest ways is to say no to meetings that are not entirely relevant to them. Back-to-back meetings are not just exhausting but also have the potential of finding time for what is essential. 
2. The other “no” is when they define what their expectations are for their team members. They have to help them to see what is essential and what is not. What is the one key area that will work to move the team member towards their goal and towards the results expected by the organization? Every single member of the value chain should be clear about the one Key Area of Focus. 

That is also what we teach and use in our development program by helping the leader see his/her Key Area of Focus in the leader’s development journey. Because if Everything is important, nothing is important.

Contact Us to learn how Leadership Potential Accelerators’ leadership journey can help you.

The post What does “Key Area of Focus” mean related to leadership development? appeared first on Leadership Potential Accelerator.

If we believe in the definition that Ego is our operational center that defines who we are and why we are different from others, then we can state that a great leader has to accept his/her team members. I mean, accept WHO they are. 

How to appreciate team members

Great leaders make sure that the team members feel this. When they feel accepted and valued and can work and exist based on their values at work, they will be much more open to receive (and give) constructive, corrective feedback. And the feedback has to focus on HOW the person did something and not on the person. In other words, it is not about the person but the behaviors.  

And let me share a piece of insider information with you, just today; that is how we trainers do it as well. We do our best to appreciate participants’ comments and shared ideas. We make sure that their Ego feels safe and respected, and when they say something that is not right, we ask them why they think it is correct. It is almost always an open discussion in which the participant can draw their conclusion. 

And sometimes we change our minds because we learn something from our participants! Suppose the trainer is 100% sure that the participant’s opinion is not correct, and an open dialogue does not help because it is not the right tool at the given moment. In that case, the trainer can share different options, and the magic question can be asked: “Which option do you think could work best A, B, or C?” 

Leaders can achieve a lot by respecting the person, communicating that, and correcting behaviors. It is hard to overcommunicate respect and acceptance. By regularly giving positive and constructive feedback, team members will open up and autocorrect their views about themselves. It takes time, effort, and sometimes even more effort.  

Your managers can become great leaders with the right insights in ego and how it is used. Contact Us to learn how we can help.

The post How can leaders respect the Ego of their subordinates and at the same time challenge it? appeared first on Leadership Potential Accelerator.

“If I understood you correctly, your priority is to update your CRM data?”

I have never heard anyone answer with a clear Yes or No, which is excellent news! It opens new possibilities to involve the other person. People like to make corrections; they add something and say “Yes and,” “Not exactly because,” etc.

To be agile:

1. Understand the other person’s view,
2. Solve conflicts without burning bridges and hurting others, and
3. Involve and motivate others to achieve even more.

Ask questions to help communications. Try to limit your questions. The more straightforward question will be answered. Too many questions can limit your exchange. If you ask several ones at once, the other one goes to waste.

And the real magic of questions is…SILENCE. Make sure you count until 10 when you raise a question. What I see leaders struggling with is waiting for the answer because they think they know it better, not you, of course, the others who are not reading the book.

There is another question I have received many times: “How do I know that I asked a good question?” You don’t need me or a coach or a trainer to let you know. The reaction of your team member will tell you. The first reaction to a good question is, “I didn’t think about that; it is a good question!” Or “Hmm, I don’t know!” A great leader stays in the tension of the conversation and observes the impact of their questions and statements. He navigates through the conversation like a great captain taking one wave after the next. Good luck with adjusting the angle of your next conversation!

The post How to start a conversation with a closed person appeared first on Leadership Potential Accelerator.