Competency

How Leadership Mastery Follows Consistency and Confidence

It seems so simple.

To become a “master” leader you need to work on both consistency and confidence skills. Right?

But what happens if you are stuck on either the consistency part or the confidence part? How do you move forward to gain a level of masterful leadership? How can you have a transformative, empowered leadership experience?

It’s about the people you are surrounded by! Therefore, choose wisely.

Mastery is gained when you take the time to learn from and interact with leaders, when you practice your skills over and over with peers, when you listen to mentors, when you put into action new ideas and concepts.

Here are five (groups of) people in your life who can help you achieve mastery in leadership.

1 Peers

Those who are in the trenches with you have lots to offer. Together, you can collaborate on methods and put into practice what you learn.

Other ways to learn from peers include:

Bounce ideas off of each other
Collaborate on projects
Ask for peer advice (What would you do…)
Mastermind meetings

2 Team

Whether you are leading a team, part of an executive team, or both, don’t think for a minute you aren’t learning anything! Being part of a team allows you to practice leadership skills such as conflict resolution, coaching and yes, how to effectively lead meetings.

Being an active participant in a team, or leading a team is one of the best ways to gain mastery in leadership.

3 Group

Group activities, and online communities with peers, are great ways to gain mastery in leadership. Starting conversations, leading discussions, resolving conflict and practicing the art of listening are all ways to gain mastery in leadership.

Group activities can be centered around a specific industry, learning unit, career move, competency, leadership skill or even a favorite podcast!

Being part of a group of like-minded leaders will assist you in becoming a better leader.

4 Mentor

Where would you be without a mentor?

If you think back about how you got started in your industry, who encouraged you? Who challenged you? Who supported you… that’s your mentor.

What would you do without a mentor?

When you think ahead of where you want to go, who is already there in that space and who is willing to talk to you about career moves, your next challenge and encourage you to forge ahead… that’s your mentor.

Finding and working with a mentor is rewarding and can be life changing.

5 Coach

While a mentor takes you under their wing and doles out advice when it’s needed, a coach gives you a plan to work, a plan to implement on a consistent basis.

Without a coach, getting to the next level of leadership and mastering the most difficult of situations can feel…an impossible level to attain.

Partnering with the right coach as you develop leadership skills will save you time and effort, and potentially give you a more direct path to mastery.

Mastery in Leadership Comes from Working with a Variety of People

In order to lead people, you need to interact with your teams, and when leading people, you need to learn from peers, mentors and coaches.

In short, to lead people you need to listen to people!

How can you gain mastery of agile team coaching in the shortest amount of time?

You can gain leadership mastery by doing the work, of course.

TeamCatapult has developed a journey to masterful coaching for leaders just like you.

A Cohort Journey to Masterful Agile Team Coaching

The Coaching Agility From Within Cohort, our in-depth, 9-month program emphasizes rigorous practice and rich feedback opportunities including skill drills, peer coaching, team coaching, ongoing group work, professional one-on-one coaching, and one-on-one supervision of actual Agile coaching sessions in your own work environment.

You’ll touch on all aspects of coaching, including

skill drills
peer coaching
team coaching
ongoing group work
professional one-on-one coaching
one-on-one supervision of actual Agile coaching sessions in your own work environment

Our cohort program has two starting dates each calendar year; one in the Spring, one in the Fall.

We understand the commitment it requires to be dedicated to a 9-month leadership cohort. Questions may bubble up like, “Is this right for me. Is this the right time?” Therefore we invite you to a conversation about our cohort, whether you are ready to join now, this Fall, or in the next year or two!

5 Ways To Regain Confidence as a Team Leader

The most impactful approach to the coaching opportunity…I now have the skills to ask a question in a way so the team can hear the question and transfer ownership to the team. I’ve gained the confidence to be okay with not having the answers to questions.

~ Chris Kaeberlein, Coaching Agility From Within Cohort Participant

As a cohort participant, Chris gained confidence to lead, even without having all the answers. He gained confidence to lead a team while being on his own continuous leadership journey. How can you, a leader, gain (more) confidence as a team leader, too?

Here are 5 ways to do it!

1 Setting Goals Will Help You Gain Confidence

Goal setting is a vital part of gaining confidence in your ability to lead others. Knowing where you want to end up, will help you create a path to get there.

Setting goals for yourself, setting goals with your team, and experiencing the success of productive team meetings can boost confidence.

Start small, then think big picture.

What are some things you want to accomplish as a team leader? What actions will get you there? What would be a positive outcome of your next team meeting?

Gain confidence by creating a roadmap to a goal.

2 Focusing on Your Strengths Will Help You Gain Confidence

Not everyone is good at everything. You’ve heard that expression:

“Jack of all trades, master of none.”

Being a generalist can be a good thing, but as you lead a team and if your confidence is challenged, write down your strengths; it may help you renew that confidence in leading the team to success.

If you don’t know your strengths, or are troubled with how to optimize them, why not look to a mentor, colleagues, or a fellow coach? Ask them what they think your strengths are. This can be an enlightening exercise at any time, but especially if you are struggling to identify or reconnect with your strengths.

3 Learning New Skills Will Help You Gain Confidence

Leaders learning new skills can boost your confidence and it models for your team in a variety of ways, but mostly by demonstrating that you don’t know it all and are willing to learn.

Have you ever taken an advanced facilitation class?
Do you know how to stay neutral in a team meeting?
Can you lead sustainable change, even when the stakes are high?

As leaders, we should never stop learning. Identifying what you want to learn next can be challenging. Look at problems in your career, problems or friction within your team or in your coaching practice you want to solve.

Now find a way to solve these problems with new skills!

According to psychologist Maud Purcell, sticking with what you learn also improves your confidence, She explains, “true confidence develops from an increasing belief that you can rely on yourself to take action and follow-through, no matter what the result.” Teaching yourself something new always leads to more confidence.

Source: theladders.com

4 Leaving Your Comfort Zone Will Help You Gain Confidence

In order to grow, you have to do things you’ve never done before! That means leaving your comfort zone and stepping into the unknown.

It can be scary!

I recently started a podcast. That was something outside of my comfort zone. I thought about it for a long time. I eventually made a move and I am loving the process of interviewing and having conversation with my amazing guests!

Need some motivation to get out of your comfort zone?

“As you move outside of your comfort zone, what was once the unknown and frightening becomes your new normal.” ~ Robin S. Sharma

“I’m not telling you it’s going to be easy, I’m telling you it’s going to be worth it.” ~ Anonymous Quote

“The comfort zone is nothing else but a graveyard for your dreams and ideas.” ~ Anonymous

“Do one thing every day that scares you.” ~ Eleanor Roosevelt

And my personal favorite:

“You can choose courage or you can choose comfort. You cannot have both.”
~ Brene Brown

What have you been waiting for? What is it that you are scared of, want to learn or need to address? Go and do it! Leave your comfort zone and gain confidence along the way!

5 Attending Leadership Training Will Help You Gain Confidence

Last but not least, surrounding yourself with other leaders is a great way to gain confidence in your own skill set.

As the world has been cooped up and isolated for two years, I recognize the importance of leadership training as a way to meet up with leaders to gain confidence in what is working for you, and more importantly learn where there is room for improvement. Shared experiences will lift your spirits, and will facilitate your clarity and confidence in your own leadership skills.

As an example, I want to highlight our TeamCatapult Cohort Program.

This is an in-depth, 9-month leadership program emphasizing rigorous practice and rich feedback opportunities including skill drills, peer coaching, team coaching, ongoing group work, professional one-on-one coaching, and one-on-one supervision of actual Agile coaching sessions in your own work environment.

I’d like to encourage you to subscribe to my podcast Defining Moments of Leadership: Inspiring stories and tangible lessons from leaders growing their leadership range, clarifying and refining their model for leadership and daring to define a moment rather than let a moment define them.

How Leadership and Management Differ and Why That Matters to Organizations

Leadership and Management

Leadership and management. What, if anything, do they have in common and how can differences be explained?

Sometimes the terms “leadership” and “management” are used interchangeably. While they have several similar characteristics, leadership and management as a function produce vastly different results.

What Defines Leadership?

Leadership, according to Merriam-Webster, can be defined with the following three meanings.

The definition of leadership includes:

the office or position of a leader
capacity to lead
the act or an instance of leading

In theory, the role of leadership surfaces when a person is placed into a leadership position and then has, not only the capacity to lead, but often acts accordingly.

In practice, a leader is someone who has the vision to see how things can be improved. A leader compels others to embrace that vision and then inspires others to focus their efforts in making this vision a reality. In addition to motivating others, leaders excell when they are empathetic and connect with people.

In simplistic terms, leaders focus on vision and inspiring those they lead.

What Defines Management?

Management is defined as

the act or art of managing : the conducting or supervising of something (such as a business)
the process of dealing with or controlling things or people.
the collective body of those who manage or direct an enterprise

Theoretically, management is the coordination and administration of tasks to achieve a goal and objectives through the application of available resources.

In practice, a manager is someone who gives direction and guidance. Managers are accountable for the employees and the facilities they work for on a day to day basis. Managers plan and promote the schedule and tasks of employees and coordinate with and report to senior management in the company.

In simplistic terms, managers focus on managing people and managing work.

3 Key Differences Between Leadership and Management

Both leaders and managers are accountable and responsible for people, teams or brands.

There are several notable differences between leadership and management.

Managers count the value of what or whom they manage, while leaders add value to those they lead.
Managers are topic experts and hold a certain amount of power over those they manage, while leaders are influencers and inspire those they lead.
Managers manage work, while leaders lead people.

Management skills, by default, come first before leadership skills, and can be learned in business school.

Most often a leader’s development happens as they are put into leadership positions and at the same time are willing to learn, adapt, listen, communicate, work hard, plan, organize and work on developing their leadership skills.

In other words, great leaders never stop learning and are always evolving.

The Difference Between Leadership and Management and Why it Should Matter to Your Organization

Organizations need to be led by visionaries if they are to blossom and grow. A well-managed organization includes quality leaders with a vision that others will work towards.

Your organization needs leadership not only to survive, but to thrive in an ever-changing world.

The good news is that leadership is something that current managers in your organization can learn! Few are born to lead; leaders come from any background, choosing to pursue a leadership role. Whatever path a person takes, the key to a successful leader is having a purpose as well as a desire to serve.

“While only a handful of people are born with natural leadership ability, leadership is something that can be learned.” ~ Villanova University

A Shift in Mindset

Organizational success is directly correlated to great leadership.

Managers are in charge of, and handle, the status quo. They have objectives to set,

quotas to fill and goals to reach. Leaders on the other hand, take charge of the future by having a vision and getting a buy-in to that vision from everyone in the company.

This shift in thinking and organizational structure, going from management to leadership will transform any business – and the exciting thing is that it starts with people!

At TeamCatapult we have seen this exciting shift in mindset through our workshop attendees and the clients we work with. We’ve witnessed emerging leaders step up to lead and transform their teams, with positive outcomes.

Leadership is a craft that requires investment and growth. Then where and how can leaders gain the skills needed to lead and succeed?

Gaining Leadership Skills – Where to Start

We at TeamCatapult believe that leadership development should not be reserved for only the cream of the crop within your organization.

Our approach is different. We are passionate about helping leaders be more effective, collaborative, and adaptive as they grow their teams, lead change and achieve their desired results.

We want to help co-create the future. We’ll help leaders build a shared vision, develop the language and use the communication that may challenge current beliefs and assumptions, but will help to break through the limits that are impeding progress.

“When you stop discussing the tasks at hand — and talk about vision, purpose, and aspirations instead, that’s when you will know you have become a leader.” ~ HBR

Are you ready to get to work? Does your organization need a leader?

Start here.

How To Grow as a Leader: Developing Leadership Competency

Growing as a leader means recognizing that there is work to be done, then taking action to make those changes.

As we say at TeamCatapult: Awareness precedes choice, precedes change.

Anyone can call themselves an agile coach. What sets a truly agile leader apart, however, is someone who has a demonstrated proficiency in agile team coaching. After all, adaptive challenges do not come with roadmaps, they require new ways of engaging and leading through the process of dialogue.

Agile Team Coaching Competency Model

At TeamCatapult, we have adopted and refined The Agile Team Coaching Competency Model, originally created by Lyssa Adkins and Michael Spayd.

It is agile-framework agnostic and available to individuals and organizations under creative commons to further the journey of individuals becoming agile. It is also the backbone of our work developing leadership competency through the Coaching Agility from Within™ program.

A team coach’s main focus is on partnering with their teams in order to accelerate their performance and achieve their desired outcomes. They do this through maximising the team’s collective intelligence and through developing the team and its members. Team coaches also support the team’s external stakeholders, including Product Owners, in figuring out what is the right product to build and in growing stakeholders’ agility.

These outcomes are accomplished by the ability to fluidly and intentionally move between all of the competencies based on what is needed in the moment.

☆ Agile-Lean Practitioner

A deep understanding of the agile mindset, values, and principles, and the application of them in a variety of agile frameworks that are tailored to the team and its current needs.

☆ Facilitation

A neutral guide who supports a group to achieve their purpose and desired outcomes in a collaborative manner.

☆ Professional Coaching

Ability to engage a person in a creative process to discover their own insights and take inspired action without being attached to a specific outcome.

☆ Professional Team Coaching

Ability to use an understanding of group dynamics and team development to help a team maximize their collective intelligence to achieve their desired results.

☆ Transformation Mastery

Ability to apply organization development, behavioral sciences, and change theory to lead sustainable organization transformation.

☆ Business Mastery

Ability to apply the values and principles of agility to the application of business strategy, management, product ownership, and process improvement.

☆ Technical Mastery

Ability to effectively bring expertise in the technical craft of developing software.

☆ Mentoring

Ability to offer expertise and experience in service of fostering the growth of others.

☆ Training

Ability to develop new skills, mindsets, and behaviors through practice, instruction, or supervision over a period of time.

Leadership Transformation is a Journey!

Of course, in every learning process, the journey from “getting started” to “proficiency” is neither quick nor straightforward. We have found that a program designed for an 8 to 12-month period is most successful.

Team coaches need time to…

Experience a new way of leading
See new behaviors and different ways of working (and see them modeled)
Try these new behaviors out in a safe space for learning
Notice different impacts and learn how to make the decision to try something different

What Happens When You Do Not Invest In Leadership?

By contrast, we have found the cost to organizations that don’t invest in leadership to be quite high:

Teams remain dependent upon leaders to make all the choices, which perpetuates a model of organizational rigidity and individual burnout
An organization lacks program sustainability when an agile coach moves on to another company
The organizational culture remains one of vague dependence rather than defined self-management
Teams feel confused and demonstrate decision avoidance
The status quo within the organization continues to be a barrier for growth within the industry
There is a persistent lack of productivity
There is a pattern of lost timelines and missed deadlines
Team members’ morale diminishes, which directly affects productivity

Coaching Agility From Within™

TeamCatupult’s Coaching Agility from Within™ program is a cohort-based leadership development initiative. Its design encompasses two models.

The first is an 9-month program that brings leaders together from different organizations to deepen and expand their ability to lead effective teams.

The second model brings the program into a single organization over the course of 12 months, transforming team leadership culture across the board to create systemic change.

With the 9-month model, we have seen the program significantly and substantively develop the leadership competency of agile team coaches from a broad range of organizations. Cohort members work in their own organizational environments with their teams, and throughout the program; they receive 360-degree feedback from their leaders, peers, and teams, in addition to their cohort members and instructors. They meet weekly via Zoom and spend an average of six hours a week working on the program.

The unique format of this program combines the act of learning together with the required hours of practice it takes for leaders to be able to turn the theories into action. The degree, purpose, and amount of feedback is combined with specific, tailored, and actionable strategies for leaders to make small microchanges in their presence, language, and behavior.

Over time, these microchanges create impactful results for individuals and teams.

Best Practises For How to Move Leadership Forward

Leaders with range are far more likely to discover a clearer path and lead more sustainable change.

And our experience with this program shows that the best way to grow leadership range is to focus on competency development around mindset—identifying and examining values and beliefs about how change happens and the role of leaders in team settings.

From this foundation, focus can expand to include skill building, learning retention, experiential learning, and reflective practices. At TeamCatapult, we have seen the results of this program create significant, long term change for participants and their teams. It supports their awareness of how they, as leaders, can best support a team’s ability to perform more effectively.

The Value of a Cohort-Based Program

“If you believe that training is expensive, it is because you do not know what ignorance costs. Companies that have the loyalty of their employees invest heavily in permanent training programs and promotion systems.”

~ Michael Leboeuf, The Great Principle of Management

We’ve seen the uniquely transformative effects of cohort-based leadership development. With immersive cohort learning, individuals have the ability to practice their new competencies in the workplace, get feedback, work with a supervisor, and build skills together in such a way that leadership development becomes a force multiplier.

Unlike teaching that focuses on mechanical processes to “become more agile,” the focus on cultural change and leadership competency bridges the gap between learning new skills and actually developing the real-world capacity to use them effectively, pivot when needed, and apply the optimal leadership competency for any given challenge.

We invite you to learn more about our program by clicking the button below.

If you prefer, you may also schedule a call with our team today!