Leadership starts at the top

Over recent months we have been having tremendous success in increasing levels of employee productivity and customer service in many businesses across a variety of business sectors. Our focus to achieve these amazing results has been by increasing levels of employee engagement by increasing the leadership skills of senior managers. The common denominator in our success has been our ability to engage senior leadership themselves in the process.

We will be publishing our success in a series of case studies. In the meantime we thought we’d share our process that’s currently enabling our customers to focus on what’s important and enabling us to deliver to meet their business needs.

We take into account the need for values and behaviours to support the achievement of business goals and objectives, making sure each of these are aligned to the company vision to achieve business results. The process itself is highly engaging, involving the senior leadership team throughout.

 

Here is a high level outline of the process we follow:

Step 1: We engage with the senior leadership team and invite them to undertake our self-assessment exercise. This analysis examines company vision, values and behaviours as well as business goals and objectives. The results are initially shared individually and then collectively to provide a team view. Views are debated and priorities agreed to develop a strategy.

Step 2: With our help, a communications plan is developed. The plan includes the business strategy and priorities, accountabilities and timescales for implementation. We follow best practice offered by the Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development (CIPD) and Engage for Success to ensure the latest research and thinking is taken into account.

Step 3: The strategy is then communicated to managers and employees. These communication sessions are led by the senior leadership team and supported with our facilitation. The sessions are a blend of information giving and group work, engaging managers and employees on how the strategy will be achieved.

Step 4: A leadership development programme is then put in place by ourselves. This leadership and management training enables managers to be equipped to deliver the business strategy. The leadership programmes, each themed on engaging leadership and designed to meet specific business needs, are a series of ½ day practical modules delivered over an agreed period. Managers taking part in the training complete action plans to implement their learning. If desired by the customer, the leadership programmes can be endorsed by the Institute of Leadership & Management (ILM) and can also include a work-based project.

Step 5: The leadership development programme is delivered. The initial module is a familiarisation session to enable the senior leadership team to experience and understand the content of the leadership programme. The subsequent modules are then delivered to managers over the agreed period. The success of the programme is then evaluated by the senior leadership team using the action plans and projects to measure impact of increased sales/productivity, decreased costs and/or increased levels of service.

We know that the success of our leadership development programmes is very much down to the engagement of each senior leadership team in the process. Leadership really does begin at the top.

Look out for our case studies as these are published and become available via our website.

Paul Beesley, Senior Consultant, Beyond Theory

For more information on our ILM endorsed leadership and management training programmes please contact Paul on 01604.212505 or email him at paul@beyondtheory.co.uk.