Effective Leadership Development for Managers: a Classical System that Generates Growth
For the heads of companies and business leaders, consistent professional growth may seem like an intangible goal. Learn the challenges of leadership development for managers and business owners and how to start a system of improvement that works across all areas.
Our Classical Improvement System is an approach for breaking down large development challenges into a well-organized plan of action – perfect for business solutions.
Why does leadership development matter for business owners?
One of the aspects of consulting and coaching we love most at AstroCat is having a platform to help people…who help a lot of people themselves. We are talking about C-level executives, company heads, business owners, and those directing others. Their influence in an organization runs deep, and they are responsible for the environment their staff and their customers exist in.
Because these leaders’ decisions carry such a wide impact in an organization, it is essential that continuous personal and professional development for managers and owners is adopted as a responsibility, not just a side-thought.
The barrier to entry with leadership development for executives, and why it doesn’t always happen, can be complicated, though. And it’s typically not related to the cost of business coaching.
On a foundational level, a very large portion of people in all occupations struggle with creating a system for improvement that is effective and easy to maintain, because it is a separate thought path outside of the here and now. They do not fully embrace this type of process in either their career goals, or in their life pursuits, because it is outside of “getting something done” in the present moment.
There are others who have the steps mapped out, but do not have the confidence to fully embrace a plan of development and dive in. And of course, there will always be a group that is too advice-adverse to embrace outside direction, as well as every work-personality type in between.
If any of these descriptions match you – including the last – rest assured, hope is not lost!
Why do executives struggle to improve?
The missing piece for those who are not embracing continuous growth in their career, or business goals is a workable system of improvement that is easy to follow, stick with, and that actually generates results.
For leaders, achievement and growth are part of their profile in some way. Typically, you see the the accolades and feats of accomplishment – big or small – that got them to a place of running a team in their background, work history, and output.
And yet, leaders who reached amazing heights in their careers can still struggle to keep this momentum going, or may face a slew of other challenges keeping them from being the most impactful version of themselves.
Leaders are elevated to their position in a variety of ways too – their rise could be wildly different than another person in the same industry, or even company. In some cases, leaders are high performers who were promoted to a position of authority due to their conceptual knowledge, rather than their ability to direct others. In others, a leader is a self-made head-of-company through starting their own venture.
Whatever your back-story and how you, as a leader, rose to your position guiding others, your calling remains the same: you must create the best environment to achieve success within the group you manage, or you will not garner the desired results from this team.
Create an environment of success for staff development
Creating an inspiring and motivating environment is a tall order. In fact, some would say that taking on the responsibility of a manger, or owner, is not a desirable role for them at all! Even from the outside, they see the responsibility that falls on the person in charge of others.
To be effective, a leader must be willing to continue learning and evaluating their processes to make sure this ‘environment of success’ is intact for their teams. All too often, this doesn’t occur because of overwhelm with immediate responsibilities and the million distractions that can come their way. The business challenges at hand can also feel hopeless and that external factors are creating the discord, not anything within the team.
However, overwhelm and feeling like solutions are outside of our control as executives are the main signs that leadership development and systems are needed.
How to begin leadership development as a business owner
There are many ways to approach leadership development for managers and business owners that work well, and there is no one ‘right’ path to improvement. A business coach who meets with you 1-4 times per month, or on demand, is an example. Or even online courses that teach specific topics of interest, or group leadership coaching.
The first obstacle we see most in our work with business owners is not knowing how to start a personal development process, or even missing the insight that it is their management approach causing their woes. They know something is broken in their operation that could be better, but they can’t identify the source.
This one question and leap an owner must take to move towards self-improvement and finding a system that works is the most difficult step of all.
For that reason, our approach with leadership development for managers starts here – with analysis and an easy way to evaluate yourself and your operation. The goal? To make the ‘getting started” part easy.
Within our firm, we are classical music educators who became successful entrepreneurs. The unique insight we bring to the industry-space is based in reaching goals and generating meaningful progress towards growth. But how are music and business related to make this connection?
When you are learning an instrument and starting a business, you are acquiring a skill, a level of knowledge, and an achievement you do not yet possess. You are bringing the intangible into reality. Both are entirely goal-oriented pursuits that can be achieved with persistence and a system of learning to reach next-objectives.
In other words – a goal is a goal. A strategy that works for one pursuit, like learning to play the piano, will share similar principles of learning to the student learning to code, or the business owner creating the best advertising strategy for their business.
Our Classical Improvement System for Leadership Development
In an earlier blog post, we introduced our Classical Improvement System and how it works for business analysis and creating improvement for organizations and leaders.
Read the full version here with example applications included: Classical Improvement System White Paper (download).
The Classical Improvement System is universal and can be used in many settings, but applied to leadership development for managers, it works especially well. CIS forces introspection from the person evaluating their performance, or business, and it gives you an optimal starting point and end goal.
In practice, our firm uses CIS constantly as part of our initial analysis process for both coaching clients and operations-level problems within an organization.
How the Classical Improvement System works in business coaching
We first diagnose a client’s current processes and default approach against what they want to achieve, then rank their strength in the three areas of CIS: technique, theory, and performance.
From there, we create a meaningful plan of improvement that addresses the areas that need improvement and bring them up to the same level of proficiency.
For example: we worked with an individual who was having trouble attracting clientele to his solo practice, and he scheduled us for a brand-image overhaul (a coaching package AstroCat offers). In our initial assessment, we found he had gaps in understanding the proper technique and theory associated with maintaining a strong, forward-facing brand image, so we put special attention to pointing that out to him and creating a focused plan of action to increase his soft skills and knowledge of best practices.
However, the area of performance was the strongest out of the three areas for this coaching client. He was excelling at the drive and actual “doing” of what he knew, but the effort was simply misdirected.
That misdirected effort was hurting his sales due to wasted time and poor connection touch points wasting contact opportunities. In our plan for him, we focused in on this aspect of his ability to connect with clients and were also careful in our approach to not give him too much information to “run away with”.
Early on, we found any new insight would lead to immediate action on his part – that will to perform kicking back in!
After teaching this coaching client our CIS, he then gained deeper insight into how his tendency to lead with impulse is causing him to use his available work-time poorly. With insight comes the ability to change, though. He now has a process for researching his forward facing material and having a higher level of production that takes his amount of direct working time from weeks out of each month to days.
With this increase, comes an immeasurable change to this client’s brand value, as it was not developed previously, or considered. Now, every part of his work has some brand consideration that wasn’t present before.
How we use CIS for leadership development
When working with leaders who manage teams, or a staff, we first analyze their level of strength in the areas of technique (soft-skills that leaders call upon to be effective), theory (understanding leadership strategies, mindset, and approaches), and performance (actual application of leadership in the moment) as it applied to shepherding their team to success.
Though this process requires very honest self-evaluation, the categorization helps significantly. In each area, you have to consider what you do well and what your pain points are. Also, as part of the process, you will rank the three areas for yourself and your fluency with technique, theory, and performance aspects of leadership.
This system of improvement is effective for the most shy and the most control-resistant leaders alike. Why?
Because this system of improvement can be used privately, and only you have to know it is even being applied. Also, for our overachieving managers, the CIS forces you to have a “weakest area” out of the three. Some level of self-evaluation will be needed to find this area and way in.
Thus far, we have outlined the concept and strategic side of our Classical Improvement System, but it remains an idea until a very important brings the plan to life – practice!
The Art of Practice: the secret to sustained improvement and growth
Within the Classical Improvement System, the method for improvement is found in good, old-fashioned practice. The application of strategy and new insights is how you get results, and there is no way around that. Without practice, the knowledge gained through insight just stays in the stratosphere – still outside of the tangible.
Practice is another area where many leaders – and people in general – tend to struggle. It’s hard to get the consistent energy and will to do things differently than you had before. Different systems for self-discipline can be quite effective for some personality types and motivations.
But if you are struggling with finding the will, space, or routine that will get you into a practice habit, this is where business and leadership coaching with another person becomes very helpful.
As people, we respond to accountability and making a commitment. Many times, working with a business coach will help you open new capacities within yourself that generate so much progress that the solution is really paid for by the growth you’ve achieved.
However, you don’t always need deliberate practice achieve success in this area. Awareness itself can do a lot to change your perspective and lead to subconscious practice. That’s right – you do not realize it, but you are practicing.
How does subconscious practice work?
You have a goal in mind – and you keep it in your mind’s eye. You can even practice it and apply the skill incrementally to advance your progress. But it takes the act of NOT practicing as well to allow it to sink in.
A perfect example from my own time at music school: when I was taking my private piano lessons – which are part of a music major’s course work on their primary instrument – I would spend several hours ‘fighting with a piece’ as I was practicing it, refining it, and getting it ready for my next lesson.
Many times in my practice session, the improvement would only be incremental. I would get a little better and practice, practice. But there were many times I walked out of my hours of practice not hearing the benefit.
Then, the next day would come – voila! My practice would pay off, and I would hear and feel the difference. However, the reward could not be realized until the follow day. I realized it takes me space away from the instrument for everything to connect.
My piano professor pointed out that this is a known phenomenon, and that idea stayed with me.
As a recommendation, the book, The Power of Your Subconscious Mind by Joseph Murphy is fantastic and talks about this concept in depth. He shares how to utilize the power of your subconscious mind to achieve goals and change your entire life.
Next Steps – Leadership Development for Managers and Entrepreneurs
In the realm of business, leadership development for managers and owners is an important pursuit and should be encouraged throughout all industries. As people at our core, we are meant to grow, learn new ways of approaching challenges, and work in a respectful way with one another.
Whether you are experiencing challenges as a leader, or you are experiencing ‘the good times’, you are called to be an example to those in your care, but it can be hard to know where to start. You need a system of improvement that will help you identify the root cause of stress, or stagnation, and lead you to take action.
Building a lifestyle of practice takes discipline, and you may be struggling to set a routine, or find the approach that works best for you. If you are in need of advanced guidance for your leadership obstacles, consider our business coaching services and contact us to learn about our packages and options.
No matter where you are in your journey, AstroCat would love to help you reach for the stars!
