Summary of Takeaways and Reflection Questions.pdf
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This document provides a summary of key takeaways and reflection questions from a leadership foundations course with Dr. Shirley Davis. It addresses topics like understanding effective leadership, leading yourself and others, leadership styles, establishing trust, communicating with impact, leading change, managing conflict, and having difficult conversations. The document is divided into sections for each topic, with 3-4 key points summarized and 1-3 reflection questions provided to help participants apply what they learned.
Summary of Takeaways and Reflection Questions.pdf
- 1. 1 of 5 Leadership Foundations with Dr. Shirley Davis Leadership Foundations with Dr. Shirley Davis Summary of Takeaways and Reflection Questions Understanding Effective Leadership Key Takeaways 1. You don’t have to hold a formal title or leadership role in order to be a leader. 2. You can lead from any seat in the organization. 3. We must develop new skills and competencies for the new complexities. Workforce 2030 Key Takeaways 1. The workforce of today and the next decade will be more global, diverse, multigenerational, hyperconnected, and more virtual. 2. As a result, worker expectations, needs, communication styles, and ways of getting work done will differ. Reflection Questions Am I prepared to lead the workforce of today and in the future? What new skills do I need to develop in order to be prepared? Leading Yourself Key Takeaways 1. You should be grounded in your purpose—knowing WHO you are and WHY you exist. 2. You should be grounded in your vision—WHERE and WHO you want to be. 3. You should be grounded in your values—WHAT you stand for. Reflection Questions Do I have clarity on WHO I am and what is my WHY? Am I grounded in WHERE I want to be in the future? Do I understand my core values? Name at least three of them. Leading Others Key Takeaways 1. Instilling trust and confidence is a universal skill that leaders should develop to show that you are invested in others’ success. 2. Seek first to understand your team’s point of view and always assume positive intent.
- 2. 2 of 5 Leadership Foundations with Dr. Shirley Davis 3. Motivating and inspiring others requires you to encourage and empower your employees to achieve and excel in an environment of continuous learning. Reflection Questions What do you do to build trust and confidence in others? How do you motivate others to do their best? Leadership Styles Key Takeaways 1. Leadership must be flexible and situational, not one size fits all. 2. Use a variety of leadership styles to inspire and empower others to achieve more. 3. A common leadership framework is Ken Blanchard’s Situational Leadership with four components: Directing, Coaching, Supporting, and Delegating. Reflection Questions Think about the development and skill levels of those you lead. Using the Situational Leadership framework, identify how you need to adjust your style to bring out the best performance in them? Critical Competencies for Leaders Key Takeaways 1. Every leader is expected to produce results, which comes from having the right resources and support in place. 2. Effective leaders hire great talent that comes in all shapes, sizes, races, ethnicities, thinking styles, and abilities. 3. Leaders are successful when others see that they are open, candid, trusting, and behaves with personal integrity. Reflection Questions Which of these critical competencies do you demonstrate most effectively? Which one do you need to focus on developing more? Cultivating Inclusion, Belonging, and Engagement Key Takeaways 1. Culture consists of the norms, values, behaviors, and attitudes that the company rewards or holds in high esteem. 2. Belonging is a basic human need that we all have to be our authentic selves. 3. Engagement is the level of positive emotional commitment employees feel toward their job and organization.
- 3. 3 of 5 Leadership Foundations with Dr. Shirley Davis Reflection Questions How would you describe the culture of your organization? What role can you play in creating a culture of inclusion, belonging, and high engagement? Establishing Trust Key Takeaways 1. Establishing trust starts with communicating clearly, openly, and honestly. 2. Treating others with respect and leading by example is another key to establishing trust. 3. Own up to your mistakes will increase your trustworthiness and encourage your employees to own up to theirs. Reflection Questions Are you the kind of leader who can be trusted by others? If so, how? If not, why? What strategy can you use to further develop your efforts in building trust? Building Relationships Key Takeaways 1. Building and fostering key relationships with your direct supervisor, your direct reports, and your coworkers is key to your success as a leader. Reflection Questions Assess the effectiveness of these three key relationships. Determine which one needs some work. List two or three strategies from the video you can start implementing within the next 30 days. Developing Business Acumen Key Takeaways 1. Knowing the strategic business objectives of your organization as well as what keeps your senior executives up at night is core to developing business acumen. 2. Business acumen is about understanding the context in which the company operates and using that information to make sound business decisions. Reflection Questions What keeps your senior executives up at night? What three things do you need to learn more about the business operations of your organization? Increasing Team Effectiveness Key Takeaways 1. Having the right attitude, temperament, and the right environment starts with the leader. 2. Assessing the skills, strengths, and talents on the team is a first step in increasing its effectiveness. 3. Always set clear expectations and ensure that they have the support and resources they need to succeed.
- 4. 4 of 5 Leadership Foundations with Dr. Shirley Davis Reflection Questions What attributes make your current team effective? How can you enhance the environment in order to increase the team’s effectiveness? Communicating with Impact and Influence Key Takeaways 1. Leaders spend 75–90% of their time communicating. 2. When communicating, be clear, concise, and compelling. 3. First impressions, body language, listening, and tailoring your message to the right audience are keys to communicating with impact and influence. Reflection Questions How effective of a communicator are you? List two or three new tactics in communication you can use to improve your impact and influence over the next 60 days. Leading Change through Agility and Resilience Key Takeaways 1. Leaders have to be able to anticipate and respond to rapidly changing conditions (agility) as well as be able to recover quickly (resilience). 2. Leading change with agility and resilience means throwing out the old ways of thinking and doing things and looking for new possibilities. 3. Great leaders have to deal with their personal change first and then with organizational change. Reflection Questions What old ways of thinking and doing things do you need to get rid of? How do you take care of the emotional and psychological responses to change by your direct reports? Managing Conflict Key Takeaways 1. When managing conflict, don’t ignore or avoid it. Confront it. 2. Confront at the right time, in the right place, in the right tone. 3. Identify the source for the conflict without making assumptions. 4. Focus on the problem, not on the person. Reflection Questions Think about the last time you had to manage a conflict. How did it go? What could you have done differently? Based on the lessons from this video, what tips will you put into practice?
- 5. 5 of 5 Leadership Foundations with Dr. Shirley Davis Having Difficult Conversations Key Takeaways 1. Leaders must be armed with the tools and skills on how to lead across differences and have difficult conversations. 2. Always create a safe space for the conversation. 3. Lean in to your discomfort and admit that you don’t know and are seeking understanding. 4. Practice empathy by putting yourself in the other person’s shoes. Reflection Questions What is your greatest concern about having difficult conversations? Think of a recent conversation you had. What worked well and what could you have done differently.