Leadership Discussion

Gayle

I am responsible for leading a Book Club discussion with the management group on Rudy Guliani's book on Leadership. In the discussion regarding the first half of the book, nobody would talk. My co-leader and I asked questions about leadership charasteristics, personal leadership styles, etc. and there was no discussion. Does anyone have any suggestions on how we might constructively approach the topic of leadership in order to generate some interesting discussion?? Thanks for your help!

System

I recall one that was impressive to me. The instructor posted three names: George Patton, Martin Luther King, Jr., and JFK. Participants had to list strengths and weaknesses of all three. A great deal of discussion followed because people perceive strengths and weaknesses differently.

Of course, you have to know a little history. You could pick three other leaders with different styles.

Don't pick divas and football icons.

Gayle

What a good idea! Thanks for your help!

Pork

GAYLE: Without getting long winded on this subject, one of my most successful starts, centers around the Senior Owner's name and the individual roll. I open with telling who "I am" and how I became the designated leader to present this class. After about a 5 minute history and identification of me, I put up my first slide which is a question: "WHO ARE YOU?" I let them ponder the question and get the wheels turning with an explanation that my self discussion did not really answer the question. I then call upon each person to answer the question. The answer of course is that we are under law the immediate representative of the OWNER, WE ARE "BILL SMITH" and that each of our actions as LEADERS, minute by minute, HOUR BY HOUR, DAY BY DAY, MONTH BY MONTH, YEAR BY YEAR are directly representative of the owner, whether he likes it or not, after all he pays us to be leaders regardless of our level. The fact that we are leaders can not be suppressed nor denied. Every thing we do right and every thing we do wrong is directly tied to "BILL SMITH, THE SENIOR OWNER". Now let us discuss characteristics that we individuals feel represents the OWNERS actions. Accept both negative and positive charactistics for discussion. In many cases once out the negatives become obvious things that we should not be caught displaying. It usually takes me two hours to get off of this lead in discussion. I use butcher paper and tape them to the wall and they stay on the wall for 5 more days of training.

Hope this helps!

PORK

Gayle

Wow! Another great way to approach this! Thanks, Pork!

sonny

Maybe have them think of a person who in their life they have viewed as a leader. . What were the characteristics of this person? (a take off on the ole good boss bad boss) Other discussion question possibilities.. Are all bosses/supervisors leaders? What, if anything, is the difference between a leader and a supervisor or boss?

Whirlwind

Here's an interview question I always ask: "Think about your last boss's management and leadership skills. How would you rate him/her on a scale of 1 to 10? Why?"

Maybe that, or something similar, would get the discussion going.

Balloonman

While I can't speak to leadership training itself, when I do training I work on making it interactive from the start. In addition I warn the group, how akward it is for me and them for me to ask a question, and for there to be silence, me staring at them, them staring at me.........
I also try to build in questions....like what % of this or that is caused by x, then I go around the room and ask for a number from everyone.
My final little trick, that does wonders to get peoples attention is when a person gets the number right, I toss them a bag of M&M's. :-) I go from people slumped in seats not to interested, to sitting upright and participating. Then randomly throughout the training when I get questions answered I throw the person the M&M's. Just tossing them out seems to let people know I am not wound to tight.
I have done quite a bit of training, and I approach it as how can I make this interesting......... almost entertaining.
My $0.02 worth.
DJ The Balloonman

mwild31

I've done a couple of Leadership Training Classes as well as several others - as dumb as this sounds, it helps people right from the get go to understand who else is in the group. I usually try to keep the groups to about 15-20 & set up coffee/pop/tea, some food & give people a chance to mingle a bit before beginning (this is important for me too as I can observe who is mingling and who is not). Then, as cliche as it is, I have people introduce themselves, what they do & a favorite like/hobby - this helps others to associate themselves with 'like-minded' individuals - I try to compliment, kind eye-contact or a special smile to the folks that weren't mingling before to see if I can get them to engage in the process. Next, I introduce myself and why the training is occuring. I like to have agenda's, because I believe that people want to know what's coming up - no surprises (again it helps with becoming comfortable in the surroundings) & depending on how formal the meeting is - it's either typed up or hand written on a board. Next, I start with an exercise that I copied from a book entitled, "The Big Book of Team Building Games". The exercise asks the folks present to stretch as high as they can. (This gets everyone to laugh a bit and you end up seeing some folks stand up to stretch and others sitting to stretch, etc.). I tell them good job, but then challenge them to stretch as HIGH AS THEY POSSIBLY CAN - no rules on how to get there. Interestingly, everyone usually ends up standing & on their tip toes, on chairs, once even on the table. This is very significant, I explain, we can all stretch, but when asked to go higher, we can all do that as well - with creativity & effort. Finally, we begin the training. I think to get people engaged, even if it's a dull topic (not to say yours is), you have to engage the people present to have affinity for each other, if not the topic. Good luck.

rad

Ask the group to give examples of great leadership they have experienced and real bad leadership they have experienced and give they "why" for each. Examples can be easy to give, we all know what we're supposed to say, but asking for specific situations, such as the way Giuliani led NCY after 9/11 (my CEO was also an exceptional leader during that time in so many ways), gives the ethereal idea of leadership a real concrete meaning, whether good or bad.

What is also interesting is that some people may see the same quality in two different ways. Our VP has a policy of telling us everything right away - if they discuss that our office MIGHT close in 2 years, he lets us know. Some people think he's wonderful to keep us informed, I prefer not to know anything until its definite. That alone may get your group talking.

If you've already set this standard, please forgive me- One thing that is critical in these groups is that they know they are in a safe environment, that what is said in the group stays in the group. That may help them feel more comfortable about opening up, most people have lots and lots to say but are reluctant to share for fear of someone else hearing abou it.