Leadership communication requires adapting one’s communication style based on the message, medium of communication, audience, required outcome, and the cultural dimension of the message. Leaders serve as a communication channel between the management and foot soldiers, the primary go to person to defuse interpersonal issues among team members and management’s eyes and ears to sense the mood in the team. This requires first-rate influencing and communication skills.

• Describe various perceptions and biases that may influence our communication with others
• Illustrate how to effectively communicate upwards, in the peer group and with team members
• Identify various communication styles, and learn how to adapt one’s communication to drive a buy-in
• Apply storytelling technique to facilitate, influence and inspire team members

• Because Leaders’ primary job is to get the work done by others, they must develop skills to decode human behavior, understand what drives people and stresses them. By gaining an understanding of people’s emotional and career needs, Senior managers can build a work environment where people give in their best. This program uses the DISC model to help leaders appreciate the complexity of human behavior, decode their motivations, stressors, and fears to steer the employee towards performance.
• Describe the link between individual attributes, behaviour, and performance
• Develop an understanding of various behavioral styles, and the associated motivators, fears, and stressors
• Illustrate ways of building a personalised work environment for team members that promotes psychological safety and motivation
• Relate with how non-verbal cues are indicative of one’s emotional state and learn to observe. both positive and negative cues in people

Leaders witness an employee’s work performance first-hand. They influence the environment the employee operates in and have an opportunity to personalize the work environment for every team member. Senior Managers therefore must be able to facilitate skill development by providing objective performance feedback, and by engaging direct reports in a manner that builds confidence and commitment. This is where coaching skills come in handy. Coaching skills include the ability to listen for potential, asking action-oriented questions and create a structure for self-discovery and problem solving. It helps Senior managers develop the skills, talents, and productivity of team members.

• Illustrate the skills and competencies required in the team to meet business goals
• Understanding each of the team members’ developmental needs and learning style
• Design an individual learning plan for each of the team members
• Develop skills related to coaching – listening, questioning, structuring, and creating actions; to provide on the job coaching support to team members
• Learn to provide continuous and effective feedback to team members for achieving peak performance

Leaders must be able to create energy and enthusiasm in their team and provide a sense of mission. They must operate at the team culture level and introduce rituals and practices that binds the team together, build interdependencies that enhance productivity and team performance. This process requires not just an understanding of individual strengths and weaknesses but also sharing own vulnerabilities, promoting mutual trust, and forging communication channels. A great team can call out each other’s unproductive behaviors and encourage each other to focus on collective results.

• Discover and define what the upper management expects from your team and build a team charter
• Demonstrate the ability to structure the team development process – from creating norms and imbibing a sense of mission
• Understand the value of trust in both business and teamwork
• Formulate team level practices to manage conflict, and mutual accountability
• Develop routines and behavioral practices that enable the team to prioritize team goals over individual agendas

A common dilemma for leaders is what to delegate and to whom. An unskilled Senior manager may fail to delegate at the right time, the right task and to the right person. Effective Senior managers know what responsibilities to delegate to allow themselves time to plan, to collaborate with others in the organization, manage upwards and invest time in developing team members. By being skilled at delegating the right tasks to the right person and in the right way, Senior managers enhance their own effectiveness, create opportunities to develop team members and improve team productivity.

• Determine what delegation is and appreciate what stops Senior managers from delegating
• Illustrate the benefits of effective delegation from the perspective of productivity and team development
• Apply the DiSC model to illustrate own priorities related to delegation and its limitations
• Identified tasks that can be delegated and the best team member to delegate these tasks to
• Practice the five-step process for delegating effectively based on individual preferences
• Demonstrate effectiveness monitoring of delegated tasks using questioning techniques

Senior Managers are expected to solve problems and drive business results. Team members expect their Senior manager to have a solution for problems they face on a day to basis. They may get into difficulties when problem-solving. To begin with, it’s difficult to define most ambiguous and complex problems. Our perception and biases play havoc and that prevents Senior managers from seeing the true nature of a business problem. Workplace problem solving not only requires a methodical approach, to understanding a problem but also a creative approach to problem solving. There are many techniques that can be used to help to overcome these common difficulties that can assist Senior managers in finding effective solutions and making better decisions.

• Identify common obstacles to achieving team goals and desired business results
• Explore the various perceptions and biases that can influence our ability to judge problems and resolve them
• Understand various types of problems and their effects on business results
• Learn to identify the root cause of problems using different methods of problem solving
• Illustrate different approaches to solutioning using critical thinking and problem-solving methods
• Demonstrate the ability to get a buy-in from stakeholder for the preferred solutions
• Develop the ability to analyse risks associated with the solutions and develop a risk mitigation plan