Because learning changes everything.

Chapter 3
Skills for
Developing Yourself
as a Leader

Copyright ©2022 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
 Chapter Outline

• Introduction
• Your first 90 days as a leader
• Learning from experience
• Building technical competence
• Building effective relationships with superiors
• Building effective relationships with peers
• Development planning

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 Introduction

• Leadership involves skills, and skills can be practiced and

developed.
• Most people are less defensive about deficits in skills
(which can be improved) than they are about suggested
deficits in, say, personality.

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 Your First 90 Days as a Leader

The stresses and strains of the first 90 days as a leader are both real and
acute.

The first three months give leaders unique opportunities to make smooth
transitions, paint compelling pictures of the future, and drive
organizational change.
• But many leaders stumble during this critical time period.

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 Figure 3.1: New Leader Onboarding Road Map

Access the text alternative for slide images.

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 Preparing for an Interview

Candidates should gather as much information about their potential

company as they can.
• Sources of information include websites, annual reports, press
releases, and marketing literature.
• Can also use Facebook, LinkedIn, Plaxo, and other social networking
sites to set up informational interviews with people inside the
organization.

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 The First Day: Making a First Impression 1

The first meeting with the boss happens in the boss’s office and lasts an
hour.
• Key topics to address in the meeting
• Identifying the team’s key objectives, metrics, and important projects.

• Understanding the boss’s view of team strengths and weaknesses.

• Working through meeting schedules and communication styles.

• Sharing plans for the day and the next several weeks.

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 The First Day: Making a First Impression 2

• New hires should end discussions by arranging a follow-up

meeting with their bosses to review progress and to ask
whether weekly or monthly one-on-one meetings would be
helpful.
• New leaders should also meet with their entire teams the
first day on the job.

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 The First Two Weeks: Lay the Foundation 1

New leaders should meet people both inside and outside the team.

Key objectives for these meetings are:

• Learning as much as possible.

• Developing relationships.
• Determining future allies.

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 The First Two Weeks: Lay the Foundation 2

One-on-one meetings with key team members should provide the leader
with answers to critical questions.

• What is the team member working on?

• What are the team member’s objectives?
• Who are the “stars” a level or two down in the organization?
• What are the people issues on the team?
• What can the team do better?
• What advice do team members have for the new leader, and what can
the new leader do to help team members?

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 The First Two Weeks: Lay the Foundation 3

New leaders should minimize their personal interactions with direct

reports during their first two months on the job.

New leaders should discuss the following during meetings:

• Their peers’ objectives, challenges, team structure, etcetera.

• Their perspectives on what the new leader’s team does well and could
do better.
• Their perspectives on the new leader’s team members.
• How to best communicate with the boss.
• How issues get raised and decisions made on their boss’s team.

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 First Two Weeks 4

New leaders should make it clear that they want and appreciate their
peers’ help.
• Should schedule regular meetings with their peers to build
relationships and help new leaders stay ahead of potential conflicts.

New leaders should meet with their stars during the first two weeks on
the job.
• Stars can provide ideas for improving team performance and are likely
candidates for direct report positions should the new leader decide to
change the structure of the team.

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 First Two Weeks 5

New leaders should try to meet with individuals who were

once part of the team but have taken positions in other parts
of the organization.
• These individuals offer unique insights into the history of
the team and team members.

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 First Two Months: Strategy, Structure, and Staffing 1

Leader should gather more information, determine the direction, and

finalize the appropriate structure and staffing for the team for the next six
weeks.

Tasks to be performed include:

• Gathering benchmarking information from other organizations.

• Meeting with key external customers and suppliers.
• Meeting with the former team leader, if appropriate.

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 First Two Months: Strategy, Structure, and Staffing 2

New leaders need to be able to articulate:

• Where the team has been and where it needs to go over the next one
to three years.
• What the team needs to accomplish and what changes will be needed
to make this happen.
• Their expectations for team members.

Once the proposed changes have been agreed to, new leaders need to
have one-on-one meetings with all team members affected by any
strategy, structure, and staffing decisions.
• New leaders should seek feedback from peers and recruiters.

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 Third Month: Communicate and Drive Change 1

At this point, the leader should be:

• Articulating how the team will win.

• Identifying the what, why, and how of any needed changes.
• Defining a clear set of expectations for team members.

Major events for the third month.

• Meet with the entire team.
• Meet off-site with direct reports if the team is large.

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 Third Month: Communicate and Drive Change 2

Key objectives of the off-site meeting.

• Get agreement on the critical attributes and values of team members.
• Create a team scorecard.
• Establish an operating rhythm.
• Establish task forces to work on key change initiatives.

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 Learning From Experience

Leadership practitioners can enhance the learning value of experiences

by:

• Creating opportunities to get feedback.

• Taking a 10 percent stretch.
• Learning from others.
• Keeping a journal of daily leadership events.
• Having a developmental plan.

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 Building Technical Competence 1

• Concerns the knowledge and repertoire of behaviors one can utilize to

complete a task successfully.
• Individuals usually acquire technical competence through formal
education or training in specialized topics, on-the-job training, or
experience.
• Followers with technical competence earn better performance
appraisal ratings, exert influence in their groups, and are more likely to
be a member of a leader’s in-group and are delegated tasks and
asked to participate in decisions.
• Technical competence in leaders is related to improved managerial
promotion rates, better training skills, lower rates of group conflict,
reduced levels of role ambiguity, and higher motivation levels among
followers for leaders.

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 Building Technical Competence 2

Steps in building technical competence.

• Determining how the job contributes to the overall success of the
organization.
• Evaluate one's current level of technical skills by seeking verbal
feedback from peers and superiors, reviewing past performance
appraisal results, or reviewing objective performance.

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 Building Technical Competence 3

Becoming an expert in one's own field can further an individual's

developmental opportunities.

Ways to become an expert in one's own field.

• Enrolling in formal education and training programs.
• Watching others.
• Asking questions.
• Teaching others.

Seeking opportunities to broaden one’s experiences by performing tasks

associated with the other positions in one’s work group and visiting other
parts of the organization to understand its whole operation.

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 Advantages of Having a Good Working Relationship with
Superiors

Superiors and followers sharing the same values, approaches, and

attitudes will:

• Experience less conflict.

• Provide higher levels of mutual support.
• Be more satisfied with superior and follower relationships.

Followers receive better performance appraisal ratings.

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 Building Effective Relationships with Superiors 1

In order to understand the superior’s world better, followers should:

• Understand the superior’s personal and organizational objectives.

• Realize that superiors do not have all the answers and have both
strengths and weaknesses.
• Keep the superior informed about various activities in the work group
or new developments or opportunities in the field.

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 Building Effective Relationships with Superiors 2

Requires followers to adapt to the superior’s style by:

• Clarifying expectations about their role on the team, committee, or

work group.
• Listing major responsibilities and using the list to guide discussions
with superiors about different ways to accomplish tasks and relative
priorities of the tasks.
• Being honest and dependable.

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 Building Effective Relationships with Peers

Research suggests that a key requirement of leadership effectiveness is

the ability to build strong alliances with others.

Ways to establish and maintain good peer relationships.

• Recognizing common interests and goals.
• Understanding peers’ tasks, problems, and rewards.
• Practicing a theory Y attitude.

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 Development Planning

Systematic process of building knowledge and experience or changing

behavior.

Peterson and Hicks believe that there are five interrelated phases to
developmental planning:

• Identifying development needs.

• Analyzing data to identify and prioritize development needs.
• Using prioritized development needs to create a focused and
achievable development plan.
• Periodically reviewing the plan, reflecting on learning, and modifying
or updating the plan as appropriate.
• Transferring learning to new environments.

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 Conducting a GAPS Analysis 1

The first phase in the development planning process is to conduct a

GAPS (goals, abilities, perceptions, and standards) analysis, which
involves the following steps:

• Identifying career goals.

• Identifying strengths and development needs related to the career
goals.
• Determining how one’s abilities, skills, and behaviors are perceived by
others by asking others for feedback or through performance reviews
or 360-feedback instruments.
• Determining the standards one's boss or organization has for one's
career objectives.

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 Conducting a GAPS Analysis 2

An individual needs to perform the following activities if he or she needs

to accomplish career goals:

• Review the information from the GAPS model.

• Look for underlying themes and patterns.
• Determine what behaviors, knowledge, experiences, or skills will be
the most important to change or develop.

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 Bridging the Gaps: Building a Development Plan 1

Following are the steps for developing a high-impact development plan:

• Working on career and development objectives.

• Determining the criteria for success.
• Determining action steps.
• Deciding whom to involve and reassessing dates.
• Stretching assignments.
• Using various resources.
• Reflecting the knowledge with a partner.

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 Bridging the Gaps: Building a Development Plan 2

Reflecting on learning.
• Helps leaders analyze whether the final destination is still the right
one, if an alternative route might be better, and whether there is a
need for more resources or equipment.
• Involves periodically reviewing one's progress with one's boss.

Transferring learning to new environments.

• The development plan should be changed, modified, or updated as
you learn from your experiences, receive feedback, acquire new skills,
and meet targeted development needs.

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 Summary

• The first three months give leaders unique opportunities to make

smooth transitions, paint compelling pictures of the future, and drive
organizational change.
• Performance is a function of technical competence.
• Individuals who have good superior-follower relationships are often in
the superior’s in-group.
• Fundamental requirement of leadership effectiveness is the ability to
build strong alliances with others.
• Development planning is the systematic process of building
knowledge and experience or changing behavior.

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