Notes on Training #1
Recently I had the opportunity to train “The 4 Imperatives of Great Leaders” by Franklin Covey training. It’s part of their Leadership Modular series and is the basic fundamentals that all the other modules are based on. This was my first shot at presenting a full “leadership” training to a group of people. Up till now I’ve been doing developmental training more on a 1:1 basis, for those interested. Due to schedules this first class was for our supervisor level people. The turn out was small but for me it was more then enough to get my feet wet. The Whole Person Paradigm is a great tool – if you know how to use it effectively. And for as much as I said in the class that Leadership is a Journey in the few days since the class I don’t think that statement was understood.
Since the class, I have had conversations that involve “but how do I do it”? Implementing the Whole Person Paradigm ‘WPP’ (where you address the 4 parts of a whole person Heart, Mind, Body & Spirit) can not be done in one step. Far from it, you need to first have the personal victory to be able to accept feedback and grow from it. While each of them were given feedback I found they got lost in that as well. I think while the presentation stressed to look at the positive and the negative it does not address the feelings behind reading the feedback. And once feelings come into play, I could see where some of them shut down. But I digress. The WPP will work; I’ve unknowingly been using it for a while now. But I also know that I am not good at all 4 parts of it. There are times when I really do not care what my employee’s Spirit drives are. Let’s face it, we all have the worker who just tells you a bit too much about their personal life and tries to get you caught up in it. However, I’ve also learned that it’s a balance. You pull your strengths to cover the parts you are weak at. Start small and build so to speak.
In stating that, the relief I saw on their faces was amazing. Suddenly this concept that they really liked became something that was obtainable! Something they could work towards implementing. Understanding that they didn’t have to know all 4 parts right NOW was a relief. But for me, the joy came in the fact that they wanted it, they wanted it to work
In the end, I am excited about the journey these future leaders are starting on. Their interest and enthusiasm has given hope that these concepts can fully be embraced by the leadership of my company. More then that, to find your own voice and then help someone else find theirs…. That’s what it means to be a Leader!
