Leadership Training

How do new managers build early confidence in their leadership? How does leadership differ from management? What contexts call for leadership? Which ones call for management? What leadership roles are most vital for front-line managers? These questions form the core of our leadership training for people who are in early stages of a management career. Our leadership training gives them a solid foundation of insights and principles that will serve them well in any management or executive role.

The speed at which your company's can transform itself, respond to new competition, or adapt to sudden changes in your industry is directly correlated to the extent that trust permeates your organization. In this training you learn the keys to building a change-ready, high-trust culture within your team or organization. Participants learn the five conditions that must exist within the corporate atmosphere for trust to prevail. And they explore seven personal characteristics that leaders must embody in order to be trusted as leaders.

Today companies increasingly expect leaders to function as coaches and mentors within the organization. Many managers and executives feel unprepared to meet this expectation. In the course of their leadership education, most received little or no training in coaching and mentoring. Strategic Leadership Development International fills this gap with training that draws from the same curriculum that Dr. Mike Armour uses to teach MBA courses on coaching and mentoring. He outlines the difference between coaching and mentoring and develops skills in both techniques, then shows leaders how to develop internal coachng and mentoring programs within their own organizations.

What sets exceptional leaders apart from others? Among other things, it's unwavering devotion to improving their leadership skills. For those who are ready to go beyond the basics of leadership preparation, we offer training to take them into advanced concepts of interpersonal and organizational behavior, corporate culture, effective communication, the dynamics of interpersonal systems, and strategic thinking. No one training can cover all of these topics in depth. But we can provide quality in-depth training on any of these topics, or others related to them.

Because we coach so many C-Level executives and their direct reports, Strategic Leadership Development International understands firsthand the leadership challenges at this level of corporate life. From this experience we can design training venues that deepen the leadership expertise of C-Level executives and those preparing for C-Level positions in the future. We can deliver these trainings in retreat settings, in multi-part trainings spread over several weeks, or as supplements to corporate trainings already in place.

When leaders achieve their most striking results, five critical qualities always prevail.

• Focus
• Inspiration
• Resilience
• Sustained Drive
• Team Trust

Let us design a retreat, workshop, or other training to help your leadership team gain greater skill in practicing each of these essential 'FIRST' qualities.

Each year thousands of men and women leave corporate life to start their own business. As they build a team, as they raise capital, as they map a vision for the future, leadership challenges face these entrepreneurs at every turn. Having helped numerous entrepreneurs with start-up ventures, we are adept at training the leadership team that is launching a new business. Our training shows them how to get off on the right foot so that they build the company on a solid leadership foundation from the very beginning.

The leadership skills and style essential for launching a company are not the same as those required to grow it to its full potential. Many entrepreneurs and their management team fail to recognize this difference. Once they are beyond the startup phase, how do they need to change their leadership approach to assure sustained growth? What size thresholds change the priorities on which leadership should focus? We can custom-make trainings to help your team answer these questions, and be prepared to make appropriate changes to keep growth strong and vibrant.

Strategic Leadership Development International has helped several companies successfully position themselves for acquisition. When acquisition is the goal, a number of unique demands are thrust upon leadership. Leaders must back off and look at the company through the eyes of a potential buyer. They must get the company ready for a "beauty contest." Based on our experience with companies and entrepreneurs going through this process, we can design leadership training that will position your leadership team to optimize your company's value in the eyes of others.

Global market competition, the demands of speed-to-market, and the very complexities of modern corporate life throw new complexities at leaders every day. Discover techniques used by creative geniuses like Walt Disney to develop innovative and imaginative breakthroughs in coping with complex problems. The principles presented in this training are simple and practical, but powerful in their application.

As a credentialed trainer in the field of Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP), Mike can provide basic level or advanced training in any of the dozens of powerful NLP techniques. Possible areas of training include:

• assuring the success of your personal goals
• creating resourceful inner states that allow you to perform at your best
• building deep and lasting rapport with anyone you meet
• reading and calibrating non-verbal feedback accurately
• aligning verbal and non-verbal communication to give greater impact to your message
• developing powerful platform skills as a speaker
• using presuppositional language and creative reframes to change your hearer's perspective
• using the "Meta Model" and the "Milton Model" to clarify communication and minimize misunderstanding

This is by no means an exhaustive list of topics, as Mike can customize a training on any of the dozens of NLP techniques. He will also conduct a complete NLP pratitioner or master practitioner training for groups of six or more. Each certification requires approximately 130 hours of training, spread out over several weeks.

Elsewhere on this web site we have answered many frequently asked questions about NLP.

The late Dr. Clare Graves developed one of the world's most comprehensive models for understanding human and organizational behavior. The model builds on the interplay of eight different systems of thought and value. Over time mankind has created these systems as coping mechanisms to deal with the complexity of our existence. (You can find more about Graves systems elsewhere on this web site.)

Mike is a nationally recognized authority and pioneering author on the Graves model and designs workshops appropriate for businesses, churches, non-profit organizations, or educational institutions.

Topics include:

• The worldview behind each of the Graves systems
• The values and priorities of each system
• The treasures to be found and traps to be avoided in each system
• How these systems clash within organizations
• The most effective management and leadership styles for each system
• Motivating workers or volunteers, based on their system preference
• Assigning duties and building effective work teams based on personal system preferences