Leadership Climate Assessments
MLA will come to your organization to conduct interviews and observations. Typically, these will take place over several days. The result is a written report with assessment across five areas: communication, accountability, respect, trust, and teamwork. Each area is assessed on a scale with examples of learned during the assessment as well as examples of what “right looks like.” This is a proprietary tool created and used exclusively by MLA.
Leader Development Plans
Based on our extensive experience and practice, we design and deliver Leader Development plans to offer pragmatic training and skill development for leaders at all levels from the CEO to the emerging.
Our Leadership Development Plans are typically a series of workshops conducted quarterly or monthly and can be 1-2 hours, half-day, full-day, or two-day sessions.
Leadership Book Study
Meets monthly, bi-monthly, or quarterly. For each session, a book is chosen to be read and then the group comes together for an in-depth analysis. Book choices are far-ranging but a few examples are Good to Great by Jim Collins, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Pat Lencioni, Execution by Larry Bossidy with Ram Charan, or The Speed of Trust by Stephen M. R. Covey. I know that as a younger and less-experienced leader I read many books like these, was fired up and excited but unable to convert what I had read into my daily life as a leader. That’s the bridge we help people across, from the abstract to the concrete.
Additional Services
Below are some of our á la carte offerings:
Performance Feedback
Marginal employees are one of the biggest drains on company performance and employee morale. Strong employees routinely pick up their slack and resent it. Here’s how to let your employees know how they’re doing and how they can get better. At the end of the day, you must get them to improve or move on.
Supervision
Did you ever work with someone who let some people get by with things but not others? Supervising is more than standing around with a cup of coffee and telling people what to do. Learn how to set workplace standards and encourage people to meet them, and what to do when they don’t.
Emotional Intelligence
Do things get emotional where you work? Maybe a little yelling and a few red faces? Leaders must understand and embrace emotions. Managing one’s own while increasing awareness of others’ emotions is critical to accomplishing any mission!
Leadership Book Study
Meets monthly, bi-monthly, or quarterly. For each session, a book is chosen to be read and then the group comes together for an in depth analysis. Book choices are far ranging but a few examples are Good to Great by Jim Collins, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Pat Lencioni, Execution by Larry Bossidy with Ram Charan , or The Speed of Trust by Stephen M. R. Covey. I know that as a younger and less experienced leader I read many books like these, was fired up and excited but unable to convert what I had read into my daily life as a leader. That’s the bridge we help people across, from the abstract to the concrete.
Trust
You can’t buy it, but you can earn it! If people don’t trust you, they’re not going to follow you. Here are 13 behaviors critical to building a trust relationship with others.
Customer Service
Leaders create the environment for great customer service with anticipation, communication, and strong emotional intelligence. We’ll talk about dealing with difficult situations; unhappy people; and resolving conflicts plus setting and managing expectations.
Building and Maintaining Culture
Culture eats strategy for breakfast someone once said. Why? Because culture is how things get done, for better or worse. We offer two different modules, one for senior leaders and one for emerging leaders. We help senior leaders understand and strengthen their company’s culture and ensure uniformity from the boardroom down. We also help new or potential leaders understand how culture is formed and how they create a mini-culture which meshes with that of the larger organization.
Delegation
Perhaps the most important leader skill of all— if you don’t delegate, you’ll be doing the work of the whole group by yourself! Delegation enables a leader to extend his / her effectiveness across multiple employees. Ever been micromanaged? Here’s how to know if you’re doing it and how to exercise the right amount of management.
Dealing with Difficult People
You know that guy no one likes to work with? He’s the grenade waiting to explode or the know-it-all? How about the person who picks everyone else’s work apart? These techniques help you to deal with those types and nine others.
Your Leader’s Voice
Clear, articulate communication is critical. How you stand, the words you use, how you say them, how you write them—all impact your message. A leader’s voice is like a megaphone for good or bad and it must be used carefully to maximize effectiveness.
Decision-Making
Teddy Roosevelt said, “The only man who makes no mistakes is the man who never does anything.” Leaders must make decisions and we lay out the obstacles that may cause you to stumble as well as skills and techniques to make great ones. Framing, the mission, and cognitive biases all impact the process hugely.
Critical Thinking
It can be learned and practiced. Socrates started it and it’s more relevant than ever. It’s highly critical for strategic planning as well as problem-solving. Critical thinking helps you move objectively towards solutions. Criticism consists of a judgement and complaint.
Your Leader’s Voice
Communication is a critical component of leadership. The greatest ideas in the world are useless until you share them with others. How you stand, the words you use, how you say them, how you write them—these all impact your message. A leader’s voice is like a megaphone for good or bad and it must be used carefully to maximize effectiveness.
Leader Development Plans
Based on our extensive experience and practice, we design and deliver Leader Development plans to offer pragmatic training and skill development for leaders at all levels from the CEO to the emerging. Our Leadership Development Plans are typically a series of workshops conducted quarterly or monthly and can be 1-2 hours, half day, full day, or two day sessions.
Meetings
Does anyone not have too many meetings? Here are skills you can use to make meetings useful and productive—whether you’re leading them or simply attending.
Professionalism
What makes a professional? This is a facilitated discussion to help a specific group determine what professionalism means in their workplace. Specific topics covered include appearance, accountability, respect for others, and teamwork. The output is a mutually agreed on definition for continued practice.
Presentations
Death by PowerPoint? Been there, done that. Learn how to give an effective presentation. Hint: PowerPoint isn’t the problem . . .
Emotional Intelligence
Like them or hate them, emotions are part of our life every single day. Sometimes we feel on top of the world and one bad encounter brings us crashing down. Other days, we’re trapped in a black cloud when someone brings us a rainbow. Sometimes these are happenstance, but they don’t have to be. These are not random occurrences. Great leaders can consciously create this environment.