The Total Leader Concept is a four level model based on proven principles and experience for complete leadership development.
As the world of business has changed and evolved, the need for effective leaders has skyrocketed. For businesses to become truly empowering and innovative enterprises, they must develop leaders throughout the organization. In fact, the organization of the future is an organization where everyone is a leader. It is only when people are able to lead themselves that they are actually empowered to be creative and innovative. This means leadership must be developed in every employee!
This is the very foundation of our Total Leader Concept and it is based on two key principles:
- First, for organizations to succeed in the 21st century, they must develop leaders throughout the entire organization and at all levels
- Second, for leadership development to be effective, it must utilize a complete, integrated, total leadership development process
Too many organizations have attempted to develop leaders with a fragmented, piecemeal, hit and miss approach. They focus on one area, or one attribute, or one facet of leadership believing that is all they need. Leadership is much more complex than that. Trying to develop leaders this way is like trying to become a professional golfer by only practicing your putting. The best golfers are total golfers-they excel at driving, approach shots, sand shots, pitching, chipping and putting. They also must possess the confidence and mental strength to perform in the heat of competition.
Organizations with cultures emphasizing leadership at all levels, outperformed those that did not by a huge margin. Over an eleven-year period, revenue increased 682 percent for leadership-enabled enterprises, compared to 166 percent for those who weren't. Net income increased 756% versus 1%.
- John Kotter and James Heskett,
Corporate Culture and Performance
The same is true for leaders. The best leaders, Total Leaders, excel at all parts and facets of leadership. The Total Leader Concept identifies four critically important areas that a person must master to become a Total Leader.
- Personal Productivity - Personal productivity is the ability to manage yourself, manage your time and manage your priorities to operate at maximum effectiveness.
- Personal Leadership - Personal leadership is the ability to lead yourself, to be a leader of your own life. Most people just let life happen to them and then suffer the consequences. Personal leaders determine the life they want, and then through planning and action make it happen. Personal leadership also means becoming a Total Person® - growing and developing in all six areas of life.
- Motivational Leadership - Motivational leadership is the ability to both effectively lead others and develop future leaders. This dual responsibility is a key success factor in the most successful organizations. A motivational leader understands that people are the source of all progress and innovation, and thus the key to success in the 21st century. A motivational leader is able to help people develop and utilize more of their full potential.
- Strategic Leadership - Strategic leadership is the ability to lead an organization. A strategic leader is able to define and develop the shared purpose and vision of the organization, the key strategies, the optimum structure, the right people in the right roles, and the most effective processes for an organization to succeed.
The Total Leader Concept is a progressive and holistic leadership development process. It's difficult to imagine that a top leader in an organization could really be effective if they were missing one or more of these key components. Many leaders today are frustrated because they haven't had the opportunity to develop skills in all four of these important areas.
That is exactly the problem with leadership development today. When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a nail! The time has come for a new paradigm. A new process for developing leaders.