1. “The Heart of a Leader” based on the book by Ken Blanchard presentation written by Michelle Spradley, CPS/CAP presented by Emily Garner, CAP-OM
Good evening and thank you for inviting me to visit your chapter, install your officers, and discuss leadership.
Most of the thoughts and ideas we will be discussing come directly from Ken Blanchard’s book entitled “The Heart of a Leader”. This particular presentation was written by our own Michelle Spradley CAP-OM. I have read the book and found it to be inspiring and want to share a few of the points with you.
My hope is that the ideas presented here challenge and inspire the leader in you regardless or your position within your company or chapter, and that the ideas presented here will help you sharpen you leadership skills and build personal integrity.
Please feel free to jump in and offer opinions or discussion at anytime during the presentation.

2. Overview What is the Difference between a Manager and a Leader?
Define an Exceptional Leader
Leadership Traits
How can an administrative professional lead in today’s workplace?
Build a Leadership Plan
Tonight we are going to talk about
The difference between a manager and a leader
Define what makes an exceptional leader
Discuss important leadership traits
We will talk about how administrative professionals can lead in today’s workplace
And then you will be given an opportunity to build your own leadership plan

3. Leader vs. Manager Leaders Create a clearly defined vision/mission
Create “buy in”
Foster synergy
Define a common purpose
Develop and coach individuals and teams
Managers
Manage Tasks
Enforce protocols
Organize Data
Report information and facts
Direct people
What is the difference between leading and managing. (read slide across to emphasize differences)
So now that we know the difference between being a manager and a leader, you can see that you do not have to be a manger to be a leader AND not all managers are leaders.
A leader is someone who people naturally follow through their own choice, whereas a manager must be obeyed because of his or her position. A manager may only have obtained their position by authority, through time, job skills or loyalty to the company, and not as a direct result of his leadership qualities. On the other hand, a leader may have no organizational skills, but his vision unities people behind him.
I believe that to be successful in a leadership position, you need both sets of skills. How many of you have known leaders who have great ideas and can motivate people, but don’t have the skills to follow through with their ideas? Okay, now how many of you have worked for managers that did not have the ability to truly lead people? Frustrating isn’t it? If you know that you have great leadership skills, but lack good management skills or vice versa, make sure that you team with someone who has the opposite skill set.
An effective leader will make it a priority to help his or team produce good results in two ways:
Make sure the team knows what its goals are and
Do everything possible to support, encourage, and coach the team to accomplish its goals

4. Define an Exceptional Leader
What make a great leader?
Great Leaders are:
Honest
Forward Looking
Competent
Inspiring
Intelligent / Committed to Continuous Learning
Have Charisma
So what makes an exceptional leader?
Exceptional Leaders are Honest: Followers must have trust in a leader and believe in the leader’s vision. Leaders display sincerity, integrity and candor in all actions (click)
Exceptional Leaders are Forward Looking: They lead with purpose and are always on the lookout for new ideas. Effective leaders set goals, they envision what they want and how to get it. (click)
Exceptional Leaders are Competent: Competent leaders base their actions on reason and moral principals. (click)
Exceptional Leaders Inspire, they are guided by heart, passion and compassion and demonstrate mental, physical and spiritual endurance. They inspire others to reach for new heights. (click)
Exceptional Leaders are Intelligent and are continually learning. They read, study and seek challenging assignments. They do not command excellence, but rather build it. (click)
Exceptional Leaders are Charismatic, some more than others; however, those with strong charisma find it easier to attract followers that work with them to meet their vision and goals for the team. Charisma is simply the ability to draw other to you. Believe it or not, that is a skill that can be learned. All you have to do is show genuine interest in the other person. (click).

5. Leadership Traits Superb Communicators Effective Management Skills
Empathy
Positive Thinkers
Values and Integrity
Vision
Empowerment/Bringing out the best in others
In his book, Blanchard surmises that great leader’s share the following leadership traits:
Superb Communicators
Have Effective Management Skills
Show Empathy and are Positive Thinkers
Great leaders have Values and Integrity, in fact the number one characteristic that employees think is most important for their leader to have is integrity
Leaders have Vision and are good at communicating that vision to followers
Leaders are good at empowering others and bringing out the best in them
So let’s look at each of these traits one by one

6. “Real communication happens when people feel safe”
Superb Communication
“Real communication happens when people feel safe”
Superb or real communication is a product of trust. Blanchard says that people are moved to do things that provide them with feedback; it is important for them to know how well they are doing.
But a lot of the time, managers or leaders of an organization save up negative information and dump it on you all at once after a minor incident, or even worse, “whitewash” performance and tell you everything is OK, when it’s not.
When people are not given an honest helpful critique of their performance, they lose respect for the organization and pride in their work.
Giving helpful feedback quickly is a cost-effective way to improve performance and instill satisfaction in a job well-done.
Look for ways to prove to your followers that you see them all as either winners or potential winners and you mean them no harm. When you do, you will find that communication within your organization is greatly enhanced.
-Ken Blanchard
The Heart of a Leader

7. Effective Management Skills
“Leadership is not something you do to people. It’s something you do with people.”
Good leaders will have effective management skills.
Paul Hersey and Ken Blanchard developed the Situational Leadership® concept, and later Blanchard developed Situational Leadership® II concept, for those not familiar with these or those who need a quick review of them, in a nutshell (I will not spend much time– it is kind of like “ Who’s on First What’s on Second”) it assumes that to be successful, you as a leader must adjust your leadership style to the developmental level of the follower.
Developmental levels of followers are as follows:
Enthusiastic Beginner, Disillusioned Learner, Capable but Cautious Performer and the Self-Reliant Achiever.
The Enthusiastic Beginner, needs to be told how; the Disillusioned Learner, needs to be coached; the Capable but Cautious Performer, needs to be coached; and the Self-Reliant Achiever just wants you to get out of their way.
In essence this theory makes a lot of sense. But when it was first used, some followers were confused:
“Suppose you suddenly stop going to see your highly performing self-reliant workers because you feel they need little supervision and if you start telling your enthusiastic beginners how and why to do tasks, because you know they need more direction; the achievers might feel undervalued and overlooked, while the beginners could feel you are picking on them.”
The best advice is to share your leadership strategies with your team and accept feedback. “So don’t do leadership to people, do it with them.”
-Ken Blanchard, Patricia Zigarmi, and Drea Zigarmi
Leadership and The One Minute Manager

8. “All good performance starts with clear goals!”
Effective Management Skills (cont)
“All good performance starts with clear goals!”
-Ken Blanchard and Spencer Johnson
The One Minute Manager
Set and communicate Clear Goals.
Do you remember the story Alice in Wonderland?
In Alice in Wonderland – Alice was puzzled. As she searched for a way out of Wonderland, she came to a fork in the road. “Which road should I take, she asked the Cheshire Cat. “Where are you going?” the cat responded. Alice said she did not know. The smiling cat gave her this reply “If you do not know where you are going, any road will get you there.”
An important way to motivate your people is to make sure they know where they are going. Each person’s or team’s goals should be clearly defined. And they need to know what good performance looks like. Knowing what is expected of them will help your followers focus their energy on accomplishing the goals and empower them to become high-performing producers.

9. Empathy
“If you want your people to be responsive, be responsive to their needs”
Great leaders are empathetic
Blanchard says that
“The traditional hierarchy is okay for goal setting. People look to the head of their department and to the top of the organization for direction. But once goals are clear, the pyramid should in essence be turned upside down. This way the customers (our members and potential members) are at the top of the hierarchy, followed by the customer contact people (membership and other committee chairs), while the board or directors are at the bottom.
When this philosophy is implemented, your role as a leader changes from being “responsible” to being “responsive”. Your job becomes to work with people rather than having them work for you. Being responsive to your people’s needs sets them free to get the job done.
Make your people responsible for doing high quality work by responding to their needs and supporting them. That places the responsibility at the appropriate level, with the people who do the work.”
-Ken Blanchard, Bill Hybels and Phil Hodges
Leadership by The Book

10. Act Big! Be Big!” “Think Big! Positive Thinkers - Norman Vincent Peale
Leaders are Positive Thinkers.
Ken Blanchard tells the following story about Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, that great minister of positive thinking.
At his 90th birthday party, Dr. Peale shared a story about a man he met on a plane. The man looked worried so Dr. Peale decided to engage him in conversation. “What’s wrong?” he asked. After some coaxing, the man shared that he had just received a promotion, but had doubts about whether he had what it would take to handle the job.
“Yes, you do!’ stated Dr. Peale.
“How do you know!” the man replied.
Dr. Peale answered, “You do if you think you do.” Then he encouraged the man to start each day by chanting, “Think big! Act big! Be big!” By the time they landed, the man was in a different frame of mind.
So leaders, be your own best friend and have confidence in yourself. Cheer yourself on. Write your own pep talk. Don’t’ wait for someone else to do it for you! It works!
- Norman Vincent Peale

11. Positive Thinkers
“Positive thinkers get positive results because they are not afraid of problems”
-Ken Blanchard and Norman Vincent Peale
The Power of Ethical Management
If you mention the word problem people immediately infer that you are speaking negatively.
But, when people asked Dr. Peale, “Don’t you think life would be better if we had fewer problems?” Dr. Peale would answer that question by saying, “I’ll be happy to take you to Woodlawn cemetery because the only people I know who don’t have problems are dead.”
Dr. Peale believed that the more problems you have, the more alive you are. Dr. Peale went on to say…
“If you have no problems at all, you are in grave jeopardy!” In fact, if you really insisted that you had no problems, he would suggest that you immediately race home, go straight to your bedroom, slam the door, get down on your knees and pray: “What’s the matter, Lord? Don’t you trust me anymore? Give me some problems!”

12. Take time to identify core values
Values and Integrity
Take time to identify core values
This slide says so little—but says so much.
Great Leaders stick to their values and have integrity.
A value is anything that has worth or meaning to an individual, a group or a society. Typically, values are based on moral, societal or religious teaching that we learn in childhood and that are modified throughout life. As a value is reinforced, it becomes a belief. Integrity is being who you say you are, or who others think you are when no one is watching. I found that to be a very powerful statement!
As a leader, you must take time to Identify the core values that define your organization or yourself. It is one of the most important functions of leadership. The success or failure of this process can literally make or break an organization or you.
Wise leaders understand that identifying the organization’s core values is so important that they should not do it alone. Instead, bring everyone into the process early. Draw them in so that they will have ownership in the process. Remember rules can be imposed but values cannot. They must come from within.
Can anyone tell me the values of IAAP? (ask the audience)
(Integrity, respect, adaptability, communication & commitment)
What about your places of employment.. For instance
My company: are Honesty and Integrity, Respect, Communication, Dependability and Team Work
-Ken Blanchard
The Heart of a Leader

13. “Without Vision People Perish”
Great leaders envision the future or see what could be.
Leaders today must have a strong vision and positive beliefs that support that vision. If they don’t, their people will not only lose, they’ll be lost. When difficulties arise, their minds will not be equal to the challenge.
A clear vision is just a picture of how things would be if everything was running perfectly. The most powerful dream a leader can have is a vision of perfection. (According to Blanchard if one does not strive for perfection, then you will never obtain excellence.) Dreams give us energy. When we truly believe our dreams, we start acting as if they are already true and that kind of enthusiasm is contagious.
Says Blanchard “All great companies and teams have a visionary leader at the helm, who is always pointing at the kind of organization they’re going to be. People have a need to follow this type of leader. It inspires them and keeps them on track when difficulties arise.”
-Proverbs 29:18
(paraphrased)

14. “All empowerment exists in the present moment.”
Empowerment/Bringing Out the Best in Others
“All empowerment exists in the present moment.”
-Ken Blanchard
The Heart of a Leader
Good leaders are good at empowering others and know that all empowerment happens in the present moment.
Consider moments when you were at your best, and you will find that you were right there in the moment, fully and completely present. If you dwell on “what was” or “what will be”, you will miss the power of “what is.”
In the parable of ”The Precious Present”, Spencer Johnson, co-author of the One Minute Manager, discusses this important truth. In the story, an older man’s wisdom launches a young boy on a lifelong search for the “Precious Present”. Finally, the boy discovers what the old man was trying to tell him: To learn from the past is good, but to live there is wasteful. To plan for the future is good, but to live there is also wasteful. To be happy and productive, one must live in the present.
All highly effective leaders have learned to embrace the power of the present and have realized that analyzing the past and planning the future is not enough. They understand that they must also nurture the present and celebrate its’ victories.

15. How can an administrative professional lead in today’s market?
Leading in 2010
How can an administrative
professional lead in today’s market?
So, now we will touch very briefly on how an administrative professional can lead in today’s market. (click)

16. Leading in Today’s Market
Today effective leadership is commonly viewed as central to organizational success and more importance is placed on leadership development than ever before.
Leadership skills can be developed through Continued Education, training programs, coaching and mentoring, developmental assignments and certification programs. For the admin, obtaining the CAP-OM (certified administrative professional designation, Organizational Management Specialty and the all new Technology Applications speciality) are excellent ways to develop leadership skills. Those who continually learn and constantly upgrade their skills increase their value to their organization. Exceptional skills in today’s market is the only form of job security.
Develop top-notch Software skills: leaders will have to be much more savvy with technology in general as technology will continue to be an integral aspect of leadership effectiveness. IAAP Options Training Programs are an excellent venue for this, as well as webinars, podcasts and egroups.
Be aware of your Professional image, dressing appropriately goes with out saying; however, it’s more than that. It is also how you carry yourself, how you speak. Do you deliver exceptional customer service, do you do deliver more than you promise? Image is everything about you.
Communication. As we said earlier, leaders are superb communicators. As administrative professionals, we must be great communicators. Often we are the go between management, customers, and other workers in the organization. In many cases you are the voice of your manager. Are you able to effectively communicate for your manager in his/or her absence, to other workers, to customers, his or her peers, or your manager’s boss? Do you feel comfortable giving a presentation? If not work to develop those skills. Make sure that you have excellent writing skills and that any written communication coming from you or your manager is perfect.
Additionally, you need to be aware of business and market trends. Especially in your own industry. Read trade magazines or research the internet. Some of this you may need to do on your own time. Then talk about what you discovered with you boss. It will show him or her that you are engaged in what you are doing and are interested in being more than just a worker.
As stated early, leaders are empathetic and superb communicators. You can be neither of these without exceptional listening skills. Good listeners will hear not only what is being said, but what the speaker means or feels.
Continued Education/Certification (CAP-OM)
Software Skills
Professional Image
Communication
Awareness of Business Market Trends
Exceptional Listening Skills

17. Leading in Today’s Market
Perform Expertly
Learn to Anticipate
Prioritizing Projects
Effective Time Management
Become a mentor
To lead in today’s market you must
perform expertly – as I said earlier -- reach for perfection in order to achieve excellence
Anticipate what is needed next. Don’t wait to be told what to do, discern what is needed and act on it within the scope of your authority
Learn to prioritize projects. In her book Never Check In the Morning, author Julie Morgenstern suggests when deciding what project to do first, start with the one that most benefits the revenue line of the company. If you’re feeling overwhelmed and you’re still not sure what to do first, ask your manager to let you know which project is most important to him or her. Don’t try to guess.
Next, use your time wisely, focus on the most critical task first. Use a calendar (or whatever tracking system works best for you) to keep you on track and to remind you of important tasks.
And last, but not lease to be a leader, you must have a follower. Consider reaching out to a junior staffer, student, or intern and teach them what you know. And, let them teach you back. You will be surprised at how much you grow.

18. Action Plan
Choose three leadership characteristics that you will implement into your daily routine in the next 90 days.
Now that we have discussed
The difference between a manager and a leader
And have Defined what makes an exceptional leader and talked about some traits and characteristics that leaders possess.
I would like to challenge you to pick 3 of the leadership traits that you will implement into your daily routine for the next 90 days. Write it down, and I also challenge you to share you plan with someone else and have them hold you accountable.
Thank you for your attention and for inviting me to speak.
And as you lead: Think Big, Act Big, Be Big.

19. 2011 – 2012 “Leap to Remarkable”
Again, thank you for allowing me to speak with you this evening. I hope all of you ar on your way to developing “The Heart of a Leader” A very special thank you to every one for Making the “Leap to Remarkable” with me in 2011 – It has been a great year!!!