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Leadership

Recognising and Nurturing Leadership Potential

The art and science of selecting and building the future leaders of your organisation is an investment that not only secures the present but lays the foundation for a thriving and sustainable future.

Whilst outside hires can bring new energy and expertise, it’s important not to overlook the talent within existing teams, nor the ability to nurture and grow your people with a strategically planned talent pipeline. The opportunity for promotion is not only beneficial for retention and motivation, it can be much more cost-effective when managed well.

Set a clear shared vision

The first step is defining and communicating a compelling and inspiring vision. This ensures everyone is working to a shared goal and enables you to identify the diverse skills and capabilities needed to achieve it. You can then craft a leadership team with the skills needed to guide the organisation toward shared goals.

Identifying potential

Forward-thinking organisations look beyond seniority and tenure to identify individuals who display a combination of skills, adaptability, and a passion for personal and team growth.

  • The willingness and capability to step up and fill critical roles during challenging times shows responsibility and proactivity. Asking your people about their long-term career ambitions provides insights into their desire for growth and leadership and helps align junior staff with pathways to career progression.
  • Assessing how individuals react to failure and pressure is crucial; true leaders demonstrate resilience, learning from setbacks and using them as opportunities for improvement.
  • A keen eye should be cast on individuals who not only excel in their current roles but also demonstrate the capacity to inspire trust and influence their peers.
  • Good communication skills entail not only the ability to convey ideas concisely, but to actively listen, empathise, and adapt communication styles to diverse audiences.

Even with all these boxes ticked, new leaders need support to successfully transition and make meaningful impact in their new role, addressing any weaknesses with upskilling through mentorship, training and KPIs.

Setting your people up for success

  • Promoting talent from within comes with unique challenges, particularly when new leaders are tasked with managing former colleagues. Courses such as Managing Your Mates helps address the particular challenges of setting boundaries, communicating expectations, and resetting relationships within this new dynamic.
  • Setting expectations and providing the tools needed to navigate challenges and uncertainties as they arise helps set new leaders up for success. Courses such as Manage Change Effectively and Risk Management can be helpful in providing tools and strategies to engage and motivate teams during transitions.
  • Leadership is not confined to making strategic decisions; it involves understanding and managing emotions. Leaders with high Emotional Intelligence possess the capacity to recognise, understand, and manage their own emotions, and those of team members. Often seen as innate, it can in fact be developed. Programs such as Developing Your Team, and short soft skills courses enhance leaders’ self-awareness, empathy, and relationship management skills.
  • Effective communication is paramount for leaders in any field. Leaders must articulate a clear vision, inspire confidence, and foster collaboration. This comes naturally to some, but it is valuable to build on these skills through courses such as Communicating as a Leader, where individuals learn principles of effective communication, gain insights into human behaviour, and acquire tools to convey messages persuasively. Courses also provide practical experiences, such as public speaking or group projects, allowing individuals to refine their communication abilities in real-world scenarios.

Lifelong learning and support

  • Mentorship plays a pivotal role in this process; experienced leaders can offer valuable insights, guidance, and wisdom to those navigating the complexities of leadership for the first time. Mentees gain access to a wealth of knowledge, enabling them to make informed decisions and avoid common pitfalls.
  • Coaching complements this support system by providing personalised guidance tailored to the individual’s strengths and areas for improvement.
  • The provision of opportunities is essential for honing leadership skills. Offering challenging projects, secondments, and exposure to diverse experiences allows emerging leaders to test and expand their capabilities.
  • Constructive feedback helps individuals understand their strengths and areas for development. A supportive environment that encourages continuous learning and growth empowers new leaders to navigate challenges with confidence, ultimately contributing to the overall success of the organisation.
  • Finally, lifelong learning. Professional development should be individualised, tailored to the areas an individual needs or wants to work on. It is also most effective when self-led. Courses such as Development as a Leader helps build the self-reflection skills and forward planning to identify and plan areas for improvement within leaders, and within their team.

Building future leaders requires a strategic and comprehensive approach combining education, experience, and ongoing development. By embracing these principles, you can ensure a pipeline of capable leaders ready to steer teams toward a prosperous and resilient future.

Categories
General Info Professional Skills

Achieve More in 2024!

The start of a new year sees us focus on new goals to bring us success and happiness in whatever form that may be; a healthier lifestyle, more fun, more fulfilment, a new job, or a completely different career.

The early 2020s made us all slow down, take stock, understand what is most important and dream new dreams. As we move towards the second half of the decade, it’s time to realise those big dreams and goals and believe that we can Achieve More.

There is no doubt that the world is evolving; technology and Artificial Intelligence is changing the face of workplaces and the skills needed to succeed; global influences are affecting markets and opportunities, but there is one thing that doesn’t change – the need for skilled employees, particularly people who are dedicated to continual learning, and have the soft skills to lead and support others; skills that technology can never replace.

So as you begin 2024, think big and explore the following advice to help you Achieve More, whatever your goal may be:

Changing careers

This is the big one – perhaps you ended 2023 feeling burnt out, hating your job, or just really needing a change. Moving to a completely new career needs planning and the path might look a little different depending on what career you are wanting to move into.

There might be a specific course that you can take to prepare you for your new role, or you might be able to take your existing skills and experience and re-align them to your new goal. This is especially true for soft skills such as project management, leadership and office skills.

One thing that always helps this shift is showing that you are willing and eager to learn and develop. Prepare for this change by investing in upskilling in areas such as workplace essentials, leadership and management, or any area that will help in your dream role.

Stepping up

You might have been at one level for a while and ready to step up to be a supervisor, or want to prepare for this change in the future. Gaining the essential leadership skills takes more than just experience. Good leaders understand the skills needed such as building relationships, prioritising tasks, and understanding how to manage different personalities, manage conflict and negotiate and influence.

The New Supervisor gives a great overview of these skills in a two-day classroom course. If you are moving from a teammate to managing former colleagues, Managing Your Mates helps you to navigate the challenges that come with that.

If you are looking to step up to a more senior role with broader responsibilities, Nationally Recognised courses such as Fundamentals of Supervision, or Qualifications such as BSB40520 Certificate IV in Leadership and Management gives a great foundation for a leadership career.

Helping others

If you have been ‘on the tools’ for a number of years or have become an expert in your field, a great next step can be sharing your skills and expertise with others. Gaining the teaching, assessing and learning development skills needed to be an effective trainer and/or assessor will help you be most effective in this field.

Courses such as TAE40122 Certificate IV in Training and Assessment and its associated sessions and skill sets may be required, particularly if you are looking to train and assess Nationally Recognised training, and will ensure you have the best practice skills and expertise to be the best trainer you can be.

You may want to move into a role where you are helping others through providing a safe environment. Roles in Work Health and Safety (WHS) are a great next move for people with strong knowledge of their sector and the risks involved, or HR who have strong experience in working with others. There are a large number of courses to start you on this journey from WHS Fundamentals, to Health and Safety Representatives, Area Warden, or the Nationally Recognised BSB41419 Certificate IV in Work Health and Safety qualification.

Learning something new

Your 2024 goal might be just to learn something new. Achieving doesn’t need to lead to a new qualification or job level. You can gain motivation and satisfaction in your career or life outside work in building your knowledge.

This could be through mentorship, or volunteering, or there are many online and classroom short courses that can help you Achieve More through self-improvement and learning, in topics ranging from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Awareness, to Handling stress and maintaining balance,  Time Management, or even Mental Health Awareness.

Getting back into study

 Starting a course can be a challenge for all new learners, but particularly if you haven’t been in a classroom for a while. Mature age learners are often juggling work and looking after children or family members, alongside other responsibilities, which can make studying seem overwhelming. The time since formal study can also leave some lacking in confidence and the academic skills that come from regular study.

However, being a mature age learner can actually be a huge advantage to study; you are older and wiser, you have industry experience, and you’re more aware of the value of investing in your education.

There are also many benefits of studying at a later age. We’ve written a whole article on this topic with tips and tricks to help you with this transition. Read more about Returning to study as a mature age learner.

Building your resume

The first step in looking for a new job, changing careers or positioning for a promotion is to revisit and update your resume. You’ll need to make sure it is up-to-date, reflects the accomplishments and job roles you have had since you last used it, and also make sure it reflects the role you want to achieve next. This includes skills and courses. Having recent training, and showing that you are committed to continuous learning shows that you are willing and keen to grown into your next role or career. Undertaking continuous learning also helps you prepare for your next role by making sure you have current industry best practise knowledge and skills and are refreshing your knowledge. Soft skills are heavily sought after by hiring managers, particularly if you are looking to move up, but are valuable at all levels.

Courses to improve and develop your emotional intelligence, public speaking or communication and influencing skills will help build your confidence and show your eagerness to improve. You can also take courses in developing your problem-solving skills, leading productive meetings, providing excellent customer service and project management fundamentals, all of which add vital skills to your resume.

Achieve More with Aveling

Aveling has been leading professional training and development in Western Australia for over 25 years. In that time, we’ve worked with individual learners and corporate clients from across Western Australia and beyond, from a broad spectrum of industries, and each with their own individual and organisational goals.

We are passionate about helping you succeed; with our Nationally Recognised courses, you will receive free learner support workshops to help you as you progress through the course.

We are continually developing our courses to make sure they meet the changing needs of industry, education best practise and are optimised to help you achieve your goals, because our goal, is to help you ‘Achieve More’. More opportunity. More reward. More fulfillment. More satisfaction. More sustained business success.

Learn more about how Aveling helps you Achieve More.

Contact us if you would like to know more about any of our courses or discuss your needs.

Together, let’s Achieve More in 2024!

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