10 October 2017
I attended an all day (~ 7 hours) “Leadership fundamentals” workshop on 10 October 2017 run by Learn4Results. The presenter of this course/workshop was Christine Katopis (course manager), the workshop was held at The Boat House by the Lake, Barton, ACT. There were about 25 people participated in this workshop, we were divided into 5 smaller groups in the class and involved in group activities and discussions. This workshop was designed to assist the new or experienced managers/team leaders to learn new sets of skills to lead their team, manage their service and staff. This workshop covered aspects such as:
- Understanding the role and expectations of managers/leaders
- Finding/identify your own leadership style and its effectiveness
- How to lead a team in a changing environment
- How to achieve team goals by delivering clear and achievable objectives
- How to give constructive feedback to improve staff performance
- Understanding and know how to delegate tasks
I decided to attend this workshop because in 2017 I assisted my manager/supervisor to lead the Serials team in Collection Management section, also I started to act on higher duties when my supervisor was on leave. As I was a new leader at that time, I was not sure if I had the right skill set at that time and I was trying to be an effective team leader on the go. I picked up some leadership skills by observing different style of leadership around me, from my direct supervisor, middle management to the senior management. By participating in this workshop, I believed I will gain theoretical knowledge and useful insights from other participants that will help me to understand, recognise, and shape my leadership style to be an effective and better team leader, also to be good role model for my team.
I gained useful insights and knowledge in how to give and structure constructive feedback to my staff member as the main takeaway from this Leadership Fundamental workshop and I believe it will enhance my current leadership style to lead the Serials team (and now Acquisitions & Serials team). When I was new to the role of team leader, it was hard at first (and still is) when I was trying to give constructive feedback to improve staff performance or to motivate staff to be a more effective staff member to achieve team goals. On one hand, I would like to give guidance for my staff what they could do better or do the task correctly according to the agreed procedures/manual but on the other hand I was worrying that I may offend them, and I found it a bit tricky. And now, every time I need to give constructive feedback to the staff member, I equip myself with useful tips I gained from this workshop such as:
- Write the constructive feedback before entering the discussion and use the BIEO structure/model and avoid strong words.
Behaviour: describe the behaviour that I observed, example: “I observed that there were
Impact: state the impact of the behaviour on team in achieving of teams’ objectives/goals, example: “It resulted in …”
Expectation: state the agreed/expected standards, example: “It is important that ….”
Outcome: request a specific change in behaviour, example: “Could we please ensure that …”
- Pick up the right place and time.
- Identify the communications style of the receiver of my feedback.
- Keep emotions in check and remain calm.
- Listen to the responses and try to understand the receivers point of view of my feedback.
- Clarify the expectations to avoid confusion.
- Do not forget to thank and encourage the receiver of my feedback.
(Learn4Results, 2017).
References
Learn4Results. (2017). Leadership fundamental workshop. Learn4Results.
