Coming across - not just being a boss
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Article from the Svenska Dagbladet Big Daily National Newspaper in Sweden (Sunday, January 17th, 2010)
Leadership training on stage
Don´t put your foot in the development discussion but instead use it to enhance growth both of your company and the employee. That is what the leadership consultants Per Klefelt and Peter Böök urge. They see the development discussion as an important tool in developing the company.
Peter Böök and Per Klefelt say that most companies have annual development discussions with but that many bosses have not had the necessary training in holding them and the discussions tend to lead nowhere. Given training the development discussions can be made effective.
Together they run Lead Com and have their office on the second floor of Spegelteatern in Stockholm. Peter Böök owned the theatre until about a year ago and the colleagues have found that the theatre surroundings are perfect for the courses they hold for business leadership and for the breakfast seminars they give.
Peter Böök has worked in the theatre as a director, professor and theatre leader. Per Klefelt started out as a drama teacher, studied mime and acting, but changed his career 25 years ago. Now they collaborate in the area of leadership development with a special weight on the development discussion, handling conflicts, rhetoric and recruitment in which they use their knowledge from the theatre and from their studies in pedagogic and sociology.
For example, they use exercises and role plays in their leadership training. Managers need training to be able to communicate better with their employees, both Per and Peter say.
- Most companies know that the communicative skills among their managers are important and yet they don´t prioritize training in communicative leadership. Lack of communicative skills can cost the company immense sums of money – and human pain. Not the least in the area of development discussions that don´t lead anywhere and where there are many holes to fall into, both for the manager and the employee, Per summarizes.
- The body language is an important part of the communication process that many forget, says Peter, leans back in the chair with crossed arms and looks slightly bored.
- That is one thing one shouldn´t do starting up a development discussion with an employee, he says and quickly sits up again.
- Too many questions are very common which turn the meeting more into an interrogation then into a development discussion. Many managers also do not have the ability to really listen which also sends the meeting down the drain, says Per.
The development discussion is important if the company is going to achieve set goals and grow, it is an important tool in developing the company, in developing the employees and in developing the manager.
Berit Edlund is HR manager at the pharmaceutical company Karo Bio AB and has a long experience as HR manager also at other companies. She agrees that the development discussion is extremely important both to achieve the companies and the individuals goals. She also agrees that many managers need training in how to deal with the development discussion.
- A couple of years ago we had managers that had practical training in this with Per Klefelt and Peter Böök. First they were given theory and then they trained on each other with Per and Peter listened and give direct feedback, she says. It was very effective.
Berit Edlund´s general experience from different companies is that managers are good at talking, for example in selling a message, but maybe don´t listen enough and need to train in listening and tolerating what the employee is communicating.
From the magasin `The Manager´February 1997
Program: Key Leadership Content: Practical communication for managers with the help of theatre and improvisation lead by trainers, actors and voice coach Where: Spegelteatern in Stockholm Time 4 x 2 days Participants 6 Company Lead Com AB Cost 45,500 Grade 5
Communication is the whole alphabet of leadership. The project leader Björn Tengberg was given the possibility to improvise and train with real actors at the program Key Leadership.
Björn Tengberg had searched for a way to develop his leadership when he got a tip about Key Leadership that several of his colleagues had taken part of. He works as a project leader at TAC Sv AB I Malmö and as such has a lot of contacts with people, both externally and internally. The company is world leading on indoor climate, has a turnover of over 3 billion and has totally 2,000 employees. TAC and TAC Sv AB in Sweden has 500 employees.
What did you do at the program? We were active the whole time. Four actors participated and we did different scenarios with them. We were given certain information but didn´t know what was going to happen and had to improvise and try to solve the situations. It was very realistic. It could be about handling a conflict, holding a development discussion, dealing with personal problems and different situations that come up at work. We got to chance to train many difficult discussions.
Wasn´t there any theory? Yes, but it was integrated in the different exercises in a very good way. This was a very different program without the traditional lectures and group work. We had a lot of fun and it was very developing, one really looked forward to the next session. The theatre format was interesting and pedagogical.
How many participants were you? We were three men and three women, and it was of course good that we were so few. In the beginning we were a bit inhibited but that disappeared fast. You really had to give it all, there was no way to hide.
What have you had the most use of? Well on that question I think most about the chance to work on argumentation and how to own a room and a meeting body-wise so that others will listen to you, and the other way around, how to use active listening. We were the whole time given tips and advice about how we interacted both from the trainers and from each other. All the training was very physical, we showed how we stand and move, that is to say the body language, how to do a presentation and working on the voice. It feels like we trained on everything and that no matter what situation I will come across I will have had a similar experience from the course.
Jane Bergstedt
Management Briefing News Lettre January 2009 Train your communicative skills with actors as employees
It is seldom that managers have the possibility to practice the different situations that they have to handle I their daily work. During the leadership development program, Key Leadership, managers get the chance to develop their communicative skills in among other things, case work. The program is run at a theater – Spegelteatern In Stockholm – and the managers employees are acted out by specially trained actors.
Key Leadership has been developed by Per Klefelt from the leadership development company Lead Com AB together with Spegelteatern/Peter Böök. Both have a long experience of acting, theater, leadership and leadership development. To help them they have several actors that are specially trained to work in the type of cases that the program consists of and a voice coach that also is an opera singer.
The program builds on techniques from the theatre where communication is the central tool. Internationally these techniques are used in manager training at for example the Shakespeare theatre in London; the Globe.
Experience based learning The cases are build around a fictional company. Situations such as recruitment interviews, feedback discussions, presentations and conflict handling are trained. The cases are surrounded by feedback given by the actors and the trainers Klefelt and Böök.
“The unique thing about this program is that it is so practical, you really get to taste and feel the different situations. The groups are small and there is a big openness”, says Erik Hvesser, Scandic Hotels, who has taken part in the program.
The program also includes - Improvisational training to enhance spontaneity and to break up old ways of thinking - Active listening - Training with a voice coach - A theatre performance which is discussed based on the communication between the actors and what motivates the individual character to act the way they do - Reading of novels that then are reviewed
Key Leadership totally consists of eight days and is given in four sessions with about three weeks between each session. This gives the participants time to think about their new experiences and to practice them in their own organization. “The idea is that the managers discuss their experiences from the program when they go back to their own company”, says Per Klefelt. The time between the sessions are also used by the trainers to adjust the program to the individual needs of the group and their wishes.
Enhanced self awareness and new meetings The benefit of this type of program is that the managers get a chance to train their communicative skills in a “safe” environment where they don´t have to be scared of doing the wrong thing. At the same time the participants get a chance to reflect on their way of acting in different situations. “Not many managers know how their employees feel about their leadership”, says Per Klefelt. Which signals do you send out and how do they reflect on the way your employees interpret your leadership? By enhancing you self awareness/knowledge and understanding you weak sides it is possible to turn around common, and often unaware, traits, to become better at communicating effectively and to handle difficult situations in a good way. “Personally I became aware of my voice and my body language and how I can use it”, says Eric Hvesser.
The around twelve participants are usually managers at different levels from companies in different areas. This makes for interesting meetings and new networks. |