This exercise facilitates the places to find new behaviors. Many times, we observe or read about a good leadership tactic, but we fail to turn it into actual behavior at the right time and place. As a result, we miss the opportunity to increase our leadership practice. This exercise is designed to revisit a place to learn that you have already experienced and turn it into a successful learning moment.
First, pick one of the following from your past experiences (or do this several times, with different inputs):
Think about a leadership book, video, or magazine you read lately – what approach or tactics did it describe that you liked?
Think about a mentor you had, someone who was good at leadership. What is one approach or tactic that he or she used successfully?
For the idea you selected, answer the following questions:
In what situation do you want to use this idea? When might this idea be beneficial?
What function of leadership does this behavior affect in the group – vision, relationships, or learning?
What desired effect do you want to create in the member or members? What response do you expect?
What behavior would you normally use in this situation? How are the results of your existing behavior unsatisfactory? How is the new behavior different from your preferred behavior?
Now, plan for your behavioral change.
Identify a trigger: how will you know it is time to use the behavior?
List the steps, if more than one: what component behaviors (visible, real-world actions) will you perform? What do you look like as you perform the behavior?
Describe a successful outcome: how will you know that the behavior worked? What will you see that shows the behavior worked?
Once you have the opportunity to perform the new behavior, revisit this exercise and evaluate your performance.