Disrupting Levels of Leadership

If you want to conduct an executive leadership training initiative, you will have to have a good understanding of what the needs of the organization are and how the organization is structured. Then, you can train everyone — from top-management to supervisors, by addressing them all as a group. The focus is to get everyone on the same page by training everyone the same way.

You may ask — why? The rationale is simple. Leadership is a competency that all levels of the organization need to have. And the only thing that changes, is the discussion during the training sessions that makes the training fit the needs of all followers:

• Professional Communication and Authentic Leadership works best when the followers require constant education and communication.
• Decision-making helps followers feel comfortable being a part of the organization and taking responsibility and feeling empowered.
• Motivating People is effective in situations where the followers are lacking the drive to be the best that they can be and lack enthusiasm. Positive results do appear in those already motivated, however.
• Managing People is useful with followers that may lack confidence — but with the right combination of organization and planning, leaders can instill a sense of control.
• Core Leadership Principles is effective in situations where the follower needs a prescriptive method of leadership, but remains flexible to adhere to the necessary changes as they occur.
• Leading Change is useful with a group that is facing rapid change and must remain competitive, or find themselves becoming obsolete and lack drive and initiative to innovate and create.

Level UP Leadership assumes that leaders are inspiring their followers and that the followers are responsive and engaged. The model proposes two contingency variables — such as top-management and training across each department — that moderate the leadership-training platform to be consistent, applicable, and enduring.

Top management must be the first to be exposed to the model. Top managers determine the type of leadership training required so that the organization as a whole not only improves leadership prowess but also prepares followers to be fully engaged.

Follower departments and positions feed into the overall certification process. Personal job responsibility is enhanced as followers become a part of an overall initiative to improve leadership across the organization. Effective top-level leaders clarify the need for training and development to help all followers to be engaged to not only learn the leadership traits but also implement them on a daily basis.

Executive leadership certification has demonstrated that employee performance and satisfaction are positively influenced when the top-leaders, along with the followers, complete the training together. Promotions, acknowledgement, recognition, and engagement are documented outcomes of the successful application of the Level UP Leadership model.

The Level UP Leadership model is useful because it reminds leaders that their central purpose as a leader is to help followers determine a path of success. It helps followers reach their goals and objectives, and most importantly, leaders help followers do this in an engaging and effective manner.

Mostafa Sayyadi works with senior business leaders to effectively develop innovation in companies, and helps companies—from start-ups to the Fortune 100—succeed by improving the effectiveness of their leaders. He is a business book author and a long-time contributor to business publications and his work has been featured in top-flight business publications.

Michael J. Provitera is an associate professor, and an author of the book titled “Mastering Self-Motivation” published by Business Expert Press. He is quoted frequently in the national media.