Leadership Style Evolutions

Your leadership team is underperforming. (And cracking the whip harder won't fix it.) Here's what nobody tells you about accountability: The harder you push, the less they deliver. I've watched CEOs destroy their executive teams this way: 🔥 Public callouts in meetings 🔥 Micromanaging every decision   🔥 Threats disguised as "motivation" 🔥 Fear-based deadline pressure Result: Your best leaders become corporate zombies. They show up. They comply. They stop caring. The expensive truth: Fear creates compliance. Clarity creates commitment. And you need commitment to win. Real story from last month: → CEO constantly berated his team for missing targets → 3 VPs quit in 6 months → Company lost $2M in transition costs alone Different CEO, different approach: → Created radical clarity around expectations → Listened without judgment → Built safety to admit mistakes early → Revenue up 40% in 12 months The difference? One used accountability as a weapon. The other used it as a framework for excellence. The 4 frameworks that create compassionate accountability: 1. RACI Matrix - Ends the "whose job is this?" chaos (Everyone knows their lane AND their value) 2. OKRs - Aligns hearts and minds (Shared goals create shared ownership) 3. EOS Accountability Chart - One person, one seat (Clear ownership without overlapping egos) 4. OGSM - Strategy meets reality (No more "I thought you meant..." conversations) But here's the key: These aren't hammers to hit people with. They're maps to help people win. The paradox of leadership: High standards + High support = High performance High standards + Low support = High turnover Your leadership team doesn't need more pressure. They need more clarity. Because when accountability comes from compassion, not control: → Problems get solved, not hidden → Leaders take ownership, not cover → Teams push forward, not back Stop managing through fear. Start leading through frameworks. Your leadership team is capable of greatness. But only if you create the conditions for it. Save this. Share it with your team. Because the best leaders don't create followers. They create owners. And ownership starts with clarity. P.S. Want a PDF of my Accountability Cheat Sheet? Get it free: https://lnkd.in/dpWsuT4b ♻️ Repost to help a CEO in your network. Follow Eric Partaker for more leadership insights. — 📢 Want to lead like a world-class CEO? Join my FREE TRAINING: "How to Work with Your Board to Accelerate Your Company’s Growth" Thu Jul 10th, 12 noon Eastern / 5pm UK time https://lnkd.in/dCJ-nCxM 📌 The CEO Accelerator starts July 23rd. 20+ Founders & CEOs have already enrolled. Learn more and apply: https://lnkd.in/dgRr89bM

Leader development doesn't happen just because they show up in an office. Leadership development is a key challenge for many firms, including a lot of hybrid and remote-first organizations that I work with. Managers don't know how to lead distributed teams, leaders who are under pressure to deliver and don't have time to learn, and gaps in who gets mentored -- and who doesn't. Michael Hudson and a team from Hudson Institute of Coaching have a case study on how they helped a global consulting firm build an environment that drove development into how people worked. Highlights below, and you should really read the details -- it's well structured and thought through: 🔸 Structured peer learning: Curated 6 person groups, diverse in experiences, backgrounds, and perspectives; "learning pods that might never have formed organically in a physical office." 🔸 Embedded development: Weekly 15 minute practices to build habits, continual learning and reinforcement. 🔸 Expert-facilitated sessions: Monthly structured forums for group learning and peer conversations. Expert coaches can help you get deeper, faster. 🔸 Competency-Focused Curriculum:  Targeted specific leadership skills, especially around issues like belonging among diverse populations and in distributed teams. Check out the article, linked in comments. Also, I'd personally recommend Hudson Institute of Coaching. I found their LifeForward program to be immensely impactful, and know a number of incredible certified coaches who have been through their program. #Leadership #Development #Coaching #Coach #FutureOfWork

📣 L&D/Talent Leaders - Your Input is Needed!📣 🌍 I've been on a quest to find a research-backed estimate of the number of hours leaders should commit to their professional growth and development each year. After reaching out to many associations, I've found that the numbers varied significantly without much consistency or research-based data. 🌍 To shed some light on this, I’ve compiled and analyzed various data points: 1. DDI's 2021 Global Leadership Forecast: Leaders spend about 4.4 hours per week on learning and development, totaling 229 hours per year. 2. Fortune 100 Companies: Approximately 35 hours per year focused on career roadmapping and leadership development. 3. IESE May 2023: Recommends leaders invest 5% of their time in training, roughly 100 hours per year. 4. General Training Data: Average employees received 57 hours of training per year, with some sectors offering up to 94 hours. 5. Specific Leadership Development Programs:   - Harvard and Wharton: Programs ranging from a few days to 5 weeks.   - University of Alberta: Advanced Certificate of Leadership totaling 126 hours.   - Edwards School of Business: 40-hour programs. 6. Corporate Examples: Various durations, from 2.5-day sessions to multi-month and multi-year programs at companies like JP Morgan Chase, Accenture, Deloitte, IBM, and EY. 7. Behavioral Psychology: Average of 66 days for a new behavior to become automatic. Based on this data, a balanced estimate suggests that leaders and aspiring leaders should commit approximately 100 hours per year to their professional development. This aligns with moderate to high commitment recommendations and reflects a reasonable investment in leadership growth. Now, I'm reaching out to the LinkedIn community for your input, data, and feedback to help validate this estimate. How many hours do you believe leaders should dedicate to their development annually? Do you have research or insights that support or challenge this figure? Let’s collaborate to refine this estimate and ensure we’re making informed decisions about leadership development! #LeadershipDevelopment #ContinuousLearning #ProfessionalGrowth #Leadership #LearningandDevelopment #SkillUp #BDOCanada #FutureOfWork

>> The biggest myth about leadership is that effective leaders rely on just one leadership style. There isn't a single style that fits all situations. The most successful leaders are adaptable. Every business and scenario requires a different approach. Here are 9 distinct leadership styles, along with their optimal use: 1. Commanding Leadership:   - How to Use: Make quick, decisive decisions and communicate them authoritatively. Expect immediate compliance.   - When Effective: Ideal for crises and new initiatives, but not suited for experienced, independent teams or when the leader lacks subject matter expertise. 2. Democratic Leadership:   - How to Use: Actively seek and integrate team input through meetings and discussions.   - When Effective: Effective for achieving consensus, but not ideal for urgent decisions or inexperienced teams. 3. Delegative Leadership:   - How to Use: Give team members autonomy and provide support only as needed.   - When Effective: Best for highly skilled, motivated teams, but not for those that require more structure. 4. Charismatic Leadership:   - How to Use: Share a compelling vision and motivate the team to embrace innovation.   - When Effective: Effective for driving change, but less suitable for stable organizations. 5. Servant Leadership:   - How to Use: Focus on team development and well-being by prioritizing their needs.   - When Effective: Great for building relationships, but not ideal for high-pressure situations or quick decision-making. 6. Pacesetting Leadership:   - How to Use: Set high-performance standards and lead by example.   - When Effective: Useful for achieving ambitious goals, but not for inexperienced or unmotivated teams. 7. Coaching Leadership:   - How to Use: Provide active mentoring and feedback to help team members enhance their skills.   - When Effective: Effective for skill development when time permits, but not for urgent decisions or unstructured teams. 8. Bureaucratic Leadership:   - How to Use: Rigorously enforce rules and procedures to maintain consistency.   - When Effective: Suitable for regulated industries, but not for flexible, innovative environments. 9. Strategic Leadership:   - How to Use: Formulate and clearly communicate long-term strategic goals.   - When Effective: Best for long-term planning, but not for immediate, tactical decisions. Always start by asking: What does the business need right now? Enhance your effectiveness—adapt your leadership style to fit the current needs. ---- 👉 Love my content? ☑ Follow me on LinkedIn: https://lnkd.in/gjUQk7HF 👉 Found this helpful? Share it! ♻️ Don't miss out! For exclusive AI and tech insights trusted by 430,000+ professionals at Microsoft, Google, Amazon, and more—join my free newsletter for cutting-edge strategies to keep you ahead in AI. 🔗 Subscribe now: https://lnkd.in/eFNvmcYa

While hiring for my team, Over the years, here’s what I’ve learned about building a team that doesn’t just work for you but builds with you: 1️⃣ Hire for attitude, train for skills – A positive, curious, problem-solving mindset beats a resume full of credentials any day. 2️⃣ Clarity beats charisma – Be very clear about the company’s vision, metrics, and growth path. A team aligned with a crystal-clear goal moves faster. 3️⃣ Empower, don’t micromanage – Give people the freedom to make decisions, fail, learn, and grow. Leaders emerge only when given space. 4️⃣ Celebrate wins, own failures – As founders, we take the blame when things go wrong but give the credit to the team when things go right. It builds trust. 5️⃣ Culture isn’t posters on the wall – It’s how people treat each other when no one’s watching. Build the right culture early; it compounds like interest. The right team will make you unstoppable. The wrong one will make you miserable. As founders, our real job is not building the product… it’s building the people who build the product. #Leadership #TeamBuilding #Founders #Startups #Entrepreneurship #CompanyCulture #LeadershipLessons

Accountability Nearly every organization I work with at the moment is focused on some version of creating a "high-performance" culture. Alongside this goal is a push for greater speed of decision-making, efficiency, and accountability. However, a common mistake many organizations make is treating accountability as a binary attribute—individuals are either seen as accountable or not. In reality, accountability is more nuanced. Understanding accountability as a spectrum is critical for cultivating a high-performance culture. The Accountability Ladder illustrates this concept by mapping out various levels at which individuals engage with their responsibilities, ranging from unaware or indifferent to becoming proactive and inspiring others. Those familiar with the Leadership Circle Profile will note that accountability transforms as leaders pivot from an external to an internal locus of control. This move from a Reactive to Creative mindset is a critical prerequisite. Here is a summary of each step on the ladder: Unaware: At this level, individuals are not aware of the issues or their responsibilities. They lack the knowledge necessary to understand what needs to be done. Blaming Others: Individuals recognize the issue but choose to blame others rather than taking any responsibility. They see the problem as someone else's fault. Excuses: At this step, individuals acknowledge the problem but offer excuses for why they can't address or resolve it. They often cite external factors or limitations. Wait and Hope: Individuals here are aware of the problem and hope it gets resolved by itself or that someone else will take care of it. There is recognition but no action. Acknowledge Reality: This is a turning point on the ladder. Individuals acknowledge the reality of the situation and their role in it but have not yet begun to take corrective action. Own It: Individuals take ownership of the problem and accept their responsibility for dealing with it. They start to commit to resolving the issue. Find Solutions: At this step, individuals not only take ownership but also actively seek solutions. They explore various options to resolve the problem. Take Action: Individuals implement the solutions they have identified. They take concrete steps to resolve the issue. Make It Happen: Individuals not only take action but also follow through to ensure that the solutions are effective. They monitor progress and make adjustments as necessary. Inspire Others: Leaders inspire and encourage others to take accountability, creating a proactive problem-solving culture. As a team exercise, try writing the steps of the accountability ladder on a whiteboard and ask: What level of accountability do we see across the organization? What level do we exhibit as a team (to each other and our stakeholders)? And finally, where would I place myself?

Great decision-making is where efficiency meets inclusion. When I work with clients, I emphasize that true leadership goes beyond simply making decisions—it’s about making the right decisions in the right way. This requires a delicate balance between inclusion and efficiency, two forces that, when harmonized, create a powerful synergy. I’ve captured this in the matrix, which I use as a tool to help leaders reflect on their approach: 1️⃣ The Soloist This is a leader who operates in isolation, relying heavily on their own judgment. While this can sometimes lead to quick decisions, it often misses the mark because it lacks the richness of input that diverse perspectives provide. The Soloist may find themselves struggling with blind spots or overlooking critical factors that others might have caught. 2️⃣ The Commander Such leaders focus on efficiency, sometimes to the detriment of inclusion. This leader makes swift, decisive moves, which can be effective in certain situations but often leads to disengagement within the team. Without a sense of ownership or shared vision, the decisions of a Commander might falter in execution or lead to resistance. 3️⃣ The Consensus-Seeker It represents a leadership style that values inclusion, perhaps to the point of over-collaboration. While this approach ensures that all voices are heard, it can lead to decision paralysis, where the quest for consensus slows down the process and results in diluted outcomes. The challenge for the Consensus-Seeker is to find a way to be inclusive without sacrificing decisiveness. 4️⃣ The Collaborative Leader It is the gold standard—someone who excels at both including diverse perspectives and driving efficient, effective decisions. This leader knows that inclusion is not a box to be ticked, but a dynamic process that fuels creativity and innovation. By creating psychological safety and encouraging diverse viewpoints, the Collaborative Leader harnesses the full potential of their team, leading to decisions that are not only sound but also have strong buy-in and are well-executed. 🔎 Why does this matter? Because the success of a leader is not just measured by the decisions they make, but by HOW those decisions are made and implemented. A leader who can navigate the complex terrain of inclusion and efficiency will not only achieve better outcomes but will also cultivate a more engaged, innovative, and resilient team. 👉 👩💻 If you’re ready to explore how you can enhance your decision-making approach in your company and move towards a more inclusive and efficient leadership, let’s connect. Together, we can unlock the full potential of your leadership journey.

Your team isn't lazy. They're confused. You need a culture of accountability that's automatic: When accountability breaks down, it's not because people don't care. It's because your system is upside down. Most leaders think accountability means "holding people responsible." Wrong. Real accountability? Creating conditions where people hold themselves responsible. Here's your playbook: 📌 Build the Base Start with a formal meeting to identify the real issues. Don't sugarcoat. Document everything. Set a clear date when things will change. 📌 Connect to Their Pain Help your team understand the cost of weak accountability: • Stalled career growth • Broken trust between teammates • Mediocre results that hurt everyone 📌 Clarify the Mission Create a mission statement so clear that everyone can recite it. If your team can't connect their role to it in one sentence, They can't make good decisions. 📌 Set Clear Rules Establish 3-5 non-negotiable behaviors. Examples:  • We deliver what we commit to  • We surface problems early  • We help teammates succeed 📌 Point to Exits Give underperformers a no-fault, 2-week exit window. This isn't cruelty. It's clarity. 📌 Guard the Entrance Build ownership expectations into every job description. Hire people who already act like owners. 📌 Make Accountability Visible Create expectations contracts for each role. Define what excellence looks like. Get signed commitments. 📌 Make It Public Use weekly scorecards with clear metric ownership. When everyone can see who owns what. Accountability becomes peer-driven. 📌 Design Intervention Create escalation triggers: Level 1: Self-correction Level 2: Peer feedback Level 3: Manager coaching Level 4: Formal improvement plan 📌 Reward the Right Behaviors Reward people who identify problems early. (not those who create heroic rescues) 📌 Establish Rituals Conduct regular reviews, retrospectives, and quarterly deep dives. 📌 Live It Yourself Share your commitments publicly. Acknowledge your mistakes quickly. Your team watches what you do, not what you say. Remember: The goal isn't to catch people failing. It's to create conditions where:  • Failure becomes obvious  • And improvement becomes inevitable. New managers struggle most with accountability:  • Some hide and let performance drop  • Some overcompensate and micromanage We can help you build the playbook for your team. Join our last MGMT Fundamentals program for 2025 next week. Enroll today: https://lnkd.in/ewTRApB5 In an hour a day over two weeks, you'll get:  • Skills to beat the 60% failure rate  • Systems to make management sustainable  • Live coaching from leaders with 30+ years experience If this playbook was helpful... Please ♻️ repost and follow 🔔 Dave Kline for more.

When developing leadership development frameworks for organizations, I like to ask their leaders this: “Can you pinpoint what helped you elevate your leadership? What happened that caused you to show up as the leader you are today?” I like doing this because you can find out what kind of learners they are, what’s already working in the organization, and what kind of development they’ll likely be open to in the future. In a recent sessions with leaders, the top moments were: 1. Their own leader seeing their potential and giving them a stretch opportunity. 2. Their own leader noticing what held them back and helping them work through it. 3. Self-awareness/reflection in a moment where they saw the opportunity to act differently so they did. 4. A situation where no one else was taking the lead, so they stepped up to do it. 5. Business classes at a university. When you compare the answers to most leadership development plans, you’ll notice that many organizations use workshops and classes as 80% of the way they develop leaders. Yet, leaders are saying that’s not what impacts them. And often the response to low transfer of knowledge becomes switching up the courses you offer leaders. But a more useful way to think about it is this: what if workshops and courses can only make up 15% of how we develop leaders - what could the other 85% look like? This is where the fun starts, for the organization, the L&D team, and the leaders. #leadershipdevelopment #learninganddevelopment

“A brilliant VP offended a Japanese client without realizing it.” The meeting room in Tokyo was a masterpiece of minimalism—soft tatami mats, the faint scent of green tea, walls so silent you could hear the gentle hum of the air conditioner. The Vice President, sharp suit, confident smile, walked in ready to impress. His presentation was flawless, numbers airtight, strategy compelling. But then came the smallest of gestures—the moment that shifted everything. He pulled out his business card… and handed it to the Japanese client with one hand. The client froze. His lips curved into a polite smile, but his eyes flickered. He accepted the card quickly, almost stiffly. A silence, subtle but heavy, filled the room. The VP thought nothing of it. But what he didn’t know was this: in Japanese culture, a business card isn’t just paper. It’s an extension of the person. Offering it casually, with one hand, is seen as careless—even disrespectful. By the end of the meeting, the energy had shifted. The strategy was strong, but the connection was fractured. Later, over coffee, the VP turned to me and said quietly: “I don’t get it. The meeting started well… why did it feel like I lost them halfway?” That was his vulnerability—brilliance in business, but blind spots in culture. So, I stepped in. I trained him and his leadership team on cross-cultural etiquette—the invisible codes that make or break global deals. • In Japan: exchange business cards with both hands, take a moment to read the card, and treat it with respect. • In the Middle East: never use your left hand for greetings. • In Europe: being two minutes late might be forgiven in Paris, but never in Zurich. These aren’t trivial details. They are currencies of respect. The next time he met the client, he bowed slightly, held the business card with both hands, and said: “It’s an honor to work with you.” The client’s smile was different this time—warm, genuine, approving. The deal, once slipping away, was back on track. 🌟 Lesson: In a global world, etiquette is not optional—it’s currency. You can have the best strategy, the sharpest numbers, the brightest slides—but if you don’t understand the human and cultural nuances, you’ll lose the room before you know it. Great leaders don’t just speak the language of business. They speak the language of respect. #CrossCulturalCommunication #ExecutivePresence #SoftSkills #GlobalLeadership #Fortune500 #CulturalIntelligence #Boardroom #BusinessEtiquette #LeadershipDevelopment #Respect