Our Ethos on Leadership Development

Aeona offers a number of training courses as well as bespoke 1:1 coaching for leadership development. We are particularly interested in Authentic Leadership, Centered Leadership and the relationship between leadership, trust, ethics, values, beliefs, motivation, sense of purpose, teamwork, and performance.

 

ILM Development Programmes

The Authentic Self Leadership programme establishes a strong foundation to truly know who you are and what you stand for, so you can be confident and authentic in what you do. The course establishes a foundation in what you know about leadership and leadership styles, which is essential in addition to your specific knowledge relevant to your field to be effective in a leadership role. This programme is a part of the Triple C leadership programme.

The Engaging Leadership programme builds skills in influencing others. Effective influence and engaging others involves effective communication – not just in the words you say, but how you say them, and the way you listen, and the way you show understanding of other’s perspectives and motivations, and how you create highly performing teams.

Thought-leadership conversations

Thought-leadership conversations are open events in Edinburgh.

 

 

Authentic Leadership

Effective leadership is about achieving a purpose and is all about influence, trust and integrity:

• Influence to inspire and motivate people who choose to follow your lead and work together to achieve a common purpose. Your followers give more than staff who are just doing things because the job title demands it. This is the essence of employee engagement, which the McLeod Report to the UK Government concluded transforms performance and profitability for companies and organisations.


• Your influence as a leader is much more effective the more your followers trust and believe in you. The Institute of Leadership and Management (ILM) research has shown that trust is a critical factor in effective leadership at all levels.


• Trust is not a scarce resource – we can all have more than we need, though it needs to be nurtured. Trust is fragile – once squandered, it is often impossible to regain.


• People trust, respect and listen to leaders who are authentic. Who you are speaks far more loudly than anything you could ever say – it is the impact of who we are being as we speak and act that leaves the greatest imprint on others. Our thoughts, attitude, beliefs and values shape who we are, and are strongly influenced by our childhood and upbringing. Authentic leaders work on knowing who they are and what they stand for. They invest in themselves to grow as leaders by being self aware and reshaping their beliefs and values, taking on and nurturing those that are positive or empowering and discarding those they have outgrown or are limiting. Authentic leaders walk their talk and live by their core values.


• Effective Leadership involves a balance between who and what you are, what you know and what you do, and a balance in focus of what you do between achieving the task, engaging individuals and building the team.


• Authentic Leadership links who you are as a person, i.e. your beliefs and values, with how you lead and manage, i.e. your thinking and behaviours. Your leadership style is intensely personal; no two people will ever lead in exactly the same way. Real leadership starts with being yourself. Authentic Leaders aspire to be their best selves – even though that can be a daunting prospect. However, being yourself is not quite as simple as it may at first appear. You cannot be yourself until you consciously know who you are at your core and what has made you the leader and the person that you are today.

Email Sue on info@aeona.co.uk for an article on discovering your authentic leadership.

 

Values and Values-based leadership

Our values reflect what is important to us and our motivations. Our values and our beliefs (whether conscious or unconscious, positive or limiting) drive our decision-making. As leaders, the more we can raise our awareness of our own and our organisations' values and beliefs to a conscious level, the more we can: use positive and empowering values as guiding principles to make fully informed decisions in alignment with the common purpose; improve performance by evaluating and addressing limiting beliefs and values; reduce conflict; and create an energy within ourselves and our organisation. Leaders' values and beliefs influence the culture of the organisation.

 

 

Emotional Intelligence

As you work your way higher up in an organisation to the leadership levels, what makes the difference to your success is no longer your knowledge, capability and technical skills, but rather your people skills: how well you relate to another person, your social and interpersonal behaviours. This is your emotional intelligence. Numerous surveys in the US and UK have reported that leaders who are high in emotional intelligence experience less stress, enjoy better health, perform more effectively at work, gain others’ co-operation, deal effectively with change, and stay employable. Research has found four crucial elements for successful leadership and avoiding derailment: The ability to establish good interpersonal relationships, to control one's emotions, to manage stress and to maintain a positive disposition.

Email Sue on info@aeona.co.uk for an article by Daniel Goleman on emotional intelligence and what makes a leader.

 

Working to Strengths

Strengths are “pre-existing patterns of thought, feeling and behaviour that are authentic, energising and lead to our best performance,” as defined by the Centre for Applied Positive Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania. Greatness comes from building strengths not eliminating weakness: strengths need to be nurtured while weaknesses should be recognised and their impact minimised. This can involve choosing activities that play to your strengths and collaborating with people who have strengths in your areas of weakness. Knowing what you are best at and using your strengths to be part of something you believe in contributes to leading a meaningful life. Identifying your strengths is associated with higher happiness and optimism and lower rates of depression. Evidence shows that a leader’s or manger's optimism predicts their project performance.

 

 

If you want to achieve more, make changes in your life and be more successful,
Contact Aeona today for a no obligation chat about our group coaching, 1:1 coaching or training.

Tel: 01875 830708
Mobile: 07809 672859
Email: info@aeona.co.uk

 

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