Leadership Training

Citation

Mann, S. (2006), "Leadership Training", Leadership & Organization Development Journal, Vol. 27 No. 7. https://doi.org/10.1108/lodj.2006.02227gae.004

Leadership Training

Leadership TrainingLou RussellElsevierOxford2006£35 PaperbackISBN 0 -7506-6369-3213 pp.

Keywords Leadership, Competences, Work organization

Review DOI 10.1108/01437730610692489

Leadership Training is part of the Trainer's Workshop Series and promises a practical, hands-on “roadmap” to help develop competencies. Leadership Training does not disappoint and is a vibrant and useful means of improving leadership skills.

The pack consists of 11 chapters, photocopiable handouts, instruments and tools, and a CDrom. The book opens by explaining how to use the book effectively and closes with all the resources including explaining how to use the CDrom (a nice little touch – many texts bung in a disk but donot really integrate it into the main text.) In between, the workbook focuses on ten leadership competencies which include self-awareness, resiliency, coping with change and communication skills. But, where this workbook is most innovative, is that rather than then devoting a chapter to each competency as I had expected, once these competencies are explained, each subsequent chapter covers a practical programme-based approach to leadership training. For example, there is a chapter outlining a one-hour programme, another offering a half-day programme, another outlining a more in-depth full-day programme, etc. Help is provided in selecting the appropriate programme based on its intended purpose (for example, simply explaining the ten competencies could be done in an hour programme whereas focusing on one specific competency in more detail could be covered in a half-day programme) and numbers of participants (some are more suitable for smaller groups of 15-20 whilst others could be used with larger groups of 50+). The programmes are extensively devised with everything provided, from a detailed timetable breakdown to all slides and handouts. Some programmes can be customised and advice is given on how to achieve this.

The material is aimed at senior and middle managers or project managers – or anyone who wishes to develop their own leadership skills or those of others. The text is beautifully presented, with a range of icons to illustrate easily various features of each exercise (for example, a CD icon indicates that there are accompanying materials on the CD, a handout icon indicates that there are accompanying handouts, etc.). This makes the material easy to follow and easy to use whilst the exercises and assessment tools are clear and useful. Overall, Leadership Training is an excellent resource for developing leaders.

Sandi MannDepartment of Psychology, University of Central Lancashire, UK