The Eight Weapons of a Quality Leader in a "Team Focus" Environment

Presenter: Dr. Tim O'Hanlon, Managing Principal, Praestare Limited, Birmingham, United Kingdom

Keywords: Leadership, Teamwork, Change Management

Industry: Career Development

Level: Intermediate

ABSTRACT

After 40 years in leadership positions, Tim O'Hanlon discusses some of the fundamental competencies and behaviors of a quality leader. Benkei armed himself with seven weapons, and is often depicted carrying these on his back. In addition to his sword, he carried a broad axe (masakari), a rake (kumade), a sickle (nagigama), a wooden mallet (hizuchi), a saw (nokogiri), an iron staff (tetsubo), and a Japanese glaive (naginata). This presentation uses this legend to explore the following weapons of leadership 1. Focus on what and why 2. Inspire and empower 3. Decide and be compassionate 4. Monitor; coach and mentor 5. Trust, recognize and develop 6. Balance activity and outcome 7. Make the waves don’t ride them 8. Timing and luck The paper concludes by describing how leading a team using Paul Friga's "TEAM FOCUS" improves the dynamics and outcomes of a quality improvement project.