At the end of this course you will be able to:

Acquire basic knowledge on leadership
You will learn how to underpin your leadership style and understand why you are driven to behave the way you do. You will identify the leadership behaviours.

Enhance competences in maximizing performance of your team
You will consider the many elements of performance management that an effective female leader needs to think of, applying techniques in order to make your goals manageable

Access online resources regarding self- development
You will know what resources are useful to you

Female leaders who are very successful develop behaviours that can support and achieve exceptional results even when their natural traits do not necessarily match the activity required.

1.2.1 Typical Behaviours
Behaviors may be grouped into 4 main themes.

Leadership models can be useful in helping to understand the underlying processes involved. In the real world there are normally very many variables that will all impact your choice of approach:

• Your personality, motivations and skill-base
• The nature of the  issue being  addressed
• Previous interactions you've had with each member of your team/ family (in case of small family businesses)

1.3.1. Flexibility is the key It's essential  that  you remain  flexible to be able to respond  to situations  as they  develop. 

1.3.2. Keep an Open Mind You  should  keep an open mind  to  a wide  range  of different  approaches  especially those  you have not  tried  before.

1.3.3. Your Options Even if a leadership  technique   or behavior  is not  one that  comes naturally, you still have a number  of options:

• Persevere  to develop the  behavior  over time
• Understand   that  this is not your strength   and use alternative approaches
• Manage  the problem  by using  someone  else who you consider  as having  this  strength

1.3.4. Learning from bad Examples Think of someone in your community who was not very successful, and maybe it is a good idea to ask them about their leadership style! Learn from their mistakes!

1.3.5. Don’t copy! It is important that you draw lessons from real- life examples instead of just try to copy them directly!

2.1.2. Motivators are different
Your job, as a leader is to find out and understand ( not guess) what motivates your team members and specifically the key into these motivations in order to energize and get the very best from them.
Here are 5 ways to motivate you team:

• Discover what passions your people have
• Promote emotional security
• Create an environment of support and friendship
• Show your appreciation
• Take into account the environment

2.2.1. SMART model

2.2.2. Making Goals Manageable
It is normally beneficial to set goals with a degree of challenge, but it is also important not to set goals objectives or goals that are too challenging. If a goal seems unattainable, you run the risk of the individual giving up or not even trying for fear of failure.

Break it down! One of  the best ways of making a goal more manageable is to break it down into smaller sub- goals. Before you do this, take a step back and let the individual or team decide if it is too big.

2.2.3. Strengthening Goals
Using SMART to remind you of the key elements of an effective goal is fine, but in reality this only goes a small way towards setting in place and enduring and energizing goal.

Encourage your team to bring their end goal to life by asking them to visualize and describe to you what it will be like when they have successfully achieved their goal. 

2.3.1.CAN’T DO VS. WON’T DO
When an objective has not been met, you have to determine if the reason the individual didn’t achieve their objective is because they couldn’t do it or they could do it, but wouldn’t do it.

2.3.2. Maintaining focus
An important role of a female leader is to help team members to stay on track and totally focused on the things that matter.

There are various reasons why people can lose focus:

• If they are very enthusiastic, they tend to take on more than they can realistically handle
• They are so deeply involved in the task in hand that they lose sight of the bigger picture.
• If a task or a project is long- lasting, they may start to lose sight of the initial goal
• They are faced with a number of new competing priorities all appearing to be of equal importance

Here are some example questions to ask to help maintain an individual’s focus:

• Can you describe to me the end goal we initially agreed?
• On a 1- 10 scale , how focused are you right now? How can you improve your overall level of focus?
• How relevant is what you are doing to the overall objectives?
• Are there any of the things you are doing now that don’t directly contribute to the end objective?
• What could you realistically drop so that you can focus more on the most important priorities?

3.2.1. Discover Yourself

• Every time you are faced with a situation, whether  it's a meeting, the  analysis of some data  or even just replying to emails, you will be making  decisions  over your approach. 
• Become aware  of the thought   processes you make, the  actions  you take  and, if possible, which  behaviors  you bring  into  play in support  of your activities.
• Be hungry to take on new knowledge, competences or responsibilities.
• Keep your mind active and  stimulated by constantly seeking new challenges.