How a leader leads and is perceived to lead is crucial to the productivity of a group. This dramatised video-based training programme, illustrates the importance of leaders recognising and putting into practice behaviours that inspire people, rather than alienate them.

The video demonstrates one leader's behaviour and the results in two different situations - first as a newly appointed leader, and then five years later after he has learned a few lessons about leadership. We see him move back and forth between the two time periods, making unintended mistakes in the first situation and then successfully correcting them in the second. As he shares the leadership lessons he has learned, learners will recognise some of their own misguided behaviours and the negative effects it can have. They will also recognise the very positive effects of good leadership practices on staff motivation and productivity.

Key Learning Points:

• Ask yourself: "Would I follow me?"
• Understand how a leader's behaviour affects the success of a work group
• Don't dictate, facilitate; make sure staff have what they need to do their job
• Be honest, ethical; share information; keep your word; live by the same standards you hold your staff to
• Let people do their jobs; don't do their jobs for them; help them to find out what the goals and issues are and let them work it out from there
• Don't focus on the negative - focus on the positive and on what your staff are doing right
• Use mistakes as opportunities - a golden opportunity to make your staff better at what they do
• Be inclusive - staff are more likely to support a decision they feel a part of