Awaken the leader in you

By Chaaminda Kumarasiri

Are you content just to stand around, listening to orders and follow-the-leader? Maybe, somewhere inside of you, you feel the desire to make things happen, to be the head, not the tail. Then this could be the ideal program that will ignite the flame within you to be the leader you desire.

The participants of our revolutionary Leadership Development Programs (LDPs) under the broader theme ‘Awaken the Leader in You’ have experienced a dramatic change in their lives in transforming the self from ordinary towards extra-ordinary leaders. We are pleased to hear the feedback such as “This was a life changing program for me” from them. This article unfolds the premise on which we, at The Human Capital Partner, design our revolutionary LDPs. 

Are leaders born or made?

Many motivational experts and leadership coaches prefer to argue that leaders are made, not born. This is primarily based on the behavioural theories of leadership where the focus is on the actions and it’s believed that the people can become leaders by learning and observation. This group argues, with evidence, that an ordinary person can be made an extra-ordinary leader via training and grooming.

Another group argues that no one can make leaders, they are just born. This is primarily driven by the trait theories such as ‘great man’. An individual’s personality is the unique combination of psychological characteristics that affects how a person reacts and interacts with others. This can be clearly seen in the people who are born with the makings of a leader – there are certain traits that differentiate leaders from non-leaders. This group challenges the first group, if leadership can be trained, everyone can become a leader, but in reality it’s not possible.

Leaders are born and buried

I think the problem with this divided view on the leadership is the way we approach the concept. I believe we all are born with necessary leadership ingredients, but have been deprogrammed along the way. As children, we were natural leaders – curious and humble, always hungry and thirsty for knowledge, with an incredible imagination; we knew exactly what we wanted, were persistent and determined in getting what we wanted, and had the ability to motivate, inspire, and influence everyone around us to help us in accomplishing our mission. 

However, over time, we got used to hearing, “No, Don’t, and Can’t”. We were told to keep quiet and not disturb the adults by asking silly questions. We got punished when we failed in our attempts to explore new things. We were forced to stick to the ‘syllabus’ and ‘curriculum’ and get through the exams. This pattern continued throughout the formal education and finally we become polite order takers for the corporate world. Instead of learning to become creative, independent, self-reliant, and think for themselves, most people learn how to obey and intelligently follow rules to keep the corporate machine moving.

Accordingly, I argue, those who claim that ‘the leaders are made’ do not necessarily make leaders. All what they do is awakening the leader that is already inside the person. Once you awake the animal you can make it stronger by feeding more nutritious food and vitamins. 

Leadership is a ‘Decision’, not a ‘Position’

Developing the Leader in you requires a process of unlearning and learning by self-exploration and self-honouring. This requires you to be brave and unlock the door to your inner self, going inside to the heart, accept the reality and finding your passion. Your ‘desire’ is the necessary ingredient in becoming a leader. But the desire alone can’t take you there unless you fuel it with ‘energy’. You won’t become a leader by just getting a title. This is where most of the political and authoritative leaders fail. You have to make a decision that you are a leader and then live by that decision so that the rest will fall in line. It must be noted that being a leader is not only about what you make others do. It’s also about who you are, what you know, what you do and how you do. 

Leadership has ‘no’ hierarchy

A few decades ago leadership was a title only for people at the top position of an organisation or people with power. Those days lower level employees were not expected to show too much ownership and proactive behaviour but just follow orders. On the contrary today employees at every level are expected to take higher levels of ownership, be proactive, demonstrate excellence in their work, show team-work, think out of the box, etc. In short; all that was once expected from people with higher position and power is now expected from every employee of an organisation. Thus today the definition of leadership is meant for people at every level.

HCP Leadership Development Hierarchy

As argued above, we all are born with leadership ingredients to become leaders and it can be awaken with appropriate dose of inducement and energy. However, not everyone has the ability to master the leadership capabilities to run organisations at the highest levels. The Human Capital Partner (HCP) designed the ‘HCP Leadership Development Hierarchy’ to reflect the gradual advancement of the leadership journey that begins with ‘leading self’ and move to the next levels of ‘leading others’, ‘leading teams’, ‘leading leaders’ and finally ‘leading organisations’. All LDPs run by HCP are designed based on the competencies captured in each level.

Leadership is unique

Traditional LDPs focus on teaching one-size-fits-all approach and attempt to make everyone the same type. However, we believe that each individual is unique and has his/her own personality and leadership style. One of the unique features of HCP LDPs is the individual focus with a feedback intensive approach to nurture the participant’s own style.

From change to transformation

Another unique feature of our leadership programs is that we offer transformation rather than change. Change is temporary whereas transformation is permanent. Most workshops have a motivational impact which is dissolved after a few days but in our programs we transform people’s behaviour through post workshop coaching and follow-up sessions based on the demand of the participants and clients. 

Customised programs for companies

Contact us to design in-house leadership workshops customised to your needs and objectives. We take 100% guarantee for the results of our programs or else we do not charge to our client. We don’t believe in charging for time or service, we believe in charging for results. 

The Facilitator

Most of the LDPs run by HCP are facilitated by Chaaminda Kumarasiri (CK) who is the Founder/CEO of The Human Capital Partner. He is a Chartered Accountant, Corporate Trainer, Leadership Coach, Strategist, Management Consultant, Lecturer, Researcher and a Writer with a wealth of knowledge and over 15 years of corporate experience, holding senior leadership positions in leading local as well as multinational organisations. 

He has won many awards and accolades both in his academic arena as well as in the career. His passion has always been to develop human capital to unleash its full potential. The overwhelming commendations he has been receiving for the training programs, workshops and inspirational speeches delivered by him, paved the path for him to launch The Human Capital Partner to Inspire and Empower the Human Capital. 

His ability to articulate complex technical content from a depth of knowledge in a digestible manner to the audience, the use of pragmatic examples and the flair for augmenting his training with current business dynamics and practical takeaways make him a unique trainer and leadership coach.

The next LDP for middle managers is held on 25 and 26 July at Ramada and the details of the program can be found in our website www.thehcap.com. Participants can register via mobile – 0770 540 540, email – [email protected] or online via the web. Register today to claim an early bird discount.

(The writer is CEO/Lead Trainer at The Human Capital Partner and can be reached via [email protected]).