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The Working Supervisor's Support Kit is a collection of information and tools to help working supervisors do a better job. It's based on what Wally's learned in over twenty years of supervisory skills training.

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Independent business blogs are blogs that aren't supported by an organization like a magazine, newspaper, company, or business school. Those people provide lots of great content, but they don't need any additional exposure. In this post, every week, I bring you posts of quality from excellent bloggers that don't get as much publicity.

This week, I'm pointing you to posts on the business case for leadership development, engagement and how to get more of it, leading without saying a word, and a 21st Century leadership model.

From Great Leadership: The Business Case for Leadership Development
"If you happen to work for a great company, then chances are you won’t have to spend a lot of time and effort convincing anyone how important leadership development is. The primary reason your company is so successful and admired is because you already are.  Good for you! You can spend time actually developing your next generation of leaders and making your current leaders even better. However, if you’re not so fortunate, and you’re not willing to let your company go down the tubes without a fight, then here are 7 compelling reasons to take seriously, to invest in, and to put priority on leadership development."

Wally's Comment: In some companies you can take a version of the advice offered to those seeking a monument to Christopher Wren in London. If you seek leadership development, look about you.

In most companies you might not see much. That was the case for one of my coaching clients who convinced his top executives to put together a leadership development plan in his company. I bet he wishes he had Dan McCarthy's post to help.

From Compensation Cafe: Engagement: The Good Stuff
"Engaged employees are absent less, stick around longer and – most importantly – devote more of their discretionary time and creative energy to their jobs. But engagement’s tricky.  Difficult to quantify, frequently confused with satisfaction and tainted by doubts of its importance to the bottom line, engagement remains elusive to all but a few high performing companies."

Wally's Comment: There's an awful lot of silliness masquerading as advice about engagement. Laura Schroeder doesn't do that kind of thing. This post is understandable, sensible, and practical. It is straight from the No-Silliness Zone.

From All Things Workplace: Want Engagement? Allow The 'How'
"We humans want some sense of control over our lives. That often comes from freedom of choice about how and when a job gets done, responsibility for the success or failure of a project, or even freedom to interact freely across the entire organization. When offering up a plan (the 'what'), be sure to leave as much of the implementation ('how') as possible to those involved."

Wally's Comment: People want as much control as possible over their work life. And Steve Roesler notes that if you let them have it, they're more likely to engage. Simple, eh? Just not easy.

From Terry Starbucker: 7 Ways To Lead Without Uttering A Single Word
"There is much written about the words leaders need to use, both in speech and on paper, to be effective.   Words are certainly important, but there are other, more subtle messages that leaders send every day through their actions (or inactions) in the workplace."

Wally's Comment: This isn't about leadership by example. This is great advice about what you can shut up and do if you're the boss. It will make a difference.

From You're not the Boss of Me: 21st Century Leadership…Lessons from Julie Payette
"What does successful 21st Century leadership look like?  Well, according to a number of pretty eminent scholars and teachers, those who will help us navigate through this century’s challenges will only be able to do so if they can effectively manage across borders; collaborate for optimal results; and build strong connections with others, among other things. To me, this speaks to a kind of leadership that is more grey than black and white and more feminine in nature than masculine. But having chewed on that for a while, I had to ask myself: Who among us could possibly be representative of a leader who exhibits a healthy combination of masculine and feminine, leadership traits? And I came up with Julie Payette."

Wally's Comment: All I can do is repeat what Gwyn said. Here's an example of what 21st Century leadership might look like.

That's it for this week's selections from independent business blogs. If you liked this piece you may enjoy my regular post on "Leadership Reading to Start Your Week" which features five choice articles from the business schools, the business press and major consulting firms. The last issue had pointers to articles about retailers rediscovering local roots, the HP soap opera, CEOs and candor, Lawrence Burns, and Steve Jobs in the wilderness.

Find out more about my latest book, Ruthless Focus: How to use key core strategies to grow your business or just jump right over to Amazon and buy a few.

And be sure to check out Weekly Leader where I'll try to get you thinking about The Question of the Week.

Wally's Working Supervisor's Support Kit is a collection of information and tools to help working supervisors do a better job. It's based on what Wally's learned in over twenty years of supervisory skills training. Click here to check it out.