Leadership Development

Emotional intelligence: why managers should show a softer side

EQ can be just as valuable as IQ in the workplace. It is time we put empathy, encouragement, insight and self-awareness higher up the agenda
A good leader should be empathetic and try to understand how others feel.
A good leader should be empathetic and try to understand how others feel.
Softer skills can be dismissed as being irrelevant at work and historically it used to be considered unprofessional to show an emotional side in business. But times have changed and the importance of so-called emotional intelligence, or EQ, is now being recognised as an important leadership skill, helping govern behaviour and influencing our relationships with others, as well as our own performance and results.

In his 1995 book Emotional Intelligence: why it can matter more than IQ, psychologist Daniel Goleman described EQ as knowing how one is feeling and being able to handle those feelings without becoming swamped; being able to motivate oneself to get jobs done; being creative and performing at one’s peak; sensing what others are feeling; and handling relationships effectively.

While we are pretty much stuck with our IQ level, emotional intelligence can be developed until well into our forties. Regardless of whether someone is a born leader or not, most people can bolster their work performance by improving their EQ.

Getting in touch with your EQ
The first step in development is to know yourself – to become more self-aware and understand your strengths and weaknesses. Receiving feedback from managers and colleagues can shine a light on how we come across and provide insight into behaviours we need to develop or change. Some people find it helpful to use a mentor or a business coach to help them too. The key to development is to not be defensive about any feedback and instead see it as an opportunity for growth.

Becoming self-aware means recognising our flaws and understanding how we can improve. However, it shouldn’t be an exercise in self-criticism but an opportunity to address our weaknesses and focus on our strengths – a balance is vital.

Developing greater empathy is essential too. A good way to do this is to put yourself in other people’s shoes and avoid being judgmental. For example, perhaps one of your team has been unproductive for a couple of weeks. When you talk to them, you find out they are devastated by the loss of a pet. While you are perhaps not an animal lover, you may have experienced a sense of loss yourself for a different reason and can draw on this experience to show empathy.

In the past, emotions were often thought of as a set of characteristics that needed to be controlled at work as they demonstrated weakness and instability. It was believed that focusing on the task was the only way to increase efficiency.

However, we now know that to function professionally, we have to acknowledge and manage our emotions and others’ to encourage smooth communication and avoid conflicts.

Managing emotions doesn’t mean bottling them up or ignoring them, as this can lead to stress. It’s about understanding them and expressing them constructively. Emotions used positively can be hugely inspirational and motivational for others.

How to enhance your EQ
Here are some tips to increase your own emotional intelligence and that of your team:

Identify your strengths and weaknesses by asking for feedback and observing other people’s reaction to your behaviour. Instead of blaming them for their reaction, ask yourself what could you have done differently.
Get a mentor or a coach that will offer you honest feedback and challenge your behaviour.
Pay attention to when you feel negative emotions. They are usually a sign. If you are frustrated, ask yourself why. If you have explained the same thing three times and people still don’t understand what you mean, take responsibility. Doing the same thing and expecting different results is Einstein’s definition of insanity. Explain it differently. Don’t change the outcome, change the methodology.
Observe your team closely, notice their mindset and emotional state. Address any issues in a constructive manner.
Be empathetic and try to understand how others feel. You may not feel the same way as they do but you may have experienced the same emotion for a different reason. Use this experience to show empathy.
Have the courage to be wrong. Admitting mistakes and learning from themshows character and integrity.
Encourage open communication by listening and being curious about what is being suggested. People in the workplace can often be defensive and showing you are interested in them can open up better communication.
Take the time to acknowledge and thank your team for their effort, and celebrate success.

Original Article Guardian UK August 2015 Here>

Leadership: Politics Or Performance?

Step Out Of Your Comfort Zone And Lead
As we enter organizations, we each face a simple choice: Do we primarily play politics, or do we try daily to perform at our best?

Why do we often choose to play politics? Because the politics of the organization often appear to dictate who is hired, promoted and rewarded, and so playing politics seems to be our best chance to control our plight, especially in a volatile business climate.

Business is not predictable; in fact, outside forces are always creating disruptions that require major shifts in how we work together. We join a company that is headed in one direction, and the next minute it’s turning 180 degrees in another direction.

We can’t control all the market shifts; as leaders, we can only proactively respond to them or try to influence them and ensure that everyone moves with agility in the right direction.

But the big question is this: How do you get everyone to successfully shift, learn new skills, and embrace change for the good of the company?

In the process of change we, as leaders, are bombarded with an incredible amount of detail. Do we have to educate and train employees on a new business direction? Do we leave it to the Human Resources department, or do we educate a few who teach the rest? Who announces the shift and how? What happens if people are afraid of change or don’t want to take on the new challenges, for fear that they won’t learn as fast as others or, worse still, that they may fail?

And, what if you are the one having difficulty? You want to stay with your organization but don’t like the direction it’s headed. What do you do? Do you try overtly to influence other executives to change their minds? Or do you play politics behind the scenes, trying to keep everyone from changing?

Step out of Your Comfort Zone

Answer the following seven self-assessment questions and try to get a realistic picture of how you fare when faced with changes and pressures in the workplace.

1. When challenged by others: Do you doubt your own abilities to lead and allow fear to drive you into defensive behaviors? Or Do you engage with others to build partnerships for success?

2. When competition is fierce: Do you hold on to your old avoidance behaviors or rely on old strategies that have helped in the past? Or Do you focus on engaging with others to discover new strategies for success?

3. When expectations for performance are high: Do you get upset with employees because they are not delivering results? Or Do you focus on having developmental coaching discussions to help them reconnect to their aspirations and skills for success?

4. When your bonus is on the line: Do you step in and get involved in your employees work for fear they may make mistakes? Or Do you focus on engaging with others to discover new strategies for success?

5. When you manage a team: Do you give people the freedom to make decisions and then take back their power when they do things differently than you would? Or Do you focus on Letting Go and allowing them to discover their own answers?

6. When you are leading: Do you find employees retreating, avoiding confrontation, or losing faith in your management? Or Do you focus on encouraging employees to discover their leadership instincts?

7. When employees’ performance is low: Do you confront these problems by deciding it is easier to fire them? Or Do you focus on having courageous conversations and help them grow?

What does this self-assessment show you about how you function when faced with changes and pressures in the workplace?

I encourage you to engage with others to build partnerships for success—to co-create new strategies, to reconnect people to their professional aspirations, to enable people to discover their own answers and their leadership instincts by developing and using your conversational intelligence to have courageous conversations and help them grow.

Original Article here

by Judith E Glaser

psychologytoday.com

Good Leaders understand and use Autonomy

I was coaching a number of C-Suite Leaders from a large multi-national a few weeks ago and part of our work included the topic of Autonomy and its importance to Leadership. Great discussions and feedback reminded me there are some assumptions and some blind spots with regard to autonomy.

Autonomy and Motivation

The level of autonomy is the degree to which an organisation or leader gives their people the discretion or independence to schedule their work and determine how it is to be done. It can also mean allowing them to determine which work to do, trusting them to select their solution to a problem using their understanding of organisational strategy in the context of the organisations vision and goals.

Autonomy is important to motivation, one of the top three people motivators in fact. It helps your people feel they have some say in what happens and that they can make a difference in the world.

Autonomy is a key part of empowerment and engagement so including it and using it as part of one’s Leadership style is very important.

In a bureaucratic or hierarchical organisation autonomy is limited. Not only is this de-motivational but it retards decision making, response times, service quality and people growth over time. The more decisions people can make the more they learn and grow. Sometimes people make mistakes. People make less mistakes with experience, and when supported by training and communication and an understanding of the goals and objectives even less. Autonomy also allows the growth of your next stage of leaders who take over when decision makes leave or go missing.

 

How much Autonomy is needed?

This is something to judge in context. There is a difference between delegation and abdication. Throwing someone in at the deep end can teach them to swim, but sometimes they drown.

A good leader will encourage autonomy in their people. They will make a decision about the level of risk suitable to the roles involved. They will look at risk and work to mitigate through mentoring and support. So it is a complex decision but in general there is not enough autonomy given. Leaders who keep intervening to fix the problem are often well meaning but this is not the best solution in the long term. Serving your team is about putting in place that which is needed for the team to thrive. Some leaders only give Autonomy to some of their people and often need to review how their perspective or opinion of some of their people (particularly those not being given autonomy) is influencing who gets autonomy and who does not. This can be a blind spot.

 

Leaderships own Autonomy

It is also a good exercise to examine one’s own relationship with autonomy. A Leader who has no autonomy is not a Leader.  He or she is a manager. In a bureaucratic organisation, a “leader” who is all about control and “the rules” cannot inspire or motivate or engage the people around him. If this person becomes about growing his or her people, about carving out autonomy and with resources, empowerment – then he or she becomes a leader.

On the other hand a leader who is overly focused on their own autonomy may have problems aligning with the organisations goals and objectives. This can become apparent when change happens and the organisation is forced to change direction. Sometimes these leaders become about their own power, whether this is used for their own ends or to protect their own team this can cause tensions in the organisation.

A key part of leadership growth is to become aware of their relationship with autonomy. Both their own and that of their people. Part of this relationship is often emotional and often this can be a part of mindfulness or awareness work.

Aidan Higgins

Leadership diseases – according to Pope Francis

Pope gives two thumbs up as he leaves general audience at VaticanPope Francis is gaining admiration for his Leadership Qualities, and his focus on service, his humility and his leading by example. As a leader he is at the head of a massive community and “corporation” going through huge change. He recently listed out things to be avoided by Leaders and called them diseases of Leadership. Translated by Professor Gary Hamel they are direct and to the Point and worth reading if only for comparison with your own style:

The leadership team is called constantly to improve and to grow in rapport and wisdom, in order to carry out fully its mission. And yet, like any body, like any human body, it is also exposed to diseases, malfunctioning, infirmity. Here I would like to mention some of these “

[leadership] diseases.” They are diseases and temptations which can dangerously weaken the effectiveness of any organization.

The disease of thinking we are immortal, immune, or downright indispensable, [and therefore] neglecting the need for regular check-ups. A leadership team which is not self-critical, which does not keep up with things, which does not seek to be more fit, is a sick body. A simple visit to the cemetery might help us see the names of many people who thought they were immortal, immune, and indispensable! It is the disease of those who turn into lords and masters, who think of themselves as above others and not at their service. It is the pathology of power and comes from a superiority complex, from a narcissism which passionately gazes at its own image and does not see the face of others, especially the weakest and those most in need. The antidote to this plague is humility; to say heartily, “I am merely a servant. I have only done what was my duty.”

Another disease is excessive busyness. It is found in those who immerse themselves in work and inevitably neglect to “rest a while.” Neglecting needed rest leads to stress and agitation. A time of rest, for those who have completed their work, is necessary, obligatory and should be taken seriously: by spending time with one’s family and respecting holidays as moments for recharging.

Then there is the disease of mental and [emotional] “petrification.” It is found in leaders who have a heart of stone, the “stiff-necked;” in those who in the course of time lose their interior serenity, alertness and daring, and hide under a pile of papers, turning into paper pushers and not men and women of compassion. It is dangerous to lose the human sensitivity that enables us to weep with those who weep and to rejoice with those who rejoice! Because as time goes on, our hearts grow hard and become incapable of loving all those around us. Being a humane leader means having the sentiments of humility and unselfishness, of detachment and generosity.

The disease of excessive planning and of functionalism. When a leader plans everything down to the last detail and believes that with perfect planning things will fall into place, he or she becomes an accountant or an office manager. Things need to be prepared well, but without ever falling into the temptation of trying to eliminate spontaneity and serendipity, which is always more flexible than any human planning. We contract this disease because it is easy and comfortable to settle in our own sedentary and unchanging ways.

The disease of poor coordination. Once leaders lose a sense of community among themselves, the body loses its harmonious functioning and its equilibrium; it then becomes an orchestra that produces noise: its members do not work together and lose the spirit of camaraderie and teamwork. When the foot says to the arm: ‘I don’t need you,’ or the hand says to the head, ‘I’m in charge,’ they create discomfort and parochialism.

There is also a sort of “leadership Alzheimer’s disease.” It consists in losing the memory of those who nurtured, mentored and supported us in our own journeys. We see this in those who have lost the memory of their encounters with the great leaders who inspired them; in those who are completely caught up in the present moment, in their passions, whims and obsessions; in those who build walls and routines around themselves, and thus become more and more the slaves of idols carved by their own hands.

The disease of rivalry and vainglory. When appearances, our perks, and our titles become the primary object in life, we forget our fundamental duty as leaders—to “do nothing from selfishness or conceit but in humility count others better than ourselves.” [As leaders, we must] look not only to [our] own interests, but also to the interests of others.

The disease of existential schizophrenia. This is the disease of those who live a double life, the fruit of that hypocrisy typical of the mediocre and of a progressive emotional emptiness which no [accomplishment or] title can fill. It is a disease which often strikes those who are no longer directly in touch with customers and “ordinary” employees, and restrict themselves to bureaucratic matters, thus losing contact with reality, with concrete people.

The disease of gossiping, grumbling, and back-biting. This is a grave illness which begins simply, perhaps even in small talk, and takes over a person, making him become a “sower of weeds” and in many cases, a cold-blooded killer of the good name of colleagues. It is the disease of cowardly persons who lack the courage to speak out directly, but instead speak behind other people’s backs. Let us be on our guard against the terrorism of gossip!

The disease of idolizing superiors. This is the disease of those who court their superiors in the hope of gaining their favor. They are victims of careerism and opportunism; they honor persons [rather than the larger mission of the organization]. They think only of what they can get and not of what they should give; small-minded persons, unhappy and inspired only by their own lethal selfishness. Superiors themselves can be affected by this disease, when they try to obtain the submission, loyalty and psychological dependency of their subordinates, but the end result is unhealthy complicity.

The disease of indifference to others. This is where each leader thinks only of himself or herself, and loses the sincerity and warmth of [genuine] human relationships. This can happen in many ways: When the most knowledgeable person does not put that knowledge at the service of less knowledgeable colleagues, when you learn something and then keep it to yourself rather than sharing it in a helpful way with others; when out of jealousy or deceit you take joy in seeing others fall instead of helping them up and encouraging them.

The disease of a downcast face. You see this disease in those glum and dour persons who think that to be serious you have to put on a face of melancholy and severity, and treat others—especially those we consider our inferiors—with rigor, brusqueness and arrogance. In fact, a show of severity and sterile pessimism are frequently symptoms of fear and insecurity. A leader must make an effort to be courteous, serene, enthusiastic and joyful, a person who transmits joy everywhere he goes. A happy heart radiates an infectious joy: it is immediately evident! So a leader should never lose that joyful, humorous and even self-deprecating spirit which makes people amiable even in difficult situations. How beneficial is a good dose of humor! …

The disease of hoarding. This occurs when a leader tries to fill an existential void in his or her heart by accumulating material goods, not out of need but only in order to feel secure. The fact is that we are not able to bring material goods with us when we leave this life, since “the winding sheet does not have pockets” and all our treasures will never be able to fill that void; instead, they will only make it deeper and more demanding. Accumulating goods only burdens and inexorably slows down the journey!

The disease of closed circles, where belonging to a clique becomes more powerful than our shared identity. This disease too always begins with good intentions, but with the passing of time it enslaves its members and becomes a cancer which threatens the harmony of the organization and causes immense evil, especially to those we treat as outsiders. “Friendly fire” from our fellow soldiers, is the most insidious danger. It is the evil which strikes from within. As it says in the bible, “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste.”

Lastly: the disease of extravagance and self-exhibition. This happens when a leader turns his or her service into power, and uses that power for material gain, or to acquire even greater power. This is the disease of persons who insatiably try to accumulate power and to this end are ready to slander, defame and discredit others; who put themselves on display to show that they are more capable than others. This disease does great harm because it leads people to justify the use of any means whatsoever to attain their goal, often in the name of justice and transparency! Here I remember a leader who used to call journalists to tell and invent private and confidential matters involving his colleagues. The only thing he was concerned about was being able to see himself on the front page, since this made him feel powerful and glamorous, while causing great harm to others and to the organization.

Friends, these diseases are a danger for every leader and every organization, and they can strike at the individual and the community levels.

____________________
Professor Hamel suggests you use the Pope’s inventory of leadership maladies to find out if you are a healthy leader.
Ask yourself, on a scale of 1 to 5, to what extent do I . . .

Feel superior to those who work for me?
Demonstrate an imbalance between work and other areas of life?
Substitute formality for true human intimacy?
Rely too much on plans and not enough on intuition and improvisation?
Spend too little time breaking silos and building bridges?
Fail to regularly acknowledge the debt I owe to my mentors and to others?
Take too much satisfaction in my perks and privileges?
Isolate myself from customers and first-level employees?
Denigrate the motives and accomplishments of others?
Exhibit or encourage undue deference and servility?
Put my own success ahead of the success of others?
Fail to cultivate a fun and joy-filled work environment?
Exhibit selfishness when it comes to sharing rewards and praise?
Encourage parochialism rather than community?
Behave in ways that seem egocentric to those around me?

As in all health matters, it’s good to get a second or third opinion. Ask your colleagues to score you on the same fifteen items. Don’t be surprised if they say, “Gee boss, you’re not looking too good today.” Like a battery of medical tests, these questions can help you zero in on opportunities to prevent disease and improve your health. A Papal leadership assessment may seem like a bit of a stretch. But remember: the responsibilities you hold as a leader, and the influence you have over others’ lives, can be profound. Why not turn to the Pope — a spiritual leader of leaders — for wisdom and advice?

Adapted from the Original Article by Gary Hamel – Harvard Business Review – Original Article

Calculating the Market Value of Leadership

leadership300Leadership is critically important to company performance. Putting a value on it may lead to greater investment in leadership development as a result of a change in priorities for resource allocation.

In recent years, investors have learned that defining the market value of a firm cannot just be based on finances. These financial outcomes have been found to predict only about 50% of a firm’s market value. Another challenge is that this financial information has become widely known and shared, meaning that the investor insights it affords are hardly unique.

To gain more insights into a specific firm, investors have shown more interest in intangibles like strategy, brand, innovation, systems integration, collaboration, and so on. Investors have also worked to track and measure these intangibles, even if more subjective. The next step for investors is to analyze the predictors and drivers of these intangible factors — which means focusing on leadership.

Wise, long term investors recognize that leadership affects firm performance. But too often, assessments of leadership are haphazard and narrow. For instance, in our research, we found that investors allocate about 30% of their decision making based on quality of leadership, and they have much less confidence in their ability to assess leadership than in their assessments of financial or intangible performance. Investors may say “this leader is charismatic, has a vision, or treats people well” but there is little analysis behind what has often become a “gut feel” approach.

Numerous studies have shed light on what good leadership is; synthesizing this research into useful insights for investors would help counteract intuitive leadership assessments. A leadership capital index would inform investors about the readiness of the firm’s leadership to meet business challenges.

The leadership ratings index we have developed has two dimensions, or domains: individual and organizational.

Individual refers to the personal qualities (competencies, traits, characteristics) of both the top leader and the key leadership team in the organization.

Organizational refers to the systems these leaders create to manage leadership throughout the organization and the application of organization systems to specific business conditions.

Individual:

  1. Personal proficiency: To what extent do leaders demonstrate the personal qualities to be an effective leader (e.g. intellectual, emotional, social, physical, and ethical behaviors)?
  2. Strategist: To what extent do leaders articulate a point of view about the future and accordingly adjust the firm’s strategic positioning?
  3. Executor: To what extent do leaders make things happen and deliver as promised?
  4. People manager: To what extent do leaders build competence, commitment, and contribution of their people today and tomorrow?
  5. Leadership differentiator: To what extent do leaders behave consistent with customer expectations?

Organizational:

  1. Culture capability: To what extent do leaders create a customer-focused culture throughout the organization?
  2. Talent management: To what extent do leaders manage the flow of talent into, through, and out of the organization?
  3. Performance accountability: to what extent do leaders create performance management practices that reinforce the right behaviors?
  4. Information: To what extent do leaders manage information flow throughout the organization (e.g., from top to bottom, bottom to top, and side to side)?
  5. Work practices: To what extent do leaders establish organization and governance that deal with the increasing pace of change in today’s business setting?

 

While it may not be easy to precisely track each of these 10 elements, when investors include them in interviews, observations, surveys, and reports, they will dramatically increase their ability to realize full firm value.

Boards of directors can have a more thorough process for evaluating the quality of leadership within their organization. C-suite executives who have primary responsibility for firm value can include leadership as part of this discussion. Leadership development specialists charged with developing leaders can focus less on personal characteristics of leaders and more how investors might view them.

Realizing the market value of leadership could also have a significant impact on many organization processes: risk management, governance, social responsibility, reputation, and leadership development. Each of these processes could be upgraded with a disciplined and through approach to assessing leadership.

Transitioning from a “gut feel” or narrow assessment of leadership to an index that can start to predict the impact leaders have on intangible value creation changes the game of leadership assessment and development.

The leadership capital index will help investors and others improve their approach to firm valuation. When leadership capital becomes a factor in investor judgments, it will naturally receive more emphasis in day-to-day corporate life, to the benefit of many. It is now time for investors and others to use a leadership capital index.

Adapted from an original article by David Ulrich and Allan Freed , HBR April 2015

Original Article here

What is this Employee Engagement that is so critical to Organisational success?

IMG_1207The now well circulated Gallup Poll of 2013 on Employee Engagement found that on average up to 70% of employees were not engaged with their organisation effectively meaning 35% of spend on people was wasted. Further a large portion of these employees were actively working against the interests of their organisation. These numbers are scary. The estimated cost to the US economy is 500Bn (yes Billion) per annum. It also means that in an average 100 employee company it costs around 1.5 Million per annum – excluding the cost of negative activity.

Employee engagement is an enabler for the factors an organization needs to thrive – better customer satisfaction and retention, better employee retention, increased sales and increased productivity. Engaged employees excel at what they do.

So what is engagement?

Employee engagement is the emotional commitment the employee has to the organization and its goals.

To engage employees it is necessary to provide an environment and a culture, through Leadership and good management practice, that encourages alignment with the Organisations goals:

Employees are clear about what is expected of them at work. They also know their boundaries and limits. They can take a risk and know someone has their back.

Employees feel they are listened to and that their opinion counts and makes a difference.

Everybody feels they are moving forward, learning and growing. This is more than just experience, its learning new skills, adapting to new challenges and keeping up with changes.

The people who work in the company are given the materials and resources to do their job. They can focus on doing the job, not resourcing it.

Everyone understands the “why” of the organisation. What it is the Organisation is about.  This aligns with the individual’s purpose and values.

Employees get to be their best, work their best and reach their potential while doing their job. The Organisation does not get in the way of them doing their job – for example systems, paperwork, form filling etc. do not become the main activity.

People work in teams that are jointly committed to quality work, similar effort and which are led, or managed, to ensure strong relations, fairness and team as well as individual recognition.

Praise or feedback is received regularly (weekly) and is tied to evaluating and discussing  overall progress and upskilling. Personal development is encouraged and the “Boss” or “Manager” cares about the employee as a person.

The key to engagement is to create an environment and a culture which encourages Autonomy, Motivation, Empowerment and Positive Realism. It requires Authentic Leadership and a Service focus to encourage the fairness, trust and safety in which to grow the potential of your people and your Organisation.

Aidan Higgins

The tools for a radical new kind of leadership

Dr Scilla Elworthy with Desmond Tutu.

Dr Scilla Elworthy with Desmond Tutu. Photograph: Rosie Houldsworth

Working with leaders like Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu, Scilla Elworthy has learned that inner work is the most important prerequisite for effective leadership

Brilliance, charisma and eloquence are essential gifts for a leader, but they are no longer sufficient. In a world of spin, unsubstantiated claims and the pressure of lobbyists, today’s leaders have to be credible. We have to have a reason to believe them.

This not only needs a radical rethinking of values; it requires work. That work is internal, because the leaders needed today have to be authentic and you can only discover your authenticity by enquiring within.

In half a century of working with leaders in key conflict areas, such as Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu, the most important lesson I learned was that inner work is a prerequisite for effectiveness. Results achieved by a leader are in direct ratio to their perceived authenticity.

I also see this in those supported by Peace Direct, who risk their lives daily so that others don’t get killed. They have addressed and overcome their fear. Henri Bura Ladyi regularly faces militants in the Congolese bush to trade goats for child soldiers, and takes the children home to their families. He and his colleagues have convinced 4,532 militia fighters to lay down their weapons and leave the bush.

People recognise this kind of courage instantly. It means you care less about your own safety or reputation than about what you are trying to achieve for others.

Daily priorities are changing from ‘me’ to ‘we’

This is the dramatic underlying shift in leadership that is beginning to take place – the change in daily priorities from ‘me’ to ‘we’. Such leaders care less about how much they have and more about how much they can offer. They want to improve things for others, rather than impress.

This approach requires a radical revision of how we see the world and young social entrepreneurs are at the cutting edge of it. During the summer of 2013 I helped train young entrepreneurs from Colombia, Morocco, Egypt, Lebanon, Kenya, Mauritius, India, Pakistan, Azerbaijan, Bosnia, Germany, the Netherlands, Russia, Uganda, Ukraine and the UK to become builders of the kind of world they want.

There were 100 applicants for every place on the course, run by the Do School based in Hamburg, Germany. The alumni of previous courses are back home, using the skills they learned. Do School fellows work on their start-ups in more than 50 countries, spending over 30,000 hours working on innovative ventures to solve local problems in their communities, touching the lives of over 100,000 people. In response to demand, hundreds of such courses are now being run around the world.

Besides all the technical skills they needed to research their projects, build a website, raise start-up funds and so on, I taught them the inner skills that are vital in really transforming the world: skills to build trust in their teams, resolve conflict quickly and effectively, and speak truth to power.

Self-awareness at the individual level is what can enable each person to wake up and do what’s needed to ensure our future on this planet – to change the world from the bottom up. I’m certain a different future for all humanity is possible, if only leaders wake up.

Waking up means more than just quiet meditation

Interestingly, this is happening now in the corporate world. Reflection, mindfulness and inner work are all seen as essential tools by many leading companies, and extensively featured in the Financial Times and on the cover of Time Magazine.

But waking up means more than just quiet meditation. It means the kind of self-awareness and self-knowledge that can only be gained by honest self-questioning.

Working with the global executives of a major international company recently, I asked them to sit in pairs for 40 minutes. They had to keep eye contact and listen intently while their partner answered questions like: “what’s disturbing you in your life?”, “what are you yearning for?” and “what’s your highest potential?”

Each partner took a turn answering – going well below the cognitive to the gut level – and then listening, which meant giving absolute attention. At first they hated it. Bodies squirmed with the embarrassment of eye contact and personal honesty. But at the end they had a new take on this kind of work, claiming “fifteen minutes of this kind of communication is worth four hours of discussion”.

This kind of approach to communication takes a couple of days to learn and then it’s a tool for life. If businesses combine it with a radical revision of values and the courage to see beyond personal gain, it will help equip them to join the shift in leadership starting to take place globally.

If the mantra of the 20th century was “what can I get?”, the mantra of this century may well turn out to be “what can I give?”

Original Article by Scilla Elworthy from the Guardian (UK)

How to improve leadership skills with Emotional Intelligence

Leadership and Emotional Intelligence

Emotional Intelligence

Emotional Intelligence is key to Leadership

When corporate leaders struggle with team relationships, it’s often a question of people taking the time to understand one another. In order to overcome this common leadership challenge, it’s often helpful to take a look at a leader’s “emotional intelligence.” While companies look for intelligent, capable individuals to promote into leadership positions, sometimes awareness of emotional factors can play a huge role in how effectively that person leads a team of people.

Emotional Intelligence ( EI ) is the capacity a leader has to effectively perceive, express, understand and manage emotions in an effective and appropriate manner. Research has proven that EI is a strong predictor of success in the workplace, more so than IQ, skill sets, personality and experience. In essence, EI equals interpersonal effectiveness, and the more effective a leader is with others, the more successful that leader will be.

Enhancing and developing greater awareness and application of EI will have a significant impact on all aspects of your life, including more self-awareness and improved relationships with co-workers, family, friends and others who are significant in your life. Leaders who improve their EI capabilities are able to decrease stress, personally and professionally, enhance interpersonal relationships, and demonstrate greater leadership and decision making skills. Even more important, raising EI has a direct and positive effect on your level of consciousness. When one raises their level of awareness, they raise their energy level and their consciousness.

Here are a few tips to improve leadership skills with greater Emotional Intelligence:

1. Begin by taking notice of how your thoughts affect your emotions, and how your emotions affect your actions. Self-awareness is the key to beginning to shift your energy and increase your EI. As you go through your day, be aware of how you react to situations, and what thoughts are going through your head as you do. If someone cuts you off on the road, and your thought is, “What an idiot!” your resulting emotion would be anger. If you think instead, “Wow, he must really be in a hurry to get someplace,” your emotion would most likely be very different. As you become more self-aware, you’ll be able to identify what triggers your emotions.

2. Keep a Leadership Journal or notebook about areas to improve your awareness and expression of your emotions. What is working, and what is not working for you? What relationships need improvement? This step helps one commit as well as shows a progression of that change.

3. Journal about ways to manage and control your emotions. What has been effective for you, and what has not? How do you want to respond and how can you do so?

4. Each day, set your intention to be more aware of your thoughts/feelings and how they might affect you and/or others.

5. When a leadership struggle or situation causes you to be angry or upset, give yourself 5-10 minutes alone, prior to taking action. Then ask yourself what would be the best way to address the situation. Think about the energy level at which you would like to respond. Taking a little break will help you respond as you would like, not just go with your ‘knee-jerk’ reaction.

6. Seek out others who will assist you (maybe a mentor), objectively, in providing observations of how they experience you expressing and /or managing/controlling your emotions within leadership situations. You might be surprised at how others view you.

7. Tell others you want to increase your understanding of their thoughts and feelings and “check-in” with them periodically – this will help you become more aware of your perceptions as a leader versus the reality of their feelings.

8. After getting buy-in, think about offering feedback to those around you about their emotional awareness, expression and management.

9. Practice incorporating new leadership skills and behaviors and being aware of how others respond to you.

10. Interview others who demonstrate high EI and effective leadership techniques, to learn some of their strategies for responding to stressful situations.

11. If necessary, hire a professional coach. Coaching is about an honest, trusting, open and committed partnership designed to help you reach your goals faster, more productively and you’ll achieve greater balance in your work and life.

I hope these tips will help you focus on your understanding and your ability to monitor your own and other people’s emotions and use this emotional information to guide your thinking, behavior and relations with others.

Original Article by Brad Parcells in peopledevelopmentmagazine.com

Putting your Heart into Leadership – Emotional Intelligence

Emotional-Intelligence-heart-in-headLeadership and Emotional Intelligence (EQ)

Emotional Intelligence is also referred to as our Emotional Intelligence Quotient or the degree to which our emotional intelligence is developed. For many years we have known about and used IQ (Intelligence Quotient) as a measure of our personal effectiveness and ability to deal with problems of varying degrees of complexity.

So what is emotional intelligence?

Freedman et al defines it as follows:

‘Emotional Intelligence is a way of recognising, understanding, and choosing how we think, feel, and act. It shapes our interactions with others and our understanding of ourselves. It defines how and what we learn; it allows us to set priorities; it determines the majority of our daily actions. Research suggests it is responsible for as much as 80% of the “success” in our lives.’

From ‘Handle with Care: Emotional Intelligence Activity Book’

David Caruso gives us a slightly different definition:

‘It is very important to understand that emotional intelligence is not the opposite of intelligence, it is not the triumph of heart over head — it is the unique intersection of both.’

From ‘Emotional What?’

If we combine these definitions we can infer that when we develop and utilise our capacity for Emotional Intelligence we increase our opportunity for success and integrate our heart and our head which enables us to deal with any given situation in a more comprehensive manner. It also encourages the integration of our conscious and unconscious minds which results in a more congruent and balanced approach to life.

In our experience of coaching and developing CEO’s, Directors and Senior Managers we often find that the key blockage to their sustainable success is their difficulty in achieving this integration. This can isolate parts of the workforce.

In addition like tends to attract like, so if there is a leader in the business who spends most of their time in their heads then they will tend to ‘attract’ similar people to them. The same applies to those leaders who come from their heart as they will also ‘attract’ similarly biased people.

For leaders a well developed degree of emotional intelligence is fundamental for success. Think about it:

‘Who is more likely to be successful, a leader who berates and shouts at the team when under stress, or a leader who remains in control, is calm and takes the time to review and understand a situation in a calm manner?’

To ensure that the maximum numbers of people are ‘attracted’ to you as a leader it is essential that you are able to integrate your mind and heart to project a balanced personality.

This then is the relationship between Emotional Intelligence (EQ) and Leadership. Those leaders with a more highly developed EQ will by definition appeal to a wider audience and as such will tend to be more effective as more followers will commit to and support them.  For leaders emotional intelligence is fundamental for success and needs to be  a well developed.

Emotional Intelligence was brought to a wider audience by Daniel Goleman who is an, an American psychologist and authored a bestselling book in 1995 which was titled ‘Emotional Intelligence’. He stated that there are five key aspects to Emotional Intelligence that underpin effective leadership.

These key aspects are as follows:

  1. Self-awareness.
  2. Self-regulation.
  3. Motivation.
  4. Empathy.
  5. Social skills.

The degree to which leaders manage these aspects will determine the level of their own emotional intelligence. So, let’s look at each element in more detail and examine how you can grow as a leader.

The more self-aware you are the more you will understand the impact your own emotions and actions will have on those around you. Those with a higher level of self awareness will be aware of their own strengths and weaknesses and will also behave with a degree of humility.

From self awareness comes the innate ability to regulate your behaviour and effectively get in front of your own instinctive responses. This will allow you to think before you act and thus have the head and heart to work together in a joined up and integrated manner. There are several techniques for achieving this.

This change in behaviour increases levels of self confidence and self assurance and as a result drives up self motivation. Leaders who are self motivated will work consistently towards their vision and will set themselves very high standards with regard to the quality of the work they produce.

The delivery of this work will often rely on other people, either within the immediate team or outside of it. In order for a leader to engage with others in an effective, productive and meaningful way demands that they work with empathy. An empathetic leader will be able to put themselves in another person’s position or situation. They will be able to deliver effective feedback as a result and will show up as a good listener.

In many ways the ability to empathise is about developing your social skills. Leaders who develop high levels of social skills are generally effective communicators. They will listen to good and bad news alike and will engage with their teams to enlist support and will raise response potential and create a real ‘buzz’ in the work place.

In this type of culture change is managed effectively and conflict is resolved in an adult manner. Emotionally intelligent leaders relish change and are not prepared to sit back and have everyone else do the work for them.

They lead by example and demonstrate industry, effective relationships and communication as well as encouraging and enthusing their direct reports.

To sum up, leaders must have a sound awareness of their emotions and how the way in which those emotions are enacted will affect their teams. Tuning into and growing your emotional intelligence will help you excel even more in the future.

Original article by Tony Wright  – peopledevelopmentmagazine.com

Great Teams feel and act differently

teamskip2High performance teams go beyond roles and goals. Anyone who has been part of a great team knows this. They know there is something intangible there. There is something at the root of it. Something which bonds the team together and empowers it.

Those who know sports teams, and those who play with these teams feel something in it greater than themselves, an us and them, an instinctual thing. There is something there worth making the sacrifice for, putting your physical well being at risk for. It’s tribal. It’s family. It’s engrained. It leads to the whole being greater than the sum of its parts. It means when someone makes a mistake, or a weaker member needs help, it’s there. Action is taken. WE succeed or WE do not succeed – together. These teams communicate, they adapt, they work together, they overcome obstacles together.

The best sports team leaders are those who would go through a brick wall for the team. Sometimes they do not speak or hardly at all they just do things. They inspire by being first to the danger, first to sacrifice, first to training. They are the sort of people you want in the trenches with you because you can trust them to cover you. To watch your back. Many times they are not the best player, but they are first on the team sheet. A first among equals. The guys you look to for inspiration when the going gets tough.

There is something else about these great teams and their leaders. They are serving something bigger, a vision, a history, a legacy. They are focused on something bigger then themselves. Maybe their community, their county, their country, their nation.

Someone once said there is no “I” in team and some smart-alec pointed out there is an “M E” … We can spot those who are part of the team but not of the teamwork. We know them. They stand apart. They can be driven by ego or selfish aims BUT they can also be driven apart when cliques form, when they don’t feel included in decisions or when they don’t feel empowered. Many teams assume they communicate enough, listen enough, provide enough autonomy to members but they often don’t. Disenfranchisement or disillusionment occurs.

In organisational teams we often do not generate these kinds of bonds, except perhaps over time. We should particularly for teams on longer projects with a significant budget. We know the roles and responsibilities but then so does a team numbered 1 to 15 or 1 to 11. What makes them effective is teamwork.

What make them great is a team identity, trust, communication, autonomy and alignment with the greater vision. Team Emotional Intelligence theory (Druskatt and Wolff) calls it Social Capital – which, when improved can effect a 25% improvement in performance – for teams who are already performing with average scores.

The team members know who they are, who they represent and what they are trying to achieve. They serve the higher purpose rather than their own purpose. Yes they know the goals, but they are also clear on the why of the goals. They work with their fellow team members, supporting the weaker ones and generating loyalty and engagement.

We can recognise from the talk within the team how successful they are likely to be. It’s not about being positive all the time but on understanding what outside control of the team, understanding that set-backs are temporary and specific. A famous study by Martin Seligman of American baseball teams monitored the language used after games in the media engagement to predict success. He suggested what he heard in these discussions could predict success. He also looked for more about a focus on WE rather than I and an ability to puts losses or problems in context. He then bet against the spread to prove his point. He won.

Great teams are driven by peer pressure to perform not their bosses. It’s about not letting down the other people on the team. At the end of that incredible movieBlack Hawk Down – one of the incredibly talented, effective and brave rangers turns to his buddy and says – When I go home people’ll ask me, “Hey Hoot, why do you do it man? What, you some kinda war junkie?” You know what I’ll say? I won’t say a goddamn word. Why? They won’t understand. They won’t understand why we do it. They won’t understand that it’s about the men next to you, and that’s it. That’s all it is.”

Indeed.

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