Leadership

You are currently browsing articles tagged Leadership.

Are You Present?

February 10, 2012 in Leadership development by Marc Michaelson | No comments

Are You Present?

New take time template keynote 022

 

As a leader, manager, or team member,  the most important skill you can develop is to be fully present in your interactions with others. This act of presence is probably the most important and vital skill in a world of constant busyness.

Being present means focusing fully and engaging with another person or group in the present moment, undistracted by other commitments, future tasks or other events.

People need to be heard, respected and  know they matter.

Have you ever walked into someone’s office to have an important conversation only to find them preoccupied by routine distractions like opening mail, taking calls, signing paperwork, or otherwise disengaged?

In your virtual meetings can you feel the lack of focus, patience and listening required to be effective and productive?

What do you feel prior to these predictable interactions?

How does this effect your own focus and preparation for interactions?

How do you prepare yourself for interactions?

How do you influence others to be present with you?

 

Tags:

What is Emotional Resiliency?

January 12, 2012 in Leadership development by Marc Michaelson | No comments

What Is Emotional Resiliency?

Adapted From: Stress Management @ About.com

 

Emotional resilience refers to one’s ability to adapt to stressful situations or crises. More resilient people are able to “roll with the punches” and adapt to adversity without lasting difficulties; less resilient people have a harder time with stress and life changes, both major and minor. It’s been found that those who deal with minor stresses more easily can also manage major crises with greater ease, so resilience has its benefits for daily life as well as for the rare major catastrophe.


DSC 0237

 

What Influences Emotional Resiliency?

Emotional and physical resilience is, to a degree, something you’re born with. Some people, by nature, are less upset by changes and surprises — this can be observed in infancy and tends to be stable throughout one’s lifetime. Emotional resilience is also related to some factors that aren’t under your control, such as age, gender, and exposure to trauma. However, resilience can be developed with a little effort. If you know what to do, you can become more resilient, even if you are naturally more sensitive to life’s difficulties.

What Are Traits of The Emotional Resilient?

Resilience is not a quality that you either do or do not possess; there are varying degrees of how well a person is able to handle stress. Still, there are certain characteristics that resilient people tend to share. Some of the main characteristics are:

  • Emotional Awareness: They understand what they’re feeling and why.
  • Perseverance: Whether they’re working toward outward goals or on inner coping strategies, they’re action-oriented — they trust in the process and don’t give up.
  • Internal Locus of Control: They believe that they, rather than outside forces, are in control of their own lives.
  • Optimism: They see the positives in most situations and believe in their own strength.
  • Support: While they tend to be strong individuals, they know the value of social support and are able to surround themselves with supportive friends and family.
  • Sense of Humor: They’re able to laugh at life’s difficulties.
  • Perspective: Resilient people are able to learn from their mistakes (rather than deny them), see obstacles as challenges, and allow adversity to make them stronger. They can also find meaning in life’s challenges rather than seeing themselves as victims.
  • Spirituality: Being connected to your spiritual side has been connected with stronger emotional resilience, especially if you’re internally connected and not just going through the motions of attending services. (This doesn’t mean that people who aren’t spiritual can’t be resilient, just that this connection has been found.)

Tags:

Bad Bosses Have Big Impact on Well-Being

December 15, 2011 in Leadership development by Marc Michaelson | No comments

Recent Gallup Research worth reading

 

Bad bosses

 

http://www.gallup.com/poll/146867/Workers-Bad-Jobs-Worse-Wellbeing-Jobless.aspx

Tags:

How SMART Goals Can Increase Employee Engagement: Guest Post

December 14, 2011 in Change Leadership, L3 Leadership, Leadership Coaching, Leadership development, Management Training by Marc Michaelson | No comments

This is a guest post by Erin Palmer, Erin Works at Bisk Education/Villanova University

 

How SMART Goals Can Increase Employee Engagement

Getting your company’s employees to be engaged can be a tough task. Deadlines and heavy workloads could lead to workers doing the bare minimum just to get by. However, there is evidence that employees who are more engaged in their jobs tend to produce a better end-product.

While there are numerous motivational “tricks” to keep employees engaged, most leave an individual feeling unfulfilled.  We recommend the use of SMART goals for a more thorough and reliable tool for increasing employee engagement.


Chris photo team in front of board 2

What is a SMART goal?

SMART goals are essentially detailed, measurable plans with a deadline attached to them. While a traditional goal such as, “I want to get a promotion” is nice in theory, it doesn’t include a concrete means to an end. SMART goals have five essential characteristics:

1. Specific – Goals are streamlined and specific. No blanket statements here.

2. Measurable – The goal’s progress is measurable in some concrete way.

3. Attainable – It’s one that you can actually achieve and is realistic.

4. Relevant – A goal should have some relevance to who you are. A goal that requires you to completely change who you are as a person might not be a relevant one.

5. Time Bound – An element of time has to be included, otherwise you have no deadline to push you toward obtaining it.

Why a SMART goal?

SMART goals promote learning for employees. Instead of just being rated on performance, individuals will work to understand weaknesses and try to improve when necessary. Employees embrace their goals as a benchmark for success. Having a clear objective is reassuring that they’re on the right path.

These goals are a way for employees to individually contribute to the company’s success. While they feel like a bigger part of the team, they also recognize that they’re achieving personal success and possible promotion within the company.

Interaction is another important reason why SMART goals help in increasing employee engagement. As they work toward their goals, employees will get feedback on their progress. Managers will interact closely with everyone and start developing better relationships. Workers are more likely to voice their own ideas and feedback when they’re having regular conversations with higher-ups.

Team morale will be better as well. It starts with the employee-manager interactions and trickles downward. Team members working on projects will begin to ask more questions and help each other when their work environment promotes such action.

Since everyone is trying to accomplishing their goals, employees will learn new tactics that help them in doing the job. They may even develop better ways to accomplish tasks associated with the job and increase overall productivity for the company. Brainstorming sessions between employees or with managers will become commonplace. The SMART goals help workers understand that others in the company may have better ways of doing the same tasks they’re doing.

Employees are looking for a chance to grow. Who wants to do the same job for years and years without ever learning something new or advancing within the company? SMART goals keep everyone motivated and striving for greatness. Coupled with encouragement from the company, SMART goals will lead to happier, engaged employees – something every business should seek to accomplish.

University Alliance, a worldwide leader in interactive education, provided this article. SMART goals are very popular in project management so to learn more about them consider taking a project management certification course or even an MBA in Project Management.

Tags:

How Present Are Your People?

November 7, 2011 in Leadership development by Marc Michaelson | No comments

Presenteeism is more complicated than absenteeism and is often not well understood by leadership and management.  Leaders and managers may see their team arrive for work, ready for a full day’s work but not recognize whether they are actually in the physical, mental and emotional space to deliver their best efforts.

Are your employees absent while being present in their job?

Presenteeism1


Presenteesism costs are estimated to cost companies up to four times more than absenteeism through the loss of productivity on the job. Are your employees sitting around staring at the computer screen, unable to prioritize their tasks, unable to remain focused on important deliverables? Are they finding excuses for not performing well?

All levels of productivity can be affected by numerous influences namely their physical, mental and emotional states. An employee who is out of balance due to personal relationship issues, financial stressors, a poor relationship at home  will struggle to stay on  task at a satisfactory level.

Numerous studies have show that “the lack of presence” on the job costs US companies billions of dollars.

An assortment of preventable health problems contribute to such losses in productivity. For instance research has shown that inactivity can reduce productivity by 7%, excessive alcohol consumption by 4%, smoking by 10%, stress by 13%, neck and back pain by 20% and lack of sleep by a whopping 30% per employee

It is in the employers best interest to recognize the impact of presenteeism in their business and provide solutions to gain the best from employees.

Employees who are more focused, present, and healthy are those who lead their life well.  Make sure you provide an employee well-being program to foster higher levels of personal presence vs presenteeism.

Think about it this way…let’s say you pay your  team 500, 000 per year and they show up at 100% only half the time–you just lost 250,000-cash,  and an undetermined level of value related to innovation, problem solving and customer satisfaction.

We want our employees to be PRESENT, HEALTHY and ENGAGED

Well-Being = Presence, Presence =Engagement and Discretionary Effort –which is PRICELESS

Tags:

Creating A Coaching Culture

October 25, 2011 in L3 Leadership, Leadership Coaching, Leadership development by Marc Michaelson | No comments

Creating a Coaching Culture

 

Every study of effective leaders concludes that those leaders, who get the most out of their teams, spend a high proportion of their time and energy coaching others. The effective Leader/Coach is able to delegate more, to create a stronger sense of purpose within the team and to motivate the performance of others. Even more importantly they free up time so that they can focus on the most important leadership responsibilities instead of fire-fighting or doing jobs that could be done by their direct reports.

Coaching 1

 

The stark reality is that most leaders and leaders and managers put very little effort into coaching. Even though the company may have provided coaching training for them, unless there is an active and supportive coaching climate, there will be very little overall impact on the performance of the business, on retention of talent, or on the achievement of strategic goals.

So what exactly is a coaching climate? You will know you have a coaching climate when:

- Personal growth, team development and organizational learning are integrated and the links clearly understood

- People are able to engage in constructive and positive dialogue vs. confrontation

- People welcome feedback (even at the top) and actively seek it

- Coaching is seen as a joint responsibility of leaders and managers and their direct reports

- Coaching is seen primarily as a opportunity for continuous improvement rather than as a remedial intervention

- People are recognized and rewarded for their activity in sharing knowledge

- Time for reflection is valued

- There are effective mechanisms for identifying and addressing barriers to learning

- There are strong role models for good coaching practice

So how do you create a coaching climate?

- By ensuring that all leaders and managers have at least the basic skills of coaching

- By equipping all employees with the skills to be coached effectively

- By developing a relationship with professional coaches who can provide coaching at the executive levels and for high potentials

- By recognizing and rewarding leaders and managers who demonstrate good coaching behavior and commitment to coaching

- By measuring and providing feedback on the quality, relevance and accessibility of coaching to all levels of the organization-By

ensuring that top management provide strong, positive role models

- By identifying cultural barriers to coaching and learning

How do you ensure that all leaders and leaders and managers have at least the basic skills of coaching?

Just running a training program on this topic isn’t enough. Leaders and managers need to put what they have learned into practice. Initial training needs to be reinforced with opportunities to review each coaching session and to reflect upon feedback from the coachee. Good practice typically involves either follow up sessions, and the use of a Professional Coach to sit in on coaching sessions and provide immediate feedback.

Tags:

Choose To Lead

October 10, 2011 in Change Leadership, L3 Leadership, Leadership Coaching, Leadership development, Management Training by Marc Michaelson | No comments

With all of the focus these days on leadership skills and competencies, an additional question needs to be asked.  The issue is not so much how to lead, although that is important, but who should lead?

We have moved from “I decide” to  “We do”!

 

This change creates new opportunities for  new definitions and  a new context for embracing  leadership – now there is a need for focusing  on  “ the act of” leadership within organizations?

 

Who performs this act? Everyone!!

 

Perhaps “LEADERFUL” is a better context for us to embrace today.


Images 3

Leaderful offers a broader definition of  leadership for individuals and organizations. To be leaderful, you need not be the designated position leader of your organization. If you work with others in any capacity, you are capable of exerting leadership. All positions have leadership responsibility, most don’t have the authority!

Today’s leaders come from all levels of an organization and therefore companies need to rethink their approach to leadership development.  What is needed to provide development programs that touch each and every employee?  What needs to change in our thinking and behaviors to make this happen and how will we go about changing all that must change?  Working today means leading today!  We must all CHOOSE TO LEAD!

What are your thoughts?

Tags:

Leadership Challenges For 2030: The Competencies Required

October 5, 2011 in Change Leadership, L3 Leadership, Leadership Coaching, Leadership development, Management Training by Marc Michaelson | No comments

 

According to Hay Group’s Leadership 2030 research the leaders of the future will need a host of new skills and competencies if they are to succeed

 

Leadership challenges of the future revealed by the Hay Group–Building Leaders: Leadership Challenges of the Future Revealed- You can download the white paper here.


Fotolia 21397684 XS


“Leaders of the future will need to be adept conceptual and strategic thinkers, have deep integrity and intellectual openness, find new ways to create loyalty, lead increasingly diverse and independent teams over which they may not always have direct authority, and relinquish their own power in favor of collaborative approaches inside and outside the organization.”

To successfully develop this combination of skills and qualities – and adopt what is, in effect, a ‘post-heroic’ leadership style – they may need to abandon much of the thinking and behavior that propelled them to the top of their organizations in the first place.

But if they want their businesses to survive and thrive over the next two decades they have no choice. Unless they dramatically change their leadership style, starting from today, their organizations will lose out in the race for innovation, the march to globalization and the war for talent. They will be, quite simply, unsustainable.

This is the conclusion Hay Group has reached after working with Germany-based foresight company Z-Punkt to identify the mega-trends they believe will affect organizations and their leaders profoundly over the coming decades and analyzing the implications of each at a corporate, organizational, team and individual level.

In short, the study determined that this short list of competencies are an absolute must for leaders, managers and influencers in the next two decades.

The new leadership competencies

The new business world order will challenge leaders on three levels: cognitive, emotional and behavioral.

Cognitive

Leaders need new forms of contextual awareness, based on strong conceptual and strategic thinking capabilities.

They need to be able to conceptualize change in an unprecedented way, again based on conceptual and strategic thinking.

Leaders need to exhibit new forms of intellectual openness and curiosity.

Emotional

Overall, leaders will need to be much more sensitive to different cultures, generations and genders.

They will need to demonstrate higher levels of integrity and sincerity and adopt a more ethical approach to doing business.

They must also tolerate far higher levels of ambiguity.

Behavioral

Leaders must create a culture of trust and openness.

As post-heroic leaders they must rethink old concepts such as loyalty and retention and personally create loyalty.

Collaboration – cross-generational, cross-functional and cross-company – will be their watchword.

They must lead increasingly diverse teams.

 

At Glowan we are proud of the fact that our  L3 Leadership Learning Process combined with our Smart Skills: Leading Without A Title program prepares leaders, managers, project managers and Individual contributors to ready themselves now and for the future. These two programs are directly mapped  to the above competencies called out in the Hay Group research.  As I am writing this blog post we are working on a new program and process that integrates the two programs mentioned here. This new program is called Choose To Lead™, and will be piloted in early 2102.


 

Tags:

Leaders Take Time To Encourage Others

September 27, 2011 in Leadership development by Marc Michaelson | No comments

Leaders Take Time To Encourage Others

 

IStock 000005754119Small 518x325

“A student asked Soen Nakagawa during a meditation retreat, “I am very discouraged. What should I do?” Soen replied, “Encourage others.” –Story from Essential Zen

Have you ever noticed that when you’re feeling discouraged, continuing to focus on your problems makes them worse? The reason is simple. When problems dominate your consciousness, they keep your energy in a negative place. They color everything you see. To turn your energy around, shift your attention.

A great way to do this is to encourage someone else. It takes you to a more positive place – and has a wonderful way of snapping you out of a funk.

Something we often tell our clients is that in addition to managing the activities of their organization, they’ve also got to manage the energy. As leaders, others take cues from them on how to think, act, and feel. “I’ve noticed that when I get down, everyone else gets down too,” a client recently commented. “It becomes an negative spiral around the office. And while there may be many ways to reverse it, I’ve found none more effective than simply taking the time to acknowledge and encourage others.”

The next time you feel discouraged about a certain problem:

1. Recognize you’re feeling discouraged (this is often the hardest step).

2. Physically move from where you are – take a walk.

3. Connect with someone who you know could use your help and lend an ear.

4. Help or encourage them.

5. Come back to your problem with a new perspective.

Questions to consider: How often to you encourage others? How do you do it?

Tags:

Future Career Crafting Insights

September 23, 2011 in Leadership development by Marc Michaelson | No comments

What does it take to craft a career that is likely to stand the test of time?  Lynda Gratton has done such a great job defining the current and future challenges associates with our work and life.

She defines these five broad trends as the key levers/forces that will drive us into the future

1. Ever greater globalization of innovation and talent;

2. The development of ever more sophisticated connective technologies;

3. Profound changes in demography and longevity which will see many live until they are 100 and others live in regions where 40% of the population are over 50;

4. Broad societal forces that will see trust in institutions decrease and families become ever more re-arranged; and finally

5.The impact that carbon use and Co2 will have on how we think about our own consumption patterns.

She offers 10 Tips for Preparing Yourself for The Future

 

Imagine 1280x1024

1. Don’t be fooled into walking into the future blindfolded. The more you know what’s in store, the better able you will be to meet the challenges and really capitalize on your options. So keep abreast of the forces that are shaping work and careers in your part of the world and think about how they will impact on you and those you care for. Making wise choices will in the end come from your capacity to understand – don’t rely on governments of big business to make the choices for you.

2. Learn to be virtual. We are entering a period of hyper technological advancements – avatars, holographs and telepresence are all just around the corner. If you are a young ‘digital native’ you are already connected to this – but if you are over 30 the chances are you are already behind on your understanding. Work will become more global and that means that increasingly you will be working with people in a virtual way – its crucial that you learn to embrace these developments and don’t let yourself become obsolete through lack of technical savvy.

3. Search for the valuable skills. Think hard about the skill areas that are likely to be important in the future – for example sustainability, health and wellness, and design and social media are all likely to be areas where work will be created over the next decade. Also remember that jobs that involve working closely with people (chef, hairdresser, coach, physiotherapist) are unlikely to move to another country.

4. Become a Master. Don’t be fooled into spread your talents too thinly. Being a ‘jack of all trades’ will mean you are competing with millions of others around the world who are similar. Separate yourself from the crowd by really learning to master a skill or talent that you can develop with real depth. Be prepared to put your time and effort into honing these skills and talents.

5. Be prepared to strike out on your own. There will always be work with big companies – but increasingly the real fun will come from setting up your own company. We are entering the age of the ‘micro-entrepreneur’ when ever decreasing costs of technology will significantly reduce the barriers to getting off the ground, and when talented people across the world will be connected and keen to work with each other.

6. Find your posse. To create valuable skills and knowledge you will need to quickly reach out to others who can help and advise you. This small  ’posse’ of like-minded and skilled people is a network that will be central to your really building speed and agility in your career. Don’t leave it too long to find and cultivate it.

7. Build the Big Ideas Crowd. The future is about innovation, and sometime your best, most innovative ideas will come as you talk and work with people who are completely different from you – perhaps they have a different mindset, or come from a different country – or are younger. It is this wide network, the ‘big ideas crowd’ that will be a crucial source of inspiration. Make sure that you don’t limit yourself to working only with those who are just like you.

8. Go beyond the family. Your career success will depend in part on your emotional well being and resilience. In a world of ever shifting relationships, it’s important that you invest in developing deep restorative relationships with a couple of people – this is your ‘regenerative community’ and they are crucial to your well being and happiness. Make the investment as soon as you can and make an effort to maintain and build these relationships over decades.

9. Have the courage to make the hard choices. Your working life will be shaped by the shifting patterns of longevity (you are likely to live considerably longer than your parents) and demography (in many regions there will be a much higher proportion of people over 50). So you need a strategy for the long term. You have three hard choices:  1. Build a career that enables you to work longer (at least into your late 60′s or early 70’s), 2. Be prepared (like the Chinese who save around 40% of their income) to save a significant proportion of your income throughout your working life, 3. Consider ways to reduce your consumption and live more simply. It does not matter which hard choice you make – but you are going to have to make at least one of them.

10. Become a producer rather than a simple consumer. And finally… the old deal at work:  ’I work, to earn money, to buy stuff, that makes me happy’ is rapidly becoming obsolete. Engaging in meaningful work where you can rapidly learn will become a priority (although fair pay will always be important). So think hard about sharing and great experiences rather than simply building your working life around consuming.

 

Thank You–Lynda for your great work  Her book The Shift is well worth the read

Tags: ,

« Older entries