Saturday, February 28, 2015

Women Leaders Are Just As Effective As Men!


 
A study last summer published by the American Psychological Association reveals that women are perceived just as effective, sometimes more so, than men when it comes to leadership. In fact, they are seen as more effective in both middle management and senior leadership roles!  Personally, this is terrific news for business, governments, non-profits and any entity competing in a global marketplace.

The study researchers state that, “As organizations have become fast-paced, globalized environments, some organizational scholars have proposed that a more feminine style of leadership is needed to emphasize the participative and open communication needed for success.”  You have to wonder, if there were more woman heading their country’s governments, would we be experiencing the world’s conflicts as we are today?

One of the most important consequences of our changing workplace could very well be the new requirements of leadership that align with the values women bring to the table. Though many organizations still adhere to outdated leadership and talent pipeline processes, those entities that are looking for ways to create a sustainable future are committed to changing their culture. The traditional command and control leadership style associated with outdated work environments stifles the innovation and collaboration necessary for an organization to thrive and survive in the globalized marketplace.

Organization leaders must have the courage to open dialogue, examine their practices, change behaviors and practices that are not effective and not working and be held accountable for their choices.   We all need to recognize that the innate talent and leadership style of woman are aligned with company values.  This can be a significant step for woman to stop pretending to be more like men to be successful.  This should release negative or unproductive energy, thereby increasing more creative and honest environments for better engagement and productivity. 

If we all develop a better understanding of our motivations and what is motivating others around us, we are better equipped to make decisions and effectively deal with the challenges or conflicts we face and own the choices around those actions, naturally becoming more accountable for the results.

Thanks for taking the time to read this.  What are your thoughts and emotions on this topic?  How will you contribute to this conversation?  Which aspects of your leadership style will you focus on to put your performance on the fast track to optimal success?  We would love to hear from you with comments or questions. Send me a note via email at brad@aperiocoaching.net or on Twitter @bparcells.

In Latin, Aperio means to reveal, uncover, to make clear. Coaching is a powerful process that enables the client to reveal and illuminate their authentic leadership style via a sharp focus on who they are at the core.




Wednesday, February 18, 2015

What Does Emotional Intelligence Have To Do With Creating Better Leaders?


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.

Emotional Intelligence or Quotient (EI or EQ) 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. One cannot change their IQ, but one can change their EQ through understanding, heightened awareness and behavioral changes. 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.

Thanks for taking the time to read this. 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. For a discovery conversation, you can reach me on Twitter @bparcells or brad@aperiocoaching.net | 404.409.7226.

In Latin, Aperio means to reveal, uncover, to make clear. Coaching is a powerful process that enables the client to reveal and illuminate their authentic leadership style via a sharp focus on who they are at the core.

Friday, February 13, 2015

Leadership Lessons From "The Dean"


The sports world, coaching profession and indeed many lost a wonderful leader last weekend. Dean Smith, the beloved head basketball coach at the University of North Carolina passed away quietly in his home in Chapel Hill surrounded by his family. Rest in Peace Coach.

I am fortunate to attend UNC during the late 70's and dreamed of wearing that uniform and playing for Coach Smith. He was a master at his craft and we loved him. He personified class, innovation, breaking the color line, respect for others, team play and doing the right thing even if it was against the mainstream. Living with integrity. He knew who he was and knew what to do. With all his successes on and off the basketball court, he never sought the limelight. It was all about others.

Smith was a terrific leader and having met the man many years ago, I find myself reflecting many of the same things John Baldoni and Thad Williamson recently wrote about Coach. The lessons he taught are of permanent, lasting value, for his and for any other generation.

1. "Smith managed to cultivate an organizational culture based on excellence, loyalty, and respect for not only everyone “in the family,” but everyone the organization touched. Assistant coaches, office staff, players, and managers all testify to this day they were and are part of something special."

2. "By his mid-30s Smith had developed enough internal spiritual strength to figure out how to navigate the competitive waters of college basketball without letting the pressure and competition consume him."

3. "Smith maintained a moral center on social and economic issues quite independent of what was popular at a given moment or which way the prevailing winds were blowing. Smith’s advocacy for civil rights in Chapel Hill and his move to racially integrate UNC basketball will get a lot of attention this week, and rightly so, but how many know that Smith also actively supported and endorsed the work of Sojourners, a Washington, D.C.-based evangelical organization dedicated to far-reaching social reform on behalf of the poor and marginalized?"

4."Smith’s core humility when dealing with others. The man’s famous memory for names and faces was, perhaps, a freak of nature. But the fact that he invariably asked you how your parents were doing and wished them well? That came from force of habit, deliberately honed and constantly practiced.""For as long as I can remember I have admired Smith’s moral courage and wisdom on his leadership on social issues that made him nearly unique among college coaches. To treat every single person with respect and dignity and as if they were really important, and to do so not out of a desire to look good, but out of a sincere conviction that everyone really is important—that is an accomplishment of far greater significance than any of the records that will be printed in Smith’s obituaries."

Thad Williamson interviewed Smith 2001, in the closing chapter of More Than a Game. Thad wrote these words about what Coach Smith’s life meant to all of us. I can’t do any better in this time of grief than to repeat them here:

“The fact is, it is possible for human beings to live life with moral meaning. Dean Smith is but one example of what is possible when a human being’s habits of dealing with other people are formed in a certain way, when an individual has strong, lifelong moral convictions that guide behavior, and when an individual happens to find an absolutely perfect fit between his or her own talents, capacities, and interests and an occupation, a fit that permits full human flourishing. The reason so many people have been touched by interactions with Smith is that thoughtful actions are so habituated in the man that, to him, such responses are simply second nature. To deny that this is possible is to put too low a ceiling on what human nature can accomplish, and indeed to let ourselves off the hook in taking responsibility for what kind of people we are and the kind of life we lead. There will probably never quite be another ‘Dean Smith’ as a basketball coach, at North Carolina or anywhere else. But there could be many, many more Dean Smiths in countless other walks of life—and there need to be.”

Thanks for taking the time to read this. Thank you to John and Thad for their words.

Which aspects of the Dean's leadership style will you focus on to put your performance and your organization on the fast track to optimal success? If you are looking for greater alignment with organizational vision, mission, values, and initiatives; increased trust and team effectiveness and collaboration and greater success, what are you waiting for? You can reach me at brad@aperiocoaching.net or on Twitter @bparcells.

In Latin, Aperio means to reveal, uncover, to make clear. Coaching is a powerful process that enables the client to reveal and illuminate their authentic leadership style via a sharp focus on who they are at the core.

Monday, February 2, 2015

Leadership Lessons From The Top Hawk!




“A Leader does not just get the message across, a leader is the message.” ~ Warren Bennis, authority on organizational development, leadership and change

For those who are familiar with my leadership posts, you know how much this quote resonates with me.  We see it manifested in all kinds of leaders, from corporate CEO’s, non-profit leaders, military leaders, and political leaders, to leaders of operating divisions, functional teams and to oneself.  It also holds true for entertainment and sports organizations CEO’s!

A couple of weeks ago, I had the privilege of listening to and meeting Steve Koonin, CEO of the Atlanta Hawks (NBA franchise) through our local University of North Carolina business school alumni organization.  I sat there, as did the rest of audience, completely captivated by his personality, his message and his sharp focus.  Wow! I was just blown away by his authenticity, honesty and energy.  Steve is the real deal. In my work as an executive and leadership coach, I find Steve’s focus, purpose and enthusiasm very, very refreshing.

Steve was named CEO of the Atlanta Hawks 10 months ago.  He talked about the ball club, but mostly talked about the organization’s transformation under his leadership and his focus on building a new vision, setting a new culture, leading a committed team who shares the vision, who fits the culture and who thoroughly enjoys working for him.  Steve has found his leadership success by focusing on these strategic principles:

1.      Focus ~ Directing attention toward where it needs to go is a primal task of leadership.  Talent here lies in the ability to shift attention to the right place at the right time, sensing trends, emerging realities and opportunities.  In looking at the organization/culture and people, Steve is consistent with his values, his purpose on what he wants to do and why he wants to do it.  Clarity without ambiguity! Steve cares and he shows it.  He is comfortable with praise and knows that it builds fierce loyalty and inspires those to work with more focus, clarity and purpose.  Steve exhibits the right kind of custodianship that holds him in high regard by the community, business and political leaders, fans and employees – that custodianship is seeking service over self-interest.  Steve’s clear focus provides a highly positive ripple effect throughout the entire organization with a clear and distinct competitive advantage.

2.     Place Your Bets ~ Like any great poker player they take risks based on the information they have on hand and quickly calculate their rate of success.  Then after all the info is in, they act decisively.  Steve’s places his bets, waits for nothing and decides to move.  Decision-making lies at the heart of our personal and professional lives. Every day we make decisions. Some are small, domestic and innocuous. Others are more important; decisions that affect peoples’ lives, livelihoods and wellbeing. Inevitably, we make mistakes along the way.  Steve would agree.  Indeed, the daunting reality is that enormously important decisions made by intelligent, responsible people with the best information and intentions sometimes go wrong.  In placing his bets, Steve knows that:

·      He’s got the right data sources, internal and external, that enhances his ability to assess what is really going on.
·      He has the right people around the table. Not just talent, but people who are unafraid to push back and challenge and,
·      He monitors his important decisions in real-time, ready to step in and make adjustments before the momentum becomes too great.

3.     Take Risks ~ Steve exposes himself daily and each week he sits with employees, without members of his leadership team, in what he refers to as “Bull Sessions.” It is in these sessions Steve shows his consistency with his values, his purpose and what he wants to do and why.  He is completely transparent, open and not afraid of being vulnerable.  I call this being an authentic servant leader.  Steve wants to know what is going on in the community and on the front lines. He acknowledges others realizing that lingering emotions only inhibit effective action.  He asks for feedback and then listens intently and plays back what he has heard validating their emotions and helps them feel understood.   One of Steve’s principles is treating everyone by the Golden Rule.  CEOs need to avoid glorifying themselves and make a point of listening for dissent and alternate views.

4.     Build Sustainable Environments ~ As Steve puts it these sustainable environments are communities that are entrenched in the ethos of the organization.  Fans, the community, other stakeholders.  When you care ~ show it and that’s what Steve does through understanding their branding strategies and deeply relating to the demographics they target.  

5.     Ideas Are Like Disposable Diapers ~ How funny is that (LOL)?  Right now, no matter how much you are keeling over in laughter, when put to work this principle is very powerful.  Steve disregards those that are dirty and don’t work, and has created a keen culture for new ideas.  As Steve said, “you never know where these new ideas will come from.”  In this culture, people are willing to go out on a limb and not be afraid to share their ideas with others and be held accountable for them.

As leaders, we can all learn a great deal from this Top Hawk!

Thanks for taking the time to read this. Which aspects of Steve’s leadership style will you focus on to put your performance and your organization on the fast track to optimal success? If you are looking for greater alignment with organizational vision, mission, values, and initiatives; increased trust and team effectiveness and collaboration and greater success, what are you waiting for?  You can reach me at brad@aperiocoaching.net | 404.409.7226.

In Latin, Aperio means to reveal, uncover, to make clear. Coaching is a powerful process that enables the client to reveal and illuminate their authentic leadership style via a sharp focus on who they are at the core.