Leadership (Page 8)

gravitas

In: Lead

Article by Crispin Blackall, Image Credit August de Richelieu (Pexels) The word gravitas goes back to the ancient Romans and derives from the Latin gravitas, meaning weight, and from gravis heavy. It implies sound judgement, clarity of purpose, ability to yield influence and having organisational power. “In the world of corporate advancement, headhunters, talent managers, and HR professionals always ask themselves whether a person has the gravitas required of a role? Does the person have the necessary presence, speaking skills, and the ability to read an audience or situation? Does he or she have the emotional intelligence that enables him or her to easily influence others? ‘Finding Gravitas’ Kets de Vries 2015, INSEAD Knowledge What do you think of when you hear the term ‘gravitas’ personally my first thought is often of (the TV show) Brooklyn Nine Nine’s Captain Holt when he says “do you know what gravitas sounds like…” (and if youContinue Reading

In: Emotional Intelligence, Leadership, Virtual Teams, Working From Home

Synopsis of an article from Inc. by Anne Gherini, Published 15th July 2020 This article points out that EQ or Emotional Intelligence has been recognised as more powerful predictor of an individual’s success as a leader than IQ. As we continue to work fully remotely what do you need to do to dial up the EQ. “High EQ individuals who display empathy, confidence, and comfort with their own limitations will be able to thrive and emerge as leaders in the pack.“ Human Centric Management Empathy – being aware of how others are feeling and coping. For some working from home can be lonely and feel overwhelming. Not everyone has the best home office set up, they may have to share it with others or have to manage home schooling – be aware. Anne points out that you need to make time for check-ins, with out an agenda to have a basis forContinue Reading

In: Effective Communication

Synopsis of an article from Fast Company by Jessica Thiefels Published 9th July 2020 Effective and compelling communication is a critical skill, you need clarity, persuasion and effective story telling to make sure your audience is fully engaged. Use Prompts for Creative Writing Build creative writing skills that you can apply to your business writing, there are tools available that can help you build the capability and remember practice makes perfect. Applications that can help include Writing Prompts (Android) or Daily Prompt (Apple). Boost Your Persuasive Writing Skills One of the most in demand skills today (see LinkedIn’s 2020), Persuasion is about your ability to effectively engage with your audience and to influence them to align to the views you are explaining. As a business leader being able to explain a vision, strategy or mission is a core competence. Become a Better Storyteller People engage with stories, when telling your story think aboutContinue Reading

In: Emotional Intelligence, Motivation

Synopsis of an article from Forbes by Rasmus Hougaard, with Nick Hobson and Paula Kelley Published 8th July 2020 Rasmus Hougaard is the founder and managing director of the Potential Project, an organisation focused on building mindful leaders and organisations. In this article he makes the slightly contentious point that leaders often mistake empathy for compassion. Empathy is a foundational emotion for human connection, it is the spark for compassion but they are very different. With empathy we understand the suffering of others but with compassion we ask how we can help. For leaders recognising the differences is critical for “inspiring and managing others effectively”. Empathy is impulsive, compassion is deliberate Our empathetic feelings are an unconscious bias, they originate from the emotion centers of our brain and therefore we are less aware of and less intentional about those decisions. Compassion is deliberate and reflective response from the cognitive partContinue Reading

In: Collaboration, Effective Communication, Virtual Teams, Working From Home

Synopsis of an article from Harvard Business Review, by by Justin Hale and Joseph Grenny, Published 9th March 2020 The authors make the argument that too often meeting attendees check out. When everyone is in the same room there are techniques we all use to bring the attention back to the speaker but how do you do that on a virtual meeting. Here are 5 rules that can really help sharpen the focus in your next virtual meeting. The 60 second rule – In the first minute of the meeting do something with the group to make them experience the problem. It might be a dramatic story, compelling statistics or a powerful analogy. The goal is to ensure that the group understands the problem before you discuss or try to solve it. The responsibility rule – when attending a meeting we all have a role, you need to provide clarity on the engagementContinue Reading

In: Leadership, Teams

Synopsis of an article from The Startup by Mathilde Collin, Published 3rd May 2019 This story is about software startup – ‘FRONT‘ which is an email and collaboration platform but what they do is less important to the article, which is about the culture of the organisation. Written before CoVID this article talks to the importance of having quality one-on-one meetings. The goal is to ensure that people are working on the right things and that they properly understand the business priorities. The result very high employee engagement (NPS 97) and retention. Preparation The regular 1:1 meetings have a clear cadence, they are weekly, monthly and six monthly. And the key is to have a clear agenda that is shared with both participants before the meeting (so they can prepare appropriately) and either party can put items on the agenda at any time. Weekly meetings is focused on work; reportingContinue Reading

How to Hand Over

In: Career Development, Leadership, Networking

By Crispin Blackall It is one of those tasks that can really make a difference in how people see you, done well it has potential to make a lasting impression on your personal brand for the successor, for the staff and for the former manager.   So how do you focus on getting it right and not getting it wrong! Whether you have identified a successor and grooming them to replace you.  Or you have been promoted in the business, potentially you are leaving the company for a new opportunity, maybe you are retiring or even being made redundant, this is how you will be remembered by those who stay (and these people may turn out be your referees in the future), so protect your personal brand and do a good job at the hand over. The cost of poor leadership transition is potentially significant, a poor transition can leadContinue Reading

In: Crisis Management, Innovation, Leadership, Strategy

Synopsis of an article from London Business School by Michael Jacobides and Stefan Stern, Published 1st May 2020 In this article the authors ask us to consider how your company will get through the pandemic successfully they go onto challenge us to rethink and reinvent business and leadership models. To cope with the crisis you may need to make very significant and rapid changes, but given the fact that you are doing this during a crisis may lead to inertia, doubt or fear. Crisis Leadership Looks Different Leaders must respond directly and address the realities, staff are looking for their leaders to provide honest, simple, clear and direct messages. “When the situation is dire people need to be told,” he says. “You have to have a clear, bold, realistic narrative.” Provide a clear sense of direction, which is robust and consistently communicated – even if it is not good news.Continue Reading

In: Human Capital, Motivation

Synopsis of an article from SmartBrief by Susan Fowler, Published 6th July 2020 Susan uses the 1972 study into delayed gratification otherwise known as the ‘Marshmallow Study‘ where four year old children were asked to wait 15 minutes to eat a marshmallow, if they waited they got a second marshmallow. The concept of self discipline, the researchers went back to the same children 15 years later (now 18 or 19 years old). It is amusing to watch the video. “Children who had been able to delay their gratification for the marshmallow the longest — those with the greatest degree of self-regulation — had higher life-measure scores. Researchers postulated that children with high-quality self-regulation had greater later-life success.”  Lessons Learned There is greater self regulation in the environments where promises are kept, because there is greater trust that the delayed gratification will be rewarded. Optimal motivation comes from our lived experiences,Continue Reading

Self Sabotage

In: Burn Out, Career Development, Resilience

Synopsis of an article from Fast Company, by Evelyn Marinoff, Published 7th July 2020 Evelyn explores why that even when we have worked so hard to achieve a goal, we self sabotage our own attempts. There are so many ways we do this for example – watching Netflix not working on an important presentation, not going to the dentist for regular checkups, ordering takeaway when you are on a diet, the list goes on. “Self-sabotage is the action we take to thwart our own best intentions and goals. We do it because we want something, and then we fear that we may actually get it, that we won’t be able to handle it, and so we ruin everything—be it getting a promotion, finding the perfect relationship, or starting a business. So why not save ourselves from the pain, the embarrassment, the disappointment if we mess up and kill all theContinue Reading