THE LANGUAGE OF LEADERSHIP - E

THE LANGUAGE OF LEADERSHIP - E

My copy of Working With Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman is 20 years old.

My use of words beginning with E, in my Leadership Intelligence Mentoring practice, is endless! I think of the enthusiasm we need to bring change alive and the effort required to adapt our approach and style of leadership if our default style isn’t effective or appropriate.

Emotional Intelligence takes the lead of the Es! The term has its roots in 80’s psychology, and today we are still experimenting with the exercise of connecting with our emotions in addition to our thinking.

Taking an extra moment to consider why people respond a way and listening to their language lifts the heavy weight of recognizing what’s going on in someone’s world. As Dale Carnegie said, when dealing with people, remember you are not dealing with creatures of logic, but creatures of emotion.

What differentiates people are those who can connect on an emotional level – those who can gauge the feelings people are experiencing and how this impacts their work and relationships. And even more importantly, it’s the ability to self-correct – to change your course of action mid-stream as you sense you’re not achieving the outcome being expected.

Experimentation is one of the most frequently used words I use. I encourage my clients to change their behaviour, to apply their learning and give it a go. We too often sit in meetings, seminars and workshops, we’re asked to change yet we don’t take it to the practice ground. Experimentation is normal, it’s expected, and it reeks accountability and leadership. Tell people that you are experimenting and seek their feedback. Maybe it doesn’t work and maybe it’s the missing link you’ve been searching for as a leader.

What can you experiment with today? Is it saying “No”, is it giving constructive feedback or is it ‘giving the work back’? Go on, experiment with a change in your leadership approach. And, report back on how you evaluate the outcome.

Evaluation is just as important as experimentation. If we don’t know how we’re progressing with our changes, adaptations and experimentation, then we don’t know how effective we are being.

Too often leadership and associated skills are the ‘soft skills. They have a lack luster following because we don’t show the impact, the difference that our personal and professional leadership does to grow business.

Self-Assessments, audits, 360-degree feedback and evaluations are all accessible and useful to lift your leadership to a new level which will have an impact on others, will help you inspire more followers and help you influence change.

What's your go to leadership word beginning with E?

You can catch up on my previous blogs on the The Language of Leadership - on this page. 

THE LANGUAGE OF LEADERSHIP - D

THE LANGUAGE OF LEADERSHIP - D

Today is D day. I have many Ds to share and I have selected three to add to our Language of Leadership.

Join me as I play The Language of Leadership:

Diversity – it’s great to have diversity in your team. This doesn’t mean ensuring that there’s a balance of gender, generation, ability and disability – that’s a given.

How I see diversity is a diversity of motivation. If everyone you lead are motivated to help people, then you will struggle with the paramount need to meet to accomplish new projects or ensure that the diligence of the project analysis is completed.

 If you could build your own team, seek out what is important to people. Ensure you select those who see the world differently to you; ensure you can give trust to these diverse members to individually contribute their various skills, views, concerns and strengths.

 Direction – in a world where collaboration, co-operation and co-creation is expected, we’re seeing a lack of direction when people are looking around for someone to take the lead.

 Direction doesn’t need to be applied in an authoritarian style, but in a manner which people understand and can make sense of; how it connects to the purpose of their role and business.

 Discussion is more than a dialogue. In our time poor management of our day, we allow dialogue to fill it e.g. meetings. A discussion should have a desired outcome stated up front. For example, I need to understand what your expectation is of my involvement in this meeting.

I use a model to help people decide about the communication process they need to use dependent on the situation, context and audience. Too often we use the wrong process and we wonder why we don’t achieve what we’re expecting!

Did you catch my A, B & C blogs? You can locate these in the Thoughts section of my website.

THE LANGUAGE OF LEADERSHIP - C

THE LANGUAGE OF LEADERSHIP

Which C words come to mind?

The Language of Leadership

Conversations, Climate, Conflict & Confidence

There are so many C’s in my Leadership Language: conversations, climate, conflict and confidence are at the tip of my tongue!

What are the C’s in your leadership vernacular?

I’m playing a game to facilitate ideas, thoughts and beliefs on leadership. And, I’m curious to hear what people hear themselves saying about leadership or how others describe their leadership.

I’m sure many will say communication – it’s a gorgeous broad term and I carve it into so many components.  To begin with, I believe leadership is all about Conversations.

Conversations bring people together; they formulate relationships and craft futures. Conversations come in various forms; they can be brief (feedback) and endure for hours (meetings, mentoring, coaching).

The more time you spend having conversations with people, the more opportunity you have to gain respect which then creates trust. For some, conversations come naturally whilst others it’s a challenge. My tip do your research on people and be curious to explore what you’ve discovered – ask great questions as the conversation is all about getting to understand the people.

Climate is the vibe I feel when I walk into a workplace. It’s the gut feeling I have when I have conversations with people. It tells me more than the culture as it’s the unspoken words – it’s the litmus test for the words on the wall in the reception area. A mission and vision statement might try and sell me what an organisation does whereas the climate will tell me if the people feel happy and respected where they work. Take the temperature of your office today!

Conflict tells us what is important to people. Leaders need the capability to know when to intervene and help people move out of conflict or better still, know people so well that they know what drives them to conflict – the triggers, the situations and the behaviours.

We all experience threats to our self-worth, it’s characteristic of the cause of conflict. And this threat can be real or perceived. Managing conflict is a critical capability (double C!) to lead teams to success.

Confidence is what I hope all people can grow in their lives. Leaders need confidence to successfully do their role and leaders need to foster confidence in their people. Confidence is like climate – you can’t quite put your finger on it. I am reminded by family friends of how shy I was when I was younger, and it took effort and energy to focus on manipulating this confidence. I still work on it and sometimes I am too confident – so it’s always an area I am shaping and developing.

What C’s have I missed? What C’s are important in your life; in your role of leadership?

Have you read my two recent posts - catch up on the A’'s & B’'s of Leadership? You’ll find these under the THOUGHTS section of my website.