Are YOU a GOOD or BAD Leader? To What Extent Are YOU Self-Aware?
Making Change and TRANSITION EASYer on YOURself!
Sharing a weekly Idea and Challenge on change and transition with YOU!
An idea for YOU!
I recently spent 2 days facilitating a leadership development workshop.
At the end of the session, we were hoping that the participants,
(a.k.a. LEADERS), would walk away with a better appreciation
of the importance of the link between their ACTIONS
(good and/or bad)
and the level of engagement of those
on the receiving end of them.
(a.k.a. the people that they are leading).
According to a recent study by the Gallup organization
“less than one-third of U.S. employees have been engaged
in their jobs and workplaces… Engaged, meaning they are involved in,
enthusiastic about and committed to their work and workplace.”
That is less than one in three.
Look to your right!
Look to your left!
Look in the mirror!
If you are engaged, then statistically speaking,
Those other two people are not.
“Worldwide, only 13% of employees working for an organization are engaged.”
Yikes.
Just think of the impact that even a slight increase in those engagement levels could have
on the productivity and creativity of our workforce.
Hence the importance of trying to develop more engaging leaders.
More of the good and less of the bad type of leader.
To that end,
One of the exercises that we did in the session
was to differentiate between GOOD and BAD leaders.
What were examples of what good leaders do?
What were examples of what bad leaders do?
And, most importantly, what were the resulting impact of those actions
on our feelings,
and ultimately, on our behaviours.
i.e. were those leaders increasing or decreasing our levels of engagement?
And the levels of engagement of the others on their teams?
and within their organization?
To get the juices flowing, we asked the participants to think of
someone who they felt exhibited good leadership behaviours
and someone who they felt exhibited bad leadership behaviours.
At first, many people, including myself, thought of two different people.
But as it turns out, becoming a good leader is not just about developing the
right tools and approaches but it is in consistently applying them.
Easier said than done,
Especially when things are not going
the way we would like them to be going.
So, got me thinking
What can we do to be a GOOD leader, more OFTEN?
Well the one word that came to mind was the A word.
AWARENESS.
In this case, self-awareness.
In coaching we like to say that self-awareness is 9/10th of the battle.
Ever heard of the term Emotional Intelligence?
Above, I mentioned the link between our actions and
the feelings (a.k.a. emotions) of others,
and ultimately their behaviours and level of engagement.
Well, a key component of Emotional Intelligence is self-Awareness.
WHO am I?
- What are my strengths?
- How do I like to communicate?
- What are my motivators?
- Etc.
It is pretty tough to be everything to everyone.
Just trying is enough to stress one out.
Stress. I can’t think of a better way to let the bad leader out of the box.
Gaining a better sense of your strengths and styles and preferences etc.
will allow you to not only focus on the things that give you energy,
it will allow you to develop yourself where it makes the most sense and
complement yourself with others as required.
In his article “how-leaders-become-self-aware”,
Anthony Tjan shares what he refers to as
“the trinity of self-awareness:
know thyself, improve thyself, and complement thyself.”
HOW am I feeling?
What side of the bed did you get up on this morning?
The right side or wrong side of the bed?
How will that impact what type of leader YOU are going to be today?
Is this looking like a good leader or bad leader type of day?
The sooner you are self-aware, the sooner you can do something about it.
Oh, and don’t forget about being aware of those around YOU?
WHO are they?
- What are their strengths?
- How do they like to be communicated with?
- What are their motivators?
- Etc.
HOW are they feeling?
What side of the bed did they get up on this morning?
The right side or wrong side of the bed?
Do they seem engaged or disengaged?
The sooner you are self-aware, the sooner you can do something about it.
We covered off a lot of tools during the 2-day leadership workshop
So, I am leery of sharing another but I can’t help myself.
This tool, supposedly the best leadership tool out there (I agree),
was mentioned in an article by Iowa State University (Yes, I read them all 😊)
Called “Self-Awareness: The Essence of Effective Leadership”.
“If you want to be an effective leader, study and learn about your best leadership tool; yourself.
Reflect upon the impact your interactions have on others.
Listen to the feedback others offer on your behavior and style.
Ask for candid feedback on your leadership.”
So, are YOU looking to become a more engaging leader?
Then make it EASYer on YOURself and get to know YOURself better.
One way to get a better sense of YOUR WHO!
Is to check out my previous blog.
WHO ARE YOU? THE UNIQUE YOU! THE AUTHENTIC YOU! HOW WELL DO YOU KNOW YOU?
In it, I outline at least 10 ways that you can get to know YOURself better.
Including but not limited to…
YOUR Strengths.
YOUR Leadership Style.
YOUR Personality and Preferences.
And YOUR Emotional Intelligence (EI) Score
Initial EI score that is. Good news is that it can be improved upon. 😊
Here are the links to a few of my other leadership related blogs
that might also be helpful.
- YO! LEADERS! ARE YOU A MULTIPLIER? OR, A DIMINISHER
- DAVE’S TOP 5 LIST: TRAITS OF A GREAT LEADER
- OUR NEXT GENERATION OF LEADERS
Oh, and if YOU would like some feedback on YOU from others,
Another way of making it EASYer on YOURself,
don’t forget to ask them.
Either anonymously through a 180 or 360 feedback assessment and/or
Over a coffee. 😊
My challenge for YOU!
I believe that I left YOU with more than a few ideas to get to know YOURself better
In the section above.
So, as for YOUR challenge.
How about practicing becoming more aware of others.
Next time the opportunity presents itself,
And YOU are connecting with someone,
Put YOUR focus on THEM.
Listen to them with YOUR 2 ears.
Observe them with YOUR 2 eyes.
Use YOUR heart to understand how they are feeling.
If the heart thing does not work, then use YOUR 1 mouth and just ask them.
Easier said than done in this fast-paced, sometimes crazy environment.
Probably why it does not happen often enough.
But you would be surprised at the impact that it can have.
The impact it can have on someone’s level of engagement.
And isn’t improving someone’s level of engagement what leadership is all about?
Enjoy the challenge and,
Here’s to making change, EASYer on YOURSELF!
Cheers
Dave
Career Transition Coach &
“HALFTIME” Life Journey Coach
Looking at making a positive change in YOUR life?
Becoming a more Engaging Leader, perhaps?
Join me and experience how coaching can help make that change EASYer on YOU!
And no, that is not a typo in the price of the offer 😊
http://davewcoachingandstorytelling.com/coach/life-coaching-with-dave-experience/
Register to receive my new “making change EASYer on YOURself blogs “Hot off the Virtual Press”
http://davewcoachingandstorytelling.com/blog/
Appendix: Some extra resources to help YOU!
(in case YOU want to dig a little deeper on this TOPIC)
My way of helping YOU make change and TRANSITION EASYer on YOU😊
Self-Awareness: The Essence of Effective Leadership Iowa State University
https://www.extension.iastate.edu/hr/self-awareness-essence-effective-leadership
How Leaders become self-Aware. Anthony Tjan.
https://hbr.org/2012/07/how-leaders-become-self-aware
The Worldwide Employee Engagement Crisis. by Annamarie Mann and Jim Harter
http://news.gallup.com/businessjournal/188033/worldwide-employee-engagement-crisis.aspx
