Tag Archives: Communication

Empathy is an essential leadership skill — and there’s nothing soft about it

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by  Prudy Gourguechon

I get tired of hearing about “soft skills,” even when it’s acknowledged they are important. No less a hard-muscled body than the U.S. Army, in its Army Field Manual on Leader Development (one of the best resource on leadership I’ve ever seen) insists repeatedly that empathy is essential for competent leadership.

 

Why? Empathy enables you to know if the people you’re trying to reach are actually reached. It allows you to predict the effect your decisions and actions will have on core audiences and strategize accordingly. Without empathy, you can’t build a team or nurture a new generation of leaders. You will not inspire followers or elicit loyalty. Empathy is essential in negotiations and sales: it allows you to know your target’s desires and what risks they are or aren’t willing to take.

Elsewhere I’ve proposed a short list of 5 essential cognitive capacities and personality traits that every leader who assumes great responsibility must have. Empathy is one of the core five. (The others are self-awareness, trust, critical thinking and discipline/self-control.)

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Servant leadership: Who is ultimately responsible for your people’s success?

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By Ronald M. Allen

The emotional high of going to work and being among a group of productive associates, fellow employees with a common goal and supported by an understood incentive, moves people to act like no other force.

The key elements are that the employees feel part of something bigger than themselves. They have a sense of purpose. They are supported by the correct incentives to put forth their best efforts. They come each and every day to give so that the team will receive the benefit of their contribution and be recognized.

When a leader executes accordingly, this show of confidence in one’s fellow employees speaks to the security of the leader and the trust they show in their employees. But before you can learn how to improve your own leadership, you must understand what qualities make up a servant leader.

Here are some of the characteristics of successful servant leaders:

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Qualities that make great leaders from A to Z

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What does it take to be a great leader?

We thought it might be interesting to share the attributes valued by senior leaders in our network.  The contributors are recognized leaders in a variety of enterprises: two global professional services firms; healthcare software; law; world leader in enabling connected commerce; private equity; and, multinational foods. We hope you find inspiration and an insight or two from their words.

 

Ability to Guide-A good leader should be able to guide his/her team to be able to perform well in all scenarios. Leadership does not mean dominating people. It means encouraging them such that they work to the best of their abilities and produce positive results.

Building a Great Team-Team building is not the easiest things to accomplish. Great managers are really measured in their ability to build great teams. For a team to perform efficiently, their leader should be able to motivate his/her team.

Communications-Great leaders are great communicators. He/she must be able to effectively and regularly communicate to deliver the expectations of company’s leaders have set as the groups goals. Great leaders communicate frequently, provide context and ensure employees can tie decisions back to corporate goals and objectives. Be a great communicator and learn how to make and deliver a good pitch

Decision-Making and Problem Solving are necessary skills. As a leader sets his/her they need to be able to recognize problems and issues and figure out the best approach to resolve the issues and move his team forward.

Direction-Leaders not only show the path, but are able to dive in and solve for challenges along the journey!

Enablement- Strong leaders trust their people and work hard to ensure their teams have what they need to succeed, and clear the hurdles out of their way.

From the Front-Lead from the front, live it, breathe it!

Goal Oriented-Leaders should also have a visionary sight for the benefit of the company. He/she should plan the future steps for the growth his/her team and of the company.

Gratitude–Thanksgiving does not happen just once a year.  Even the weakest rower in a race keeps the boat balanced, keeps the rhythm, and enables the strongest rowers to pull ahead.  Thank every member of your team for their contribution.  Make it personal.  Make it sincere. There is always another race, and you will need all those rowers.

Integrity-Have integrity & strong values-know who you are.

Innovation-If you are not thinking about what is next, you will not be unique for customers so you will not grow and it will be hard to take care of your people.

Knowledge-A great leaders is aware of changes that are occurring in their industry, aware of innovations in their firm and their competitors. This is necessary so that he can use the knowledge and make positive contributions to the goal.

Life-Keep Life in Perspective-Work / Life Balance……………….Have fun!!

Look-Great leaders look forward and look outward.

Market-You have to be always taking market share so you need to know your competitors and your customers…You have to drive what makes you unique so customers want to buy from you and not your competitors.

Measure-Leaders understand what the goal line is, communicate it to their teams, and how to work towards that goal.  Without clarity in what the objective is, individuals will be confused on the goal and have different views of success.

Mentor-Seek wise counsel – know who has an interest in YOU.

Numbers-Business is about making money so a strong leader has to understand the activities that are going to drive growth and keep the costs down…

Open Mind-Treat your mind like a parachute.

Outcomes – never mistake action for outcomes.  Nothing is more de-motivating than have a team working hard and not getting the results – guide them towards the right target so the action matches the expected outcome.

Overwhelm-Overwhelm Problems before they overwhelm you.

Road less traveled-Fix /Build / Grow Something. Take the road less traveled–take risk & build skills not titles.

Visibility-For a team to be successful, their leader needs to bring visibility to the team of how / why each member of the team is there. What skills, experience, or knowledge do they bring to the team?

We-Leadership is about advancing others, not you. Good leaders often always use the term “We” instead of “I”.

Zeal-Leaders have to be the most energetic, focused, determined people on the team because everyone else will draw on that.

Many thanks to all of the leaders who contributed to this blog for their time and wisdom. Hopefully we have added to your perspective on leadership. If you would like to share a thought or two for a follow-up post, please let me know.

Thank you,

Larry Janis, Managing Partner, ISSG E-janis@issg.net  

 

5 Ways To Tell Your Boss No Without Actually Saying No

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iStock_000027814907Small - Copyby Lisa Rabasca Roepe

Managers often ask us to do things we don’t want to: work late, work on a weekend, attend a conference the same weekend we have concert tickets, help a difficult colleague finish a project. While it’s important to be a team player, it’s equally important to stay happy at work.

In fact, it might even be good for your career to occasionally say no, says Suz O’Donnell, founder and CEO of Thrivatize LLC. “You may worry a boss may be mad if you don’t stay late or work over the weekends, but at the end of the day, you are much more innovative and productive when you’ve had some time to relax,” she says.

Most employees worry that setting boundaries gives the impression that they aren’t a dedicated worker, but in reality the opposite is true, O’Donnell says. She recalls a coworker who consistently worked extra hours because he didn’t have pressing weekend plans and it made him feel important. However, his reputation in the office didn’t improve because he worked every weekend. “It made him seem less powerful and more like someone people could push around,” O’Donnell says. In fact, she says, everyone on the team who consistently declined weekend work was promoted, while the coworker who repeatedly put in extra hours didn’t get a promotion. Perhaps, she says, it was because those who took a break came back to work refreshed and ready to produce.

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Organisational Politics Can Be an Asset to Strategy Execution

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michael_jarrettby Michael Jarrett

Identifying the types of political behaviour in your organisation is the first step to using it for positive change.

Dysfunctional politics can sink an organisation, but it can also be a force for good. This makes many executives frown, but the reality is that politics is normal – and too often a hidden barrier to effective strategy execution. In fact, without it, some strategic changes may not be possible.

Political behaviour allows differences to be shared and methods to be employed in strategy execution that go beyond the rules and norms of the organisation. Thus it’s important for leaders to understand the forms it can take and how they can harness it.

While we would be naive to ignore the potentially destructive nature of politics, when deployed effectively it can actually help the company meet its strategic goals and live up to its values, especially during change efforts.

Defining politics

Organisational politics refers to a variety of activities associated with the use of tactics to influence or improve personal or organisational interests.

Studies have shown that those with political skills do tend to outperform their politically naive counterparts. However, political behaviour is relative. It is implicit in many cases. For example, it may be the case that a manager or leader needs to exert a large amount of pressure on a team to get something done by using the power of their position over others. It is also occasionally necessary for employees to work behind the scenes to build coalitions of believers in a new vision. Politics is driven by the conditions of scarce resources, social and structural inequalities and individual personal motivations.

Thus, the first step to using politics requires executives to map their organisation’s political landscape and understand the sources of political capital they have.

 

The political terrain

Most organisational maps are characterised by four metaphoric domains; the weeds, the rocks, the high ground and the woods. Each has a different set of rules for skilful navigation.

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