Neuro-emotional traits for increasing leadership effectiveness

“There are three things extremely hard - Steel, a Diamond, and to know one’s self,” wrote Benjamin Franklin in the 1750 edition of Poor Richard’s Almanack.

 

As a leader you might have many roles viz. create strategies, manage resources, and inspire your team. You may be good at a few or all of these aspects to some extent. For example, having a strategic mindset, delivering profits, and having an executive presence are all attractive qualities for a leader. While these attributes are expected from most leaders and business executives, it is critical to develop specific traits that characterize effective and exceptional leaders.

 

Effective leaders simplify complexity and bring clarity

Good leaders manage to thrive in the chaos of the ever-changing world. Simplifying complexities is one of the paradoxes that leaders and executives have to embrace and handle. They can distill the complexity and create easily understandable and actionable steps that their team members can quickly take on. Great leaders have a clear vision of where they want to take their business, team, or product and can shed light on the strategy to reach there.

 

Effective leaders prioritize a few critical aspects and persistently communicate them

Many leaders, even the good ones, fall into the trap of trying to accomplish too many things at the same time. Thus, prioritizing becomes an important trait of exceptional leaders. Upon identifying the top three or four priorities, they persistently communicate these priorities to their teams and inspire them to relentlessly pursue them. Moreover, by prioritizing a few critical aspects, they provide a simple plan for achieving these objectives. And the ability to devise a simple plan that will ensure victory is what will increase your leadership effectiveness. By doing so, outstanding leaders can genuinely inspire their teams to achieve the shared goals.

 

Effective leaders contribute across the entire organization rather than their individual silos

One of the issues many companies face is that their leaders rely only on their immediate team members, perceiving the others as their competition. They fail to understand that they are a part of a much bigger machinery and structure. This behavior weakens the company and steers the focus away from the ultimate goal of positioning the company high on the marketplace.

A way for leaders to overcome this type of mindset is to modify detrimental behavior and discipline themselves. The ‘we’ that we believe we are a part of is the entire organization, instead of a small team. This will be characterized by getting out of our comfort zone and learning to be comfortable operating outside of our area of expertise. Moreover, great team leaders can play well on teams they don't lead. The most effective leaders will see their portion of the business as an integral component of the entire organization and thereby maintain a broader perspective.

 

Effective leaders operate on a strategic level rather than on tactical aspects

Outstanding leaders dedicate more time to strategic conversations with their team members. Instead of focusing on the tactical maneuvering of their teams, true leaders contribute to the strategic elements. 

The opportunities to demonstrate leadership skills are endless. Even relocating to new offices is a chance for leaders to help employees transition to the new premises, keep their spirits up, and let them feel motivated and involved.

 

Effective leaders foster learning agility and build more leaders

There are two types of business executive and managers:

1.     Those who use their team members as a means for their own advancement.

2.     Those who see the potential in their team members and develop them further.

Discerning which one of these two types a particular executive or manager belongs to is not always easy. However, a leader's track record will unambiguously show whether they build leaders or exploit the people who work for them. If an employee or manager has taken on extra responsibility after working for a particular leader, it will be a clear indicator that this leader has groomed and mentored her/ him. People who quickly rise through ranks in an organization often have bosses who have had their back and have looked out for their best interests. This trait is vital to increase your leadership effectiveness.

Having a leader who builds more leaders is excellent for an organization for several reasons. Firstly, they are more likely to groom and develop individuals who differ from themselves. This leads to an increase in cognitive diversity. Secondly, such leaders can create high-performing teams that readily explore new avenues and take on additional initiatives to spur growth. Furthermore, their teams will be excellent at challenging the status quo and disrupting the outdated norms. Consequently, they will foster innovation and long-term capital development. 

 

Leaders are made, not born!

When we talk about habits or traits for increasing leadership effectiveness, it's important to note that these qualities in leaders are typically made, and not inbred at birth. So, while we expect leaders to be charismatic visionaries, these traits usually develop as they rise through the ranks and assume more challenging roles. As businesses today demand a continual improvement in performance, emotional agility and behavior adaptation are essential traits for a leader’s growth and impact.

The next big thing in self-improvement is BEHAVIOR transformation

It’s a common misconception that altering your behavior implies the betrayal of integrity and authenticity. In reality, these changes to your behavioral patterns are a way to improve how you engage with others. Adapting your behavior such that it suits the situations at hand helps people understand what you are conveying. For doing that, it is crucial to understand how your behavior or personality helps or hinders your progress. And thus, behavior change/ transformation is the next level in self-improvement.

Growing your awareness of how your style differs from others will dramatically enhance your conversation skills. It is particularly true with whom you have trouble interacting. Learning how to adapt your behavior to the particular person so as to minimize the risk of them having an issue with you is the ultimate goal. Consequently, the quality of your relationships, both at work and in life, will transform. And that is the beginning of a long-term, sustained behavior change and transformation.

Nevertheless, changing your behavior will not be an easy endeavor. Anyone who has tried to break a bad habit, such as smoking, knows how hard it is. It requires a lot of commitment and persistence. Therefore, it's necessary to empower yourself with the right knowledge, time, effort, and self-discipline.

The beginning

Regardless of the goal that you wish to accomplish, you must know that there is no one-size-fits-all solution. You will realize that you need to try out a few different techniques until you find the right one for you. It will typically include a series of trial and error. This is the stage when many become discouraged and give up on their goal. It is vital to keep yourself motivated for identifying the most appropriate techniques that enable the change in you. 

The elements of change

As we all know, inducing behavioral changes is not easy. Over many years, psychologists have developed various techniques that therapists, teachers, and physicians use to help people change their behavior. Researchers have also worked on theories attempting to explain how changes happen. In order to achieve your goals, you need to understand the elements of change, the stages of change, and learn how you can go through all those stages effectively.

Here are the three critical elements of behavior change:

• Readiness to change: Evaluate the ability to make a lasting change using the knowledge and resources at your disposal. 
• Barriers to change: Identify anything that is blocking your change.
• Likelihood of relapse: Identify what triggers cause the relapse to former/ prior behavior.

The stages of change

The Stages of Change, aka the Transtheoretical Model, was introduced in the late 1970s. This model has been found to be highly effective in understanding how people go through changes.

It deems that relapse is inevitable and describes the change as a gradual process. It begins with people's resistance to change. Eventually, people adopt a natural approach for changing their behavior and become committed. It shows that change is a process that consists of a sequence of small steps leading towards the goal.

Pre-contemplation

People in this stage are not truly considering the change. It’s a state of mind that we describe as being ‘in denial’. In this stage, people often claim that their behavior is not a problem, or they don't understand how their behavior is detrimental. If you are currently in this stage, think about what would need to happen so that you consider your behavior problematic.

Contemplation

This is the stage when people actually begin to realize the need for change and understand the benefits of the change. Simultaneously, they start to realize the costs of the change. As a result, instead of focusing on the physical, emotional, or mental gains that the change will bring about, people feel like they are giving something up. Unfortunately, many never move past this phase. If you are in this stage, figure out what could help you make the change. Understand why you want to change and try to identify anything that may be preventing you from making the change happen.

Preparation

The preparation stage often involves making more minor changes as a way to prepare for the big leap. During this phase, it is essential to create a support system that will provide encouragement. Hiring a coach can prove to extremely helpful during this phase.

Action

This is when concrete efforts towards achieving the goal happen. If you have dedicated enough time to the previous stages, you have a better chance of success. For example, people who decide to get their body in shape and jump immediately into doing physical activities or a work-out will often tend to give up after a few weeks. However, if they have given enough time during the pre-contemplation, contemplation, and preparation stages and keep finding the motivation to stay physically active, the chances are they will keep up with their efforts. These stages will help them in not losing momentum. It’s important to ensure that you reinforce your new behavior with positive rewards for every step you take. Celebrating the small wins helps in positively encouraging you to repeat the newly adapted behavior. 

Maintenance

The maintenance stage implies avoiding old behaviors and maintaining the new ones. At this stage, it would be best if you try to avoid temptation. Identify the situations when you have managed to prevent relapse successfully and reward yourself for that. And if you do relapse, don't beat yourself up. It's just a part of the overall process.

Relapse

If and when you relapse, you will likely feel disappointed and frustrated. Don't let this ruin your confidence. Instead, understand what triggered the relapse and try to avoid it going forward. Remember that your mistakes are an excellent source of insight. In this case, it would help if you started back from the preparation stage. It may be a good idea to go over your resources and techniques and reaffirm your motivation. To help you in the near-term, prepare a plan on how you will avoid possible future temptation and the risk of a relapse.

Conclusion

Any type of change is difficult and especially behavior change is a massive step. It looks like a state change from ice to water or water to steam. For our personal improvement, it is good to know that difficulties and challenges build our resilience. We become stronger by overcoming each challenge in our journey of personal development. Keeping an optimistic outlook for a more positive outcome even when things are less than perfect is what enables this transformation. This process is highly effective for making changes in our communication and interactions with others. Identifying and understanding the problematic behaviors is the start of the journey towards changing those behaviors and helps in sustaining the newly adopted behavior when interacting with other people. Moreover, identifying behaviors that cause your negative mood shifts and becoming aware of your destructive thought processes can enhance your awareness of your thought patterns and auto-conditioned response. Using this awareness and the above change process can help in reprogramming your inner script. This could significantly improve the quality of your life. The process is arduous, but the rewards are worth the struggle. Finally, it’s your decision whether to change or remain the same.

“When the pain of staying the same becomes more than the pain of going through the change, then you are truly ready to take the leap for behavior transformation”.

Excuses most people make for not hiring a coach

Excuse# 1: “I am already successful”

All the world’s top athletes have coaches. They are successful and continue engaging with a coach to help themselves get even better. Similarly, top executives hire a coach either to help themselves get better or to develop the next level of leadership effectiveness.

Excuse# 2: "I don't have the time to engage with a Coach"

In today’s world, no executive has any more time than you. They all have the same number of hours every day. The question is: how do we choose to spend our time?

Coaching nets you saved time by helping you to delegate effectively, distinguish
meaningful vs. wasteful work, prioritize tasks, and devote more time to the
most important things in your life.

Excuse# 3: "I need to wait until I get over this project or initiative or busy patch in life"

Were you struggling to find time in the past 12 months? Past 6 months? Past 3 months?
If yes and you think - "I will have more time after I get over this current busy
phase" This statement is not accurate in predicting the future. There will always be more
busy phases to follow this current patch.
Striving to find time is not the cure for not engaging a coach. In fact, coaching
enables you to live without constantly humping and fighting fires. It helps you do more in less time by taking wise and well-thought decisions.

Excuse# 4: "I can't afford coaching"

This depends on whether you want to budget for your own professional development. Are you willing to invest in your own growth?
Coaching is not a way to spend money, it is your best means for getting a great return on your investment in self-growth.

Excuse# 5: "I already get advice from family and friends"

Sure! Our buddies and family members all give us advice. But they may not have the right experience and expertise that professional advisors and coaches provide.
Coaches are thinking partners and your best collaborators for guiding you to
create a matching solution for your specific need or situation.

Excuse# 6: "I can't trust someone with my secrets"
Are you a loner?
Coaches maintain confidentiality because that is the necessary part for working with clients and building a trusted relationship. The confidentiality clause is part
of a standard coaching agreement and you must insist your coach to include it
in the agreement.

Excuse# 7: "I am not sure if I could learn from another person"
Do you want to figure out everything on your own? Are you planning to walk all alone in your career journey?
Coaching allows you to find out your blind-spots and figure out your development areas. Whether you are totally ready to learn or somewhat reluctant at the start,
anyone who hires a reputed coach will gain some valuable insights and take-aways. 

Building a high performing team

 

Teamwork is one of the most crucial skills required for running a successful business. Your team’s performance drives the business forward and creates a solid foundation for any expansion or future development. However, building a high performing team is a challenging process that takes time, patience, energy, and a lot of effort. Nevertheless, with the right guidance and dedication of team members, it can be an incredible journey that creates strong bonds with everyone, increases productivity & performance, and brings success-over-success for any company. Let's see how to do it the right way.

Main factors that determine a good team

When building a high performing team and becoming resilient, there are various factors to consider. My goal is to share insights about the perspectives on teams, possible environmental blockers that may hinder the development, understanding your work style and that of your employees, and finally, how to approach the work that has to be done. The objective is for you to have all the necessary tools to create your dream team!

The importance of team composition

Team composition plays a vital role in building a high performing team. What helps each individual to excel and communicate with others is driven by:

● Characteristics: communication, focus, support, organization, diversity.

● Attributes: a clear vision of the goals, the ability to take responsibility, cooperation.

● Behaviors: social cohesiveness, collective efficacy.

● Traits: self-awareness, commitment, motivation, reliability, honesty, optimism, empathy.

If each member of your team focuses to develop in these areas, your team will function flawlessly. However, if they fail to do so, it will create obstacles that will be challenging to overcome.

What prevents your team from achieving the best results?

Understanding environmental blockers that will hinder your team's development and performance is the best way to find a proactive solution. When an employee starts working for a company, they are usually very energetic and try to perform to the best of their capabilities.

However, beyond the initial 90 days, their performance could go down, commonly due to misalignments such as:

● Job position/role: if an employee does not move to a more desirable position/role after some time or does not get promoted, then their morale and performance could decrease.

● Daily activities: if an employee is getting too many or not enough daily tasks, it will affect their work efficiency.

● Salary: an increase in monthly earnings will motivate an employee, but a status quo might create unease. Not everyone deserves a salary raise, but they must understand the rationale for not getting the increment.

● Manager: if an employee is not satisfied with their manager, they will look for a way out of the team. A manager must cultivate the ability to notice a change in their team member’s behavior in a timely manner.

● Culture: this can be a serious issue especially for employees who are not aligned with the values practiced and the traits emphasized by company management.

● Location: a lot of people work away from their hometown during their school years, and one of the challenges can be relocation.

As a leader, your objective is to recognize these issues and talk to your employees about their disengagement or dissatisfaction. They must see your empathy for the issues and hurdles they are facing due to the above factors.

The leader grows with the team.

Coaching and nurturing have a goal to create strong managers that will not only lead their team but also grow together. However, this process is not the same for everyone. Your work style will set the tone for your team.

There are four basic quadrants that teams can be classified as:

● innovation and agility

● results and discipline

● process and precision

● teamwork and employee experience

Depending on the team’s collective characteristics, they will fit in one or more of these categories.

Additionally, your employees might have a stronger drive than you. In that case, you must inspect your blind spots, or your development will not be a match to their expectation. As a leader, you must set an example that others will follow. That's why it is essential to understand your team's strengths, weaknesses, and overall makeup.

Understand the work to be done and map your team’s objectives.

Performing a few team exercises is a crucial step because it will enable setting different objectives & relevant tasks under each objective, discovering the blind spots & resolving them. Upon completing the exercise, they will have a higher understanding of the work to be done. Furthermore, it will allow you to get to know everyone's capacity.

Consequently, you will learn to optimize the talent and stretch them to unleash their full potential.

How to create cohesion within the team?

The final piece of the puzzle is team cohesion. Teams constantly communicate, make decisions, and take actions collectively. As a leader, you need to align them to reduce friction, curb any loss of team spirit, and reduce energy waste.

Essentially, become aware of your individual strengths, fix your blind spots, and create synergy among your team members. At the same time, understand your team's strengths and weaknesses, as well as their potential and capacity.

Building a high performing team

With time, even leadership traits have evolved in some ways. Leaders of yesterday had a different approach, and they used to tell their employees what to do. However, the leaders of tomorrow must learn to ask, solicit ideas, encourage participation, and collaborate with employees.

An effective leader helps their team to adapt in various situations, leverages their strengths, stretches their capabilities, unleashes their true potential, facilitates open dialogue, and delegates effectively.

The path for driving results is hard, and you need to visualize yourself, your employees, and the entire team as a cohesive group that functions as one body and one mind.

How emotional intelligence helps in your business growth

 

In today’s volatile, uncertain, ambiguous, and complex world everyone is trying to achieve a lot within a limited time. Due to the lack of time, we often do not have enough empathy for ourselves, let alone for others. This can drastically affect the work environment and reduce productivity. That's why lately there has been an emphasis on emotional intelligence. Emotional Intelligence (EI) is viewed today as an important element for businesses to grow, expand, and survive. Let us further explore this subject to understand how emotional intelligence can help to enhance your business growth.

Today, it is becoming obvious that interpersonal relationships and communication can greatly affect any business. The ability to learn how to behave in certain situations can be used to avoid unpleasantries. And, on a much greater scale, it will affect productivity. If successfully utilized in a company’s practice and training, EI can have various positive impacts on the business itself.

 

What is Emotional Intelligence (EI)?

There are many manifestations of emotional intelligence. Communication skills, leadership skills, and others are all part of these, often called, soft skills. By enhancing their emotional intelligence: managers and workers can demonstrate better individuality and greater functionality as a team. Generally speaking, it is the ability to recognize, manage, and understand the feelings and emotions of yourself and others.

 

There are several aspects of emotional intelligence:

● Self-awareness: the ability to perceive your current strengths, weaknesses, moods, behaviors, etc. and learning how they affect you and the people around you.

● Empathy - the ability to share the emotional experience of others. Recognizing, understanding, and feeling the same emotion as them.

● Self-regulation/Impulse control - being able to maturely control the way you react in situations, avoiding impulsive responses, and patiently sorting out the most appropriate response.

● Internal motivation - having a kind of subjective motivation that drives you toward accomplishments. A sort of passion, but not of the materialistic type.

● Resilience - maintaining a positive attitude in hard times, enduring challenges effectively with an optimistic view for a better outcome, and having a will to always push forward.

● Social-awareness and Interpersonal skills: being sensitive to the other person’s situation, collaborating, developing strong relationships, and knowing how to deal with others appropriately while simultaneously earning their respect and trust.

● Agility & Flexibility: assessing new conditions, being open to dynamically adapt to them, and accordingly adjusting your behavior.

 

Why is EI important in business?

The importance of EI in the business world lies in many factors. Let us try to explain some of them and how they influence business in general.

 

Identification

The ability to observe, identify and understand other people's behavior, attitudes, and actions can help in a business environment. If a team member is experiencing some uncharacteristic struggles, recognizing the problem will help you find the solution.

 

Finding the right team members

Emotional intelligence also helps to find the right people to build the team. If you hire the wrong person, it can easily disrupt an otherwise healthy work environment. Also, not everyone can perform the same tasks equally, giving the right position to the right person will also demonstrate better results. For example, a manager needs to know how to hold a team together and how to solve delicate situations.

 

The effect on productivity

People with high EI will probably get along together. It leads to better communication, exchange of ideas, and constructive criticism. And the team where everyone respects and trusts each other and collectively builds rational ideas will show significantly better results. Such an overall positive culture is a great foundation for a stable and prospective business.

 

The ease of assessment

Since EI is quite important for a business to be successful, you need a proper expert to assess it and explain the relevant aspects that matter for you to grow. After all, large successful companies employ professionals to deal with this type of assessment for a reason.

 

Build relationships and a better working environment

The effect of emotional intelligence in various working environments can be tremendous. While many people claim to function well under the pressure and on tight schedules, the inner reality for themselves is not the same. With proper guidance, people can learn how to cope with increased pressure and reduce the amount of stress. It becomes especially important in a collective environment where one person's behavior can easily affect that of others. If learned well, it can lead to increased collaboration and team coherence.

 

How to improve EI?

There are many ways to increase emotional intelligence. Let us name a few useful practices:

● Practice listening to what others have to say and try to avoid interrupting. Gradually, you will be able to better understand people.

● Try to understand the circumstances leading to various events. In reality, you cannot always control everything. Some situations happen out of anyone's control.

● Think carefully before you act. Take some time to think before you say or act on something or respond to someone.

● Show appreciation. For example, if a manager knows how to praise and appreciate his or her team, it encourages and motivates people to do better. A small & timely compliment about their work, recognition at team events, awards, bonuses, etc. are all proven to increase productivity and overall atmosphere.

● Learn from criticism. Even though you may not like it at that exact moment, sometimes criticism is a perfect way to learn what to improve.

● Observe body language since it is an important part of communication. Without the full picture, you might misinterpret other people's words.

● Learn to apologize when you are wrong. If you know how to admit and apologize for your mistakes, you will earn a lot of respect from others in the long run.

● Control impulsiveness and at the same time know how to express feelings. Always try to see things from another person's perspective.

 

Conclusion

There are many ways in which emotional intelligence helps in your business growth. Understanding how it works is an important part of improving your business. When necessary, don't hesitate to reach out to a professional EI advisor to help you grow and better understand your co-workers and employees.

Building your Emotional Intelligence to ensure success and happiness

Building your Emotional Intelligence to ensure success and happiness

For professionals, cognitive intelligence comes naturally as it’s the driver of their functional excellence. Most professionals score high on IQ - Intelligence Quotient. As professionals gradually move up the ladder and take senior/ management roles, building emotional intelligence becomes essential. Emotional Intelligence - measured as EQ becomes a key differentiating factor for their future growth.

You may realize that with IQ being at the same level, growing your Emotional Intelligence enables you to become an effective manager, leader, and a better human being. This ensures work-life success and enhances your happiness.

Aspects of Emotional Intelligence:

Self-awareness and Self-actualization: perceiving your current strengths and weakness, learning to improve, and striving to achieve your objectives.

Assertiveness: confidently expressing your thoughts and views while being aware of the potential for causing a conflict or opposition.

Social-awareness and Interpersonal skills: being sensitive to other person’s situation, collaborating, and developing strong relationships.

Impulse Control: delaying or holding-off the temptation to speak or act, and patiently sorting out the most appropriate response.

Practical Thinking: assessing and checking the reality of the current situation while avoiding to be biased by any false imagination.

Problem Solving: connecting with the subjective and objective elements while solving problems and effectively making choices & taking decisions

Flexibility: assessing new conditions, being open to dynamically adapt to them, and accordingly adjusting your behavior.

Resilience: maintaining a positive attitude in hard times, and enduring challenges effectively with an optimistic view for a better outcome.

In certain situations, if you can’t control your emotions then there is risk that you could cause a negative effect on the outcome. When we let our emotions run out of control, they cause us to do and say some terrible things. Uncontrolled emotions in some settings change the perception of those involved. In a sensitive circumstance if you’ve had an emotional outburst, it might lead to disturbance and a distancing in your relationship with those affected.

They might say:

“I can’t remember what s/he did, but I remember how angry s/he got.”

“I can’t remember what s/he said, but I remember how hurt s/he made me feel.”

Choosing how you respond to a situation, problem, or challenge is more important than the actual occurring phenomenon!

Commit to a life of constant growth and become the master of your own destiny.

You don’t have to stride on this path all alone. You could choose to engage a coach who will walk with you on this journey.

Grow your Emotional Intelligence to ensure professional success

Grow your Emotional Intelligence to ensure professional success

For professionals, cognitive intelligence comes naturally since it is the driver of their functional excellence. Most professionals score high on IQ - Intelligence Quotient. As professionals gradually move up the ladder and take senior/ management roles, building Emotional Intelligence -  measured as EQ becomes essential. Per my observation it becomes a differentiating factor for their future growth. As one progresses further; they realize that with their Intelligence Quotient (IQ) staying steady at the achieved level, growing their Emotional Intelligence enables them to become effective managers and leaders.

Emotional Intelligence spectrum:

Self-Actualization: perceiving your current strengths & weakness, learning to self-improve, setting &  striving to achieve your objectives, and gaining fulfillment.

Assertiveness: confidently expressing your thoughts & views while being aware of the potential for causing a conflict or opposition.

Interpersonal skills: being sensitive to other person’s situation, collaborating, and developing strong relationships.

Impulse Control: delaying/holding-off the temptation to speak or act, and patiently sorting out the most appropriate response.

Practical Thinking: assessing & checking the reality of the current situation while avoiding to be biased by any false imagination.

Problem Solving: connecting with the subjective & objective elements while solving problems and effectively taking choices/decisions

Flexibility: assessing new conditions, being open to dynamically adapt to them, and accordingly adjusting your behavior.

Resilience: maintaining a positive attitude in hard times, and enduring challenges effectively with an optimistic view for a better outcome.