How to get a quality answer

Getting answers that are useful means you have to frame the question appropriate to the topic you want to know more about.  Asking quality questions is a topic that doesn't get adequately covered in the education system, while there is an excessive focus on the 'right' answer.. 

Here's an intriguing topic - "Clean Language Interviewing". From the article - "As leaders have significant authority, this is compounded by the “acquiescence effect”, whereby people respond with what they believe the questioner wants to hear."

Read the article here

Change the Way You Listen: Why Leaders Should Stop Hearing and Start Listening

A really practical article that can help you improve your #listeningskills , even if you aren't designated as a #leader 

From this interesting article - "Most speakers average 150-175 words per minute while most listeners can consume 400-500 words per minute. Distracted leaders allow their excess brain capacity to dialogue internally about the conversation and miss meaning by relying only on the words spoken (which account for only seven percent of #communication)."

Click here to read the entire article.

#leadershipskills #managerialskills #interpersonalcommunication #interpersonalskills #relationshipmanagement #strengthsdecoder 

Where Talent can take you...

It's strange how some talented people feel they can get away with any sort of behaviour, just because they contribute a lot.

They seem oblivious to the fact that #talent can take you far, but your behaviour can take you a little more ahead.

How to have candid conversations at work

Most conversations at work are compartmentalized into what I can reveal and what I shouldn't reveal.  This applies to conversations with your team, as well as your boss and peers.  This calls for Confident Vulnerability and can be quite testing and stressful.

From the article: "Transparency goes hand-in-hand with a positive employee experience. #Leaders must make an effort to be accountable to employees and work harder to surface the negative, even if it may be uncomfortable."

Read the rest of the article here

Developing and Sustaining a Culture of Conversation

A thought-provoking article about enabling #conversations in the #workplace.

From the article: "Switching from Slack to Teams or vice versa may streamline processes and access to information, but these are merely tools whose power depends upon the intention and effectiveness of the people using them. Technology platforms can facilitate conversations, but only if people are willing to engage in them."

Read the full article here.

Article - Recognizing Deception - How to Spot a Lie

 Here's an article on something that we wish we could do with some degree of effectiveness on a daily basis - detecting the lies told to us.

It would have been of additional help to me during my corporate days, and it is still useful today.

Here's a hard truth from the article "we’re overconfident in our ability to detect lies."

Read the article here.

How to make Positive Feedback / Praise Effective

As the first #IndiavsEngland cricket test match started in Chennai today, I recalled the recently concluded test series with Australia last month. There were certain things that struck me, some which were covered by others in their own articles. This in particular, was the speech by head coach, Ravi Shastri in the dressing room after the win.  Have a look here:-

Ravi' Shastri's Speech

I think this speech clearly shows a critical element that is missing from organization life viz. praising your team effectively. From naming individuals in particular, to mentioning specific actions to considering the contributions of every person in the contingent, it was masterful. He made the point of telling the team to celebrate.  At no point, did he hurry through the speech.

Have a look, and share your thoughts on
1) What might be incorporated into the corporate world, and
2) How this speech may impact the current test match / series with England.
3) Those with a #strengths perspective, can share what positive areas the Indian team can improve upon.

#strengthsdecoder #strengthscoaching #coaching #teamcoach #powerofpraise #verbalappreciation #appreciationpost

Displaying Lighthouse Leadership - A Different Perspective

I recently attended a Global Table Conversation organized by IEDP which had Mr. Krishna Thapa as a speaker.

Krishna Thapa is a Gurkha from Nepal who shared his story of growing up in a traditional Nepali village along with the lessons and insights he gained from watching how his community leaders dealt with natural disasters and other challenges. He also detailed the realities of the selection process to become a Gurkha in the British Army and subsequently to be the first Gurkha to be invited to join the SAS.

Among the many gems of wisdom that he shared, here are some that stood out for me.

1) Will I be ok with my decisions 30 years later?

My insight - We make decisions everyday.  Some big (in terms of impact) some small (mundane).  Some are successful, some aren't.  Taking a decision means allocating sufficient time to identify the variables involved, assess them and their possible degree of influence on the current situation, and of course the impact of the decision.  We sometimes miss out on giving sufficient careful thought to the impact of our decisions.  Some of the impacts of decisions are immediately apparent and others invisible to us at that time, and become visible much later.  The reasons for the impacts being invisible are many.  In today's fast paced world, it is difficult to identify and understand those reasons within short timeframes.  So his (Krishna's) method of checking his decision "Will I be ok with my decision 30 years later?" is to ensure that:
a) I have taken into account whatever information is available to me in the given timeframe
b) I have applied my own knowledge and experience in the best manner possible,
c) I have done whatever I could to make sense of the circumstances.
d) I have consulted and pooled my knowledge and experience with whoever I could, as quickly as possible in the given timeframe and taken their inputs, applying them wherever possible.

Whether you lead a team (never mind the level) or not, these are great guidelines for taking decisions.

2) Save others to save ourselves.

The background to this statement was how he and his team went about assisting others and themselves during an avalanche in the Himalayas during a climb, and how he listened to their suggestions - thus enabling a higher survival rate among the climbers with him.  He spoke of a helping mindset which was developed as he grew up in his village, where the survival of one meant the prosperity of all.

My insight - The importance of teamwork and collaboration is critical to the survival of the team and the organization.  In fact, the situational leader will match his input according to his team members needs and capabilities to execute specific goals / KRAs.  He will encourage them to help one another as well. It's tough to call one's department a team if each team member is too preoccupied with executing their own KRAs at the cost of the department goals.

3) The leader is like a lighthouse.  

My insight - This is because, like a lighthouse, he / she shares their light (knowledge and experience) at all times, as much as possible, so that others can learn, be guided and make better decisions on their course, and reach their goals.  It means that he/she  don't wait till it gets completely dark (urgent) but starts sharing information with the team as early as possible.  He also won't bombard them with information all the while, or too soon, again depending on the goal at hand, and his team members' capabilities.

An insecure leader who hoards knowledge and experience is going to bring down not just himself but the organization.  How?  The pace of work will reduce due to bottlenecks created by information hoarding and slow approvals because the team is not empowered to share information or take decisions. Soon the competition will overtake such an organization.

By doing all these three things, the leader would have achieved the highest level of leadership -

He would have created more Leaders

Would you like to have your leaders coached ?

Would you like your next line of managers groomed for leadership in the Situational Leadership Model?

Then write to me at ryanbbarretto@hotmail.com or call me at +919820155778 to set an appointment for a telephonic discussion.

Talent-based thinking patterns during COVID-19 challenge

I came across this extremely apt and wonderful description by Dries Lombaard of the 34 strengths of the CSF (Clifton Strengthsfinder) - i.e. how each strength will manifest / react during #stress situations, like the current #coronavirus pandemic.

Here's a sample:

Achiever – “There goes my to-do list, at least working from home can be more productive.”

Arranger – “I will simply re-organize myself.”

Belief – “Working from home, closer to my family…yeah!”

Consistency – “Let me check on the policy and procedure regarding working from home.”

Deliberative – “I already prepared for this, I knew the risks.”

Click the link below to read more:

Strengths behaviours during coronavirus

Questions about effectively using Strengthsfinder at the workplace?

So you have heard about strengthsfinder and how it creates magic at work.
But you're not really sure what can happen. What if the same conflicts and quarrels resurface?

Here's a short snippet from an article by Gallup on this. Enjoy.
The Five Principles of Strengths-Based Development are listed below. 

1. Themes are neutral.
2. Themes are not labels.
3. Lead with positive intent.
4. Differences are advantages.
5. People need one another.

Read the article for more details.

https://www.gallup.com/cliftonstrengths/en/249821/strengths-based-principles-action-not-forget.aspx?fbclid=IwAR278wU8MWwSfxABepq4yZI3T3kej1lJjsVTUccbRM3WFI8GbbK_XyZ1nJI


If you wish to explore more, please call me on +919820155778

Pics from my session at IAF India Facilitators Conference 2019

Here are a few pics of participant learning from my session on hashtag#conflictmanagement at the hashtag#iafindia19 hashtag#facilitators Conference in Delhi last week. Thanks to all the participants who enriched it with their experiences. Special thanks to Rajkumar Perumal, Tamanna Naik and Varsha Chitnis for all the support to make the session a success.

Of course, I'd like to also say that this day would have been difficult to reach if not for the wholehearted support I received from Sekhar Chandrasekhar, Yateen Gharat CPF, Ajit Kamath, Varsha Chitnis, Semira Khaleeli and others whose facilitation sessions I've attended and learned from over the past three years. My deepest gratitude to all of you.

IAF 2019 Annual India Conference session - Building a Conflict Competent Organization

Here's a short clip where I talk about my upcoming session at the #iafindia2019 annual India conference.  The topic is Conflict Management and is titled "Into the whirlpool of conflict - Creating a Conflict Competent Organization". I'm really looking forward to it.