Action from Leadership Quotient - Emotional Intelligence Workshop

Here are some glimpses of Workshop on Leadership Quotient - Emotional Intelligence conducted for the leaders of a Mumbai-based large organization.

There were 2 days of two separate batches of leaders, and let me say that the enthusiasm and curiosity of the participants in both batches really made the learnings more powerful.

We covered how Emotional Intelligence affects the leader's ability to build relationships with their team members and their peers, in addition to naming emotions, and what goes on in the brain.  The participants also went through a facilitated process on how to create positive emotions at the workplace.

Do connect with me on +919820155778 for conducting leadership workshops for your organizaion.

The Reality of Carrot and Stick motivation

Both are temporary.

The carrot makes the employees adopt a kind of mercenary mindset. Nothing wrong except that it is too short termed for any sustained impact.

The stick makes the employees fearful, and kind of wreck the culture where you have more lip service than engaged and passionate effort.

The interesting part is that the employees first would feel the lack of energy to move, before any manager or leader.  The manager or leader sooner or later gets the feeling that things aren't moving as fast (a slightly vague term that doesn't always account for the environment factors) as they should, and so proposes more incentives.  

I recall a leader in one organization wanting to put sales people on PIP if they were at 70% of their monthly target. You can guess what those employees got motivated to do.

Surely the revenue an organization earns can be utilized in more effective areas than carrots and sticks?

Your thoughts on this?  What do you think are the best ways to improve performance?

 

The next competitive advantage in talent: Continuous employee listening

#leaders and #managers are often reminded that they should continuously #listen to their #teams . This has lead to team meets, skip level meetings and one-on-one meetings, which of course, consumes loads of time.

This interesting article shows how a consulting organization actually leveraged #analytics and #technology to do this. I wish they provided some inputs about the impact of their amazing and massive effort.

Read the article here.

The Five R's of Feedback: A Blueprint for Personal and Team Growth

 

From this excellently detailed article : "Feedback is not the reality but rather an opinion."

(This line has been in my head for the past 2 days - I would add the words "... opinion as per personal / societal norms")

Strangely, most organizations (people) are interested in giving feedback, instead of receiving feedback. Yet, as a trainer I find that this is not a topic of high priority for organization learning, even they are quite aware of the benefits.

Read the rest of the article here

Are You Boss of Your Cognitive Bias?

Photo by Marta Nogueira: https://www.pexels.com/photo/ pink-and-blue-background-divided-diagonally-with-two-matching-colored-pencils-placed- on-opposite-colors-top-down-view-flat-lay-with-empty-space-for-text-17151677/

 

If you are human, cognitive bias comes with the territory. You cannot beat it, but you can fight against it. In a new white paper, we explain why it is particularly important for organizational leaders to understand and check their cognitive biases, especially when making critical decisions.

Cognitive biases present a serious risk to organizational leaders who bear any responsibility for high-level decision-making. Educating yourself and your team on these five common mental traps will help you neutralize them for improved decision-making, team dynamics, and workplace culture.

1) Anchoring Bias

Read the rest of the article here.

Three Key Competencies to Showcase When you apply for a Leadership Role

Well, actually - Four Competencies!.

But let's turn back the clock a bit.

You feel you are read for a Manager's position or a Leadership role (internally or externally) and want to apply?  

Why? Because you have the work experience and have ambitious growth plans. You feel you get along well with people, including your colleagues.

Great! You have some clarity about where you want to go career-wise. 

But what happens is that you apply many times internally or at different organizations, but don't get through.  You have no idea what you are doing wrong since there's no real feedback for you to work on.

Based on my HR experience in the corporate world and having coached clients who are applying for senior roles, here are my thoughts that may help you understand where the mismatch might be.

When applying for a Leadership position, whether in your own organization or in another organization, here are the key competencies / abilities that you have to showcase in your cover letter, resume and interview:

Finance - Particularly, how the business makes money and awareness of the critical cost areas beyond your department.

Why this is important? - As a leader, you will be in charge of a finite budget (size doesn't matter). Your strategic utilizaiton / consumption of this budget will impact EDBITA, as well as meet your goals. It's an opportunity to showcase application of your knowledge of finance.

Marketing - This includes understanding the product / service, customer and how the product / service is marketed and sold (based on your industry, this could include how the product is made).  This means that your industry knowledge should be as upto date as possible.

Why this is important? - Customers come to our organization because of the products / services being offered. As a leader, your work directly or indirectly impacts this.  So showing your understanding of how this works will be a major plus for your candidature.  After all, the business survives and thrives because of the spending habits of it's customers.

Human Resources - This means showcase how you manage people, groom them for higher roles and lead the team to deliver value consistently. If you are able to also inspire people, that is a bonus.

Why this is important? In today's world, one person cannot do it all, but a team can (conditions apply of course, and a lot of those conditions depend on the leader).  This means knowing in clear detail the capability of your current team members, and the skills necessary to hire (so that you can leverage these) in your future team.

Now, suppose you have specialized expertise in one of these areas and think that it is enough to move to a leadership position (especially in today's times), then I can say that leadership roles will not suit you as you will be an incomplete candidate for the role.  You will find yourself getting skewed while executing your duties, leading to an imbalance in execution.

You don't need to know everything in great detail, but you must know more than the basics.

What's The Fourth Competency - you must have sufficient expertise in your own functional area, and consistently deliver value to the organization.  

What does 'sufficient' mean, you wonder?  It means you know enough about the job to train new team members effectively, hire and groom a new employee with little work experience into understanding and delivering the requirements of his / her role within three to six months.  Additionally it means you can manage the ambiguities of the role you are currently handling.

When you present yourself as someone who is familiar with all these areas, then you become a strong contender to take on the critical role of managing, developing and perhaps leading people.

Now that you know this - what next?

As a candidate applying for leadership positions, prepare your responses to questions in these areas, as well as other aspects of the job. Take same time to understand how these tasks are aligned with your strengths. The reality is that not all of them will be aligned to your strengths.  In which case, please explain that you would manage those out of alignment areas (i.e. possible weaknesses) by collaborating with your colleagues, and that you are a  great team player by lending your strengths to complement their weaknesses.  Integrity, of course, is non-negotiable. 

If you need help to prepare for your interview, get in touch with me at +919820155778 or write to me at ryanbbarretto@hotmail.com for a discussion.  

As an organization looking to hire for leader / team manager roles, please ensure that you evaluate the candidate on these criteria in particular, amongst others that are important to the organization's growth and culture. Integrity is non-negotiable. Use psychometric, behavioural interviews, special assignments or assessment centers to evaluate candidates.

Should you wish to enhance your existing hiring process, contact me for a discussion on how my BEI Workshop "The Selection Discussion" can be effective in improving the quality of people hired for your organization.

I can read your mind

 https://www.kornferry.com/insights/briefings-magazine/issue-58/i-can-read-your-mind?utm_source=marketo&utm_medium=email&utm_term=&utm_content=briefings&utm_campaign=03-06-gbl-briefings-issue-58&mkt_tok=NDk0LVZVQy00ODIAAAGKU_JG0PNhx2ZaINDKrkzIUhG5dgw6TGmkUw9q4bSJDXUg2w9nK5ACNFQy0lcaw0ZlalVy49zeS1uZTrKApcCCdIffHbHFS9B_-5Wt64K51Q1J

Fantastic article on the use of #AI to understand what employees may be going through (whether #remote or in office)

From the article "As more uses have come into play, experts say, the field has fueled a research and investment boom. Part of that comes from the normalization of remote and #hybrid work, which has raised a host of concerns among business leaders about productivity and intellectual property."

Read the full article here.

Participant Action and Feedback - Managerial Effectiveness for First Time Managers

I recently got to design and deliver one of my favourite workshop topics "Managerial Effectiveness for First Time Managers" for recently promoted employees for a financial institution.

This was a two day workshop, with a followup plan.  The participants were energetic and full of questions - as they agreed to as part of the Ways of Working they created at the start of the workshop.  I loved the way in which they participated in all the discussions and facilitation processes.

For me, I did my best to incorporate different facilitation processes (and an Improv exercise) into the design for both days, and didn't use a PowerPoint Presentation (much to participants surprise).  Here's some of the action from the two days.

The participant learning expectations which they wanted to apply immediately after the workshop

Sorting out the competencies of the leader

After a detailed discussion, the competencies of a leader, as they defined and understood it.

What they picked up from Day 1

And here's the overall learning from two days.

I'm thankful to Mr. Rajesh Almeida, Head - HR, for the opportunity to work on this assignment, design  the session and his team who supported me during the workshop.

I'm looking forward to more such assignments with those organizations that want to build their leadership pipeline.  Please connect with me on ryanbbbarretto@hotmail.com or +919820155778 to schedule a discussion.

Your Employees want Your Feedback

 

Pic by Pexel - Ann H

Have you ever hesitated to give someone #feedback ? It may surprise you to know that "People underestimate how willing others are to receive feedback."

Read on... here

How to get the most out of your team.

Here's a super read with practical pointers about #teammanagement, particularly #motivation of the #team.

Click here for the article

Some of these are a part of a #managerialskills / #leadershipdevelopment #workshop that I run for organizations.

Inbox or call me on +919820155778 for a discussion to do this type of #intervention for your organization.

#strengthsdecoder #leadershipstrategy

Giving Feedback that Works

Interesting read on how #leaders can become a #confidencebuilder  for their #team members.

From the article: "Most managers dread giving feedback. Offering a blend of praise and criticism is supposed to help your team members do more of what they’re good at and improve in areas where they’ve missed the mark. But research shows it rarely works that way"

Read the article here

Managing Anger

 In a recent webinar, during a group discussion on leadership behaviours, I articulated this thought -

"A Leader must be carefully angry."

What do you think? From the list in the image, which is most easy and most difficult to do? Please comment.

Why Organizations should Invest in Focusing on their Employees' Strengths

This is a fascinating read on Gallup's findings from 25 million people who have taken the #cliftonstrengths assessment. The impact of a team of people who are aware of their and each other's #strengths is stark; some are 14% higher productivity, 18% higher sales and 23% more profitability.

Read the details here

Glad to be a strengths strategy coach :-)

Want to know more about building a Strengths based Team? Write to me here or at +919820155778.

My Interview with TopTalk on Performance Management.

As a Strengths Strategy Coach and trainer who aims to enhance the performance of my clients, I was happy to be interviewed by GroSum's Top Talk for my views and experiences in #performancemanagement .

Have a look. I'd be glad if you leave a comment and share with your network.

https://grosum.com/topTalk/ryan-barretto-strength-strategy-coach-facilitator-situational-leadership-and-corporate-trainer-hr-consultancy/

What's on your Playlist?

 Ever since i-pods, and then music players came onto our mobile handsets, and then the internet streaming of audio content took off, the word "playlist" became a constant part of our lives and, if we happened to be heavily involved in the music industry, our vocabulary.

We know that a playlist is a list of video or audio files that can be played back on a media player either sequentially or in a shuffled order. In its most general form, an audio playlist is simply a list of songs, but sometimes a loop.

We have songs for when we feel good, or feel a little low, or if we want to motivate ourselves (think "Chariots of Fire' theme or Rocky movie theme) and so on. On Podcasts, you have motivational or informational talks.  

There's another playlist that has been with us for a longer time.  This playlist is not just music or podcasts, but consists of conversations. At times, they can consist quotations (said by someone we give importance to) that we are reminded of, according to our circumstances and experiences.  They could be things we have told ourselves.  The psychologists call this 'self-talk'.  I call it the 'Internal Personal Playlist'.  This image shows how it generally works on the inside.

This playlist or 'Internal Representation' comes on automatically as we go through different situations and emotions in life, sometimes defining our behaviours, actions and even our mindsets.  It's never a constant theme, and sometimes, it is extremely hard to switch off.  So we end up more mentally tired than physically tired, and want to withdraw from the world.

Suppose we tried to consciously control the Internal Personal Playlist by choosing what to play?  How might we control this? What might happen?  

For a start, we could acknowledge what is going on around us, and also acknowledge what we are doing in response to the playlist.  We can try to change the playlist.  In the world of Emotional Intelligence, Strengths and Positive Psychology, this means developing deep awareness of what's on our playlist in a given moment.  

The implications of the playlist are many.  But more importantly, what's on your playlist this week? and next month? 

Share your comments on your playlist here

The Relationship between Feedback and Learning

 https://hbr.org/2019/03/the-feedback-fallacy?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=hbr

An outstanding detailed article on #givingfeedback to your team. Here are two lines that made me think, among others - "Excellence seems to be inextricably and wonderfully intertwined with whoever demonstrates it." and "Focusing people on their shortcomings or gaps doesn’t enable learning. It impairs it."

#cliftonstrengths #strengths #strengthsdecoder #strengthscoaching #feedback #learning #teamcoaching #teammanagement

Leading a remote team

Leading a remote team

Timely article to help those who manage #remoteteams

Here's why from a line in the article - "Managing remote employees is different from managing in-house teams, which means a manager who successfully leads in-house teams might struggle with managing remote workers"

#workfromhome #remoteleadership #remoteworkers #performancemanagement

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.

Employee Engagement for All Situations

When people are financially invested, they want a return.  

When they are emotionally invested, they want to contribute

- Simon Sinek

Employee Engagement has been in the conscious mind more and more over the past decade, ever since it was talked about by Gallup's Curt Coffman and Marcus Buckingham in their ground-breaking book "First Break all the Rules".  It has frequently been quoted in HR conferences and HR initiatives along the lines of "X percentage of employees in organizations are disengaged".

Here's a simple definition from Google - "Employee engagement is the extent to which employees feel passionate about their jobs, are committed to the organization, and put discretionary effort into their work". 


And Forbes.com - "Employee engagement is the emotional commitment the employee has to the organization and its goals".


Here's what it looks like:

This means that employees put in more than required effort in their work, because they're not just working for a salary or bonus or promotion, but job satisfaction, transparency, along with fulfilling personal growth goals and other things.

A cursory google search will turn up loads of links on the topic, including definitions, how to do it, things to watch out for and so on.  And this article is not really about those things. This article is about what managers can do to drive engagement.

While we're at it, I would like to clearly state that Employee Engagement has nothing to do with fun activities (birthday celebrations, festival contests, annual day events) run by HR and / or line managers every month / quarter.  These are stress buster activities, nothing more, nothing less.  For those who think that these fun activities are employee engagement, ask yourself - "How many candidates will join my organization or take back their resignation because we are running these fun events?"

In my experience of twenty years in HR across different industries, Employee Engagement comes down to the relationship between the manager and his team. This is applicable to for all departments including HR.  Employee engagement is not the responsibility of HR, but the responsibility of anyone who leads a team, irrespective of organization level or delegation. When you come to think of it, it's also the responsibility of those who don't have teams, but work across the organization.  HR can provide a framework of Talent Management (Hiring, Performance Management, Rewards, Learning), but the actual work has to be done by the manager personally.

Why the manager?
The manager has to set goals for the team, ensure discipline, manage and monitor performance regularly, provide effective feedback, groom and develop his team members, and ensure goals are met.

So how does the manager drive engagement in his team ? (the term "he" is interchangeable with whatever term you like)

• He has to know his team, beyond their resumes.  
• He has to let the team get to know him / her - beyond the designation.
• He has to develop a clear understanding of their strengths and weaknesses.  
• Define the goals
• Monitor and manage performance
• Enable them to understand and use their own motivation in their work.

Some may say - Who has time for all this?  It seems a lot of work, and it definitely does require substantial investment of time from the manager. Unfortunately, there's no shortcut from this time investment.  There is of course, the Situational Leadership Model by Dr. Paul Hersey  (Center for Leadership Studies) which can help the manager do all of this.

Here's an image of the model:

The #SituationalLeadership model will enable you to:

• Allocate the appropriate task to the correct employee
• Adopt an appropriate management style with each employee (not a one style fits all approach)
• Get employees to participate in the planning the execution of the department's work.
• Identify high performers
• Manage low performance
• Develop the capabilities of the team members

In a crisis or in Business As Usual (BAU), a leader / manager has to take frequent decisions in many areas where he and his team have to get things done.  The Situational Leadership model is an excellent guide for doing all the above-mentioned points. 
For Situational Leadership to succeed, the manager must know both his own Strengths and Weaknesses, as well as those of his teams. A tool such as the #CliftonStrengths or the #PRISM Brainmapping Professional (or DISC, FIRO-b, etc) is necessary as a precursor to ensure that the team becomes an engaged, smoothly-oiled unit. A few reflective questions to start  could be :

1. "What do I need from my team?"
2. "How do I support my team so that they deliver what I need from them?"

Of course, Team Coaching and Individual coaching will also help, along with regular conversations which treat the employee as a person and not just an employee.

Want to know more? Leave a note here, or write to me on ryanbbarretto@hotmail.com to set up a call. I can also be reached at +919820155778 for a conversation.