Category: People Development

Charismatic leaders are articulate and visionary. They use metaphor and anecdotes for highly impactful storytelling. They share powerful, funny stories to engage their audience. And they certainly do not shy away from sharing personal stories, knowing that this will help them establish an emotional connection with their followers.

Emotional Intelligence

Charismatic leaders are emotionally intelligent. They are sensitive to their environment and the needs of their followers. They appeal to the emotions of their audience. Their focus is not so much on what people say but rather on the emotions behind it. Since they are excellent at sensing the emotions of others, charismatic leaders are extremely good at finding the most adequate words that deeply resonate with their followers. They are also excellent at managing and expressing their own emotions.

One strategy that Ronald Riggio, Ph.D., a professor at Claremont McKenna College who has spent years researching the development of charisma, recommends is being more expressive with your face. Writing for Psychology Today, Riggio suggests leaders practice different expressions in a mirror and solicit feedback from others on how well they communicate their feelings.

Mission Talk

Charismatic leaders speak about their passion and mission as drivers rather than focusing on business methods and processes. The personal vision of charismatic leaders has great influence over their audience. In the charismatic leadership style, emphasis is placed on working toward a greater good. Charismatic leaders will address details and daily operations at the right time, and they will immediately link it to the bigger vision, stressing the importance of a single puzzle piece in the whole. But, they will never try to lead people by a “how-to” talk. Charismatic leaders lead with a “why.”

High Energy

Charismatic leaders are full of energy. When they show up, they show up in their full presence capacity. Their body posture, tone of voice, face mimic and gestures all send a united message. Their energy is contagious. Because they are able to step into their own power in this way, they empower others to do the same. Charismatic leaders leave people feeling more energized when they exit the room.

Personable and Vulnerable

Charismatic leaders understand that people bring their whole selves to work, so they are interested in finding out who their people are in their personal lives. What drives them? What do they currently have going on in their personal life? They will remember the names and stories of people and will get back to it at a later moment. At the same time, they will share their personal stories. In particular, they will not shy away from sharing personal stories that reveal their vulnerability—they know that this builds trust and creates a safe environment for their people to do the same.

High Standards and High Trust

Charismatic leaders set high standards for themselves and their people. When it comes to inspiring followers to perform up to those standards, they put absolute trust in their people and paint an appealing and positive vision for their followers to step into. Whenever their high-performance standards are not being met, they will address it in a transparent and positive manner focusing on the way forward.  They can always clearly distinguish a person’s potential from any demonstrated performance and often see more in people than they see in themselves.

Unconventional

Charismatic leaders are often adept at using unconventional behaviors. They tend to be courageous, creative thinkers and less risk averse than average leaders. They can sometimes be unpredictable and even impulsive, which is a characteristic that needs to be carefully managed within an organization. Charismatic leaders feel completely at ease in their own skin and may have a unique choice of the words or even clothing they use to express themselves.

Looking at the non-exhaustive list above, it becomes quite clear that all of these elements can be trained and developed, which implies that charisma as such is “coachable.” Charismatic leaders are not only born, they can most definitely also be grown.

Source: International Coaching Federation

Returning to work after maternity or paternity leave can be a daunting prospect for many of us. All of the old routines have changed. You have just about managed to figure out the complicated logistical requirements this small new family member demands and, before you know it, you’re having to shift everything up again, and get yourself back in the game at work. Right now, many of us are returning to work in an even more challenging context due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

One minute you’re pureeing vegetables and shaking maracas. The next, you’re back at your desk and faced with a company that has – in all probability – changed beyond recognition. Is it any wonder so many new parents struggle with the return to work?

Back in 2012, I was lucky enough to have a year of maternity leave after the birth of my daughter. I was then unlucky enough to return to the news that I was being made redundant along with the rest of my team, and that I would have to spend six months planning a handover to someone who was, as yet, unidentified.

Not an ideal scenario in anyone’s books. But what was interesting was that almost everyone I spoke to – even those who had returned to seemingly normal working situations – found going back after an extended period away, really, really tough.

Why? Because in many ways, it’s not so much returning to work, as starting all over again.

Not only do you suddenly have a whole load of new logistical things to think about – childcare, phone calls from nursery, leaving bang on time so you can sprint to the train. You also have the huge barrage of emotions that come with being a parent. Guilt. Loss of identity. Sheer exhaustion. Wanting to do your best, but knowing your child will always come first.  

And on top of all that, most companies change hugely in the space of parental leave. Offices move. Desks swap. Clients change. People come and go. And, if like me, contact over your time off has been minimal, how are you meant to just slot back in?

Someone to talk to

Starting next month, we’ll be working with a North American bank to help thousands of their staff do just that every year. And when I say thousands, I mean thousands.

Each year this bank has over 2,000 people return to work after leave of one kind or another. That’s a lot of people who – faced with a less than welcoming return – might decide that the company isn’t the right place for them any more.

Once LHH’s coaching programme kicks off, each one of those people will be offered four months’ worth of coaching to help them settle back in. They can have their first session a month before they’re due to return (a time when my main emotions were dread and anxiety), and then continue with their coach when they’re back at work.

As well as giving people a reassuring and supportive person to talk to, the programme has been specifically designed to cover off the topics most parents find tough in those early months. Self-confidence. New ambitions and aims. And – crucially – how to find a good work/life balance, which is both healthy and sustainable.

Benefiting everyone

Having a programme like this would have made a huge difference when I returned to work, so it’s been fantastic to be a part of the launch and to share my own experiences. Even having a company acknowledge that it’s a tough time goes a long way in making people feel understood – how was I to know everyone felt like that?

This isn’t just a benefit for new mothers, either. (Although we only have to look at the statistics on how many women are in the most senior of management positions to know that there’s more we can do in this area.)

The idea is that anyone who’s off for an extended period – through illness, caring for family or even taking a sabbatical – can be helped back into work when they return. And if each one of those people starts back feeling happy and confident, just think of the benefits for companies as a whole.

Having been ‘back at work’ for seven years now, I know that the job/life challenges parents face don’t just disappear as your child starts walking, or even once they start school. There will always be guilt. Nativity plays that clash with big meetings. And colleagues who just don’t get that leaving at 5pm doesn’t mean you’re going home to relax.

But if we can give parents and carers just a little bit of help with getting the balance right, just a little bit of support to show them they’re valued and are doing a great job, we might just find that more people realise they can have it all, after all.

Source: Ezra

Employers around the world spend billions every year investing in the development of their leadership teams, so why is leadership confidence still so low?

You could call it the $360-billion question.

According to  TrainingIndustry.com, each year, employers throughout the world spend approximately $360 billion US on leadership development. To put that number into perspective, it’s more than the valuation assigned to iconic companies like Amazon, Apple, Google, Microsoft and Facebook. In other words, it’s huge.

Why then, you may ask, are we not producing better leaders with better overall behaviours?

Regardless of the source, most surveys and studies have found that investment in better leadership behaviours is simply not producing the desired results.

A global survey of more than 1,800 HR professionals by Dr. Vince Molinaro, author of the New York Times best-selling book The Leadership Contract, showed that while 93 per cent of organizations believe that a strong leadership culture is essential, only 33 per cent were confident that they had the leaders they needed to succeed.

“Given the size of the spend, the confidence that organizations have in their leaders is extremely low,” said Molinaro, whose new book, Accountable Leaders, has just been published. “It’s a pretty clear indication that they must devote a lot more attention to building stronger leadership cultures and re-think exactly what kinds of leaders they want.”

Which Leadership Behaviours Do My Leaders Need?

This is a subject of great debate and while there is no consensus, there is extensive overlap found in some of the world’s most successful companies.

For example, after years of surveying its managers through Project Oxygen, Google focuses its leadership development on six key traits that are applicable to just about any organization:

• Mindset and Values: Google asks its leaders to assume a “growth mindset” where leaders are eager to learn and try new things.
• Emotional Intelligence: Many subject matter experts believe that EI is a key to better overall leadership performance. EI describes traits such as empathy, compassion and honesty.
• Management Sharing: Google asks its managers and supervisors to share challenges and frustrations with each other
• Coaching: Google believes leaders must be able to serve as a coach to their employees, giving timely feedback, tailoring their approaches to the individual and practising empathetic “active” listening.
• Feedback: Almost all leadership development sources will include something on effective communication. Google stresses the need for managers to avoid bias when providing feedback and balancing positive and negative comments.
• Decision Making: Rather than relying on chance, Google structures a process for its leaders to reach key decisions that clarifies the problem under consideration and the process of decision making.

How Can I Embed the Right Leadership Behaviours?

This is also an area of great debate. However, many leading-edge authorities certainly believe that any leadership development is doomed to fail unless is properly aligned with organizational values and culture.

Too often, leaders are introduced to progressive behaviours and strategies in training seminars and programs – both in-person and online – that provide a glimpse into leadership behaviours that are deeply connected to organizational success. However, after the exhilaration of the training is over, leaders return to organizations that do not embrace those same behaviours and principles.

Solutions to this and other flaws in the leadership development process vary but – once again – there are some points of consensus on practical steps.

Deliver LD throughout all levels of the organization. There is little chance that a single program will change organizational culture if it is applied to just one strata of the leaders. From front-line managers to the C-Suite, all leaders have to be on the same leadership culture page.

Leaders must be able to share their successes and failures. Google calls it Management Sharing but the principle of allowing leaders to learn from one another is a key to integrating improved leadership behaviours organization wide.

Seek out toxic leaders and either correct their behaviour or show them the door. In every organization, there are leaders who believe that abuse, belittlement and fear are legitimate leadership tools. Tolerating toxic leaders not only erodes engagement, it undermines the credibility of all leaders.

The challenge of embedding new and improved leadership behaviours is not a simple or short-term endeavour. However, a long-term methodical approach can ensure that any investment in leadership development delivers real change.

Source: Ezra

“Coaching” and “mentoring” might sound like similar terms, but they’re actually very different practices. In this article, we’ll go through the difference between coaching and mentoring, the methods used for each and why both can contribute to a positive work environment.

What is the difference between coaching and mentoring?

Coaches and mentors both aim to support and develop an individual in the workplace, but the methods and approaches vary between the two. Mentors are usually able to help with industry-specific knowledge and connections, while coaches are better placed to help an employee develop skills, habits and behaviours that will help them improve their performance in their role and enable them to take on new challenges and responsibilities.

In general, mentors are:

• Volunteers
• Scheduling in mentorship sessions around their normal jobs
• Working in the same or similar industries to the mentee
• Sharing their own career experience and knowledge
• Offering informal sessions scheduled based on availability
• Able to provide networking opportunities, introducing mentee to others in the company or industry
• Not able to offer measurable improvement to performance

In contrast, coaches are:

• Paid professionals
• Trained and dedicated to serving their clients
• Not working in the same industry as the client
• Sharing strategies to change behaviour and develop skills and confidence
• Offering more formal, structured sessions scheduled regularly at times that suit the client
• Not likely to offer networking opportunities outside of one-to-one sessions
• Able to offer measurable improvement to performance

The importance of coaching employees

Mentoring has many benefits, but it also has some limits. While effective mentors can be invaluable sources of industry-specific information and contacts that can help to accelerate an individual’s career path, there are often many demands on their time and it may be impractical to schedule frequent meetings.

Coaches are in a much better position to dedicate time, attention and energy to regular, structured sessions which give the employee measurable improvements – helping them to stay motivated and engaged in their current role.

As highly-specialised professionals, coaches can help individuals to realise their potential by offering support and guidance, and facilitating self-reflection. Coaches are trained to ‘hold the space’ for clients, offering a supportive and empathetic environment to explore current thinking patterns and beliefs. Coaching employees to improve performance generally involves first allowing the individual to understand performance issues, create an improvement plan and learn new skills that will allow them to carry it out.

Methods of coaching employees

There are many different methods of mentoring and coaching in the workplace. Some companies ask managers to incorporate coaching and mentoring employees into their roles, perhaps during one-to-one catch ups or as part of yearly appraisals. The effectiveness of this method is largely dependent on the relationship between the manager and employee, the manager’s own ability to coach, and the time that they can dedicate to it on top of their own role. It can also be influenced by the power dynamic that naturally exists between a manager and a direct report.

Demanding schedules and a lack of training can mean that managers find they aren’t able to provide the high-quality coaching that their employees need in order to reach their potential. For this reason, companies are increasingly choosing to bring in external coaches to work with their employees. Effective coaching can be delivered through in-person sessions or remotely, via video calls. Remote coaching helps to keep costs low and save time by eliminating the need to travel.

During a session, a coach will work with the individual to enable them to better understand themselves, their thought patterns and their behaviours, and move towards changes that will help to improve their performance at work. Coaches can help individuals to identify and set goals, track progress, and solve any problems that arise along the way.

Source: ezra

In an increasingly fast-paced and competitive global market, many businesses are looking to give their managers, teams and leaders an edge to help them to perform better, develop their skills and enjoy their professional and personal lives more. It’s also often said that employees don’t leave bad jobs, they leave bad managers – and in today’s corporate climate, retention of good employees is crucial. The solution? Coaching for managers. Read on to discover the benefits of executive coaching, how coaching can help develop effective leadership behaviors and skills among your managers.

What is Leadership Coaching?

Leadership coaching is tailored specifically to managers and executives. It connects professionals with a highly skilled coach who will be able to develop and support them through one-on-one sessions. Nothing beats an hour of speaking face-to-face with an experienced, impartial coach who not only understands the issues that you and your organization are facing, but is able to offer constructive feedback and support.

The best coaches are able to help your managers improve any aspects of their leadership style that they want support on – such as better communication skills, time management methods or help with effective delegation of tasks.

Not only is leadership coaching a great way to support your people and show how much you value them, it’s also a sound investment in the future success of your team.

What makes a good manager and leader?

‘Leadership’ isn’t a quality anyone is born with – which is great news. There are a number of key leadership behaviors that individuals can learn, practice and develop in order to become a better manager. When practicing all of these behaviors, it’s important to have a ‘growth mindset’ – the belief that it’s possible to develop and change – rather than beating yourself up for not being ‘perfect’ and embodying all the characteristics at once.

Compassionate leadership

Developing empathy and compassion for your team is one of the most powerful tools that you have. It often goes hand-in-hand with emotional intelligence. Successful managers take the time to understand what is going on for their team, their stressors and struggles, and their desires and aspirations – and as a result, they are much better equipped to take positive action to benefit both the individual and the team as a whole.

Effective listening

In today’s fast-paced, tech-heavy world, face-to-face contact is increasingly limited, and it can seem like emails can take the place of meetings. In many cases, they can – but one area in which you really do need to sit down with your employees is during your catch-ups. Scheduling these regularly is important for building trust with your team members.

Try to practice effective listening techniques such as maintaining a good level of eye contact, putting away distractions such as laptops or phones, paying attention to what your employee is saying and giving them the time and space to express themselves, without interrupting or passing judgement on their thoughts.

Developing others

Often, companies with high retention rates and effective teams are those which demonstrate how much they value their employees by directly investing in their learning and development. However, this doesn’t necessarily relate to pay grade – instead, successful leaders regularly point out the potential in others and give employees the opportunity for career development through training, new challenges and setting stretch goals. Offering your employees corporate coaching can also be a great way to provide the support and encouragement that they need, in a confidential and impartial setting.

Behaviors and qualities of a good manager

The most effective managers are those who motivate, inspire and develop their teams – while supporting them through any challenges or issues they might face. Try implementing these behaviors of a good manager to improve your technique.

Check in regularly

The perfect time to practice effective listening skills is during a weekly or biweekly catch up, when you can sit down with your employee and discuss how they’re finding their role, specific projects, or any other issues they might have. When you do this, try to ‘hold the space’ by giving them the time that they need to express their thoughts and feelings in a non-judgemental setting, before working together towards a resolution or next steps.

One-on-one check-ins can give your team the privacy and space they need to be open and candid with you. Whole team check-ins can be also useful to foster a strong sense of community and allow individuals to see the big picture. Allow everyone a chance to update the rest of the team on their projects and invite ideas or assistance from others.

Give (and receive) constructive feedback

Many people associate giving and receiving feedback as awkward or embarrassing – but it doesn’t have to be that way. Focus on giving constructive feedback that’s specific, timely and purposeful. A good approach is to give at least as much positive feedback as negative – for example, start the interaction by pointing out an area of strong performance and celebrating it, before moving onto an area which your employee might like to focus their attention on next time.

Finally, great managers invite their direct reports to give their own feedback on their management styles. For example, asking your employee if they feel that they’re getting the level of support that they require can be a very useful way to avoid future issues.

Empower your team

There’s a difference between managing effectively, and micromanaging – and that largely comes down to empowerment. Showing that you trust an individual’s decisions, respect their opinions and believe in their ability to do a great job goes a long way towards fostering a culture of empowerment and responsibility in your team which, in turn, will help you to develop your project management skills.

Leadership styles

There are many different behaviours of a good manager, and the most effective leaders have a variety of leadership styles in their toolbelt. These include:

• Visionary. These leaders are inspiring, confident and aren’t afraid to make changes in an organization. They have an innate ability to foster trust and  motivation, helping others to see a shared vision of the future and how they can contribute towards it.
• Autocratic. These leaders focus largely on results and efficiency within an organization and use their authority to give detailed instructions and clear expectations. This leadership style is most useful in industries with strict levels of compliance rather than more creative settings.
• Laissez-faire. Also known as ‘hands-off’ managing, this style focuses on delegating tasks and allowing team members plenty of freedom in how they complete them. This approach works best with experienced, trusted teams who don’t require supervision.
• Democratic. Also known as participative leading, this style welcomes input and feedback from their teams during decision making. As a result, employees feel heard, respected and valued – which can boost engagement and satisfaction in the workplace.
• Coach. Unsurprisingly, this is one of the most effective forms of leadership. These leaders are able to help their team members to grow and develop through goal setting, constructive feedback and challenging projects.

Coaching can help managers to better understand the different leadership styles and which would be best suited to them, their organization and their team members.

Improving leadership in the workplace – how can you do it?

Coaching is one of the best ways to enhance leadership in an organisation. A skilled coach will help managers to gain a greater understanding and awareness of their own leadership style, as well as alternative approaches that might work well in any given situation.

Every organization, team and manager is unique – so there’s no one solution to every problem. Regular coaching sessions provide the valuable structure and support that every leader needs to achieve his or her potential.

Source: ezra

An increasing number of organizations are taking stock to determine whether their senior executives are fit for current purpose. Organizations that have procrastinated or ignored the need for a planful approach will be hit the hardest.

William (Bill) Brown, SVP, Global Managing Director, Retired, International Center for Executive Options

COVID-19, the accompanying global economic meltdown, the anti-racism protest movement, misconduct, M&As, personal health and wellbeing and good old-fashioned succession planning. Whatever the reason, the C-Suite in many iconic companies saw seismic change in the first half of 2020.

The list of high-profile CEOs and other senior executives who have departed, announced their intention to step down or been derailed by any one reason is pretty long. And it’s only going to get longer.

Some of the change was well-planned and widely anticipated. In February, Disney Co. CEO Robert Iger stepped down after years of searching for a successor. The same could be said for Mastercard CEO Ajay Singh Banga, who announced the same month he would step down in early 2021 after 10 years at the helm and assume the role of executive chairman.

Other departures were much more unplanned and, thus, a bit more surprising.

Mandy Ginsberg, CEO of Match Group—the company that operates the Tinder and Match dating apps—announced in January she was stepping down to attend to personal health and family challenges.

Greg Glassman, CEO of the popular CrossFit gym franchise, resigned after posting a Tweet that referred to the outrage over the killing of George Floyd as “Floyd-19” in a botched attempt to protest government quarantine measures. Later, in a call with his gym owners, he stated that he wouldn’t mourn Floyd just because it was the “white thing to do.”

And James Bennet, opinion editor for the venerable New York Times, was forced to resign in early June after publishing content that the paper’s journalists believed unfairly undermined the Black Lives Matter movement.

The trend is clear: an increasing number of organizations are taking stock to determine whether their senior executives, and the plans they had for an orderly departure, are fit for current purpose. And as the pace of change picks up, it appears more and more likely that the pre-pandemic leaders these organizations relied upon may not necessarily be the people who will lead them into the future.

That should be a top concern for organizations of all kinds given that most are not very well prepared to deal with a sudden or unplanned executive transition. In reality, most organizations are not even prepared to deal with planned transitions.

The Harvard Business Review has been tracking and conducting its own research on succession preparedness of global corporations. Despite the increasing need to plan ahead, that data shows that only 53% of corporate boards of publicly traded companies have a contingency plan for CEO succession, 41% do not regularly discuss CEO succession and 54% have not established a formal CEO succession plan. The situation was even more dire for private companies, where nearly two-thirds did not have a CEO succession plan.

These are troubling trends at a time of crisis when, history has shown us, executive transitions typically occur with much greater frequency. The collision of multiple global crises and a lack of preparedness is going to create chaos in many companies.

Why have we been so reluctant to plan ahead when it comes to predicted or surprise executive departures? The simple answer is that many organizations don’t face these scenarios often enough to drive interest in developing a contingency plan.

For others, transition can be an awkward topic to broach with senior executives. Some organizations fear that planning ahead will be interpreted as a lack of faith in current leaders. This is particularly true with CEOs; involving the chief executive in planning for their sudden departure is an inherently awkward and difficult conversation.

There are also concerns around governance. Who is ultimately responsible for designing a contingency plan for executive departures? Who triggers the implementation? These are the questions most organizations never get around to answering.

However, in the forthcoming post-pandemic leadership shake-up, organizations that have procrastinated or ignored the need for a planful approach will be hit the hardest. At some point, we all need to acknowledge that ignoring this problem won’t make it go away.
The lack of attention is all more concerning when you consider the impact of a botched executive transition.

Many of your customers will be scrutinizing the decisions you make about senior leadership following the easing of pandemic restrictions. Given the economic stresses that accompanied the pandemic were not the consequence of any specific incompetence or malfeasance, it will be important to showcase your organization as a fair and respectful employer who knows how to treat people who are leaving through no fault of their own.

Organizations that suffer collateral damage to their brand are typically those that try to transform their leadership ranks in an ad hoc fashion. Executive departures can be emotional, messy and complex challenges, particularly so in the context of a global public health crisis.
For those organizations that want to put a plan in place, the options are limited.

The gross majority of career transition services are not really tailored to meet the unique needs of senior business leaders. An effective executive transition plan must be viewed less as a form of crisis management, and more as an essential component of talent management. It’s just as important as, say, recruitment and retention, and possibly more so in certain situations given the damage that can accrue to an organization’s brand from an awkward termination.

What does a planful approach look like?

The best executive transition plan will probably look a little bit different depending on the size and nature of the organization. However, the key best practices—transparency, collaboration and support—will remain a constant.

Establish your transition team. Regardless of whether it’s a planned or unplanned executive departure, you must assemble a team of key personnel where each member has clearly defined roles and responsibilities. The team will involve members of the board, senior executives not directly impacted by the transition in question, the CEO (if they are not the subject of the transition) and the CHRO.

Carefully plan support for the executive in transition. Organizations must, wherever possible, ensure that an executive in transition is supported in ways that avoid drama, negative headlines and other challenging disruptors. Although business executives are often looked upon as the most capable employees in any organization, they are also people who are defined by their jobs. A support plan must be cognizant of the emotional impact of these departures.

Set out a deliberate, defined process. Your transition team must have a playbook. They must gather all the relevant facts, establish a first point of contact for the executive involved to facilitate negotiations, and develop a comprehensive communications plan that serves the need of both the individual and the organization.

Organizations must engage with the executives in transition in an open and honest context. They must display a willingness to work together to come up with a transition plan that is fair to both the individual and the organization.

In the absence of crises, it’s easy to ignore things like succession planning and executive departure strategies. In our current environment, which is defined by volatility and uncertainty, no organization has an excuse for not planning ahead.

Source: lhh.com