A641.9.3.RB_DavisCarl Becoming A Resonant Leader

Welcome back, readers! We’ve reached the end of another course and another week of the Educated Leadership blog.

This week, I’ll lay out my personal vision and some learning plans for fulfilling that goal. The assignment has me writing a letter to myself, so please don’t be confused by the format.

Dear Carl,

Congratulations on completing your class on Resonant Leadership. I am proud of you and know you learned many tools and principles that you will take with you into your personal and professional life.

Your personal vision is admirable. I know you hope to be a very well-rounded, respected, and capable leader. I hope you reach your goal of being at least a Vice-President in your company in the next five years. I hope you also reach your goal of setting up processes that will nurture and grow new leaders in your company that continue the plans you put into place. If you can create a pathway for new leaders to develop and become resonant with their teams, you will have left a legacy of which you can be proud.

To attain that vision, you will need to continue to develop your emotional intelligence and empathic skills. To expand your thinking on empathy, you will need to study the writings of Eckhart Tolle. For action items, you will need to read two books written by him in the next six months. To expand your understanding of emotional intelligence, study Daniel Goleman. As an action step, please read two books by Goleman in the next six months. To tie this together, you will need to continue to contribute to the Diversity and Inclusion (D & I) teams at your company. Please teach at least two classes on D & I in the next six to twelve months. Your wife and the D & I staff at work will help hold you accountable.

As a tool of expanded perception and to increase your ability to reach out to others, becoming fluent in a second language is important. The milestones are to satisfactorily become fluent in basic, intermediate, and advanced Spanish. In the next six months, you are to complete Rosetta Stone Spanish 1 &2. The following six months you will complete levels 3 & 4, followed by levels 5 & 6 in the next six months. Your wife wishes to join you on this journey so you will hold each other accountable.

To round out the vision, you will need to expand your business acumen. The focus areas for you will be finance, supplier management, and the government side of the business. To broaden your understanding, you will conduct informational interviews and a job shadow in each function. You need to have the interviews scheduled to occur within the next six to ten months. Any books you can find on the subjects will be read as supplemental material. Your colleagues and mentors will be who hold you accountable.

The goals you have given yourself are significant. Completing your Master’s degree by January needs to be the primary focus for now. Keep in mind that every journey starts with one step and keep moving forward. You are capable of attaining your goals and more.

Good luck and I can’t wait to see you succeed!

Respectfully,

Carl

A641.8.3.RB_DavisCarl Personal Balance Sheet

                                          Sunset from 35,000 feet...                  CSD-2016

Hello, readers! This week on the Educated Leadership blog we’ll talk about taking stock in one’s self and identifying strengths and weaknesses. The lesson I want you to take from this week if you remember nothing else is this: Focusing solely on shortcomings, whether they are your own or those of others, is not the key to success.

Introspection is difficult. We must fight through mental safeguards that help us deal with our quirks and issues so that we can focus on being productive members of society. Leaders and those who wish to be leaders need to step back and review their habits, thoughts, and practices in order to adapt to the ever-changing environments in which we work and live.

Earlier in this class, the ratio of positivity to negativity in one’s life was covered (Fredrickson, 2013). An important point to remember is that too much positivity can lead to leadership failure. If there is no negativity, what can the positive points with which to be compared? We want the ratio to favor the positive over the negative, but we know we really can’t eliminate the negativity. As we look in our respective mirrors, we will likely realize that we (our personalities, our styles) are a mix of positives and negatives. That’s ok! Educated leaders look to enhance the positives and minimize or fix the negatives.

What do I feel I do well? My distinctive strengths are manifold. I have been told I am a very good communicator. I can create and share a vision of the future that seems easy for others to find a place for themselves. I have a high level of emotional intelligence and am considered inclusive in team building. I am a strategic thinker. I set challenging goals for my teams and myself that are attainable. I am compassionate and work hard to be resonant with my family, teams, and co-workers. My potential strengths are driven by the level in my company that I have attained and the continuing education and open-mindedness I will continue to develop and leverage. My enduring characteristics that will help me are a strong desire to help others reach their maximum potential, my compassion for others to be well and belong, and my belief that we can find common ground and overarching goals to which we all can strive. My potential strengths are picking up another language so that I can attempt to teach, coach, and lead in more areas of the world. (I really enjoy Japanese, French, and Spanish.) I need to get back into a workout routine to help build up my physical capabilities and deal with the inevitable stress of life and work.

My shortcomings include a distaste for delivering bad news which leads to an aversion to being in confrontational situations, a preponderance of caring more about the wants and needs of others to the detriment of my own wants and needs, and not taking as good of care of myself as I know I should.

I want to change my aversion to having “candid conversations” as they are sometimes called. Rarely, if ever, do they turn out to be as bad as I expect them to be. In fact, I usually walk away feeling energized by the result. Nonetheless, my upbringing has conditioned me to loath these situations and I need to continue to work on that. I also want to work on identifying and accomplishing things that I want to do. I want to do more things that please me, not just others. Earning this degree is something I wanted to do and I want to do more. The requirement for resonant leaders to re-charge and re-energize themselves has provided me with more evidence that I should bring more of my needs and wants to the fore.

At the same time, I know my desire to please others will, at times, be a hindrance which I will always be working on. Too many years of being raised in an alcoholic household have set that need. I’ve identified it and can work on it. Putting my needs forward will bolster my beliefs and tenets, which enhances my resonant leadership ability. It’s something I must continue to do.

Ultimately, reviewing our strengths and weaknesses is integral to becoming a resonant leader. The exercise ties back to Intentional Change Theory (ICT) and identifying the real self, building compassion, building emotional intelligence, personal renewal, mindfulness, and hope (Boyatzis & McKee, 2005). Self-reflection, honest self-assessment, and self-coaching are tools that must be in the kit of any leader. Attempting to lead without these capabilities puts the leader at a distinct disadvantage.

At the beginning of this entry, I said introspection is difficult. I undersold that point. I should have said honest introspection is really difficult. Looking in the mirror, real or hypothetical, and saying “I do not do well at this,” or “I have (or may have) hurt myself or others because of this trait or habit,” is painful. The key is to learn from those points AND to identify the positive talents, traits and capabilities that can be leveraged and enhanced! Celebrate the positives! Use that energy to chip away at the negatives. Remember, we are all a ‘work in progress’.

Have a great week and look for the next entry soon at The Educated Leadership Blog!

Boyatzis, R., & McKee, A. (2005). Resonant Leadership. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.

Frederickson, B. L. (2013). Updated Thinking on Positivity Ratios. American Psychologist, 9. doi:10.1037/a003584

A641.7.3.RB_DavisCarl - Appreciating Your “Real Self”

                                          Poised to climb away...                       CSD 2015(C)

Welcome back, readers, to another entry of the Educated Leadership Blog!

This week we were given the chance to do some reflection on the “real person” we are…not the image we have of ourselves. We worked through a number of exercises (McKee, et al, 2008, pg. 109-137) that gave us opportunities to think about the experiences and people that made impacts upon our lives and capabilities. Additionally, we examined the social networks within which we operate and the various relationships that are now part of our lives.

Self-reflection and self-examination are not the easiest tasks. We have mental filters that keep us from seeing the parts of ourselves that are less than awesome. These filters act as protective devices, but at the same time blind us from issues that may be holding us back. Attempting to remove the filters and look is difficult because we all would like to think we have an excellent handle on what people really think about us and how we really fit in. Finding out that we aren’t as good (or great) as we’d thought is a tough pill to swallow. HOWEVER, if we look for opportunities to improve, instead of looking for reasons to be disappointed, we can turn the exercise into a positive experience.

Some of the exercises from previous chapters and weeks have been building to this set of questions. Additionally, I have had opportunities to not only look at my personal life path but to have others provide feedback to me about strengths and weaknesses they have observed in me. It is a scary, but rewarding, experience. The examples cited in our workbook included a story of a manager receiving feedback from a number of people with whom she worked (McKee, et al, 2008). The result was that the manager felt much better about her leadership style because she had an understanding of what her peers and co-workers liked and disliked about her style. I, too have had a “360” peer review done a couple of times. It’s nice to hear about things that you didn’t realize people noticed and/or appreciated about you. If the opportunity presents itself to you to get feedback in that manner, I suggest you do it.

The exercises from our book were designed to help us see the path through life we had taken to be to arrive at the place we currently find ourselves. We started by drawing up a timeline of major events in our lives, both personal and professional, that we felt impacted our lives. For me, much of my childhood was impacted by my mother having cancer. High school and college provided multiple situations and experiences that helped to form my personality and leadership style. In high school, my first jobs began and I learned more about leadership and business. College provided lessons in life, leadership, relationships, and what being an employee was about. Not long after college, my parents split up and my mother passed away. I got my first job as a pilot and a manager. The life lessons were coming fast and furious through the 1990s. People came into my life and show how to do things and how to act. I realized that my dreams entailed gaining a knowledge base that I couldn’t get on my own. I looked for people whom I could model and from which I could learn. When I listed the names of the people I felt had directly or indirectly impacted my life, I came up with over 60 people! I have little doubt that there were people in my life that provided assistance and/or lessons about which I never knew or realized. I would guess that well over 100 people have had a direct impact on making me who I am. I am a product of those people and my capability to synthesize that knowledge into a style. The difficult part is that many of these people are gone and I cannot tell them thank you. I have started telling people that I can contact how much I appreciate what they did for me. They have been surprised and appreciative that I did so.

The exercises also had us track the social groups of which we are a part. We looked at the interactions and rated whether they were resonant or dissonant. I feel like most of my relationships, personal and professional, are resonant. The relationships that feel dissonant to me are not lost causes. In fact, one of them is a new relationship at work and our organization’s success will be directly impacted if the relationship is dissonant! I will make every effort to connect and build a vision the two of us are aligned to achieving.

The roles I play in my life were also part of the examination process. As part of a diversity program, one also looks at the cultures and roles in which one is involved. It is not lost on me that my promotion to the executive level of management is now a role that carries a significant amount of weight. My role as father and step-father, along with husband have not changed in weight or importance, they are at the top of my personal roles. The executive role carries with it many preconceived notions for the employees that will work in my department, my direct report managers, my executive peers, and the executive leaders to whom I will report. There are expectations of communication, decision making, personality (to an extent), schedule, and commitment to the group, company, and community to which I must be cognizant. My actions and reactions will be watched and examined. Big shoes to fill, but I am looking forward to the challenge and to the success we have ahead.

As we near the end of this week’s entry, I’d like to talk about what I perceive as my strengths and weaknesses. I know I am a good listener and that I am inclusive. Additionally, I have the confidence in myself to make a decision while I have the capability to have confidence in others and let them make decisions. I am a teacher and work diligently to give people opportunities to learn. I am willing to accept that what I know is not always right. I can learn from others. I do not like conflict for conflict’s sake. I am patient, but not eternally patient. I dislike giving people bad news but know that it is a job that must be done.

If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you know a recurring theme is that I am a work in progress. The exercises we did this week provided a good status check for me. I have made solid, positive progress in my development as a leader. I am proud of what I have accomplished. I am humbled and thankful for the help and lessons I have received along the way. At the same time, I have plenty of work left to do! There are lots of facets on this diamond in need of polish.

Until next week!

McKee, A., Boyatzis, R., & Johnston, F. (2008). Becoming a Resonant Leader (First ed.). Boston, MA: Harvard Business Press.

A641.5.3.RB - ICT at the Team Level

We’ve been looking at how to get people and groups to change in a lasting and meaningful way. What about teams that don’t seem to make a transition to performing well, even though they seem to have all the ingredients. To illustrate, we’ll take a look at the US Women’s Soccer Team of the early 2000s and the US “Dream Team” Basketball team of 2000 and 2004.

The shared ideal or vision, a variation on the ICT step of identifying the ideal self, is the beginning of sustainable change at the team level. “The emergence and exploration of an “ideal self” is seen as the motivational force behind intentional change, composed mainly by three core features, namely hope, an image of a desired future, and core identity” (Akrivou, et al, 2006, p. 699). As we have learned in earlier posts, the need for a positive emotional attractor is vital to making change last. The good news is that, as Akrivou, et al, wrote, “The shared cognition around an ideal or purpose generates a source of positive emotion, guiding the group process, thereafter, as its positive emotional attractor” (2006, p. 699). The women’s soccer team certainly seemed to have found a uniting vision of what they hoped to be. They were playing for an ideal that was bigger than any individual on the team. They wanted to represent the USA and win on their country’s behalf. No individual attempted to grab attention away from the team. In comparison, the USA men’s basketball team was a collection of all-stars from the NBA. Each of the players had a personal brand and a belief that they should have a lion’s share of the camera time, microphone time, playing time, and time with the ball. The ingredients for each these two teams were as different in personality and vision as one could find anywhere.

The group then has to determine its current state and resolve the differences with its ideal state. In this part of ICT, much of the tension is discovered and released. The women’s soccer team worked through their gaps and decided to unite toward filling in the gaps between the current and the ideal states. The men’s basketball team appeared to decide that they were already at their ideal state. They were all superstars, weren’t they? Many of them had won NBA championships and all of them had been elected to the NBA all-star game multiple times. Why change? They would just blow the other teams out of the water on talent alone.

Developing the learning plan to be implemented for the team to reach their goal is the next step. The women’s soccer team trusted their coaching staff to develop a plan to get them playing at a championship level. The players committed to following the plan. The results became evident over time. The men’s basketball team didn’t commit to a plan. They felt they had the innate skills and talent to get the wins. The fallacy of that path became evident over time.

“During initial iterations of ICT, people in the group focus on establishing and subsequently maintaining of trusting, supportive relationships. These can be best described as “resonant relationships” within the group members” (Akrivou, et al, 2006, p.701). The team members have to learn to trust each other. Once that occurs, the team can begin to build relationships outside their group, further spreading their path to success. Again, the women’s team came together as a unified group all marching toward a common goal. Those who excelled worked with those who might have been struggling so they all grew stronger in their belief in one another. The men’s team demonstrated a knack for playing as five individuals, no matter who was on the floor. Every individual thought it was up to them to win the game, no one wanted to “do the grunt work” and possibly move out of the limelight. With every loss, the tensions and divisions grew.” The NEA creates the tensions and reflection, through experiences of still existing in-group vs out-group boundaries and challenges to further developing these critical relationships” (Akrivou, et al, 2006, p. 701). The negative emotional attractors far outweighed the amount of positive emotions and the team became dysfunctional and never reached the potential they and the entire country hoped they would.

All the best ingredients in the world do not make a great meal until they are put together in a way their positive aspects can overcome their negative. Remember though, a little bit of bitter makes the sweet taste better. Uniting and motivating a group is a constant process that takes leadership skill, desire, and practice. The work can be difficult, but when a team comes together it is a thing of beauty.

Until next week, take care!

Akrivou, K., Boyatzis, R. E., & McLeod, P. L. (2006). The Evolving Group: Towards a prescriptive theory of intentional group development. The Journal of Managment Development, 25(7), 689-706. doi:http://dx.doi.org.ezproxy.libproxy.db.erau.edu/10.1108/02621710610678490

A641.4.3.RB - Tipping Points of Emotional Intelligence

Hello readers and welcome back to another week at the Educated Leadership blog! In this entry we’ll look at emotional tipping points at work and how things turned out.

Dr. Richard Boyatzis talked about tipping points in a presentation we watched for class (So Relatable, et al, 2013). Taking care to understand the power of emotions when coaching and leading is mandatory. Those that attempt to lead without doing so will find their teams underperforming consistently. Dr. Boyatzis also discussed what he calls positives emotional attractors (PEA) and negative emotional attractors (NEA). It is important to note that leaders cannot provide solely PEAs, to provide perspective and balance both types of emotions are necessary as was pointed out by Howard (2006).

Dr. Boyatzis provided some examples of positive emotional attractors, to include: building on the positives that a person brings to the workplace, discussing opportunities that would be exciting for the person to try, and building on possibilities and their hopes and dreams. The negative emotional attractors include discussion of problems, weaknesses, performance improvement plans, and jobs that have to be done that are not interesting.

I recall an emotional tipping point in which I was involved as the employee and my manager failed to inspire me. The incredible part of the story is that the opportunity for me was an extremely rare chance to start a new organization and launch a new business model for our company.

My manager at the time was very fearful of being “embarrassed” by her workers. I know because she regularly told us. In hindsight, I know she felt that way because she had been put into a position for which she was not prepared. Because she was always unsure of what was the right course of action, she was constantly working to make sure whatever happened, she wouldn’t “look bad” to her leadership.

She presented me with what should have been a grand opportunity to grow, learn, and be excited by pitching the opportunities to fail and the probability of failure. Because I wanted the chance to run my own shop, I jumped at the chance…however, I was full of trepidation and my negative emotions were high. As I moved forward with the project, the stress grew and the support from above was harder to find. I felt as if I was being “hung out” to be sacrificed.

After suffering a serious illness, sparked by my stress level, I resolved to change the situation. I stopped going to my manager for help and only provided status reports. I resolved to lead my team the way I wished to have been lead, which would be the opposite of what was actually happening. A moment that is burned into my mind was a dinner meeting with me, my manager, and a peer of mine that also reported to my manager. When my peer proposed that I be promoted (an unprompted surprise to me) my manager said, “What makes you think this guy could be the leader?” while pointing at me. The NEAs outweighed the PEAs fifty to one. By then, I had begun looking for PEAs from other managers and peers. My respect for my manager was all but gone and her comment hit me as comical more than anything. However, this was my emotional tipping point and I moved definitively to separate myself from her leadership and to let others know that her toxicity was detrimental to the company and its goals.

I set up meetings with other leaders in the company to discuss the status of my new team and my vision for where it could go. As interest in my team’s capabilities grew, questions about why we had been unable to grow or, even be utilized in some cases, my manager had to come up with answers. In the past, she had hoped to protect herself from these types of questions by forbidding her direct reports from talking with any of her peer managers.

The end result was that my manager suddenly “decided to retire” about 90 days after the infamous dinner meeting. Upon her departure, the attitude of her entire team was improved, another sign of the use of too many NEAs. As Dr. Boyatzis noted, the ratio of NEAs to PEAs needs to be at least three positive to one negative (2013).

If I had to live through that situation, I don’t know that I could do anything differently. The timing of many things had to be “just right” to ensure the politics were accounted for in the company. I cherish the lessons I learned about how to lead with positive emotion instead of negativity. The amount of stress and soul-searching I lived through was agonizing at times. I would not want to be the generator of those emotions for those I am charged with leading.

Thanks for stopping by the blog! Take some time and think about how you would deal with a boss that is more interested in looking good than in leading and I’ll see you next week!

Ferrell, D. L. (2008). Marketing Ethics.   Retrieved from http://college.cengage.com/business/modules/marktngethics.pdf

Howard, A. (2006). Positive and negative emotional attractors and intentional change. The Journal of Managment Development, 25(7), 657-670. doi:http://dx.doi.org.ezproxy.libproxy.db.erau.edu/10.1108/02621710610678472

So Relatable & Case Western Reserve University. (Producer). (2013). Module 2: The Positive (PEA) and Negative (NEA) Video. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=197x4dmuug8&feature=youtu.be