Right Fit Leading Info Series: A Full Review
Over the last few months, Right Fit Leading provided an information series on leadership and other issues. Here’s a recap.
Teaching Plan Summaries Available
I have had a busy June talking to people about understanding and employing empathy and emotional intelligence (EI). I engaged with audiences about achieving shared understanding and building trust. The conversations and consultations have been so rewarding that I created four teaching plans that are readily available in my portfolio. I would be happy to discuss.
Finding Success Through EI and Empathy
Emotional Intelligence (EI)
EI, or emotional intelligence, is your chance to find quality in interpersonal behaviors by evaluating, controlling, and perceiving emotions. EI success requires accepting and offering feedback, getting in touch with your own emotions and those of others, and taking the necessary steps to adjust to those emotions.
Emotional Intelligence Attributes
If you focus, you can develop your own EI attributes. Self-awareness is about knowing yourself to feature the best in you. Self-management is about seeing an obstacle as an opportunity for improvement. Social awareness urges you to imagine someone else’s experience and connect with them. Relationship management requires that you use your ability to influence, coach, and/or mentor depending on what the person or situation requires. Effective communication comes from cultivating verbal and nonverbal skills to get the best out of every engagement or interaction.
Empathy
You are displaying empathy when you make a conscious effort to put yourself in another person’s position. In this way, you try to see things from their perspective and try to grasp the emotions they may be feeling. Just accept what they are saying, offer feedback, and try to get in touch with your and their emotions. You will need to take steps to adjust to those emotions once you find them.
Engaged Interaction
Engaged interaction is the skill of listening, hearing, and understanding. It requires that you employ flexible, full-range communications and ensure that all parties are actively engaged. It also requires that all parties continue the interaction until full-cycle communication – send, receive, decode, feedback – is completed.
Exit Interview
Let’s talk about engagement and the exit interview. Get rid of it! This information is available long before the employee leaves. Don’t miss opportunities to gather this relevant information through regular interactions every day. This helps you understand who wants to stay, who wants to go, who wants more out of the job, and who wants something different than they have now. These engagements are important every week or month, not in the last two weeks of employment. Empathy requires constant interaction that ranges from listening to understanding to sharing information.
Leader-Member Exchange (LMX)
Leader-member exchange theory, or LMX, focuses on dyads, or two-way relationships with members. It requires collaborative engagements leading to specific expectations. This is a way to honor personal goals and dignity and to hold everyone accountable as you build trust in your organization. Lmx dyads are used to build effective groups based on an initials skills assessment which may not necessarily be permanent. LMX offers relationships that lead to team building.
Telework Decision
Companies are trying to determine what “back to work” should look like, and workers are trying to take advantage of the positive work life changes they found in covid. As the workplace changes, we must pay attention to trustworthiness and performance as they relate to telework. Trustworthiness is the quality of a person that inspires reliability. When it exists, behaviors like being respectful, honest, consistent, positive, and selfless will be evident. Managers who follow telework policies developed in response to covid-19 are building trust. Trust can then grow as emotions are shared and real issues are addressed professionally.
Telework vs Personal Choice
When i see leaders dealing with the choice to let their workforce work onsite or remotely, i often hear discussions about past practices and the need to have close contact. Those are important considerations, but the more important conversation is what employees want from their position and work life. The world has shown everyone remote ways to do the job, and the discussion should be about how to take advantage of the knowledge. The key is the people are finding they have a choice, and the decision to leave may be easier than ever. All most people want is a say in where they work so that they can adjust their work to their life instead of the other way around. If leaders cannot find a way to accommodate them, they may continue to see people leave.
Approach to Leadership
Leaders must engage with their staffs and all parties need to see quality results from this engagement. My research takes a straightforward approach about leading people, focusing on three areas: engagement, role-setting, and personal growth. It’s simple. But it takes discipline to master. Focus on engaging by setting roles that all understand and by developing members through communication. Be empathetic and make the connection with people that will be your key to success.
Dr. Brown 3D Philosophy
I’m presenting “Communicating Effectively Through EI, Empathy, and Other Interesting Methods,” June 27, at the IABC World Conference. Learn more and register to join me in #NYC 26–29 June: www.wc.iabc.com. #IABC22 #leadership. My presentation will be guided by my leadership philosophy: 3D. You can download a flyer at bit.ly/3yZLD7b or connect with me to learn more.
Doc Brown