Active Listening...

There’s a Reason We Have 2 Ears and 1 Mouth!

Active listening is much more than being silent while the other person speaks. The best listeners periodically ask questions that promote discovery and insight that gently challenge old assumptions but do so in a constructive way.

Active listening is a cooperative conversation. Conversation flows smoothly with neither party becoming defensive. Poor listeners are usually competitive, pointing out errors in reasoning or logic and turning the topic of interest into their own.

Here are some key points to help with active listening:

• The listener creates a safe environment in which difficult, complex, or emotional issues can be discussed.

• The listener clears away distractions like phones, laptops, focusing the attention on the other person and making appropriate eye contact (60% of the time).  This behaviour not only affects how you are perceived as the listener; it immediately influences the listener’s own attitudes and feelings.  Acting the part changes how you feel inside.  This in turn makes you a better listener.

• The listener seeks to understand the substance of what the other person is saying.  They capture ideas, ask questions and restate issues to confirm that their understanding is correct.

• The listener observes non-verbal cues, such as facial expressions, perspiration, respiration rates, gestures, posture, and numerous other subtle body language signals. It is estimated that 80% of what we communicate comes from these signals. It sounds strange but you listen with your eyes as well as your ears.

• The listener increasingly understands the other person’s emotions and feelings about the topic at hand and identifies and acknowledges them. The listener empathizes with and validates those feelings in a supportive and nonjudgmental way.

Active listening includes interactions that build up a person’s self esteem. The best listener makes the conversation a positive experience for the other party.

Contact me to learn more about Active Listening and how Simply Advanced can provide your leaders with tools and methods to help them continue to grow.

Increasing Employee Engagement

5 Strategies for Leaders…

Strategy 1: "I WILL SHOW YOU HOW YOU AND YOUR WORK MATTER TO ME" BY...

• being clear about your expectations and the values of the organization

• talking about the meaning of our work and what we do here

• finding ways to acknowledge your contributions to the bigger picture

Strategy 2: "I WILL ENABLE YOU TO BE MORE EFFECTIVE IN YOUR JOB" BY...

• asking you for feedback, providing guidance and coaching when needed

• giving you choices in how to do your job, involve you in improvements

• recognizing your good work in a way that matters to you and motivates you

Strategy 3: "I WILL ENCOURAGE YOU TO BE MORE INNOVATIVE" BY...

• encouraging you to try new approaches and take risks, mistakes are promoted as opportunities

• asking what "can we learn from this situation?"

• talking about the possibilities of the future

Strategy 4: "I WILL ENCOURAGE YOUR GROWTH IN YOUR JOB" BY...

• providing challenging opportunities for you to test new skills

• supporting decisions that you make and learning from our mistakes

• being clear on our goals, plans, and milestones

Strategy 5: "I WILL BE A LEADER YOU WANT TO SUPPORT AND FOLLOW WILLINGLY" BY...

• treating you with dignity and respect, together building a “bridge foundation” of trust

• following through on promises and commitments and holding each other accountable

• seeking ways to celebrate accomplishments

Simply Advanced can provide your leaders with tools and methods to help them continue to grow.

Contact me to learn more.

Making Decisions as a Leader…

5 Key Items to Consider

Actively Decide to Be A Better Leader

Continually developing as a good leader doesn't just happen. It takes constant personal and professional development/coaching, regular feedback, self-reflection, and execution on the feedback received. Success as a leader is a conscious decision. It's our job to earn that role every single day.

Problems Are Never As Big As They Seem

Recognize nothing is ever as bad as it seems, especially if you maintain high levels of emotional intelligence and self awareness. It’s all about the perspective you decide to take.

Stop Avoiding Difficult Conversations

Whether it’s a direct report, a child, a parent or even your Leader, it doesn't do any good deciding to put off much needed conversations. When we do that, things tend to get worse. Don't put it off things won't fix themselves.

Absence Of Advice, Take Responsibility

Making tough decisions takes practice and courage. Avoiding conflict, putting off making difficult decisions and sugar-coating reality, those types of behaviors are of very little use as a Leader.  Take ownership even in the absence of advice a decision must still be made!

Last, but maybe the most important…

Be Positive

Decide to be positive no matter what.  As Leaders, wearing our emotions on our sleeves, becoming frantic or angry during stress and chaos only creates more problems.  Making a choice to lead your team with a positive and realistic attitude is likely one of the most important decisions you make every day.

Remember, Victor or Victim the choice belongs to you!

Simply Advanced can provide your leaders with tools and methods to help them continue to grow. Contact me to learn more or check out my sessions on Leadership Development.

How Leaders Develop Their Authenticity

Authentic Leadership

Being authentic as a leader can be hard work and can take years of experience in leadership roles. No one can be authentic without failure; everyone behaves inauthentically at times, saying and doing things they will come to regret. The key is to have the self-awareness to recognize these times and listen closely to people who provide feedback.

The essence of authentic leadership is emotional intelligence. The first and most important step on this journey is gaining self-awareness. To achieve this awareness authentic leaders:

• Engage in reflection by taking time every day to step back from the 24/7 world.  This can be done through different practices that are growing rapidly in popularity, such as meditation, mindfulness, prayer, long walks to clear one’s mind, or simply sitting quietly and reflecting. The key here is to set aside preoccupation with task lists, this way, the urgent does not take precedence over the important in one’s life, and leaders examine how they are living their lives and engaging with the world around them.

• Seek honest feedback from colleagues, friends, and subordinates about themselves and their leadership. One of the hardest things for leaders to do is to understand how other people see them, which is often quite different than how they want to be seen. To gain greater understanding of how they are coming across, authentic leaders obtain real-time feedback by listening to their “truth tellers” without becoming defensive.

• Understand their leadership purpose so they can align people around a common objective. Purpose defines the unique gifts people bring to leadership challenges, through which they can align others with their purposes to create positive impact. This is far more important than focusing entirely on achieving success in metrics like money, fame and power, yet ultimately produces sustained success in those metrics as well.

• Become skilled at tailoring their style to their audiences, situations and readiness of their teammates to accept different approaches. There are times when leaders must make difficult decisions that are sure to displease people, and they’ll need to give tough feedback.  At other times, they need to be inspiring, good coaches, and consensus builders. These flexible styles aren’t inauthentic if they come from a genuinely authentic place. As leaders gain experience and develop greater self-awareness, they become more skillful in adapting their style, without compromising their character.Express yourself appropriately

Authentic Leadership is an approach that emphasizes building the leader's legitimacy through honest relationships that value their followers’ input and are built on an ethical foundation. Generally, authentic leaders are positive people with truthful self-concepts who promote openness. 

Want to learn more about “Authentic Leadership”?  Contact me or check out my sessions on Leadership Development.

Recognize Strengths and Appreciate Differences

Personality Dimensions…do you know yours?

Personality Dimensions uses four colours along with short descriptors and symbols to represent the temperament preferences: Inquiring Green, Organized Gold, Authentic Blue, Resourceful Orange. These combined aspects create a common language of understanding of yourself and others.

 Personality Dimensions is about understanding yourself and others so you can be more effective in your relationships, your work, your life.

 Personality Dimensions translates complex personality theory into everyday language.

 Personality Dimensions doesn’t determine our behaviour – we make those choices. We may be strongly inclined to act in certain ways but we each can decide how we will behave. It will give you the energy and confidence to develop beyond your natural self.

 Personality Dimensions is the latest evolution in presenting Personality Temperament Theory. It builds on research conducted in Canada for over two decades, and the foundations established by the work of Carl Jung, David Keirsey, Linda Berens, as well as a history of Temperament that spans 25 centuries.

Know your Personality Dimensions to...

• Express yourself appropriately

• Negotiate more effectively

• Narrow gaps and differences

• Identify potential problems early

• Elevate morale and enthusiasm

• Optimize team performance

• Support and encourage others

• Organize efficient teams

• Yield higher productivity

• Influence others positively

• Build mutual respect

Contact me to if you’d like to learn more about Personality Dimensions and your colour.