In 1999 Harvard Business School Professor of Leadership and Management Amy Edmondson discovered that Psychological Safety was the most crucial factor for determining team performance.
Edmondson defines Psychological Safety as including the following three traits:
One of the biggest challenges faced by #21CenturyLeaders, is receiving regular, honest, #feedback.
You can overcome this challenge by using the following technique.
When you are conducting your regular one on one #conversations with your direct reports or peers, consider saying the following:
“Like yourself, I’m eager to improve myself as a leader, and I want to be the best leader I can be for our organisation. Over time, I have learned that it is challenging to improve without feedback. No doubt I have a view about how I’m performing and behaving, but it is never quite the same as hearing other people’s perspectives on how I am doing.
In that context, I would appreciate it if you would be willing to provide me with specific regular feedback? By regular, I mean every month or so, while sometimes it would also be helpful if you gave me immediate feedback if you saw something that needed instant attention.”
Is this something you would be interested in helping me with?”
(Assuming they agree – which most people will)…
To help them be effective with their feedback to you, they will need clarity and structure. In this context, there are four questions I recommend you ask them to focus on.
Continue reading The no-fuss way for leaders to seek feedback
Anna is a confident senior leader with seven people reporting to her, and Jo, one of her direct reports, is a trusted colleague.
Last week, Jo asked Anna if they could have a chat about something “sensitive”. Anna agreed.
Here is their dialogue from the start of their meeting.
Anna: What sensitive issue would you like to discuss with me?
Jo: It’s about Jason. He has asked if I can share some feedback with you on his behalf, but he doesn’t feel comfortable telling you.
Anna: Why doesn’t Jason feel comfortable telling me whatever he wants you to say to me? As you know, I have an open-door policy, and anyone can give me feedback. I always tell everyone they can say to me whatever they like, and I will listen. I thought I had a good relationship with Jason, which is disappointing news. And he has been part of our team for nearly a year now. I can’t believe he can’t tell me what is wrong. What is it that he wants you to say to me?
Have you ever been in Anna, Jo or Jason’s position? All three are tricky, aren’t they?
Last Thursday evening, I delivered a speech that was a first-time for me. I had never started a talk at 11 pm!
The speech was delivered to Paris, France, for L’Orèal as part of its Luxury Lab – a conference for developing senior leaders.
One of the topics I covered was the difference between a 20th Century Leader and a 21st Century Leader.
I commenced the speech with a quote from Russel Ackoff, Professor Emeritus, Wharton Business School.
“Ages don’t stop and start. One fades in, while the other fades away.”
To understand the characteristics of a 20th Century Leader and how its underlying thinking persists into the 21st Century, it is essential to understand its evolution.
The Industrial Age commenced in Britain in 1760 when ‘machines’ were used to replace handheld tools. Early examples included looms and steam engines.
One-hundred-forty-eight years later, in 1908, Henry Ford hired Frederick Winslow Taylor to work with him to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of Ford’s production line. Through their relationship, Taylor formed and released his Scientific Management Method theory.
The core principle of this theory is that humans are ‘part’ of the machine. From this thinking, concepts such as human resources, human capital, and human assets were created.
Resources, capital and assets can all be owned.
On 12 April 1861, the American Civil War commenced over the idea that humans could ‘own’ other humans, yet, the Scientific Management Method had that principle at its core and was adopted throughout the 20th Century.
It is little wonder that 20th Century Leadership is flawed when at its core is the belief that humans can “own” other humans.
Continue reading The differences between 20th Century and 21st Century Leaders
Collective Inquiry is the name I use for the process to help people manage complex challenges and identify practical actions they can apply to either resolve or lessen the impact of the challenge.
The process enables the collective wisdom of the participants to be surfaced, which builds trust and facilitates ownership of the eventual actions. Please give it a go and let me know what you think in the comments.
Collective Inquiry is summarised in the following seven steps, each of which are explained in more detail, below:
Continue reading How to use Collective Inquiry to take effective action
Why, in 2022, do we continue to accept the terms “human resources”, “human capital” and “human assets”? The last time I checked, we are all human beings.
You may say, “They are only words and aren’t you getting a little too politically correct!” The fact is, words have meanings.
Continue reading Why do we continue to use the term, “human resources”?
Business challenges are ever-present. Read on to view a simple, three-step process that uses the principles of Creative Tension, to help you to overcome any challenge.
Continue reading How to overcome business challenges in three steps
Successful people regularly report they are lifelong learners. I want to think that I am a lifelong learner too.
Shayne Elliott, CEO of the ANZ Bank recently shared in a LinkedIn video post that he is “#always learning“. In it, he speaks about a book that has provided great value over many years, Execution – The discipline of getting things done by Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan. It is a terrific book and worth the read.
The ability to learn is essential for success. I argue that today, oxygen and learning are equally important for humans. Without them you are physically dead, or your career is dead. However, are followers tolerant of leaders who are learning? I’m not sure they are, which creates a significant problem for leaders.
Here’s a formula.
High-quality conversations lead to high-quality decisions, which lead to high quality actions and ultimately, high-quality results and performance. The reverse is also true. Low-quality conversations eventually lead to low-quality results.
Achieving high quality results and performance are worth the effort to learn how to conduct high-quality conversations.
The point of leverage in this model is high quality conversations. But what is a high quality conversation?
Continue reading High-Quality Workplace Conversations Matter
One of my executive coaching clients is extremely successful. He regularly receives six-figure bonuses and is constantly approached by head-hunters.
Earlier this year he was flat. He was frustrated with his boss. Despite his success, he wasn’t sure if his boss had his back or understood what frustrated him.
“Have you told him?” I asked.
“No, not really.” he replied.
“Why not?” I implored.
He had a lot of reasons. The biggest one was that he didn’t want his boss to see him as being paranoid. As we explored this issue, he shared that his frustrations were affecting him at home, and he had been less motivated than usual about his exercise and health program. This issue was affecting his entire life.