The Leadership "Super Skill" for Thriving in the 21st Century

  

 

 

 

 

 

  

"The first person you lead is yourself."  

                                      --Epictetus of Hierapolis, 95 AD

Self-awareness is the leadership "super skill" or meta-skill of the twenty-first century. Skills are temporary; meta-skills are permanent higher order capabilities. Learning a second language or how to code constitutes a skill. A meta-skill, on the other hand, is your ability to learn new languages. Once you’ve developed that meta-skill, it becomes easier to learn a third or a fourth tongue.

Why is self-awareness the meta-skill of this age? Because qualities that are most critical for success in today’s world —things like emotional intelligence, empathy, influence, persuasion, communication, and collaboration—all stem from self-awareness.

Self-awareness is the ability to see ourselves clearly—to understand who we are, how others see us, and how we fit into the world.

Our self-awareness sets the upper limit for the skills that make us stronger team players, superior leaders, and better relationship builders. And here, even small gains in self-awareness can have a big payoff.
 
Internal self-awareness has to do with seeing yourself clearly. It’s an inward understanding of your values, passions, aspirations, ideal environment, patterns, reactions, and impact on others.

External self-awareness is about understanding yourself from the outside in—that is, knowing how other people see you.Now, it’s easy to assume that someone who is internally self-aware would also be externally self-aware—that being in touch with our feelings and emotions helps us tune in to how we’re seen. But strangely, research (mine and others’) has often shown no relationship between them—and some studies have even shown an inverse one! 

You probably know someone who loves to gaze at their own navel but has precious little understanding of the way they’re coming across. The other side of the coin is also dangerous. Being too fixated on how we appear to others can prevent us from making choices in service of our own happiness and success. The bottom line is that to become truly self-aware, you have to understand yourself and how others see you—and what’s more, the path to get there is very, very different than what most people believe. But if this sounds intimidating or untenable, there is good news. Research has shown that self-awareness is a surprisingly developable skill.

Self-aware people possess seven distinct types of insight that unaware people didn’t. They understood their values (the principles that guide them), passions (what they love to do), aspirations (what they want to experience and achieve), fit (the environment they require to be happy, energized, and engaged), patterns (consistent ways of thinking, feeling, and behaving), reactions (the thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that reveal their strengths and weaknesses), and impact (the effect they have on others).

The key skill we must develop to read our impact is perspective-taking, or the ability to imagine what others are thinking and feeling (this is different from empathy, which involves actually experiencing others’ emotions).
 
Let’s pretend that internal and external self-awareness are hydrogen and oxygen, two of the most well-known elements on the periodic table. On its own, hydrogen is dangerous because it spontaneously ignites. (Remember the Hindenburg?) And though oxygen is not flammable by itself, in excess, it causes many things to burn more easily. But when you combine hydrogen and oxygen in the right proportions, the two elements unite to create life-sustaining water.

Self-awareness is a bit like that: when we couple a clear perspective on ourselves with the ability to abandon that perspective and see ourselves as others do, this magical combination is a powerful force for realizing the next best version of ourselves.

Self-awareness has a more positive impact on leadership than an MBA. Studies show that self-awareness encourages us to lead ourselves with authenticity and integrity — and in turn, better lead others.

Teams with high self-awareness make better decisions, interact better with each other, and manage tensions and conflicts more effectively.

The problem is that self-awareness is a scarce meta-skill. According to self-awareness expert Dr. Tasha Eurich, 90% of people believe they are self-aware but only 15% of them actually are. This gap is the base of most problems in the workplace — blind spots are the elephant in the room.  

Here are some things to can do (or do more frequently) to build your self-awareness muscle and illuminate your blind spots.

5 Tips for Building Self-Awareness 

1. Look at yourself objectively.

Trying to see yourself as you really are can be a very difficult process, but if you make the right efforts, getting to know your real self can be extremely rewarding. When you are able to see yourself objectively, you can learn how to accept yourself and find ways to improve yourself in the future.

2. Perform daily self-reflection.

In order to have self-awareness, you must do self-reflection. This requires setting aside some time, hopefully every day, to honestly look at yourself as a person and a leader. Committing to this practice can help you improve.

In our demanding business world, daily self-reflection is easier said than done. There is always pressure to do more with less, and an endless flow of information through our portable technology.

Because it takes time to self-reflect, start by setting aside just 15 minutes each day. Self-reflection is most effective when you use a journal and write down your thoughts. It’s also best to find a quiet place to think.

3. Take personality and psychometric tests.

Take these personality and psychometric tests to help understand what traits you have. Some popular tests that are aimed at increasing self-awareness include the Myers-Briggs test and the Predictive Index.

There are no right or wrong answers to these tests. Instead, they compel respondents to think about a set of traits or characteristics that closely describe them relative to other people.

4. Ask trusted friends to describe you.

How are we supposed to know what other people think of us? We have to listen to the feedback of our peers and mentors, and let them play the role of an honest mirror. Tell your friends when you are looking for open, honest, critical, and objective perspectives. Allow your friends to feel safe while they are giving you an informal yet honest view.

Make sure your friends know that they are doing this to help you, not to hurt you. Also, feel free to ask questions of your friends about topics they bring up if you feel like you need some more clarity to completely understand.

You can also ask friends to bring it to your attention when you are doing something that you know you want to change. For example, if you know you tend to “one-up” people when they are telling stories, have your friends discreetly let you know that is happening so you can learn to stop.

Ask your friends to give you an honest evaluation of what they think about you. | Image of spending time with friends Ask trusted friends to describe you. Allow your friends to feel safe while they are giving you an informal yet honest view. 

5. Ask for feedback at work.

In addition to consulting friends and family, use a more formal process at work to get some feedback. If your company does not provide a structured way to do this, try to implement one. Provided it is constructive and well done, having an option for formalized feedback allows us to self-reflect on our own strengths and development opportunities.

To have an effective formal feedback system at work, you need a proper process and an effective manager. Once the feedback process is finished, it is important to reflect on it by writing down your main takeaways. Write down any surprising strengths and opportunities that you did not realize you had before.

Building the necessary habits to help you become more self-aware will help you thrive as a person and by extension a leader in the 21st Century.

To your greater success and fulfillment,

Peter Mclees, Leadership Coach, Trainer and Performance Consultant

SMART DEVELOPMENT

Take the Next Step... 

Interested in learning how to develop your organization's culture, employee engagement and leadership capability? We begin with a collaborative discovery process identifying your unique needs and business issues. To request an interview with Peter Mclees please contact: 

Email: petercmclees@gmail.com  or  Mobile:323-854-1713

Smart Development has an exceptional track record helping service providers, ports, sales teams, restaurants, stores, distribution centers, food production facilities, title companies, wealth management firms, third-party maintenance companies, nonprofits, government agencies and other businesses create a strong culture, leadership bench strength, coaching skills and the teamwork necessary for growth. 

Having worked with several companies throughout their growth cycle, we have valuable insights and strategies that would help any late stage startup, small or medium sized company achieve sustained growth and prosperity.

5 Critical Mistakes That Can Derail Leaders in 2021

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Companies rise and fall on leadership. Period. And there are five areas that the best senior leaders tend to focus their attention. It’s no surprise that these same areas are where unsuccessful senior leaders make critical mistakes.

These are the most critical mistakes, because by the time the leader or other senior managers can understand what has happened, there is massive momentum heading towards a discouraging future.

The Research

Robert S. Hartman, a Nobel Prize Nominee, devotes his efforts to helping people maximize their leadership potential, understand their thinking and prioritize team dynamics. Through his study of The Science of Axiology (a scientific approach to how people make value judgments in leadership situations), Hartman has developed a valuable assessment tool.

Throughout his research, he noted that high-performance leaders selectively place importance on some information while neglecting other information. The result is criteria for decision-making. After surveying and assessing over 1000 top leaders worldwide, he found a pattern of consistent attention and regular lack of attention to vital areas of leadership.

What follows are The Five Most Common Mistakes Of High Performance Leaders, inspired from the research of Robert Hartman, and from decades of my performance consulting, coaching and leadership training.

Five Critical Mistakes that Thwart High-Performance Leaders

1. Lack Of Consistency And Conformity

Although most senior leaders will profess that consistency and conformity are top priorities for the growth and scaling of their company, in practice many leaders demonstrate and/or embody a different message. Conformity is usually a paradox in growing corporations, where thinking outside the box is heavily encouraged. And consistency could even be a joke – depending on how much rapid growth is occurring at an organization – it is not uncommon for a trend of “fire fighting” to take hold as the company culture.

To avoid this mistake: Messaging how important systems and procedures are to your team, even in rapid growth, is essential. Systems and procedures maintain brand, product, customer service and other departmental consistency to the customer. Internal attention to having growth spurts be individual stages that get gelled back into the corporate structure will pay huge dividends.

2. Lack Of “Strategy Follow Through” Discipline

It is tough to choose a strategic direction, see less then favorable results, and stay the course. The innate human instinct is to jump ship quickly before the ship goes down!

However, more often than not that the problem is not the strategy, but the tactical execution of it. Top leaders often look for the “right” strategy, and although there are likely stratospheres of probability for strategic outcomes, world class leaders focus on execution and course-correction of a strategic direction before abandoning ship. Having the discipline to continue the course-correction process, particularly through the ability to ask probing questions, results in solutions. This is how we solve problems that are real versus solving problems that are an extrapolation of a probable outcome.

To avoid this mistake: Consider the best case, worst case and possible unexpected forks in the road ahead of time. Work with your team to create the expectation of long-term commitment to a strategy – even through tough times. Focus on the execution of a strategy chosen and avoid the temptation to keep returning to the drawing board!

3. Lack Of Mission, Vision, Values

There are very few companies where one could walk into a random office, ask team members to recite the Mission, Vision, Values of the company, and have them actually recall something even similar to the document prominently displayed in the lobby. Yet, this offers the most compelling barometer for all decision-making and emotional engagement of your team. The No. 1 reason the team is not related to the company Mission, Vision, Values is because the leader is not connected to it.

When a leader is disconnected from, not embodying or not presenting the Mission, Vision, Values of the company frequently – in meetings, emails and at corporate events – the entire culture begins to slide. Team cohesion and focus wane, perhaps not all together but surely from the optimum state, and you end up with disengagement and dissatisfaction in the company.

To avoid this mistake: Create a daily habit that connects you with the Mission, Vision and Values of the company. As the leading beacon for the company, this is the leader's primary driver, and should be consistently present in both physical and psychological form all day long. If you find that your documented Mission, Vision and Values no longer ring true, make it a priority to update them to ones that you and your entire company can get behind.

4. Lack Of Instilling Responsibility And Integrity

There are two common mistakes that thwart the interest in increasing self-ownership and high accountability in companies.

The first is “Leadership by Friendship.” We all know that a leader who interacts with their team by being the “best buddy” or friend will often fail to make good judgments, hard decisions and key shifts at important inflection points. Most Senior Leaders ask themselves, “How can I get my team to take higher levels of Self Ownership and Accountability?” but often sacrifice what they want most in an attempt to avoid upsetting the “culture.” Once the leader has allowed accountability to drift and get sloppy, the rest of management follows and results inevitably suffer.

The second common mistake that thwarts instilling responsibility and integrity is “Leadership by Fear.” Commonly taking the form of passive-aggressive or simply aggressive interaction, communication and actions, this model requires constant attention and energy by the leader. This model primarily inputs scarcity into the culture – leading to a “good enough to not get your head bitten off” model. The carrot and the stick are only part of the equation that causes self-ownership and high accountability:

Clear Expectation + Owner Agreement + Rewards & Consequences = Ownership And High Accountability

To avoid this mistake: Setting an example of clear, actionable expectations, soliciting agreement from your team and having a published and clear set of Rewards & Consequences will instill responsibility.

5. Little Fostering Of Innovation, Innovative Thinking And Change

How does this jive with Mistake No. 1? Well, along with the need for systems, procedures, conformity and consistency, a company will also need a high level of innovation, innovative thinkers and a drive for constant change.

From a politically correct standpoint, every leader will tell you that they encourage out of the box thinking, or innovative thinking. In practice, many company cultures instill a sense of fear for stepping too far out, really being a true innovator, or creating change. Even if some innovation is allowed, the leader must decide how far down the chain of command there is willingness for innovation and change.

To avoid this mistake: Top companies and leaders have designed systems that support innovation and for employees and key execs to have the experience of their input actually impacting the company (and possibly strategic decisions). A top leader can avoid a stagnant company by fostering innovation from every person at the company and openly rewarding those that contribute.

To your greater success and fulfillment,

Peter Mclees, Leadership Coach, Trainer and Performance Consultant

SMART DEVELOPMENT

Take the Next Step... 

Interested in learning how to develop your organization's culture, employee engagement and leadership capability? We begin with a collaborative discovery process identifying your unique needs and business issues. To request an interview with Peter Mclees please contact: 

Email: petercmclees@gmail.com  or  Mobile:323-854-1713

Smart Development has an exceptional track record helping service providers, ports, sales teams, restaurants, stores, distribution centers, food production facilities, title companies, wealth management firms, third-party maintenance companies, nonprofits, government agencies and other businesses create a strong culture, leadership bench strength, coaching skills and the teamwork necessary for growth. 

Having worked with several companies throughout their growth cycle, we have valuable insights and strategies that would help any late stage startup, small or medium sized company achieve sustained growth and prosperity.

When Setting Your 2021 Sales Goals Ask Yourself and Team These 3 Powerful Questions

 

 

 

 

 

Here we stand, peering around the corner at the new year ahead. In 2020 goals, aspirations, and life were turned upside down. It was a year unlike any other.
 
Looking back at 2020 we all experienced sorrow and suffering. We all have regrets for things that we did and things we left undone; for time that was squandered; for opportunities lost.
 
Likewise we all have accomplishments, positive changes, and progress to be celebrated. Many of us rediscovered the meaning of life and what is truly important.
 
Now, we have a chance to start anew with a clean slate and new hope. It is an opportunity to reset and plan new goals. This begins and ends with answering the three questions that matter most:
 
• What do you want?
• How do you plan to get what you want?
• How bad do you want it?
 
Frankly, it is about honesty. Set goals. Not empty resolutions. Not fleeting wishes and hopes. Real goals that mean something for your career and life. It is about being true to yourself.
 
Start with defining what you want, building a plan, and writing it down.
 
Most people won’t and don’t because defining what you want – articulating where you will be at the end of next year – is difficult. It requires you to think. It requires you to take risk. It requires you to be accountable to the only person in your life to whom you are really accountable – YOU.
 
Yogi Berra once quipped that “If you don’t know where you are going you might end up someplace else.”
 
Here is a brutal truth: If you don’t have a plan, you will become a part of someone else’s plan. You can either take control of your life or allow someone else to control you to enhance their life. It’s your choice.
 
So start here. Define what you want and write it down. This means gathering up the discipline to stop what you are doing, sit down, and actually think about your future.
 
Desire is the singularity of all achievement. Desire is the only thing that trumps procrastination. It why the most important question in any endeavor is “How bad do you want it?”
 
Success is paid for in advance with hard work and sacrifice. More often than not, getting what you want is more about what you are willing to give up rather than what you are willing to do.
 
Success is governed by the Law of Congruence. What you want and what you are willing to do to get what you want must be equal or congruent.
 
Goals and plans don’t matter if you don’t have the desire and unwavering will to achieve them. This is why New Year Resolutions are almost never met. They are wishes born in hope and carried away on the wind as soon as the tiniest hint of adversity is met.
 
Picture yourself at the end of next year. Where will you be? Will you be happy, content, and satisfied with your accomplishments or be left sitting on a big pile of should-have-dones and regret for the year you wasted?
 
The good news is your future has not been written. It is completely within your control. Take a moment today to answer these three critical questions and build your sales plan for the new year.
 

All the success,

Peter C. Mclees, Principal

email: petercmclees@gmail.com

Mobile: 323-854-1713

We help sales reps and sales organizations accelerate their sales.

 

How to Achieve Greater Results In 2021 By Being A Stronger People Leader

 

 

 

Well, 2022 is behind us. (Feel free to cheer, applaud, or shout Amen!)

Meanwhile, the new year is here and it's the time for hope and renewal. In this spirit of new possibilities, why not commit to becoming a stronger people leader by starting some or all of your management relationships anew?

Managers often say, “I can see now that I should be a stronger, more engaged manager, but I’ve been in this role managing a number of the same people for many months or even years.” These mangers often ask: “How can I possibly just change my management style one day?”

Often these are long-standing workplace relationships. So the employees in question are accustomed to the way they’ve always interacted with this manager. If you make a big change they are going to feel it. They might even challenge you on the legitimacy of your change effort or doubt the likelihood of your success.

That’s why it’s best not to rush into a big change in your management relationships. Keep in mind that becoming a stronger people leader is not about putting your foot down, but rather much more like talking a walk every day. You need to be in this for the long haul if it’s going to work. So stop and think. Make sure you are ready psychologically. Make sure you are ready tactically. Make sure you have made all the preparations necessary.

It takes courage to make a change; that's true whether you are considering a wholesale renewal of your management style or just a renewal of one or more specific management relationships.

Start with high engagement. The beginning is your best opportunity to reestablish the ground rules for your working relationship. This is your chance to create a new clarity and alignment:

• This is our mission.
• This how our work relates to the mission.
• This is how we operate from now on.
• These are our core values.
• These are our standards. This is how I’m going to operate from now on.
• This is what I’m going to do to help you from now on.
• This is what I have to offer you in return.

First and foremost, that means dedicating the time for high-structure, high-substance team meetings and regular, ongoing one-on-one dialogues starting on day one of your renewal. Take heart. This is good news! Think about it: you are about to let your people know that you are making a new commitment to the essentials of leadership. How can anyone on your team truly object when you say: “I’m going to be stronger (In a good way) and more highly engaged from now on”? Craft your own message with the key elements of the “Good news!” message:

• I am going to strive to live up to the huge responsibility of leadership.
• I’m going to spell out expectations for you and help you plan your work.
• I’m going to track performance.
• I’m going to help you learn, get tools and resources, solve problems, and earn more.
• I need your help in becoming a stronger, better manager.

Perhaps the toughest part of renewal is sticking with it (Read: Homeostasis). Like any change in habits, it’s not easy to stay on the wagon. For a leader with long-standing relationships, it could be very tempting to fall off the wagon and go back to your old management habits. So you have to be diligent and vigilant for weeks or months or sometime longer before the changes really become the new normal.

Every step of the way, keep asking yourself:

• Who needs to be managed more closely?
• Who needs more responsibility and autonomy?
• Who needs help navigating the complex, ever-changing workplace?
• Who needs help with the fundamentals of self-management?
• Who needs performance coaching to speed up or slow down?
• Who has a great attitude, and who needs an attitude adjustment?
• Who is likely to improve? Who is not? (Beware of the self-fulling prophecy)
• Who should be coached up? Who should be coached out?
• Who are the best people? Who are the real performance problems?

Yes, consistently is critical. But even more important is knowing what to do when you fall off the strong-leadership wagon for a while. Don’t beat yourself up if you miss a day or a week or a month or years. Just stop and think. Prepare yourself. And then get right back to being strong and engaged. One person at a time. One conversation at a time. One day at a time.

The solution to nearly every management challenge comes from consistently practicing the fundamentals very well. That means maintaining an ongoing schedule of high-quality, one-on-one dialogues with every person you manage.

If you consistently practice the fundamentals you will quickly see results: increased employee performance and morale, increased retention of high performers, increased turnover among low performers, and significant, measurable improvements in business outcomes. Not only that, but you will find yourself spending a steadily diminishing amount of you time on “firefighting.”

It is not easy to practice the fundamentals with rigor and consistency. To get going, you need to overcome three big hurdles:

First, you have to make the transition, which may require that you find new reserves of energy, conviction, and follow-through. Going from not maintaining high-structure, high-substance, ongoing, one-on-one dialogue with every direct report to establishing that practice requires that you change personally and professionally, communicate this to colleagues and superiors, roll it out to direct reports, and then start doing it.

Second, you’ll find it’s time-consuming, at first. Getting back to the fundamentals usually requires a significant up-front investment of extra time. If you haven’t been doing it before, you will still have to fight all the fires you have not prevented at the same time you are heavily investing time in preventing future fires. This could take up twice as much of your time for a while, until all the old fires die out.

Third, you need to stay ahead of the vicious cycle. You have to use discipline and focus to consistently spend your management time where it should be spent—upfront, every step of the way, before anything goes right, wrong, or average.

If you commit to this—consistently maintaining the high-structure, high-substance, ongoing, one-one-one dialogues—in a matter of weeks everything will get much better. Plus, you will start getting your time back—and then some.

Of course, the really hard part is truly sticking close to the fundamentals even when the heat is on. Don’t let the crisis throw you off your came. If you finding yourself slipping away from the fundamentals—if you have a bad day, week, or year—just bounce back. Get back on your game and start practicing the fundamentals again, with rigor and consistency, one person at a time, one day at a time.

Top performers are a lot like professional golfers. The one thing that helps every elite golfer to master the fundamentals of the game is a coach. Every elite golfer has a coach to watch the pro’s swing.

Why? Because the golfer can't change what they can't see.

Because the coach can see what the golfer can’t, change is possible.

This kind of feedback builds champions.

Engaging a professional coach can help you improve your "leadership game" along with the business results you want to achieve in 2021. Remember this simple truth:

If you want the best from your team, you must give them your best. And given the disruptive changes in society, the workforce, technology and market demands, your best must be getting better or you and your team will not be equipped to compete and win.

Here are three resources to help you realize your full potential as a person and by extension as a leader:

Click here to view a powerful Ted Talk titled: Want to get great at something? Get a coach (16-min)

Click here to read a post titled: Coaching Works: Here's Why  (3-min)

Click here to read a post titled: SMART Coaching Works: Here's Proof (3-min)

"We often avoid taking action because we think, 'I need to learn more,' but the best way to learn is often by taking action."  

                                                                      --James Clear, Author of Atomic Habits

As we leave one more year behind and move forward into the next one, here's hoping that you'll make the commitment to become a stronger people leader and thereby having a greater impact on the lives of the people you lead and in the organization you serve. 

 

To your greater success and fulfillment,

Peter Mclees, Leadership Coach, Trainer and Performance Consultant

SMART DEVELOPMENT

Take the Next Step... 

Interested in learning how to develop your organization's culture, employee engagement and leadership capability? We begin with a collaborative discovery process identifying your unique needs and business issues. To request an interview with Peter Mclees please contact: 

Email: petercmclees@gmail.com  or  Mobile:323-854-1713

Smart Development has an exceptional track record helping service providers, ports, sales teams, restaurants, stores, distribution centers, food production facilities, title companies, wealth management firms, third-party maintenance companies, nonprofits, government agencies and other businesses create a strong culture, leadership bench strength, coaching skills and the teamwork necessary for growth. 

Having worked with several companies throughout their growth cycle, we have valuable insights and strategies that would help any late stage startup, small or medium sized company achieve sustained growth and prosperity.