Some good practical advice to learn from other organisations to apply in different contexts

Authors: Daniel Morales, Elizabeth Ledet, Lauren Rebagliati

McKinsey & Co: September 17, 2024: Summary of the new book by the authors-The Journey of Leadership

The role of people leadership is not as straightforward as it seems. Particularly in these times, where business, social, and climate disruptions are compounding one another, effective leadership requires a multidimensional perspective on two factors:

• what the organisation needs
• what individuals need (including what leaders themselves need)

Four McKinsey senior partners offer ways for today’s leaders to better understand and adapt their leadership styles. The book emphasizes an inside-out mindset, in which leaders continually reflect on and reinvent their approaches to leading others. Among the findings is the need for leaders to adopt a human-centric approach to managing others, characterised by humility, empathy, and vulnerability.

Of course, such self-awareness can only develop in a psychologically safe environment and with continual monitoring and measurement of leadership development behaviours and outcomes within an organisation.

Without a deep understanding of who is excelling as a people leader and who is struggling (and in which specific areas), it becomes nearly impossible for any organisation to design and implement meaningful interventions.

At McKinsey, we tackled this challenge head-on. In a relatively short span of time, we designed, developed, and implemented a comprehensive people leadership measurement system, which is a collection of leadership metrics that take an abstract concept and make it measurable.

This system offers individual leaders a broad set of personalised people metrics, which helps them to identify their “blind spots,” clarify their leadership strengths, and highlight areas for development. By making these metrics more transparent within peer groups, we’ve seen a powerful impact. For example, leaders often say, “I thought I was well ahead of others in this area, but I actually have more work to do.”

To develop the people leadership measurement system, several critical technology elements needed to be in place:

• A strong data foundation. A robust foundation of curated people data, developed over time and paired with a world-class analytics team driven by a passion for innovation, forms the backbone of our approach. This includes filling in data gaps, where needed, with new, innovative measures and sources, such as our Mentorship Sponsorship Survey, which invites colleagues to recognise those who have significantly contributed to their development.
• Advanced technology development capabilities. We leverage rigorous analytics to identify and prioritise key metrics, combined with the ability to rapidly design and prototype new solutions.
• Alignment with our leadership development model. We’ve developed an analytics approach that aligns with our conceptual model of people leadership, seamlessly integrating it into our organization’s development and evaluation framework.

Just as important, several critical enablers supported the people leadership measurement system, which helped to ensure its practical application and impact across the firm:

• Leadership integration: Our efforts are championed by a wide range of senior leaders, whose support and sponsorship have been pivotal—especially during critical moments, such as the heightened focus on people leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic. Their commitment has ensured that our initiatives are prioritized and fully integrated into our development and evaluation processes.
• Accountability: The use of the people leadership measurement system in measured, thoughtful ways as one part of our internal review and evaluation processes gives “teeth” to the system and signals the critical importance of people leadership in being successful at McKinsey.
• Public recognition: Finally, through highly visible communications and celebrations of top sponsors in each geography, we regularly recognize our standout people leaders who excel at supporting their colleagues.

Benefits of this approach to measuring people leadership 

The impact of this collection of leadership metrics has been transformative in several key areas. First, systematically measuring leadership markers has significantly galvanised support across the organisation, highlighting the importance of focused development. Individuals now have a clearer understanding of their personal-growth areas, enhancing their capacity to lead effectively. For instance, one leader discovered a notable gap between his team’s perception of his leadership and the regional average, which fell short of his expectations. To address this, he committed to being more present and available to support his teams daily.

Second, evaluation committees have found it easier to discuss people leadership with concrete, data-driven evidence, moving away from vague or anecdotal feedback. This shift has not only reinforced the importance of the people leadership dimension alongside client service but also fostered the development of more well-rounded leaders within the firm.

Additionally, we have gained valuable insights into leadership gaps across various geographies and practices, pinpointing areas where targeted intervention and support are needed, which can be proactively addressed through development, adjustments to leadership structures, and more. For example, the leader of one of our European offices analysed aggregate sponsorship scores across all partners and found that a small group of senior leaders was providing most of the support to junior colleagues. This discovery initiated a new effort to build sponsorship skills among all leaders in her office, ensuring everyone plays a part in supporting junior colleagues.

 

As experience makes clear, cultivating high-impact leaders is an ongoing process that requires constant monitoring, measurement, and adaptation.

The effort is worth it, however: organisations that invest in creating a culture of psychological safety, directly address leadership behaviours, and hold leaders accountable will be better positioned to thrive. Dynamic and responsible people leadership will continue to be a cornerstone of successful and healthy organisations.

By Joanna York (Source BBC ) 31st October 2022

Bosses have long said workers need a growth mindset. Now, this skill is more important than ever – and it’s possible to master it.

Among daily changes within the world of work, there’s never been a better time for employees to cultivate skills to help them better manage workplace challenges. This is where the idea of the ‘growth mindset’ comes roaring in – the belief that workers are capable of actively improving their abilities, rather than being innately able or unable to complete certain tasks.

Yet, this ‘can do’ mindset can be more difficult to harness than it seems. Doing so means getting comfortable with embracing hurdles, learning from criticism and persisting when things get difficult.

Even if we believe that such tenacity is worth developing, in practise, doubts and fears can dominate. “We’re wired to believe our emotions,” says Elaine Elliott-Moskwa, psychologist and author of The Growth Mindset Workbook, based in Princeton, New Jersey, US. “When a person says ‘I feel I’m not good enough’, that feeling is very powerful, even though that is a belief about their abilities.”

At the heart of the growth mindset is learning to overcome such feelings of inability or inadequacy in the face of obstacles, and instead recognise an opportunity to learn. And there can be profound benefits to cultivating this approach. Employees with a growth mindset can tap into a useful skillset to manage stress, build supportive relationships with colleagues, cope with failure and develop attributes to help further their careers.

What is growth mindset?

Growth mindset first emerged in 1988 as a theory relating to education. “It had to do with why smart kids fail in the face of difficulty despite their actual abilities,” says Elliott-Moskwa. The idea was that the students’ attitude towards taking on a challenge, rather than their innate ability, was a key determiner for success. In other words, our ideas about how able we are to do something can have a significant impact on the outcome of a task.

Approaching a challenge with a growth mindset over a fixed mindset is a choice anyone can take

Stanford professor and psychologist Carol Dweck narrowed this concept down to two approaches that can determine results: ‘fixed mindset’ and ‘growth mindset’. “Fixed mindset is the idea that your abilities are high or low, and there’s not too much you can do to change it,” says Elliott-Moskwa, “whereas the growth mindset is the view that your abilities are malleable or changeable.”

While some people may naturally lean more one way than the other, people don’t outright have either a fixed or growth mindset to all problems, full stop – instead, approaching a challenge with a growth mindset over a fixed mindset is a choice anyone can take.

For many people, though, moments of difficulty often spur fixed mindsets. For example, says Elliott-Moskwa, when people take in criticism from a boss, or struggle with a new task, they might feel a sense of inadequacy. In these situations, a fixed-mindset response might be “I’m not good enough”, or “I can’t do it”, she says.

By contrast, a growth mindset approach takes a different tack on the same situation. People with growth mindsets don’t interpret such moments as personal failings, but instead recognise a need to improve. Crucially, people working with a growth mindset believe they are capable of such improvement, and are able to break down challenges into achievable steps.

This means getting out of the comfort zone and accepting a certain level of risk, uncertainty and the potential for failure that comes with trying something new. “It feels a little bit uncomfortable, and also a little bit exciting,” says Isabella Venour, a London-based mindset coach, who helps professionals understand the role their beliefs, values and patterns of thinking play in the workplace. “You’ve got a bit of risk that it might go wrong, but you’ve also got the potential to learn something and to grow as an individual.”

 

A growth mindset means believing you can actively improve your abilities, rather than simply being ‘bad’ at some tasks.

Why is growth mindset important in the workplace right now?

A can-do approach is always a plus in the workplace – it demonstrates that workers are adaptable and willing to evolve within their jobs and organisations. But fostering a growth mindset plays an important role in helping workers navigate turbulence as well as improve resilience as they feel more confident and capable handling difficulties.

This is essential at a time when many employees are struggling with wellbeing in the wake of the pandemic. Gallup’s 2022 State of the Workforce Report showed that stress among global workers has risen consistently since the pandemic began in 2020. A similar global survey by the Wellbeing Project showed that in 2022 resilience is particularly low,  and the risk of burnout remains, especially among non-managers. “People are being pulled in all directions and stretched thin as pressures of work and life are spilling into one another,” says Venour. “Business leaders are noticing that their employees are struggling to cope with everyday challenges.”

Growth mindset not only provides a framework for dealing with challenges, but a way to break those challenges down in to manageable steps. “Often, if we’re feeling pressure when we’re not in a growth mindset, we tend to focus on what we can’t control,” says Venour. “It’s a lot more useful to focus on what we can influence.” This starts with workers identifying personal strengths that they can utilise, then making a plan to improve areas of weakness.

Taking a pragmatic approach can help cut through overwhelm and also help workers lay down boundaries – something many remote workers are struggling to do. For example, “if your boss gives you a task that you feel is unrealistic, it’s easier to say you’re not sure about the timing or you need an extra meeting to give you more clarity”, says Venour. “Because you are confident in your abilities and you don’t see weaknesses as something to beat yourself up about it. You’re able to say, I need some support here.”

[A growth mindset] encourages people to focus on feedback rather than failure – Isabella Venour

It is possible to practice growth mindset individually, but if a business encourages the whole workforce to adopt a growth mindset, the results can be even more powerful. “It encourages people to focus on feedback rather than failure,” says Venour. This can help motivate employees to tackle challenging projects, and create an in-built culture of learning. Studies suggest this is something that workers overwhelmingly want: in a 2022 McKinsey & Company study, 41% of workers said the foremost reason they would quit a job is lack of career development and advancement.

How can you improve growth mindset? 

The first step towards encouraging a growth mindset is personal awareness: the ability to identify fixed-mindset thinking when it occurs, which often manifests as feelings of discomfort or inadequacy in the face of a challenge.

First, Elliott-Moskwa advises recognising and accepting such feelings – instead of beating yourself up about them. “Then, mindfully make another choice to take an action step in keeping with what you would be doing if you had growth mindset – the belief that you could increase your abilities,” she says.

To help clients approach obstacles with a growth mindset, Venour often breaks down challenges that feel overwhelming into smaller pieces. For example, if a worker feels unable to give a presentation in front of colleagues, “how much of that is emotional and how much of that is factual?”, she asks. “Can they talk? Yes. Have they spoken in front of more than one person before? Yes. Have they done presentation slides before? Yes. So, if there are elements that they can do, [what] is the bit that they’re not comfortable with?”

Narrowing down an overwhelming challenge to a specific point of difficulty helps workers focus, and reduces the element of learning required to an achievable level.

Often, the learning itself requires asking for help. One of the key concepts of growth mindset is seeing others as inspiration rather than competition, an approach that can help foster collaborative teams. “If workers view others as resources and not as competitors, they’re open to sharing other people’s skills and abilities and learning from fellow employees,” says Elliott-Moskwa.

Over time, recognising fixed mindset and practicing a growth mindset can become easier, and the prospect of taking on challenges less daunting. “Growth mindset is an empowering attitude,” says Venour. “You can really develop and grow over time as a person.”

 

 

Call the The Futures Group to discuss how our PRINT®work provides significant insight into what makes each of us tick and has yielded some outstanding benefits for individuals and teams.

Shellye Archambeau

Forbes 7th 2023

There is no end to the list of qualities that help to create a better leader. However, during times of uncertainty, major change and disruption, one rises to the top — self-awareness.

The most effective leaders during challenging times have a very good sense of who they are. They have an accurate understanding of their impact on others. They are curious. They solve problems. In a nutshell they are self-aware, although self-awareness – per se – isn’t their specific focus.

These qualities enable them to constantly learn, grow and become … and remain … effective leaders.

Self-Awareness Drives Tangible Benefits

“We all can lead better by developing a better understanding of ourselves, so we can make the best of what we have,” says Claudio Feser, senior advisor at McKinsey & Co. “Our research suggests that leaders who are self-aware – who know themselves or, as we put it, are ‘centered’ – are up to four times more effective in managing change than people who aren’t.”

Self-aware leaders unleash optimal performance from the individuals and teams they manage. They also identify and mentor the “next generation” of potential leaders. In contrast, leaders lacking self-awareness stifle the growth of those reporting to them by not being approachable and open to others’ thoughts.

Organizational psychologist Tasha Eurich notes that, among other attributes, self-awareness results in leaders who are more confident and more creative – attributes that directly and positively impact the company’s culture.

“(They) make sounder decisions, build stronger relationships, and communicate more effectively,” she writes, adding that more-satisfied employees are a critical byproduct. Self-awareness also establishes a culture of trust as employees are more engaged and better respond to leaders who are accountable.

Leader Derailment

The importance of self-awareness is best understood by first addressing the issue of “leader derailment” … the phenomenon of high-potential employees who, after finally getting a leadership opportunity, fail to capitalize upon it.

Research and experience tells us three important things:

· High-potential employees are less likely to derail if their career path includes developing strong relationships with upper management and listening to (and taking actions based upon) the feedback they receive.

· Derailment isn’t always (or solely) the result of poor decisions or financial results. Rather, it’s frequently because of personal and relationship issues. The other side of the coin: leaders who have an accurate or self-deprecating self-awareness minimize their derailment risk.

· A leader’s self-view can be as much as 180 degrees different than how he or she is viewed by others. The result, according to Robert and Joyce Hogan of Hogan Assessment Systems and Robert B. Kaiser Leadership Solutions, is leadership that fails, perhaps even as high as 75 percent of the time.

Incorporating Self-Awareness Into Your Skill-Set

The good news is there are ways you can become more self-aware.

The essential first step is to understand that self-awareness and self-confidence are not the same. Self-awareness is the ability to recognize your needs, feelings, strengths, weaknesses, ambitions, how others see you, etc. Self-confidence, meanwhile, is trusting (rightly or wrongly) in your perception of your skills, abilities, traits, etc. And there is no end to the number of self-confident people who are not self-aware at all.

Additional steps include these:

· Focus on how leadership should be done and not into how leaders behave. Leadership is not “performance art.” It’s bringing skills, talent and experience to the challenge of leading other people. “Many leadership (training) experiences historically foster management rather than skills,” writes former ExxonMobil executive Xinjin Zhao in Wharton magazine. He adds that traditional training methods lag changes taking place in the world, including “how to keep new generations of employees constantly motivated, inspired, and performing at their best.”

· Consider that some of your behaviors might be weaknesses. Examples: unwillingness to elicit and use someone else’s idea; believing that seeking feedback is a negative; misinterpreting risk aversion; thinking setbacks are personal defeats, believing failures don’t provide learning opportunities.

“Experience necessarily involves failures, and you certainly shouldn’t miss the meaning of those,” writes Jeffrey Russell, Vice Provost for Lifelong Learning and Dean of Continuing Studies at University of Wisconsin-Madison. ”Failures can prepare you to be a leader — as long as you take the time to reflect on them. When you’re reflective, you think about outcomes and impact. You develop judgment.”

· Develop a real curiosity into how your behavior might affect those around you. You broadcast your values and ethics in your actions and decisions. Those, in turn, shape how others view you. You may, in fact, have an unconscious bias that emerges in your leadership style.

Without learning about and understanding yourself, you face multiple problems as you are unable to:

o change your behavior when circumstances require flexibility or openness of thought

o predict how your behavior affects others

o be supportive of others

Seeking specific and future-focused feedback from others is helpful and effective, but asking for feedback historically is anathema to an ambitious would-be executive.

· Venture outside your bubble. Force yourself each day to spend meaningful time outside your of your own workspace and your closest day-to-day colleagues. Instead, look out the “window” and embrace and grow from your interactions with others.

“Absentee leaders are people in leadership roles who are psychologically absent from them,” says Scott Gregory, CEO of Hogan Assessment Systems. “They were promoted into management, and enjoy the privileges and rewards of a leadership role, but avoid meaningful involvement with their teams.”

· Identify your triggers and responses. “Showing poise in the face of difficult situations is the essence of executive presence, or the ability to inspire confidence in others to believe in you,” writes executive coach Dina Denham Smith. “You need to manage how and when you process your reactions to communicate in thoughtful ways and see the outcomes that you want.”

All of these help you to self-reflect and learn … and grow.

Getting There

Net-net, self-awareness is about being honest with others, and most importantly, with yourself (which drives how you interact with those around you). Armed with that knowledge, you make better decisions and enable others to do so, as well.

It’s a critical skill that you need to develop and fine tune as you move through your career.

REUTERS/PAUL CHILDS

Tackle your fear of conflict to become a better leader.

FROM OUR OBSESSION

How to Manage People

Inspiring, coaching, critiquing, training, promoting, problem-solving. There is no shortage of work to be done by good managers.

By Melody Wilding

Published January 26, 2018.

Does the thought of giving negative feedback to an employee make you want to call in sick? If so, a fear of confrontation may be getting in your way.

But you’re not doing anyone a favor by avoiding conflict. When problems go unaddressed or are swept under the rug, everyone suffers—including you. Avoiding conflict doesn’t just keep you from fulfilling your responsibilities, it also erodes your self-esteem. No one likes being the office push-over and constantly questioning yourself can take a toll on your confidence levels (What if he explodes in rage? What if she says I’m a bad manager?).

A lack of constructive feedback is also detrimental to your team, depriving them of mentorship and growth opportunities. Workplaces marked by poor communication and unclear expectations are also breeding grounds for imposter syndrome, low trust, and disengagement.

Improving your ability to deliver feedback clearly and assertively does require practice. Learning to create a container for the strong emotions kicked up by difficult conversations can also take time. But the longer you wait, the higher the cost to both you and your team members.

Here’s how to get started with conquering your fear of confrontation so you can manage more effectively.

Tackling your fear of confrontation

Many people who avoid confrontation jump to worse-case scenarios and carry around stories like, “No one likes a micromanager,” or “Bringing up this issue will ruin our working relationship.” While these beliefs may stem from past experiences with rejection and failure, they are a reflection of inaccurate, binary thinking. In actuality, it’s possible to be both assertive and direct without damaging relationships or earning a reputation as the “difficult manager.”

To challenge (and change) your assumptions, focus on what you could gain by speaking up. Compare this against a list of the costs you’re bearing as a result of skirting the issue. When you look more closely, you’ll see that expressing your thoughts, feelings, and opinions is far more beneficial than stuffing them down and suffering the consequences.

Reframe feedback as a tool that empowers, rather than demoralizes, others

Despite what you may believe, employees crave meaningful, candid feedback from their managers. Again, this forces you to reconsider your assumptions—namely, that feedback causes hurt feelings and bruised egos. On the contrary, it’s an underutilized way to inspire and motivate those around you.

While it’s true that some bosses thrive on tearing people down, most leaders genuinely care about helping those around them grow as individuals. If you fall into the latter camp, then reflecting back on a person’s weaknesses (with tact, of course), affords them a special opportunity to develop skills like grit and a growth mindset.

When you reframe conflict as a healthy, normative part of leadership, it loosens the anticipatory anxiety you may feel broaching difficult topics with others.

Communicate thoughtfully and directly

Before diving into corrective feedback, start by setting a non-adversarial tone for the conversation. Let the person know that you hope to have two-way dialogue—not to lecture them. Welcome their input and ideas. Listen and validate their concerns.

You may also want to acknowledge that you’re possibly at fault, too. Saying something like, “We can talk about how I may have contributed to this problem,” can put people at ease. It signals to them that you’re not trying to pass blame—you’re sincerely trying to find solutions.

Using “I” statements whenever possible helps ensure you communicate directly without vacillating or minimizing your concerns simply because you’re scared. Being specific is also important. Rather than saying, “You dropped the ball again,” try saying, “I’m concerned that I didn’t get the documents in time for the client meeting today.”

Make feedback part of the process

If you only level criticism when something goes horribly wrong, or, conversely, at formal performance reviews each quarter, you may want to shift to a more routine schedule. Delaying difficult conversations only lets problems linger.

As management expert Joseph Grenny suggests, strive to make feedback “a regular ritual rather than an occasional blast.” Why? Gradually exposing yourself to fearful situations is the best way to overcome them. The more you practice giving feedback in lower-stakes, everyday scenarios as part of your role, the better at it you’ll become.

You can open up regular communication channels in many ways, including building in weekly one-on-ones, initiating daily stand-ups, or using team collaboration tools.

Creating a positive feedback culture will not only give you more opportunities to flex your newfound assertiveness skills, it’ll also help you strengthen rapport and trust with your team. And that, as a manager, is one of the best things you can hope for.

Melody Wilding is a high-performance coach, writer, and speaker.

An interesting article especially the quote from Dr Zeuss -Last paragraph

Gerard Florian-Group Executive Technology, ANZ

One of my favourite commentators, Professor Scott Galloway, talks about “10 years of progress in 10 weeks”.

I think he’s right. The pace and degree of change has not only been radical but has shown us what is possible – including much we would’ve considered wishful thinking just a few months ago. And so much of that emergency response includes attitudes and ways of working we should keep, whenever and however the pandemic ends.

” What is the purpose of “the office” and what changes if these properties are no longer where the vast majority of work is done?”

I’ve been having many conversations with chief executives and other leaders operating in financial services, retail, public sector and technology. I’ve compiled a list of seven strategic areas that are increasingly dominating the agenda of my conversations:

1. The future workplace

Where do we do work, what is the purpose of “the office” and what changes if these properties are no longer where the vast majority of work is done? More than just working from home, this calls into question collaboration, culture, the employee value proposition and the very nature of productivity as we try and find the right balance of working anywhere and delivering quality outcomes. The virtual office has been on our minds for years. Now it is on the agenda of CEOs around the world.

2. Employee wellbeing

Ensuring our people can perform at their very best makes sense on so many levels. While employee wellbeing is not a new topic, it is more clearly seen as a critical success factor since COVID-19. More than something left to human resources leaders to promote, this is now something all good leaders are driving with purpose. In particular, the recent crisis has shone the spotlight on resilience. More than a “defensive” play where we are trying to manage adverse situations, the focus has expanded to realising that an offensive play that builds sustainable resilience will enable organisations to be in an always ready mode, prepared for future shocks, regardless of their nature.

3. Paperless

In a world where so many physical objects are being digitised at pace, what happens when data is real-time (fewer reports), transactions are digitised and contactless (less cash, zero cheques, minimal paperwork) and stand-ups are virtual (no sticky notes)? Bill Gates called it 30 years ago but the paperless reality may be finally upon us. But what is needed behind the scenes to do this well? What tools are needed, what controls are needed and what needs to shift at the top of the house to support this change?

4. Supply chain risk

Risk assessments start with one simple question: what could go wrong? The answer to this question is now vastly different to what is was just six months ago. Understanding all parts of the supply chain and thinking about the business impact of one or more failures is a priority for every business. Topics such as cloud, automation and offshoring are now seen from an entirely new perspective. Some are calling this a turning point in the globalisation mega trend – is that too soon?

5. Data is the centre of our digital universe

We have all known data was becoming increasingly important… and then COVID-19 happened. Trying to operate any team or business during this crisis without accurate, timely and well presented data would have been impossible. The consequences of this are far reaching from your architecture to your ecosystem, from your capabilities to your governance models. Having an abundance of trusted, data-driven insights has never been more important than now. Will this crisis accelerate the ethics and privacy debate as seen by the response to track and trace apps?

6. IT-savvy community

The consumerisation of information technology was all about the shift of technology from the office to the home. My generation first got access to technology at work – first email account, first computer, first mobile. While that is now almost ancient history, there has been a “late majority” of tech consumers who have simply not seen a reason to change. To watch “Zoom” go from cool tech to a mainstream verb in weeks has been breathtaking. But it is more than Zoom – it is the use of contact tracing apps, the preference for contact less payments, the rise of the podcast and webcast and the boom in online retail. Our customers have a very different appetite for technology and with that comes higher expectations and greater opportunity to innovate.

7. Small “a” agility

Peak “Agile” may have been reached recently with the word splashed across the front cover of leading management publications. While many organisations have looked at agile work practices and some have pursued this more formally, during the crisis every organisation has had to adopt the basic principles of cross functional teams operating at pace with imperfect data, failing fast and pivoting, and focusing on clearly articulated priorities. Organisational agility and the ability to adapt quickly to changing conditions has never been more important. What will these lessons teach executives who are looking for competitive advantage through execution at pace?

These are the forces at play and companies are responding in a myriad of ways. Predicting the future rarely goes well – especially in times such as this. However control the controllable is a favourite mantra of mine.

What we can control is how we lead. How we empathise with our teams and customers, how we think about the opportunity regardless of the headwinds, how well we engage transparently with all stakeholders, how we use data to help inform decisions and how we manage for the short term and the long term at the same time.

I started with a professor and will end with a doctor – Dr Seuss.

“When something bad happens you have three choices. You can either let it define you, let it destroy you, or you can let it strengthen you.”

This crisis has already bought incredible hardship and it is likely there is more to come. How organisations will emerge post-COVID will somewhat be defined by which of the three alternatives we choose.

Gerard Florian is Group Executive – Technology at ANZ

Developing Self-Awareness 
Understanding Yourself
It is wisdom to know others; It is enlightenment to know one’s self.
– LaoTzu,
Chinese philosopher

Have you ever worked with someone who was very self-aware?
This person considered the needs and feelings of others, took responsibility for her mistakes, was humble about her strengths, never said thoughtless things, and was aware of how her words and actions affected others.
Put simply, this person was great to work with!
Self-awareness is one of the most important qualities that you can have as a leader, and developing self-awareness is important in both your personal and professional life.
What is Self-Awareness?
Researchers Shelley Duval and Robert Wicklund published the first major theory of selfawareness in the early 1970s. They said that selfawareness
is the ability to look inward, think deeply about your behavior, and consider how it aligns with your moral standards and values. They argued that when your behavior is out of alignment with your standards, you feel uncomfortable, unhappy and negative. By contrast, when your behavior and values are aligned,
you feel positive and selfconfident.
Self-awareness also gives you a deeper understanding of your own attitudes, opinions, and knowledge.
Self-awareness is sometimes confused with self-consciousness,but there’s an important difference between these. Self-consciousness is a hypersensitized
state of self-awareness; it’s the excessive preoccupation with your own manners, behavior, or appearance, and is often seen as negative. Self-awareness
is focused on the impact your behavior has on other people, and, as
such, is much more positive.
Self-awareness is one of the most important elements of emotional intelligence. It gives you the ability to understand and control your own emotions and actions, and it helps you understand how these affect the emotions and actions of others.
Why Self-Awareness is Important
Self-awareness brings benefits in both your personal and professional life.
First, research shows a strong link between selfawareness and highperformance
in managers. You’re simply more effective in a leadership role when you understand your internal state, as well as your team members’ emotions.
If you’re aware of your own strengths and weaknesses, you have the power to use your strengths intentionally, and to manage or eliminate your weaknesses. When you can admit what you don’t know – and you have the humility to ask for help when you need it – you increase your credibility with your team.
Knowing your strengths and weaknesses also has positive, longterm
benefits for your career, as well as for your long term health and happiness. In one study, researchers found that leaders who were aware of their strengths were more self-confident, were more highly paid, and were happier at work.
On a personal level, having self-awareness allows you to approach people and situations with confidence. In turn, this means that you gain control of your own life, direction, and experiences.
How to Develop Self-Awareness
There are several ways to develop self-awareness.
Keep in mind, however, that this takes time and work.
1. Know Your Strengths and Weaknesses. You can start building self-awareness
by learning where you are strongest and weakest.
Conduct a Personal SWOT Analysis to get a better understanding of this. You might also want take the StrengthsFinder self-test, which helps you identify your five greatest strengths.
When you understand how your personality compares with the personalities of other people, you can discover what motivates you, and how you relate to the world. Both of these are important aspects of self-awareness.
This is where personality tests such as the Big Five Personality Model and MyersBriggs ® can be valuable tools for self-discovery.
2. Reflect on the Impact You Have
When you are self-aware, you understand how you instinctively think, connect with other people, communicate, and make decisions. A great way to understand these things is to keep a journal, where you write about your day, the
things that you did, the emotions you experienced and expressed, and the consequences of these. This helps you think about what does and doesn’t work for you, and helps you be more aware of your impact on other people.
Alternatively, take a break for five or 10 minutes a day and meditate. Meditation helps broaden and strengthen your self-awareness, and it can also lower stress.
Or take time in the evening to reflect quietly about your day, and think about how effectively you worked with people. What did you do really well? And what could you have done better?
3. Focus on Others
People who are self-aware are conscious of how their words and actions influence others. To become more aware of how you affect others, learn how to manage your emotions. Take time to weigh what you say carefully, and think about how it will affect the person that you’re speaking to.
If you find yourself taking your stress, anger, or frustrations out on others, stop immediately. Instead, see if you can find something positive about the situation. Take a few deep breaths, or even walk away if you find that you can’t control your emotions. When you manage your own words or actions, it doesn’t mean that you’re being false. Rather, it shows that you care about other people enough not to say or do something that might affect them in a negative way.
Showing humility is an important part of this. When you’re humble, you focus your attention and energy on others and not on yourself.
4. Ask for Feedback
Getting feedback is important for developing selfawareness – after all, this is often the only way that you can find out about issues that you may not be able to face directly. (See our article on the Johari Window for more on this.)
You can get feedback from your colleagues and team members, either with direct questions or with 360° Feedback . When you ask for feedback from the people around you, this gives you a chance to see your behavior from their point of view. What’s more, it can help you identify weaknesses that you can’t see, or that you’d prefer to ignore.
Key Points

• By developing self-awareness, you get to know what does and doesn’t work for you, and you learn how to manage your impact on other people. People with high levels of self-awareness are more effective as leaders, because they deal with people positively, and they inspire trust and credibility in their team members. As a result, these people also often have more satisfying careers and higher incomes.
• To develop self-awareness, learn about your strengths and weaknesses. Take time to analyze the decisions that you make, focus on managing your emotions, and be humble about your accomplishments. Apply This to Your Life.
• Schedule some time to meditate. Find a quiet place where you can sit down, and take a few minutes to meditate properly.
• Buy a journal. In the evening, set aside a few minutes to reflect quietly about your day, and then write down your thoughts. If you can, do this as soon as you get in, as the events of your day will be fresh in your mind.

12/22/2015 Developing SelfAwareness -Understanding Yourself
https://www.mindtools.com/community/pages/article/developingself-awareness.

Train Your People to Take Others’ Perspectives

From the Harvard Business News November 2012 Issue

Successful collaboration between stakeholders starts with what social psychologists call perspective taking: the ability to see the world through someone else’s eyes. How can leaders of organizations foster this crucial skill? New social science research, including my work with senior executives at Fortune 500 companies, points to four tactics.

Soften your hard line.

For years Microsoft railed against Chinese authorities for their lax enforcement of intellectual property laws, to no avail. Significant progress came only when executives realized that they had to stop pounding the table and start paying attention to why government officials were turning a blind eye to the problem: because many of their citizens earned their living making knockoffs, and because the prices of legitimate products put them out of most people’s reach. A willingness to understand the Chinese perspective allowed Microsoft to finally make some headway in its antipiracy fight. Now the company is creating more jobs in China and lowering the prices of its products there in return for better enforcement.

Hire from outside.

In the early 2000s the fledgling Google News service was under attack from newspaper executives who were convinced it would cannibalize their business. Google could have simply carried on, but CEO Eric Schmidt wanted partners, not opponents. So he hired senior people from Reuters and the Los Angeles Times and formed a team to explore ways Google could help news organizations. Once the company understood the industry’s anxiety about whether and how to charge for content, it developed tools, such as “editor’s picks” and “first click free,” that allowed publications to distinguish their offerings and boost registrations and subscriptions. Bringing external stakeholders in-house made this solution possible.

Invest in colocation.

When the heads of two divisions of Novartis (a firm I have consulted for) decided to work together to make better animal drugs from compounds developed for people, they sent Juergen Horn, a manager at the Switzerland-based Novartis Animal Health, to work at the Massachusetts-based Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research, where he was given an office on the executive floor. This provided countless opportunities for informal interactions. Horn learned that the NIBR scientists appreciated brief, direct questions about their work and could get excited about the project as long as he kept them involved in the process. They started thinking of him as one of their own and accepted his advice about how to share data and expertise. This level of collaboration couldn’t have happened remotely.

Increase autonomy.

You might think of the U.S. military as extremely hierarchical, but in Afghanistan it gives soldiers significant autonomy in order to encourage perspective taking and improve relations with villagers. Consider Lt. Col. Brian Christmas, the head of a patrol that came upon a group of men at a funeral. They claimed they were burying a child—an obvious lie, given the size of the grave. Christmas suspected they were Taliban fighters burying a fellow militant and could have taken them in for questioning. But because the Marines had trained him to use his judgment rather than follow a playbook, he talked to them instead. Eventually they told him the truth and explained why they supported the Taliban; this gave him an opportunity to persuade them to switch allegiances.

The tactics illustrated by these stories show how leaders can turn perspective taking from an individual skill into an organizational capability. It’s key to more-productive collaboration.

A version of this article appeared in the November 2012 issue of Harvard Business Review.

Pino G. Audia is a professor of management and organizations at Darmouth’s Tuck School of Business.

1. There’s no such thing as valuable feedback from someone you don’t trust

When receiving feedback, employees don’t separate the content of feedback from the person delivering it. In other words, there’s no such thing as valuable feedback from someone that you don’t trust.

Before any feedback will be effective, the recipient must see you as a credible source of development advice. Critically, the person you’re giving feedback to must believe you have their interests at heart. If not, your feedback won’t be effective in driving behavioral change – no matter how well-intentioned.

Read more: American Psychological Association

2. Struggling employees already realise that they have a problem

It’s easy to think that the role of negative feedback is to educate your employees on issues that haven’t come to their attention. But most of the time, that’s just not the case. In a study of nearly 4000 people who had just received constructive feedback, 74% of respondents indicated that they already knew about the problem and were not surprised to get negative feedback.

Most often, it’s not that employees aren’t aware of the issue – it’s that they don’t know how to respond. So just pointing out that they have a problem isn’t enough to be helpful. To improve performance, constructive feedback must go one step further and provide specific feedback around potential causes and solutions.

Read more: Harvard Business Review

3. The more you listen, the better employees think you are at giving feedback

If you want to give great feedback, the most important thing you can do is listen.

This is somewhat counter-intuitive: Many people typically about the feedback conversation as an almost one-way discussion where the manager provides advice and guidance.

But as the data shows (see below), more time spent listening has a strong payoff. The more you listen to employee views before giving feedback, the better the employee experiences and understands the feedback. It’s all about making sure employees understand and agree with the basis of the feedback, and buy into the course of action.

Read more: Harvard Business Review

4. Most employees prefer corrective feedback to praise and recognition

A majority of employees prefer corrective feedback to praise and recognition. In this survey of 900 global employees, 57% of respondents stated that they prefer corrective (negative/constructive) feedback, whilst only 43% stated that they prefer praise or recognition.

Read more: Harvard Business Review

5. The more confident you are, the more likely it is you prefer negative feedback

Interestingly, the more confident you are, the more likely it is that you prefer corrective feedback. As clearly shown in the graphic below, confident individuals are more likely to prefer corrective feedback relative to positive praise or recognition.

Read more: Harvard Business Review

6. Almost everyone loves receiving feedback but hates giving it

It turns out that most people like getting feedback a lot more than they like giving it.

As shown in the visual below, most employees love receiving feedback (especially of the constructive variety). However, the same employees tend to dislike giving feedback (again, more specifically negative feedback).

Read more: Harvard Business Review

7. Older workers want more feedback than younger generations

Older workers have a preference for both more positive and negative feedback than younger generations. As shown below, older generations were also much more likely to give positive feedback.

Whilst this is interesting and provides a strong counterpoint to the millennial feedback myth, it’s worth noting that the research didn’t control for rank or role – so some of this effect is likely to be explained by seniority.

Read more: Harvard Business Review

8. Star performers need extra affirmation after setbacks

Recent research from London Business School shows that star performers need more positive affirmation after setbacks.

Researchers looked at the performance of top talent after they’ve had a major setback that involves loss of status. The findings show that when previously high performers lose status, their performance suffers. And the very best performers suffer the most. The mediocre performers, by contrast, barely suffer at all.

The research also shows that it was possible to mitigate the effects of this performance drop with targeted affirmation. The academics suggest that this reinforces just how important it is to give your star a break after they’ve bungled something or lost face. As a manager, you have a critical role here in helping your star performer regain status by letting them know how you value their work.

Read more: Harvard Business Review

9. Positive feedback should praise effort, not ability

When giving positive feedback, it’s important to praise effort rather than ability.

Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck has shown that focusing individual praise on talent rather than effort leads to poor performance. In a number of studies, Dweck has shown that praising individuals for their natural talent leads to increased risk aversion, and those individuals exhibiting being more disturbed by setbacks.

This contrasts with individuals who are consistently praised for their effort (rather than ability). These individuals are more likely to build determination and resilience, leading to better performance over the long term.

Read more: Harvard Business Review

10. Strong team engagement is built on a culture of honest feedback

This recent study of over twenty thousand leaders showed that strong team engagement is built on honest feedback.

In the study, leaders ranking in the bottom 10% of feedback givers saw team engagement scores that averaged just 25 percent.

In contrast, those leaders in the top 10% for feedback giving saw team engagement scores average 77 percent.

Read more: Forbes

11. Improving performance requires both specific goals and specific feedback

Most of us know from our own work experience that specific feedback is significantly more helpful in improving long-term performance (compared to general platitudes).

But it turns out that specific feedback isn’t helpful unless you have specific goals as a frame of reference (see the visual below for easy explanation).

Read more: Journal of Applied Psychology

12. To improve effort, focus on relative feedback

Fascinatingly, the most motivating kind of feedback is finding out you’re just behind someone else. It’s most motivating knowing that you have the chance to ‘win’ (but aren’t currently doing so).

As the researchers in this study stated: “Managers trying to encourage employees to work harder, for example, might provide feedback about how a person is doing relative to a slightly better performer,’ they said. ‘Strategically scheduling breaks when someone is behind should also help focus people on the deficit and subsequently increase effort. This should lead to stronger performance and ultimately success.’”

Read more: BPS Digest

13. Following-up feedback is critical for improving performance

This research study showed the power of following up feedback in improving long-term performance.

With 252 managers over 5 years, researchers found that: “Managers who met with direct reports to discuss their upward feedback improved more than other managers, and managers improved more in years when they discussed the previous year’s feedback with direct reports than in years when they did not discuss the previous year’s feedback with direct reports. “

Significantly, it seems that the more action you take to follow up and truly understand feedback, the larger the performance improvement.

Read more: Personnel Psychology

14. Withholding negative feedback is really about protecting yourself (not the recipient)

The reason you withhold feedback isn’t to protect the recipient, it’s to protect yourself.

In this research study led by Carla Jeffries, researchers tested how the content of feedback changed based on the medium of delivery (face to face or anonymous) and the self-esteem of the person giving feedback.

As the researchers described: “The findings provided strong evidence that we mostly withhold negative feedback to protect ourselves, not to protect the person we’re judging. If people’s motives were selfless then arguably the feedback provided should have been just as positive regardless of how it was delivered. In fact, students in the face-to-face condition provided the most positive feedback”

Read more: BPS Digest

15. The more you ask for feedback, the more effective you are as a leader

Leaders who ask for feedback are significantly more effective. In this study of leadership effectiveness across 51,896 managers, there was a strong correlation between the tendency to seek feedback and leadership effectiveness.

The survey results showed:

· Leaders in the bottom 10% of asking for feedback were also rated in the lowest 15th percentile in overall leadership effectiveness.

· Leaders in the top 10% in asking for feedback were rated average in the top 14% for leadership effectiveness.