Leading With Your Creativity

Leading With Your Creativity

by | Aug 1, 2017 | Creativity, Leadership

Today’s most famous leaders are innovative, creative, and think outside the box.

We look at someone like Steve Jobs, for example, the most creative leader of all time. Jobs thought of a unique and crazy idea that had never been thought of before, and even though some may have said his idea was absolutely insane, he went ahead with it anyway.  During this day and age, leaders need to be more innovative than ever.

So how do you become a creative leader? How do you know if your crazy idea is more than just a crazy idea?

The answer is… you don’t. Being a great creative leader means following your heart and doing what makes sense to you. If you believe something will be successful, then work at it until it is. The road to success will never be perfect, you will fail and you will succeed, but that’s just a part of life.

Jim Carrey one of the most eccentric actors of all time recently told a story about his father, and this story can teach all of us a very valuable lesson. Carrey talked about his father and how he always wanted to be a comedian but settled for a “safe” job as an accountant. Carrey’s father didn’t love his accounting job, but it was a stable job that put food on the table so he stuck with it. When Carrey was twelve, his father was let go from his “safe” job, and the whole family had to do everything they could to survive. At the end of Carrey’s speech he says, “I learned many great lessons from my father, not the least of which was that you can fail at what you don’t want, so you might as well take a chance on doing what you love.”

In order to be a creative leader, you don’t have to be the best; you just have to be willing to go first. You have to be willing to take a chance on your idea and your vision. Once you believe in your idea and your vision, the next step is to get others to believe in it as well. These people are your followers, and they will do wonders for you. Your followers are the ones that are going to make your crazy idea a reality.

Steve Jobs said, “Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn’t really do it, they just saw something.” In order to be a creative leader, you must see your vision and be passionate about it. Many people will tell you that it won’t work, but all you need is a few people and yourself to believe it will.  

Do you need help in leading with creativity? Book a call with us here; we’d love to listen and provide support in any way we can. 

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Mastering Self-Leadership

Mastering Self-Leadership

by | Jul 15, 2017 | Leadership, Self-awareness

Self-leadership is the ability to use your own personal strengths efficiently and effectively as well as having a proper understanding of your own personal behaviors. It is characterized by the 8 c’s of self-leadership: compassion, clarity, curiosity, calmness, confidence, creativity, courage, and connectedness. It is the ability to use your own personal strengths efficiently and effectively as well as having a proper understanding of your own personal behaviors. The question we should ask ourselves is; how can we lead others when we are not able to lead ourselves? Mastering self-leadership applies not only to your business life but to your personal life also.

SELF-AWARENESS IS THE KEY TO EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP.

One of the most important things you need in order to be a self-leader is self-awareness. In order to be a great self-leader, we must be able to identify our own strengths and weaknesses. What are you good at? What do you need to improve on? Self-reflection is a great way to identify this. Once you are aware of what your personal strengths and weaknesses are, then you take on leadership roles that you will be good at in regards to your strengths, or that will personally challenge you in regards to your weaknesses.

Being a great self-leader also means being able to seek and be okay with feedback from others. When looking at our own strengths and weaknesses we can sometimes be biased. Seeking feedback from others allows you to get a different opinion, which may reveal something about yourself that you never thought of before. Although you may not always agree with someone else’s feedback, it is still extremely helpful to look at it from a different perspective. Sometimes we see ourselves differently than how others see us, and this is not always a good thing.

As a self-leader, you must always empower yourself as opposed to discouraging yourself.

Israelmore Ayivor stated, “those who mistrust their own abilities are being too wicked to themselves, discouraging themselves from doing what they should have been excelling in. If you are good at discouraging yourself, you can’t be a good leader because leadership is built on inspiring others to face challenges.”

In order to master self-leadership, you must truly know who you are, the good and the bad. You must be able to overcome challenges and take full responsibility for all your actions. You must be honest and truthful with yourself and others. Being a great self-leader means being the best you and embracing all your strengths and weaknesses. If you love, embrace, and are proud of who you are, others will shortly follow.

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Communication in Groups & Teams

Communication in Groups & Teams

by | Jul 1, 2017 | Communication, Teamwork

There is no doubt the importance of teams. As our jobs and skills become even more specialized, it often becomes necessary for people from different disciplines to work together. Companies are commonly doing multiple projects, and people can be a part of multiple teams. This focus on group work and social learning has even been on the rise in the education system, beginning in elementary school, continuing to post-secondary and beyond.

It seems the way the trends are going that the future of business is going to involve more teams and more projects. Sometimes when looking at the makeup of the group or team you’re on, you may find yourself wondering “How can such a disparate mix of people work together?”, but you may be surprised. The goal of effective workplace communication is to bridge the gap between a diverse range of workers. As long as everyone remains open-minded and focuses on the overarching vision while balancing the group dynamics, there is no telling where the group can go.

Groups vs Teams

The words “group” and “team” are often used interchangeably, but I think there is an important semantic difference that makes them distinct from each other. A group can consist of any number of people doing any number of things. Groups are considered teams only when a group of people is working towards a common goal or cause. There’s a reason why they are called sports teams and not sports groups. Although a team is also a group of people, a group of people isn’t necessarily a team.

What is at the core of effective communication and positive group dynamics? The answer: Face-to-face interaction. Miscommunication is a very real threat to your group, and personal interaction with all the group members present is key to avoiding this. Just think about how easily a message can change and distort depending on how many people it is passed on through to the target receiver. Or how easily text messages or emails can be misconstrued. Things that are readily apparent when talking to someone, such as humour or sarcasm, can turn into potential landmines when written.

Personal interaction is imperative to a successful team. Groups by nature are social, so it makes sense that if you take away that element, you are risking the social bonds of your group, which often manifest as misunderstandings that lead to countless hours of frustration. Remember how they say that human communication consists of 93% body language and other nonverbal cues?

There is also the issue of response time, as some people can take forever to respond to an email or text. With face-to-face meetings, this isn’t an issue as you can talk to people directly.

Introverts and Extroverts

Personality is another issue that comes into play during group work. Some people are just naturally outspoken, while some prefer to listen quietly. To best use the skills of all your people, you need to make sure that everyone has a chance to talk, and everyone has a chance to listen. But you also need to be aware of and respect personal comfort levels as well.

Doing a quick self-evaluation can also reap many benefits. It is important to know yourself, your strengths, weaknesses, and values. Ask yourself questions such as:

“What kind of personality do I have?”

“What are my values?”

“How do I react to situations of stress or strong emotions?”

These will help give you a better idea of what kind of communicator you are, and your likely, or preferred, role in the group.

Working in a team can be exhausting, but with the power of communication in business, it can be extremely rewarding as well. There are things that we can accomplish when we work together that we’d never have been able to do individually. That’s why we work together. No matter who’s on your team, or what you’re working on, you should look at your group members and their individual personalities and skills, and strive to cooperate with each other to maximize what each and every one of you bring to the table.

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Becoming a Transformational Leader

Becoming a Transformational Leader

by | Jun 15, 2017 | Leadership, Transformational Leadership

The concept of transformational leadership has been a growing trend in business ever since it was first proposed by leadership expert and Pulitzer Prize-winning author James MacGregor Burns in 1978. He said that transformational leadership occurs when leaders and followers help each other reach higher levels of morality and motivation. Over the years, this model has been expanded and adapted, to the point where it is one of the most well known and popular theories in the field of leadership. As the name implies, this model has the potential to not only fundamentally change organizations, but change the lives of the people within them.

 

What is transformational leadership?

Transformational leadership consists of 4 main components:

1. Idealized Influence

The leader is a charismatic role model that followers look up to and admire because they practice what they preach.

2. Inspirational Motivation

The leader has a clear vision and effectively communicates it to inspire and motivate their followers.

3. Individualized Consideration

The leader has a personalized approach, taking the time to listen to each and every member of the team, and genuinely cares about their well-being.

4. Intellectual Stimulation

The leader challenges the status quo and encourages creativity and innovation, giving team members space and freedom to do what they do best.

With regards to components 1 and 2, the leader’s charisma and personality are critical elements that affect a person’s willingness to follow, and while some leaders seem to be blessed with a natural charisma that makes them almost instantly likeable, don’t lose hope if it doesn’t come as easy for you. Just remember that how you interact and relate to people are skills, and like any skill, it too can be learned and improved.

 

Learning Leadership

A clear vision is a must, and as a leader, you need to be able to recognize when change is needed and be willing to lead it… while at the same time being open to ideas. Transformational leaders are often more egalitarian, and make themselves available for followers to come directly to them with their thoughts and ideas, skipping the hierarchical chain of command that can needlessly slow down the process. This also helps to build a sense of trust and belonging to the leader and team are both working towards a cause, a clear vision, in a cooperative effort.

The role of transformational leadership is to help gain autonomy and freedom to fully explore ideas. Therefore, transformational leaders believe in the power of the people, and make their people’s success the team’s success, and vice versa, to inspire and motivate them to reach their full potential. A major factor in the success of this leadership style is it believes that given the autonomy and freedom to fully explore their ideas, people can often thrive. Sometimes rules and step-by-step processes, although beneficial in the sense that they provide a framework, can be the anathema of creativity and innovation because of their limiting nature.

Now, you may be asking yourself if you are a transformational leader. Here is a quick test developed by Ronald E. Riggio, Ph.D (2009) that you can use to assess your transformational leadership traits:

  1. I would never require a follower to do something that I wouldn’t do myself.
  2. I have clear goals for my team.
  3. I find it comes naturally to inspire others.
  4. I celebrate the talents and successes of my followers.
  5. I am attentive when it comes to the personal needs of my followers.
  6. I challenge my followers to get out of their comfort zones.
  7. I believe that teamwork is the way to success.
  8. I encourage my followers to question their most basic way of thinking.
  9. Followers have told me that my enthusiasm and positive energy are infectious.

Strong transformational leaders would agree with all of these statements, but even if you don’t, do not worry. Instead, use this test as a way to get inside the perspective of a transformational leader, to see how they think, and before you know it, you’ll soon be walking in those shoes.

Interested in learning more about transformational leadership? Carolyn Stern and the EI Experience team invite you to transform on one of their training courses.

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How to be Conscious of Consensus

How to be Conscious of Consensus

by | Jun 1, 2017 | Consensus, Decision Making

The internet has revolutionized how we connect with each other. Today, we are no longer limited by borders, geography, or proximity. In the business world, it has democratized how customers interact with organizations. Just think about how quickly some companies will respond to a negative tweet. But if the internet has now given everybody a voice, what do you think that says about the power and potential of consensus at work when it comes to your business?

Crowdfunding websites such as Kickstarter or Indiegogo show the remarkable results that can be achieved from crowdsourcing, which can be seen as a form of consensus, in the fact that whether a product or idea gets enough funding depends on how many people are willing to back it. The project’s very survival depends on whether it can build enough consensus.

Consensus Decision Making

A consensus is about the majority. So that means there can and often will be a minority, however small, that may not agree fully.  But these people are not your enemies. Keep in mind that consensus decision making can also involve compromise, and this is where the difference between agreement and consent becomes important. Someone can give full consent to a decision without having full agreement. Just think how sometimes you may go along with a decision (full consent), even if it’s not your first choice (full agreement).

A core concept of consensus decision making is that, as a team, you can come up with more ideas and perspectives than you would on your own. 2 heads are better than 1, and that is especially true when it comes to brainstorming sessions, which are integral to consensus decision making. With that in mind, full participation is necessary in order to have the most effective team.

When using consensus decision making, the first step is to set the decision rule. So basically,  the level of consensus needed to go through with a decision. Will it be a unanimous agreement? Simple majority? A supermajority threshold (for example, >70%)? There are many options, so it is important to choose the most relevant one for your team.

Once the decision rule is set, it becomes all about the ideas. Of the many consensus decision-making processes, the Nominal Group Technique is one of the most widely used and straightforward.

It follows four steps:

1. Generating Ideas

2. Recording Ideas

3. Discussing Ideas

4. Voting on Ideas

After the opening statement, which introduces the topic and objectives, comes the Generating Ideas step, which is done silently as each group member comes up with their own ideas independently and writes them down. This is done to ensure every idea gets equal consideration, regardless of whose it is. The second step, Recording Ideas, is done by the moderator in a round-robin feedback session. The moderator goes member by member, writing each idea down, repeating the process until all ideas are written down. The third step, Discussing Ideas, is intended to provide clarity to the idea so that everyone can see the logic behind it. The fourth step, Voting on Ideas, is done privately, where each group member ranks the ideas based on their preference. The moderator will then tally up the results to find which ideas are the most popular amongst the group.

The consensus building process steps aim to be cooperative and collaborative and is the most effective when everybody participates and has their say. The greater the breadth of ideas, the better it works. Consensus decision-making methods will give you a more well-rounded perspective of the situation, with the hopes of making your decisions more strategic and successful.

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