The hardworking leader is often portrayed as a sleep-deprived, stubborn, borderline manic individual obsessed with the bottom line and neglectful of their own self-care. While some people might fit this category, most do not.
This stereotype can be harmful when it’s meant to lampoon leaders and mock anyone who struggles to achieve a healthy personal and professional lifestyle. Being a healthy high achiever doesn’t come naturally to everyone, and that’s okay.
In reality, the best leaders make time to take care of themselves physically, mentally, emotionally, and socially. Being able to balance the challenges of work with the importance of self-care is one of the most important leadership qualities. Failing to achieve this balance is a strategic leadership error that can bleed out into the rest of the business.
Ignoring the needs of one’s mind and body hurts one’s ability to think, focus, and help others in need. Conversely, engaging in self-care boosts the mind, body, and spirit, which also gives a boost to the others around you.
How strong is your self-care routine? Do you find yourself struggling to maintain a work-life balance? How are your coworkers and employees faring on this front? Here’s a deeper dive into how self-care can improve your performance as a leader and support a habit of good personal and professional health.
Proper Sleep: Alertness and Ability to React
Sleep science has come a long way in the past few decades and researchers have found a critical link between good sleep and improved work performance. The National Sleep Foundation reports that 29% of workers regularly feel sleepy while at work, which impacts their ability to function optimally.
Missing out on a good night’s sleep can lead to a loss of focus and increased irritability. A Harvard study found that a consistent lack of sleep was associated with lower work productivity, poorer job performance, slower career progression, and a lower level of overall job and career satisfaction.
When work piles up and deadlines loom, people often put sleep on the back burner. This is a big mistake. The importance of proper sleep can’t be overstated, especially for leaders.
Effective leadership depends on maximum alertness. By sacrificing precious hours of slumber, leaders are less equipped to react to challenges, prioritize tasks, and help other employees deal with their levels of stress. Conversely, getting proper sleep allows one’s mind to refresh, retain important information, and handle new problems as they arise.
The Healthy Body, Healthy Mind Connection
While improper sleep plagues a large chunk of the population, so does poor nutrition and exercise. As people rush from one place or task to the next, they forget to take time to nourish themselves with proper food, water, stretching, and other basic body needs.
To keep things moving in their busy professional lives, people may skip meals or grab the nearest, fastest option from the vending machine. The fast-food drive-through or microwave might become a substitute for fresh, nutrient-packed meals. While these choices may be convenient, they can do serious harm to one’s work performance and overall health.
Foods low in nutritional value don’t provide the vitamins and nutrients the brain and body need to thrive. Over time, poor choices negatively impact brain function and the results become obvious at work and in your interpersonal relationships. The National Institutes of Health call this the “food and mood” connection, which has long-term impacts for your physical and mental health.
While nutritional science is always evolving, most studies have shown that a diet of whole grains, fruits, vegetables, lean meat and fish, and minimal sugar is the most healthful approach. Drinking water is especially important, as is avoiding large amounts of alcohol.
Additionally, regular exercise has an array of positive effects. It improves metabolic function, burns calories, and also produces endorphins to increase alertness, reduce tension, and improve your mood. In this way, eating well and exercising are two of the best ways of managing leadership stress.
Setting an Example: Helping Others Find Self Care
Self-care does not equate to selfishness. Quite the opposite. By practicing self-care, leaders can do more for their employees because they do what it takes to maintain the personal capacity to nourish others.
As a leader, you might wonder how you can support your team members in their journeys of self-care and personal productivity. At the most basic level, how can managers help their employees deal with stress?
First, they can share their own experiences of dealing with stress with employees. People appreciate having a caring boss who takes time to listen to their challenges. By advising on beneficial sleep patterns, diet, exercise, and other methods of stress reduction, leaders can set a great example in the workplace and create a culture of healthy performance.
Additionally, leaders who practice self-care regularly will have more energy to help their employees. With enough rest and restoration, leaders can prioritize their workload to set aside time for helping others, honing these crucial leadership skills.
Leaders can also share resources that encourage positive routines, habits, thoughts, and behaviors. When they come across a book or program that helps them operate at peak performance, they can offer to connect a struggling employee or coworker to this same helpful resource.
Self-Care With the Accelerate Leadership Program
Do you need to update your professional self-care routine? Here’s a reliable resource with proven benefits for professionals and organizations.
The Accelerate Leadership Program (ALP) encourages positive self-care as a person builds their leadership talent, confidence, and knowledge. This is a health-positive method of learning leadership habits because ALP allows each participant to hone their leadership style in a personalized and individualized program.
ALP is different from many other types of leadership programs because it involves interpersonal coaching, not just training. Strategic leadership coaching programs go far beyond basic leadership training programs with a more caring and robust approach that incorporates leadership coaches, customized coursework, peer connections, and a highly interactive environment.
At Leadership Resources, our goal is to help people thrive and keep their personal and professional self-care at the heart of the learning process. We’re here to provide guidance and support that allows people to flourish in the workplace.
Leadership in times of growth, stress, and change truly tests one’s abilities. Self-care should remain at the forefront during these times, for the sake of the business, its leaders, its clients, and its employees who deserve the very best health and well-being.
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Do you have business consulting sessions coming up? Congratulations! You’re on the way to honing your company’s strategy and pursuing maximum success.
This is the perfect chance to leverage the experience of your leadership coach and squeeze every bit of benefit from your newfound leadership development experience. Read on to learn how to get the most out of your relationship with a business strategy consultant.
Why Leadership Development Consulting Is Important
Independent research from a wide variety of expert organizations regularly reveals a consistent conclusion: leadership development is one of the biggest issues facing organizations today. Via a survey from Deloitte, 80% of organizations say leadership is a top priority, but just half say their leaders are actually meeting expectations. For organizations, investing in leadership development helps boost the bottom line and attract good people. The right training can achieve the following:
- Help a leader strategize effectively and manage change.
- Attract and retain top talent
- Improve overall financial performance
- Ensure organizational consistency with succession planning
- Increase probability of strategy execution
Conversely, ineffective leadership is the wrecking ball that a business can encounter. Not only does it result in disengagement, but it also leads to the loss of top talent. Not only that, but bad leadership can also hurt a company’s revenue. For these reasons, leadership development is one of the most important investments for an organization.
Create a Short-Term and Long-Term Plan
When it comes to building a business strategy, the best results arise from careful planning. Look at the next 3 to 12 months, then look even further into the next 1 to 5 years. What are your biggest goals? Your biggest challenges?
Talk to your leadership coach to discuss how your business will adapt to a changing marketplace. Create a plan for dealing with things like an unexpected competitor that enters your area or a sudden loss of a key leader in the company.
Be Clear and Specific About Your Goals
Clarity counts when it comes to working with a business consultant. There’s very little benefit to receiving general advice or being vague about what you want to accomplish in your sessions.
Many business consultants provide wide-ranging, generalized advice that could apply to any business. When it’s time for your coaching sessions, it’s perfectly acceptable to press your coach for more specific insights that will help your particular company.
Stay open-minded and be willing to put work into the process. Be prepared to ask questions, but also be ready to receive questions in return from your leadership development consultant to look deeper into your policies and processes. This should be a give-and-take in the name of achieving greater success.
Examine and Revise Existing Business Strategies
Work with your leadership coach to take a look at your company’s existing business plan, and give extra attention to gaps in the plan where your goals aren’t being met. What could you be doing differently to make more progress?
Sometimes, it’s necessary to scrap the existing plan and develop a new plan from the ground up. This is particularly true in businesses with dangerously unhealthy cultures or those that are experiencing massive shifts in ownership, focus, or target market.
Explore New Ways to Support Your Emerging Leaders
How well does your company identify and nourish its developing leaders? Now is the ideal time to get better at supporting positive leadership behaviors with the help of your business coach.
Full leadership support goes far beyond sending an employee to a training program. It involves providing leadership development opportunities, connecting them with their peers, nourishing their spirit, and cheering them on as they make progress.
It’s also important to help your newest leaders see a clear picture of the future where they play a vital role in your organization. Create a succession plan that includes leaders at various levels and map out a more profitable and productive future for your company.
Finding the Right Leadership Development Program
To get the most out of every business strategy consultant relationship, provide your emerging leaders with the leadership skills and resources they need to grow. Your company needs a leadership coach with the experience and expertise to provide robust guidance and support.
For meaningful, lasting change, experts recommend leadership development programs as opposed to simple training programs. At Leadership Resources, we help companies turn promising achievers into high-performing leaders with effective leadership development plans. Whenever you need us, we’re here to help you succeed.
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A successful organization constantly rides the line between change and stasis. Growth cannot occur without new ideas, but radical shifts also threaten to collapse the entire structure, especially when there’s tension among team members.
Change brings new interpersonal and leadership challenges. When a new policy is proposed or restructuring is in order, it’s imperative that leaders and staff members come to a sincere agreement and work together to enact such a change.
This voluntary collaboration is known as “buy-in” because individuals must truly buy into and support an idea to help bring it to fruition. Simply put, more buy-in leads to more success.
How does one create buy-in?
In a perfect world, every member of an organization would agree on what’s best. This would eliminate the need to create buy-in because everyone would already be a willing proponent for change in their growing company.
However, the real world relies on proper team management and strategic leadership, which involves taking several different perspectives into account and synthesizing them into an optimal solution. To create buy-in, then, leaders must effectively communicate with each individual team member.
What does this communication entail? First, it involves honesty and openness. Leaders must make it clear why they support change, based on the organization’s culture and values. Team members shouldn’t feel afraid to try new things and suggest changes because it feels that everyone is working together toward a shared goal.
By framing it this way, more skeptical team members can better see how this potential shift can benefit the company’s overall vision or mission. Leaders must stay open to feedback about the process, welcoming concerns and answering questions along the way. Any idea worth buying into should be easily defended against such criticism.
This communication might also require some give and take. You can’t expect every idea to strike the hearts and minds of everyone. There may be a period of negotiation that includes active listening, brainstorming, strategic thinking, and compromise. As long as this flow of communication is positive and fits within the company culture, these negotiations can result in the best possible outcome for everyone.
creating buy-in at every level
The term “buy-in” often turns our minds to investments. In the stock market, buying in early will yield the highest profits, as long as the stock becomes more valuable over time. This principle also applies to buying into ideas in an organization.
As a team manager, you want your team to buy into potential changes at every level. If the idea is valuable, this will benefit everyone. As a team participant, you also want others to have buy-in because it helps teamwork flow more smoothly as you move toward accomplishing the group’s and company’s goals.
The key here, of course, is to enhance the value of this change over time. This happens in a couple of ways. First, decisions made by a team tend to hold more value than decisions made by a single person. Consider the three types of decision-making: Command, consult, and consensus.
There is a time and place for each of them, based on the decision that needs to be made and the amount of time you have to make the decision. Knowing which applies to each situation that arises is a skill of strategic leadership. Below, we’ll discuss each type of decision-making in more detail.
Command, Consult, and Consensus Decisions
A command decision is made solely by the decision-maker without input from the team. It A consult decision is made by the decision-maker but includes input from others. This takes a moderate amount of time within which there is some level of give-and-take, and this approach ultimately results in a moderate level of buy-in.
A consensus decision is made entirely by the group. It has the highest level of buy-in, but it also takes the most time as the group pursues the full extent of the concept that “two heads are better than one.” Consensus decisions sometimes require a laborious process of building buy-in and working together as a team.
Among these three types of decision-making, consensus decisions hold the most value because they affect everyone involved. Each team member feels personally invested and has a stake in the success or failure of the idea.
Remember, while the real dollars-and-cents value of a decision matters, so does perceived value. When staff members buy into a change at every level, the perceived value of said change increases. Of course, an organization must be careful to not allow this perceived value to run away from the real value of an idea, as this can lead to disaster.
Company Structural Considerations for Building Buy-in
Buy-in isn’t something that happens magically. It takes a commitment to work together cohesively and allot the resources required to thoughtfully share feedback and develop action plans.
During any type of decision-making process, it’s vital to have a strong operating system in place to provide structure and direction for the plan to come together. This involves utilizing processes like strategic planning, succession planning, and retaining the top talent it takes to maintain consistency in leadership over the long term.
In general, the sooner team leaders can build buy-in for a particular change, the better. But first, leaders must approach their team with honesty, focus, a solid argument, and a willingness to listen. If they do this, they’ll more easily create buy-in at every level of the process.
The Accelerate Leadership Program
As you can see, buy-in is an essential part of running a successful company. Leadership Resources aims to enhance the leadership qualities of communication and teamwork in order to create more buy-in for your organization and set the stage for success.
Any company looking to boost buy-in among its employees and leaders can do it through leadership development coaching. Companies looking to have meaningful, lasting guidance in support of developing leaders should invest in coaching and development programs as opposed to training programs.
Consider the Accelerate Leadership Program (ALP), which helps participants expand their leadership confidence and develop a talent for building buy-in. ALP uses a proven process that involves leadership coaching, peer interactions, educational software, and skill-building on topics like emotional intelligence, interpersonal interactions, and honing one’s personal leadership style.
At Leadership Resources, we help companies identify emerging leaders and nurture emotionally intelligent leadership that builds buy-in. When your company needs to implement an effective leadership development plan, we’re here to provide expert guidance and support.
When you think about the future leaders of your company, which names come to mind? Who are your company’s next-generation leaders?
The truth is, many organizations struggle to determine who their future C-suite executives, board members, directors, and managers will be. It’s not that these organizations don’t have plenty of potential candidates. It’s that they don’t know who will rise to the top.
However, leadership doesn’t happen automatically. Developing leaders shouldn’t be a “wait and see” activity at your company. It takes proactive planning to develop leaders and help them achieve their full potential.
If you’re wondering how to develop leaders in your organization who can find success for decades to come, read on. Below are six effective ways of developing emerging leaders and helping them flourish.
1. build their emotional intelligence
High emotional intelligence (EQ) is a hallmark of great leaders. Contrary to popular belief, EQ isn’t an inborn trait but an acquired skill that can be built through leadership development education and ongoing practice.
Leaders with high EQ are good at adapting to change, resolving conflicts, and using feedback to find creative ways to succeed. These are all excellent qualities to have in a leader at your company, especially if you’re hoping to grow and expand the business.
2. Help Them Develop Interpersonal Skills
Another powerful way to develop leaders is to help them hone the valuable interpersonal skills it takes to effectively manage teams of people. Some of the most important interpersonal skills for team-building include:
- Active listening
- Patience
- Flexibility
- Empathy
- Problem-solving
- Conflict resolution
When someone is skilled at managing interpersonal interactions, it’s much easier for them to build team rapport and camaraderie. Even when major challenges arise, they can use their interpersonal skills to handle things thoughtfully and continue supporting their teams along the path to success.
3. Support Positive Communication
While communication is critical in the workplace, not all communication is positive. It’s essential to root out negative messages to keep communication flowing productively in a way that encourages and motivates people.
Leaders are responsible for creating a culture of positive or negative communication. By developing leaders’ communications skills and helping them practice handling difficult situations, a company sets a standard of positive communication.
4. Create Respect and Authority
Terms like “respect” and “authority” carry both negative and positive connotations. While both of them are crucial for organizational success, the business shouldn’t be a dictatorship.
How do you build leaders who garner respect and authority? Teach them how to balance a need for authoritative leadership with soft skills like showing emotional vulnerability, caring, and using words of appreciation with their employees.
Encourage one-on-one discussions between employees and managers beyond the annual review process. Give them time and space to build personal connections that lead to deep feelings of respect and admiration.
5. Hold Them Accountable
The world’s most successful companies have a high level of personal accountability where each employee takes responsibility for successes and failures. Accountability involves staying open to feedback and using it constructively to move toward achieving personal and professional goals.
Accountability is not an excuse to criticize people; it’s about holding employees accountable positively and productively, which takes education and practice on the part of leaders. When everyone is in the habit of staying accountable, it brings them together in the spirit of achievement.
6. Use Coaching and Development, Not Just Training
Finally, one of the most powerful ways to develop leaders is to provide them with the resources to grow and expand their skills. Too often, only lip service is paid to leadership development; no action is actually taken to develop emerging leaders.
For meaningful, lasting change, experts recommend robust coaching and development programs as opposed to simple training programs. This is the best way to develop a new generation of leaders.
How to Develop Leaders in Your Organization
At Leadership Resources, we help companies develop their most promising achievers into high-performing leaders. When your company needs to implement an effective leadership development plan, we’re here to provide expert guidance and support.
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Quality of leadership largely determines whether an organization rises, falls, or remains stagnant. But leaders do not magically descend from some higher realm. They are cultivated over time through experience, education, and perseverance.
Nearly every company contains its share of potential leaders, and it is the responsibility of current leaders to identify and foster future leadership roles or else risk leaving a major hole in the organization. Failing to spot a future leader puts the company at risk of losing them forever.
Of course, not every worker is destined to be – or interested in being – a leader. Investing in these individuals is not a waste of time, but the lion’s share of leadership development resources are better spent on those who display the potential to hold a leadership role.
With that in mind, let’s go over how to identify future leaders at your organization.
Who Goes the Extra Mile in Your Company?
Past behavior is a good indicator of future behavior, especially when it comes to self-motivation and a willingness to learn. When seeking the future leaders of your company, a good place to start is by looking at previous results.
Consider who in your organization consistently goes above and beyond expectations. Look for people who think beyond the basics and seize opportunities to try new things and assist others.
- Who seems to have a burning desire to do more, learn more, and connect more?
- Which salesperson might not have the best sales numbers yet, but seems genuinely interested in being the top seller?
- Which customer service rep always leaves customers chuckling and smiling?
- Who’s always talking about wanting the company to grow?
- Who’s bursting with creative ideas?
In addition to work-related tasks, give a closer look to the employees who seem personally dedicated to outside causes and personal hobbies that show dedication. On an even more basic level, keep an eye on who helps out around the office simply because they care. They may have hidden leadership potential.
- Who stays behind to help clean up after an employee lunch?
- Who seems to remember everyone’s birthday and helps them feel special?
- Who has ideas for company celebrations and outings?
Employees who are highly motivated, results-driven, and interpersonally connected tend to show their enthusiasm without specifically being asked to do so. These are highly valuable employees and team members who come up with new, innovative ideas that drive the company’s efforts into new territories.
Pay close attention to the people in your company who keep the enterprise moving forward with passion, as they already exhibit strong leadership qualities. With extra support and encouragement, they could become your company’s future superstar managers and executives.
Weigh Both Potential and Performance
Also, look beyond your sales and customer service staff. Even if they’re not your top performers in terms of your bottom line, they might be perfect fits for various leadership roles in the future. Provide leadership training now, and your company could help all kinds of people become top performers who reach new heights. Performance is undoubtedly a key indicator when spotting future leaders, but it’s not the only indicator. You may have employees who hold high potential but who are currently diamonds in the rough. They may work extremely hard but don’t seem to exude much leadership role potential quite yet.
“Leadership potential” is a somewhat ambiguous metric, of course, and therefore more difficult to pick apart than hard data. Still, pay attention to potential leadership skills, such as:
- Strong communication
- Organizational skills
- Team-building aptitude
- A desire to grow and learn
- Flexibility and adaptability
- Strategic thinking
- Humor and creativity
- Openness to feedback
- Willingness to be held accountable
Don’t make the mistake of thinking that a quiet or reserved person is incapable of being a leader. Not every leader is a bold, take-charge type. Some leadership roles call for more measured forms of leadership that are a great match for more reserved people.
Shake Up the Structure
Another helpful way to identify future leaders is by stirring the pot a bit. Start rotating job duties or assigning new roles to people every now and again. In doing so, some individuals will take full advantage of the opportunity, learning new skills and pushing themselves beyond their perceived limits.
Others may wish to stay in their comfort zones or might buckle under the pressure. You’ll be able to see who thrives when given more responsibility and who shies away from it or outright rejects it. This technique is known as job rotation, and it’s common in certain industries. Companies use it to see who can handle leadership, to prepare for audits or prevent fraud, and to keep employees engaged so they don’t burn out.
Job rotation is a powerful exercise for succession planning, as it can help you determine which candidates can adapt quickly and take on new roles when necessary. Not everyone is the right fit for leadership, and that’s okay. The goal is to find the right candidates for immediate additional leadership development.
Ask Yourself: Who Is Asking Questions?
While not everyone who asks questions is bound to be a leader, all future leaders ask questions. Leaders are curious, peppering people with questions about pivotal issues that impact the company, their teams, and their personal futures.
This spirit of inquiry is directly related to strong communication and therefore strong leadership. Questions are a huge part of tackling thorny issues and finding workable solutions. People with leadership potential also have the bravery and boldness to be inquisitive.
So keep an eye on those who take the time to clarify concepts, inquire about plan specifics, seek solutions to ongoing problems, and ask seemingly simple questions that others might be too timid to ask. These are the hallmarks of a potential leader and someone who inspires others to achieve great things.
Train Your Eye for Emotional Intelligence
Emotional intelligence, or EQ, is one of the most important qualities of a good leader. Those who can listen to the concerns and suggestions of others and act accordingly strengthen the company’s culture, encourage employee buy-in, promote teamwork, and improve the organization’s reputation and operations as a whole.
EQ is about understanding what people mean, even when it’s not what they say. This is a challenging concept for many people who aren’t naturally intuitive. In a professional setting, EQ is about being willing to have complex interpersonal interactions that reveal deeper truths and help move issues forward.
Contrary to popular myth, emotional intelligence is learned and not inborn. It’s a skill that can be developed through education, coaching, practice, and determination. Emotionally-intelligent company cultures tend to be more successful because they can nimbly seize opportunities that arise day after day.
When looking for EQ in future leaders, look for individuals who display empathy, self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, and strong social skills. These individuals are often poised for leadership positions, with some additional guidance and support.
Who’s Personally Invested in the Organization?
Even if you’ve found a handful of candidates who meet the above criteria, you have to consider whether or not they’re in it for the long haul. Are they invested in your company? This isn’t a strictly financial question. It’s about an emotional and psychological investment that goes beyond the paycheck.
Those who show strong future leadership role potential are in high demand, after all, and many businesses spend significant resources training future managers only to have them exit the organization shortly after. This is a cycle of employee loss that’s much easier to prevent when you identify future leaders and nourish them to their full potential.
Developing future leaders in your company starts with identifying the best candidates and continues with retaining them. You may be pleasantly surprised at how many people in your organization want to move up in the company and remain working there if you give them the right motivation to do so through leadership development.
While you can’t force any of your leaders to stay at the company, investing in their growth is a crucial way to retain your top talent. And those who routinely express their interest in the company’s future and their role in it are top contenders for future leaders. In short, if a potential leader is invested in your organization, you must invest in their development.
The Accelerate Leadership Program
Does your company need additional assistance with how to identify future leaders and give them the support they need to flourish? At Leadership Resources, our goal is to help companies thrive through deploying effective leadership techniques, especially when it comes to nourishing emerging leaders.
Any company hoping to spot future leaders among its employees would benefit from leadership development coaching and education. Leadership coaching and development programs go far beyond basic leadership training programs because they use a holistic approach that incorporates a proven process, customized coursework, peer interactions, leadership coaches, software, and an archive of helpful resources to help them stay engaged.
Consider the Accelerate Leadership Program (ALP), which helps participants expand their leadership confidence and knowledge. ALP allows each participant to hone their leadership style while learning the essential skills it takes to connect with people and lead teams to success.
At Leadership Resources, we help companies identify emerging leaders and encourage them to reach their full potential. When your company needs to implement an effective future leadership strategy, we’re here to provide expert guidance and support.
Read MoreHow is your organization ensuring its future success? The choices a company makes now in developing leaders will impact its achievements and growth for decades to come.
Continuous development of high-potential employees should be a top priority. Invest in your people now, and you’ll see the long-term dividends in your organization’s ongoing prosperity.
Below are some of the most important steps a company can take to create a strong group of effective leaders. Build these goals into your strategic plan now to ensure leadership development remains a key factor in your company’s future.
Developing Leaders Starts with Strong Employee Engagement
As companies adjust to incorporate hybrid and remote teams, employee engagement is more important now than ever before. A sharp rise in remote working has put everyone at risk of feeling less connected to their employers.
What is your company doing to continually engage with its employees? How are you ensuring your emerging leaders feel personally connected to your organization?
Developing company leaders goes hand-in-hand with maintaining positive connections with employees regardless of distance. Now’s the right time to reevaluate your company’s performance management and employee development program to ensure employee engagement is a top priority.
How to Develop Leaders Who Think Like Innovators
Evaluate how your organization is working to build effective leaders who stay at the cutting edge of innovation in your industry. Forward-thinking companies are good at welcoming diversity and constantly seeking out fresh points of view.
Leadership development programs encourage people to forge new interpersonal connections and expand their understanding of your company, the industry, your client base, and the world. When your emerging leaders know more about what’s possible, they can build a mental picture of what it’s like to lead a team toward future success.
Encourage your potential leaders to feel confident suggesting new ideas and trying new things. Get the most out of your employees by fostering a culture where innovation and even failure aren’t such scary prospects.
Retaining Your Top Talent Over the Long Term
Retaining talented employees has become extremely difficult, especially in highly-competitive fields like sales, information technology, finance, and healthcare. Hiring managers are seeing challenging behaviors like employees quitting after just a few days of accepting jobs, then using multiple outside offers to demand huge raises.
Blunt the impact of these trends by developing a long-term employee retention plan. Show your employees why it’s worth their time to stay at your company and celebrate their achievements. Make sure they know they matter to you.
A strong succession planning strategy is a critical component of employee retention. Even as your organization constantly cultivates fresh talent, it should be mapping pathways for current employees to become future leaders. A solid succession plan secures your company’s long-term legacy while making each person feel individually valued as an important part of the plan.
Building Leaders from Within
The Accelerate Leadership Program (ALP) supports growing companies by developing emerging leaders in the organization and getting the most out of leaders at all levels. Each participant in the program encounters a leadership program that feels personalized and individualized as they build their knowledge and confidence.
In ALP, each person experiences a proven leadership curriculum that involves building interpersonal skills, gaining an education on emotional intelligence, benefiting from leadership coaching, and using Accelerate software to pursue leadership success. This is the secret to developing leaders in your company and helping them flourish.
Ready to see how much success your organization will achieve by developing future and existing leaders? Contact us for more information.
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Did you know having a low EQ could hurt your career? People with low emotional intelligence, which is commonly abbreviated as EQ or EI, often find themselves struggling to thrive in leadership roles.
Consider these facts from studies on emotional intelligence in the workplace:
- 85% of financial success arises from emotional and personality-related factors.
- 71% of hiring managers prefer candidates with high EQ to high IQ.
- 59% of employers wouldn’t hire someone with a low EQ, even if they had a high IQ.
In fact, one study found that throughout your career, having a higher EQ correlates to $29,000 more per year in income. People who are more emotionally intelligent tend to be hired into higher-paying jobs and make more productive choices to benefit their employers.
Here’s the best news of all: EQ is something you can control. Almost anyone can improve their level of emotional intelligence and any company can set the stage for emotionally intelligent leadership.
Why Is Emotional Intelligence Important in Leadership?
People who have high emotional intelligence tend to be good at navigating interpersonal relationships and resolving conflicts. They may or may not have formal leadership roles at work, but they often serve as de facto group leaders. Everyone feels magnetically drawn to them.
In everyday work settings, others look to high-EQ people for their opinions, advice, and feedback about how things are going at the company. These high-EQ leaders always seem to say and do the right things that help people feel motivated to work in cohesive units.
By contrast, when someone’s EQ is low, they’ll likely struggle to feel connected to their coworkers and lack the right ingredients for long-term career success. A study by The Center for Creative Leadership looked at “career derailments,” where people had tried and failed to make headway in acquiring leadership positions within their careers.
The study found that 75% of careers derail due to EQ-related factors. Low-EQ individuals displayed behavior like failing to manage interpersonal conflicts, providing poor leadership in crucial moments of difficulty, not adapting to change, and lacking the ability to foster interpersonal trust with coworkers.
Today’s companies place a priority on emotionally intelligent leadership because it dovetails with so many other common company initiatives like diversity, inclusion, sustainability, and ethical behavior. Company executives want their leaders to have the capacity to use soft skills like active listening, effective communication, and showing positive interpersonal appreciation.
Why Is Emotional Intelligence Important?
Emotional intelligence has become a highly-valued trait in modern society. It helps people stay connected in an increasingly digital world and allows them to nimbly navigate complex social interactions.
We’ve all experienced a moment of confusion over a text message or emoji that we couldn’t quite interpret. Someone with high emotional intelligence can usually guess what the sender might have meant, easing the flow of interpersonal communication. By contrast, someone with low EQ might struggle to understand what’s being said and begin to disturb the smooth flow of communication.
The recent COVID-19 pandemic has introduced a whole new cascade of additional challenges for interpersonal interactions. Conversations that used to take place in-person within moments now extend into the digital world on tech platforms, stretching across time zones. Proper communication is an enormous challenge when it’s always at a distance.
As Forbes Magazine puts it, “Navigating the pandemic’s psychological, physical and economic effects is complicated and evokes a range of different – and often conflicting – emotions. Add social injustice and political unrest, and emotional intelligence is needed more than ever before.”
Can Emotional Intelligence Be Taught?
A study by Johnson & Johnson found that in the average company, the highest performers were the ones with the highest emotional intelligence and the lowest performers had the lowest EQ. Among the highest-EQ performers, the J&J researchers found characteristics like self-confidence, initiative, achievement orientation, adaptability, self-awareness, and a desire for service-oriented leadership.
But the good news is that EQ isn’t a fixed or inborn trait. It’s a skill that can be learned and there are numerous proven methods for improving it. Through emotional intelligence education, almost anyone can discover how to build a talent for interpreting others’ thoughts, navigating interpersonal situations more skillfully, and resolving conflicts in a positive way that brings fresh opportunities for success.
Best Emotional Intelligence Training
Any company looking to improve the level of EQ among its employees and leaders can do so through emotional intelligence training. However, for companies looking to have meaningful, lasting guidance in support of developing high-EQ leaders, experts recommend true coaching and development programs as opposed to training programs.
At Leadership Resources, we offer the best emotional intelligence training to help companies identify emerging leaders and nurture emotionally intelligent leadership. When your company needs to implement an effective leadership development plan, we’re here to provide expert guidance and support.
Raising EQ With the Accelerate Leadership Program
The Accelerate Leadership Program (ALP) helps participants expand their leadership talent, confidence, and knowledge. Each participant expands their level of emotional intelligence while learning the essential skills it takes to motivate and inspire people. ALP is a personalized program that allows each person to build productive new habits in their own way.
Experts say it’s most effective to implement a full program that involves leadership coaching and individualized support, not just training. ALP’s coaching program goes far beyond basic leadership training programs because it uses a robust approach that incorporates a proven guided process, customized coursework, interpersonal peer connections, leadership coaching, interactive software, and an enormous archive of helpful resources to help them stay engaged.
This is the best emotional intelligence training, consulting, and support you can offer your employees. Let’s work together to identify your emerging leaders and help them take their EQ to the next level.
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In some ways, we know ourselves better than anyone else does — this doesn’t mean we lack blindspots, however. We’re not always aware of our personal shortcomings, and the only way to grow as individuals and leaders is to receive honest feedback from those closest to us. That said, the exchange of criticism in the workplace doesn’t always go over so smoothly. For one thing, some employees may feel apprehensive about giving their managers feedback — there are differing philosophies regarding how managers should talk to employees and vice versa. Additionally, leaders can feel uncomfortable seeking feedback from their peers or dishing it out. However, a lack of open communication can stifle growth across the board, and navigating these waters skillfully is essential for cultivating a healthy company culture.
With all this in mind, let’s explore how to receive honest, productive feedback from your peers without hurting morale or missing the big picture.
How to Get Productive Feedback
Reframe the Question
The term “feedback” can carry a certain weight to it, shading a conversation in a particular light that’s not always conducive to specific, honest remarks. When seeking constructive criticism from peers, it’s often best to avoid this term altogether and phrase your inquiry in a more direct and answerable fashion. For instance, instead of asking a fellow leader for general feedback on your performance, inform them that you’re trying to improve in a particular way (i.e., improving leadership communication, day-to-day productivity, community involvement, etc.) — then, ask them if they think there are things you could do to make said improvements. Direct questions like these won’t just elicit more honest and pertinent responses — they’ll also open the door for more transparent feedback.
Don’t Dawdle
The best performance management and feedback outcomes occur when no time is wasted. If something happens at a meeting or event that warrants attention, waiting several days (or longer) to address the issue in question can create confusion and close an important window of opportunity. Our minds can only store so much short-term information, after all, so the sooner you receive feedback related to a specific moment, the more accurate and meaningful it will be.
Ask for Feedback in the Right Frame of Mind
While it’s important to seek feedback in a timely fashion, you don’t want to be unnecessarily hasty, either. If something goes wrong or you’re eager to ask a peer about your performance, you might come off as anxious or frustrated to receive whatever feedback they might have for you. These feelings are normal and not always easy to control in a given moment, but it’s important to only ask for feedback when you’re truly able to hear it — this requires some degree of calm and objectivity.
Fully Digest Feedback Before Reacting
You’re not going to like every piece of advice or criticism you receive — if you did, there would be no room for positive change. Once you’ve received feedback from your peer(s), it’s important to remain calm and avoid reacting off the cuff. Remember that your peers are trying to help you and that they have a unique perspective on different situations and your performance (a perspective you can’t see on your own). You might have a knee-jerk negative reaction to certain bits of feedback, but rather than fighting back or rejecting their validity, take the criticism in stride and allow yourself to think on it for a while before taking action. Even if you still disagree with the verdict, you can now respond in a more objective manner. Most importantly, always thank the person delivering feedback, so they’re willing to provide more honest, constructive criticism in the future.
Make Necessary Changes Based on Feedback
No amount of honest feedback is worth anything if you don’t absorb it and use it to grow as an individual and leader. Failing to adhere to feedback that’s been given to you in good faith will prevent you from overcoming certain challenges and most likely put you in similar positions in the future — positions that might warrant disciplinary action. Moreover, taking feedback to heart and making key adjustments will encourage your peers to continue giving you honest feedback because they’ll see firsthand that you’re willing to actively listen to their comments. Ultimately, this “feedback loop,” so to speak, results in continuous leadership growth and a more open work environment for everyone.
At Leadership Resources, our purpose is to make the impossible possible through people. We aim to do so by helping individuals develop patterns of success that will decrease stress levels and maximize productivity. Contact us here to learn more about what we do and how it can help your business succeed and grow at times like these when you need it most.
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To solve problems and make decisions that propel your business forward, you need to integrate an optimized set of processes that all work in unison — this is your company’s operating system. Your organization’s operating system has the potential to unlock continual, sustainable growth. That said, there’s no such thing as a “one-size-fits-all” operating system. For the best results, you must cultivate a customized operating system catered to your needs, challenges, and goals. Proper optimization is necessary to tune your business’ operating system to the right pitch for your processes.
At Leadership Resources, we’re dedicated to guiding emerging and existing leaders through every available channel, including your operating system. Let’s explore the difference that an optimized operating system can make at every level of your organization.
Benefits of an Optimal Operating System
Grow Your Business at Scale
Growth is the name of the game for every business, but the pace and nature of this growth will vary from one organization to the next. Depending on your goals, resources, and current commitments, you might aim to expand slowly and methodically or, in other cases, rapidly and energetically. Whatever the case for your business, this growth must be determined and reinforced strategically. An optimized operating system is designed to cue you into the proper growth strategy and keep you on track by getting (and keeping) the right people in the right seats, identifying areas of growth for leaders (i.e., succession planning), and making the most of profit tools that grow alongside your business.
Optimize Data Collection and Analysis
Data is invaluable for any business. Having access to accurate, hard numbers and key performance indicators allows you to hone your business game and make intuitive decisions that benefit your brand and bottom line. An optimal operating system will help you gather information and understand how to review performance management data and other KPIs, so you always have a finger on the pulse of your organization.
Better Balance Your Business’ Budget
Your optimized operating system can do more for your business than just foster leadership growth and improve data collection processes — it can also bolster your bottom line. When cash so quickly moves in and out of your business, it can be difficult to know where to allocate resources, where to trim the fat, and so on. The clarity offered by an optimized operating system reduces the confusion inherent in money management, helping you to craft more strategic budgets poised to benefit your business for the long term. Ultimately, your operating system can help you maximize profits.
Set and Surpass Benchmarks and Goals
Everyone understands the importance of proper goal-setting, but actually selecting these goals and executing a strategy to achieve them is a different story altogether. By simplifying your processes and clarifying data, your optimal operating system facilitates your ability to set, reach, and exceed goals. With tailor-made tools at your disposal, your organizational culture will transform into a unified force aimed at surpassing goals together.
Optimize Your Organization’s Operating System
Most organizations know what factors drive their business and their growth. But working with Leadership Resources and building a company operating system creates accountability around these factors. This process illuminates the leading indicators, where an organization’s energy and effort are consistently going. It allows them to problem solve, see trends over time, and make a real difference.
At Leadership Resources, our purpose is to make the impossible possible through people. We aim to do so by helping individuals develop patterns of success that will decrease stress levels and maximize productivity. Contact us here to learn more about what we do and how it can help your business succeed and grow at times like these when you need it most!
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Most of us are familiar with the operating systems (OS) on our phones and computers. Just as these electronic devices require optimized software to handle a variety of important tasks, businesses benefit from a strategic operating system of their own. As it turns out, most businesses already have some sort of operating system at play — the problem is often that 1) it’s become background noise rather than a recipe for success, and 2) it could use a major “firmware update.” Moreover, in many cases, a company has several operating systems competing for dominance, creating chaos that hinders growth, profit, and leadership development.
Let’s define what a company operating system is and how the right one can drive profit and growth in your organization.
Benefits of a Company Operating System
Defining a Company Operating System
Simply put, a company’s operating system serves as a guide for its inner workings, compiling the processes, structure, and systems needed to achieve certain objectives. Unlike a rigid line of code or instruction manual, a company’s OS is a sturdy yet flexible strategic game plan. Leadership and staffers rally around their central OS to solve problems, make decisions, resolve issues, and prepare for future success. In other words, every procedure should stem from the operating system, whether it’s employee management, succession planning, resource/financial management, marketing initiatives, etc. When every action derives from the same source, a shared vision flows through and informs your entire organization.
How the Right Operating System Can Improve and Grow Your Organization
So, a company operating system provides conscious clarity to an organization by establishing a well-defined structure that removes the guesswork. Ultimately, this framework translates to tangible growth and profit. After all, achieving organizational and profit goals depends on a passionate group of people actively working towards a clear purpose. When leaders and team members know what to aim for and why they’re aiming that way, much of the “fat” is easily trimmed away, revealing a streamlined path toward continued success.
Neglecting your operating system or adopting an OS that doesn’t quite fit your organization will have the opposite effect, preventing growth, diminishing profits, and impairing your company culture as a whole. As leaders struggle to communicate their message clearly, team members will grow more and more frustrated, hindering morale and increasing turnover, which thwarts talent retention and succession planning efforts. The best way to prevent this self-fulfilling cycle from taking hold of your organization is to invest more time and energy into cultivating the optimal operating system.
Establishing an Operating System that Suits Your Goals and Vision
The question remains, then: how can you create and maintain an operating system perfect for your organization? Synthesizing the best aspects of various company OS methodologies is a great place to start. At Leadership Resources, we help our clients leverage the strengths of many ideologies, tools, and systems to bolster their operating system. When it comes to business and leadership growth, we don’t believe in “one-size-fits-all” solutions — we also understand the value of allowing companies to try new things for themselves. As such, our method starts with a deep discovery of an organization’s specific processes, needs, and strategic goals. This research then feeds into our selection process for the tools and strategies that will fit said business like a glove.
When all is said and done, an optimized operating system will help your organization scale up, optimize data, better manage cash, and meet & exceed goals.
Operating Your Business With a Better System
Most organizations know what factors drive their business and their growth. But working with Leadership Resources and building a company operating system creates accountability around these factors. This process illuminates the leading indicators, where an organization’s energy and effort are consistently going. It allows them to problem solve, see trends over time, and make a real difference.
At Leadership Resources, our purpose is to make the impossible possible through people. We aim to do so by helping individuals develop patterns of success that will decrease stress levels and maximize productivity. Contact us here to learn more about what we do and how it can help your business succeed and grow at times like these when you need it most!
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