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Lynn Peterson

Why Wont OD Phase II Just Happen

“Acquiring and keeping good people is a leader’s most important task.”—John Maxwell Many organizations hire and promote using the wrong criteria. The results can be disastrous: egomaniacs, poor team players, or ethical corner-cutters who cause embarrassment and financial loss to the organization.When hiring, many organizations focus on “head” characteristics, such as knowledge, expertise, intelligence, education, experience, and skills. Of course, those factors are important. Ron Sugar, former CEO and chairman of Northrop-Grumman, told us, “A lot of our work is literally rocket science, so we have 45,000 outstanding scientists and engineers.”“Heart,” on the other hand, includes such intangibles as character, will, passion, courage, and persistence. Parker Palmer, a distinguished author and teacher, captured this sentiment well: “I’m using the word ‘heart’ as they did in ancient times. It meant that center in the human self where everything comes together—where will and intellect and values and feeling and intuition and vision all converge. It meant the source of one’s integrity. It takes courage to lead from the heart.”As Lynn Easterling, vice president and deputy general counsel at Cisco Systems, told us, “I can teach the hard skills, but I can’t teach good character or good relational skills.”CharacterThe search for heart in people begins with ascertaining their personal character. People with character do the right thing even when it is costly or hard. Character involves trustworthiness, humility, courage, willingness to serve, and the realization that there is something bigger than the self. We cannot expect perfection, but we can probe for what people learned when they made mistakes.We need to look for character flaws in new recruits and colleagues, including excessive ambition, controlling behaviors, hyper-competitiveness, bullying, narcissism, arrogance, and greed. Perhaps the biggest red flag is ego. Our friend Chuck Wachendorfer quips, “My ego is not my amigo.”Emotional intelligenceAnother important component of heart is emotional intelligence. Ursula Burns, CEO of Xerox, told us she no longer interviews to determine task skills, relying on others to screen such head matters. Instead, she probes for character, humility, empathy, emotional intelligence, self-awareness, authenticity, and fearlessness.According to psychologist Daniel Goleman, emotional intelligence entails “managing feelings so that they are expressed appropriately and effectively, enabling people to work together smoothly toward their common goals.” It also includes the ability to work well with others despite differences and challenges.Phil Soucy, co-president and CEO of Modern Technology Solutions, told us, “They may be very knowledgeable in their discipline, but if they lack emotional intelligence, it just does not work.”Cultural fitThe next component of heart is cultural fit. Burns focuses on “fit and fitness” for the Xerox culture when interviewing executives. She explained to us. “I want them to fit with our values and culture.”Alan Lewis, owner and chairman of Grand Circle Corporation, says, “Alignment with my company’s culture and values counts far more than do skills or experience. In most cases, if an associate shares our values, we can teach the job skills.”Be selectiveWe need to be very selective about whom we hire and promote. We recommend panels of multiple interviewers to get different perspectives on candidates. Start reading resumes “upside down,” the way Google does, to find the hidden gems at the bottom under “activities and interests.”Remember to be patient. Resist pressure to fill a vacancy rapidly—because someone weak in heart will be a painful mistake. Take the time to get it right.Some sample questions we have uncovered for interviewing for heart can be viewed on our website at http://triplecrownleadership.com/assets/Interviewing-for-Heart.pdf.Core concept: Recruit and promote for both head and heart. Head involves the knowledge, skills, and experience necessary. Heart involves integrity, emotional intelligence, and fit with the desired culture.“A good head and a good heart are always a formidable combination.”—Nelson MandelaPractical Applications for Leaders    Do people in your organization have good head and heart qualities?  How have leaders in your organization shown heart?  What else could you do to assess a candidate’s heart qualities?  Do you recognize and reward people for both head and heart?  What more could you do to build both head and heart in your organization?

Hire and Promote for Heart

As the world continues to navigate the uncertain landscape created by the COVID-19 pandemic and the vaccination process, a leader’s emotional intelligence matters more than ever. Some of the traits of great leaders include their abilities to correctly gauge people’s emotions and high social awareness. It’s no coincidence these form the foundation of emotional intelligence.What Is Emotional Intelligence? Why Is It Important at Work? And How Can Leaders Get Better?In The EQ Difference: A Powerful Plan for Putting Emotional Intelligence to Work, Adele Lynn defines emotional intelligence as the ability to manage yourself and your relationships with others so that you truly live your intentions. While the term emotional intelligence was coined around 2005, the World Economic Forum ranked emotional intelligence as one of the top 10 most important workplace skills for success in 2020, and emotional intelligence has also been listed as a crucial ingredient of great leadership.What Does Emotional Intelligence Look Like in Leadership?One example of a well-known senior leader who shows emotional intelligence in leadership is Amazon’s Jeff Bezos. Bezos is known for his leadership style, which uses self-deprecating humor to make others feel comfortable with him. Next is Elon Musk. Musk thanked Tesla owners on Twitter for taking a chance on his cars when experts said his company wouldn’t work. And then there’s Ford’s former CEO Alan Mulally. He wrote handwritten notes to employees, praising their work. The bottom line? Whatever your business or industry, making human connections with everyone is crucial. People want to associate with those they can trust.The Skills That Comprise Emotional IntelligenceFrom the definition of emotional intelligence by American psychologists John Mayer and Peter Salovey, we can learn what emotional intelligence skills are all about: “The emotionally intelligent person is skilled in four areas: identifying emotions, using emotions, understanding emotions, and regulating emotions.” Successful leaders are proficient in all four areas. But how do people show emotional intelligence in leadership? Leaders show emotional intelligence when they are open-minded. They also consider other ideas and perspectives. They’re nonjudgmental in their responses and emotional reaction. An emotionally intelligent leader is fully present and able to read others well. But emotionally intelligent leaders can also adjust their thinking or approach in response to the emotion or behavior of others, which often results in better outcomes.Why Is Emotional Intelligence Important in Difficult Situations?One reason emotional intelligence is so important when dealing with difficult situations is that an emotionally intelligent leader will respond to adversity in a calm, considered way. The emotionally intelligent leader is better at managing emotions—both their own and those of others—during times of stress or pressure. But a worrying trend today’s leader must consider is the increased risk of burnout. DDI’s Global Leadership Forecast 2021 reports that 86 percent of high-potential leaders are at risk of burnout_._ The forecast shows that the primary factor that influences burnout is a leader’s ability to demonstrate empathy. The root of empathy is the ability to connect with people on a more human level. This is just one example of what leaders today must deal with. But there are many more situations where emotional intelligence in leadership is important, if not essential. And today, crisis is part of every leader’s new normal. So, during a time of crisis, how should leaders use emotional intelligence? And how can leaders with limited emotional intelligence develop? Find out more in DDI’s blog.

Constant Crisis: Why Leaders’ Emotional Intelligence Matters

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In Person with Lenn Millbower

Building Your Personal Brand

December 2018 - ATD Links

Nobody learns like the teacher. It’s an old saying, but it’s true. We trainers, teachers, facilitators, and consultants must be knowledgeable, and our personal knowledge base should be wide and deep.

30 New Year’s Resolutions for TD Professionals

**_“The events and conditions each of us experiences during our formative yearsdetermines who we are and how we see the world.”_—Lynne C. Lancaster and David Stillman, When Generations Collide**  Today’s workplace includes a wider age-range than ever before—from people more than 70 years of age in their final work phase to workers in their 20s just beginning their work history. An important criterion for a productive and successful workforce is an appreciation of the similarities and differences among the generations. For example, having individual experiences and backgrounds, this multi-generational workplace uses a wide variety of communication styles and resources. Understanding and acknowledging how people communicate will go a long way towards building strong connections with your co-workers. Understanding the relationships It is common for co-workers to be unaware of the existing gaps between generations—resulting in barriers to success and productivity. Think about how you interact with people from other generations: a younger supervisor to Boomer staff membersworking with colleagues in similar roles as yours but 15-20 years older than youconsultant to a start-up company whose founders are in their late 20s. It's critical to your job success that you be comfortable, relaxed, and at-ease when a significant age difference or a non-traditional work relationship exists. For example: Are you an employee of long-standing and think that the new manager is young enough to be your grandchild?If you recently have been appointed as a team leader, do you perceive some of the members as having attitudes similar to your parents?How do you react when this type of situation arises?  Do you make assumptions about the other person that may not be valid?Attitudes, biases, and perceptions can impact your performance and the way others perceive you, which can be a hindrance to a promotion or a reference.How do you acknowledge that every generation contributes to accomplishing established goals?Do you respect the values, priorities, and ways of carrying out responsibilities and tasks that are common to other generations?Do you appreciate the ways in which generational diversity enriches corporate culture and individual legacies?Understanding the communication stylesHave you ever compared your generation’s communication language, approaches, and methods to the ways that other generations express themselves? Review your awareness level about your communication characteristics by responding to these questions:What are your favorite or most frequent ways of communicating within the workplace and why?What do you think of the methods that other generations use to express themselves?How do you think attitudes about different types of communication can affect working relationships with members of other generations, whether one-on-one, in meetings, or on team projects?What do you think you can do to improve and expand your communication methods and style to increase the effectiveness of your working relationships with people from other generations?Your success at work will depend on your ability to communicate with all types of co-workers. Be mindful of your communication style and how it differs from those around you. Pay attention to the communication methods and styles that seem to work best with different generations at work. Be willing to adapt your style to make others more comfortable. By taking these steps, you will forge stronger and more productive relationships with everyone at work—no matter their age or background.Editor's note: This is the 2nd post of the generations in the workplace series. The next post will discuss the diversity of work styles among the generations.

Multi-Generations in the Workplace: Diversity of Communication Styles

When we think about virtual meetings, managers often think, “They’re just not worth the time and trouble,” so they settle for a conference call or an email blast.  In many cases that mindset is correct: if the meeting won’t be productive, why bother? You should rethink that, though, because there’s a significant return-on-investment (ROI) if virtual meetings are properly planned and led.Any time we talk about ROI, we need to clearly define our terms. What, exactly, are we investing? Well, in the case of a truly successful web meeting or virtual session, it is both money and social capital. Bear in mind that the platform you use (WebEx, Adobe Connect, Microsoft Lync) has very little statistical impact on these numbers.Let’s do the mathFirst, let's start with the basic facts, then plug some numbers into them:Study after study reveals that people feel 2/3 of their time in online meetings is wasted.The average online meeting lasts a little longer than one hour. ( It's actually about one hour and 15 minutes, but let's keep the math simple and use one hour as our base.)This math won't include the cost of the platform itself, or the phone bill. Let’s just consider the human costs—time, sanity, and we won't roll in after-work bar tabs.Okay, now time for some simple math:How many people are on your average meeting?Multiple that number by their hourly salary. As a base, $50,000 is about $25 dollars an hour, so let's work with that. Five attendees works out to $125 for an hour meeting, right?Not so fast. There is the amount of time you spend preparing for the meeting. Surely that adds at least half that much time, or another $65 or so. Of course, if each person isn't spending at least half an hour preparing for the meeting you may have discovered at least one reason they don't go so well. We're up to $190 or soAs we know, a bad meeting leads to either rework or another meeting so it's safe to assume that leads to another meeting. Let's call it $400 even.If two-thirds of that meeting is wasted, we've flushed about $266 right down the tubes. And that’s just one meeting.This doesn’t include the cost of the technology itself, which is wasted if nobody uses itNow, how many meetings a day do you hold? WebEx alone hosts more than 11 million meetings each day. The numbers should make your head hurt.Those are just the basic financial costs. Now add in the social costs: teams that are disengaged from their work, deadlines missed or rework caused by lack of good information, and general frustration and grumpiness, which can lead to unproductive behavior, turnover, and terrible team morale.Tech alone isn’t the answerSome people will have you believe that the right technology will solve that problem. To a degree, that’s true. Whichever web platform you use should have some basic synchronous features like white boards, chat, screen sharing, and so on. Webcams and breakout rooms are nice tools, as well. But technology alone won’t solve the problem for two reasons.First, most people don’t use the tools well (or at all). Studies show that 75 percent or more of people use only 25 percent of the features available in webmeeting tools. Additionally, more than 80 percent of meeting leaders have never received any training or coaching in the proper use of the technology before trying it out on live victims. Not a recipe for success, you’ll agree.Second, if meeting leaders have a perfect understanding of the powerful technology at their disposal, it’s essentially wasted if they don’t have the skills and motivation to do the human things that make all the difference.  Do your teammates participate and add value, or are your webmeetings just a chance to sit on mute and answer email?Bottom line: Planning and leading meetings are core skills for all managers, team leaders, and anyone working in a remote or virtual environment.  How is your organization helping people develop the core skills they need to get the most from their teams in this new world of work?Earn an ROI certificate from ATD and learn how to measure business impact using a proven methodology. 

The ROI of Better Virtual Meetings

Kristy McCann Flynn is cofounder and CEO of GoCoach. She has 15 years of experience as a strategic human resource leader, change manager, and organization development expert. She has served in senior leadership positions throughout her career, most notably with Pearson Education and Constant Contact. Flynn brings a big-picture perspective and a hands-on, tactical approach to her leadership style, which she is now bringing to life with GoCoach. Her goal is to help and educate companies to meet their ultimate goals by empowering their employees to take ownership of their careers.

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