Courageous Leaders Blog

In this fortnightly series, Alison Glynn-Baker discusses some key concepts in Mandy Holloway’s book, ‘Inspiring Courageous Leaders’.  She also poses some provocative questions.  We invite you to provide your opinion and join the discussion.

 

(Self-)knowledge is power. Is it really?

In Chapter 6, Mandy writes that understanding yourself is critical to being able to lead with conviction.  The Courageous Leaders leadership development program uses a number of tools to help leaders understand their behavior, values and personality preferences.  In Chapter 6, Mandy describes how you can draw on some of these tools to complete your own self-mastery audit.

The case for a self-mastery audit
Many of us started our careers by focusing on what we were good at or promised to pay well.  This is either paying off or it’s not.  Where it’s not paying off, we are over-worked, exhausted, subject to office tensions, and somehow dissatisfied.  Where it is paying off, we may be at a point in our careers where we start to be challenged by:
•    ‘people’ issues
•    more complex decisions in a more complex role
•    issues which call for more than technical capability
•    being good at what we do but not energized by it.  
Where do you go for the answers?  How do you find your passion?

 

By understanding yourself better, you can find these answers more easily and act on what you believe in.  Mandy talks about finding your sweet spot – that ideal blend of intellectual and emotional capability, personality preferences and characters.  Doing the kind of work where you bring your whole self to work.  We start to perform and lead more consciously, instead of relying on how we’ve always worked and hoping for the best.

A self-mastery audit. Buyer, beware!
This is all very well, but how profiling is presented, debriefed and managed in an organization is critical.  Here are some examples of how not to do it:

1)    Group therapy:
On one four-day residential program, a client relates how he had to stand up and share his Leadership Styles Inventory profile with a group of virtual strangers.  He also had to talk about his childhood, his weaknesses and what he planned to do with all this information. In the months and years afterwards, many of the participants of this program would walk past each other in the foyer without so much as an acknowledgement.  It was as if they were all survivors of some secret, shameful trauma.  Or like people who had been on an unsuccessful blind date and wished it had never happened.

2)    Tick the box, flick the report and hope for the best:
An associate started a short-term contract recently and was put through a personality profiling tool “because everyone else in the team has done it”.  By way of debrief, her boss shared his own profile report by email.  On the phone, he joked about disabling her security pass if he saw anything he didn’t like in her profile.  There wasn’t any discussion about the why, what or what next. The team manager said he wasn’t impressed with the tool – as if the mere process of putting the team through the exercise should overnight have transformed team dynamics and performance.

3)    The horoscope:
I have also seen people use their own profiles as a sort of horoscope: “Oh well, I’m a classic ENFJ so obviously this kind of situation doesn’t suit me at all.”  And I have seen leaders and managers automatically assume how people in their teams are going to behave.

Human beings are complex.  We can begin to understand facets of ourselves through various lenses including the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator and LSI.  But, given that a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing, I think that leaders and their teams should be allowed to choose how much of themselves they share.

If you’re going to do a self-mastery audit, who is supporting you through that process, at work or outside work?  If you have the benefit of an organization like Courageous Leaders to take you through a leadership development program, how will you and the other leaders handle this self-knowledge and knowledge of each other?

Do you think some self-knowledge in the workplace is a good thing or do you think it just leads to tears?  This is your chance to have your say.

 

Don't have a copy of Inspiring Courageous Leaders? Buy it now


About Alison Glynn-Baker: Alison Glynn-Baker has 15 years’ experience in professional services marketing, business development and operations.  Through her own consultancy, she has combined her two passions - training and writing – to help clients improve performance both personally and in business. 

In this fortnightly series, Alison Glynn-Baker discusses some key concepts in Mandy Holloway’s book, ‘Inspiring Courageous Leaders’.  She also poses some provocative questions.  We invite you to provide your opinion and join the discussion.

 

Never, "for the sake of peace and quiet," deny your own experience or convictions.
- Dag Hammarskjold (1905-1961), United Nations Secretary-General and posthumous recipient of a Nobel Peace Prize

When Dag Hammarskjold died in a plane crash at the age of 56, he had, in his role as United Nations Secretary-General, tackled some of the toughest international issues of his time. These included Arab-Israeli Relations, the Suez Crisis and the Congo Crisis.

Once you’ve established the confidence that your leadership mastery empowers you to make the right choices, you need conviction in your leadership mastery.

What is conviction?  Mandy defines it in her book as a “deep-seated belief that certain choices are right for you”.  These can be choices about how you integrate your authentic self with your work. How you lead.  But without passion, your conviction will waver as soon as you think your choice is unpopular.  How far will you go to stand your ground?  Will you accept the consequences?

Acting without conviction has its advantages, of course. It’s easier to get on with your day job if you’re not spending energy defending your ground.  You may be better-liked in the short-term, by your peers, but not necessarily by those you lead.  You may, initially, be the “right sort” of leader for a market or company obsessed with the bottom-line.

Two unsettling things may happen, though, if you act without conviction:

1.      Guilt.  Female leaders in particular feel torn between advancing professionally and bringing up their children, and Mandy talks about her own experience.  There is no right answer, but unless, as a leader, you may make a decision which absolutely feels right for you, you could spend your career either blaming your employer (or, worse, yourself) or feeling defensive.

2.      Wondering what might have been.  Mandy and I have met some very senior leaders who seem almost wistful about the choices they have made:

“It’s a real pity, I always wanted to travel.  But straight out of university, I took this job, and I’ve been here 20 years.”

“I’m sorry – our organisation just isn’t ready for you.”

Dag Hammarskjold was strongly opposed by a number of leaders for the UN’s policy in the Congo.  Among these was John F Kennedy, who then went on to say, after Hammarskjold’s death, “I realise now that in comparison to him, I am a small man. He was the greatest statesman of our century.”

It’s worth considering what might be lost if you don’t act on your convictions.   Think about what you can achieve if you do.

What’s wrong with corporate “peace and quiet”?  This is your chance to have your say.

 

Don't have a copy of Inspiring Courageous Leaders? Buy it now


About Alison Glynn-Baker: Alison Glynn-Baker has 15 years’ experience in professional services marketing, business development and operations.  Through her own consultancy, she has combined her two passions - training and writing – to help clients improve performance both personally and in business. 

In this fortnightly series, Alison Glynn-Baker discusses some key concepts in Mandy Holloway’s book, ‘Inspiring Courageous Leaders’.  She also poses some provocative questions.  We invite you to provide your opinion and join the discussion.

 

“Impossible is just a big word thrown around by [those] who find it easier to live in the world they've been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It's an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It's a dare… Impossible is nothing.”  - Muhammad Ali

 

Nine = Infinity

Mandy talks about the sustainability conundrum.  How can a business achieve sustainability in terms of people, financials and the brand?  For example, it is tempting to cut investment in people when the world threatens to go into economic meltdown.  Some would say it is imperative.  But is it?

Impossible is nothing.  And possible is everything.  The nine components of the Courageous Leaders Model are positioned around the Infinity symbol.  This represents infinite personal and professional possibilities.   The potential to do business differently.  The potential to evolve as a leader on a journey of life-long learning.

 

   

Nine=Infinity. The Nine Elements of the Courageous Leaders Model

The rest of this blog series will explore Nine = Infinity in more detail.  Here is a quick introduction:

As an emerging leader, how do you build the courage and conviction to lead differently? The first of the nine components is leadership mastery:  embracing your best self and reaching mastery in relationships, the business and technically.

You build confidence in your leadership mastery by spending time in reflection.  One tool you can use is Edward de Bono’s Six Thinking Hats, which I will discuss later in the blog series.

Once you have confidence to make the right choices, how far will you go to put your leadership mastery into action?  Are you prepared to take full responsibility for the consequences? This is the concept of conviction.

As an emerging leader, once you have developed courage in your leadership mastery, you can overcome a fear of or indifference towards having necessary, challenging conversations with your existing leaders.

Both emerging leaders and existing leaders need the courage to connect and commit - to meet in the middle, on common ground.  As an emerging leader, you need to have the conviction to challenge the status quo.  Sometimes even challenging existing leaders.  And as an existing leader, you will need to unleash your courage to be challenged and to change.  What starts off as an intimidating wedge of fear for both parties becomes a ledge of learning, untapping that infinite potential we talked about earlier.

The next of the nine elements of the model is challenge and how we respond to it. It is critical to drop the defensive behaviours, manage our emotions and embrace conflict.

How we respond to change is critical for our life-long learning, and for the sustainability of a business.

The last of the nine elements of the Courageous Leaders model is a high-performance culture. In a high-performance culture, a united population of courageous leaders is engaged in constructive and supportive behaviours, and is running a business which is sustainable in the long-term.

Maybe by embracing all nine components in our journey towards becoming Courageous Leaders, we really can create infinite possibilities.  Is it impossible to make business about more than just the share price?  As a Courageous Leader, what else could be possible? This is your chance to have your say.

Don't have a copy of Inspiring Courageous Leaders? Buy it now


About Alison Glynn-Baker: Alison Glynn-Baker has 15 years’ experience in professional services marketing, business development and operations.  Through her own consultancy, she has combined her two passions - training and writing – to help clients improve performance both personally and in business.

 

 

I have had so many people tell me that leaders are born - they say you can see evidence of it when children play in the sand pit with their friends. People also blame their natural preferences on whether they were born to be a leader - I am just too quiet, I am introverted...................and all the other excuses we use to substantiate that we were not born to be a leader!

The more I have experienced, explored, read and researched the more I disagree with the claim that leaders are born. I strongly believe leaders are "made" - they work hard to develop the awareness and the capability to lead themselves; to lead others and to lead the business. Leaders bring a level of consciousness to their choices of behaviour, they bring awareness of how they can be at their best when working with others, they develop emotional resilience, they use tools to give and receive feedback. None of this is "natural" - it is not how you are
born.

Working with a group of "emerging leaders" a few years ago I recall one young woman telling me she was not leadership material - she did not believe that she fitted the mould, she was not born to be a great leader in her organisation. After working with her for one year as she participated in twelve one day modules learning HOW to be an effective and a courageous leader......this same young woman "believed" she could be a brilliant leader. She had developed the confidence and the conviction to be the kind of leader she really wanted to be. She was released from the limiting belief system she had developed that only a certain "kind" of person could be a leader in her organisation.

Leaders are made by supporting them to develop the confidence, conviction and courage to be the kind of leader they really want to be and the kind of leader the business needs them to be.

 

Got something to say about this topic? Please feel free to comment below, or join our similar discussion in the Courageous Leaders LinkedIn Group

What an insightful man Einstein was and I loved his sentiment when he shared with us that:

"Great spirits have always faced violent opposition from mediocre minds."

This captures the essence of what so often happens between the populations of emerging and existing leaders.

Wise words from Mandy: ignite that spirit, emerging leaders!

With such passion and belief that no amount of opposition can shout you down or bring you to a halt.

Is this easy to do? Absolutely not.

Does it take disciplined processes? Yes it does.

Working with a wonderful group of participants we explored the difference between challenging, betrayal and loyalty when it comes to building a high performing team.


On the flipchart I drew a big U shape and right through the middle of this U I drew dotted lines and wrote up CHALLENGING; I then wrote loyalty on one side of the U and on the opposite side I wrote betrayal. Through conversation with the participants I was able to explain that when you use challenging as a business behaviour you are upfront, honest and inspiring - you own your thoughts and you have your back. While loyalty and betrayal are either side of the spectrum and result in you either needing to cover your back if you use betrayal or using loyalty for protection of your back - either way you do not openly share what you think and feel.


It was a rich distinction and one that helped people see the true value of challenging as a critical business  behaviour. Courageous Leaders challenge and as a result continue to learn and develop with great agility.

Courageous leaders dare to dream; they dare to be idealistic and bring passion to realise these dreams. There are too many gray, trivial, mundane things going on in our current business environment - we need leaders who dare to dream and who dare to make change the new constant. And this means there will be some "failing" and we need to reframe this as learning agility - essential to our future.

I refer to the wise words of Anais Nin:
"Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage".

So let's dream and let's expand our lives and our experiences - life has to be about much more than bottom line, KPIs, share price, material possessions. And I believe our younger emerging leaders get this and that's why they are disillusioned by our current business environment. Come on - lets dare to dream!

The work of Martin Seligman and his colleague Mihaly Czikszentmihalyi have helped us to create a frame for finding your sweetspot. We acknowledge most of you have invested a significant amount of time developing capability – mostly intellectual skills – and you do not know enough about your personality preferences and character.

For those who work feeling stressed, guilty or resentful it can so often be because they are operating counter to their personality preferences and character. Such leaders are finding their sweetspot very infrequently because they are defining who they are by their capability.
 
 As leaders decide to spend more time developing greater self mastery they create higher awareness of the personality preferences and character they bring to the way they use their intellectual capability . For those who want even further awareness they also explore ways to develop their emotional capability. When they do this they discover an enlarged sweetspot.
 
The ultimate sweetspot is where your capability is an integral ‘part’ of who you are but it is not what defines you. Your personality preferences and your character define how you interact and behave and you do this in a way that allows you to be at your best at all times. Feelings of guilt, resentment, anxiety are pushed away as you are ‘in the zone’ with how you choose to live with confidence, conviction and courage.