Showing posts with label Servant Leadership. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Servant Leadership. Show all posts
By Nan Nan Liu-Maffetone | Strong Female Leaders | Reading Time: Five Minutes
Why does servant leadership require emotionally intelligent leaders?
Emotionally intelligent leaders are able to keep calm in stressful situations, form stronger and longer lasting relationships with their team members, create a progressive and understanding culture, and serve others better. To become an emotionally intelligent leader, you can develop emotional intelligence with intention to change. So how do you start? Scroll down to find some of the steps that you can take towards making those changes:


1. Practice Active Listening
The difference between active listening and simplying hearing words lies in that you are fully engaged throughout the conversation. You are not distracted by texts, emails, or even the birds chirping outside. When you are actively listening, you give the conversation, the situation and the person you are meeting with unwavering attention.

So how do you keep focused all the time? Each time your mind flutters way, bring it back. Deep breathing helps, by the way. This is an intentional move and requires practice, so take your time.

Also, take notes. You can either bring a note book or take mental notes. Set a goal to write down three to five things that you just learned, problems that the conversation just exposed, variations of the situation from other points of view, and a few solutions that you can offer. Before the conversation ends, collect as much information as you can, and don't feel pressured to speak too soon. When it is your turn to speak, fight the urge to give your two cents right away by asking questions. This helps to unfold the true intention of the conversation. Perhaps the person doesn't need a solution and simply needs to vent? Perhaps there are bigger, more complicated underlying issues? Or, perhaps there is nothing to worry about at all?

The golden rule? Ask as many questions as you can, with a minimum of five to ten. Each conversation has its own context. At the beginning of any given conversation, everyone starts on the same intellectual and power level. The most knowledgeable and influential person emerges later on and is not always the one with the highest IQ or a pretentious title, nor is she the loudest and most talkative. She is the person who is the most focused and has been actively listening, and her solutions are precise, resolute and almost effortless, because her mind is executing with every single piece of information.
2. Be Empathetic
Emotionally intelligent leaders are able to put themselves in others' perspectives. They are patient, kind, and always see situations in objective views. They never react on the spot and let their own emotions get in the way. Though being empathetic sounds easy to do, it takes practice to check your own ego at the door. You may have heard it being called "active empathy," because to be truly empathetic, you have to actively and habitually practice it. The benefit of having an empathetic leader is a calmer, more pleasant and more productive environment that all team members can be happy and thrive in.
3. Pay Attention to Body Language
Much of today's communication bears through body language. High-EQ leaders pay attention to the body language of their teams, clients, supreriors and most importantly, themselves. Simple gestures such as crossing the arms, blinking repeatedly and pressing of the lips convey a lot about someone's emotional state at the time. Recognizing body language and the underlying emotion may signal for your intervention to guide the conversation towards a more productive disposition.

And what about your own body language? Emotionally intelligent leaders pay the most attention to their own body language. Knowing how much their expressions and gestures can alter the mood of the situation, they often lead with strong and positive body language to set the tone for others.

4. Prioritize Self Care
From gratitude journaling to meditation to exercising, emotionally intelligent leaders prioritize self care before everything else. They undertand the importance of mental health and how a healthy mindset improves awareness, clarity and self control. Not only do they purposefully prioritize self care, they do it with diligence. Many of them schedule it into their daily routines. Some even take days off of work specifically as "self care time off." Their efforts show in the way they serve others by handling tough situations with grace and care. In turn, they build a much stronger and healthier team.
5. Balance Work and Life
Not only do emotionally intelligent leaders balance their own work and life, they also motivate their team members to do the same. Taking breaks from high-pressure situations, implementing methods to avoid work place burnout, and promoting healthy habits like rest and recovery are important to these leaders. They also want the same for their teams. They understand the value of their people, and would never sacrafice opportunities that keep team members happy, healthy and productive.
Parting thhoughts
To serve others well, you must be able to understand and connect with people. Not only does emotional intelligence help you be a better leader, it also helps in other areas in your life. Furthermore, it helps you set an example for your successors, and create a culture of high-EQ teams.

Visualize this: a team of highly motivated, highly aware, and highly engaged contributors, working together and creating a better future for the organization, its customers and the community. That is what emotional intelligence can achieve, and it starts with you.
1) Learn more about servant leadership with Simon Sinek's Leaders Eat Last


2) Find the power in servant leadership with The Power of Servant Leadership


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By Nan Nan Liu-Maffetone | Strong Female Leaders | Reading Time: Five Minutes
Need help developing soft skills for work? Knowing how to deal with the unspoken rules at work helps. Each workplace has hidden norms, dynamics and sentiments. If you know how to identify them quickly and handle them gracefully, you will gain the competitive edge that sets you apart.


Soft Skills for Employment: Dealing with Unspoken Rules
New on the job? This must be an emotional time for you. To get up to speed, knowing the hidden rules helps. Every workplace has unspoken rules, but if you can identify them quickly and handle them gracefully, you will gain a whole lot more confidence. And with that confidence comes a calmer and clearer head that enables you to focus on more important priorities.
Before diving into the soft skills for work, please understand that it is okay to make mistakes, feel vulnerable, and not be able to take charge right away. Being new is a phase that everyone goes through. So relax and give yourself enough room to get up to speed.
1. Accept the downsides.
The excitement of starting a new job fades quickly. Soon you will realize that there are rules, power struggles, and mistrust at the workplace. Any workplace. Bullying, nepetism and injustice happen. When there is a lot at stake, most people make decisions that ultimately benefit themselves only. The sooner you realize these downsides, the quicker you can adapt to the environment. You don't have to abide by the unfair rules, but do accept that they exist, and people get away with abusive behaviors.
2. Identify the real influencers.
Real power, or influence, comes from relationships, not org charts. There are three main types of power in the workplace. Finding the real influencers to learn from can be extremely beneficial. The three types of influence are:
1) Title Power
Title power comes from where people sit in the org chart. People with title power influence mostly their direct reports because they write performance reviews, conduct screening interviews, and perform managerial tasks.
While it is favorable to befriend and respect those with title power, be careful about entering that career path. Knowledge professionals rely on technical skills to maintain a competitive edge. Having the kind of title power that makes organizational impact (usually the C-levels) requires years of service at one workplace, being political, and sacraficing valuable hands-on experience. If you choose someone with title power as a mentor, he or she might not have authentic influence. Before you commit, look beyond the title, and make sure that the person has industry-specific aptitude to back up the title.
2) Knowledge Power
Knowledge power comes from having exertise in a certain area. When you are new, you might identify the more aggressive people as the power sources. Many times, and especially for knowledge professionals, that is not true. The louder someone is, the less confidence the person has. In layman's terms, the person is called a "know it all." People with true knowldge has no need to be agressive. They ask questions before offering a solution, shoot straight when they need an answer, and solve big problems with little effort. If you are seeking mentorship from someone with knowledge power, and try not to confuse agression with confidence.
When in doubt, ask yourself,"is the person regurgitating tribal knowledge, or actually finding a solution?"
3) Relationship Power
Relationship power is possibly the healthiest of the three. People with strong relationship power are both respected and trusted. By the way, they are not always the social butterflies. To find them, notice how they treat people. Do they go out of their way to help team members? Do they listen more than they talk? Do they stand up for, inspire, and motivate others?
People with relationship power are natural leaders, and genuinely care about people. They solve problems quickly because their network is well-built, and they are loved by everyone. They are hidden gems in the workplace. If you are new, try to find them, and work hard to be like them.
3. Decisions are made outside of meetings.
Specifically, they are made during 1:1 conversations and private chats. Prior to getting together, team members have already made up their minds about which way to sway, who to support, and how to benefit their own agenda.
When you are new, observe the team dynamic and find out who sides with who, who has the biggest influence, and who is the best negotiator. To increase your own influence, start making friends with everyone, but do it on an one-on-one basis. You can offer to take them to coffee, help them on projects, or simply initiate small talk. Building relationships takes time and effort. Your advantage right now is that you are new and starting fresh, so enjoy the journey.
4. Disagreements are healthy.
Disagreements happen all the time, and they happen more often on high performing teams. When team members get into heated arguments, it is actually a great sign because they trust each other enough to express themselves freely. As long as the disagreements are about specific work issues and not about personality conflicts, your team is probably both innovative and productive.
5. Other miscellaneous norms.
Work styles
Your team will be made of various personalities with different work styles. You will meet extroverts who thrive during collab, introverts who analyze deeply before making decisions, debators who love to argue, cynical people who dream up every dissastrous situation, and other colorful personalities in between. Realizing everyone's work style allows you to navigate your group, and find the best way to add your own flair. The goal is to make everyone fit, so make sure you add value in the right places.
Emotional and Psychological Safety
How does your team welcome new members? Do you feel excluded or welcomed? Is there a proper onboarding process in place, or are you left out in the cold? How trustworthy is leadership? Do they shoot straight or beat around the bush?
The answers to these questions influence whether or not your will be happy at work. If you spend most of the week in one environment, do your research. Make sure that you can at least tolerate the place.
Digital communication norms
Digital communication norms include when to turn cameras on and off, whether or not to mute yourself during conversations, and how to use chats and emojis to emphasize talking points. List all the questions you can think of and explicitly ask leadership, team members and meeting organizers about them. The more you ask, the better prepared you are.
Parting Thoughts
Devloping soft skills for work is just as important as developing technical skills. When you are new, understanding the unspoken rules at the workplace is a part of self-guided training. The faster you learn, the quicker you figure out ways to deal with them, and the more confidence you gain.

1) Build your soft skills with People Skills for Analytical Thinkers


2) Understand soft skills more with Bridging the Soft Skills Gap


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By Nan Nan Liu-Maffetone | Strong Female Leaders
Reading Time: Approx. 7 minutes
Target Audience: Professionals, Professional Women, Women in Leadership Positions, Team Leaders

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Feeling challenged in the morale department?

You are not alone. During these tough times, we all feel the burden of COVID19, corporate downsizings, and the stormy political climate. As the leader of your team or community, you feel the need to instill workplace morale boosters.


But how?

Fortunately, employee morale booster ideas are not created to get people to instantaneously forget their troubles. In fact, having high morale means adding people’s emotions to, and not subtract from, how the team achieves its goals. The best work morale boosters actually emerge in historically tough times, including wars, economic depressions, and national crisis.


Leaders do not, and cannot, instill happiness.

They can, however, lead their teams to focus on what's important. They can inspire people to do great work, feel valued, and with some luck, be happy at their jobs.


Work Morale Boosters (During Tough Times)
1. Advocating Value
People are inspired by doing or creating something that adds value to the greater community. In other words, people want to feel proud of their work. Most of them show up at work and give their best because they believe in what they do.

When people experience layoffs, budget cuts, and other types of uncertainties, their belief system crumbles. As much as you'd like to change their mindsets, you simply cannot change the way people think. Instead, change what you can control: that is to shift your team's focus on what value they bring to the world.

For example, focus on: the hours users would save from the app that your team produces; the number of viewers who can access your online tour of a house on the market; or, the people you inspire by publishing the articles that your content team writes.

You can also tackle it from the angle of what would happen when your team stops doing their job. Whatever tactic you choose, the goal is to put things into perspective for your team.
2. Being Transparent
Transparency breeds confidence. During an all-time emotional low, it is crucial that leadership explains in detail what is happening, why it is happening, what will happen, and what it means to each individual. To elevate morale, you must give people a peace of mind, even if what you disclose isn't the most pleasant of facts. The worst decision you can make right now is to leave people in the dark to wander about blindly.

Being transparent builds trust, bridges gaps, answers questions, and offers assurance.



3. Listening Actively
Even though you cannot solve everyone's issues, you can at least be there to listen. In stressful situations, people need to alleviate tension. Being able to express their anger, anxieties, and other ill feelings can be just the remedy that they need to feel better. If you can address some of their concerns with action items, that's even better. At the least, though, they have an outlet.
4. Painting a Brighter Future
Though it is hard for people to realize at the moment, the future will be brighter. It is up to the leader, then, to help everyone realize it. Help them realize that: if the glass is half empty, it is also half full.

For example, if your company has just experienced layoffs, the remaining employee body will take on extra responsibilities. Help them realize the opportunity in this, by stressing how the extra projects can lead to other projects that add even more value. Or, if your team members have just suffered personal losses, help them realize how every challenge in life brings the opportunity to grow.
5. Giving People a Break
We all need a break, especially when morale is low. Encourage people to take vacations, personal time off, or other paid leave. Encourage them to stop working on work, and work on themselves. When people have time to relax and unwind, they come back refreshed, strong, and ready to be productive.
6. Recognizing Job Well Done
People enjoy feeling appreciated. During tough times, they need such appreciation even more. Find ways, big or small, to spotlight job well done, anniversaries, or when they lend help to others. When people feel appreciated, they feel valued.
7. Promoting Work-Life Balance
Do your team members homeschool their kids now? Do they have medical issues that require extra appointments? Are they going through relationship issues at home?

Most likely, the answer is "yes" to all of the questions above. During tough times, making the extra effort to accommodate to your team's difficult schedules boosts morale greatly. When you understand that people have other priorities, and make a point to honor those priorities, you create a safe work environment that people enjoy. Your team members will be grateful and, in response, put in extra effort.

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[ Disclaimer: this article includes affiliate links.]

Products That Help Boost Work Morale
1) Build an A-Team: Play to Their Strengths and Lead Them Up the Learning Curve
"Lead each person on your team up the learning curve."
2) When Fish Fly: Lessons for Creating a Vital and Energized Workplace from the World Famous Pike Place Fish Market
"You can energize your people and delight your customers by modeling the fabulous ideas that come from the World Famous Pike Place Fish Market." -- Ken Blanchard, co-author of The One Minute Manager

The Big Book of Team-Motivating Games: Spirit-Building, Problem-Solving and Communication Games for Every Group

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