Conscious Leadership

Self-Awareness: The Antidote for Flaws that Derail Leaders

Poor leadership in good times can be hidden, but poor leadership in bad times is a recipe for disaster say Jack Zenger and Joseph Folkman in their research of 360-degree feedback data on more than 11,000 leaders in Fortune 500 companies. The researchers identified the 10 most common leadership shortcomings. The worst leaders:

1. Lack energy and enthusiasm
2. Accept their own mediocre performance
3. Lack clear vision and direction
4. Have poor judgment
5. Don't collaborate
6. Don't walk the talk
7. Resist new ideas
8. Don't learn from mistakes
9. Lack interpersonal skills
10. Fail to develop others

The majority of people in the study were surprised by their negative results. In our work with executives, we see everyday that most hard-working and well-intentioned people believe they are doing the right thing or they wouldn't be doing it! Human beings consistently think they are better than they are - a phenomenon referred to in psychology as "self-serving bias." Most people have an optimism regarding their own behavior.

Thus at Moore & Associates we believe self-awareness is the essential quality of leadership. Leadership development and coaching targeted to understanding oneself better (strengths and unique gifts, weaknesses, stresses, unconscious motives, etc.) are critical for success. As an executive, the more you learn about yourself, the more range you have to:

• Take action in new ways to deliver results in your unique role and organization.
• Increase your empathic abilities and understand what drives and motivates others.
• Attract and retain a diverse team whose whole becomes greater than the individual players.

The barrier to self-awareness? Self-deception of course. It's impossible to see ourselves objectively. Which is why great executive coaching is invaluable.

2010 Copyright © Moore & Associates

Making Progress is What Employees Really Want

What happens on a "great" workday? It's not recognition, incentives, or even doing work that is deemed "important". A great day at work is making progress, according to a just completed multi-year study tracking the day-to-day activities, emotions, and motivational levels of hundreds of knowledge workers by Harvard professor Teresa A. Amabile and independent researcher Steven J. Kramer.

The study found that on days when workers have the sense they're making headway in their jobs, or when they receive support that helps them overcome obstacles, their emotions are most positive and their drive to succeed is at its peak. On days when they feel they're spinning their wheels or encountering roadblocks to meaningful accomplishment, their moods and motivation are lowest. Our experience is that this is true regardless of industry, sector, size of organization, or staff level - from senior managers to line workers.

This should be welcome news for leaders and managers because the key to motivation turns out to be largely within your control - the power to influence events that either facilitate or undermine progress. You can provide meaningful goals, encouragement, resources, and protect people from irrelevant demands. Further advice from the study includes:

Avoid impeding your team's progress by:

• changing goals autocratically
• being indecisive
• holding up resources

Pave the way for your employees' daily progress by:

• taking great care to clarify overall goals
• ensuring peoples' efforts are properly supported
• refraining from exerting time pressure so intense that minor glitches are perceived as crises rather than learning opportunities
• creating a culture of helpfulness
• celebrating progress, even the incremental sort.

2010 Copyright © Moore & Associates