Posts Tagged emotional intelligence
Five Ways to Develop the Transformational Leader Within You
Today, leaders must deal with complexity, ambiguity and constant change. If leaders are to be successful, they must possess not only mental maturity, but also maturity of heart, mind and the human spirit. Tall order for us mere mortals, huh? The good news is that transformational leaders, those who truly make a difference, are developed, not born. How can you become a transformational leader? New research is showing surprising answers to this question.
Individuals who achieve more advanced stages of adult development are more effective leaders, according to the research of many visionary thinkers. Dr. Daniel Goleman has extensively documented the positive effect of improved emotional intelligence, one measurement of adult development, on leadership performance. Other researchers have created models of adult development, such as Bill Torbert, Susanne Cook-Greuter, Richard Barrett and Jim Collins (author of “Good to Great”). Their work demonstrates that an individual who can think globally, act with wisdom and compassion, and create climates of innovation is more effective in business. And, the proof is in the organizations they lead, which enjoy organizational longevity, positive work environments, long-term profitability and high stakeholder value.
Therefore, it behooves any leader who aspires to become a transformational leader to look inside himself and focus on his own personal development. The results will be reflected in the quality of that leader’s life and in the performance of his organization. By working on his own mental, emotional, physical and spiritual development, the leader will affect change in the life of his organization.
A Leader’s Mood – The Dimmer Switch of Performance
In response to a discussion on the effect of a leader’s mood on the performance of a team, a participant in a recent leadership workshop made this heartfelt and realistic remark: “I cannot see how I am expected to be in a good mood for four quarters in a row.” The point is well taken. But can you afford, as a leader, to even entertain this thought? All the research on employee performance points to the contrary. There is a concept in French which goes like this: “Noblesse oblige”. It means, roughly, that wealth, power and prestige go hand-in-hand with certain social responsibilities – in other words, the twin side of privilege is duty. And it is a privilege when we have the opportunity to lead a team of people, but with it, come many responsibilities, chief of which, some leadership pundits would contend, is managing moods.
In Leadership That Gets Results, Harvard Business Review, March 2000, Daniel Goleman cites research which shows that up to 30% of a company’s financial results, as measured in key business performance indicators, such as revenue growth, return on sales, efficiency and profitability, is determined by the climate of the organization. And what is the major factor that drives the climate of an organization? It’s the leader: roughly 50% to 70% of how employees perceive their organization’s climate is attributable to the actions and behaviors of their leader. A leader creates the environment that determines people’s moods at the office and their mood, in turn, affects their productivity and level of engagement. Witness the number of times you may have driven home with an internal glow, reliving a positive encounter with an upbeat and supportive boss, perhaps savoring a bon mot about your performance that he or she left with you on a Friday afternoon. How great it made you feel and how eager you were to get out of bed on the following Monday morning and get back to the office and give that man or woman the very best that you had to offer. That’s the “afterglow” that lingers and gives you renewed energy to be more productive, to bring your finest talents to work.
And think about the obverse of the afterglow – the aftermath, or bitter aftertaste. This is what Susan Scott, in “Fierce Conversations: Achieving Success at Work and in Life, One Conversation at a Time”, brilliantly calls The Emotional Wake. That’s what lingers with you after being the recipient of some acrid remarks from a leader in a negative mood. How did that affect your determination to overcome any difficulties in a project, to keep your heart fully engaged in the process, to want to continue to give that person your very best game?