Recently I was talking with a leader who I’ve worked with for nearly a decade. I would classify him as a friend, not just a colleague. During our conversation he provided me some feedback about how I could improve my performance. I immediately started to explain myself and some of my behaviors. (more…)
I’ll never forget facilitating a class with a group of leaders on the topic of difficult feedback. About half way through the class I noticed the group starting to squirm a little, looking uncomfortable and a bit unsure what to do with themselves. I looked around the room to see what might be happening to create this discomfort but nothing seemed apparent. Although I continued to facilitate it started to feel almost pointless. I was losing the groups interest and I was completely unsure as to what I was doing wrong. I was sensing frustration from them and I was definitely frustrated. Finally, one woman had the courage to stand up, lead me out into the middle of the hallway and point out that the third button down on my white, tailored shirt was undone and my shirt was gaping wide open. I was mortified! I quickly put myself back together and reunited with my class whom were all completely relieved that finally the cat was out of the bag. I was no longer working against my own interest trying desperately to connect with a group that was trying desperately to overlook me as much as possible.
Think about how much energy we waste by skirting around the real issue. Often, when we choose to withhold feedback we think we are being nice or diplomatic, but in reality were just being flat out scaredy pants. The true irony of this story is withholding feedback from people who would otherwise benefit from it is not a nice thing to do. Far from it! Feedback is what allows us to see what is otherwise invisible to us. It is a powerful flashlight that allows us to work in the light rather than the dark. Giving feedback is a respectful and caring way to say I believe in you and I want you to succeed. Without it we give others a false sense of security in their less than desirable performance.
Being courageous enough to provide useful feedback means saying what needs to be said, rather than what is easier to say, and saying what needs to be said, rather than what is easier for the other person to hear. In our personal lives and at work, we need to give and receive feedback before, during and after tough times. Tough times are situations or people that cause us some level of discomfort or pain. We give feedback before tough times so that we can prevent the tough time from happening or mitigate the extent to which we experience it. During tough times, giving and receiving feedback helps us to be more clear and move through our challenges more quickly. After tough times, we need feedback to help us learn from the experience. When we give and receive feedback either before, during or after tough times, we are adding meaning to the situation around us, helping ourselves and others to transform our pain into a growth experience.
What are some of the situations where you are withholding necessary feedback because you don’t want to say what needs to be said or where you are concerned the other person may not want to hear it? What are the consequences if you do not provide the feedback? Chances are we are better off speaking up in the long-term even if there is a short-term pain involved in the process.
~Personify Leadership
Have you ever found yourself in a dilemma where you are caught between doing what’s right and doing what you want to do? You know those ethical dilemmas that make being a leader with integrity a very unappealing path? (more…)
Are you interested in learning more about The Courageous Leader Program?
The Courageous Leader program is a one-day, highly engaging, development program focused on helping leaders build their courage muscles. It is based on the book, The Courageous Leader. Participants who attend The Courageous Leader™ program will be challenged to think differently about the role courage plays in leadership while being provided new tools and skills to address tough situations head on.
Download The Courageous Leader Program Brochure to learn more!
Angela was a senior leader in various industries and then took the courageous leap to become an entrepreneur. The result: she co-founded Personify Leadership with Michelle Cummings.
Her book, The Courageous Leader: How to Face Any Challenge and Lead Your Team to Success, builds on those many years of experience. Angela shares great client stories to show us how anyone at any level can choose to honor the courageous leader within themselves, as well as some of her own missteps and successes on the road to becoming who she is today. This is a must-read for anyone who aspires to become the type of leader others can look up to.
(more…)The Creative Corner: Team DiSC Graph We use the Everything DiSC Workplace assessment tool in the Personify Leadership program. We use this in our Voice and Ears modules where we teach leaders new skills in effective communication. We love this tool and how it identifies what our behavior preferences are — and the behavior preferences of our team members as well.
Team DiSC Graph
Recently we visited one of our clients who has had several of their team members go through the Personify Leadership program. We LOVED what they had done with their DiSC results when they returned to the office. They made a wall hanging of the DiSC grid, then had team members put their pictures on the grid where they ‘dotted out’ on the assessment. Individuals could choose to use a photo of themselves or create a cartoon Avatar that looked like them to place on the grid.
The graph is displayed prominently in the office as a constant reminder of the learning they had in the program. We all like to receive information differently, and that as leaders we sometimes need to change our communication style to meet the needs of others from time to time. This graph is a wonderfully creative idea that team members can utilize for weeks and months to come. Bravo!
Team DiSC Graph
Here are some things I love about this, and how you can apply this concept to your team:
- Anchor Tools:
Anchor Tools are creative ways to anchor the learning in a training back to the real world. This organization found additional ways to extend the life of their learning beyond our two-day program. This visual tool will anchor them back to the skills they learned in the training that will help them communicate better with one another long term. (What Anchor Tools can you use?)
- Public Display:
As humans, we can only absorb so much information in a short period of time. Memorizing the entire team’s DiSC styles would be impossible. By displaying these results publicly, individuals can quickly check the DiSC grid to recall the style of a team member before a meeting or conversation. (Do you have a Team Board or a visual reminder for team members to reference?)
I hope you enjoyed this first edition of The Creative Corner! Please let me know if you have any questions or ideas for future articles.
~ Michelle Cummings, CEO of Personify Leadership
This month we are focusing on The Eyes of a Leader, Be a Leader Who Has a Vision for the Future. Watch below as Michelle Cummings interviews Carl Larson about what makes teams successful and how he created the Drain Model. Dr. Carl Larson and his colleague Frank LaFasto conducted an in-depth study at The University of Denver about what makes a team successful. For over a decade, they collected and analyzed responses from more than 6,000 team members and leaders across a variety of industries, in both public and private sectors, to find out exactly what conditions help or hinder teams in achieving their goals. The voices of these team members-often eloquent, always enlightening-are heard through the quotations that appear throughout their book, When Teams Work Best. As a result of their findings, Larson and LaFasto created a model they call The Drain Model. With permission, Personify Leadership uses this model in our Eyes of a Leader module: Be a leader who has a vision for the future. (more…)
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At the heart of every high-performing organization is a strong leader – someone who drives the vision, creates the company culture and knows how to call the shots in a time of crisis. Wouldn’t it be great if every company had multiple leaders like that?
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