Susan Scott's Blog, page 18

Internal and External Self-awareness Skills – Where do you fall on the spectrum?

Hello Everyone,

I want to share with you an HBR article that covers research done by one of my favorite IO Psychologists, Tasha Eurich. I am a huge fan of her work that has mostly centered around the science and importance of self-awareness.

As you will recall, I have quoted in the past here work where 95% of people think they are self-aware, but only 10-15% really are. This article breaks this down further.

First, it defines self-awareness in two broad categories of internal self-awareness which is how we see ourselves and external self-awareness of how others view us.  And this may sound familiar for those with background in Fierce: Many times these are competing perspective… how we view ourselves versus others. You guessed it… both can be a reality.

The article breaks self-awareness into 4 archetypes based on levels of internal vs. external self-awareness. The article has a link to take a self-assessment and Tascha advocates that working on both are important to success.  Specifically, they require distinct skillsets:

Identification of what you are feeling and experiencing and being able to explore with deep introspection.Being able to ask for and absorb feedback from your external environment.

At Fierce we have been teaching tried and true techniques for giving and asking for feedback to promote a thriving culture of open dialogue and growth.

I am so happy and excited to announce we have recently launched an innovation that uses wearables to categorize your stress events and when merged with calendar and GPS data, help you determine what is biologically impacting you. This exploration and awareness can be done with a live coach or our proprietary AI BOT.

After self-awareness, we want to move you into action and show you how to tackle and solve your most pressing issues. This is what we have been doing for the past 20 years… teaching research backed conversation techniques that help your tackle your toughest challenges, reduce stress, and drive your personal and organizational outcomes.

We call our innovation Pulse by Fierce to further our mission of bettering the world one conversation at a time.

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How Does Hybrid Competence Stand Out From Your Existing Soft Skills?

 

Hello Everyone, I just learned about a newly defined soft skill called “Hybrid Competence”.  This is defined as the skills necessary to be successful in a remote and hybrid environment.

The article describes these skills as the ability to forge strong relationships and flexible thinking as a “source of Power”.

Additional skills called out are ability to multi-task, think flexibly, and navigate networks to be seen as trustworthy.

All these are great and as we have said, remote, hybrid, or in-office shouldn’t matter. Our research shows that the skill-sets necessary for both employees and managers to create and foster a transparent culture that focuses on results is exactly the same.

If your culture is suffering from toxicity, lack of collaboration, silos, high turnover, and missing goals, this is going to be the case regardless of your office policy.

The solve is in your employee’s ability to tackle their toughest challenges with feedback, confrontation when necessary and the ability to get curious; as well as conversations on setting formality for delegation and accountability.

All of this with the objective of enriching the relationships around them. These will help ensure you have a culture focused on results, an inclusive environment that avoids proximity bias and recognition for only those who choose to be in the office, at informal events, and partaking in other in-person influencing activities.

Fierce has been teaching these skills for over 20 years and now more than ever they are needed as we see shifts in how work gets done.

We want to retain the best employees and create the most inclusive environments for all stakeholders and at the end of the day reach our personal and company goals.

Remember – The conversation is the culture.

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Is Hybrid Competence Your Existing Soft Skill?

 

Hello Everyone, I just learned about a newly defined soft skill called “Hybrid Competence”.  This is defined as the skills necessary to be successful in a remote and hybrid environment.

The article describes these skills as the ability to forge strong relationships and flexible thinking as a “source of Power”.

Additional skills called out are ability to multi-task, think flexibly, and navigate networks to be seen as trustworthy.

All these are great and as we have said, remote, hybrid, or in-office shouldn’t matter. Our research shows that the skill-sets necessary for both employees and managers to create and foster a transparent culture that focuses on results is exactly the same.

If your culture is suffering from toxicity, lack of collaboration, silos, high turnover, and missing goals, this is going to be the case regardless of your office policy.

The solve is in your employee’s ability to tackle their toughest challenges with feedback, confrontation when necessary and the ability to get curious; as well as conversations on setting formality for delegation and accountability.

All of this with the objective of enriching the relationships around them. These will help ensure you have a culture focused on results, an inclusive environment that avoids proximity bias and recognition for only those who choose to be in the office, at informal events, and partaking in other in-person influencing activities.

Fierce has been teaching these skills for over 20 years and now more than ever they are needed as we see shifts in how work gets done.

We want to retain the best employees and create the most inclusive environments for all stakeholders and at the end of the day reach our personal and company goals.

Remember – The conversation is the culture.

The post Is Hybrid Competence Your Existing Soft Skill? appeared first on Fierce.

Foster a Culture of Accountability in Your Workplace

 

Wouldn’t life be great if everyone just did what they were supposed to do? Did what they said they’d do? Did what you told them to do? Imagine that utopian workplace where communication flowed freely in all directions – up, down, sideways, among your entire team, through functional areas, across regions, and around the globe. Picture that wonderful place where innovative projects are completed on-time, on budget, to wild acclaim. Clearly defined goals are set to achieve strategic priorities, aimed at bringing your company vision to life. Ahh, paradise!

The question is, who’s responsible for making that utopic vision a daily occurrence? The board? The CEO? The Leadership Team? Managers? You? In a word, everyone. Only when every one of us takes (notice the action verb there) responsibility for our achievements do we begin to realize a culture of accountability at work. And it all starts with you.

When was the last time you looked in the mirror and asked yourself, “What have I done to get myself here?” “Here” could be a wonderful place of joy and accomplishment, or a place of misery and stress. Either way, it’s our own choice and action – or inaction – that lead us to where we are. Unfortunately, it’s all too easy to lay the blame outside of ourselves. Just look at the way this article began, with questions aimed at envisioning an ideal state through the lens of “the other,” when we really should be asking ourselves, every day, “Given all that’s going on around me, what can I do, what will I do to move forward?”

At this point, especially if you’re among the 95% of us who are living with the daily stress of having more items for which you’re responsible than hours in the day, you’re probably thinking, “Take off the rose-colored glasses, Joe, and come back down to reality.” I get it, I feel you, I’m picking up what you’re putting down. There are many things that are beyond my control: a years-long worldwide pandemic, inflation, others who don’t set clear expectations, confused priorities, unclear goals. Yes, and, given all that is true, what will I do to improve my own performance, to contribute to my organization? Further, to foster a culture of accountability within my workplace, what will I do to enable my colleagues to get comfortable with the discomfort of asking themselves that very question – and then creating an action plan to bring it to life.

Start With These Fierce Training Models 

The great news: you’ve come to the right place. We have models, tools, and tangible steps you can take to foster a culture of accountability right now:

Accountability –help ourselves and others choose to be accountable Coach – get curious and dive deep with your team, your peers, your boss as they strive for to be more accountable and achieve their full potential Team – as you bring your accountable action-plan to life, leverage the brilliance around you to make the best possible decisions for you, your functional area, your organization Delegate – develop and grow the talent all around you by creating clear the expectations that enable others to choose accountability Feedback – with grace and candor, help those around you who are important to your own success see where they are falling victim to their conditions and then choose accountabilityConfront – enrich relationships by confronting the behavior of those around you who are struggling find their own accountability path

That’s how we make the world a better place, one conversation at a time!

 

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Pivot From Diversity Training to Leadership Development Coaching

Diversity Equity and Inclusion is a powerful initiative, and the right thing to do and many companies still don’t have it right.

Disturbingly, the article states based on their survey of companies:

93% of leaders agreed that the D&I agenda is a top priority, but only 34% believed that it’s a strength in their workplace. In another survey, 80% of HR professionals viewed companies as “going through the motions.”

The one strategy provided “Pivot from diversity training to leadership development coaching” resonates and is the position that we have taken here at Fierce.

For 20 years, we have taught conversation skills that improve day to day interactions and get results. On DE&I, we have taken the approach that the development has to be in the line of work and relevant to what the employee is facing in their employee lifecycle stage. For example, as a new hire, as a new manager, as a senior leader and so on. We have developed microlearning and 3D/VR simulations for each stage that solve for application, scale, and sustainability with the impacts of providing the exact skills necessary when needed.

We know this isn’t easy and we are committed to continuing to innovate our offerings to help support these impactful goals.

Thank you and remember, the conversation is the culture.

Tags: ##CEOcorner

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The Fierce Approach to Accountability

 Accountability, the most sought after and possibly least understood quality of any team or organization. It’s often associated with blame. I mean, think about it. How many times have you said or heard who’s accountable? Now, here’s the interesting thing. Accountability cannot be trained and it cannot be mandated. It’s a personal choice about how we live our lives. It’s a choice we make to move from a disempowered mentality to an accountable one.

The Fierce definition of accountability is a desire to take responsibility for results. It’s a bias towards solution and action. It’s an attitude, a personal, private, non-negotiable choice about how to live your life. Now, here’s the bottom line. Our context determines our results. We talk about this in foundations and in our accountability conversations model. And we facilitators will often say, I’m not going to ask you to justify your context because I know you can.

For example, if you feel the cards are stacked against you, I know you’ll be able to prove yourself right about that, no doubt. But the more important question that we should ask ourselves and others is, are you getting the results you want? And if not, how might you expand your context to get those results? When we’re not aware of our context and the way it impacts our results, we can easily fall into a disempowered mindset.

In other words, we may feel that the cards are stacked against us. We see other people as the problem. We see the situation as the problem. We see the circumstances as the problem. It’s not our fault and it’s out of our control. And guess what? We’re probably right about a lot of that. Now as leaders. We need to model accountability for others around us since it can’t be trained and can’t be mandated. Everyone around us is observing us and watching how we as leaders deal with challenges and adversity. So in situations where we feel the cards are stacked against us, or when we’re approached by others who feel that way, the most significant question we can ask ourselves and others is, given that all these things are true, what can I do to get a different result? When we look at our circumstances, when we look at our situations, the places where we feel the cards are stacked against us, we need to recognize that we may not have a choice about any of these things. We do, however, have a choice about our context. I’ll never forget during the pandemic, when the pandemic first hit, I was having to have that conversation with myself constantly to shift my context.

It was not easy for me to be isolated, distanced, socially distanced and working from home. So I constantly use this conversation with myself, our mineral rights conversation, to change my context, to get a different result. We at Fierce as a company had to do the same thing when the pandemic hit. So with accountability, I consciously make the switch from a disempowered mentality or this is happening to me and I move to an empowered, accountable mentality or mindset that sounds more like if it is to be, it’s up to me.

So instead of asking why, I ask what? So when you’re facing adversity or challenges and you feel like the cards are stacked against you, have the mineral rights conversation with yourself and ask yourself, given the current reality, what can I do to move this in a different direction? What can I do to get a different result? What can I learn here? What can I? How can I bring meaning to this situation? And when you have this conversation with yourself, meet yourself with empathy and compassion while you proactively change your outlook and thus your results. This is true accountability in a nutshell.

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How Employee Recognition has a Tangible Impact on Employees and the Culture

Hello, everyone. I want to share with you an article that highlights a study done by Gallup and Work Human that states that 50% of employees who say the recognition that they receive is not authentic and equitable are looking for a new job. A culture of recognition is defined as one in which gratitude, praise and appreciation are freely given and regularly receive in an authentic and equitable way. Some of the statistics from the study that highlight the benefits of having recognition in your culture are that employees are four times as likely to feel that they belong at their organization, four times as likely to be engaged, and this also supports their general well-being.

This also aligns well with the positive leadership course I have the opportunity to take at the University of Michigan through their executive education courses. I had to do one of the most challenging exercises ever. So imagine this. It’s the first day within the first hour or two, we’re sitting at desks or cohorts with four or five other people from different companies and across the US. And we’re asked to authentically identify and describe a positive behavior or attribute of each individual out loud to the group. Now, let me remind you, we barely met and from my career experiences up to that point, the training that I had received was more around focusing on areas for improvement. So this is a very foreign approach and as I mentioned, one of the most difficult exercises I’ve ever had to do up to that point.

So they showed a video of an award winning National Geographic photographer who highlighted some of his famous work. He showed how the most mundane field or an urban empty lot could have beauty if looked at from different angles. He showed how getting on top of a ladder or laying on the ground on his side with his head to the ground, could find the angle or the perspective that could accentuate and highlight aspects that were easily missed with a quick glance. And what these exercises and what the program was meant to do is to help you tune into the positive behaviors in your leadership of others versus negative or areas of improvement, which most of us are trained to do here.

Here at Fierce we’re passionate about providing the tools to give feedback. And we’ve always advocated that feedback is feedback. And even with positive feedback, it has to be based on observable behavior, such as, wow. The example you gave in that presentation really brought to life the themes we needed to understand versus, Hey, great job. Actionable and memorable feedback will always be based on tangible, observable behaviors and also help you enrich the relationships in your lives.

Remember, the conversation is the culture and it’s also the relationship. Thank you.

Tags: ##CEOcorner

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Is Stress Affecting Your Leadership Abilities? Here’s What You Should Do.

 

 

 

Living under an ever-growing mountain of projects and responsibilities seems to have been the name of the game for leaders since time immemorial. The result? We all know it, that familiar friend: stress, and lots of it. It’s something that most leaders simply accept as part of the deal. It’s true that stress is a normal part of leadership and really a normal part of life in general. But when that stress remains fixed or continually increases over time, things start to deteriorate. Your decision making suffers, your communication becomes reactive, and your employees take notice. Unaddressed stress is the ultimate morale killer and destroyer of productivity.

 

Fortunately, you can implement new practices that allow you to take back control of your headspace, that actually increase your focus and inspire new levels of creativity and productivity. We’re going to warn you here and now, though, that for some of you, these practices might feel strange; they might even seem like they’ll slow you down. But think of this as a worthy investment. Your ROI includes accomplishing more with less effort and time. That’s hard to beat.

 

Without further ado, here are the three practices you can implement today to help you knock out some of that killer stress.

1.  STOP. Yep, you read that right. You need to take a timeout. We know what you’re thinking. You’ve got too much on your plate, so taking a moment to stop sounds like the worst thing you could do right now. Your schedule and workload will just back up even more, which will only intensify your stress. You know you need a break, but you feel that giving yourself the mental reprieve you need will only backfire down the line. Your fear is understandable, but you also already know that doing more of the same is making matters worse. There’s only one alternative: do something different. It may well be that the counterintuitive thing to do is exactly what you need.

Ask yourself what might happen if you don’t give yourself a break. Whatever you do, you can’t expect things to stay the same. Why? Because while your daily routine might not be changing that much, your mind is. The more time you spend in a state of distress, the greater the negative impact will be on your mental health. So even if the daily grind makes you feel like a frazzled hampster stuck in a wheel, if you don’t find your way off the wheel to rest, you’ll just end up driving yourself toward exhaustion.

 

Now consider what might happen if you do give yourself a break. The worst case scenario is that you fall behind, at least initially. But what you gain as a result of pumping the brakes will eventually propel you forward. This works because rest helps clear the fog, allowing you to work more efficiently and make more prudent and timely decisions. In the end, you’ll spend less time doing the same amount of work, which means it’ll take even longer for you to reach those heightened levels of stress.

 

2.  Do the things you love, even if you don’t want to. This point is also counterintuitive. Often when we become overwhelmed with stress, it’s those things that would help us feel better that we avoid. We think to ourselves, “I just don’t have the energy to go on a hike or pursue this hobby right now.” It’s a strange truth, but it’s these very things that help us get out of our heads, to stop overthinking, and to temporarily disengage from the causes of our stress.

 

Imagine that you’re overburdened with ongoing projects in the office. Possible failure is ALL you can think about. It’s on your mind at breakfast, at work, during family time, at night before bed, and you even dream about it. You feel like you’ve got nothing left to invest in a hobby. But, the best thing you can do is make the conscious choice to go against your natural tendency, which might be to withdraw or shut down. If you exert that last shred of mental energy on the things you used to do that made you feel good, you’re actually forcing your brain to go in a new direction, to actively and intentionally focus on anything other than your stressors. And guess what? There’s a tremendous amount of relief to be found in that, and with relief and rest come clarity and calm.

 

3.  Move your body. Maybe you’re still saying, “I just don’t think I can take a timeout or muster the energy to do the things I love right now.” That’s okay. You can make those things your goals. In the meantime, there’s still something you can do, virtually anywhere and anytime: move! According to The Mayo Clinic, physical exercise increases the production of “your brain’s feel-good neurotransmitters, called endorphins.” As a result, it cuts down on the negative effects of stress and gives you a much needed mood boost.

 

There you have it; regular exercise does a body good. If you’ve got the time for that, take it. But remember, you don’t have to hit the gym to get many of these benefits. You can take action right where you are. For example, using a standing desk allows you the option to get on your feet while working. Or going for a ten minute stroll around your office building between meetings might be exactly what you need to get out of your head and into your body. Seriously, anything that gets you moving is a plus. If you’re new to exercise, be sure to consult your physician about any health concerns before giving it a try.

 

Doing the counterintuitive thing and pushing pause to direct your attention to your mental health does take away some of your precious time. But consider what you gain in return: relief, mental clarity, better focus and greater efficiency. Did you catch that last part? Self-care helps you make the best use of your time. It reduces your energy output required to complete projects and increases the positive outcomes for your effort. As a leader, you’ll also increase your odds of making more clear-headed, reasonable decisions. And at the end of the day, you feel better.

 

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Yes, ‘Change Exhaustion’ is a real thing

 

Hello, everyone, I read a practical that asks the question, what are managers doing about change exhaustion, and that’s right, change exhaustion. The article references a Gartner study that states that employee’s ability to cope with change is 50% at the level it was pre-pandemic. I mean, there’s a drastic drop. And they talk about things like resilience, fatigue, work from home fatigue, zoom fatigue, constantly changing, work returned to office fatigue, and so on. These are absolutely real stressors. And they offer a few suggestions to deal with these in our current environment.

Number one is to pause to acknowledge the change and the discomfort that comes with it. I like this, because instead of just jumping into action, as an impulse to create momentum, it’s really positing knowledge, the reality of what’s what’s happening.

Number two is to give yourself a break from perfection and state, I am a person who’s learning… and fill in the blank with whatever your situation is, for example, I’m learning to be a great manager in a remote environment, or for me, personally, I’m learning how to be a great keynote speaker.

Number three is be realistic that you have a plan that will change it’s going to happen, it will happen.

And the last one, number four is invest in rituals. Interestingly, the research states that it doesn’t matter what the ritual is doing the same thing at the same time improves your mental health. It provides a level of comfort.

The reality is is that leaders and organizations sometimes don’t have everything figured out. And that uncertainty can be unsettling for everyone around. Here a Fierce, we advocate to interrogate reality to provoke learning. This is to get curious and ask questions to garner a deeper understanding versus sitting with a feeling of not knowing or not understanding. However, you should absolutely be prepared to learn that this uncertainty is real, as well as inevitable that constant change is a staple of the current environment and the world that we live in today.

We are with you and we completely understand this exhaustion. And we want you to always remember that the conversation is the relationship and it is the culture. Thank you.

 

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Statistically, You Are Not Self Aware!

 

Hello, everyone, I want to share a research related article from Forbes that states that 50% of people are self aware. The study was shared by IO psychologist Tasha Eurich. She states that 95% of people think they’re self aware, where in actuality only 10 to 15% really are. The study scientifically links people who are self aware with better performance at work, getting more promotions, and most importantly, leading more effectively. And it also shows that companies with more self aware people generally perform better financially. So amazing results with these linkages.

The research advocates for being internally and externally aware. The reason why this article interests me is because of the work that we’re doing at Fierce or we’re linking our conversation tools, which help you tackle your toughest challenges, with scientifically reducing stress, and also achieving higher and personal success. However, we run into the same core issue, which is a lack of self awareness to pinpoint what it is that’s causing angst and or the problem that needs to be solved. The starting point really is self exploration and analysis and then asking for feedback in your environment.

You know when something’s not right, and it’s absolutely up to you to stay awake and manage your gradualies to navigate more of your desired suddens. We’re passionate about this work and making it easy for people to identify their daily stressors and then tools to tackle them head on.

Thank you and remember the conversation is the culture.

5 Conversations You Need To Start Having Today

Learn how to successfully navigate the most common conversations with this free eBook.

Download eBook >

Tags: ##CEOcorner

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