Six Steps to Effective Leadership Joyce Osland San Jose State University

Which is true and why?  The first step in becoming a truly effective leaders is wanting to be a leader.  Behaving as and becoming an effective leader is a secondary by-product of an intense commitment to a purpose.

Why is your center or core crucial to your ability to lead?  More powerful influence on others  Without it, you’ll be off-balance and can’t be an anchor to others  More able to withstand criticism and adversity

1. Clarifying Your Center. How?  Example of Matsushita Leadership Center  Determining your life’s purpose  What you stand for: engagement  Developing character: Ends versus Means  Meditation

“Leadership is an act of engagement.” Alexander Horniman

2. Clarifying What’s Possible  Don’t let the urgent drive out the important  Set aside time to think and meditate – discipline your mind to think about the future  Read outside your field to get ideas  Build scenarios  Don’t be discouraged by constraints

3. Clarifying What Others Can Contribute  Basic assumptions about others – don’t think in limited terms about what they can accomplish  Identifying the critical skills – don’t limit your thinking about what skills you really need

FMC’s Welder Selection Process  Assumptions: Organization’s process was more important than its technical skills (highly qualified people who can’t work together would be less effective than moderately talented people who could) Organization’s process was more important than its technical skills (highly qualified people who can’t work together would be less effective than moderately talented people who could) Social skills are harder to teach than technical skills Social skills are harder to teach than technical skills People trained in one technical way, reinforced by union experience focused on a narrow range of skills would have difficulty learning new methods. People trained in one technical way, reinforced by union experience focused on a narrow range of skills would have difficulty learning new methods.

FMC’s Welder Selection Process  Critical Skills – selection criteria: Self-esteem – able to accept feedback Self-esteem – able to accept feedback Learning attitude – eager to learn new skills Learning attitude – eager to learn new skills Team spirit – willing to share the work and responsibility for results Team spirit – willing to share the work and responsibility for results Pride in quality – focused on improving their work Pride in quality – focused on improving their work Four hour recruiting/screening process: choice?

4. Supporting Others so They Can Contribute By redesigning work systems  Information Age Organizational Stuctures – What did BancOne do?  Empowering Systems Design Design systems that give individuals more autonomy about organizing their own work Design systems that give individuals more autonomy about organizing their own work Aim for rapid use of good info and multiple talents of employees Aim for rapid use of good info and multiple talents of employees

5. Being Relentless  Refers to the stamina and tenacity leaders need  Is your life a motorboat or a wood chip?  Easily chosen goals do not lead to deep commitment  Relentlessness comes from self- confidence

6. Measuring and Celebrating Progress  Focusing on the right measures Can you think of an example of poor measures of progress that harmed a leadership effort? Can you think of an example of poor measures of progress that harmed a leadership effort?  Focusing on the glass half-full Look for progress and celebrate it Look for progress and celebrate it Examples of celebrating progress? Examples of celebrating progress?

Leadership and Intelligence  IQ Genetic Genetic Revealed in curiosity Revealed in curiosity Honed by discipline in study Honed by discipline in study Supported by a range of experiences Supported by a range of experiences

Emotional Intelligence  1. Recognizing your own emotions  2. Managing your emotions appropriately  3. Productive self-talk out of emotional hijackings

Emotional Hijacks  Occurs when a person begins with a little emotion that then builds and builds in intensity until the person is overwhelmed by it.  Usually related to anger, fear, and depression  At its height, people cannot think clearly or make good decisions  Blame the amygdala

EQ Tips  Improving your ability to recognize your emotions Reflection: “What am I feeling now?”  Managing your emotions People in successful firms don’t “act out” their feelings; they discuss them. Productive self-talk (“I can’t control his behavior, but I can control my own attitude towards him.”) Decide you want to be in control of your emotions and set your goals accordingly (“I want to learn how not to be jealous/irritable/depressed.”) Which behavioral option do I want to choose, rather than be at the mercy of my emotions? Use of meditation, prayer

SOCIAL QUOTIENT  Has to do with recognizing and managing the emotions in others  The better you are at understanding your own emotions, the more likely you are to be adept at picking up on others’.

SOCIAL QUOTIENT  Recognizing the emotions of others Picking up nonverbal cues Picking up nonverbal cues  Listening actively and attentively  Caring about others’ emotional states Empathy – share their emotional experience Empathy – share their emotional experience Be concerned for them Be concerned for them  Helping others manage their emotions Coach them out of emotional hijackings Coach them out of emotional hijackings Help them identify why they feel as they do and examine their assumptions Help them identify why they feel as they do and examine their assumptions Resolve conflicts Resolve conflicts

Video Recognition Test  What emotions can you observe in these two men, Carlos and George? What cues did you use?  Diagram the interplay between their emotional responses. CarlosGeorge cue--emotioncue—emotion

Video Recognition Test How did Carlos exhibit emotional intelligence: With the female subordinate? With the female subordinate? With his boss, George? With his boss, George? How did George exhibit emotional intelligence?

Conducting a Stakeholder Dialogue  Dialogue is about listening and learning. You have had an opportunity to learn about the goals and perspectives of the other stakeholders. Your task in the next 45 minutes is to engage in a dialogue to deepen understanding and discover areas of common ground.  Suspend judgments, clarify assumptions and communicate clearly and respectfully.  At the end take 5 minutes to: Describe 3-5 areas of agreement or directions in which solutions might be found Describe 3-5 areas of agreement or directions in which solutions might be found Describe 3 areas of disagreement that any solution will have to creatively address. Describe 3 areas of disagreement that any solution will have to creatively address.

Finding Solutions In this exercise, the focus shifts from dialogue to discussion as your group attempts to find solutions to the dispute. Discussion is needed when you must evaluate options and develop agreements and action plans. You have 30 minutes to: 1. Generate a list of innovative ideas for ways to move forward in resolving this conflict. Come up with win-win ideas acceptable to everyone. Try to get a lot of ideas on the table first without judging them as good or bad.

Finding Solutions…  2. Once you have enough ideas on the table, pick at least 5 ideas that seem most promising. Remember that the solution must be acceptable to the broader stakeholder group members not just those at the “table.”  3. Explore the most promising ideas and write a brief one-sentence description of each that you can all agree to support and a brief action plan. All representatives must sign this document.