As we begin to see
the green shoots of recovery and a drop in unemployment, the labour market will
once again become more active. What are
you doing to engage and keep your best people while continuing to be firm and
fair with any underperformance?
The deepest recession
in living memory led to a shift in management style from easy-going to a far
more authoritarian style. This may have
been necessary in order to make some drastic changes to business models and
tighten business practices as the economy lurched from double-dip recession to
a long painful crawl out of the downturn.
However whilst people may have come to accept it as many businesses
struggled to survive, recent scientific studies show that if there is a lack of
trust in senior management, people will leave as soon as the opportunity arises. Unfortunately, it is often the best people
who are first to go because they know what they are worth and the changing
labour market means that they may make a move sooner rather than later.
This means that if
leaders are not able to adapt their style they will lose their best
people. The latest thinking, based on
significant research by Amy Cuddy, an associate professor of business
administration at Harvard Business School, is that leaders need to exercise a
balance of compassion and power and interestingly it needs to be in that order. Amy, and her colleagues in the Behavioural
Science, have discovered that 90% of our judgements about our positive or
negative impressions of people around us rely on whether we believe that they
are warm, caring and trustworthy i.e. “What are their intentions towards me?”
and do they have the strength and power to take action, i.e. “Is he or she
capable of acting on those intentions?”
Leading with Power first
Most leaders are
fearful of appearing weak or soft and want to be seen as strong, competent and
in charge. This is all well and good but
if it is done without warmth and compassion it undermines trust and breeds
envy, disengagement and resentment. If
you expect people to respect and trust you just because you are competent you
are missing half the picture. You won’t
engage your people and your ability to influence them is significantly
reduced. They may do what you want but
they won’t truly support you and your ideas – they won’t see you as their
‘Leader’ because they are not inclined to follow you. They will also be less inclined to adopt the
values, culture and vision of the organisation in a sincere, lasting and
meaningful way. In fact they will probably be keeping their eyes open for other
opportunities to find a Leader they feel they can trust and genuinely want to
follow. In a worst case scenario, they
may even try and derail your efforts or your career.
Leading with Compassion first
When people evaluate
us, our genuine warmth and sense of compassion contributes significantly more
than our competence. Studies show that
when making judgements, people are consistently quicker to pick up on warmth
than competence. This is based on our ‘spontaneous trait inferences’ – the snap
judgements we make (often on a below conscious level) when briefly looking at
faces. The implications in business are
huge. Trust increases information sharing
and cooperation, it also facilitates the exchange of ideas and allows people to
hear and accept the messages and thoughts of others. People allow themselves to be influenced by
people they trust, this means leading with compassion provides the opportunity
to change people’s attitudes and beliefs as well as their behaviour. However, it is worth noting that warmth
without competence generates a sense of pity and ultimately being neglected.
Calm confidence
The best way to gain
influence, engagement and trust is to combine compassion with power. The very nature of being in charge and having
power increases our Testosterone and reduces our Cortisol. Testosterone makes us feel more assertive,
reduces fear and increases our willingness to take risks; Cortisol is linked to
sensitivity to stress and reactivity.
This combination can decrease our understanding of other people’s point
of view; it also diminishes our ability to see them as individuals. So wise leaders need to make conscious and
consistent effort to put themselves in the shoes of others and see things from
their perspective.
Once we can do this,
we can demonstrate genuine awareness of others and acknowledge their points of
view (we don’t necessarily have to accept them). By acknowledging others, we are addressing a
deep human need to be understood. By showing
understanding and compassion whilst maintaining our power to influence and make
decisions, we can remain calm and confident that developing trust will
encourage people to do the right things and live up to their commitments. This authentic demeanour can build and
engender deep trust and respect.
It is also important
to be able to demonstrate that you are able and willing to address the
difficult issues like underperformance (including underperformance at a senior
level) and making the difficult decisions like clarifying conflicting
priorities. If these issues are not
tackled competently you will undermine your leadership and authority
Amy and her
colleagues have come up with some useful tips for projecting compassion and
power.
Projecting Compassion
To project compassion
and warmth:
1. Find the right
level and be authentic, you don’t want to be too gushing or you will lose
credibility, nor too cool as people will interpret it as just saying the words
without meaning them.
- Speak
in lower pitch and volume, as if comforting a friend.
-
Share a personal story, demonstrate that you are confiding in them and being
forthcoming and open. This can put you on an equal footing for a moment and
help people to identify with you.
2. Validate feelings,
acknowledge the elephant in the room and show you understand how they must be
feeling.
- Agree
with the feelings.
- Show its ok to feel as they do.
3. Smile, and mean
it. A genuine smile is contagious.
- A fake
or polite smile is easily detected; a real smile involves many more muscles
than the mouth alone.
- Think
happy thoughts. Be grateful for what you have in your life. Love them for being
human and genuine. This produces the neuropeptides oxytocin, arginine and
vasopressin which have been linked to our ability to form human attachments, to
feel and express warmth and to behave altruistically.
- Keep
your eyebrows level. Raised eyebrows can
signal being over-eager to please and be liked.
It also signals anxiety which can be as contagious as a smile.
Projecting Power
To project power and
strength:
1. Feel in command
- This
comes from within and can take some practice. To feel more powerful adopt ‘power
poses’, they trigger the production of testosterone and reduce cortisol, making
you feel more confident – they don’t increase your dominance over others. For example, use your body to stand erect,
hands on hips, sit spread wide, head up, etc.
Only do this as a warm-up when you're about to go into a situation, not
during it. (For
more on this click here)
2. Stand up straight
- This
can’t be emphasised enough. If you want to have credibility and authority do
not slouch, you need to stand upright physically and mentally. This is not about puffing out your chest and
jutting your chin out – military style – but having an upright posture with
relaxed shoulders and weight balanced on both feet. Make eye contact with people, and it helps to
have a calm expression.
3. Move deliberately
- Be
clear about where you are moving to, move deliberately to a specific spot and then
be still. Fidgeting, tapping fingers, feet or hands sends the signal that you
are not in control. Stillness demonstrates calm confidence and holding yourself
as above achieves what is known as ‘poise’, an important aspect of credibility
and having presence.
The Crises in Engagement and Trust
There is currently
massive disengagement in the workplace, many studies of staff surveys show
shocking statistics of people not trusting their leaders or managers and
disengaging from their work and any sense of loyalty to their employer. There is also a crisis of trust in many
boardrooms and this can seriously undermine a successful business. By
practicing the above, you will begin to shift the attitudes, beliefs and
behaviours of your people. If you don’t,
you may well lose your best people over the next 12 months.
You may also want to
consider the development needs of your leaders and managers so they become more
competent. If you have any questions or
comments, or you are interested in exploring our online resources or in-house
programmes don’t hesitate to contact me.
Remember
. . . Stay Curious!
With best regards
David
Klaasen
www.InspiredWorking.com
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