As leaders we often feel the need to be our own counsel, alternated with the responsibility to be attuned to changes in the business world at large and the “engagement cadence” within our own organization. Where do you make the room to listen to your inner core? In The Talent Masters- Why Smart Leaders Put People Before the Numbers by Ram Charan and Bill Conarty, a chapter dedicated to a case study about the pharmaceutical company Novartis, elaborates on how self-knowledge builds leadership capability. When do you get to be introspective? Do your insights evaporate when you walk in the door in the morning, driven by pre-existing agendas? After all, it’s human nature that the people around us don’t like change… how do you align what drives you personally with where your company needs to go? The subjectivity of your passions determines how you frame an issue, and your strengths and personal values can align with company purpose. If you haven’t given yourself some “summer sabbatical” time to do this, give this gift to yourself- Charan and Conarty say it expands personal capacity and unleashes tremendous energy.
A study by Towers Watson shows 43 percent of employees across private sector organizations in the United States feel they don't get enough guidance to improve their performance. Moreover when was the last time we asked for feedback? Remember when Ed Koch was Mayor of NYC? Koch was famous for asking, “How am I doing?” "Asking for and getting feedback is a critical means for us to evaluate our own self perceptions and to determine how we are perceived by others in the organization…knowing how to receive feedback starts with correctly asking for it,” says Minu Ipe, clinical associate professor of management at the W. P. Carey School of Business. When requesting feedback we need to think about who it will benefit-- the receiver or the giver. If the question is focused, we may get feedback about what is important to us, but if the question broad, we’re more likely to get feedback about something that will benefit the giver as well (provided there is a subsequent behavior change on our part). Before your reflective sabbatical take time to collect some feedback.
The best reviews of performance begin with introspection. Rob Goffee and Gareth Jones at the London Business School ask the right question in their book, Why Should Anyone Be Led by You? They suggest “be yourself more, with skill”- that takes authenticity and practice- two great areas to collect feedback on from our followers. Ultimately as leaders we strive to know who we are, know where the organization could go, and excite and guide followers to take the organization there.
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photo courtesy of evoljen
Hi Joy. I enjoyed your article. As a reformed New Yorker, I remember Mayor Koch asking for feedback. However, this begs the question; how do we interpret and utilize that feedback? Feedback, both good and bad, contributes to our self-awareness and serves as an external source that encourages our personal growth and development. If we accept feedback as self-awareness, we may use our coworkers’ feedback to bolster our strengths, or to identify those areas in which we need improvement. How we respond to feedback can affect working relationships, affect team communication and increase our own personal energy.
Self-awareness is our top-of-consciousness lens of perception. Because every person reacts, learns, and synthesizes information differently, self-knowledge and introspection enables us to examine our values, attitudes, learning style and interpersonal needs. Our learning style reflects our inclination to perceive, interpret and respond to information in a certain way. Self-awareness itself is often viewed as the first step in professional development and personal growth.
For example, professional growth occurs when one broadens their perceptions and can see another person's point of view - even though they may not agree with it. The notion of “learning agility” is used as we talk about development that unlocks the learning capacity of individuals. Learning agility refers to the speed with which we process new information, practice new behaviors and apply new strategies to solve new challenges. The definition of professional development through feedback may then be expanded to incorporate any type of development as an ongoing process of learning, incorporating new information to bring about new types of cognitive change. Many of us will knowingly do this multiple times through our jobs, careers and avocational pursuits.
Cognitive studies show that learning/training without challenge/acceptance makes the former incomplete. When learning is accompanied with acceptance of challenge ( also means commitment to implement learning) then that insures growth. This leads to a sense of ownership / commitment once this becomes a corporate practice. It is for the corporate the basis of knowledge bank development.
The environment that facilitates growth is a retentive once; and if it is to be oversimplified in one word it is "transparency". An employee whose input/ effort and work output is known transparently across the organization feels safe and this reinforces the sense of belonging. While we all know that appreciation and acknowledgement are key cognitive needs to keep talent motivated, we continue to use old industrial tools like remuneration, prizes and awards. The principle cognitive need of the knowledge worker is for his/her work to be known by ALL PEERS, and not just top management. Transparency is only created by data and that requires technology. While these cognitive issues are well known as intangibles, the challenge is to incorporate processes within DIGITAL systems that satisfy the cognitive needs. The lack of job satisfaction is almost always in large organizations despite higher remuneration; because an individual knowledge worker amongst tens of thousands of employees almost always feels "unrecognized". Technology can be used through processes because unless this is scaleable to satisfy intangible perceptions of each within tens of thousands. This applies MOST to service industry where 100% of the resource is Human Capital.