Growing Gratitude Challenge - Day Two - People

Day two of the Growing Gratitude challenge is focusing on people.

It’s helpful to think about what the purpose of gratitude might be. Part of the function of gratitude is to form new social connections and build existing connections. Gratitude is like glue in relationships - helping to strengthen connections and support. Gratitude is often focused towards people - people we value and who have helped us in some tangible way. What we should aim for is to be someone that others can be grateful for - to pay it forward.

So there are three things that we can focus on when it comes to gratitude and people. We can be grateful for people - that gratitude will help us. We can express that gratitude to people - that will help us and them. And we can undertake acts of kindness for others. That will help others to be grateful for us, and will help us in the process. 

Some research that I often quote involved a workplace where people were asked to perform kind acts for others. The kind acts were definitely appreciated by those on the receiving end. But what is most striking in this research is that those undertaking acts of kindness rated their life satisfaction and job satisfaction higher a full month after the intervention finished. Being kind to others had a lasting impact on those undertaking the kind act. In addition, those on the receiving end of kind acts also tended to pay that kindness forward to others. The research really confirms what we would hope to be true - that kindness multiplies and has lasting impacts.

Today I’m challenging you, not just to spend some time reflecting, but to take action.

First, think about people in your life for whom you are grateful. List as many names as you can. 

Next, spend 15 minutes sending people quick notes of appreciation and gratitude. It could be an email or a text, or you might even call someone up. It might even mean reconnecting with someone from years ago that you have really appreciated but potentially never thanked.

This next one might be challenging, but today I’d like you to express appreciation to a stranger. It might be the person who made your coffee, or the person who packed your bag at the supermarket, or the delivery driver that dropped off a package. Look out for an opportunity to appreciate someone and let them know.

And, finally, undertake a kind act for someone. It might be to deliver a small gift or perhaps it’s helping someone out.

Across the day, monitor your mood and emotions. Think about the impact of these acts of appreciation on you and others.

Download the workbook at Leadership Today or via Leadership Today On-Demand

Growing Gratitude Challenge - Day One - The Case for Gratitude

Welcome to day one of the growing gratitude challenge. 

So why, as leaders, would we spend a week focusing on gratitude? To answer that, we need to think about what gratitude is.

From a psychological perspective, it’s best to think of gratitude as having two elements. The first element is recognising the good things in our life. Most people would agree with that definition. The second element though is often overlooked, and that is appreciating that many of these good things are due to other people and factors other than ourselves. Much of what we can be grateful for in life is a gift from others rather than a reward for our own actions. Gratitude only really makes sense in the context of community - whether that’s the community around you at work, where you study, where you live, or with your family and friends.

Gratitude is both an emotional state and an ongoing trait or disposition. We can feel gratitude in a moment. But we can also develop a grateful outlook to our life. We can actively seek out things to be grateful for through daily practices. Equally, we can seek out things to be disappointed or negative about. Much of gratitude is in the outlook we bring and where we choose to focus our attention and efforts.

So why does gratitude matter? The research into gratitude outlines a range of benefits. For the individual the benefits of gratitude range from improved physical and mental health, elevated mood and happiness, increased life satisfaction, and reduced burnout. By way of example, patients recovering from heart failure who completed a gratitude journal had reduced signs of inflammation after an 8 week period. Other research showed people reported better and longer sleep, and improved overall physical health by increasing their practice of gratitude.

For groups and organisations, research has demonstrated that gratitude can increase generosity and kindness, while helping to build stronger relationships and improving work climate. Gratitude is like the glue for society that binds people together. If someone is generous towards you, you’re likely to feel grateful and, in turn, do something nice back for them or for someone else. Gratitude multiplies.

So on day one of this challenge, I would like you to think about the current balance of negative and positive inputs into your life at the moment. What are you feeding yourself? Where are you focusing your attention? 

By way of example, I recently found myself becoming absorbed in true crime documentaries on Netflix. Before long, the world around me seemed to be filled with art thieves and serial killers. I had let the ratio of negative to positive inputs become out of balance, and it changed my outlook on the world. So we start this challenge with two simple reflections:

What people, activities or habits feed your disappointment or discouragement? What is bringing you down at the moment?

What people, activities or habits feed your gratitude? What is elevating you up at the moment?

Note down your thoughts in your workbook. 

Download the workbook at Leadership Today or via Leadership Today On-Demand

Growing Gratitude Challenge - Introduction

Hi everyone. The Leadership Today podcast is going to be a little different over the next week as we undertake what I have called the Growing Gratitude Five Day Challenge.

It’s all too easy in the busy-ness of life to become caught up in the negatives - the obstacles, complaints and risks. We’re hard wired to identify threats. However, this obsession with the negatives in life comes at a cost. The Growing Gratitude challenge is all about restoring some balance and capitalising on the benefits that a more positive mindset brings. This isn’t some overly-optimistic wishful thinking - it’s about bringing an evidence-based approach to increasing our performance and well-being through gratitude.

The challenge is running live from 14th to 18th June 2021 at Leadership Today On-Demand and via the Leadership Today podcast.

Each morning starts with an introduction to the challenge for that day. These are backed up by a workbook that includes a range of activities. You can download the workbook via our website - leadership.today. Links are in the show notes.

I’m looking forward to working with you across the week.

Download the workbook at Leadership Today or via Leadership Today On-Demand

Episode 116 - Exercise Reduces Stress and Stress Reduces Exercise

Summary

Are you less interested in exercise after a hard day at work even though you know it will make you feel better? You’re not alone. And research has discovered why.

Transcript

Hello and welcome to episode 116 of the Leadership Today podcast where each week we bring research to life in your leadership. In this episode we’re looking at why a stressful day at work makes us even less likely to exercise, despite that being exactly what we need. 

If you have a stressful job chances are you already know that exercise will help. Exercise is a great antidote for stress. Exercise effectively burns through stress hormones such as adrenaline and cortisol. In addition, exercise can stimulate production of endorphins which boost our mood and also reduce pain. 

But perhaps you have also had this experience: It has been a hard day at work. You know that a quick visit to the gym or walk will make you feel better. But you’re even less motivated than usual to exercise. You know exercise will help you to feel better, but still you don’t do it.

Recent research suggests that the design of our job can have an impact not just on our stress levels at work, but also on the actions we take outside of work to reduce stress. It turns out that the more demanding our day at work, the less likely we are to exercise.

The research involved setting up a call-centre environment where the demands of the job and level of individual control could be varied. The researchers initially set up two versions of a call-centre job - one with greater demands and one with lesser demands placed on the individual. After their shift, participants were then invited to exercise. Those with the more demanding versions of the job undertook less exercise. Having just experienced a demanding job reduced the exercise they would have otherwise have undertaken.

Researchers then repeated the experiment, but this time some participants were allowed greater freedom and control over the job. They found initial evidence that greater autonomy and freedom positively impacted the individual’s sense of control outside of the job, which in turn could influence the amount of exercise they chose to undertake.

So it appears that job characteristics such as demands and autonomy impact exercise. Our work spills over into the rest of our life.

However, there are things we can do to help change this pattern.

1. Exercise at the start of the day - this will help to buffer you against stress and also increase sense of control

2. Make exercise a habit not a choice - remove obstacles to exercise by laying out your gym clothes the night before

3. Focus on how you will feel at the end - starting exercise can be painful, but you almost always feel great after a workout - focus on that feeling to get you over the initial hump

4. Vary the demand level in your job and build in breaks - chronic stress is terrible for us, so mix up your day to include breaks and recovery time

So this week, get moving even when you don’t feel like it. Focus on the benefits and remove the obstacles. Have a great week.

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Reference

Abdel Hadi, S., Mojzisch, A., Parker, S. L., & Häusser, J. A. (2021). Experimental evidence for the effects of job demands and job control on physical activity after work. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 27(1), 125–141. https://doi.org/10.1037/xap0000333

Episode 115 - Eight Steps to Effective Delegation

Summary

This week we explore how showing the right amount of emotion can improve the impact you have on others and their willingness to invest in your ideas.

Transcript

Hello and welcome to episode 115 of the Leadership Today podcast where each week we bring research to life in your leadership. In this episode we’re exploring eight steps to effective delegation.

There are a whole host of reasons why people don’t delegate. Perhaps they are worried about quality of the results. Or they just don’t have the time to delegate. Many have had bad experiences with delegation going wrong in the past. However, effective delegation is at the core of great leadership. The rate we delegate sets the pace at which we progress.

Let’s start by with five initial questions to answer before you even start delegating:

1. Does it need to be done? Organisations are generally great at starting new things and terrible at shutting down old things. So before you even delegate, consider whether you can eliminate the task altogether.

2. Does it need to be done by me? There are some things which you can’t fully delegate. This can include financial approval limits or performance management accountabilities. But, truth be told, you can probably delegate more responsibilities than you expect.

3. Does someone else have capacity? If there is no one with capacity to delegate to, then you either need to free up capacity or keep doing it yourself. Rather than just stopping here, I encourage you to work with each of your people to make sure they are focusing on the right things and have the resources they need to be efficient. This might just free up the capacity that you need to delegate.

4. Does someone else have capability? It could be that no one in your team currently has the skills required to take on the accountability you’re seeking to delegate. That’s not necessarily a reason to stop, but rather speaks to the fifth initial question.

5. Do I have the capacity to develop their capability? You may think you don’t have sufficient time to train someone up to your standard. But, by way of example, let’s take an accountability that you currently invest 30 minutes a week into. Across a year that is around 24 hours. So, even if it takes you an entire day of concerted effort to train that person up and review their work, you’re still a full two days ahead in the first year, and then three days ahead every subsequent year. Delegation is an investment.

So hopefully you’ve worked through these initial questions and you’re still keen to delegate. Here are eight simple steps to follow to make that delegation work as well as possible.

1. Match their interests. Delegation is so much more effective if you match the interests of the person you are delegating to. Help them to answer “why me?” when you delegate. Perhaps the new accountability aligns with their development plan. Or perhaps you’ve noticed a skill that they can apply in a new way. Whatever it is, help the person to see how this opportunity aligns with their interests.

2. Detail the desired outcomes. It’s really helpful for people to see clearly what you’re after as an end result. That could mean providing an example of a report or other output. Or, if it’s delegating attendance at a meeting, you might invite that person along to a few meetings first with you so they can see what is expected.

3. Outline why this work matters. People really appreciate knowing what their work is contributing to. Understanding the broader purpose of what you are delegating also helps them to make better decisions about their approach to the new accountability.

4. Detail the support available and check-in points. Delegation requires support. One of the traps I fell into when first delegating work was not setting up check-in points. As a result, a week goes by, I haven’t heard anything about how things are progressing, so I drop by the person’s desk to see how it is going. Then a week later I do the same thing again. The problem being that checking in that way feels a lot like micro-management and a lack of trust. How different it is to establish check-in points up front in consultation with the person you’re delegating to. Then the check-ins don’t feel like micro-management, rather they feel like support.

5. Outline the constraints. A risk when we delegate is that the person tries to achieve an outcome exactly the same way we did it. Often the person being delegated to feels like there are more constraints on the activity than there actually are. Occasionally people may not recognise an actual constraint and step outside of what is possible. Either way, we need to let people know what limits are in place.

6. Review what has been agreed. When you ask someone “do you have any questions?”, 99% of the time they will say “no” even if they do have questions. Why? Because they are concerned that having a question might reflect badly on them or badly on you. Badly on them because they clearly didn’t understand, and badly on you because you didn’t explain it well enough. So they just say “no - no questions here”. Instead, you could ask “what questions to you have?”. That sets an expectation that they will have questions. Then ask them to describe what it is that they are delivering in their own words - not as a test, but rather to confirm clarity all round.

7. Provide direction, encouragement and check-in as agreed. Basically, follow through on what you said you would do. A great way to do this is simply to set aside 15 minutes each week at a particular time to catch up about what has been delegated. That way the person can store up any questions or concerns. Maybe you don’t need the catch up every time, but it is really helpful for the person when they do need it.

8. Review learnings and celebrate success. People often underestimate just how much they have learned and developed. So when we delegate, it is great to celebrate the person successfully taking on that new responsibility.

I hope you found that approach to delegation helpful. All the steps are detailed in the show notes which you can access at our website Leadership.Today - and while you are there, why not sign up for our upcoming webinar called Delegation Without the Drama on the 27th or 28th of May depending on where you are in the world. There’s a link to register in the show notes. Have a great week.

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Episode 114 - Who Said Showing Emotion Doesn’t Pay?

Summary

This week we explore how showing the right amount of emotion can improve the impact you have on others and their willingness to invest in your ideas.

Transcript

Hello and welcome to episode 114 of the Leadership Today podcast where each week we bring research to life in your leadership. This week we explore how showing the right amount of emotion can improve the impact you have on others and their willingness to invest in your ideas.

A common misunderstanding of Emotional Intelligence is that it’s all about holding back our emotions. This is certainly a part of Emotional Intelligence. After all, yelling at someone in the lunch room at work for not putting their cup in the dishwasher is probably not going to win you an employee of the month award. But Emotional Intelligence is not just about holding back emotions that might have a negative impact on others. It’s also about harnessing our emotions to have a more positive impact on others. Our ability to understand our own emotional state and how to manage our emotions is crucial, as is being able to empathise with others and build effective relationships. The goal of building Emotional Intelligence isn’t to become emotion-less. Rather it’s to acknowledge and use our emotions to improve our impact and performance.

However, showing too much emotion can also be off putting to others. We need to be able to read the situation. It ends up being the classic Goldilocks scenario, where we need to demonstrate enough, but not too much, emotion.

This has been backed up by a recent study. Researchers used facial analysis software to scan through around 500 Kickstarter promotional videos. Kickstarter is a platform that allows people to gain funding for their prototype ideas with people committing funds to buy the product, but only being charged once the product is produced and shipped. Sometimes there’s enough funding to go ahead, and sometimes there isn’t. It was relatively easy for researchers to measure the effectiveness of each Kickstarter campaign through the funding it received. Meanwhile, the facial analysis software examined each frame of every pitch video to determine the emotion being demonstrated. 

What the study found was fascinating. The pitches that included facial expressions moving through a range of happiness, anger, sadness and fear ended up being more successful in terms of funding. It seems like the range of facial expressions and the emotions they convey has a positive impact on those choosing to invest or walk away. 

Their qualitative analysis showed that effective pitches involved initial signs of happiness as the entrepreneur introduced themselves, followed by anger to demonstrate their determination to overcome a problem, followed then by fear as they talked about the risk and challenge.

Those who were less successful tended to use a more consistent emotional expression - perhaps smiling the whole way through or demonstrating little overt emotion. 

There are limits to this approach though. Showing too much of one emotion too often though was associated with less funding received. 

So this week, feel free to show a little more emotion at work. Express your hope for the future, your determination to succeed, your excitement at working with your colleagues. Above all though - be yourself and harness your emotions. And while we’re talking about improving your leadership, just a reminder that we have an upcoming webinar called Delegation Without the Drama on the 27th or 28th of May depending on where you are in the world. There’s a link to register in the show notes. Have a great week.

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Reference

Benjamin J. Warnick, Blakley C. Davis, Thomas H. Allison, Aaron H. Anglin. Express yourself: Facial expression of happiness, anger, fear, and sadness in funding pitches. Journal of Business Venturing, 2021; 36 (4): 106109 DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusvent.2021.106109

Episode 113 - Leading Remote and Hybrid Teams with Gina McCredie

The use of remote and hybrid teams has accelerated over the past year. But does this way of working actually work? What might be some of the benefits and drawbacks? And how do we best lead remote and hybrid teams? This week we're joined by Gina McCredie, an organisational psychologist who founded Impactful Work - working with individuals, teams and organisations to tackle challenges just like this.

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Episode 112 - Is Smartphone Use Killing Your Dreams?

Summary

It turns out that smartphone use is associated with shorter-term thinking and a focus on quick wins. The more you use your smartphone, the less likely you are to pursue longer term achievement of bigger goals. So this week we ask the question - Is your smartphone killing your dreams?

Transcript

Hello and welcome to episode 112 of the Leadership Today podcast where each week we bring research to life in your leadership. This week we’re looking at whether your smartphone is killing your dreams. Pretty dramatic.

I’ve picked up my smartphone 32 times already today. Now, how do I know that? Because pickup number 32 was to check how many pickups I had used today. My average pickups per day is 86. I have no idea if that’s good or bad, or how you might compare. Either way, smartphones have become an integral part of how we work, how we socialise and how we relax. There are few parts of our lives that smartphones haven’t managed to invade.

You might suspect that all that smartphone use is making us more reactive and impulsive. That ‘ding’ or vibration from your pocket can easily steal your attention, if only for a split second. Our brains are notoriously bad at handling this. Once something has grabbed our attention, it takes a while to get back to what we were initially focusing on.

Recent research shows that those who spend more time on their smartphones also tend towards chasing smaller and more immediate rewards. They tend to steer away from longer-term rewards that require greater effort. They are more impulsive. This effect is particularly pronounced for those who use gaming and social media apps.

Is smartphone use causing this impulsivity, or is smartphone use a measure of impulsivity? It’s hard to say and look it probably goes both ways. 

Now, you might say, I’ve heard social media apps are addictive, so maybe it’s not my fault. It’s definitely a mixed picture when you look at the research, but the most recent articles suggest it’s unlikely that social media apps are addictive. They are distracting, absolutely. They fight for your attention, for sure. But they’re not truly addictive in the way that cigarettes might be, or gambling or drinking might be for some.

Instead, this research suggests that smartphone use and impulsive decision making go hand in hand. When we take a short-term focus we can end up missing out. Our smartphone can be a diversion for our time, but it can also be a diversion from our goals.

You can use the screen time data on your smartphone as a measure of your impulsiveness. Take a look now - see what you have been up to over the past week. Greater discipline with your smartphone use could well extend into other areas of your life. Even if the smartphone isn’t making you more impulsive, it’s a great way to tackle your impulsiveness.

Part of the value we bring as leaders is a long-term focus. It’s our ability to look beyond what’s immediately in front of us to the emerging opportunities and threats that helps us to add value to those we lead. In order to take a longer-term view, we really need to understand what an impulse is and how we can fight it. An impulse is effectively an urge - something in the moment that compels us to do something. An impulse can be physical, mental or emotional, or a combination of all three. Here are a few tips for dealing with those impulses:

1. Be aware of the impulse - acknowledge it. It’s the classic “name it to tame it” approach. Acknowledge that you’re really tempted to pick up your phone and dive into whatever distracting app is your preference. That will help you to avoid the impulse.

2. Ride it out. This applies to many psychological challenges that we face. If you’ve tried to quit smoking, no doubt you were taught this technique. And why not? It works really well. In the moment it feels like an impulse is just going to build and build and build, so we may as well just give in. But there will come a point where any impulse passes. Ride that wave with a confidence that it will become less of a challenge over time.

3. Fix it at the source. Use screen time and other apps to limit phone usage. Turn off notifications that distract. Use the technology to help you.

4. Be more intentional. I’ve spoken before about planning for self-control. Will power in the moment is notoriously bad. Instead, we need to plan for the times when these impulsive time wasters tempt us the most. So, for example, in the evening I read books on a Kindle rather than on my iPad. Not only is it far easier on my eyes, there’s absolutely nothing on that Kindle to distract me, except perhaps another book.

5. Change your mindset. It can often feel that avoiding an impulse is losing or missing out. Instead, it is something you should reward yourself for. Watch how your ability think longer-term increases, and as those distractions become less distracting - reward yourself for the progress you’re making.

So this week, take a quick look at your smartphone screen time, and the extent to which your goals and dreams have become smaller. 

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References

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/11/201118141844.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily%2Fmind_brain%2Fsocial_psychology+%28Social+Psychology+News+--+ScienceDaily%29 

K. Thomson, S. C. Hunter, S. H. Butler, D. J. Robertson. Social media ‘addiction’: The absence of an attentional bias to social media stimuli. Journal of Behavioral Addictions, 2021; DOI: 10.1556/2006.2021.00011

Episode 111 - Can You Overdose on Mindfulness?

Summary

Is becoming more mindful automatically better for us and our well-being? And does being more mindful help those around us? The research is really clear - more mindfulness is not always better. Thankfully we also know how to avoid these mindfulness downsides. 

Transcript

Hello and welcome to episode 111 of the Leadership Today podcast where each week we bring research to life in your leadership. This week we explore whether it’s possible to overdose on mindfulness.

Mindfulness has seen dramatically increased popularity in recent years, particularly within Western organisations. And why not? Mindfulness has repeatedly demonstrated lots of personal benefits for individuals. As a result, mindfulness almost automatically appears in leadership development training with the typical recommendation being that people should just do more. 

But can you have too much of a good thing? Let’s take optimism and curiosity as an example. Both are generally positive. However the research shows us that you can absolutely be too optimistic and you can also be too curious. Not only can having too much optimism and curiosity have negative impacts for the individual, it can also have negative impacts on those around them. Does mindfulness demonstrate a similar pattern? And does mindfulness encourage people to help others more?

It’s important to appreciate that mindfulness is not one thing, so let’s take a look at some of the research around specific types of mindfulness. 

There’s mindful attention which focuses on mind–body awareness and perception of what is going on for us mentally and physically in the moment. The research shows that mindful attention is positive up to a point, but too much can lead to worse mental health outcomes. As the researcher Amit Bernstein highlights, this includes increased rates of depression, anxiety, dissociation, and substance abuse, along with decreased ability to tolerate pain. These negative outcomes can be somewhat decreased when the individual is being non-judgemental and non-reactive. Mindful attention works best when we are observing rather than responding. But that’s easier said than done.

Research demonstrates that mindful meditation can help increase the amount and depth of sleep up to a point. But once people get beyond around 30 minutes of mindful meditation a day, people actually demonstrated decreased quality of sleep in both depth and amount.

Then there’s mindful emotion regulation where we seek to gain greater control over our emotions, increase our emotional regulation and accept what we are experiencing. Again, this can have lots of positive impacts, but in excess research demonstrates it can lead to emotional blunting - where people experience fewer positive and fewer negative emotions. As a results life can become flat and dull.

It is better to think of mindfulness like many other things in psychology as having an inverted U relationship to well-being. Up to a point mindfulness can absolutely increase wellbeing. But as someone continues to increase the amount of mindfulness, there will be a point where well-being actually declines.

So for the individual you can have too much of a good thing. But what about the impact on others? What’s the impact of mindfulness on what us psychologists call ‘pro-social behaviour’ - effectively, doing good things for other people.

Research about to be published in the journal of Psychological Science shows that mindfulness can make some people more selfish - that is, they do fewer good things for others than they otherwise would have as a result of mindfulness. This is the case for those participants who had more of an independent outlook to start with. Increased mindfulness for those who tend to be more independent resulted in them undertaking fewer prosocial behaviours than a control group - mindfulness resulted in them becoming even more independent in their actions. However, for those who viewed themselves as interdependent, mindfulness increased prosocial behaviour. When it comes to mindfulness, it’s important to recognise where you start and the outlook you bring.

Let’s put all of this in a cultural context. Most mindfulness practices that are being used in organisational settings have been derived from East Asian and particularly Buddhist traditions. In East Asian cultures people tend to be more interdependent in their outlook - on average, people tend to focus more on others and their contribution to a broader society rather than on themselves. The recent research we just explored suggests that in these cultures mindfulness will increase this focus on others, and lead to greater prosocial behaviours. In Western countries however people tend to be more independent in their outlook. Mindfulness may increase that independent focus and reduce the amount of prosocial behaviour that otherwise would have been demonstrated. There is a risk when we rip a practice like mindfulness out of its cultural and spiritual context hoping to just get the upside impact. So in our Western business context should we abandon mindfulness altogether?

It’s true that becoming more mindful is not automatically better for individuals and those around them. It depends both how the mindfulness is set up and how self-aware and mindful the individual already is. It’s perhaps better to think of mindfulness in the way we think about exercise and sleep. Clearly exercise and sleep are both helpful and necessary for wellbeing and health. But just telling everyone to do an hour more exercise a day, or to sleep two hours longer every night is not great advice. You can end up having too much exercise and too much sleep. It all depends on what they the individual is currently doing.

The research by Poulin, Ministero, Gabriel, Morrison and Naidu that I quoted earlier shows that you can vary the outcomes of mindfulness by initially increasing people’s interest in others. When the researchers primed people for interdependence, they saw a 40% increase in the likelihood of volunteering for a not for profit organisation following mindfulness. When people were primed for independence, they were 33% less likely to volunteer after some mindfulness practice.

At work, we can help people appreciate the role they play in building an interdependent culture. As leaders, we can help our people to think of the role they and the organisation play in their community.  If we do this, practices such as mindfulness are more likely to then lead to greater individual and social outcomes.

When it comes to mindfulness, it’s important to recognise we all start from a different base. More is not always better. When we are being mindful, we need to not just focus on ourselves, but also on how we can be a benefit to others.

As always, the research I have referred to is in the show notes with a big thanks to ScienceDaily who continue to serve up great research in my email inbox each day. Have a great week as you look after yourself and others.

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Research

Michael Poulin, Lauren Ministero, Shira Gabriel, Carrie Morrison, Esha Naidu. Minding your own business? Mindfulness decreases prosocial behavior for those with independent self-construals. Psychological Science (forthcoming), 2021 DOI: 10.31234/osf.io/xhyua

University at Buffalo. "Mindfulness can make you selfish: A pioneering new study examines the social effects of mindfulness." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 14 April 2021. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/04/210414100147.htm

Willoughby B Britton Can mindfulness be too much of a good thing? The value of a middle way. Current Opinion in Psychology 2019, 28:159–165  https://www.brown.edu/research/labs/britton/sites/britton-lab/files/images/Britton_2019_Can%20mindfulness%20be%20too%20much%20of%20a%20good%20thing.pdf

Episode 110 - Productive Failure

Summary

Is it possible we are approaching learning and development the wrong way? What if we allow people to fail early before we even teach them the basics? This week we explore research around the counterintuitive idea of productive failure.

Transcript

Hello and welcome to episode 110 of the Leadership Today podcast where each week we bring research to life in your leadership. This week we explore research around the counterintuitive idea of productive failure.

How do you think about failure? For most people, failure is something to be avoided at all costs. However, failure and mistakes are usually a critical part of learning. In fact, if we want to learn and develop, we probably need more productive failure. Failure that pushes us forward and leaves us better off.

I know that seems counterintuitive, so let’s look at some research that illustrates the point.

How do we normally teach people something new? Well, in schools, universities and colleges around the world the process usually goes like this. First we walkthrough the concept and provide an example. Then we give people a chance to apply what they have learned through a practical activity. Then we provide feedback to people based on how they performed during the activity. Learning complete. And we’ve reduced the likelihood of failure in the practical activity by making sure people understand the theory first. But what if we varied the order of those elements in the learning process? 

Researchers explored precisely that using students in an undergraduate biology course. Some students followed the traditional method I just outlined. However, the researchers also took some students through a very different process. In that instance they started with an activity where students could problem solve without instruction. The students then received feedback about how they went. And, finally, there was a walkthrough of a model expert approach to explain the concepts. Basically this approach forced students to get things wrong and receive feedback early. The students had almost no chance of getting the initial activity 100% right. That provided a rich opportunity for feedback. After all, everyone was likely to have failed the activity in some way. Following that feedback, the students were primed to gain a deeper understanding of the concepts at play in the activity. But did this alternative approach work?

It turned out that the students following the non-traditional approach of productive failure had an average result that was five percentage points higher than the group using the typical approach. That’s pretty impressive. However, the most impressive increases came for students who typically struggled to learn. Those students saw even greater increases in their scores as a result of being allowed to productively fail, receive feedback, and then understand the theory.

So, how does your workplace view failure? What kind of reaction do people receive when they get things wrong? How many opportunities are there for your people to safely, but productively, fail while learning something new? Maybe it’s time to change the way we think about failure and how we develop our people. 

Well I hope you enjoyed this episode. As always, the research referenced in this episode is in the show notes. And we’ve got a really exciting opportunity for groups to learn on our Leadership Today On-Demand platform. If you do want to try that out with a group just get in contact at our website www.leadership.today or send an email to info@leadership.today for more information. I look forward to signing up some more people for a trial and I will see you next week.

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Research

Sunita G. Chowrira, Karen M. Smith, Patrick J. Dubois & Ido Roll (2019) DIY productive failure: boosting performance in a large undergraduate biology course. npj Science of Learning volume 4, Article number: 1

Episode 109 - The Single Best Question to Build Community

Summary

Community really matters, but can be hard to build when we’re in a hurry. In this episode we discuss the single best question to build community (at least the best I’ve come across!).

Transcript

Hello and welcome to episode 109 of the Leadership Today podcast where each week we bring research to life in your leadership. This week we discuss the single best question to build community.

I’ve spoken before about five things research indicates are difficult to build when we’re not all in the same place at the same time. They are:

1. Community

2. Collaboration

3. Culture

4. Climate

5. Capability

Today we’re focusing on the first one - community. Building community in our teams and organisations is extremely important, both from an employee experience perspective, but also for performance. This is true whether you are currently working remotely, are back in the office or, more likely, some mix of the two. 

The catch now is that we are often needing to build community and connection at speed. Research shows us that the shift to online meetings has resulted in more meetings with more participants per meeting, but shorter meeting times. You’re also far less likely to have all of your team in the same place at the same time, so the opportunities to build connections are fewer and further in between. We therefore need to be intentional about building community. We can no longer leave such a central part of workplace culture to chance now that the proverbial water-cooler discussions have all but disappeared.

Community is about what we have in common - that’s where the word comes from. It’s about shared characteristics, beliefs and interests. We build community when people share things about themselves with each other. As leaders, we want to give people a chance to learn what they have in common. This can be challenging though. We want people to be personal, but also to feel safe. We don’t want people to feel as if they’re being forced to share too much at work. But it also needs to be inclusive. If you ask people to talk about their children or a favourite pet, what happens for the people who have neither? 

I was working with a team recently, and one of the members shared about how hard it was in that team if you weren’t into sport, as most of the non-work conversations would revolve around football. What was a well intentioned effort to build community by talking about something non-work related left several team members feeling out of place.

As a result, I’m sure you have come across some great ‘get to know you’ questions. Here are a few that I think are quite good:

• What career did you want to have when you were a child?

• What's one thing about you that surprises people?

• What’s something you want to become an expert in?

• What qualities do you value in friends?

As I said, these are all quite good questions, but you can only ask them once. If you keep asking about dream jobs as a child people will check out of the conversation, or think that you’re not listening to them in the first place.

Recently I came across what I think is the single best question to build community. As is often the case, it’s not my idea - a participant shared it during a workshop about building trust in a remote context.

In every team meeting they would ask each person to provide a five star recommendation. What is one thing that they would recommend to others? Now, importantly, the recommendation can be for anything. It can be a recipe, a car, an event, a restaurant, some music, a book, a holiday destination, a product - the options are almost endless. The question works so well because it’s 100% inclusive, and it’s what I would call evergreen - you can ask it every week and people can come up with something new to recommend. Plus, it’s interesting to hear people answer the question. After all, who doesn’t love a new five star recommendation?

So - remember the question - What is your five star recommendation? I would love to hear how you go using it in an upcoming meeting - I’m planning to use it on Monday.

Speaking of five star recommendations, if you’re enjoying the podcast, how about providing a rating and review? It really does make a difference in helping people to find the podcast. 

If this episode interested you, then our upcoming webinar on (Re)Building Trust will also be worth joining. Go to the Leadership.Today website to sign up, or you can watch a recording after 19th March via Leadership Today On-Demand. There are links in the show notes. Have a great week.

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Episode 108 - Three Keys to Dealing with Defensiveness

Summary

This week we explore three keys to dealing with defensiveness.

Transcript

Hello and welcome to episode 108 of the Leadership Today podcast where each week we bring research to life in your leadership. This week we explore three keys to dealing with defensiveness.

I am sure, like me, that you have needed to work with a defensive person before. Perhaps they just don’t want to hear some feedback that is being provided. Or they quickly blame others when something goes wrong. Maybe they are resistant to new initiatives and changes. All of this defensiveness can make a leader either escalate things or just try to ignore the person.

The most important thing to appreciate is that defensiveness is functional. It serves a purpose. When we have done something wrong, defensiveness is an effort to minimise the perceived harm to ourselves and others. How does that work? Well, let’s say you come to me with a problem that I have caused. I might defensively respond that it is no big deal. That’s because I genuinely hope that it is no big deal. I’m even trying to convince myself that it’s no big deal. So I argue back, resist accepting feedback, misrepresent what happened, or even misremember what happened. That’s right - we can be so defensive that we actually change our memories of the event to protect ourselves. While those responses may protect me in the short term, it doesn’t change that what I have done may indeed be a big deal.

Research demonstrates that defensiveness has a broad range of negative impacts. Team unity and collaboration suffer. The defensive individual’s connection with the workplace suffers. A key part of psychological safety is feeling you belong. The defensive individual reduces that sense of belonging through their actions. In addition, when faced with someone who has done something wrong, we tend to push them to one side and to exclude them. This makes the person even more defensive and takes us even further away from a resolution and progress.

Researchers Wenzel, Woodyatt and McLean found that defensiveness is strengthened by negative social responses. Our natural reactions to the defensive person makes the situation even worse. We enter a cycle of increased defensiveness. But thankfully their research also indicates three keys for dealing with defensiveness:

1. Help people to belong. As people feel more respected, valued and secure in the group, their defensiveness tends to fall away. After all, you don’t need to be defensive if you know that you will still be accepted and supported even if you make a mistake. You can value the person even if you disagree with their opinions or actions.

2. Normalise apologies. Saying ‘sorry’ is not a sign of weakness, rather it shows a strength of character to admit when you’re wrong and apologise for the impact on others.

3. Talk about values. Wenzel and colleagues found that having people share their values reduced defensiveness. If I value honesty and openness, reminding myself of those values will make me less defensive.

Try these three approaches out this week to reduce the level of defensiveness amongst those in your team. As always, details of the research referenced in this podcast is in the show notes, and a big thanks to Lauren Staveley who did the research on this one.

Now for a quick moment of celebration. The Leadership Today Podcast has just passed through 100,000 downloads. When I kicked this podcast off in July 2018 I had no idea the global reach and impact it would have on so many people. And so, can I ask you to do me a favour? This week, please tell three colleagues or friends about the podcast and help them to track it down. And, for bonus points, take a minute to provide a rating and review wherever you download this podcast. That all helps to spread the word. Have a great week.

Reference

Michael Wenzel, Lydia Woodyatt, Ben McLean. The effects of moral/social identity threats and affirmations on psychological defensiveness following wrongdoing. British Journal of Social Psychology, 2020; 59 (4): 1062 DOI: 10.1111/bjso.12378

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Radical Reflection Challenge - Day Five - Reflection

It is day five of the radical reflection challenge - well done! Today we are reflecting on reflection. I know that sounds like we are just about to disappear into ourselves, but hear me out. Hopefully this week has shown you just how powerful reflection can be when we make it a regular practice. And while we would all agree that reflection is important, it is rarely urgent. As a result reflection will always be pushed down to the bottom of our priority list unless we prioritise and schedule it. My challenge for you today is to identify how you will continue reflection beyond the challenge.

We started the week thinking about our values. Without reflection it’s easy for our lives to drift away from those things which matter to us most. On day two we considered what success means to each of us. It’s all too easy to take on someone else’s definition of success and find ourselves chasing that down. But by reflecting on what success means to us, we can set goals for the various seasons of our life that will help us to feel a sense of fulfilment and purpose. On day three we explored learning and growth. We often overlook just how much we have learned, so can feel stuck. I believe growth needs to be intentional, so pushing ourselves into new areas is important. And yesterday we focused on gratitude. Hopefully you have had a chance to try out some of the gratitude techniques we discussed. 

One simple thing you can do to continue reflection is to schedule a time in your calendar to complete this challenge again in 3 or 6 months from now. That is a clear goal you could easily set and achieve.

I also think that building reflection as a habit is really important. This is going to be far more effective than bursts of reflection a few times per year. 

So today I am asking you to reflect over various time horizons. Often we end up focusing on too short a time horizon, usually measured in weeks and months rather than years and decades. A quote attribute to Bill Gates sums it up well - “Most people overestimate what they can do in one year and underestimate what they can do in ten years.”

I think it’s important to identify your focus for the decade. What is the season you are in? Where do you hope to be in 10 years? Make it a clear picture. What will it look and feel like? Now you can always revisit that - I’m not asking you to set it in stone - in fact you should revisit it. That’s the same for every other level of reflection. So we start by thinking abut a decade, and then work back from there.

• Focus for the year. What is the theme for this year? What are a few key words to sum up this theme?

• Focus for the quarter. What is the one thing that will make the biggest difference this quarter? What is a key theme for the quarter?

• Focus for the month.

• Focus for the week.

• Focus for the day. What can I do today to make progress?

I think we can keep this really practical. For example, at the end of the week you can take 15 minutes to look back at what you have achieved over the week, and set your focus for the following week. That’s a simple routine you can schedule into your calendar so it becomes a habit.

To round out this week of radical reflection, I’m asking you to reflect across these various time frames. When you first do this it will take some time. But when you have done it once, it is then about week to week maintenance. Schedule time for regular reflection to return to those areas of focus.

I hope you found this week’s challenge helpful. I encourage you to check out all of the other resources we have at Leadership Today On-Demand. The link is in the show notes, or just go to leadership.today to learn more. There’s something new every week to help you to become an even better leader. We will be back to our regular podcast episodes from next week.

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Radical Reflection Challenge - Day Four - Gratitude

Welcome to day four of the radical reflection challenge. The week is flying by. I hope you have found the three topics to date helpful. As a reminder, we started with values, then moved onto success, and yesterday we looked at learning and growth. 

I believe today’s focus on gratitude can have a fundamental impact on your optimism and well-being. Gratitude is both a trait and an emotion or state. It’s an outlook we bring to life, and it’s also something we experience at a point in time. 

We can practice gratitude - that is, we can actually take time out of our day to be grateful. Researchers have shown a regular practice of gratitude improves sleep, physical health, relationships with others, mental health and life satisfaction. It also reduces the risk of burnout. So, if I had a pill to sell you that did all of that I would be a billionaire. Thankfully gratitude is completely free, however it is also often elusive.

Taking the time to consider things to be grateful for changes our outlook on life. We start to seek out the positive things and focus our attention on those. And, just like a muscle that can be developed with exercise, we can develop our muscle of gratitude. We can shift it from something passing to something that characterises us - from a state to a trait.

The focus of the reflection in your workbook today is all about gratitude. I’ve included a few activities you can try out in the coming weeks to build gratitude. The first is a gratitude journal. It’s a really simple process but research shows some significant benefits after even short periods of three weeks. The idea is to identify three new things each day that you are grateful for, and note them down - either using a notes app or in a physical journal. The second is a gratitude letter. This involved writing a letter expressing your gratitude to someone, typically someone that you haven’t fully thanked to date. The third idea is an act of kindness. To each day intentionally do something nice for someone else. It could be someone you know, or even someone you come across in your day. Try one or more of those gratitude building ideas out today.

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Radical Reflection Challenge - Day Three - Growth

Welcome to day three of the radical reflection challenge. We are at the midway point of our challenge, so it’s a great opportunity to think about how you are doing. You might want to consider what’s working well or not so well for you in this challenge. Perhaps you might mix things up and try moving your reflection and review to a different time of day, or vary the location. 

Today’s focus is on learning and growth. I love the quote from John Henry Newman who says “Growth is the only evidence of life”. I would go so far as to say that growth is the purpose of life. Without growth we cease to truly be living.

The catch with growth and learning is the discomfort they create. Learning new things means making mistakes, falling short and occasionally bruising our knees. Learning something new creates uncertainty and, generally speaking, we hate uncertainty.

You have probably come across the Johari Window before. It’s a simple framework that compares what we know about ourselves versus what others know about us. There are some things we know about ourselves that others also know - that’s the arena that is on display. Then there are things we know about ourselves that others don’t know - that’s the things we mask. There are things others see in us that we don’t see in ourselves - that’s the blind spot, which could either be good or bad. That leaves one more option - those things we don’t know about ourself that others also don’t know. That’s where the greatest opportunity for growth occurs. It is where we try genuinely new things. So today’s questions in your workbook ask you to consider your learning and growth over the past year, but also challenge you to look forward to new challenges and opportunities for growth. Take a deep breath and dive in. I will see you again tomorrow.

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Radical Reflection Challenge - Day Two - Success

It is day two of the radical reflection challenge. Yesterday we explored our values and the need to reassess our lives against these values from time to time. Today we are focused on success.

Success is a tricky topic to cover for a range of reasons. Success is different for different people. Society tends to portray certain things in the context of success - whether that be wealth, fame, beauty or anything else. There is a risk of chasing others’ definitions of success. It is all too easy to adopt someone else’s view of what success should be, rather than having our own definition of success.

Here are a few key thoughts about success:

1. You can and should define what success means for you. If you don’t define success, then someone else will. It is all too easy to climb a ladder only to discover it is leaning against the wrong wall - don’t let that happen to you. You define success for you.

2. It’s okay for your definition of success to change over time. It is sometimes easier to think of success relating to seasons of your life. For example, your idea of success might be different when you’re studying, early in your career, in the middle of your career, later in your career, and in your retirement. Sure, your values may be consistent, but it is fine to change your definition of success to reflect the season you are in.

3. Success is accomplishment. It is completing or achieving something. It is a point in time - a moment when you know you’re successful. So if you want to be successful, you need to set goals. And once you have been successful, you need to set some new goals.

4. Success can feel pretty pointless by yourself. We are created as social beings. Are there people you can team up with in pursuit of success? Are there people you can cheer on? Then why not partner up with them.

You will find some questions to help you reflect about success in your workbook. Make sure you note down some thoughts.

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Radical Reflection Challenge - Day One - Values

Welcome to day one of the radical reflection challenge. I am looking forward to working with you across the next five days. Each day starts with a brief introduction just like this one, followed by an activity in your workbook which you can complete at any point during the day. If you haven’t downloaded the workbook as yet, you will find it at leadership.today/radical or follow the link in the show notes.

We are starting our challenge by examining our values. Perhaps you already know what you value and hold to be most important in life. Maybe you haven’t given your values much thought, or perhaps it has been a while since you reflected on your values.

Values are central to who we are. They influence what we do, how we do it and, most importantly, why we do it. However it’s easy to lose sight of our values. Often times we find ourselves balancing competing priorities. For example, you might really value time with your family and friends, while also valuing financial security. Your quest for financial security may lead you to work longer and longer hours, reducing the time you have available to spend with family and friends. 

In this way, I don’t believe values are something we set and forget. It’s important to assess and re-assess what we value. Our values may change over time. It may be that things that used to be really important to us are now less important. I’m sure you know someone who has had a health diagnosis that caused them to question their values in fundamental ways. Maybe you have had a similar experience that caused you to reassess. 

I know for me the loss of a parent when I was in my 20s caused a radical shift in my values. Things that I had placed my hope and confidence in were revealed to be less secure than I thought. It made me reconsider what really mattered to me.

I believe reflecting on our values regularly, whether that’s once or twice per year, provides a foundation for deeper reflections on our life. It’s very easy for our life to drift off course away from the things that matter to us most. Reflecting on our values is a great check of how we are directing our focus, our time and our energies.

In your workbook you will find a simple values questionnaire. Read through the list of values, then choose the ten that appeal to you most. You can then reduce that list down to a top three. I then want you to reflect on your life at present, and the extent to which it aligns with those values. In what ways are you currently aligned? In what areas might your values be challenged currently? 

As well as completing the reflection in the workbook, I encourage you to grab a friend to complete this week’s challenge with. It’s always better to learn with others.

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Radical Reflection Challenge - Introduction

Hi everyone. The Leadership Today podcast is going to be a little different over the next week. We are going to be undertaking what I have called the Radical Reflection Five Day Challenge. I believe most leaders are suffering from what I call reflection deficit, so this challenge aims to tackle that head on. 

The challenge is running live from 22nd to 26th February 2021 at Leadership Today On-Demand, which is our video-based subscription service. You can always sign up for a 30 day trial to get involved that way. The other option is to go to leadership.today/radical to learn more and download the workbook.

So what are you signing up for here? Each morning starts with a brief introduction to the challenge for that day. The workbook then includes a range of reflection activities to support your reflections. I’ve included all of the links in the show notes. I’m confident this challenge can make a huge difference for you personally and in your leadership. I’m looking forward to working with you across the week. 

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Episode 107 - When Should I Set a Stretch Goal?

Summary

Stretch goals are incredibly popular for individuals and organisations. But are they effective? It depends. This week we explore how to know when to set a stretch goal.

Transcript

Hello and welcome to episode 107 of the Leadership Today podcast where each week we bring research to life in your leadership. This week we explore how to know when to set a stretch goal.

Stretch goals are incredibly popular for individuals and organisations. But are they effective? Well, that depends.

The modern application of stretch goals can most likely be attributed Jim Collins and Jerry Porras. They coined the term Big Hairy Audacious Goal in their book Built to Last. The book encourages people to set extraordinary stretch goals. But, importantly, these goals are typically set across a long-term time frame of 10 to 25 years. By way of example, when Bill Gates and Paul Allen first started Microsoft they talked to each other about having a computer on every desk and in every home decades before that became reality. That all sounds great - I set myself or my organisation a Big Hairy Audacious Goal for 20 years into the future and chase after it. The problem is that people are applying this approach to one year goals, which was never the intent. Microsoft did not have a one or two year goal to have a computer on every desk - that would have been ridiculous. Instead they used that ambitious goal to draw them forward through years of steady progress.

Shorter-term stretch goals are not always right. The work of Sitkin, Miller and See is really helpful for us to understand when a stretch goal might make sense.

In their 2017 HBR article the authors outline two conditions that are important to consider before setting a stretch goal:

1. Recent performance. Are you coming from a recent history of success and performance, or of failure and underperformance? Recent success provides the mindset and motivation required to apply to the challenge. This is particularly important.

2. Excess resources. Do we have additional resources available that aren’t already committed? Is there some slack in the system? Stretch goals require committed resources, not just business as usual.

The perfect time to set a stretch goal is when you have recently been successful and you have available uncommitted resources. People will have the motivation, mindset and capacity to chase that stretch goal. Even if you have been successful, if you don’t have the required additional resources you are setting people up for failure.

But hang on - so if I don’t have recent success, are the authors saying I shouldn’t set a stretch goal even if I have available resources? Where there are available resources but not a recent history of success, the authors suggest running more modest experiments that you can afford to fail. Rather than setting stretch goals, it is better in these situations to work on quick fail experiments. Here you try new things that aren’t huge bets, and celebrate giving things a go. As these experiments begin to work, you will build that track record of success needed to then set stretch goals.

If you haven’t recently been successful and lack spare resources, then stretch goals are not your friend. Instead the authors suggest you should chase small wins - taking those small steps forward until you do have a track record of success. Then your people will feel more confident to reach out towards a stretch goal.

A stretch goal needs a recent track record of success and dedicated resources. Too often people set a stretch goal as a last gasp opportunity for redemption - that’s exactly the wrong time. So, yes, absolutely dream big for the 10 to 25 year future. But then consider the kind of goals you set based on your performance to date and the resources you are willing to commit.

I hope you found that helpful. As always, a link to the reference used is in the show notes.

If you want to become an even better leader, then I’m sure Leadership Today On-Demand can help. It’s where we have all of our online courses, recorded webinars, and quick hits on a broad range of topics, all available with one subscription. Go to leadership.today and follow the on-demand link to sign up for a completely free 30 day trial. 

Have a great week.

Reference

The Stretch Goal Paradox by Sim B. Sitkin, C. Chet Miller, and Kelly E. See. Harvard Business Review (January-February 2017).

https://hbr.org/2017/01/the-stretch-goal-paradox

Episode 106 - The Power of Belief in Potential

Summary

What we think about people has an impact not just on how we personally perceive them, but also on their actual behaviour. There’s power when we believe in someone’s potential.

Transcript

Hello and welcome to episode 106 of the Leadership Today podcast where each week we bring research to life in your leadership. This week we explore the power of belief in potential.

What we think about people has an impact not just on how we personally perceive them, but also on their actual behaviour. It’s an example of selective attention bias with some expectancy bias thrown in for good measure. If you think that someone is lazy, you will notice everything that they do that appears lazy. You will also ignore anything they do that is energetic and active. So, over time, we just end up thinking that they’re more and more lazy. But, on top of that, we will also modify the way we work with that person. This in turn will lead to them acting in ways that appear even more lazy. We might give them less work to complete, so they end up having more spare time. They might become less engaged, and so seem more lazy. In short, the actions we take can make the other person end up being more lazy.

A recent study demonstrated this impact in a college environment. Through some laboratory and field studies, the researchers discovered that a professor’s mindset about student learning had remarkable positive and negative impacts on those students. For example, when a professor had lower expectations that people could develop and grow, their students demonstrated lower class attendance, reduced engagement in class, less end of semester interest in the subject, they felt more like an impostor in the class, and they even delivered lower grades. So if a professor (who is effectively the leader of learning) thinks you’re not likely to learn, then you, in turn, will actually be less likely to learn. In contrast, if the leader thinks you have potential to learn and grow, you’re much more likely to learn and grow.

In a work context, we often inherit a perspective about a person we lead. “This person is a trouble maker” or “this person doesn’t deliver”. The risk is that we perpetuate and multiply this perspective through our behaviour towards that person. 

Here are five ways to challenge our thinking and demonstrate belief in others’ potential:

1. Reset your expectations. Think about how you see others and give them another chance. Let’s expect that people can improve, grow and develop.

2. State your positive expectations. It’s what you say that matters. If you think someone is fantastic but never say it, they may completely miss it.

3. Challenge negative appraisals you might make. Is it more about you than them? What evidence might you have to the contrary?

4. Challenge negative appraisals others make about people. If you hear others perpetuating negative beliefs about people, appropriately challenge them.

5. Challenge negative appraisals others make about themselves. Sometimes people perpetuate their own limiting beliefs. Why wouldn’t others believe the person? Use the opportunity to challenge people who consistently run themselves down.

As leaders, what we think about others matters. It shapes not only our perceptions, but also their behaviour. Think about ways you can demonstrate a greater belief in others’ potential. 

Well that’s the end of this week’s episode. As always, the reference used is in the show notes.

A quick reminder that our brand new Leading Through Change and Uncertainty online course is now available at Leadership Today On-Demand. It’s video based so you can go at your own pace and work through the content in any order. Just go to Leadership.Today website and follow the On-Demand link to find out more and to sign up for a free 30 day trial. We also offer a 25% discount for groups, so it’s a great option for your team and organisation. Take a look at Leadership Today On-Demand - it’s just like online fitness training for your leadership.

Have a great week, and I look forward to speaking with you again next week.

Reference

Muenks, K., Canning, E. A., LaCosse, J., Green, D. J., Zirkel, S., Garcia, J. A., & Murphy, M. C. (2020). Does my professor think my ability can change? Students’ perceptions of their STEM professors’ mindset beliefs predict their psychological vulnerability, engagement, and performance in class. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 149(11), 2119–2144. https://doi.org/10.1037/xge0000763