“You don’t have to overcome your fear in order to be a good public speaker. It never goes away entirely. Instead, it’s about having less fear — think of it as being fear-less.” So say Mark Banchek, CEO of Shift Thinking, and Mandy Gonzales, a star of Hamilton on Broadway, writing in the Harvard Business Review. Both Gonzales and Banchek are used to facing audiences in high stakes situations but, even with all their experience, neither has ever found a way to purge all fear. However, they offer some tips on how to keep fear from getting in the way of delivering a first-rate performance:
Finally, it’s easier to be fear-less together. Find people who help you feel that way —and help each other to be prepared, real, vulnerable, present, and generous. (Tweet it!) What are your strategies for dealing with the natural anxieties that accompany public speaking? To join the conversation, click "comments" above. If you would like to learn more about creating a habit around masterful communication, check out our online learning programs.
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What makes a leader effective? To identify these traits, Dr. Susan Giles, an organizational scientist, executive coach, and leadership development consultant recently completed the first round of a study of 195 leaders in 15 countries over 30 global organizations. Participants were asked to choose the 15 most important leadership characteristics, and Giles grouped the top ones into five major themes:
While these traits may not surprise you, Giles points out that each can be difficult to master. It's not easy to delegate, to admit mistakes, to change course, to take risks, or, occasionally, to fail. But those who do so win trust, respect and loyalty—all invaluable commodities. (Tweet it!) What other traits of effective leaders do you think should be added to this list? To join the conversation, click "comments" above. If you would like to learn more about creating a habit around masterful communication, check out our online learning programs. Knowing how to do a job is important, but it’s critical to approach a new job with the right mindset. Many bosses assume the conversations they have during the hiring interview process are sufficient. However, Inc. columnist Jeff Haden says they aren’t. Here are four things that, according to Haden, great bosses communicate on an employee's first day to make sure that person gets off to a strong and focused start:
In short, new employees need to know not only what they will do, but also why they will do it. How does your organization orient new employees? Are these messages successfully conveyed? To join the conversation, click "comments" above. If you would like to learn more about creating a habit around masterful communication, check out our online learning programs. Leaders want to be trusted by those they lead, but creating trust—or reestablishing lost trust—isn’t always straightforward. Jack Zenger and Joseph Folkman, respectively the CEO and president of Zenger/Folkman, a leadership development consultancy, examined data from the 360 assessments of 87,000 leaders, and identified three key pillars that often form the foundation for trust:
Which of these is most important? Zengler and Folkman also designed an experiment where they separated leaders into high and low levels on each of these three pillars and then measured the level of trust. Their analysis showed that, while highly trusted leaders are above average in all three areas, positive relationships had the most significant impact. People want their leaders to be able to generate cooperation, resolve conflict, give helpful feedback, and balance results with concern for others. (Tweet it!) Which of these three elements of trust do you consider yourself strongest in? Which do you value the most in your own leaders? To join the conversation, click "comments" above. If you would like to learn more about creating a habit around masterful communication, check out our online learning programs. Contemporary work environments inundate people with a relentless stream of texts, emails, meetings, video conferences, and other distractions. The onslaught of information can be overwhelming and counterproductive. For example, research led by Stanford University professor Clifford Nass concluded that distractions reduce the brain’s ability to filter out irrelevancy in its working memory. There is no single solution to the complex problems of the information age. But one good place to start is solitude, says Mike Erwin, Assistant Professor in Leadership & Psychology at West Point and author of Lead Yourself First: Inspiring Leadership Through Solitude. Erwin and co-author Ray Ketledge define solitude as “a state of mind, a space in which to focus one’s own thoughts without distraction — and where the mind can work through a problem on its own.” They suggest building periods of solitude into your workday, even if for only 15 minutes at a time. “If we spend our entire workday sitting in meetings and answering emails, it leaves little space in our minds to do the hard thinking that is essential to good decision making and leadership.” (Tweet it!) They also suggest blocking time-sucking websites and social media sites during work hours, and creating a “stop doing” list (i.e. reflect on where your time is best spent, and decide which meetings you could skip, which committees you could step down from, and which invitations you might decline). Says Erwin, “Opportunities to focus are still all around us. But we must recognize them and believe that the benefit of focus, for yourself and the people you lead, is worth making it a priority in your life.” When was the last time you enjoyed some solitude? What were the effects? To join the conversation, click "comments" above. If you would like to learn more about creating a habit around masterful communication, check out our online learning programs. |
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