During June 10th’s Answer The Call to Conscious Leadership event, Lawrence Henderson and I invited Curtis Smith, Intelligent Leadership™ Master Certified Executive Coach, and Christopher Waters, Social Impact consultant, professor, and fellow, to talk about tools that companies can use to make conscious decisions.
If you missed this conversation, you missed some real talk about what can be done to disrupt corporate leadership systems that are not working now and will not work for companies moving forward. Below are the topics we covered in some detail, but please join our LinkedIn group to check out the full replay AND join our next Answer the Call to Conscious Leadership event on Tuesday, June 23rd at 1 PM ET, live if you can: http://bit.ly/LI_C3. Our topic for June 23rd will be conscious communication.
- Companies need to follow protocols for making decisions that do not add bureaucracy and maintain agility so that they can stay competitive and adaptable to accelerating change.
- Sometimes decisions are defaulted to the “smartest person in the room,” whether or not that person has been adequately qualified to be the primary decision-maker.
- Leadership development gaps that prioritize technical leadership skills cause functional collaboration and communication breakdowns.
- Diversity is accomplished only when you also include diverse ways of thinking and leading.
- Cy Wakeman – Work with the willing. Reward engagement by giving them their voice first.
- The quandary is that there is a distrust brewing that goes both ways from top to bottom.
- The dynamic of respect in the military is that when you earn a rank, you automatically earn respect. There is no ability to question other leaders, and that bleeds into companies – that people assume that once someone has been elevated in position, they have done something to earn the respect commensurate with it, so there are cultural roadblocks to effectively assess the actual competencies of leaders.
- Information flow vs. procurement. We tend to want to covet information, but the next generation of corporate leadership is starting to adopt more of a flow policy because what happens in one area of the company has an indisputable impact on others. This is contributing more to models of shared power.
- Leaders get too busy to understand what people actually need, and focus too much on what they think they need.
- Sometimes what is needed is what is ignored, not what is repeated.
- SWOT analysis findings need to be validated by additional assessment to make sure that the data is objective and gaps need to be seen as opportunities for growth.
- Regardless of tools that companies might use, including leadership assessments, there is often a lack of establishing metrics around growth goals, developing actual plans to fill gaps, and following up with leaders to see if they are growing and developing.
- When leadership is too busy to put out fires, there’s no time for additional development and growth. The system puts band-aids on problems and that creates more fires, and nothing ever changes.
- Prepare communities to have the conversation, and develop a shared vocabulary around issues. Set the expectation that doing this will take time and energy, inspire them with the shared vision, then gain collective accountability through a social contract that you commit to getting comfortable being uncomfortable. Lean into being curious vs. confrontational.
- Leadership is a quality you can exude at any level of an organization. You only need one person with “bestowed” power to be willing to listen to someone vocalizing for the lower levels in an organization. Successfully soliciting sponsors and co-sponsors is included in the Corporate Consciousness Ripple Blueprint, as well as Business Case Development, VUCA/CALM models, and decision trees.
Mark your calendar for our next Answer the Call to Conscious Leadership event on Tuesday, June 23rd at 1 PM ET. We’ll be discussing conscious communication live from our LinkedIn group.
PS: This week, I was honored to be part of the #AllThingsHiring podcast to discuss corporate consciousness and self-awareness for leaders at all levels. Click here to listen to the episode!
Karen Huller, author of Laser-sharp Career Focus: Pinpoint your Purpose and Passion in 30 Days (bit.ly/GetFocusIn30), is founder of Epic Careering, a 13-year-old leadership and career development firm specializing in executive branding and conscious culture, as well as JoMo Rising, LLC, a workflow gamification company that turns work into productive play.
While the bulk of her 20 years of professional experience has been within the recruiting and employment industry, her publications, presentations, and coaching also draw from experience in personal development, performance, broadcasting, marketing, and sales.
Karen was one of the first LinkedIn trainers and is known widely for her ability to identify and develop new trends in hiring and careering. She is a Certified Professional Résumé Writer, Certified Career Transition Consultant, and Certified Clinical Hypnotherapist with a Bachelor of Art in Communication Studies and Theater from Ursinus College and a minor in Creative Writing. Her blog was recognized as a top 100 career blog worldwide by Feedspot.
She is an Adjunct Professor in Cabrini University’s Communications Department and previously was an Adjunct Professor of Career Management and Professional Development at Drexel University’s LeBow College of Business She is also an Instructor for the Young Entrepreneurs Academy where some of her students won the 2018 national competition, were named America’s Next Top Young Entrepreneurs, and won the 2019 People’s Choice Award.