Learning Potential Archives - Page 2 of 2 - Leadership Potential Accelerator

When somebody is using “Learn-Unlearn-Relearn” concept

by Leadership Accelerators | Oct 21, 2021 | Leadership Learning, Leadership Skills, Learning Potential

What is the impact of being open to Learning?

I want to share the success story of the French owner of a car part designing and manufacturing company.

Their HR manager asked me to run a training for their shift and team leaders. The training was tough because I was bombarded with complaints about dire circumstances and many smaller and bigger critical working conditions.

I felt that participants were so full of negative thoughts that it was nearly impossible to make them pay attention and open them up for learning.
So I offered them to share their problems with the owner. They gave me their green light, and since they felt that someone cared about them, they started to be active in the workshop.

How to react to employee feedback

The day after the training, I sent a text message to the owner and told him that I heard some complaints about the working conditions in his company and asked him if he wanted to hear about them. He immediately shared his availability with me, and in a few days, we had our first meeting. He even booked a meeting room in a hotel to have a safe place for confidential discussions. He took notes and listened carefully to every word I said. He sometimes stopped me and asked for clarification.
A week later, he called me and asked if I was willing to coach him and told me about the changes he initiated. I was so impressed by his speed of action!

During his 10-session coaching journey, he did a lot of self-reflection about the management culture in his company. Very soon, his organization saw some significant changes. The reforms enacted were over 15 years ago.

Yesterday I attended a company event with his management team. He was also there. I observed how carefully he was making sure that nobody had to stay alone at dinner. He even put together tables so that people could sit together in bigger groups. Attention to detail has always been essential for him. It felt amazing to think back on how huge the impact of self-reflection, willingness, and ability to change can be. The once “cold” owner became an exceptional, inspiring leader with superior emotional intelligence. He needed openness for feedback, even if it hurt a lot sometimes, to look into the mirror, unlearn old habits, and learn new tools and techniques for his management skillset.

Want to learn how Learn – Unlearn – Relearn can help you? Contact Us

What does “Key Area of Focus” mean related to leadership development?

by Krisztina Lorinczi | Oct 14, 2021 | Leadership Learning, Leadership Training, Learning Potential

What are some parallels between coaching, time management, and saying no?

Does the expression “To-do list” ring a bell? Have you ever created one? Have you ever been frustrated for not being able to finish your tasks? Or have you ever attended a training after which you thought, “It was so interesting, and there was so much great content in it!” And what happened after a few days and weeks? If someone had asked you what your takeaway was, what would you have said? Would you have been able to articulate the main area of focus clearly? It is not hard to believe that research shows that an average human being remembers only 10% of what you hear after 24 hours.

How to focus

That is why the most significant responsibility of every trainer is to make sure that it is clear what the participating potential or existing leader should remember. What determines what should be in focus? It depends on a lot of different factors. What are the critical leadership competencies of the organization? What are the key values reflected in the behavior of the leader? What are his current strengths and areas of development? On a scale of 1-10, how motivated is the leader to work on the given area? After putting all those questions in a blender, the right focus area will emerge.

Through a straightforward process of designing and facilitating the LPA journey, the participant receives feedback, a combination of the observation of all participants and the trainer. Out of this 5-6 pages document, the participant decides one and only one area of focus. It is tempting to list several items. Evidence shows that leaders tend to define many activities not just for themselves but also for their team members.

What happens in a lot of cases? Only a fraction of the activities listed on the to-do list is accomplished, which causes frustration and lack of motivation. In the worst case for some perfectionists, this results in burn-out because they will do more than they can. As a leader, it is the critical responsibility to say no in two ways:

One is to themselves. When the manager thinks about what they want to accomplish, they have to say no to most tasks. They should be able to delegate and restructure the jobs. One of the easiest ways is to say no to meetings that are not entirely relevant to them. Back-to-back meetings are not just exhausting but also have the potential of finding time for what is essential.
The other “no” is when they define what their expectations are for their team members. They have to help them to see what is essential and what is not. What is the one key area that will work to move the team member towards their goal and towards the results expected by the organization? Every single member of the value chain should be clear about the one Key Area of Focus.

That is also what we teach and use in our development program by helping the leader see his/her Key Area of Focus in the leader’s development journey. Because if Everything is important, nothing is important.

Contact Us to learn how Leadership Potential Accelerators’ leadership journey can help you.

How can leaders respect the Ego of their subordinates and at the same time challenge it?

by Krisztina Lorinczi | Oct 12, 2021 | Leadership Learning, Leadership Skills, Learning Potential

If we believe in the definition that Ego is our operational center that defines who we are and why we are different from others, then we can state that a great leader has to accept his/her team members. I mean, accept WHO they are.

How to appreciate team members

Great leaders make sure that the team members feel this. When they feel accepted and valued and can work and exist based on their values at work, they will be much more open to receive (and give) constructive, corrective feedback. And the feedback has to focus on HOW the person did something and not on the person. In other words, it is not about the person but the behaviors.

And let me share a piece of insider information with you, just today; that is how we trainers do it as well. We do our best to appreciate participants’ comments and shared ideas. We make sure that their Ego feels safe and respected, and when they say something that is not right, we ask them why they think it is correct. It is almost always an open discussion in which the participant can draw their conclusion.

And sometimes we change our minds because we learn something from our participants! Suppose the trainer is 100% sure that the participant’s opinion is not correct, and an open dialogue does not help because it is not the right tool at the given moment. In that case, the trainer can share different options, and the magic question can be asked: “Which option do you think could work best A, B, or C?”

Leaders can achieve a lot by respecting the person, communicating that, and correcting behaviors. It is hard to overcommunicate respect and acceptance. By regularly giving positive and constructive feedback, team members will open up and autocorrect their views about themselves. It takes time, effort, and sometimes even more effort.

Your managers can become great leaders with the right insights in ego and how it is used. Contact Us to learn how we can help.

How to start a conversation with a closed person

by Krisztina Lorinczi | Sep 9, 2021 | Leadership Skills, Learning Potential, Training

Communication is an art. Getting people to open up and talk is an important skill to have today. Sometimes, we have to maneuver around the person unwilling to share their thoughts. One approach that can work is to paraphrase or summarize what little information they have provided. An example may be:

“If I understood you correctly, your priority is to update your CRM data?”

I have never heard anyone answer with a clear Yes or No, which is excellent news! It opens new possibilities to involve the other person. People like to make corrections; they add something and say “Yes and,” “Not exactly because,” etc.

To be agile:

Understand the other person’s view,
Solve conflicts without burning bridges and hurting others, and
Involve and motivate others to achieve even more.

Ask questions to help communications. Try to limit your questions. The more straightforward question will be answered. Too many questions can limit your exchange. If you ask several ones at once, the other one goes to waste.

And the real magic of questions is…SILENCE. Make sure you count until 10 when you raise a question. What I see leaders struggling with is waiting for the answer because they think they know it better, not you, of course, the others who are not reading the book.

There is another question I have received many times: “How do I know that I asked a good question?” You don’t need me or a coach or a trainer to let you know. The reaction of your team member will tell you. The first reaction to a good question is, “I didn’t think about that; it is a good question!” Or “Hmm, I don’t know!” A great leader stays in the tension of the conversation and observes the impact of their questions and statements. He navigates through the conversation like a great captain taking one wave after the next. Good luck with adjusting the angle of your next conversation!