Defining Social Awareness

Guest post by David Nielson

The following is an excerpt from The 9 Dimensions of Conscious Success.

Very simply, social awareness is, knowing when you do or say something, what the impact on others is. It is being conscious of your impact on others as you travel through life.

As part of my executive coaching practice, I use a simple impact vs. intent model. In your interaction with others, does your impact match your intent? This is a great silent conversation for you to have as you interact with others.

Even better, it’s a good question for you to ask before you have an interaction with someone else. It is particularly important for you to check your intent before what you feel might be a difficult conversation. Specifically, it helps to train yourself to take a moment before doing or saying anything to reflect on, “What is my desired result here? What is my intent?”

Does what you say or do with others have the desired results? Does it produce the results that are in sync with your purpose? This is where collaboration is important, and these three questions are most applicable:

Why am I here?
Why are you here?
What result can we produce together which will create value?

This again means having an ongoing awareness. In addition to looking inward, we have to also be aware of our outward impact.

The starting point is that you have to care about how others are affected by your words and actions. I think most people do care. Your upbringing probably included lessons from your parents on being polite and considerate of others. As children, you might have been told these behaviors were “good manners.” As adults and professionals in any field, this quality goes beyond just good manners and focuses on producing respectful, effective relationships for the good of a larger effort.

Narcissism

Recently, we were working with an organization where the executive team was attempting to roll out major changes within the organization. The CEO was having trouble collaborating because of the way she was interfacing with others on the executive team.

During meetings, she dominated the conversations and was very critical and autocratic; was directive to the point of being dictatorial. She wanted to be noticed as the most important person in the room, if not the smartest person in the room. Unfortunately, she was not aware of her negative impact on the team. Her behavior and communication style screamed insecurity and domination, which prevented the team from wanting to participate.

If she had a greater social awareness she would have realized that her purpose of creating change was being thwarted by her low self-awareness.

She is now working on increasing self-awareness and realizes that her behavior impacts her purpose and the purpose of the executive team. It is a work in progress, but she seeks every day to be more aware of the impact of her words and emotional state when she walks into meetings with her team.

You’ve heard of the Golden Rule: “Treat others as you would like to be treated.” Personally, I think the “Platinum Rule” is better: “Treat others as they would like to be treated.” When you can consciously operate that way, you are at the height of social awareness.

Here are a few questions to ask yourself to remove the blind spots in your relations:

Was I attentive to the person who approached Me?
Did I blow the person off because I was too busy to listen?
Was I diligent in asking questions about the content of what the person said? Was I attentive to the person’s feelings and emotions?
What were my body language, facial expression, and voice tone? How did this impact the other person?

About David Nielson

David Nielson brings over four decades of corporate, Fortune 500, and private consulting experience in organizational change management, leadership development, and training. David has helped guide large-scale change initiatives and business strategy driven by ERP, mergers, restructuring, and the need for cultural change. He’s been a featured and frequent speaker at PMI, Project World, Chief Executive Network, Management Resources Association, TEC, IABC, Training Director’s Forum, and the Alliance of Organizational Systems Designers.

David has worked around the world delivering training and consulting services. In all those years, those countries, those clients; David has observed, learned and collected great experiences and teaching points. David decided to work on a way to “give back.” His latest book, The 9 Dimensions of Conscious Success helps readers identify their definition of purpose professionally and personally to achieve conscious success.

How the Worst Leaders Destroy Trust in the Workplace

Guest post by Jim Haudan

I’ve interacted with dozens of executive teams in my career, and it always happens. The seven, 10, or more men and women on the executive team each have an IQ of 160, but their IQ as a team and with trust seems like a whopping 22.

Why is the team total always less than the sum of the parts? Why do so many teams seem to drift to a place where the culture is soft on the difficult issues and strained among the people? If there is a single factor that most contributes to the erosion of trust in the workplace (and makes teams seem less intelligent than they are), it is this: the “absence of the assumption of positive intent” of others.

Looking at that thought from the opposite side, the one behavior that has the potential to immediately elevate the performance of individuals and teams is “assuming positive intent” of others. Assuming positive intent is the ultimate performance driver, but it is more uncommon than common.

For example (and this is just one of many): A CEO confessed that whenever he worked with his executive team he would tell himself stories about the motives, agendas, and driving intents of his leaders.

It was this assumption of intent that created his reality and basis for interaction with them. As a result, it took the team five times as long to try to get aligned on the most critical imperatives for the business rather than actually working on them!

So you can see how the lens through which you view others’ intents can really color the trust factor–and therefore the whole culture and even productivity–of your organization. Here are a few ways to check your intent meter.

Pick up a copy of Jim’s latest book: What Are Your Blind Spots?: Conquering the 5 Misconceptions that Hold Leaders Back

1) Avoid the “other guy” trap

Most of us are guilty of getting distracted by or frustrated with what someone else should have done. Resist the temptation to make assumptions based on limited information about individual circumstances.

Assuming positive intent gives other people the benefit of the doubt. It replaces judgment with curiosity. Listen with the intent to understand and not the impatience to reply.

2) Stop conspiracy theories

We have been conditioned to be suspicious. From stranger danger to 21st-century terrorism, we often lean toward believing people don’t have our best interests at heart, and we act accordingly.

In the case of strangers and fear of terrorists, this is understandable; however, relationships flourish when we don’t assume intentions that aren’t there. At work, and even at home, assume positive intent until proven otherwise and watch how rapport, communications, respect, and trust grow.

3) Take away the anger

Indra Nooyi, chairman and CEO of Pepsi, tells the story of learning the power of positive intent from her father. She says, “When you assume negative intent, you are angry. If you take away the anger, you don’t get defensive and scream.”

When we are calm and level headed, we have a higher emotional quotient (EQ), and our ability to collaborate and be productive skyrockets, along with our happiness.

Assumption of intent. Build trust with it, and its impact on your workplace can be massive.

In fact, assuming positive intent is the single behavior that high-performance teams choose time and again to set as a goal when crafting a new set of behavioral standards for the future. How’s your intent meter reading?

About Jim Haudan

Jim Haudan is Co-Founder and Chairman of Root Inc. Root Inc., the organizational change expert on helping companies create leadership alignment, execute strategies and change successful, build employee engagement, and transform businesses. He is a sought-after business presenter who has spoken at TEDx BGSU, Tampa TEDx, and The Conference Board. His latest book, What Are Your Blind Spots?: Conquering the 5 Misconceptions that Hold Leaders Back is co-authored with Rich Berens is CEO and Chief Client Fanatic of Root Inc. The book equips readers with the tools needed for a personal leadership reset. You’ll discover how to increase engagement, productivity, and growth in your own organization.

blind spots

Contact Us Today to help overcome your blind spots!

We provide Extraordinary Development, leading to Growth Exponentially. EDGE is a Service Disabled Veteran owned Human Resources Development performance consulting firm, focusing on three primary areas to help you achieve exponential growth. Our focus is in the areas of Leadership Development, Talent Management, and Organizational Development. We don’t want to be seen as consultants working on your organization, we want you to feel like we are working with you in your organization through the delivery of solutions that are transparent, practical, robust, and long-term.

Visit www.whereleadershipbegins.com to learn more.

This piece originally appeared on the Root Blog.

Charting New Paths to the Future

Guest post by Marina Gorbis

We are living in a moment of great transition. Some call it the Fourth Industrial Revolution, others refer to a Great Disruption or the VUCA world, the world of Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, and Ambiguity. At the Institute for the Future (IFTF) we talk about a transition from the First to the Second Curve, from the world of institutional production to the world of socialstructed creation, in which many things are accomplished by aggregating efforts of large networks of people using online platforms and tools for algorithmically coordinating activities. We believe that we are in the early stages of this transformation but the impacts will be profound over the next decade. No organization, no sector of our economy and society will be left unchanged.

We are living in a moment of great transition.

So, how do you ensure that your organization is not only prepared for the future but also shaping it? To start, you need a deep understanding of the big shifts driving the transformation on the horizon. My suggestion is to focus on what my colleague, prominent investigative journalist Drew Sullivan, refers to as “tides, not waves.” This means a focus not on what’s new and ephemeral but what is underneath, what is deep and durable and may be an accumulation of multiple forces building up over decades. These tides are often a combination of myriad technologies, demographic, social, and cultural changes coming together.

The Larger Tides of Change

At IFTF, we are constantly tracking and making sense of the larger tides of change. Once you recognize and understand such changes, you can start asking yourself what do they mean? And informed by those insights, what can you do to future-proof your organization? What should you do to build a more desirable future for yourselves and for others? You can also place your existing efforts in this futures context to see how prepared you are for what’s coming.

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This is exactly the journey that the California Community Colleges the largest provider of higher education in California recently embarked upon. Vice Chancellor of Workforce Development, Van Ton-Quinlivan wanted to place their recent investments within a larger future context, as an inventory of preparedness. To do this, we first turned to IFTF’s research map, Learning is Earning in the National Learning Economy, which maps the emerging innovation zones resulting from a world where working, learning, and living are blending together. We then used those eight innovation zones as a lens through which to examine the CCCs current innovation efforts. In which zones are they furthest along? Which zones need our immediate focus? The findings of our work together can be found in the newly released report, Charting New Paths to the Future in the California Community Colleges, now available for free download.

Every forward-looking educational organization should check its efforts against the larger tides of change. A place to start is IFTF’s rich archive of futures research available through our Learn and Work Futures Initiative. And for more inspiration, please read Charting New Paths to the Future in the California Community Colleges.

About Marina Gorbis:

Marina Gorbis is a futurist and social scientist who serves as executive director to the Institute for the Future (IFTF), a Silicon Valley nonprofit research and consulting organization. In her 19 years with IFTF, Marina has brought a futures perspective to hundreds of organizations in business, education, government, and philanthropy to improve innovation capacity, develop strategies, and design new products and services.

About Bob Johansen:

Bob Johansen is a distinguished fellow with the Institute for the Future in Silicon Valley. For more than 30 years, Bob has helped organizations around the world prepare for and shape the future, including corporations such as P&G, Walmart, McKinsey, United Rentals, and Syngenta, as well as major universities and nonprofits.

The author or co-author of ten books, Bob is a frequent keynote speaker. His best-selling book Get There Early: Sensing the Future to Compete in the Present was selected as one of the top business books of 2007. His latest book is The New Leadership Literacies: Thriving in a Future of Extreme Disruption and Distributed Everything discusses five new leadership literacies—combinations of disciplines, practices, and worldviews—that will be needed to thrive in a VUCA world of increasing volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity.

The Mood Elevator and Secrets of an 80-Year-Old Triathlete

The Mood Elevator and The Secrets of an 80-Year-Old Triathlete

Guest post by Dr. Larry Senn

I don’t know how to say the word “retirement” as the concept is foreign to me. I tell people “how can I retire from my purpose” which is to help more and more people live life at their best mentally, emotionally, physically and spiritually.

The Mood Elevator is the best tool I have found to support me and others in that purpose. And Senn Delaney the firm I founded 40 years ago is best at creating healthy cultures where that purpose is alive. I still love writing about the Mood Elevator, speaking about it to groups and being an active partner in a firm that teaches it as part of shaping the culture of companies around the world.

Most weeks I am traveling around the country meeting with, coaching and facilitating culture shaping session. Weekends and most mornings I am running, biking, weight lifting or swimming as part of training for the half dozen sprint triathlons I do each year. I win most in my age group because I’m often the only person in the group (last man standing).

The Mood Elevator is the best tool I have found to support me and others in that purpose.

Family is incredibly important to me, and I am committed to being fit to keep up with all of them including a teen age son we had when my wife was 52 and I was 65. I’m blessed to have raised a very adventurous family with 5 children and 5 grandchildren so in the summers you’ll find me water skiing, off road motorcycle riding, zip lining, or jumping on the trampoline with my kids and grand kids.

This is probably not what most people picture for an 80 year-old so I am frequently asked “how do you do that?”

I think it is largely based on having a purpose which inspires me to need to be my best. For me that purpose is family and the work I do. I can’t do that if I’m not at my best and I can’t be at my best mentally and emotionally if I’m not at my best physically. That belief and the understanding that you use it or lose it and the body is a sacred gift provides me motivation and some discipline. I tell people that when I look at a chocolate chip cookie I see my 17 year old sons face– and I don’t eat it.

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For those who want to know some specifics here are my tips from the 82-year old triathlete:

If you don’t use it, you’ll lose it. This motto came from Dr. Kenneth Cooper who wrote the original book titled It states that the body doesn’t wear out; it rusts out from lack of use. After reading this book I changed my mindset on movement, I had always been an athlete growing up but once I started my business and I got busy I stopped making the time for exercise. This book encouraged me to develop a regular cardiovascular exercise routine and I started running 50 years ago, and I haven’t stopped since.
Aerobics and Beyond. There are three important types of exercise that I make an effort to incorporate into my routine: aerobics, anaerobic, and stretching. My aerobics is my running- I also swim and bike ride which I picked up after I did my first triathlon at 70 years old. For anaerobic, I do strength training. Strengthening your muscles helps with core strength which prevents back injuries and improves posture, it increases bone density, and increases your metabolism which can help with weight loss. The last and perhaps most neglected form of exercise is As we get older we become stiff and less flexible, I notice in some elderly people that when they’re driving they can’t even turn their neck far enough to see what’s behind them when they’re driving- this is an image that motivates me to stretch regularly.
Foods You Choose. There is so much information that I have read over the years on what the best food to eat is. I do firmly believe that the food I eat has had a profound impact on my health. I haven’t had to be on any medication, I have had no sign of high cholesterol, blood pressure, or any other medical issues and my doctors are often astounded when they do my blood work on the kind of shape I’m in. Below is the foods I have tried to avoid and what I incorporate daily that has helped me keep healthy.

What I avoid:

Saturated fats from dairy products, processed or red meat, and the wrong oils (saturated or trans fats) found in most processed food
Simple carbohydrates and non-naturally occurring sugars found in pastries, desserts, soft drinks, white flour, and most fruit juices

On the other hand, these are what I try to get plenty of:

Vegetables, whole fruits, and nuts like almonds and walnuts
Protein mainly from legumes (beans and lentils) and other plant products. If more protein is needed, I use plant-based protein powder supplements. For meat, I choose fish, such as wild caught salmon or tuna.
The right oils, especially those that have high omega-3s
Fiber from vegetables, as well as grains such as brown rice, oatmeal, and whole wheat
Antioxidants, such as those found in blueberries, acai berries, and pomegranate juice
Water, while limiting juice consumption and cutting out fish

It took me a while to develop and implement these habits and guidelines for myself. All it takes is a small step towards bettering your health. From my experience, it has been so incredibly worth it and allows me the gift to play with my kids and grand kids and do the work I love.

About Dr. Larry Senn

Dr. Larry Senn pioneered the field of corporate culture and founded in 1978, Senn Delaney, the culture shaping unit of Heidrick & Struggles. A sought-after speaker, Senn has authored or co-authored several books, including two best-sellers. His newest is The Mood Elevator (August 2017), the follow up to his 2012 book, Up the Mood Elevator. You can learn more about Larry and his work at his website, www.themoodelevator.com.

Learn to Love the Process not the Result

Over a long weekend, watching my son and his team experience the highs and lows of competitive baseball, I had a very cathartic conversation with one of his baseball coaches over a 2-hour wait until they played again. We talked about baseball, the military, and everything in between. One thing he said to me I’ve known for as long as I can remember, but this time it really struck me and has been rattling around in my head. As we were talking about baseball, he said “you have to learn to love the process and not the result”.

Some context. This particular coach on my son’s team was drafted by the Brewers in the mid 90s and unfortunately never made out of the college ranks. He received high level coaching and advice from a young age through his early twenties about how to play baseball at a highly competitive level. And now he is the head coach for his older son’s team and an assistant coach for his younger son’s teams of which my son is member, imparting his knowledge and wisdom, developing these boys into young men.

Through the course of our conversation I could not help but think about the correlation to and lessons for developing leaders, whether aspiring or seasoned, the message was the same.

The process of developing the skills to play baseball is a paradox, it’s simple yet complex. Throw the ball catch the ball, see the ball hit the ball, simple, yet it’s important to have the right arm angle and body posture all in sync to throw a 96 mph strike or hit to the opposite field, complex.

Developing the skills to play baseball is much like developing the skills to be an effective leader. Simple, from the perspective that a leader has a title now and tells others what to do and they do it, but complex from the perspective that the leader needs to understand how to emotionally connect with each one of his or her direct reports and engage them on an individual basis to motivate them to want to do something on their own accord. The first perspective represents a result. You have a title and now tell people what to do. While the latter perspective represents the process. The process of learning about self, learning about others, and learning about the context in which one is leading.

As one develops into a successful and effective baseball player, you have to practice, change, try something new, fail, practice again, fail again, try again, and practice some more until you get into a rhythm where you can deliver results consistently (yet, a career .300 batting average might be HOF worthy).

To me, this looks like the same process a mentally tough, emotionally strong, ego-in-check, leader would follow to develop their leadership skills. While it is true some are born predisposed to be great athletes, the same is true for leaders, however, the process remains the same, simple, yet complex. Add or expand to the complexity by thinking about a specific position such as a catcher or from a business perspective an overseas assignment.

A leader needs to learn to love the development process not the result. If a leader can learn to love the process they will likely get an even better result (At EDGE BMC we believe in leveraging the 70-20-10 development process).

You can read a book about baseball, watch a video, but there is nothing quite like going out to a diamond, experiencing baseball for yourself and going through the development process. Such is the same for leadership, reading the latest NYT bestseller or attending a workshop does not make you a better leader. You have to actually practice, change, try something new, fail, practice again, fail again, try again, and practice some more until you get into a rhythm where you can deliver results consistently. Can you succeed your first time out? Sure you can, but don’t get complacent, cocky, and careless.

As one develops into a successful and effective leader or baseball player, you have to practice, change, try something new, fail, practice again, fail again, try again, and practice some more until you get into a rhythm where you can deliver results consistently.

Think about all the successful people in your life, they’ve ascended to the levels they are at because they learned to love the development process. They learned that failure is okay as long as it turns into learning and a new beginning requires something else to end.

Whether you are a struggling small business owner, a highly successful athlete, you have to learn to love the process. The process is going to be hard work in the end, but the pay-off will be much greater, the result will more rewarding when you fall in love with the process.

Chase’s Head Coach on why we do this for our kids:

We do it for the excitement on our kids faces when they win a championship game. We do it because being part of a team is a valuable lesson. We do it because sometimes we lose and learning to lose gracefully is a valuable lesson. Lastly we do it because when down 7 runs, and nothing seems to be going right, perseverance, teamwork and determination made our kids successful. There are few other activities that teach kids these lessons outside of competition.

EDGE Business Management Consulting, a Network Partner with the Center for Creative Leadership, is a Human Capital Consulting firm, focusing on three primary areas to help you achieve exponential growth. We can serve you in many ways, however our focus is in the areas of Talent Management, Organizational Development, and Leadership Development.

For immediate inquiries, contact Dan Freschi at (414) 301-3343 or email dan@edgebmc.com, and visit our website at www.edgebmc.com.

Why Invest in Your Employees?

So the economy is doing okay. It’s booming for some and busting for many others. Whatever your company is doing, booming, busting, or somewhere in between, investing in your employees is a must.

Employee Investment

Now, I know you’ve seen the image above before, probably many times, and it’s cliche notion resonates with many professionals. The thing is, is that it’s true.

One of our clients whose business is currently in a busting period, made the strategic decision to continue the investment in developing their leaders. This was not without significant consideration and influence. The argument that ultimately won over the stakeholders was that very few to no other company in their industry would be continuing this investment in their leaders during this economic malaise and making this investment demonstrates their benevolence towards the employees. And, the evidence revealed itself shortly after the conversation when companies laid-off and terminated contracts of tens of thousands of employees.

Developing employees, managers, and leaders requires not just a financial investment, but an investment in time and effort. Organizations with successful employee and leadership development programs prepare their employees with lifelong skill sets. They also demonstrate organizational trust and an eagerness to build loyal employees who thrive on growth and want to remain as members of the organization.

Studies have shown that companies with employee and leadership development programs are six times more likely to increase employee engagement, and have a 2.5 times higher productivity rate than organizations that have yet to implement a career development strategy (Scales, 2012). They stay with the company because they want to, not solely because they need to. When the economic fog rises in the near future, not only will our client have a ready workforce, but they will be engaged and positioned to scoop up the talent their competitors sent packing.

Another study conducted by the World at Work association shared that only 51% of employers feel confident about retention of top talent as the economy improves. Rest assured that out client who made the investment in their leaders has a much higher level of confidence in their ability to retain their top talent and it’s directly related to the investment they’ve made while times weren’t so good.

One more thing, they made the Great Place to Work List too in their state.

If you’re in a similar position and unsure what do to next let us help you. We put employee and leadership development systems in place with extraordinary development activities, leading towards exponential results.

EDGE – Where Leadership Begins, is a Human Capital Consulting firm, focusing on three primary areas to help you achieve exponential growth. We can serve you in many ways, however our focus is in the areas of Talent Management, Organizational Development, and Leadership Development.

For immediate inquiries, contact Dan Freschi at (414) 301-3343 or email info@edgebmc.com, and visit our website at www.whereleadershipbegins.com.

How Do You Moveo Moti Motum? (Influence)

In case you’re not up on your Latin “Moveo Moti Motum” is Latin for Influence. When searched on Google, Influence garners over 135 million results. So, what really is influence? When Moveo Moti Motum is translated from Latin is literally means to move, arouse, affect, and influence. Using one of my favorite dictionary sites, Influence is defined as

the power to change or affect someone or something : the power to cause changes without directly forcing them to happen : a person or thing that affects someone or something in an important way : the power or capacity of causing an effect in indirect or intangible ways

This definition is the same for negative as well as positive influence, both can be equally powerful. The level of influence you have comes from a variety of sources. How much expertise you have, how credible your position and objectives are, how visible you are, and how you align your objectives with the organization all serve to increase your ability to have a positive influence on others.

In the workplace, at home, at school, whenever we are communicating and interacting with other humans, we need to be able accomplish our goals. This need requires a focus on synergy and a savvy influence ability because you may or may not be in a position to exercise pure power or authority in the situation.

And, even if you are in a position of power or authority, consider what Dwight D. Eisenhower the 34th President of the United States and a five-star general in the United States Army during World War II says about influencing others:

Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it.

This holds true for everyone, including parents, coaches, neighbors, it’s not just leaders.

So, influence can equal leadership. Renowned author and speaker John C. Maxwell believes:

Leadership is influence, nothing more, nothing less.

If you think about it we rely on influence to get everything we do, done. Whether it is getting approval for spending beyond your budget, placing items onto an agenda for the next executive meeting, or sharing the importance of practice with your kids, your ability to influence matters.

A key component and the first step to improving your ability to influence starts with a thorough understanding of yourself, your interpersonal, presentation, communication and assertiveness abilities. Consider taking one of the best assessments on the market today, Everything DiSC to gauge where you are with your influence abilities. With the market full of DISC type assessments, this is the original and most useful in multiple aspects of life and business.

At the end of the day learning to adapt your personal style when you become aware of the effect you are having on other people, while still being true to yourself is a vital contributor to building your influence ability.

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Consider the following bestselling resources as you seek out developing the “how to” of your influence ability.

In his book Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion the 6 Principles that help to get influence over people, Dr. Robert Cialdini shares the results from his deep research about the various strategies held by people to have influence over their peers. The 6 Principles of Influence/Persuasion that Dr. Cialdini share are: Reciprocity, Scarcity/rarity, Commitment & consistency, Consensus/Social proof, Authority, and Liking.

Similarly, in their book Influencer: The New Science of Leading Change, authors Joseph Grenny, Kerry Patterson , David Maxfield, Ron McMillan, and Al Switzler take us on a journey to discover vital behaviors we want to change, show us how to convince ourselves and others to change minds, and truly master the 6 sources of influence. Those include Personal motivation, Personal ability, Social motivation, Social ability, Structural motivation, and Structural ability.

In the book, Persuasion: The art of influencing people, author James Borg shares that, empathy and sincerity, are the fundamental building blocks for successful persuasion. Empathy is the bedrock of communication – the ability to identify and understand the other person’s feelings, ideas and situation. Sincerity is essential for generating trust. Borg warns that no amount of learning about communication skills without the core virtues of empathy and sincerity will succeed in the longer term.

References

Borg, J. (2007). Persuasion: The art of influencing people. Harlow: Pearson Prentice Hall.

Cialdini, R. B. (2007). Influence: The psychology of persuasion. New York: Collins.

Patterson, K. (2008). Influencer: The power to change anything. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Need to Communicate Better? Focus on Synergy

The time we spend communicating is immense, whether it’s face-to-face, email, video, phone, social media, an individual or a networking group, a formal or an impromptu discussion, every interaction must produce results and accomplish its purposes efficiently, effectively and generate as much action as possible. The key to generating maximum action is to focus on generating synergy when we communicate.

Synergy is the interaction of two or more agents or forces so that their combined effect is greater than the sum of their individual effects.

Simply put synergy means the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. The relationship which the parts have to each other is a part in and of itself – the most empowering, unifying and exciting parts.

The essence of synergy about valuing the mental, emotional, and psychological differences between people. The key to valuing these differences is to realize that all people see the world, not as it is, but as they are, commonly known as perception.

When focused on synergistic communication you are able to develop creative possibilities, including better solutions and services. If synergy isn’t achieved, even the effort will usually result in a better compromise.

Focusing on synergy enables us to be more participative rather than suppressive in our communication. Especially so when making decisions about how to achieve a goal or complete work, make it a habit to ask for others ideas. Be genuine and open to others ideas and their possibilities, build on them and use them.

Dr. Steven Covey in his book 7 Habits of Highly Effective People shares that in Habit 6:

Synergy lets us discover jointly things we are much less likely to discover by ourselves.

When we focus on synergy in our communication we generate trust. High trust leads to high cooperation and communication. Leading to better results in many aspects including our business and personal relationships and balance sheets.

Let us show you how we develop synergy with our Syn-EDGE-y Communication Model. Visit our website at www.edgebmc.com today.

Leadership is Freak’n Hard

A guest blog post – by Bill Treasurer

A few years ago, while facilitating a leadership development workshop, I asked the CEO of a multi-billion dollar construction company to share a little known secret with the budding leaders in the room. He scratched his chin, waited a beat, and then said,

“Leadership is freak’n hard.”

Except he didn’t use the word freak’n.

There certainly is no shortage of leadership advice in the world, most of it peddled by consultants who have never actually been in a leadership role. Read any leadership blog today and you’re bound to get a bullet-pointed list of “just do this” advice, as if being a leader was as easy as a clicking on plug-and-play app.

The result of all this cheap advice is that leadership, as a concept, becomes attractive. If it’s easy, after all, and if a person can make more money in a leadership role, everyone should aim to be a leader. Were the cheap advice actually true, of course, there would be more actual leaders.

The truth about leadership, as the construction company CEO reminded us, is that being a leader is anything but easy. Here’s why:

It Takes Experience: You can read all the bullet points you want, but until you actually lead others, you won’t be a leader. Stop reading and start leading.

Your Job is Discomfort: Ginny Rometty, the CEO of IBM, put it best, “Growth and comfort don’t coexist.” Your job as a leader is to bring about growth through change. By definition, that requires you to make people uncomfortable.

Speed and Accuracy Don’t Mix: Decisiveness is a hallmark of leadership. Leaders need to render fast decisions, lest they become bottlenecks. Rarely will you have enough perfect information to make a perfect decision. Translation? Decisions come with risks.

You’ll Have a Bull’s-eye on Your Back: Oscar Wilde once said, “Whenever there is a man who exercises authority, there is a man who resists authority.” Especially in America where independence is a virtue. Leadership requires a certain degree of control over the behavior of others. Yet what self-respecting person likes to be controlled?

It Takes Humble Confidence: If you get too big for your leadership britches, you’ll lose people’s loyalty in a heartbeat. But if you aren’t confident, you’ll be seen as weak. You’ll need to be simultaneously confident and humble.

Faced with the hard realities about leadership, the first decision an aspiring leader should make is whether they really want to lead. Here are a few questions to help you discern your answer:

What attracts you to the concept of leadership? Why do you want to lead?

On a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 equating to “very thin” and 10 equating with “very thick”, how thick is your skin? When people second-guess your decisions, how upset are you likely to get?

How comfortable and fast are you when it comes to taking risks? What is your greatest failure and what did you learn from it?

What natural skills, talents, and abilities will make you a good leader? What skills, talents, and ability do you still need to develop?

The real attraction of serving in a leadership role isn’t the potential for making more money, or having people at your beck and call. The real attraction should be the positive difference you may be able to make through your leadership influence.

Whenever I ask seasoned leaders what they are most grateful for about being a leader, the most common answer is the chance to make a difference in people’s lives. That’s the leadership reward for all that freak’n hard work.

Bill Treasurer is the Chief Encouragement Officer of Giant Leap Consulting and author of Leaders Open Doors, which focuses on how leaders create growth through opportunity. 100% of the book’s royalties are being donated to programs that support children with special needs. Bill is also the author of Courage Goes to Work, Right Risk, and Courageous Leadership, and has led courage-building workshops across the world for NASA, Accenture, CNN, PNC Bank, SPANX, Hugo Boss, Saks Fifth Avenue, and the US Department of Veterans Affairs, and many others. Contact Bill at btreasurer@giantleapconsulting.com, or on Twitter at @btreasurer.

Defining Leadership for Yourself

How would you define leadership for yourself?

Leadership is about influencing the behavior of individuals and groups, and motivating them towards a common goal. Therefore it is a communication process, one between a leader and follower. Leadership can be a positive force such as Abraham Lincoln or a negative force such as Adolf Hitler.

Leadership is a process, a state-of-mind, a choice one makes to demonstrate. Therefore, leadership is personal and unique to the individual. Leaders who demonstrate a positive force of leadership in their organizations do so by developing their followers potential and increase their quality of life, by building meaningful relationships based upon establishing trust, principles, credibility, respect, setting an example and equally important, giving clear structure and purpose to their followers work. Leaders take a genuine, authentic interest in their followers and work hard to provide meaning and purpose to their followers lives and work.

Leadership is about who you are at your core, your values, and your authentic self. If you know who you are, what you believe in, and what you want to do, then regardless of what you are or are not, you still have to make the choice to lead.

There was never a more prevalent time to demonstrate positive authentic leadership than when I served as a commissioned officer in the United States Army. Many people that I have encountered since I left the service don’t understand the how leaders are developed in today’s military. At the core we are taught the same sets of tools that all business leaders are taught, even how we use them and why we use is the same. We just might have different names or acronyms for the tools. In the military accomplishing the mission is everything, however, without a mentally and emotionally strong and engaged group of soldiers following you, the mission has a strong likeliness of failure. The health and welfare of a soldier always came before mission and this requires leaders who are confident in who they are, know what they believe in, and respect for the people who surround them, or simply put a great emotional intelligence ability. Leaders who were toxic and disregarded their soldiers for the sake of the mission, fail. Without the will of your followers and the freedom of their choice to follow you, you simply are not a leader.