Posts

2 Questions that Are Vital If You Want to Be a Better Leader

/in /by

Being a leader is a great privilege that brings with it great responsibility. As a leader, you are often the first to receive the credit and almost always the first to receive the blame. Your position is both demanding and rewarding and requires great skill and balance. You are expected to build authentic relationships, maintain confidentiality, develop your team and meet your goals. Your communication must be strong, and your time management must be masterful.  You need to effectively delegate, problem solve, strategise, manage conflict and prioritise. People expect you to be engaging but serious, charismatic but sincere, confident but humble, and transparent but discreet. It is one of the most challenging and rewarding positions you can have, and it is replete with great joys and deep challenges.

The few leaders who are lucky enough to receive training on how to be a leader often attend a one-time seminar or class that focuses heavily on skill acquisition. This is a good place to start but an insufficient one to begin and end. The development of leadership skills is most certainly necessary to become a strong leader, but it is hardly a one-shot deal. Mastering the skills required of leadership is a lifelong endeavour and should be treated as such with consistent training, application, support and coaching. Further, honing these skills is just one of the components of becoming a strong leader. The other component is comprised of mindset, desire and investment required of a leader. Without a leader’s mindset, skill mastery becomes largely irrelevant. Being a leader requires the mindset of a leader.

In 2017, after nearly a decade spent building Uber into a household brand, Travis Kalanick yielded to pressure from investors who demanded that he step down as CEO. Shortly before offering his resignation, the scandal-plagued founder issued a statement: “For the first time I’ve been willing to admit that I need leadership help.”

That was too little too late. And for such once-great commercial giants as Kodak, Blockbuster, and Blackberry, the unwillingness to solicit advice or consider potential pitfalls resulted in not only personal but corporate catastrophe.

Two thousand years ago, two great academies of study debated the ancient laws of the Judean commonwealth. History records that the scholars of the House of Hillel and the House of Shammai argued with one another so passionately it was as if “they fought with swords and spears.” Each school had its own angle on higher truth, and each was committed to preserving the integrity of Jewish legal tradition.

But when they left the study hall, they were fast friends. They married their sons and daughters to each other. Their different visions never became personal. And, occasionally, one school convinced the other that it was wrong.

Ultimately, it was the opinions of the House of Hillel that prevailed, and later authorities explain why. Not only did the scholars of Hillel always record the opinions held by the scholars of Shammai along with their own—they always recorded the opposition opinions first.

Only when we understand the other side of any argument can we truly understand our own. That’s why intellectual integrity demands that we ask ourselves these two questions:

  • If I don’t understand why you believe what you believe, how can I be sure that you’re wrong?
  • If I don’t understand why you might reasonably disagree with me, how can I be sure that I’m right?

It’s important to note that leadership is not management. And the satisfaction you derive from being a leader has nothing to do with monetary bonuses and everything to do with purpose.

Why do you want to become a leader?

If you lack purpose or drive, there’s no reason for you to become a leader. You might as well do something else. Because at its core, leadership requires sacrifice, and if you don’t have a strong sense of purpose and an unfailable drive, none of the things you sacrifice will mean anything.

Without these two quintessential characteristics, you’ll come to resent the role as well as the people that you lead. For those who have a strong sense of purpose, they are more than willing to go the extra mile — to go out on a limb for those we lead. It’s an inexplicable feeling, but all great leaders have it.

Many people realise that they’re not leadership material. And that is ok, don’t let anyone judge you because that’s indicative of great self-awareness. It’s also one less person who will potentially take a leadership position to use it for selfish gain.

As a leader, when you encourage underlings to propose new ideas, challenge conventional thinking, and argue against the status quo, you are not promoting insurrection. Just the opposite. You are forging a culture of creativity, mutual respect, and intellectual integrity, one in which every contribution is valued and where a commitment to sound decision-making overrides investment in ego or personal prestige. And that will drive you and your organization relentlessly toward success, not occasionally, but always.

Given our current situation knowing that your colleagues or employees are best suited for this new scenario we find ourselves in. Finding the right talent, the best fit for the job and your organisation can be a very challenging task. It is now important to find out whether your managers or your team is well-equipped of working together from various locations. It requires deep knowledge of their personalities, strengths, weaknesses, interests, work style and other characteristics. Our technology and solutions will do the work for you, helping you discover if your people are resilient during times of hardship, if they are autonomous, if they are team players, without actual human contact. Given that our platform is cloud-based, everyone can use it from home as well. Humanity finds itself at a crossroad for various reasons now, why not help people discover and develop themselves from the comfort of their own homes?

Request a free demo:

B_txt_14

Sources:

https://www.bngteam.com/blog/top-4-leadership-questions-ask-every-day/
https://letsgrowleaders.com/2019/11/07/7-questions-to-ask-yourself-to-be-a-better-leader/
https://www.coburgbanks.co.uk/blog/assessing-applicants/21-tough-interview-questions-that-reveal-true-leadership-potential/

Mentor Relationship and Its Growing Importance in Organisations

/in /by

Connecting with a mentor can be a huge benefit in your career. More and more companies are launching and expanding mentorship programs, so they are designating mentors, matching mentors, and establishing mentor-mentee relationships from the moment you join the company.

But for many, the assignment of a mentor is only a first step. Like a blind date, it can be awkward—only a toe in the water in an uncertain sea. As a mentee, how can you make the relationship successful? Especially if you’re new to a company or a role, you may not feel you have a lot of influence in the venture. In actuality, you can significantly contribute to creating the conditions for a great experience.

Many successful people attribute at least part of their success to having a mentor. The right mentor can provide advice and connections that help their mentee reach heights that would be impossible alone.

A mentor helps you build your skills as a leader, a strategist, a consultant or a manager. They can guide you toward making sound decisions that positively affect the trajectory of your career path or in gaining skills needed for your industry. In the entrepreneurial sector, a mentor can help you successfully guide your new business through the pitfalls inherent with being a start-up, including funding challenges, paperwork, finding clients, and delivering on projects, for example.

But, like every relationship, building and maintaining a successful mentor relationship isn’t effortless.

Mentorship requires intentional investments of time and energy; you get what you put in

Being a mentee is not a passive role. When you have a mentor, it’s your job to define your own goals, cultivate the relationship, seek out advice, attend meetings or events you’re invited to, and so on. Mentorship is not a “do it on the side” or “when I get time” job. It’s real hard work that requires dedication and commitment much like any other part of our job.

Apart from time being of paramount importance to succeed in a mentor-mentee relationship, it also requires a tremendous amount of energy to engage, guide, deal with the ups and downs and all possible human emotions that come into play when two people are trying to achieve something significant.

A true meeting of the minds requires true commitment to each other and their time. Set time boundaries, define protocol to cancel, agree on the medium to contact depending on the issue. It’s highly advisable that both mentor and mentee write down their commitments and refer to them from time to time. `

Form a personal connection, understand each other’s principles and values, strengths and weaknesses, what drives them and what they wish to achieve out of this relationship. Discuss shared values like integrity, mutual respect, openness, trust and active listening as the basis for all conversations.

As much as possible, take time out to engage in face-to-face conversation (video, in-person). It’s not enough to hear a person’s words. Their body language, facial expressions and emotions play a large role in understanding their true intent. 

How long should a mentoring relationship last?

There is no one-size-fits-all relationship in the mentoring world. If the two of you are working together on your own, the relationship can last as long as is mutually beneficial. Some mentor-mentee relationships last a lifetime and often grow more equitable over time.

If you’re part of a more formal mentorship program, there may be time requirements you need to follow, so make sure you’re fully informed about your program. Knowing the guidelines also shows that you’re a good candidate for mentorship and that you’re taking the opportunity seriously. A good rule of thumb is to meet once a month for six months and then re-evaluate whether to continue together in your last couple of scheduled meetings.

What are the benefits of mentoring?

A good mentor relationship gives you a powerful resource for advice, strategy and a deeper understanding of the world you’re working in. That relationship can guide you through defining and understanding your job role, navigating any problems at work and empowering you to do your best work – which, in turn, can result in promotions in the corporate world or long-term business success in entrepreneurship.

At the same time, the relationship benefits the mentor, too, providing a way for them to feel heard and valued for their experience. The perspective provided by a mentor can elevate your career by helping you to be your best – if you’re willing to engage, listen, ask questions and cultivate the relationship over the long-term.

The journey itself is the reward

The mentor mentee relationship does not end once mentee achieves their desired goals. The deep bond formed during these years lasts forever. People remember good mentors and mentees throughout their life. They cite their examples when talking to others and draw inspiration from them when faced with challenging circumstances. Their paths may go separate ways but it’s the journey that stays with them forever. Remember, good mentees can become successful mentors one day. Do your best to create this beautiful relationship that sows the seeds for many more in future. I am excited to see you apply it in your work environment and in personal life.

Overall, know the relationship you have with your mentor is yours to shape and influence. It’s a context for plenty of learning — about tasks, roles, culture, and the network—and it can also be a great place for you to expand your views of what works best. Later, when you’re the mentor to a new mentee, you can apply all the best practices you’ve learned from the relationships you’ve built. To be a mentor makes you a more understanding human being. It helps you keep your mind young and your skills fresh. Successful people who don’t start to mentor others will over time lose touch with their own excellence. Mentoring someone connects you back to the original you who became so excellent.

Given our current situation knowing that your colleagues or employees are best suited for this new scenario we find ourselves in. Finding the right talent, the best fit for the job and your organisation can be a very challenging task. It is now important to find out whether your managers or your team is well-equipped of working together from various locations. It requires deep knowledge of their personalities, strengths, weaknesses, interests, work style and other characteristics. Our technology and solutions will do the work for you, helping you discover if your people are resilient during times of hardship, if they are autonomous, if they are team players, without actual human contact. Given that our platform is cloud-based, everyone can use it from home as well. Humanity finds itself at a crossroad for various reasons now, why not help people discover and develop themselves from the comfort of their own homes?

Request a free demo:

B_txt_14

Sources:

https://www.fastcompany.com/90607014/how-to-navigate-a-mentor-match-that-is-not-the-right-fit
https://www.forbes.com/sites/laurencebradford/2018/01/31/8-tips-for-an-amazing-mentor-relationship/?sh=4078216f21e2
https://www.togetherplatform.com/blog/how-to-build-a-successful-mentor-relationship

Jump the S-Curve to reach your inflection point for rapid growth

/in /by

Since the beginning of 2020, the whole world has gone through incredible and irreversible changes. During these, until recently, unfathomable times, strong leadership is required to properly deal with this volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous environment. 

To maintain a sustainable business, companies must have leaders who are equipped with the knowledge and skills necessary to steer the organization away from chaos. The question now is whether or not these leaders can be inspired to deal with the adversity ahead. 

Great People Inside is proud to announce that we support the most inspiring leadership event of the year, the Global Leadership eSummit 2020. This two-day online event will host five of the world’s top gurus in areas such as leadership, coaching, mentoring, and talent maximization experts who will share their wisdom, methods, and techniques that could be very easily applied to your organization. 

One of the events’ highlights will be represented by Dr. Peter Chee’s presentation. He is the no.1 Coach for Strategic Innovation and one of the top coaches in the world. Furthermore, Dr. Peter Chee is the President & CEO of ITD World, a global leadership development expert with over 30 years of experience in developing leaders from over 80 countries. He has invented numerous coaching programs such as Coaching for Breakthrough Success (CBS) Metta Model, the Coaching Principles (TCP), Situational Coaching Model (SCM) and Achievers Coaching Techniques (ACT). Among his myriad of accolades, we have to take into account the fact that he has co-authored several books and has trained numerous CEOs and CXOs from organizations ranging from Intel and Chevron to PepsiCo and Nike. 

As a special treat for our subscribers, Great People Inside is excited and honored to reveal that Dr. Peter Chee will be our main Key Note Speaker for next year’s Great People Inside Conference which will take place between the 13th and 14th of October 2021. 

Learn and apply effective techniques and best practices to overcome internal and external obstacles to reach your inflection point, pivot away from stagnation, and reach to rapid growth stage.

Network and learn from mega gurus, top leaders, key talents, and industry captains so you and your team can begin charting your path towards exponential growth.

When you sign up today, you gain access to a bonus free coaching toolkit and assessment worth USD500 from World #1 Executive Coach Dr. Marshall Goldsmith and World #1 Strategic Innovation Coach Dr. Peter Chee.

Take advantage of this great opportunity to benefit from the maximum return at the lowest cost. We are reaching full house so registration closes soon! 

Yes! Get me to rapid growth at www.itdworld.com/gls2020

Get your ticket now at https://itdworld.com/shop/global-leadership-esummit-2020/! To learn more about the Jumping the S-Curve, go here: https://itdworld.com/jumping-the-s-curve-to-exponential-growth-innovation/

Cultural Conflict in the Workplace

/in /by

Cultural conflict in the workplace is never healthy and may lead to significant drops in productivity and morale. Managing such conflicts leads to a more harmonious workplace and, more often than not, garnering more creative ideas through multiculturalism.

Nowadays, companies have culturally diverse teams and it guarantees them success in the long term. Besides common sense, scientific studies have also revealed the fact that people with distinctive points of view and personalities increases the creativity of a team in solving their tasks. This is an honest assumption if we consider that every team member is pulling in the same direction.

A few years ago, Harvard Business School Assistant Professor Roy Y. J. Chua started to think about the impact of various cultures when working on a case study about a Chinese luxury apparel company. From his observations he discovered that there was a lot of unresolved conflict, miscommunication and tension between people of different cultures. Even when asked about their issues people did not seem to think there is a problem between them.

From his previous studies, Chua has compared the cultural problems and discrimination to hostile work environments where sexual harassment or racial discrimination were the underlying troubles. In these instances as well, co-workers’ performance and morale dipped even when they were not the targets of the aforementioned abuses. This is what is called ‘indirect conflict’ and it happens more often than companies think. For example, children who observe tensions between their parents may grow sceptical of the idea of marriage and just as citizens of USA and Mexico may have a growing hatred for each other due to the bickering their leaders have. So isn’t it possible that it could happen in the workplace?

Further Analysis Requirements

In order to further his discoveries professor Chua had decided to test his hypothesis with a series of studies. In the first study, a group of online participants were asked to make a list of their most important people on their own social media profiles, making note of their cultural backgrounds and if they were in good relations with one another. In the second part of the study, professor Chua has asked the participants to do a word association exercise in order to test their ability to connect distinct ideas from various cultures – this being the precursor to creativity on a global scale. In the exercise, they have been given the words “great”, “street” and “Berlin” and their answers should have been “Great Wall”, “Wall Street” and “Berlin Wall”. The findings from this exercise revealed that participants who had a more diverse pool of people on social media and disliked each other did around 23% worse on the test.

In Chua’s second study, he had asked the participants to think about 2 or 3 people from the same or different cultural backgrounds who have a reputation for not getting along too well with other people. Furthermore, study participants were asked to read professor Chua’s Chinese fashion house case study and then make their own suggestions for the collection that was going to be launched next year which would blend Asian and Western fashion styles. After this, fashion experts were asked to judge the creativity of their ideas. They have determined that the people with the least creative side were the ones who recalled friends from various cultural backgrounds who had conflicting relationships (e.g. 23% lower creativity score than the rest). Another interesting point discovered by Chua was that participants who saw people from different cultures having a good relationship, that it did not promote creativity, leading professor Chua to the conclusion that “As human beings, we pay more attention to negative information because it is a signal of danger. Positive information tends to be given less weight.”

CULTURAL SHOWDOWN

The experiments performed by Chua have demonstrated that for people working in multicultural business environments, it may be a slight risk but at the same time it underlined the importance of creating an environment that reduces intercultural disharmony. He went on to say “It is inevitable to have conflict when you bring people from different cultural backgrounds together,” he says. “It’s about how you manage the conflict. A lot of times managers try to put together a multicultural workplace without trying to integrate people better.”

It is fair to assume that if you were to be exposed to different work environments and ethics which differ to the ones you have grown accustomed to. This will most likely lead to wrong assumptions regarding your colleagues or managers and not with you. For instance, there may be a problem for people who celebrate Ramadan or the Lunar New Year who are living in Europe, because most Europeans do not value the importance of these holidays.

The reason this usually happens is because people have a tendency to over-value their own culture. We tend to believe that the way we do things, we communicate, we make decisions or lead is the most natural, polite, civilised and effective. Due to the clash between 2 cultures, we under-value and disapprove the new culture due to the fact that we are so set in our own ways.

There isn’t a simple recipe to manage cultural friction in the workplace, but solving it does create a harmonious workplace and the company can use the creative force which brought on by multiculturalism.

In order to manage cultural conflict here are a few things companies can do:

  • Cultural background research on all employees.
  • Remember never to pass on judgement through you own cultural frame of reference.
  • Developing self-awareness in all employees in order to be more conscious in approaching another person
  • Reconciliation is key as a leadership skill
  • Becoming as culturally competent as possible and develop traits such as compassion, empathy, behavioural and thinking flexibility and emotional resilience.

In conclusion, it is fair to assume that this information does not mean the company’s cross-cultural conflict is completely and forever solved, but it definitely is a step in the right direction.

There is a real value in providing companies with the tools to carry out regular organisational assessments and this is where Great People Inside comes to your aid. Our online platform offers the best solutions and tools for your company to thrive in every type of industry and any possible situation your organisation may find itself. In terms of lowering your employee turnover rates, we recommend our GR8 Full Spectrum assessment for hiring and 360° Survey for retention. Finding the right talent, the best fit for the job and your organisation can be a very challenging task. It requires deep knowledge of your own organisation’s culture and a keen understanding of the candidate’s personality, strengths, interests, work style and other characteristics. Our technology and solutions will do the work for you, helping you find employees who can flourish and reach the highest performance required to constantly bring your company forward.

Request a free demo:

B_txt_14

Sources:

https://www.londonschool.com/lsic/resources/blog/conflict-workplace-its-personal-even-when-its-cultural/

https://www.expatica.com/employment/employment-basics/dealing-with-cultural-conflicts-at-work-422715/

https://www.forbes.com/sites/hbsworkingknowledge/2013/12/09/how-cultural-conflict-undermines-workplace-creativity/#5cf7b03e214f

Dominant Vs. Prestigious: What Kind of Leader Are You?

/in /by

It is widely known that there are leaders who have different approaches and styles which, ultimately, leads to various consequences when they do something wrong or out of line. On the other hand, some leaders get out of situations their own actions created, or are simply given the benefit of the doubt. In a recent study published in the Academy of Management Journal, it has been revealed that leaders are dealt with their mistakes in direct correlation with how they achieved their status in the organisation.

In the field of social psychology, there is a theory that goes around explaining how leaders achieve their status and how they exert influence on various groups of people. Essentially, there are 2 distinct paths: through prestige or through dominance. There is a clear pattern in which leaders are being punished for their misdemeanours directly depending on which way they have obtained their status.

Leaders who obtain this status through dominance are very assertive and forceful-minded people and do not hesitate in getting their opinions known and do not flinch when they have to influence other people through intimidation or coercive tactics. Due to their ruthless proactiveness some people may think that they are integral in a group’s success. The best example of such a leader is Steve Ballmer, former CEO at Microsoft, who was known for being a very tough individual, who had a lot to ask of its teams and which definitely represents the ‘model’ for dominant leaders.

On the other hands, prestige leaders act like a teacher, they are people who are more than willing to share their skills, time, expertise and knowledge with other members of the group. Due to the fact they help members of their teams develop and hone their skills, they are also viewed as quintessential to a groups’ success. Such an example in this case would be Satya Nadella, current Microsoft CEO and is known in the world of business for his collective and established approach which in turn makes him the archetype for the prestige leader.

It is widely known that aggression has numerous levels on its scale and we all have to agree that there are some jobs which require a certain degree of combativeness, it could be a decisive quality in some distinct scenarios. For example, there are CEOs who are better suited to negotiate and facilitate hostile takeovers, litigation lawyers who are required to take charge of the courtroom, or a police officer. These careers ‘demand’ behavioural traits which are closely aligned to aggression due to the simple fact that they can be extremely advantageous.

As mentioned earlier, dominant and prestige leaders are being punished differently for their mistakes or lack of results and there are two reasons why. Firstly, dominant leaders are perceived as highly unethical and selfish and because of this they are having difficulties in making themselves believed when an error occurs. It will always a subject of discussion whether it was intentional or not. However, prestigious leaders are treated completely different in a similar scenario due to the fact that people trust them.

Secondly, it is widely accepted that ‘prestige’ leaders possess altruistic traits and a strong moral compass. Hence, a mistake done by a prestigious leader would be seen as far less reprehensible, less immoral and less unethical due to their virtuous nature and history. In layman terms, these types of leaders have ‘moral credits’ in their ‘moral bank account’ which makes small ‘withdrawals’ whenever a problematic situation arises. In the case of ‘dominance’ leaders, their ‘moral bank account’ is virtually empty, thus leading to situations in which they are being judged more harshly as being immoral and unethical.

In order to further demonstrate the aforementioned study’s findings, statistics and players from the National Hockey League (NHL) have been carefully observed over the course of 2 seasons. The hypothesis that was followed through was on players who were penalised for minor fouls. These fouls are usually difficult to assess and are awarded almost instantaneously by the referee, which are prone to a bias assessment of the situation. Over the course of 2 full seasons of NHL, it was discovered that high-status players who are associated with dominant traits have been penalised more by the referees in the cases of minor fouls. This, of course, was the opposite for high-status prestige players. The discrepancy in punishment was discovered to be about 13%, which in time translates to 4,33 minutes spent on the sidebar over the course of 1 season.

In relation to their employees, dominant leaders struggle more in terms of employee retention given the fact that their aggressive style of management makes employees unhappy and losing their desire to do good work. This obviously leads to a toxic workplace environment. Furthermore, if the situation prolongs itself in time it can lead to productivity losses, high absenteeism rates and an abundance of employee turnover.

There are, of course, various strategies through which ‘dominance’ leaders can change their behaviour in order to, at least, improve their relationship with the employees.

  1. Opening, encouraging and maintaining an open communication between the leader and its team, whilst also starting a two-way street in terms of feedback to and for the leader.
  2. Speak directly to the leader and appeal to his sense of logic and explain how the actions he or she takes impact the whole business.
  3. If you are dealing with a narcissistic leader, it would be recommended to present your feedback in regards to their behaviour by explaining that it could negatively impact their goals. Avoid making direct behavioural criticism.
  4. Refuse rewarding or promoting leaders who are aggressive and that can be detrimental to the company’s bottom line.

In conclusion, it is recommended to address the behaviours of dominant leaders from the beginning of their tenure and to highlight the utmost importance of stability in the decision-making process, which could directly increase the productivity, satisfaction and quality of employees.

There is a real value in providing companies with the tools to carry out regular organisational assessments and this is where Great People Inside comes to your aid. Our online platform offers the best solutions and tools for your company to thrive in every type of industry and any possible situation your organisation may find itself. In terms of lowering your employee turnover rates, we recommend our GR8 Full Spectrum assessment for hiring and 360° Survey for retention. Finding the right talent, the best fit for the job and your organisation can be a very challenging task. It requires deep knowledge of your own organisation’s culture and a keen understanding of the candidate’s personality, strengths, interests, work style and other characteristics. Our technology and solutions will do the work for you, helping you find employees who can flourish and reach the highest performance required to constantly bring your company forward.

Request a free demo:

B_txt_14

Sources:

https://hbr.org/2019/07/aggressive-leaders-are-more-likely-to-be-punished-for-their-mistakes

https://www.fastcompany.com/3048494/the-difference-between-strong-leaders-and-aggressive-leaders

http://www.wiseworkplace.com.au/_blog/WISE_Blog/post/the-cost-of-aggressive-leaders/

Great People Inside Conference “Visionary HR”, Kronwell Hotel, Brașov

/in /by

Registration is up and running for the Great People Inside Conference: Visionary HR, the only international human resources event that takes place for the XVIth consecutive year in Romania.

Anthropologist and Pulitzer winner, Jared Diamond declared that ‘a society’s ability to grow/expand and make new conquests is directly linked with its availability of embracing innovative and disruptive technologies.’ Nowadays, at the end of each year, it has become the norm to ‘start the race’ in predicting future trends in any industry imaginable and HR is no different. However, predictions have never been easy to make. As Philip E. Tetlock stated – Professor of Psychology and Political Sciences at both the University of Pennsylvania and at Wharton School of Business – we are facing an uphill battle in our capacity to forecast future trends of events.

Visionaries (innovators and ‘early adopters’ alike) are the people who are setting new standards, are changing the status quo and creating new possibilities. Just think about the vision necessary to allow people to fly for the first time at the beginning of the 20th century.

At this rate, it has been estimated that investments in the global sector of human resource management (HRM) will reach 30 billion dollars in 2025.

In other words, the creation of innovative HR solutions is in a continuous expansion, whilst the field of human resources is currently experiencing a fantastic influx of innovation.

Uncertainty in the current economic climate, the progresses made in the field of technology and the extensive disruptions in the labor market have put organizations under more pressure than ever before.

Although predicting the future is troublesome, it is also essential to identify and to understand social, economic and technological fundamental trends or ‘mega trends’ which will affect organizations in the next ten to twenty years in order to anticipate and prepare ourselves for the transformations that will supersede.

This year, on the 9th and 10th of October, at Kronwell Hotel in Brașov, the Great People Inside Conference: Visionary HR will generate, along these two days, interesting and provocative discussions in regards to modern pressing issues such as digitalization, artificial intelligence, autonomous learning and current technologies are profoundly changing the management practices of HR and the way in which we can create a future centred on people. For more details regarding the event you can check it out here!

parteneri conferinta great people inside

 

Leadership Crisis: What Can We Do About It (Study)

/in /by

56% of executives consider that the organisations they work for are not prepared to satisfy the needs of their most talented employees in regards to their leadership skills a Deloitte study has stated. Why does this happen? Where exactly is the problem and last, but not least, what can we do to fix this issue?

A recent Mercer study (2019), with a respondent base of over 500 people, has discovered some troubling new trends in terms of organizational leadership and trying to answer the aforementioned questions. Before getting into more details, here are a few key details from this respective study:

  • 27% of potential candidates are lost along the way due to a lack of a coherent selection methodology
  • 42% of organisations do not have a structured leadership competence system
  • 23% of organisations use the interview as the sole recruitment tool
  • In 63% of cases, traditional interviews fail in evaluating a candidate’s soft skills
  • In the case of succession plans, the rate of success in occupying managerial positions is 70-80% in comparison to 50-55% for those managers who are brought in outside the company for the same job position
  • 33% of organisations believe they are using the appropriate methods of measuring the quality of their hirings and only 5% believe that their methods are optimal
  • 23% of potential talents are rejected from the hiring or promotion process due to the company’s inability to identify the real performance indicators
  • 16% of organisations do not know what types of talents they need to hire for their leadership positions
  • 42% of organisations are not aware of the necessary competencies their own leaders require

A remarkable correlation has been uncovered by Mercer is that the success of leadership in organisations is directly proportional to the adoption of assessment tools.

 

leadership-assessment success ratio Great People Inside

 

What organisational practices does Mercer recommend in order for companies to develop their success in terms of leadership:

  • Develop a proper and well-structured competencies system, giving organisations the help they need in discovering the types of people they need in the organization and what types of talents they should hire in the future
  • Use assessment tools in order to properly measure the ability level of talents with the purpose of making decisions based on real facts, thus increasing the company’s chances of recruiting the right people
  • Prepare a proper internal succession plan with the help of which organisations can develop their own talents and prepare them for leadership roles
  • Incorporate leadership in hiring decisions in order to assure that the firm’s leaders share the same values, vision and the company’s mission statement
  • Develop your hiring process to be more effortless and short. Real talents won’t wait for too long!

How can Great People Inside help you?

 First of all, we are aware that the first step into improving the workforce is that of identifying the key aspects that differentiate your organisation from all the rest. Once you have accomplished this first step, you will know what are your key performance indicators, what to identify when assessing candidates and employees by developing a well-structured competence system.

Secondly, our platform is extremely simple to customise in order for it to meet the clients’ needs. We offer you the possibility of either choosing one of the available models we have in place or you can request the appropriate dimensions to match your specific needs, thus making your whole recruitment process a lot easier.

 

Two of the solutions Great People Inside has to offer, GR8 Full Spectrum and GR8 Managers, are optimal instruments which are validated scientifically in order to ensure leadership success within your organisation:

GR8 Full Spectrum – The ultimate tool for measuring employee performance, GR8 Full Spectrum assesses everything from behavioural characteristics to cognitive ability and occupational interests. With this instrument, you’ll be able to get a full overview of an employee’s potential, along with his or her match on a per-organisation and per-position level. The assessment also offers suggestions for future development, as well as the opportunity to create your own content.

GR8 Managers – As people entrusted with a high level of responsibility, it stands to reason that managers will greatly benefit from a thorough assessment of their personality and skills. Inspired by Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner’s work the GR8 Managers tool focuses on identifying management potential from several different perspectives. These include the three main managerial qualities of fairness, foresight and inspiration, as well as the ability to work with generation diversity and in a VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous) environment.

Source: Leadership Hiring Trends Report 2019 – Mercer

 

Being a Great Leader: the fine line between Confidence and Skepticism

/in /by

You’ve probably heard, over and over again, about the importance of self-confidence for a leader. Confidence gives you charisma. It makes people follow you. It makes friends trust you and enemies fear you.

It’s pretty hard to imagine Caesar or Napoleon telling their people “Well, we could try this, but I don’t guarantee that it’ll work.” So why should you, if you aspire to become a great leader?

But let’s leave confidence aside for a minute. There’s another element which most leaders of today are lacking. Have you ever had a boss who thought he knew all the answers to every question? Who never admitted he was wrong or, even more, that idea didn’t even cross his mind? Of course you did. In one word, do you know what that guy was missing? It was skepticism. Will all the praise of confidence and self-esteem, almost everyone forgot the importance of a certain dose of self-doubt.

Being a little skeptical about your own opinions is such an important factor these days. While everyone has an opinion (and everyone thinks that their opinion is the right one), those who can be skeptical about their own beliefs have a great advantage: when a problem arises they won’t take anything as given, but they will try to make up their mind, starting from zero, about what would be the best solution. That includes asking every employee’s opinion on the subject matter, because the skeptic knows that he is just a human being, fallible like any other. From this type of behaviour, two big advantages emerge: the employees will appreciate their leader for respecting them and the final solution to the problem will have a much, much higher chance of being the right one.

Well, but it seems pretty impossible to be skeptical and confident at the same time, right? Indeed, but that might not be needed. Here’s my piece of advice: whenever a problem arises, adopt this two-step approach in solving it:

Step 1– Total skepticism.
Do not take anything for granted. Search the internet for similar problems that other companies had and look at how they’ve handled them. Take notes. Now take what you’ve learned about it and present the information to your employees. If possible, ask each and every one of them how would they handle this. Finally, make a decision based on all of their insight.

Step 2 – Total confidence.

Once you’ve made that decision, stick with it until the end. At this point, you know you’ve done your best, so there’s no reason to be insecure. Your people also have to feel they they are going in the right path, so make sure you radiate confidence. Act like nothing can stop you and your people anymore from reaching your objectives.

Doesn’t look so hard anymore, does it? And while this two-step approach is meant specifically for leaders, it can be a great idea to use the same pattern in making any kinds of decisions, the results will be great nevertheless.

Great People Inside provides easy-to-use tools and processes to attract, assess, match, select, onboard, manage, develop, benchmark and maintain workforces anywhere in the world.

Finding the right talent, the best fit for the job and your organisation can be a very challenging task. It requires deep knowledge of your own organisation’s culture and a keen understanding of the candidate’s personality, strengths, interests, work style and other characteristics. Our technology and solutions will do the work for you, helping you find employees who can flourish and reach the highest performance required to constantly bring your company forward.

Request a free demo:

B_txt_14