Archive for August, 2008

My August “Leadership” column for West Michigan Business Review can be found here.

Leadership can be very hard. It is full of frustration, fear, and anger. All of these emotions can be responsible for what is known as an “amygdala hijack”, sending the leader into a rage. Such displays can, at best, be counter-productive. At worst, they can bring an organization to it’s knees. Employees become fearful, refuse to speak up and engage. Leaders who wish to change the eruptive reaction may find the following interesting:

“Meditation (based on studies) has been found to be a way to develop the pre-frontal cortex. Meditation strengthens this regulation part of the brain so you can build capacity to control amygdala hijacks, and when we meet with stress. The story of the experiment with a meditative monk and the confrontational professor is worth listening to. The monk was so calm in the debate that he actually calmed down the professor (both were wired for physiological measurement). So, if we can develop and strengthen the controlling section (left side) of the Pre-Frontal Cortex through meditation?€”we can spread calm and rationality.” from Survival Leadership blog in describing a story told by Daniel Goleman, author of books on social psychology and emotional intelligence.

We’ve all heard the saying “quick to judge”. Well, it turns out that our mind works out of your control to evaluate and judge. This is our way of making sense of things. Unfortunately, our judgments are often mistaken.

John Bargh at Yale is at the forefront of new studies into the automatic processes that occur in our brains. He says that our judge does not perceive on the basis of objective reality, but rather what it has been trained to see. It is therefore subjective. From the point of first judgment forward, the judge will make decisions based on data that confirm this subjective information.

Dr. Bargh’s findings have profound implications for leadership. It’s interesting and scarey that one of the most important things a leader does – make judgments – can also be a problem for. The trick is to become conscious of the noconscious judgments that are made.

I believe that this is where a coach or mentor can help. In receiving feedback on the judgments we make, we can become more conscious of them. Ongoing coaching can assist in helping a leader to set aside judgment and to see situations and individuals in a new light.

One of the most amazing things to watch is when a leader actually changes his thinking (or better yet, his beliefs) about a situation. When he sees the role he plays in the situation, and can understand and grasp what he needs to change in himself and how that change is connected to the big picture of his organization or community is a wonderful thing to observe.

When a leader gets caught up in blaming and criticizing others for a problem, its not a bad thing for them to vent their frustration briefly to their coach. However, my clients who’ve done this know that I will ask “What role do you play in the issue?” and “What role can I play to turn it around?” Often, they find that they have more at stake than they thought, as well as some ideas for turning the situation around.

It’s freeing to consider that there is something the leader can do. Just the thought of taking action can light them up.

The next time you feel as if a situation is out of your control and you are a victim, ask yourself:

• What role do I play in this issue?
• What role can I play to turn the situation around?

At last! A study of the effectiveness and best practices in executive coaching by a respected non-coaching organization. The AMA has published “Coaching: A Global Study of Successful Practices”. It’s a very large publication that even someone passionate about the topic may shy away from reading, here are a few of the study findings from the introduction:

• Coaching is used by half of today’s companies (52% in U.S., 55% International)
• Coaching is gaining in popularity. 37% of U.S. companies and 56% in the international arena say coaching programs will be implemented in the future.
• Coaching is correlated with with higher performance. Companies using coaching more than in the past are more likely to report that their organizations have higher levels of success in the area of coaching and are more likely to report that their organizations are performing well in the market.
• Coaching is primarily used to boost individual performance.
• Clear reasons for using coaching will boost the chances that the coaching process is viewed as successful.
• Evaluating coaching’s performance may help boost success rates. Measuring effectiveness seems to correlate with success in a coaching program.
• Having an interview with a prospective coach has the strongest relationship to reporting a successful coaching program.
• Matching a coach and client according to expertise and personality is a top strategy for success.

There are others, but these were the ones that caught my attention. It’s great to see such positive news about executive coaching from a well respected organization.