Anger is actually a cover-up for fear, hurt, or sadness, but we’re so caught up in our anger that we rarely connect with the soft emotions it tends to belie. Typically when someone makes us angry, we see a direct relationship between our upset and their comment or action.  Yet all of our emotions are driven by beliefs and life experiences, which can explain why some people are oblivious to the same comment that seems to unravel someone else. So what might this suggest? If I have a belief somewhere in the recesses of my mind (whether from my conscious awareness or unawareness) that I do not measure up or may not be good enough, and someone suggests my project is lagging a bit or may not be addressing all the issues, I may find myself feeling angry. However, if that is not a belief residing in my subconscious or past experiences, I may simply ask “How so?” or “Tell me more,” thereby allowing a healthy discussion culminating in my improved project. Point being, once we know our stuff, we can start to manage our anger before we react to comments that end up robbing us of the very credibility we deserve.

This is but one example of the value of self-awareness in leadership and loveship.

Oftentimes our leadership failures are not life-threatening, but when they are, as in the case of Toyota’s response to the multiple reports of accidents from sticking accelerators, it only adds fat to the fire.  I have encountered only one life-threatening situation on the job during my life span.

During my internship at a large, prestigious training hospital, I had a patient whose surgery left her worse off than had she never had the surgery. Because the mishap landed her on a respirator for six months flat on her back, the mistake in her family’s eyes was indeed life-threatening.  I overheard them talking one day, saying, “If we don’t soon get an explanation and apology, we’ll sue!” A week later, the family spoke openly about how much they appreciated the sincere apology and honest admission of a misplaced incision. “It was a human mistake,” they conceded.  Still, I imagine there are times when apologies and explanations are given to harsh, unforgiving ears. Humanistic leadership is a two-way street.

Once we hear CEO Toyoda speak before a Congressional hearing, how will we respond? I have a notion that we’ll see a more timely response to future accident reports, assuming Toyoda offers a transparent account of where he and his team failed the public and how the enactment of new policies will preclude a similar future public outrage.  This may be exactly the crisis Toyoda himself needs to start him on a path of more enlightened leadership.

William George, Harvard Business professor wrote his take on the crisis Toyota is currently experiencing in a recent blog post this week.  To read the full story, click here.  George details Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda‘s actions of hiding and avoiding the true problems have created a leadership crisis for his company.  It’s too soon to tell how long a recovery make take or how successful that recovery will be for Toyota.  To help Akio Toyoda, George offers his advice, based on his recent book, 7 Lessons for Leading in Crisis.

How do you feel Akio Toyoda handled himself and the media during this challenging time?  What did he do that was good; what should he have done differently?

Hypnosis isn’t about getting people to do crazy things, it’s about getting people over their own stumbling blocks so they can achieve their personal best.  Teacher and hypnosis coach, David Grinstead says,”I’m an educator, and I teach (people) a skill that they can use the rest of their life.”

Grinstead’s hypnosis helps people with sales skills (including selling yourself), career goals, motivation, confidence, public speaking, weight control, and smoking, among many others.  See the full list of services on David’s website.

Grinstead joined The Leadership Trust® as an adjunct faculty member in September 2009.  He sees clients in Burlington and Durham.  Of his joining the TLT team, Doc Holly says, “We’re excited to offer David’s hypnosis services as part of our expanding programs.  We aim to help people in not only leadership, but in their daily lives as well.  Hypnosis fits naturally into our expansion plans.”

In the recent survey by the Conference Board research group, it was found that 45% of Americans are unsatisfied with their jobs.  This survey shows a drop of 4% since the previous results in 2008.  Read the full story here.

The Conference Board suggests that potential reasons for the dissatisfaction are:

• Fewer workers consider their jobs to be interesting.
• Incomes have not kept up with inflation.
• The soaring cost of health insurance has eaten into workers’ take-home pay.

Doc Holly says, “Downsizing and restructuring have been prolific corporate events long before the economy went south, and the resulting stress of fewer people doing more seems to be at the crux of this mounting workforce disengagement, a major threaten to the necessary team play that underscores which company cultures can best manage competition in the marketplace. The Leadership Trust® has noticed more recently the surge in requests for leadership/emotional intelligence training to address morale issues related to people reacting in fear toward a stressed and/or intimidating manager.”

Want to weigh in on your opinion?  Cast your vote on MSNBC‘s poll, “Are You Satisfied with Your Job?”

What does your company do to help ensure your employees are engaged and satisfied?

Note. Our last blog invited you to be on the lookout for Part 2 of the RWHRMA talk, which addresses how HR team players can create buy-in once they have decided which of the 40 initiatives (of which 10 were presented last week) they wish to introduce in their quest to make HR a strategic partner to the business.  If you would like to receive all 40 low-cost and no-cost initiatives, email info@leadershiptrust.org.

Even if HR team players have all the aforementioned tips well versed and can articulate well these suggestions, without the edge of inspirational leadership built into their personalities (their delivery systems), they will not be able to create the degree of buy-in these leadership initiatives should demand.  Best practices in leadership development can make the difference.

Have you ever made a suggestion at a staff meeting only to receive little or no acknowledgment, and minutes later discover someone else saying the same only to receive the recognition that rightfully belonged to you? That’s a leadership issue, and self-awareness/emotional intelligence leadership training can bring out the authenticity of who you are at your central core, which is always laced with confidence and credibility. You may know you’re brighter than certain others  around you who seem to exude a credibility to which people tend to be more responsive.  Even the Wall Street Journal offered an article suggesting that high intelligence can interfere with effective leadership.  So, if you want to know what this is all about, and if you are serious about life-changing leadership, there is no better leadership training than one steeped in self-awareness and emotional intelligence. People who have a pervasive and far-reaching influence on other company players represent your best investment in leadership training. Keep reading for best practices for your ROI once you decide to invest in your future by investing in either yourself or those you would send for state-of-the-art leadership development. Read more…

Nothing is so simple that it cannot be misunderstood. – Freeman Teague, Jr.

The CEO of The Leadership Trust has a severe hearing loss.  Talk about opportunities for miscommunication!  How about the time in a noisy room when someone said, “Wouldn’t it be nice,” and she exclaimed, “And then we’ll become mice!”  Although this is indeed an extreme example, do count your blessings you have normal hearing, yet Teague tells us that there is nonetheless still a lot of room for misinterpretations.  Read on.

This website offers some guidance on how to help increase effective communication.  The most effective things we can do to improve our communication is to understand how others are perceiving us.  In short, we are the creation of someone else’s mind.  Perceptions create reality, and everyone’s perceptions can be very different.  Anybody can improve his or her communications skills.  It is not about vocabulary, syntax, or semantics.  Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “What you are speaks so loudly, I cannot hear what you’re saying.”  Therefore, consider it is all about to what degree you come across as a real live human being with a heart beat, which is all about authentic leadership.  Tough decisions still must be made regardless of style, but if Person A is to be fired, it is preferable that you carry out this assignment as a humanistic leader rather than a tough-nosed autocrat.  Communication skills training provides a natural ascension from your current communication style to one known to retain and profitably engage your best human talent, all the while avoiding the unnecessary repercussions when a firing can not be avoided.

Learn more about how our Personalized Leadership Development Program can help you develop a natural sense of social knowingness as a by-product of optimizing your communication skills.  It’s an exhilarating journey withing, because you just can’t go to the next higher level until you’ve traveled to the next deeper level.

www.leadershiptrust.org