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Leading Into the Acceleration of Change

Guest by Marcia Reynolds:

The response to the Covid-19 pandemic accelerated economic and social trends. We are now shopping and buying meals more online, saving rental dollars on office space, holding more virtual business and personal meetings, and improving or seeking an end to our personal relationships as we spend more time together.
As we transition to being more mobile, we won’t be “returning” so much as “evolving” to confront a new reality.
This is the perfect opportunity to reflect with colleagues on how best to work and what is possible for us in the future. Yet you can’t force people to think creatively, especially now. You have to ease them into the conversation, and then inspire them to think beyond the negative cloud overshadowing their views.
The role of the leader in times of uncertainty is to coach people to think differently, not tell them what to do.

Enter the conversation with a coaching approach
Whether threats are real or not, forcing a conversation about the future is not productive. When we experience acute stress, our brains shut down in self-survival. We prepare to fight, flight, or freeze, not explore possibilities. Creativity is paralyzed. We believe doomsday stories more than the future leaders are inventing.
The two key triggers of psychological stress are the perception that there is no control over present circumstances, and there is no way to predict what comes next. All indicators suggest uncertainty will not let up. So, how do you lead others to shift their perspective around control and predictability so they embrace, even capitalize on change? Try taking a coaching approach to your conversation.
People need to feel seen, heard and reminded that their existence matters no matter what they are experiencing. They need to know their raging emotions are legitimate reactions to their current challenges. Let them know you understand why they are feeling the way they do. Share that you feel unsettled, too, so they know you are a fellow human being. This acceptance may help them feel safe enough to consider the possibility of expanding their perspective.
To start, don’t just ask, “How are you?” Ask something like, “How are you really doing with all these challenges?” Relax as they talk. You don’t need to make them feel better if you are genuinely listening.
Once you feel their brains calming down, you can ask if they are ready to look at actions they can take. They may or may not be ready.

Clarify what they believe about today and assume about tomorrow
The less we know for sure, the more we believe the worst will happen. It’s difficult to sort the most likely truths from imagination, but using compassionate curiosity will help clarify the stories people are living.
When I coach clients, I listen for the beliefs they are holding about the present moment and the assumptions they are making about the future. I share statements like, “Sounds like you believe (this) is happening.” Or “You said you assume (this) is how your life and work will be affected. Can we sort out what we know for sure and then look at what else is possible?” I fill in (this) with specific phrases they shared, using their words so we can examine their thinking together. Acknowledging limiting beliefs and unsupported assumptions will soften the edges of their stories.

Offer ways to embrace control and adapt predictions
Once you clarify their beliefs and assumptions, you can shift the conversation to explore what is in their control to do today and how these steps will help shape the future.
Control – Ask what routines they have created to manage their days. If they are struggling to uphold commitments, strategize what boundaries they could create and how to plan for taking just a few steps at a time. Ask how you can support them in feeling they are in more control of their days.
Predictability – Even if you have a vision of what business might look like in a few months, be open to new ideas so you can co-create the future together. Ask questions to create possible scenarios to work toward, knowing that you will adapt as the future unfolds. Executive coach Scott Eblin suggests asking specific “what if” questions that look at how our lives today might influence how we do our best work going forward. Here are a few examples adapted from his work:

What if we social distancing needs to be practiced for a year, how would we do business?

What if we changed 50% of the things we’ve always done to better use our current resources and time?

What if we were starting our business today?

What do we need to do to emerge better and stronger than we were?

Accept and build on their ideas instead of judging them. People need to feel safe with you to speak what is on their mind. Once they trust you won’t make them wrong, they will be more open to change their minds.
Also, let go of how you want the conversation to go. Don’t let your impatience sabotage the conversation. If they reach a dead-end in deciding what to do next, then you can offer suggestions for them to consider without taking their power away.
When you use a coaching approach instead of telling them what to do, you expand their mind and strengthen their will to move forward.

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Mastering your Inner Game of Leadership

Guest post from Ron Garonzik and Rick Lash:

In 1938 archeologists in Israel made a remarkable discovery – a cache of 2,500-year-old letters between officers and their commanders. They provide a unique window on the impact overly controlling, self-centered leadership styles can have on others: “Regarding the letter you sent, the heart of your servant is ill, when my lord said: Don’t you know how to read a letter?  As God lives, for every letter that comes to me, it is read.”  Even Moses had a reputation as a micromanager who couldn’t give up control or delegate; his father-in-law Jethro telling him “This thing you are doing is not good – you will surely wear away you and those who are with you”.  From ancient times to today’s boardrooms, overly controlling leaders who act to serve their own needs can create toxic work environments where decision making, creativity, and engagement grinds to a halt.

What are the enduring qualities of great leadership?

Starting in the 1960s, the late Harvard psychologist David McClelland and a group of researchers wanted to understand great leadership and why it matters. They discovered that the highest performing leaders weren’t more achievement-driven or more people-focused.  Rather, they possessed a unique motivational profile – a very pronounced need for power or influence. But in the very best leaders, McClelland discovered three critical characteristics that acted as controls on their use of power and control that made all the difference – greater emotional maturity, high self-management, and a participative, coaching leadership style (think of great professional sports coaches).  McClelland called these qualities ‘socialized’ power.  These outstanding leaders were not in the game for themselves but for the good of the institutions they served.  They funneled their strong need for influencing others not to meet their own self-serving needs like higher status, greater control, or being liked, but rather to make others more capable and to further the mission of their organization. 

In a 2018 Harvard Business Review article Ego is the Enemy of Good Leadership, the authors note that as a leader take on greater responsibility, they can become susceptible to ‘hubris syndrome’ – where power goes to their heads and the leader comes to see the world as serving their own needs.  In our early careers, a certain amount of ego is essential to drive success.  But an ego unmanaged can lead to self-centered behavior, coercive actions, a need for overcontrol, and an inability to listen or appreciate other points of view – career derailers if unmanaged.  The good news is that socialized power can be developed, but rarely is it mentioned in preparing high potential leaders for senior leadership roles.  Little time is spent exploring why self-management is the first step in learning how to lead others or learning the basics of good team leadership – like creating clarity and setting performance standards so people know what good looks like – and how to recognize and coach others to succeed. 

Letting go of your ego

Most leadership development relies on what Hermina Ibarra, author of numerous leadership development books, calls the “plan-and-implement” model.  We identify a gap or skill we want to strengthen, then set a goal and plan for closing the gap.  That linear approach works well for developing competence, but for making deeper changes like increasing socialized power requires a different, more iterative tactic, what Ibarra refers to as “test-and-learn”.  We start with a new experience, try out a new behavior, reflect on it, and then use the insights to change our assumptions and goals.  Test-and-learn leads to deeper growth in how we see ourselves and helps to make profound shifts in our mindset.  Here are a few test-and-learn ideas that can help build your socialized power and change your inner leadership game:

– Work on a project where you can’t count on your expertise to get you through.  Relying on others will help you develop an appreciation for what others have to offer and see the world from a different perspective.  Think of the valuable lessons learned from the show Undercover Boss where a CEO has to “flip hamburgers” and learns to appreciate the emotional, physical, and personal challenges of her employees.

  – Coach or mentor someone who has the potential to be a great leader.  Socialized power is all about gaining deep emotional satisfaction by serving others and enabling them to be successful.

·         – Make socialized power an important value in your life by reading about leaders who you deeply admire. Look for evidence of what they did, though, and felt that exemplifies socialized power. 

·         – What are the key experiences you have had in your career and life that exemplify your leadership values? Which are good examples where you demonstrated socialized power?  Which stories do you need to elevate and put more of a spotlight on? Which stories are no longer useful?  Practice telling those stories to others.

·        –  Consider expanding or changing your social network to include others who can see and reinforce the socialized power in you (rather than just the great achiever).

Great leadership is timeless.  Whether in ancient times or responding to a global crisis, the very best leaders act to make a positive difference and have learned to let go of their ego.  And they do it by developing their emotional maturity and self-control while actively engaging others.  Clearly these aren’t things one just learns in a leadership course of by reading leadership books (although these can help) but through stretching experiences, developing others, challenging deeply held beliefs and building new relationships, all of which help strengthen our desire to make a difference, serve others and in the process become better leaders. 

Ron Garonzik is an independent consultant with more than a quarter-century of global leadership development experience supporting organizations large and small, public and private.

Rick Lash is an independent consultant and senior associate with Verity International and is a recognized leadership development expert and executive coach. For over 35 years he has worked with Fortune 500 organizations in Canada, the United States, and internationally. His most recent work focuses on the power of leadership narrative for creating authentic leadership.

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How Uncertainty is Still the Test of Leadership

Guest post by Randall P. White


American leaders are rising to the occasion


You just have to look a little deeper. There have been great examples of leadership in our multiple crises of the moment.

Mayors, governors, even some sheriffs and police officers, are showing how it’s done. People who are otherwise obscure on the national scene are now showing up in news feeds and quenching a yearning for sanity, direction, and confidence.


Such as? Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms of Atlanta relating to us as a parent and an executive, saying enough is enough, and here are things we’re doing about it. Sheriff Chris Swanson in Michigan who “protected and served” protesters, by joining their march. Dr. Anthony Fauci laying out both what he knows and what he doesn’t know. Even without a definitive answer, we know he has a process based on data and rationality with a goal of public safety and avoiding death.


In all of this, it’s not about being a better person. It’s about knowing how to be a conduit for solutions—and creating a safe space to listen to ideas and try the best one’s out—searching for viable solutions in an uncertain world.


Crisis leadership is a crucible and it’s natural for us to be inspired by what it can produce.


We are seeing that leadership is a calling and it’s often more geeky than macho and certainly not authoritarian. Well-developed leaders are piqued by “not knowing” and motivated by the challenge to find out. They enjoy learning and they don’t mind mistakes as long as the mistakes are the kind where we learn and grow and ultimately leapfrog us forward to a viable solution.


Then there are leaders who really are geeks: Bill Gates, Jack Dorsey, and Elon Musk. They’re lucky to have more of a sandbox than a crucible. Gates, Dorsey, and Musk are like brainy action figures of leadership. Fascinating and fun to watch. Who doesn’t like seeing a reusable rocket back its way down to a landing pad for the first time?


Yet, Bottoms, Fauci and Swanson are a little more compelling right now, by being less preordained. Not nationally known. Less expected. And more attainable examples of leaders. Each rose to the occasion. Each has to rally followership—but they are believable and approachable and so, they are relatable in how they approach seemingly impossible situations in an ever-increasing complex environment of crisis atop crisis.


Real leaders, regardless of how they come packaged–gender, ethnicity, nationality– aren’t afraid of what they don’t know. They run toward the danger and the unknown so that their people are energized to solve important problems, whether it’s racism in a police department or landing a first stage rocket on a stationary platform at sea. Each is very difficult.


They’re the people who come forward in a crisis that grabs our imagination, like Churchill or Franklin Delano Roosevelt rose to their wholly unknown occasions during World War II.


In contrast to the current president, they are not caught up in themselves. They show up for the followers, knowing that they have a calling to represent the best of the followers and to help them be successful by creating a space where they can try their best to solve the problems at hand.


So we see in our tumult that leaders are okay with being uncertain. That’s what they signed on for. Leadership has always been about bringing people through “not knowing.”


Not knowing we’d be where we ended up six months later, I wrote a new chapter to Relax, It’s Only Uncertainty in September thinking it was time to re-release the title, after 19 years.


My now-retired colleague Philip Hodgson and I authored Relax as a field guide for leadership–the culmination of a decade studying how people manage ambiguity and its attendant uncertainty. This work also resulted in The Ambiguity Architect, a 360 to assess a person’s ability to tolerate or master uncertainty. The instrument has consistently suggested that high performers do well on this scale. And our experience suggests that dealing with uncertainty successfully can be learned and improved.


The basic lessons of Relax, first published as Y2K faded into the rear-view mirror, remain relevant and are taught in global business schools’ leadership curriculum.


They’re also demonstrated by our public sector rising stars.


With Covid-19 and mass civil disobedience we see leaders calling on traits like “being motivated by mysteries,” future scanning, simplifying, and enthusiasm (to name half of the book’s eight Enablers for managing uncertainty).


We can observe this in new leaders to the fore like Bottoms, Fauci, and Swanson. They break complex, nuanced, and sometimes abstract situations into simple statements we all can share: citizens don’t trust authority, we can’t overwhelm our health care system, and the chaos needs to stop for every one. 


As a business professor, I have to ask how can business leaders learn as we watch these ascending leaders in society? Chaos, ambiguity, and uncertainty bring opportunity for good leaders to not only emerge but also invent new solutions, new competitive advantages. And a better workplace, in which learning is constant, inclusion is an advantage and imagination is allowed to thrive.

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Success! What is your real relationship with Success?

What is your real relationship with Success? Has it been your driving force and helped you reach the leadership position that you are in today?

Like you, I’ve two choices every morning – to either stay asleep with my dreams or wake up and work towards achieving my goals!

There are no real secrets to being successful. I firmly believe that each one of us possesses every quality required to become successful in our respective desired fields. It is not necessary that each one of us defines success in a similar manner; for some – being successful could simply mean:

being in a well paid job with an MNC;

being a good leader who is loved by his team or

being a caring and responsible boss;

while others could equate success with wealth, fame, power, or materialistic possessions.

The only challenge is to be able to correctly identify yourself to define your terms, to be clear of your intentions, and to eventually be a person of action.

9 ways how “Success” moves me!

Believe in yourself!

It is important for you to realize that as long as you have a heartbeat, your existence has a purpose. It is essential that you realize you were born to do great things, you were meant to excel in life. It is often said that positive thinking is half of the work, and remembering this mantra will definitely provide you with good vibes to start each day with a positive attitude and a fresh outlook.

Evaluate where you stand!

For example, look around and recognize the success that you have achieved! Look at the level of success you may have reached in areas of your work life, in the community, your personal life, and identify the driving force that has brought you this far.

Assess our strengths!

Choose to believe in who you are! Assess your unexplored potential and abilities. Make a list of your accomplishments; recognize yourself for making it so far. Doing so will assist you in intuitively knowing the gaps you need to address.

Set clear intentions!

This step requires you to be absolutely clear of your definition of success, being fully aware and confident of your wants. Once you have set your mind on a specific outcome, you should write your intentions down to remind yourself of your purpose every day.

Be inspired!

This has been my personal mantra and it has been rightly saying, “Once you have clarity on what you want from life, the inspiration can take you far.” There are numerous ways to get inspired in your daily life. Find your inspiration and watch it become a contributing factor in paving your path to success!

Get, Set, Go!

Now that you know where you want to be, the next step is to come up with an effective strategy that will take you to that final point. Here is when you begin to put your words to work, translating every aspiration of yours from a dream to a reality.

Tap your resources!

Create the right actions that need to be taken in order to attain the best possible outcome desired. Accordingly, utilize the necessary resources to execute your actions! Harness technology, lean in on people, develop systems. 

Be Focused!

Once you have defined your work plan, being focused plays an important role. Giving your full devotion to the task on hand results in being in a zone where you will find yourself optimizing your time and productivity, guiding you towards taking the action to create the results you seek to be successful.

Handwork translates into Success!

Success understood completely is well-defined by Vincent Lambardi, “The pride of success is hard work, dedication to the job at hand, and determination that whether we win or lose, we have applied the best of ourselves to the task at hand.” So, as long as you are sincere in your efforts and give it a 100%, success is bound to be the result!

Always remember the essential truth is that you already possess all that you need to attract success in your life. You have the ability to create, manifest and work hard towards the goals you desire – the trick is to access that inner power and put it out there for others to see!

Now that you know what success really requires, what is stopping you from getting started?

Do share your comments, views and action you will take from here!

Jasveer Malaney, PCC, is an award-winning Executive Leadership Coach & Trainer, who helps managers become more effective and influential in their roles by elevating their leadership abilities. If you are ready to Elevate the Leader in You, contact me at jass@acquirecoaching.com

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7 Unique Leadership abilities of Women Leaders

As a Leadership Coach, I observe certain qualities and characteristics that make women executives natural leaders. In my view these are the very traits which would serve the leaders of tomorrow to drive business results. With the challenges of the increasingly competitive economies where

working with diverse teams and geographic locations would be the norm, such people-focused skills would serve them to keep their lead intact.

A recent study was conducted to examine the effect of women on boards and as team leaders. The report, titled “When is Female Leadership an Advantage?” was published in November 2015, in the Journal of Organizational Behaviour. Corinne Post, an associate professor of management at Lehigh University’s College of Business and Economics who led the study, stated that women leaders bring a number of very special qualities to their teams, from more co-operative learning to more inclusive communication. This resulted in stronger, closer, more connected teams that perform better.

Women have unique leadership abilities that stem from a range of natural qualities that bring out the best in their teams.

7 Reasons which gives female leadership cooperation and significant advantages in managing and leading teams are:

  • Women naturally excel at multi-tasking. As an inbuilt ability to handle multiple tasks simultaneously, women get more done.  They are able to ensure all boxes get checked.
  •  Women are extremely organized. When it comes to planning and coordinating, they invest a lot of creative energy when it comes to executing their plans. 
  •  Women make nurturing managers. Women excel at managing others because they tend to be more nurturing, understanding, respectful, and empathetic. The best leaders today are not dictatorial, but rather, the ones who are encouraging, approachable, and sensitive to the needs of their employees.
  •  Women use their intuitive abilities. If there is trouble up ahead, women are likely to see it coming. Knowing that a plan could go awry, they would have alternative strategies and solutions up their sleeve. If something does not go according to the brief, they can be trusted to take a new or different direction that will achieve results. In short, they are resourceful, are typically well prepared for anything, and seldom leave a plan to chance.
  •  Women are generally good communicators. From a young age, they were taught to express themselves more openly and speak their mind. At the same time, they also make great listeners. This equates to leaders who are inclusive of others’ ideas, resulting in more collaborative relationships.
  •  Women are passionate and inspirational. When women set about on a task, they do it with enthusiasm and excellence and commit themselves to see it through. When employees observe such a positive attitude in their leaders, they are inspired to approach their work in the same way.
  •  Women invest in relationships. Women are good at bringing people together. In a group setting, they take the time to know their team members. They are able to motivate others to get along and have the ability to make each person feel important. This is an especially crucial skill to have when trying to encourage teamwork.  

To conclude, certainly, male leadership has their positive attributes – and in traditional organizations such as the government and the military, male leadership has shown to be more advantageous – such as giving orders and employing reward/punishment model, however, majority of employees of today, respond better to a collaborative style of leadership. 

Do share your comments, and views!

Jasveer Malaney, PCC, is an award-winning Executive Leadership Coach & Trainer, who helps managers become more effective and influential in their roles by elevating their leadership abilities.  

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How do Leaders Show up in the state of Crises? In times of PRESSURE, how can you boost your thinking AGILITY?

As an Elevated Leader, who takes the high road about the situation, if you find ways to stay calm so that you can continue to be the pillar of support for the teams, as well as for your clients and all stakeholder. This way, you can influence their full engagement and support. 

We are living in a world right now, that has challenged the very core of our existence. In what we trusted and believed to be true, leaving us to experience stress and anxiety in all areas of our lives. We are all coping up by making the best out of the situation. We are discovering new things about our existence on a global basis. Some good experiences, of family time and bonding of communities. While others are overpowering with grief over the loss of innocent lives. We are face to face with the reality of what is beyond our means and we hope for the well-being of humanity.  

In your role, as a leader, you have faced challenges daily. Whether it has been in the area of business, operations, employee engagement, clients issues, or handling directions from higher levels, or external factors like economic and technological trends impacting the business revenue. As leaders we know how to operate well under pressure, we find ways to solve issues with a sense of knowing.  

In the current scenario – the sense of knowing has been challenged. With several external factors and pressures, there is a loss of sense of control. The Covid-19 pandemic is testing the leaders of companies and organizations in every sector around the world. Its consequences could last for a long duration and present greater difficulties than anyone anticipates. The prolonged uncertainty is all the more reason for leaders to embrace the practices and reflect on the question in this article. 

Those who do, it will help establish or reinforce behaviors and values that can support their organization and communities during this crisis. Hence, however long it continues, the leaders can prepare themselves well for the next large-scale challenge of recovery.

What Questions are going on in your mind?

Let us agree, it is a testing time for you as the Leader. Your teams are watching you, your Bosses want to see how you plan to lead.  Not to mention, your peers, your family all have an eye on your moves and how you show up.  

There may be several questions in your mind:

·      Have we reached the high point of the Global Recession? If so, what are the options available to you for the business?

·      How do I lead in this world of uncertainty, not knowing when the pandemic will stop?  

·      How will it affect your business or industry? As a result of this, what would need to be evolved or adjusted to keep my Organization’s core identity, Vision, and culture moving forward? 

What questions are emerging about your Leadership?

As the World is progressing towards managing the global pandemic, 

·      What is your approach in life towards seeing the situation? Is the glass half empty or half-full? It is an opportunity or a complete disaster?

·      What type of Thinking is Best for a Leader to Managing their own Mind?

·      What is the default mode that you seem to be operating in?  

·      What is your Outlook toward the situation that sets the pace for the day? 

·      Where could help you to draw the balance between being optimistic and being real? 

Questions to explore the Team and support needed.

Leaders can better mobilize their organizations by setting clear priorities for the response and empowering others to discover and implement solutions that serve those priorities. Some questions to ponder would be:

·      The year started with great plans and vision for 2020, how have you re-worked the vision to match the organization’s emerging priorities?  

·      Have you identified key goals, that align with your vision to help you measure the desired outcomes, which will enable making progress in the right direction?

·      Have you created a plan to engage your immediate teams? And the leaders within the organization? Your industry sector? As well with the relevant government authorities? 

·      What skills do you need to find on your team going forward?  Where are the gaps?

·      Are you leveraging on the network of industry practitioners?

·      Are your special task force crafting solutions for all possible options that could emerge?

·      Have you assembled a team of innovations, to share creative ways to manage the business? 

·      Have you taken ideas from the influencers to plan alternative scenarios?  

·      Have you re-calibrated the digital space to implement your revised business plans?

·      Have you engaged with HR to harness employee engagement?

·      Have you arranged with the Finance & Legal teams to work out ways for managing the compensation plans and the revised perk and salaries?

Questions about Managing your Mind 

·      Mental health is important. At this stage-managing, your Mind is going to be a big asset. Your capacity to work fast would be a great way to manage the multiple areas that have emerged.  

·      You may need to make efforts to ensure you find ways to qualify and filter out the information and from the relevant & reliable sources.

·      Managing your emotions for keeping your mind in the best form. Finding the balance of being in a place of Calm, rather than being reactive or reflective.

·      Find reasons to build humor into the conversations. Keeping an optimistic approach to finding innovative possibilities may further give rise to creative options. 

·      Investing time in your well-being will enable you to sustain your effectiveness over the weeks and months that a crisis can entail. Find ways to manage your health. It is time to be aware of what you are eating? How you are keeping fit. Exercising is a great way to manage stress. If you really do not have the time to step out of the home, use the Apps to fit in time to get a stay indoor a 20-30 mins workout.  

·      Find ways to make a difference, start by contributing to a great cause.  Think of ways you can add value to others, showing them care and concern. 

·      Create and keep to a routine, even while working from home. Connect with the teams for updates. Show some personal engagement to check in their well-being through Video calls and not just sending emails. 

·      Setting aside time for Reflections – making it a daily practice to assimilate all the data points and get a sense of control of your own leadership.

·      Make decisions, get the team going. However also be ready to improve the decision, as soon as you have the next input of information. Hear the information, pause to assess, and reflect. Chart out the pro and cons, anticipate the next steps, and then act. If after making decisions, plans still need recalibration, take the courage to amend and make the changes.

On a Zoom call coaching session with a seasoned Banker a C-Suite Executive yesterday the coaching conversation explored the scenario and the impact and future effects of the Pandemic on a global basis to Asia.  From the country level, moving to the industry and finally, as to how it was affecting the Organization. After exploring these several aspects, the conversation evolved where the Coachee felt a sense of the high level of uncertainty about all of the effects going forward.  

As a Leader, it can be an overwhelming space to find yourself in. I also shared with him the analogy of the Duck sailing smoothly on the water, yet is paddling its feet to stay afloat.

While acknowledging the overwhelming situation and empathizing with him, I asked – so now what would be like to see evolve for you?  

After reflecting, he felt while there was a sense of overwhelm, but the hope of new possibilities in the future helps to become resilient. As an optimistic individual, he quickly bounced forward with hope. He started to make plans of getting things aligned to find the best ways forward, creating collaborations with the teams.

The main point of this sharing is that until the Leader my Coachee realized that he must stand firm and calm, and make decisions based on what is the current and relevant information available to him. So that the teams can get into action, and start working towards it. When any new information would emerge, he had the choice to adjust plans as necessary, but he must be definitive. By staying calm, it would also help to make informed decisions which will allow the teams to have the necessary direction to act.  

You can influence others by Communicating

Leaders while offering an optimistic and realistic outlook should show their concern through taking special care to acknowledge the situation, empathizing with the stakeholders. Showing concern, addressing their pain, and patiently answering all questions. This can be done with communicating frequently and by being real and transparent about the facts.  

With the regular updates they feel reassured and it shows that the leaders are following the situation closely and managing the crises, and adapting as they learn from the emerging information.  

Leaders who take care and showing concern through the crises would be able to receive support from all the stakeholders during the recovery stage. 

So, in conclusion: What leaders need during a crisis is not a predefined response plan but behaviors and mindsets that will prevent them from overreacting to yesterday’s developments and help them to make decisions for their teams to move ahead.

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Marshall Goldsmith has a heart of Gold!

ICF Singapore Chapter is celebrating the International Coaching Week (May 16th to 20th, 2016) with a number of events – workshops, talks, panel discussions, laser coaching sessions, networking opportunities, and more.

A members-only dinner was organized last night with the Guru of Executive Coaching – Mr. Marshall Goldsmith, who completed energized and recharged the audience with his very engaging and entertaining style of presenting.  

At one point, he asked all the men in the room to walk out and did a 10 minutes presentation for only the Women.  The simplicity of the engagement enriched many souls as we all walked out with learning experience equivalent to golden nuggets. He told us to tell the Men – just two words – Empty Boat!  Am going to keep my word to him and not share more!  

A big warm heartfelt THANK You! to you Marshall for gracing the ICF Singapore Chapter and making us all coaches feel so blessed and grateful that we are in the profession that enriches lives of others!

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What value do ICF credentialed coaches deliver to leaders?

ICF defines coaching as partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires leaders to maximize their personal and professional potential. As an effective coach, our job is to forge a relationship and create a space where a client can explore new perspectives and change behaviors. A coaching credential, cannot promise chemistry between a coach and a leader but it is an assurance of professional coaching and delivering the following value proposition.

Develop a coaching contract

ICF Credentialed Coaches are bound to articulate professional service agreements and develop a results-oriented partnership with their clients. We mutually agree to a coaching engagement to establish a healthy working relationship between leader and coach by defining the goal and the responsibilities of both parties for success.

Guarantee confidentiality and integrity

ICF Credentialed Coaches uphold professional standards and pledge commitment to the ICF Code of Ethics. We ensure leaders that we conduct coaching professionally and we disclose any conflicts of interest. We maintain privacy and confidentiality to create an environment conducive to deeper conversations.

Enable client-generated solutions

ICF Credentialed Coaches adhere to the definition of coaching as a client-centric practice. We work from the leaders’ agenda to address their challenges and facilitate a process whereby clients generate solutions for themselves. 

Facilitate learning and results

ICF Credentialed Coaches undergo an evidence-based assessment of our ability to deliver to ICF Core Competencies. We use an effective methodology to achieve outcomes in every intervention by allowing leaders to acquire awareness, to broaden perspectives, and to design relevant actions.

Share state-of-the-art practices

ICF Credentialed Coaches commit to on-going professional development and receive mentoring to maintain our credentials. We stay current of coaching developments and continuously enhance our practice with new knowledge, tools, and ICF thought-leading research resources.

Every leader needs a coach.