MOR Insight

I thought this would get easier as time went on, but had been feeling the opposite.  When I got back from Session 1, I was jazzed.  Before my flight back to CT, I wrote my boss a genuine note of thanks for the opportunity to participate in the MOR program and told her about the new tools and techniques I was excited to try when I got back.  I was going to be aware of my leading/managing/doing ratios, use defensive calendaring, think more strategically, be intentional, as well as ask for and provide feedback.

As I reflected on what has transpired over the past several weeks, I wanted to revisit the essay that I had prepared in hopes of being selected for this wonderful leadership opportunity.  Here is my original objective from that essay:

“My ultimate objective is to improve the impact of my team on the customers they serve.  To accomplish this, I want to invest in my team and motivate them with a strategic plan they align with and support that enables their success.  The result will hopefully result in an evolution of my team to deliver high quality service.”

We’ve all been in situations where we’ve succumbed to peer pressure.  We often argue to ourselves that it’s too hard to step up with a different point of view – we won’t be liked, we’ll do harm to our relationships, and after all it’s not that big of a deal.  However, in many cases, it is a big deal.
 

Last week I was attracted to a short piece [1] on networking by Marc Thompson.  Thompson is an author, leadership coach, and investor.  The article’s title, “Why Jeff Bezos, Tony Hsieh and Al Gore Told Me to Stop Networking,” was what caught my eye. 
 

One of the things that I have been working on since our session in February is using the three lenses - strategic, political, and cultural - to get a multidimensional perspective on changes and projects which I am leading at the School of Music, Theater, and Dance (SMTD).  As I think about perspective in this way and the work I’ve been doing in the past six months, I notice a related theme… inside and outside perspective.

I have read the pages in our binders on Neuroscience and Leadership many times in the last few months.  It comforts me to know why it's so difficult to change my old habits.  On some level I realize that making changes to behaviors will cause a certain amount of pain or unpleasant feeling.  My instinct is to stay in my comfort zone and try not to leave it.  However, the cost of staying there is missing out on ideas, opportunities, and new relationships.

“Humble listening" is among the top four characteristics of leaders.     – Jeff Immelt, Chairman and CEO, GE
 
“If there is any one secret of success, it lies in the ability to get the other person’s point of view and see things from that person’s angle as well as from your own.”     – Henry Ford
 
“To be able to motivate and inspire others, you need to learn how to listen in both individual meetings and at the group level."     – Christine Riordan, President-Elect, Adelphi University and leadership coach.
 

For the past three weeks, the Tuesday Readings have focused on one or another facet of employee engagement.  Today, we shift the focus a bit and turn our attention to “Employee Morale.”  Our author is Vi Bergquist, CIO at St Cloud Technical & community college.  Vi’s essay was a recent weekly reflection in one of the Leaders Program cycles.

The past two Tuesday Readings have focused on employee engagement, first, on February 10, 2015, focusing on what employee engagement is and then on February 17, turning to a set of five expectations that employees have of their supervisors.  The data shows that if these expectations are met, engagement will increase.  And, that’s a good thing.   

Last week’s Tuesday Reading, “Employee Engagement – What?” focused on what employee engagement is.   According to Kevin Kruse in Employee Engagement 2.0, “Employee engagement is the emotional commitment the employee has to the organization and its goals.  This emotional commitment means engaged employees actually care about their work and their company.  They don’t work just for a paycheck or just for that next promotion, but on behalf of the organization’s goals."