by Charles Plant | Mar 4, 2013 | Leadership Development
It struck me coming out of several meetings in the last few days that we usually seem to book meetings for an hour. Why is that?
Why do meetings seem to take an hour, no matter what the issue is? Surely there are some things that can be dealt with in a shorter time and some that can take longer.
Why do we need multiple meetings on the same subject? Can’t we accomplish the meeting’s objectives in one meeting?
Why also do we need multiple meetings with the same people over the course of a week or a month? Can’t we get organized enough to cover those peoples’ needs all at one time?
Are meetings expanding to fill the time available?
Are we just holding meetings because it is easier than picking up the phone or writing an email?
Are we holding them because it makes us feel important, needed, engaged?
If we hate meetings so much then why?
by Charles Plant | Feb 28, 2013 | Leadership Development
What causes conflict? Interesting question if you think back to those situations, particularly at work where conflicts happen so often (even if they are swept under the rug and ignored.)
When you get right down to it, conflict comes from a clash of values. You like results and efficiency and the other person values relationships. Conflict is bound to occur and emotions are created by those conflicts.
As a leader though, to resolve that conflict you’re supposed to be empathetic. It is hard to do that when you just can’t appreciate the other person’s values.
How can you resolve the conflict without empathy?
How can you empathize when you can’t relate to their values?
Some days there are more questions than answers.
by Charles Plant | Feb 27, 2013 | Innovation
I was talking yesterday with someone who does most of her work at home, on a computer, sitting at the dining room table. Sounds idilic and it really is since the dining room is in Whistler and the office is in Vancouver. Sounds like a great life and part of an evolving trend but in the long run, I don’t think it works.
Today’s article on the Globe and Mail on Telework or Teamwork puts some balance to this telecommuting trend. Yahoo has even gone so far as to banning its employees from working remotely.
Don’t get me wrong, I do believe that working from home some of the time is a good thing, but all of the time, not so much. While companies are trying to save a few thousand dollars per year on an employee costing upwards of $100,000, they are losing a chance to connect, inspire, motivate and bond with employees.
To lead effectively, people need to know that you care about them and that just can’t be done from a distance.
by Charles Plant | Feb 26, 2013 | Emotional Intelligence
I was interested to read a piece of research done by the Centre for Creative Leadership on Empathy in the Workplace. Their white paper shows the results of research into performance and empathy. According to CCL, there is a direct link between performance at work and empathy. The more empathetic the leader, the better the performance.
What is surprising is that where workplaces are more traditional, with hierarchical power structures, empathy becomes even more important. That is to say that where leaders are expected to act in a powerful, paternalistic fashion, having empathy for followers is even more important than in more egalitarian organizations.
In our move from the industrial economy with paternalistic corporations to the knowledge economy with looser structure we may have lost our ability to empathize. In the past, the corporation cared for employees and that is now left to individual managers who may have never realized the important link between empathy and performance.
by Charles Plant | Feb 25, 2013 | Uncategorized
After last week’s post on 10 ways to show lack of respect, I was asked a simple question. How do I gain someone’s respect? I pondered that question all weekend and am not sure yet that I have the right answer.
To gain respect, you could do the opposite of what I posted in Friday’s blog but I don’t think that is enough. I think the way to get and keep someone’s respect is to have empathy.
Empathy is a confusing concept, sometimes described as “intellectual identification with or vicarious experiencing of the feelings, thoughts, or attitudes of another” and other times as “the capacity to recognize emotions that are being experienced by another sentient or fictional being.”
There is a big gap between being able to recognize emotions to being able to identify intellectually with them to actually vicariously experiencing others feelings.
Let’s say then it is a continuum. On one end of the continuum you are a narcissistic psychopath. In the middle you are able to recognize and identify others emotions and at the far end, you are reduced to blubber on a regular basis because you spend too much time vicariously experiencing others feelings.
What is key, no matter where you are on the continuum is to actually take others emotions into account in making decisions. I think that will earn you immeasurable respect.
It struck me coming out of several meetings in the last few days that we usually seem to book meetings for an hour. Why is that?