Great presentations at Hacking HR in Houston last night by Heather Dulin at National Oilwell Varco (on personal branding – check out my crumpled sheet we filled out last night) & Joti Chandran from HP (her great work on the workforce of the future). Highly recommend checking it out no matter what your job function. We all walked away with actionable insights and more knowledge about what we bring to the table.
Here is the website to go to their next event: https://hackinghr.io/houston2019/
How are you perceived at your organization? (See a test below). Most people are often uncertain or unaware of what they project. This lack of self-awareness kills our progress and career.
What we intend to project is often different than our impact. For example, we may believe we are open to feedback, but other people may experience we are closed off. We may think we listen, but other people may perceive we speak over them. Intent doesn’t equal impact.
Here’s a test to gauge how people perceive you:
Ask 6 people you work w/ two questions.
1) What do you think other people perceive as my greatest strengths and challenges?
2) What’s one thing I could do that would have the biggest impact on my performance and perception?
Resist the temptation to debate or question. Only seek information to clarify and/or to get examples. Thank people at the end. Not everyone may be willing to be candid. That’s ok. Find others that will.
After you get the data, look for patterns. Come up with specific actions to close the gap on how others perceive you and how you perceive yourself.
Keynote speaker at a small business summit with SHRM in St. Louis on how to build the highest performing teams and maximizing employee engagement. Got the audience of 250 people to play Cards Against Mundanity – the #1 team building game. My 20th speech this year on it. I also spoke to Social Media Dallas. In Houston tomorrow speaking as well.
When we lack self-awareness and the ability to understand and manage our emotions, our blindspots unconsciously run our lives. 95% of leaders and managers think they are self-aware, but only 10%-15% are.
This causes leaders to many times lead from pain, hurt and fear.
It sucks the energy out of the people and the business and kills performance. It manifests itself in disengagement, lack of trust and teamwork, and siloed communication.
It creates a culture where people walk around on “eggshells” and fear to speak up.
Take time to understand what your past patterns and blind spots are.
Self-awareness is the #1 predictor of your business, career and leadership success.
It all starts inside of you because you can’t give what you don’t have or aren’t doing.
When high-performers encounter a career setback or plateau (getting fired, not making progress, procrastinate, etc.), the “culprit” is very, very easy to predict. 99% of the time it comes from a lack of self-awareness.
The root cause almost always starts with the person and their blind spots (and unconscious patterns).
Fear doesn’t stop leaders and managers from showing up. It’s being an imposter because of not feeling good (or smart enough) or impression making (ie trying to make others like you for political reasons).
Two things happen when you do:
That lack of vulnerability kills bravery, innovation and our greatest work.
Fail to create psychological safe work spaces where others can show up, share, dissent, collaborate and voice their opinions. It’s how you create the top 1% highest performing and most engaged teams.
Don’t hide. There are real business costs when you and others do.
Show up even when you don’t want to or feel like it.
People want to see the real you. They will follow your behaviors.
You are the most powerful when you do. Don’t forget it.
“Do I trust this leader, individual or organization?” is rarely the right question. That assumes “blanket trust.”
Trust is typically more about the context of situation or interaction. You might trust your plumber to fix your pipes, but not to give you financial advice. You may trust XYZ’s product, but you may not trust it’s a great place to work at.
Instead ask, “Do I trust [person/organization] to do [what]?” Then it’s directed at the specific situation and not a blanket statement.
This also goes to the nature of trust and how we use in the world and with relationships!
Many times you can’t choose the emotions you feel (although your self-awareness and thoughts can dictate quite a bit). BUT you CAN choose which emotions you share (and react to).
Self-awareness and emotional intelligence is the ability to recognize your emotions and your emotional landscape.
It’s also in part recognizing filtering them and learning how to express them appropriately and respectfully in business settings.
The old adage think before you speak also works with your emotions!
“Jason presented to our AA-ISP NYC, NJ, CT members chapter meeting where Jason conducted an interactive session. I’m still receiving reviews and feedback that he’s a phenomenal speaker and conducted an interactive session keeping everyone engaged and participating. Everyone left the evening with something to impact their teams and individual leadership abilities. I highly recommend Jason.”
Derek Garrard, Head Of Sales Development at Kustomer
