What happens when you talk with those you lead?
If you’ve not read Contagious Leadership, you might miss the subtlety of that statement. Those employees that, until now, you’ve called “my employees” or “my team” or “my people”, are not in fact YOURS. They are people with brains of their own who somehow managed to function in their world before your magnanimous arrival. So, they are those you have the privilege of leading or the team of people you lead.
However, with that, comes a focus on thier needs and who they are as people. Do you meet these people where they are when you talk with them? Or do you talk at them, bark orders, expect them to hang on every word, and do as they are told? Hmmm… if that’s your modus operandai, then you are literally training the initiative right out of these folks. Yet most managers deeply desire a team of folks who can think on their own, exhibit good judgement, and make great decisions without bothering you every five minutes with the famous phrase “have you gotta sec?” It’s not that you don’t want to be bothered, though sometimes it is, but more that you really don’t have the time to micro-manage due to the myriad of other responsibilities on your plate.
What I suspect you really want is to say something profound and scintillating that reaches that employee where they live, penetrates their barriers to learning, and falls soundly in that area of their mind in which they completely “get it” and can go forthe and conquer. Yes? This is the lightbulb effect and it can be achieved by understanding how you communicate, how they communicate, and listening to the results of your attempt to mesh the two successfully.
In our office, we use a tool called the CORE(R) Profile that facilitates this understanding and dramatically increases the awareness of one’s own behavior and preferences, giving each participant of this profile ownership of their own data and motivation to make changes so that they understand you better. It’s almost like a “coach in a box” as it makes your job so much easier. You take it, you become aware of your preferences and how you sound and why you do what you do. They take it and experience the same thing. Now you have two people with awareness of their behavior and styles, working to make sure that each message comes across in a way that is mutually understood. The chances of increasing your lightbulb effect frequency in this type of environment just got multiplied by a factor of …well, about 100!
If you want to complete a CORE(R) Profile, go to www.contagiouscoaching.com and click on CORE Profile in the top blue bar.
In the meantime, make a note of the times today when you create a “lightbulb effect”. Did they get it? How did you do that? Is it repeatable? And was it contagious?
