21st Century Leadership Intelligence - 2017 Spring Spectrum

21ST CENTURY By: Magi GrazianoLeadership Intelligence Being an effective leader of people in today’s world seems to be much more complicated than in years past. In the previous century, for the vast majority, work was approached as a means for survival. The level of employee engagement did not dictate how long they stayed in the role. That’s different today, however.Working class people are always on the look out for more stimulating and rewarding work, as well as inspiring work environments where they can make a difference and grow themselves and their careers.Global workforce surveys report that highly qualified, Leadership Intelligence relies on your ability to grow,motivated people choose to work for companies that build learn and master new ways to lead people, and there area strong, inspiring culture and that monitor and address three tenets to consider when boosting it: Self-awareness,both workplace culture and climate issues as they arise. If Executive Brain Function, and Response Agility.recruitment and retention of highly qualified, motivatedpeople is one your organization’s initiatives, leadership 1. SELF–AWARENESSintelligence ought to be another. They go hand in hand. Self-awareness begins with the curiosity and courage toLeaders in the early 21st century face unprecedented hear what works and does not work about your leadershipchallenges. They must be able to lead three completely and the culture that exists in the organization. Once youdifferent generations of people, all with different operating become aware of your competitive talent advantages andcontexts and outlooks on what work is all about. Today’s your talent barriers from the eyes of your people, you areleaders must not only understand their competitors for equipped to take powerful action. Self-awareness allowscustomers, they must also understand their competitors you to leverage your talent and intervene when and wherefor talent. Twenty-first century leaders must have well- necessary to remove those personality ticks that are in thehoned human awareness acumen and call on it moment- way of your true leadership potential.by-moment to inspire, enroll and engage their employees.These leaders must understand the systemic impacts Culture and climate awareness opens the door for you toof their company ‘climate’ and be willing to look deeper see what is really going on and intervene in the culturalto understand cultural norms that are impeding agility norms and barriers that are in the way of employeeand innovation. They must have the finesse to weave engagement, innovation, and synchronicity. When youthe day-to-day task work into the big picture and inspire are curious and courageous, you begin to ask the toughtheir people to give it their all for the sake of the mission. questions and hear the tough answers. When you do this,Today’s leaders need to understand people at their core you begin to see what blind spots may be hidden fromlike never before. your view and you learn what you do that sabotages or impedes your leadership effectiveness.14 SPECTRUM | SPRING 2017

Self-Awareness is the doorway to emotional intelligence 3. RESPONSE AGILITYand it gives you access to real improvement as well aspersonal and professional development. Self-Awareness Response Agility is the ability to respond in an appropriate,is not always easy. In almost every case with every human controlled manner—regardless of the current stress orbeing, there are aspects of personality or behavior that breakdown the leader is facing. Being agile with responsehave a negative impact on others. With an authentic look in and reaction is key to effective leadership. Flat line reactionthe mirror, an aware leader can begin to take responsibility is not appropriate for all situations. Screaming and yellingfor that negative impact. Being aware of our negative is not appropriate for any situation. Anger and frustrationbehaviors alone, is insufficient. Taking responsibility for might be needed at times, and curiosity and collaborationthe impact of those behaviors, asking for forgiveness may be needed at other times.and and working to shift those limiting ways of being iswhere Leadership Intelligence begins. Once a leader has Agility in your response means that you have trainedmastered self-awareness, they optimize their ability to yourself to think before reacting. Effective leaders askleverage situational awareness. Situational awareness is themselves, “What is needed now?”This has everything tofundamental to assessing, evaluating, and intervening if do with situational awareness and appropriate reaction.need be, in the ebbs and flows of the climate and culture of When stress hits the fan at work, a leader who has atheir organization. handle on how they respond, and can coach others in this manner, is a leader who is positively contributing2. EXECUTIVE BRAIN to a healthy company climate and culture. ResponseFUNCTION Agility takes discipline, awareness, new habit formation, and commitment. It is a core component of LeadershipOptimizing your Executive Brain function is a secret Intelligence.weapon of Leadership Intelligence. The PFC, prefrontalcortex, is where the executive brain operates; it is like the Being a mission-driven leader who inspires people tocontrols in a cockpit. This is the part of the brain where give their best in service of a compelling vision is a keystrategic thinking, collaboration, reasoning, and creativity element of today’s most successful leaders. They knowcome from. The problem is most leaders learn over time that most people they hire are not coming to work simplyto depend and lean on one hemisphere and become for a paycheck. These leaders have a keen awarenesscomplacent in allowing that hemisphere to run the show. that many people they hire are coming to work to fulfillThis limits the airplane’s ability to navigate through storms their individual purpose in a way that supports theand soar to new heights. organizational purpose. Today’s highly effective leaders utilize their people intelligence to tie work responsibilitiesThe left hemisphere of the brain is where our organization, and tasks to the overall strategy of the business. Thesecategorizing, reasoning, and strategizing come from. It is leaders understand the difference between climate andin the right hemisphere where brainstorming, innovation, culture and have the aptitude to know how and when tocollaboration, and relationship abilities are housed. When intervene in both.a leader is aware of their goals and visions as well as incontrol of their thoughts, responses, and well-being—and Learning the fundamentals of how people operate andthe leader leverages both hemispheres of their executive how to inspire them is the easy part. Mastering thosebrain through right/left hemisphere integration—their skills is Leadership Intelligence. Turning your leadershipleadership intelligence and effectiveness skyrockets. When intelligence into your competitive talent advantage isa leader is utilizing all of their capacities, they see things the number one way to positively affect recruitment andthey might not see and are more equipped to respond to retention of the best people. ▲climate and culture barriers and infringements.Magi Graziano, as seen on NBC, is the CEO of Conscious Hiring® and Development, a speaker, employeerecruitment and engagement expert, and author of The Wealth of Talent. Through her expansive knowledgeand captivating presentations, Magi provides her customers with actionable, practical ideas to maximizetheir effectiveness and ability to create high-performing teams. With more than 20 years’ experience as a topproducer in the Recruitment and Search industry, she empowers and enables leaders to bringtransformational thinking to the day-to-day operation. For more information on Magi, please visitwww.KeenAlignment.com. SPRING 2017 | SPECTRUM 15