Discovering Hidden Gems of Talent on Your Teams

As leaders, most of us probably think we know our teams and their capabilities pretty well.  We interview with the intent of matching skills and competencies to job descriptions, and we manage performance based on employees meeting the requirements of their jobs as described. 

And yet, 62% of employees feel that their skills are often underutilized, according to a survey by Lee Hecht Harrison, a career transition and talent development consulting firm.

Employees who do not have the opportunity to fully use their abilities tend to be bored and/or unhappy, less productive, and more likely to look for employment elsewhere. This, in turn, impacts the organization because disengaged employees are not achieving their full potential. Leaders often contribute to this by failing to recognize, explore and/or leverage strengths that employees have beyond what their current role requires.

So how do leaders discover and unlock the untapped potential on their teams?

In my work using the Lumina Spark assessment with teams, we’ve been able to demonstrate tremendous benefits when it comes to finding the “hidden gems” of talent on teams. Lumina Spark looks at three personas: 1) the Underlying, which is how a person behaves most naturally; 2) the Everyday, which is how a person shows up at work based on their role and what’s expected of them; and 3) the Overextended, which is how someone behaves under stress.

Recognizing the Underlying persona and identifying the qualities associated with that persona can reveal some undiscovered talent that may have been dormant because it wasn’t required in the current work environment. For example, a person may show a high degree of “imaginative” in their underlying persona but show much less of that quality in their Everyday persona because in their current role they work more with facts and data. Now, let’s say the team has stalled in coming up with a new approach to a particular process or task. Leveraging that team member’s untapped imaginative quality provides an opportunity to get the team unstuck.   Not only will it help the team, it will help the individual become more engaged and motivated by having the opportunity to use a strength that has been idle.

Take a look at your current team initiatives. What are your goals, challenges, and needs?  Are there hidden gems within your team that could raise your effectiveness in meeting these goals? In addressing some of your challenges? As an answer to your needs?

Would you recognize the strengths someone on your team might bring to the table if, in fact, those strengths seem opposite to their currently recognized strengths and job role definition?  Are you aware of how to find the power of passion for your individual team members?  If you can tap into this, you don’t ever need to worry about employee engagement.

You can learn the answers to these and more questions and begin to propel your team forward with Lumina Spark.  Contact me at info-us@luminalearning.com or 888.827.8855 to learn more.

Involving Your Heart in Leadership

February is traditionally the month of the heart – there’s Valentine’s Day, and it’s Heart Health Month. As leaders, though, if we want to effectively engage our employees and our teams, we need to be considering our hearts all of the time.

When faced with a decision, do you rely on your head or your heart? Many would argue that decisions – especially business decisions – are best when made as the result of carefully reviewing facts, weighing the options, and then making the most logical choice. In other words, go with your head and forgo your heart. Leaders make many decisions throughout the day. And a number of them – if you want to be a truly effective leader – need to involve your heart.

No matter what the poster on the wall might say, it’s YOUR actions and reactions as a leader that establish the true culture of an organization. Your employees look to you as a model for how they treat one another, how loyal they are to their team and the organization, and how they behave in general. Showing some heart in your behaviors, in your conversations, and in your approach to decision-making will go a long way to ensuring that there is heart in your company culture.

Here's an example. You may tend toward being direct and purposeful. Say what you need to say and move on. But remember, words are powerful. They convey information and they also inflict feelings. As Maya Angelou said, “people will forget what you said…but people will never forget how you made them feel.”  You can still be direct and purposeful, but how about wrapping those words in a blanket of gentleness and kindness? Think about how that might affect the outcome.

When you are in a difficult conversation, take a deep breath, count to 5, and imagine yourself in the other person’s shoes. How might this impact your conversation?

As leaders, we’re busy. We move through the day from meetings to issues to decisions with little time to reflect, or to tap into that inner voice that helps us align our actions, intentions, and values: our heart. I recommend that, going forward, you do this brief exercise before going into an important meeting or difficult conversation.

Spend a few quiet moments to get grounded. Feel your connectedness to the earth – imagine the trees, rivers, mountains and oceans that make up this beautiful planet; feel the ground beneath you.

Imagine your audience. What do they need to hear from you? How do they need to hear it? What can you say, or how can you say it in a way that conveys positivity and optimism? See yourself as the conduit between your audience and what they need from the meeting or conversation.

Connect with your inner self. Listen to your heart to understand what you need to do to connect with your audience.

Set an intention for the meeting, such as to be direct but open, tough but gentle, logical but empathetic, or simply to have clarity and openness. Let your connectedness guide your approach and your message.

Get out of your head and into your heart. Be receptive to new ways of showing up.

And as you make decisions throughout the day, give your heart a voice in the process.

“Your vision will become clear only when you look into your heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakens.” – Carl Jung

Lead on,

Rebecca

Effective Dialogues Improve Team Performance

In today’s workplace teams come in a variety of flavors: department teams, project teams, virtual teams, global teams, cross-functional teams, permanent teams, temporary teams, task force teams, self-directed teams and combinations thereof.  Each of these has its own inherent challenges.  Common among them, however, is the need for effective dialogues. Here’s how to achieve them.

Establish communication standards.  Whether it’s about sharing ideas or resolving conflict, it’s essential to develop and implement guidelines that encourage and support open communication. That includes communication media. Email may be acceptable for information exchange, but issues should be discussed in person or, if that’s not practical, by phone. Guidelines should cover:

·         Using a common language (especially important for global teams)

·         Identifying trigger words and phrases to avoid

·         Emphasizing effective listening strategies

·         Promoting an understanding and appreciation of varying communication styles

·         Scheduling regular meetings

Identify and address barriers to open communication. Barriers to communication generally fall into three categories: physical, emotional and environmental.  Support effective dialogues by removing any physical distractions (these could range from a noisy conference room to a bad telephone connection). Work to understand and appreciate the diverse styles of your team and create opportunities for the team to develop a mutual understanding of each other. As they learn to consider each other’s style and frame of reference, they’ll learn to minimize the emotional reactions that get in the way of effective dialogues.

Create guidelines for managing conflict. A certain amount disagreement on a team is natural and necessary for innovation and optimal performance. The key is how you channel and manage it.  Give your team tools for dealing productively with conflict by working together to create conflict management guidelines. Emphasize respect and active listening. Include feedback best practices. Encourage a dialogue that begins with points of agreement and develops from there. Ensure that the focus is on the issue at hand rather than personalities. State the team goals and expectations clearly and concisely and remind the team of their mutual commitment to those goals.

Evaluate and improve. Like any relationship, team relationships need to be nurtured. Make time for a periodic “check in” through an open dialogue specifically around how team communication is going. Encourage those who are typically less vocal to weigh in. Identify areas – from team feedback and your observations – where improvements could be made. Then make them.

Lead on,

Rebecca