Category: Articles

What do you think or feel when you hear the word “conflict”? This is a typical question we ask at the beginning of many of our programs on Conflict Resolution. If you are like most people, you will probably experience some level of discomfort. The fact is that conflict can involve uncomfortable emotions and threaten relationships.

The topic of Conflict Resolution has been profusely explored in the context of Organizational Development. Book shops and libraries are full of excellent volumes on how to manage conflict effectively. If we followed their advice, we would be in a much better place. In many ways, effective conflict resolution is very simple. The techniques to reach collaborative conflict-solving are straightforward, but most of us fail to apply them successfully. As a result, individuals and organizations, families, communities, and countries suffer the consequences of poorly managed conflicts.

Then… How do we resolve conflicts?

Ever felt like solving a conflict this way?

Before we can manage a conflict, we need to examine our own definition of conflict, our beliefs about conflict, and our behaviour during a conflict situation.

The classic Thomas-Kilmann model for Conflict Resolution -which proudly stands the test of time- presents several ways that we can use to respond to conflict, each of which reflects a different attitude toward ourselves, the other party, and the conflict at hand.

Each response focuses our attention either subjectively on the people with whom we are in dispute or objectively on achieving a goal or result. As a consequence, when we are in conflict, we are likely to adopt one of the following five responses or styles: Avoiding, Accommodating, Competing, Collaborating, and Compromising.

But this article is not about the Thomas-Kilmann model, which you all may be well familiar with. Today, we would like to illustrate these different approaches to conflict resolution through the lens of some Hollywood classics.

So sit down, grab your popcorn and a glass of your favourite drink and enjoy…

Indiana Jones – Raiders of Lost Ark

A perfect example of when to use the competitive style.

The famous “sword vs gun” scene at the market is among the top 10 favourite moments of any Indiana Jones’ fan. Indiana/Harrison is outnumbered in a fight that takes place in a market. His girlfriend has been kidnapped by the “villains”, and he needs to move fast. In the middle of this fight, Indi finds himself suddenly facing a menacing opponent waving a huge sword…

According to Thomas-Kilmann, the competing style is particularly indicated in situations when quick, decisive action is vital — for example, in an emergency, or when you need to protect yourself from people who take advantage of non-competitive behaviour. Well… enough said!

For those of you who may not have seen the movie -is there anyone, really, on this planet who has not seen this movie?-, we will not do a spoiler.

Twelve angry men

In this Hollywood classic, eleven jury members are convinced that the 18-year old defendant is guilty of murder, and only one juror, the role played by Henry Fonda, believes that there is a reasonable doubt, that there should be some discussion before a verdict is made. This is the trigger factor for a conflict that increases in intensity as the personalities of the men emerge.

Thomas-Kilmann recommends the use of the avoiding style in situations when we need time to let people cool down, or when gathering more information outweighs the advantages of an immediate decision. In a persuasive and persistent manner, this is what Henry Fonda masterfully manages to achieve.

If you have not seen this classic, go look for it immediately!

Casablanca, a classic among the classics

One of the reasons for accommodating or giving in to conflict is when the issue is much more important to others than it is to you. This and only this is the reason why Ilsa/Ingrid, in the famous end of Casablanca, leaves the love of her life, Rick/Humphrey, to follow her husband Victor Laszlo and support his cause in WWII.

No matter how many times you’ve seen the movie, you still hope that at the last minute Ilsa will change her mind and stay with Rick in Casablanca.

And if you have not seen Casablanca… What can we say… You’ll always have Paris!

The Godfather

Or when collaborating and/or compromising is the only possible way to resolve a conflict and achieve your objectives.

This famous film series presents the story of the Godfather “Don” Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando) -head of the Corleone mafia family in New York, and a major figure in American organized crime- and his youngest son and successor Michael Corleone (Al Pacino). But other powerful and rival mafia families also want to sell drugs and “get a piece of the cake”.

The constant treacherous fight among the families is causing not only a lot of bloodshed but also significant losses in benefits.

Perhaps one of the most famous scenes is the meeting of the five families, where a compromise is reached in yet another attempt to find a solution to the never-ending conflict.

And we will not reveal the plot… Let’s just say that this scene happens in Part 1, and there are two more movies…

This “Hollywood classics trivia tour” shows us how each conflict style can be useful for dealing with conflict in certain situations. There will be times when the most effective approach is to walk away or to surrender. There will also be times when there is no alternative other than aggression. However, it is clear that the best and most satisfying results are produced by responding with collaboration… Unless your opponent belongs to the mafia, of course, and then… You may want to write the script for The Godfather 4.

One of the greatest challenges for any organization is the recruitment and selection process. That marks the first step in what can become a fruitful relationship or a true nightmare. The real issue is that until recently candidates were evaluated solely on their knowledge, skills, experience and in some case – personality. That is all very well and relevant of course.

The question is, is that enough to guarantee a successful fit?

That is why more and more companies are beginning to introduce Emotional Intelligence tools alongside other assessments in their recruitment process.

You may be wondering, why is that? Let’s consider some key reasons.

1. Published psychometric studies have shown that scores on the GENOS assessment for selection correlate with important workplace dimensions. The higher people score on the GENOS scales, the higher they tend to score on assessments that measure:
   • Workplace performance
   • Leadership effectiveness
   • Sales and customer services
   • Resilience
   • Teamwork
   • Engagement
2. Research shows that IQ is responsible for about 20 to 25% of the variation of typical performance in any job. Personality is responsible for about 10 to 15%. Emotional Intelligence for about 20 to 30% (Source: GENOS). For organizations, it means that no single assessment per se is sufficient to predict the performance of an employee. A set of assessments is needed for hiring managers and stakeholders to gain all the information they need to make a decision.
3. It is worth recalling the results of the survey carried out by the World Economic Forum in 2016 that brought to the conclusion that EI was to be considered by leading global employers to be one of the top skills leaders and workers will be needing. The new report that has been issued recently confirms that Emotional Intelligence related skills are among the top 10 of 2025.
4. 2020, and the unprecedented sanitary emergency that had a heavy impact on everyone in the world, made us realise that resilience is now an Emotional Intelligence skill that cannot be overlooked. It may be interesting for recruiters to understand where their candidates stand concerning that particular quality especially if they are a fast-changing organization. People that in EI assessments are high on resilience are less stressed and more capable of facing challenges. More resilient leaders tend to create a more positive climate and a mentally healthy workplace.
5. Finally, a very interesting piece of research worth considering is one that focused on leadership gaps. It reported that all gaps had one aspect in common: they were all related to interpersonal effectiveness and emotional intelligence. Researchers underlined that these gaps did not include other factors like business insight, financial acumen, strategic mindset, managing execution or driving results. They were all on the softer side of leadership competence. (Source: The Business Journals)

Whether you are an HR manager, a hiring manager or an external consultant, GENOS has developed an Emotional Intelligence assessment for recruitment that can support you in the screening process.

To this end, GENOS has developed a Model based on 7 scales. In this Model, each dimension is measured against 10 emotionally intelligent workplace behaviours. Responses are then compared to a sample population of almost 5000 respondents and benchmarked accordingly.

EI Practitioners will notice that there is one additional competency of the Model used by GENOS in development assessments.

• Emotional Self-awareness is the skill of perceiving and understanding one’s own emotions.
• Emotional awareness of others is the skill of perceiving and understanding others’ emotions.
• Emotional expression is the skill of expressing one’s own emotions effectively.
• Emotional reasoning is the skill of utilising emotional information in decision-making.
• Emotional self-management is the skill of effectively managing one’s own emotions.
• Emotional management of others is the skill of influencing the moods and emotions of others.
• Emotional self-control is the skill of effectively controlling strong emotions.

A real asset of this assessment are the validity indices that are aimed at ensuring the accuracy of responses. 12 items among those presented respondents with detect 3 areas:

• Inflation – that provides insight into whether the candidate tends to have an overly inflated view of their ability.
• Manipulation – indicates any conscious attempt to misrepresent their responses to achieve more desirable scores.
• Inconsistency – that allows the system to evaluate whether the candidate responded to similar items in a consistent fashion.

Besides, respondents are being timed. To complete the assessment 12 to 15 minutes are sufficient. The time limit is 30 minutes. If a candidate takes such amount of additional time, it may mean that they were doing a web search or asked for help to respond more desirably. That data is provided to the hiring manager / stakeholder who can decide how to evaluate that information.

The assessment produces a report that is not for the candidate but only for the hiring manager/stakeholder. It is a rich document that gives data on how the candidate scored on each of the 7 EI scales, how the person is likely to behave in the workplace, and how they could develop on each of the competencies.

The GENOS EI Selection report:

• Not for the Individual
• Should be used by the “Hiring stakeholder”
• Overviews (model, process)
• Scores:
  • Summary for each skill (3 lowest scoring items)
• Interview
  • Questions
  • Scoring
  • Summary

The Report also offers an important section on guiding the hiring manager/stakeholder through the interview with the candidate to gain more qualitative information on their scores.
Each scale has 6 interview questions and a scoring key to calculate if the candidate high or low results on each dimension. Of course, it is up to the hiring stakeholder to decide which dimensions to explore during the interview. What is really important is to ask the questions in the sequence presented in the Report. The reason is that the questions have been assembled according to a precise model – Mindset/Toolset/Skillset.

• Mindset – two questions explore the knowledge the candidate has of that scale, what they understand of it
• Toolset – two questions look at what the person has done to put that scale into practice
• Skillset – two questions look at what skills the candidate has developed and what outcomes can they speak of having generated

The Report ends with an Interview scoring summary of all the scales, and a Candidate evaluation summary where the person’s strengths and development areas, as well as the areas they may require further probing, can be noted down.

This new GENOS assessment can really help in making the best hiring decisions.

Organizations cannot afford to overlook Emotional Intelligence during the hiring process nowadays. GENOS assessment provides the information that is needed to make the best possible decision, alongside other tools.

Please, contact our team of EI experts for further information and to support you with your next recruitment process.

Learning and Development

GENOS Emotional Intelligence Certification – Virtual classroom – This programme is designed to train participants to the GENOS EI assessment tools applied to leaders and the workplace. If you are interested in learning how to administer and debrief GENOS assessment questionnaires both for leaders and the workplace (Self, 180, 360), join us in the next programme that will be delivered by PeopleSmart in Paris in March 2021.
This training will be delivered in French.
The training is available also in English and other languages – on demand.

Exploring EI – Virtual classroom – To help you understand the principles of the Science of Emotions, the fundamentals of EI behaviours and the core EI dimensions – On-demand

Leading with Emotional intelligence – Series of 6 virtual classrooms – To help you explore all the key competencies that can make you an Emotional Intelligent leader, using your EI in your leadership of people – On-demand

We often fail to consider what role we ourselves play in the difficult relationship. If you’re having trouble with someone, first put the focus on yourself and consider what you can do to transform the relationship. Consciously reflect and take a look at the judgements and opinions you have that are blocking progress in the relationship.

If we think the problem lies outside ourselves it’s easy to blame and finger point and typically try to change the other person which of course leads to them resisting, digging their heels in and causing further issues.

Alternatively, we avoid engaging with that person and fall into the ‘victim’ mode. This can lead to passive-aggressive behavior which is inauthentic and helps neither party.

Another, often unseen, danger is our tendency to ‘fix’ or ‘box’ people in a certain frame. Once we’ve decided what the difficult person is like, their intentions, their faults and so on, we only see them out of that lens we’ve created and behave accordingly. And nothing changes. This does not allow the person to move out of that box. And at the same time, it does not allow us to understand the multifaceted person in front of us and explore other possibilities for the relationship. It is amazing how by scratching beneath the surface one can find out things about the other person that can completely transform the way we view her or him. Information is key. It is all too easy to dismiss people without giving yourself and them a chance to see what’s ‘behind the curtain’.

Over the years I have used real, authentic storytelling to resolve conflict and build trust in dysfunctional teams. It’s a simple technique but when individuals share their personal stories with the team it can help team members see each other in a completely different light. You get to know team colleagues on a more personal level. This connects people and opens channels for the difficulties to be resolved.

Now here’s a radical idea: you could take the higher ground! Remember difficult people are human! Don’t demonize them. Rise above. You may be able to help them. Yes, instead of ‘canceling their vote’ or bringing them around to your way of thinking, consider that maybe they have bigger problems than you do? Who knows what stresses and issues your ‘difficult person’ is experiencing in their personal lives? What pain are they suffering? There are many factors that cause ‘difficult’ behavior.

And this leads me to the core of how best to deal with difficult people. If you genuinely care about others and their well being, are compassionate and lead from the heart, you will want to learn and employ all the good tools out there, like DISC, MBTI and the whole array of Emotional Intelligence skills, to excel at the ‘how to’s’ that are much more powerful when underpinned by a desire to explore and discover the best in other people.

This takes seeing beyond aberrant behavior, or behavior you don’t like, and connecting with who that person really is behind their pain, hostility or inauthenticity. It requires moving beyond your own desire to triumph in battle. It means letting go of your own self-interest and being willing to discover the good in that other person.

And of course, as I mention in the sub-title, we need to be willing to take an honest look at ourselves to explore how ‘difficult’ we are being in the ‘difficult relationship. One has to be willing to do the inner work on ourselves to explore what aspects of oneself are contributing to or causing the problems

I’ll finish with a short story to illustrate the points I’ve made:

As a young man I used to work with criminalized Jamaican youth in South London. Michael Smith was an extremely troubled young man. I warned him I would have to ban him from the community center if he pulled a knife on a younger kid again. He did and, despite my fear of the knife, a physical struggle ensued. I managed to get him off the premises while all the time he was shouting at me “You white Natzi!!” and so on. As he walked out and up the road, continuing to curse me, I was shouting back at him “I love you!! You ____ idiot I love you!!” I didn’t argue or defend my position or verbally accuse and attack him.

A day later he appeared at my office door with a big smile on his face and said “I’m sorry man, I want to help you build this place.” He reached his hand out and I shook it. The power of love can transform even the most difficult relationships.

Deep down I knew he was a good kid. And even when he was threatening me, I was coming from that place I mentioned earlier. I rose above the personal, including my own safety, and asserted my truth. If I was someone else who didn’t know that his parents had left him with his grandmother in Jamaica years before and that he had jumped into her grave when she died, I would probably not have understood his pain and need to be loved.

You can take the lessons from this example, and the other points I’ve raised in this article, and apply them to all those people you find difficult, in work and life in general, and do your best to discover the person behind the veneer so you can build a channel for resolution.

Christmas in 2020

Christmas is a special day of the year for many different reasons according to different cultures. This year we need to make it even more special as, despite our best hopes, we need to celebrate it in a ‘new normal’ way.

Below are some ideas inspired by Dr. Meg Arroll.

Embrace simplicity

2020 is a real chance to make significant changes to our usual manic schedule and streamline the Christmas period.

→ Ask yourself, ‘What do I want this Christmas to be remembered for?’
Would you like memories of only the challenging and difficult aspects of 2020, or rather can you shift your perspective and try a new way of celebrating this year so that you will have happy recollections?

→ Visualise this adjusted Christmas now and see in your mind’s eye the delight, comfort, and joy that can still be achieved

Build new traditions

We may feel a sense of separation as we will not be able to spend some time with our usual family gatherings or those much-loved traditions such as meeting dear friends in the pub on Christmas Eve or Boxing Day turkey sandwiches with cherished neighbours.

However, this is the perfect time to build new traditions. We rarely think about starting a fresh family Christmas ritual, but all these practices must begin at some point in time.

→ Look forward to future generations and how they will retell the story of this tradition, which by then will feel like a much-loved custom for the family.

Inspiration can be drawn from other challenging situations we may have faced in the past or from history during similar tough family and social restrictions.

Most of us have loved ones who live hundreds, if not thousands of miles away, so this could be the start of togetherness at Christmas online.

Reconnect with the true meaning of Christmas

Although in the strictest sense Christmas is a Christian holiday, many people join in with the festivities to celebrate a secular Christmas. Therefore, the holiday season can mean different things to all of us, but the common thread this time of year is reconnecting with a spirit of peace, goodwill, and kindness.

→ Now more than almost ever before, we need to offer care and support to one another, so think about how you can support your fellow man, woman, and children in a wider manner – for instance shopping at local stores that have struggled during the pandemic, donating to nearby food banks and checking in on neighbours that live on their own (in person or on the phone).

Take stock

Finally, Christmas is the perfect time to reflect and count our blessings. Millions of people have lost loved ones, and for these families, the first Christmas undoubtedly will be hard. Many others have also been affected, either directly by infection, or indirectly by the fear and trauma of the pandemic.

→ Now is time to take stock, honour those who we’ve lost and proceed into the New Year with gratitude and open hearts.

Regardless of religious background, the Christmas tree symbolises the everlasting hope and endurance of humankind, as its fir needles remain green all year round, pointing upwards towards the future.

→ Use this emblem to draw your mind back to the spirit of Christmas if you do start to feel down or overwhelmed this year – and know that better times are to come.

PeopleSmart wishes you a Happy Christmas
and a Healthy and Prosperous New Year.
We look forward to another year to continue growing and developing together.

How Emotional Intelligence & Diversity in Teams are related

by Maria Caterina Capurro

As Emotional Intelligence Practitioners or even if you are just starting learning EI, you may have started noticing the enormous impact EI behaviours have on organizations, performance, relationships, families, and overall wellbeing.

GENOS definition of EI clearly states:

“Emotional Intelligence (EI) or emotional quotient (EQ) is a set of skills that help us better perceive, understand and manage emotions in ourselves and in others.”

In other terms, it is a ‘brain power’ that helps us to regulate the incredible source of energy of our emotions and to connect with other people.

That is so crucial in all aspects of our life and in our workplace. By better understanding our colleagues, we create better teams, and better teams are more productive because everyone feels better. It is a virtuous circle.

To quote Daniel Goleman:

“If you see a star performing team, you’re seeing a very high group IQ. But what predicts the actual productivity or effectiveness of a team is not the potential—that is, the best talents of every person— it’s how people are valued on that team. It’s how people feel there’s harmony, that we get along, that we surface simmering issues, that we take time to celebrate, that we know each person’s strengths and that we step aside when it’s time for this person to come forward. In other words, we are a team that has a high emotional intelligence.”

That applies to both face-to-face teams and virtual team, as both are formed by people. Where there are people, there are emotions. And where there are emotions, we need to use our Emotional Intelligence.

In fact, Emotional Intelligence behaviours are the most powerful ones to support cooperation. A fundamental EI competency comes into play here: Being aware of others (re. GENOS Model of EI).

When we demonstrate it,

• We make others feel appreciated
• We adjust our style so that it fits well with others
• We notice when someone needs support and responds effectively
• We accurately view situations from the perspective of others
• We acknowledge the views and opinions of others
• We accurately anticipate responses or reactions from others
• We balance achieving results with others’ needs

Isn’t that the recipe for understanding diversity and creating an inclusive team?

In fact, it is as these behaviours create a climate in which people feel understood, feel at ease, feel valued, and feel safe. All conditions that are needed for a team to work together in an inclusive way. If you think about it, that cannot be achieved with procedures and rules. The only way to reach it is by using and demonstrating Emotional Intelligence.

In practical terms, “It is not about a team member working all night to meet a deadline, it is about saying thank you for doing so. It is not about in-depth discussion of ideas; it is about asking a quiet member for his/her thoughts. …It is about treating others with respect.” (Daniel Goleman)

Respect, the magic wand. But it needs to be an authentic respect, one that does not deny differences, instead one that acknowledges and appreciates diversity by celebrating uniqueness. We may have all heard the principle that ‘a team is more than the sum of its parts’. As I see it, that is the essence of diversity. Each ‘part’, that is to say each team member has their distinctiveness. Only the combination of each one’s uniqueness makes the team grow and learn.

Can you imagine if teams were constituted of identical people, with identical backgrounds, experience, and specialties? Supposedly they would all have the same team roles too. What results would they bring to the organization? What new ideas and solutions? Very limited, simply because they would see the world through the same glasses.

As leaders that understand and use Emotional Intelligence, it is therefore fundamental to understand team members’ strengths and leverage on them, encourage relatedness, and make sure everybody is heard.

As team members empathy is the key, and facing challenging diversity circumstances learning to ask themselves:

• What else could that behaviour mean?
• How might that person feel about that?
• How would I have behaved in that situation?

“… So, when it comes to diversity, you’re seeing people who have a range of backgrounds, of understandings and abilities. And the more diverse team is going to be the one with the largest array of talents, as so it will be the one with the potential best performance.” (Daniel Goleman)

To one condition, being open to people who are different from us.

Success Stories

Katarzyna Warchol, Training Manager at ‘The Westin Dragonara Resort’ in St. Julian’s, Malta, got her ‘Leading & Motivating with EI’ Certification in July 2019. With the support of the HR Manager, Michelle Seguna, she delivered the first session of this training in-house successfully last January.

This is her story:

“The main focus of the training in our case was the link between Emotional Intelligence and Motivation / Engagement of associates. In order to reach the Training objectives, we explored the [GENOS] Model of Emotional Intelligence, 4P Model of Employee Engagement and further went into exploring SCARF model of Universal motivators & facilitating conversations around Individual Drivers of Motivation.

We found that explanation of Neuroscience of emotions coupled with a discussion on SCARF model was a very eye-opening experience to our managers who could clearly identify behaviours from their daily work lives which can cause a reward or threat state and respectively have influence on performance & actions of their teams. Following potential actions causing threat response, the solutions to how to minimize such response had been created and passed on to all participants in the form of a SCARF Model Guide.

I had been very lucky to have a co –facilitator, Michelle our HR Director who had been supporting the delivery based on the knowledge which she received by attending a shorter version of the training with you. Our intention was to continue with our sessions however due to the current situation, we had to move our plans in time.”

Well done Katarzyna!

Learning and Development

As a GENOS Official Partner, PeopleSmart will soon be launching the latest programme on Leading with Emotional Intelligence.

It is a virtual series of six 90-minute sessions based on Emotional Intelligence and Social Neuroscience to boost essential EI leadership skills for 2020 and beyond.

Each session covers a fundamental EI competency for leaders:

EI Model
Aware Leader
Authentic Leader
Expansive Leader
Resilient Leader
Empowering Leader

The programme begins with a GENOS Leadership 180° or 360° Assessment (additional individual debrief is optional) and ends with a final GENOS Assessment (optional).

Please, contact us for further information: contact@peoplesmart.fr

Web Conferencing is a great way to expedite communication and it is the responsibility of the call host to decide what type of call theirs will be and then to ensure that it is delivered using the most appropriate medium – running smoothly and to time.

The choice of platform may be driven by company policy, security, group preference or habit. Skype, Lync, WebEx, Hangout, Zoom, Qube and MS Teams, (to name but a few), will all have their champions. But the question is, which will enable you to facilitate the most effective communication?

Are you planning an event, a presentation or a conversation? Each will need to be managed differently and some will require more pre-work than others. You might consider delivering a hybrid event, containing components of each, as a way of keeping participants involved and interested.

Your session type may be influenced by who will drive or ‘own’ the agenda. Are you dictating the agenda or is the session to be participant led – allowing contributions from others? If you want participants to have ownership, then a pre-questionnaire will encourage contribution and will help you to narrow down the most appropriate content drawn from the group, the best format and appropriate duration.

Are you planning a reporting or updating session? If so, each contribution needs to be focussed and accessible. As host, do not arbitrarily limit the number of slides or screen shares – but encourage colleagues to follow best practice – the other participants will need to hear and see content that is ABC (Accurate, Brief, and Clear), leaving them better informed or well positioned to contribute to making a decision.

Is this to be a creative or problem-solving event? Either way, if input is required from everyone, then using virtual Breakout Rooms, Polling or Voting may all be really useful.

No matter the meeting, keep sessions to a maximum of 90 minutes and leave some flex in your own calendar before your next meeting begins, allowing you time to reflect or to send out a file note or summary.

Before the session starts:

• Send a meeting invitation (followed by a reminder closer to the event) to all invitees, outlining the purpose of the meeting, the agenda and any preparation that is required of them. If necessary, provide an executive summary pre-read or links, to get everyone to the same starting point.
• Make sure that the right people are invited. If decisions are to be made, decision-makers need to be present.
• Whilst the most senior person may want to chair the session, they can delegate the creation of visuals, screen sharing, exercises, activities, managing Polling, Voting and virtual Breakout Rooms to a guiding hand / technically adept colleague both before and during the meeting.
• Keep screen shares to a minimum. Avoid a return to ‘death by PowerPoint’ and keep some slides in reserve to be used as support during question time. Look for the opportunity to chunk down content, build in participant involvement and add variety of input.
• The more formal or presentation-based the session, the more practice will be needed and meeting management is key. The Chair, technical co-ordinator and any other contributors will need to run through the shared plan before hand – possibly clicking through the agenda, slides and transitions.

Technical Tips:

• Use Mute-all and Gallery View (these may need to be switched on by the host).
  For Zoom visit: their support article linked here.
• Use the Screen Share function to show PowerPoint slides, diagrams or documents that add value or clarify key points – but avoid a return to death by PowerPoint.
• Use the Chat section as a way to have ‘live’ side conversation or to park ideas sparked by the meeting, which can be revisited later.
• Use the Whiteboard function as a place to invite thoughts and to gather wider contributions.
  For Zoom visit: their support article linked here.
• Use Polling – ask voting participants to use an icon – (applause, thumbs up or down) to show their view or use icons to place themselves on a ‘temperature bar’ continuum – from cold to hot, bad to good, sick to healthy and so on.
• Use ‘Fist-5’ Voting – ask voting participants to show a fist to score zero up to 5 fingers to show their response to a question or idea.
• Use virtual Breakout Rooms as a vehicle to facilitate a brain dump in small groups, to divide a big issue down into its component parts or to enable several issues to be discussed simultaneously. This creates more engagement for more people and offers each individual air-time, before feeding back to the group.
  For Zoom visit: their support article linked here.

On camera performance – set yourself for success:

• Environment: Find a quiet location and protect yourself against interruptions. Shut down everything that is not needed on your browser, especially surplus applications and background apps in the Task bar. Have your phone off and maybe wear a headset and microphone to create your own ‘bubble’. Make sure your face is well lit – have natural light in front of you, not behind and make sure that your style of dressing, like the background, is not ‘busy’ or distracting – but is ‘business like’ and sets the right tone.
• Posture and positioning: Sit upright – with your back and bottom tucked into the back of the chair – and raise your camera lens to eye level. Frame your head and shoulders in-shot. Try to connect positively with the attendees – look into the camera and show the light behind your eyes. Remember that if your camera is ‘on’, you are ‘on screen’, so act accordingly – be present, be alive, be interested.
• Language:If you are representing a business, consider thanking people for joining ‘us’ today. Talk ‘with’ people not ‘to’ or ‘at’ them. If you are chairing, use clear directive language – things like: ‘My proposal is…’; ‘My counter proposal is…’; ‘To build on that idea…’; ‘Any objections…?’ ‘Shall we gauge opinion on that…?’
• Questions: Flag up where you are aiming a question by using the recipient’s name at the start of your sentence. Give people their moment in the sun.

Prepare the audience:

• Ask everyone to turn their camera on and mute their microphones. Remember to welcome people, recognise their time investment and contributions and thank them. Ask them to display their names. If some participants are late joining (they may never join by the way) agree with those who are on time whether / when to start or agree to postpone the call. Do not be tempted to go back over the agenda and repeat content for late comers – it rewards their behaviour and will frustrate those who arrived on time.
• Confirm the purpose and style of the meeting and ensure that everyone has the same expectations for the session duration, flow, topic, format and outcomes – including the provision for Q&A.

Deliver the plan:

• Remember clarity, energy and passion are key: you have prepared and practised – stick to the plan.
• Re-confirm your agreed meeting ground rules: i.e. no multi-tasking; phones off; be ‘present’, join in and contribute; short sharp interventions; cameras on, microphones off. Make sure that you role model professionalism and energy. Use your sessions as an opportunity to reinforce best practice.
• Be aware of international attendees and those working in second or third languages: think about your speed, diction, your choice of language and check for understanding, compliance and commitment.
• Find ways to vary the input: have more than one contributor and use screen share; find ways to involve the participants and move to facilitation and breakout sessions whenever practicable. Vary the duration and complexity of activities – perhaps start with some simple temperature checks or polling and move into longer, deeper or more demanding breakout sessions.
• Invite contributions: use Voting, Polling, Whiteboards, reaction icons and virtual Breakout rooms. Pre-warn people if you will be asking them to report, to offer a view or comments or to speak to a slide.
• Manage the discussion: log all questions as they come up and make sure that they are addressed either during the session or as a follow-up afterwards.
• Drive the next steps (who, will do what, by when?) and gain commitment.

After the session:

• Send a one or two-page post-call summary document with the key slides embedded, recommendations listed and the next steps added, in order to drive your follow-up plan forward

For further ideas, take a look at:

• ‘Best practices for hosting a digital event.‘
• ‘Zoom online event best practices‘
• ‘How to combat zoom fatigue‘

A leader that inspires performance is a leader who finds joy and deep satisfaction in developing her or his people and celebrating their successes. Such a leader is open to exploring what is truly satisfying in life. Is the accumulation of wealth and personal recognition the ultimate source of happiness, or does generous concern for others lead to fulfilment.

In the Genos six competencies model of Emotionally Intelligent Leadership the sixth and final competency is the ability to Inspire Performance. To inspire means to “To fill someone with confidence and desire to do something” (Cambridge University Dictionary). When inspire first came into use in the 14th century it had a meaning it still carries in English today: “To influence, move, or guide by divine or supernatural influence or action.” This meaning is a metaphorical extension of the word’s Latin root: inspirare means “to breathe or blow into.”

True empowerment is about many things but at root it requires the leader to not want to take credit, not be seen to be the hero, but rather relish seeing those they empower flourish and grow. Such an empowering leader is generous, trusting, and can let go of wanting to be in control all the time. “It’s not about me; it’s about my people!”

To be an inspiring leader is to be an inspired person. In the spiritual journey there is a progression from obsession with self to an awakening realisation of how much more enjoyable and fulfilling life can be if you focus on others and improve their success and well-being. Leaders who truly inspire performance are typically people who have evolved into this state of living whether consciously or not.

The Genos Model has Empowerment at one end of the Inspiring Performance spectrum and Indifference at the other. I am sure you have come across indifferent leaders! I remember coaching a global head of marketing for a finance firm in New York City who was responsible for 3,000 employees in several locations across the USA. He never visited the people in the regional offices. I conducted some interviews with people out in the “provinces” and the constant theme was “We never see him.” And “We haven’t got a clue about where he wants to take the organisation.” This executive was the epitome of Indifference. In truth I do not think he was indifferent but how he behaved, how he impacted the organisation, gave the impression that he did not care about other people but only himself. It was a salutary shock for him to hear the feedback.

You have to genuinely care about others and then show them you genuinely care by your actions.

The Chairman of that same global company headquartered in New York City worked from his plush office on the 52nd floor of a 52-story building. One day the door of a young employee on the 23d floor was open and a gentleman politely asked if he could come in for a quick chat. The gentleman stayed for ten minutes as they got acquainted. That gentleman was the Chairman. The news of this exceptional visitation spread like wildfire. Everyone loved their Chairman because he embodied all that they valued about an inspiring leader. He took time out to connect with people regardless of their status in the organisation. Certainly not indifferent.

And then there was Mr. Smith, my Latin teacher at boarding school. His energy level had flatlined and he sounded like a drone. I came 17th out of a class of 17 boys in his final year. The next year Mr. Brown arrived and from the start I joined the boys sitting in the backrow teasing and taunting the poor man. Us cynical kids obviously felt he was easy prey for being so open, nice, passionate and super enthusiastic about teaching us Latin. But despite the horrible ridicule he suffered he continued to be his authentic self and by the end of the year I was sitting in the front row and came in 1st out of 17! Mr. Brown “breathed” life into me. I came alive in his presence and went from the bottom to the top of the performance ladder.

If you want to become an inspiring leader you will want to teach, educate and coach. You will learn how to give constructive and helpful feedback. You will take pleasure in seeing others blossom and find joy in celebrating your people.

Here are some of the key leadership behaviours that constitute the Genos Model’s sixth competence – Inspiring Performance.

• Maintain a positive work environment.
• Be willing to share your purpose and help others understand their purpose and meaningful contribution to the organisation.
• Help facilitate others’ development and advance their careers by providing useful support and constructive feedback and guidance on behaviour and performance.
• Recognise and celebrate others’ hard work and achievements.

Do you inspire your people to perform?

The corporate Head of Marketing and Mr. Smith the Latin teacher were not bad people. It is just that their focus was not primarily on inspiring others to reach optimal performance. They had not developed the Emotional Intelligence skills that start with self-awareness and the awareness of others. Once these two competencies have been worked on and developed the leader can then choose the path of being a leader who empowers, is ‘other’ focused, and teaches, coaches and mentors people to become high performers.

I am sure you can think of great band leaders, sports coaches, politicians and business leaders who fit these criteria and inspire great performance. I think of Quincy Jones the great American jazz musician, Jurgen Klopp who manages Liverpool FC, the best football team in the world, Jacinda Ardern the current Prime Minister of New Zealand, and Muhammed Yunus the founder of the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh who started the whole microcredit movement. Who do you admire and celebrate? Please let me know!

Covid 19 has hit our lives like a thunderbolt that forced us to change our routines, our ways of working, our ways of studying, how we socialize with other people, how we travel, even how we do the shopping.

The first emotional reaction to losing most of our ‘old normal’ has certainly been that of shock, followed by denial and then by anger.

At the beginning we were all taken aback. Many tried to minimise the situation. I remember the news reporting that it was just an influenza, that we should not worry all that much.

Then the seriousness of the virus hit everybody heavily. Many were outraged regarding contradictory information and looked for people and nations to blame for the situation.

THE ‘NEW NORMAL’

As you may remember from your EI training, what is described above is exactly what happens to our emotions as they move along the change curve. Even more so as we were facing an unprecedented situation that required unprecedented changes.

Now, we are gradually emerging from the darkest days and are starting experimenting new ways of managing the ‘new normal’, trying to decide what strategies to adopt.

Though we may still feel a subtle sense of sadness for what cannot be any longer as before, while we pivot and adjust to our ‘new normal’, it is important to give ourselves some time to grieve what we lost.

Once we get to accept that loss, we can look ahead. If it is true that we lost something, it is also true that we learnt to appreciate new things. Everyone will experience that in different ways of course. But if we stop and reconnect with our deeper self, we will find the energy of a new beginning. That energy is the true source to tap into to find solutions to the present challenges in our life and work.Here some practical strategies that may help us tap into our inner energy:

• Journal our experience – Writing about our feelings is extremely powerful. It is a self-awareness exercise. When labelling negative feelings, their power diminishes, and when noticing positive feelings, they expand. Starting each day by noting down what we can be grateful of will help us enhance our well-being.
• Create new routines – Having routines will restore normality. For example, we may get creative and find new ways of starting our day – meditating, doing exercise, walking in the park, taking the time for a nice breakfast with our family or alone. It is refreshing for the mind to change routines from time to time.
• Self-caring – By learning to take care of ourselves, by being kinder to ourselves, we become more present in our life and start making healthier choices for our well-being. That impacts positively on our self-esteem as we respect ourselves more. It also makes us more resistant to illnesses as our immune system boosts. And even our productivity improves, as we learn to say ‘no’ to what is not important while sharpening focus on what is important.
• Stay connected in new ways – Aren’t we lucky to live in times in which the internet and all the different platforms like Webex, Zoom, Teams allow us to stay connected? It is widely recognized that social distancing does not mean social disconnecting. It may be fun to discover new ways to meet colleagues and friends for a chat and a virtual drink together.
• Create pockets of joy – It is important to learn to celebrate what makes us happy, what makes us smile. We do not need major events for that. It may be something as simple as taking the time to savour little things fully, like a cup of tea with a friend or a good book. By focusing on moments of joy, all will add up.

As neuroscience has widely demonstrated, when we feel well, we have more energy and our positive emotions reverberate all around us impacting positively on our relations. Let’s take the responsibility of creating good vibes!

CASE STUDY – MINDFUL LEADERSHIP

The context in which leaders need to operate now is more than ever a fluctuating one with significant changes not only since the last century but most recent years.

And in 2020 and the Coronavirus emergency this trend reached its peak!

These changes apply to any sector of business, politics, economy and personal life.

This impacts in turn on the abilities that leaders are called on to develop today.

They revolve around the capacities for relating and working well with others and coping in situation where there is a reduced or even no capacity to engineer the outcomes.

According to a research carried out at Hult International Business School three are the critical capacities for leaders today:

1) The capacity to collaborate with others
This ability involves being able to co-operate and facilitate co-operation across ideas, boundaries and cultures. Diversity and inclusion being one crucial related skill to being able to collaborate with other both inside and outside the organisation.

2) The capacity for resilience
Covid19 emergency made it clear that we all need to learn to be resilient. Leaders have a double responsibility, being able to bounce back following a crisis and help their team to do the same. But resilience is not only that. The Ashridge Resilience Questionnaire considers also: emotional control, self-belief, purpose, adapting to change, awareness of others and balancing alternatives. Leaders who score high on a combination of these measures have been shown to maintain their personal and leadership resilience in the face of adversity.

3) The capacity to survive and thrive in complex contexts
To this end leaders need to develop the capacity of being agile. This is an agility of thinking, being able and willing to step outside of their perspective to see others’ perspectives (a skill also required for collaboration). Connected to agility is the capacity to be flexible in making swift decisions in the midst of distraction, to adapt preferred leadership styles according to situations and team members’ personality and interactive styles.

The research team at Hult set out to investigate whether a mindfulness training would impact these three capacities. The mindfulness training they used in the research was the 8-week Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction programme created by Kabat-Zinn. Their participants were a cross-sector group of 57 senior leaders.

The starting point: What is Mindfulness?

According to Kabat-Zinn Mindfulness is “the awareness that arises from paying attention on purpose, in the present moment and nonjudgmentally”. In other words, mindfulness is a choice, the choice to be aware of oneself, of others, and of what happens around us.

What did they find?

Approximately 3 months after the Mindfulness programme, participants were administered a Survey, aimed to discover the extent to which participants felt the programme had impacted the three key leadership capacities of resilience, collaboration and leading in complexity described above.

When asked to explain the area that they felt they had experienced most impact in as a result of the programme, 40% of respondents detailed answers relating to ‘less stress’, ‘calmness’, and ‘emotional regulation’. Popular responses also included the ability to respond rather than react (14%) and increased focus (11%).

Post programme impact:

Meta-capacities

The most important finding was regarding the meta-capacities that participants reported being enabled by the Mindfulness programme and practice.

The first of these meta-capacities was the ability they discovered to choose to observe what they were thinking and feeling. Observe is the crucial word here – observing what is happening now, in the very moment, in our thoughts, feelings, and body. This meta-capacity is fundamental in freeing us from the ‘automatic’ thinking and ruminating.

The second meta-capacity was defined as curiosity towards the present moment, what happens in the present to us, to others, around us.

And curiosity helped the third meta-capacity, the attitude of allowing, being more understanding towards self and others, especially facing stressful situations.
These meta-capacities helped to develop 5 cognitive and emotional skills:

• Emotional regulation – the ability to make a conscious choice when responding to situations rather than reacting automatically following to emotional wave of the moment
• Perspective taking – the ability of considering situations and ideas from different angles; this ability impacted on the quality of decisions
• Empathy – the ability of focusing more on others than self
• Focus – the ability to concentrate and use selective attention to enhance clarity of thought and quality of decisions
• Adaptability – the ability to adapt to changing situations and context and people

These conclusions lead to develop a theory of Mindful leadership that may represent the basis for further research and development in this area.

When a combination of the three meta-capacities of metacognition, curiosity and allowing are present a space opens in the flow of experience in which choiceful response becomes possible. This in turn impacts on the 5 cognitive and emotional skills mentioned above.

The diagramme of the theory developed from this study is shown on the right:

Conclusion

We thought important to share this research as it contributes to the understanding and evaluation of how mindfulness practice might be relevant to leaders in our century.

Though there is still surely room for exploration, the findings research are extremely valuable as they support the hypothesis that mindfulness training and practice may be helpful in equipping leaders with relevant and useful capacities for the next global challenge ahead.

For us coaches and trainers Mindfulness nowadays represents a fundamental area to grow and present to our clients to bring about a deeper level of development having a positive impact on a whole set of skill crucial to leaders and their leadership of teams in a sort of cascade fashion.

Source: ‘The Mindful Leader’ by Reitz, M, Chaskalson, M., Olivier S., Waller, L., November 2016, Hult Research

LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT

PeopleSmart has recently developed a rich catalogue of virtual workshops to support clients continue developing crucial skills and capacities in quick, practical and engaging programmes in remote. Notice that we offer virtual workshops and not traditional webinars. We really aim at providing a fruitful learning experience where participants can interact with the facilitator and participate in different type of activities.

Some examples of our programmes related to Emotional Intelligence topics:

• Resilience and Mindfulness
• Exploring Emotional Intelligence
• Motivating others
• Motivation and Neuroscience
• Understanding and leading through change
• Self-confidence and Charisma
• • GENOS New Leading with Emotional Intelligence series

Our workshops are 60’ or 90’ minutes long and are run on Zoom.

Our great team of coaches is also available to support you with Coaching sessions in remote.

Please, contact us for further information: contact@peoplesmart.fr

PEOPLESMART NEWS

We are excited to share with you our incredible new Podcast series called ‘Leadership luminaries’ created and curated by Michael Banks.

Please visit the ‘Leadership luminaries‘ by selecting the image below:

Covid 19 has hit our lives like a thunderbolt that forced us to change our routines, our ways of working, our ways of studying, how we socialize with other people, how we travel, even how we do the shopping.

The first emotional reaction to losing most of our ‘old normal’ has certainly been that of shock, followed by denial and then by anger.

At the beginning we were all taken aback. Many tried to minimise the situation. I remember somebody saying that it was just an influenza, that we should not worry all that much and to go on with our lives.

Then, the seriousness of the virus hit everybody heavily. Many were outraged regarding contradictory information and looked for people and nations to blame for the situation.

That is exactly what happens to our emotions as they move along the change curve (Kubler-Ross Model). Even more so as we were facing an unprecedented situation that required unprecedented changes.

Now, we are gradually emerging from the darkest days and are starting experimenting new ways of managing the ‘new normal’, trying to decide what strategies to adopt.

Though we may still feel a subtle sense of sadness for what cannot be any longer as before, while we pivot and adjust to our ‘new normal’, it is important to give ourselves some time to grieve what we lost.

Once we get to accept that loss, we can look ahead. If it is true that we lost something, it is also true that we learnt to appreciate new things. Everyone will experience that in different ways of course. But if we stop and reconnect with our deeper self, we will find the energy of a new beginning. That energy is the true source to tap into to find solutions to the present challenges in our life and work.

Here some practical strategies that may help us tap into our inner energy:

• Journal our experience – Writing about our feelings is extremely powerful. It is a self-awareness exercise. When labelling negative feelings, their power diminishes, and when noticing positive feelings, they expand. Starting each day by noting down what we can be grateful of will help us enhance our well-being.
• Create new routines – Having routines will restore normality. For example, we may get creative and find new ways of starting our day – meditating, doing exercise, walking in the park, taking the time for a nice breakfast with our family or alone. It is refreshing for the mind to change routines from time to time.
• Self-caring – By learning to take care of ourselves, by being kinder to ourselves, we become more present in our life and start making healthier choices for our well-being. That impacts positively on our self-esteem as we respect ourselves more. It also makes us more resistant to illnesses as our immune system boosts. And even our productivity improves, as we learn to say ‘no’ to what is not important while sharpening focus on what is important.
• Stay connected in new ways – Aren’t we lucky to live in times in which the internet and all the different platforms like Webex, Zoom, Teams allow us to stay connected? It is widely recognized that social distancing does not mean social disconnecting. It may be fun to discover new ways to meet colleagues and friends for a chat and a virtual drink together.
• Create pockets of joy – It is important to learn to celebrate what makes us happy, what makes us smile. We do not need major events for that. It may be something as simple as taking the time to savour little things fully, like a cup of tea with a friend or a good book. By focusing on moments of joy, all will add up.

As neuroscience has widely demonstrated, when we feel well, we have more energy and our positive emotions reverberate all around us impacting positively on our relations. Let’s take the responsibility of creating good vibes!

The context in which leaders need to operate now is more than ever a fluctuating one with significant changes not only since the last century but most recent years. And in 2020 and the Coronavirus emergency this trend has reached its peak!

These changes apply to any sector of business, politics, economy and personal life. This impacts in turn on the that leaders are called on to develop today. They revolve around the capacities for relating and working well with others and coping in situations where there is a reduced or even no capacity to engineer the outcomes.

According to a research carried out at Hult International Business School there are three critical capacities for leaders today:

1) The capacity to collaborate with others

This ability involves being able to co-operate and facilitate co-operation across ideas, boundaries and cultures. Diversity and inclusion being one crucial related skill to being able to collaborate with other both inside and outside the organisation.

2) The capacity for resilience

Covid19 emergency made it clear that we all need to learn to be resilient. Leaders have a double responsibility, being able to bounce back following a crisis and help their team to do the same. But resilience is not only that. The Ashridge Resilience Questionnaire considers also: emotional control, self-belief, purpose, adapting to change, awareness of others and balancing alternatives. Leaders who score high on a combination of these measures have been shown to maintain their personal and leadership resilience in the face of adversity.

3) The capacity to survive and thrive in complex contexts

To this end leaders need to develop the capacity of being agile. This is an agility of thinking, being able and willing to step outside of their perspective to see others’ perspectives (a skill also required for collaboration). Connected to agility is the capacity to be flexible in making swift decisions in the midst of distraction, to adapt preferred leadership styles according to situations and team members’ personality and interactive styles.

The research team at Hult set out to investigate whether a mindfulness training would impact these three capacities. The mindfulness training they used in the research was the 8-week Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction programme created by Kabat-Zinn. Their participants were a cross-sector group of 57 senior leaders.

The starting point: What is Mindfulness?

According to Kabat-Zinn Mindfulness is “the awareness that arises from paying attention on purpose, in the present moment and nonjudgmentally”. In other words, mindfulness is a choice, the choice to be aware of oneself, of others, and of what happens around us.

What did they find?
Approximately 3 months after the Mindfulness programme, participants were administered a Survey, aimed to discover the extent to which participants felt the programme had impacted the three key leadership capacities of resilience, collaboration and leading in complexity described above.

When asked to explain the area that they felt they had experienced most impact in as a result of the programme, 40% of respondents detailed answers relating to ‘less stress’, ‘calmness’, and ‘emotional regulation’. Popular responses also included the ability to respond rather than react (14%) and increased focus (11%).

Post programme impact:

Meta-capacities

The most important finding was regarding the meta-capacities that participants reported being enabled by the Mindfulness programme and practice.

The first of these meta-capacities was the ability they discovered to choose to observe what they were thinking and feeling. Observe is the crucial word here – observing what is happening now, in the very moment, in our thoughts, feelings, and body. This meta-capacity is fundamental in freeing us from the ‘automatic’ thinking and ruminating.

The second meta-capacity was defined as curiosity towards the present moment, what happens in the present to us, to others, around us.

And curiosity helped the third meta-capacity, the attitude of allowing, being more understanding towards self and others, especially facing stressful situations.
These meta-capacities helped to develop 5 cognitive and emotional skills:

• Emotional regulation – the ability to make a conscious choice when responding to situations rather than reacting automatically following to emotional wave of the moment
• Perspective taking – the ability of considering situations and ideas from different angles; this ability impacted on the quality of decisions
• Empathy – the ability of focusing more on others than self
• Focus – the ability to concentrate and use selective attention to enhance clarity of thought and quality of decisions
• Adaptability – the ability to adapt to changing situations and context and people

These conclusions lead to develop a theory of Mindful leadership that may represent the basis for further research and development in this area.

When a combination of the three meta-capacities of metacognition, curiosity and allowing are present a space opens in the flow of experience in which choiceful response becomes possible. This in turn impacts on the 5 cognitive and emotional skills mentioned above.

The diagramme of the theory developed from this study is shown on the right: