Self-talk is very revealing.  What we tell ourselves goes immediately to our subconscious where it increases or decreases our emotions, like anger, fear, and happiness.  Repeated negative self-talk leads to exaggerated and irrational thinking.

This activity helps people become aware of their negative self-talk in certain areas and provides an opportunity for them to experience a change in mindset. (more…)

By John Ryan, Center for Creative Leadership

Globalization, talent shortages and roller coaster market dynamics are just a few of the complex challenges facing today’s businesses. So how do you lead effectively in this turbulent environment?
“Complex challenges — ranging from expanding into overseas markets to dealing with the fallout of natural disasters — often don’t respond to conventional approaches and knowledge. Instead, they require innovative thought and action,” says John Ryan, President and CEO of the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL).

Six important things you can do to become a more effective leader include:

Collaborate. Collaborative leaders can get tremendous results. Research shows that the ability to collaborate is a skill that top executives believe their men and women should have. In fact, 97 percent of the executives we surveyed identified collaboration as a key to their organization’s success. And yet, just 47 percent of those same executives believe the leaders in their organizations are skilled collaborators.

Act authentically. Executives we talk to frequently emphasize the importance of authentic leadership: doing your job without compromising your values, beliefs or personality. But leading authentically is not easy. Executives in CCL’s survey acknowledged that trying to keep up an executive image of being decisive and all-knowing can compromise their authenticity.

Sustain talent. It can take years to groom effective senior leaders — and organizations will need to develop new generations of leaders who will be able to succeed amid the complex challenges. Organizations will need to create pools of candidates with high leadership potential and then put our talent where it can excel.

Develop judgment. In their 2007 book Judgment: How Winning Leaders Make Great Calls, Noel M. Tichy and Warren G. Bennis argue that leaders need to develop three kinds of judgment:
• People judgment: the ability to get the right talent on the team;
• Strategy judgment: the ability to frame the right questions; and
• Crisis judgment: knowing your values and goals.

Value learning agility. Work challenges are constantly changing and the flow of information is nonstop. Effective leaders, then, have the ability to learn on the fly and to act on the spur of the moment.

Manage your health. CCL research involving senior executives shows that effective leadership and regular exercise are strongly linked. Executives who exercise are rated significantly higher by their co-workers on their leadership effectiveness than non-exercisers. In fact, exercisers score better than non-exercisers in all leadership categories, including organization, credibility, leading others and authenticity. And, of course, regular exercise improves your energy, stamina and overall health.

Reprinted with permission from the Center for Creative Leadership, www.ccl.org

Need Help in this Area?  Try: Everest Think your latest workplace challenge is tough? Try scaling Mount Everest – as a blind mountain climber. This inspirational program shows how to dream big and work together as a team.

The Problem: It doesn’t matter if the company has six, 60, or 60,000 employees – this training situation is all about the individual. And here it is: Each and every one those individuals has an internal “filter” that affects how he or she views the world, and themselves. Your filter is shaped by a variety of influences; culture, background,  position, history. But being aware of how your filter affects others around you is often a challenge for many people since it requires a high degree of self-awareness, not to mention an open mind. How does a trainer help people understand this fundamental human reality?

The Solution: Leadership and Self Deception, the CRM video program that tells the story of a 19th century doctor who challenged the status quo with a provocative new theory about germs and infections. Because of the stubborn mindsets of the medical establishment at the time, his was not an easy road.

Dr. Bea Carson of Carson Consultants in Maryland uses this video and several others to help her clients “open the doors of perception” and self-awareness. She calls it “being out of your box”.

Carson has conducted this program for a number of clients, several of them more than once. Training is done in simple, face-to-face classroom style and participants came from all over the world. She has used many parts of the Leadership and Self Deception classroom guide and also has scripted many portions of her program herself, tailoring it to each company’s needs.

Interestingly, she often uses “Leadership and Self Deception” in tandem with another film that explores cultural perceptions and the conflicts they can cause.

Carson reports that participants who have been through this training come away with a powerful recognition of personal filters, how they’re based on past experiences and beliefs, and how everyone can learn to take a few seconds to evaluate what’s influencing their reactions.

“All of the CRM programs I have used over the years are clearly and thoroughly organized”, Carson says. “It makes training feel extraordinarily simple”.

Watch a free full length preview of Leadership and Self Deception:
http://www.crmlearning.com/leadership-and-self-deception