Leadership & You

1. Leadership & You IACC VISTA December webinar Don’t forget to call into the conference line: 712-432-0927, pass code: 867078#

2. Conference Call Etiquette • Please remember to have your phone on mute unless you are going to speak. • To mute/unmute: press *6 • Do not put conference call on hold. Simply hang up and then call into the conference call again. • Use the message box to interact with the facilitator and other participants. You can also “raise your hand” if you have a pressing question for the faciliatator.

3. Overview Transformational Leadership Leadership Roles Leadership Approaches Emotional Intelligence

4. What is leadership? • How do you define leadership? • “A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.” - John C. Maxwell  • “A true leader has the confidence to stand alone, the courage to make tough decisions, and the compassion to listen to the needs of others. He does not set out to be a leader, but becomes one by the equality of his actions and the integrity of his intent.” – Douglas MacArthur

5. Transformational Leadership • Leadership gives you an opportunity to transform others, not simply change them. • What is the distinction between change and transformation? • Change • Fluid - can go back & forth • Localized - can occur suddenly • Partial - generally affects one aspect • Transformation • “one-way street” • Total - Takes time & perseverance • Holistic - Overall change, affects multiple aspects

6. Transformational Leadership • How can YOU be a transformational leader? • 5 practices: • Inspiring a shared vision. • Envision an exciting and believable future for the group. • Enabling others to act. • Foster collaboration by promoting cooperative goals • Challenging the process. • Search out challenging opportunities to change, grow, innovate, and improve services, processes, or programs. • Modeling the way. • Set the example by behaving in ways that are consistent with your shared values and vision. Don’t give the answers, ask the right questions. • Encouraging the heart. • Recognize individual contributions to the success of every project

7. Activity – Transformational Leadership • On your own, write down a list (5-7) of activities that you generally like to do as a leader. • Determine which of the 5 practices of transformational leadership those fit into. • Which practice are you most drawn to? Which do you do not have any examples of? • How can you transform your leadership style to encompass the five practices?

8. Leadership Roles • As a leader, you can have various roles that you will take on. • Ambassador • Facilitator/Educator • Mentor • Liaison • Resource Generator • Recruiter

9. Ambassador Act as a representative or messenger for certain institutions or interests Promote what your members, co-workers, etc. are doing. Get the conversation going!

10. Facilitator/Educator • Facilitators foster and maintain mutually respectful, safe, and meaningful learning environments. • Educators are responsible for imparting knowledge, skills, and attitudes to group members. This transfer of knowledge, skills, and attitudes occurs both formally and informally in serving as a teacher, instructor, and/or role model. • Remember: be attached to the process, but detached to the outcome.

11. Mentor Trusted counselor, guide, tutor, or coach As a leader, you have a role in influencing and guiding members toward achieving their goals Offers guidance more than direction Goal is to foster purposeful relationships between yourself and your group member

12. Liaison Connects two or more individuals/groups. Must be constantly aware of the relationships between key players (self, members, supervisors, other parties involved) and identify needs of these players Ultimate goal is to bring people together and ensure relationships between team members are on track

13. Resource Generator • Resource generators identify and build relationships that lead to the acquisition of needed resources. • i.e. money, materials, supplies, people, knowledge, information, partnerships, and alliances • Requires you to actively identify, link, educate, and connect your group members and others with those who have resources you need • Leader must mentor the group member as they develop resource generation skills as well as helping obtain resources for them

14. Recruiter • Persuade others to unite their abilities and expertise to achieve common goals • Responsible for selling the posting and finding the right person for it • We want you! • Combines skills of a salesman, matchmaker, manager, public relations specialist, and the artist • Important to remember not only to recruit new group members, but also to retain your current members

15. Activity – Leadership Roles • For each leadership role, write down a time that you acted in that specific role. • Which role(s) did you find the easiest? • What were some challenges you faced in other roles? • How can you improve upon any roles that are challenging or that you have not done yet? • Are there any additional leadership roles that you can think of outside of these examples? • i.e. counselor, confidant, supporter

16. Leadership Approaches • No matter which leadership role you are in, you want to ensure that your members are being as successful as they can be. • In order to have high achieving members, you will need to determine which leadership approach is the most appropriate. • Coaching • Mentoring • Counseling

17. Coaching Inspire & motivate Superior, WOW! behavior Work to evoke excellence in others Help members move to next level Challenge them to move beyond the task at hand RAISE THE BAR

18. Mentoring Instruct & model Mediocre, So-So behavior Walk alongside them Provide hands-on help Lead by example, be a role model

19. Counseling • Confrontation & correction • Poor, Oh No! behavior • Confront the behavior and help person to correct it • Not about criticism, should be used as a positive approach to negative events. • Criticism = negative approach to negative event • Focus on specific behaviors and work together toward a common goal • Mutual journey – leader must show that they care about the group member • “your success is my success, your failure is my failure” • Follow up and provide feedback

20. Counseling - Providing Feedback • Feedback = tool to help people • Sandwich approach (positive, negative, positive) is NOT effective • Feedback formula: • Comment on observable behavior - data • “when you….” • Indicate what the impact of the stated behavior was • “the impact was…” • Provide example of a preferred behavior • “I would prefer if you would…”

21. Counseling - Providing Feedback • Always ask for permission before providing feedback • Invite them for a conversation • Ask when they are available • Be genuine and transparent in your intentions • Remember to focus on the behavior and not the person. • If you focus on the person, you will cause them to become defensive and then they will not be responsive to your feedback or guidance.

22. Activity – Leadership Approaches • Focus on a specific individual that you are leading right now (or have led in the past). • Assess what kinds of behavior that individual was exhibiting. • Looking back to the three leadership approaches, which approach is needed for this individual? • Compare this to how you have been interacting with them up until this point. • Do you need to change your leadership approach? How can you do this?

23. Leadership & You • Leadership is a great responsibility and opportunity to empower others. However, we must also remember to empower ourselves. • Empower yourself • Identify your leading styles and tendencies • Enhance your knowledge and skills in different leading styles • Develop traits of an effective empowering leader • Once you become more self-aware, you will be better able to relate to others and lead them

24. Self-Awareness • Assess what your strengths are. • When you do something, do you feel effective? • Before you do it, do you look forward to it? • While you do it, do you feel inquisitive and focused? • After you’ve finished, do you feel fulfilled? • Remember… • Strengths = skills, knowledge, talent • Weakness is NOT something you can’t do, but something that drains you of energy • Leadership assessment resources • Books: Strengths Based Leadership, Authentic Happiness, Quiet Leadership • You can also find various strength assessment tools online

25. Emotional Intelligence Self awareness is the first step to emotional intelligence. Capacity to recognize your feelings and the feelings of others, to motivate ourselves, and to manage emotions well in ourselves and our relationships.

26. Emotional Intelligence • 5 ways to increase your EI • Observe • What body language are you seeing? • What is your environment indicating to you? • Listen • Listen to what is being said as well as the tone of voice • Sense & Intuit • Is your inner voice telling you something? Listen to your gut. • Ask Pertinent Questions • Verify what you are seeing, hearing, or sensing • Become Self-Aware • Analyze the clues based on your experiences, biases, assumptions, knowledge, etc. • Assess your personality and ask others for feedback • Use tools such as Myer’s Briggs or the Enneagram to discover more about how you act and why you do so

27. EI Strategies • Get to know yourself under stress. Become astutely self-aware. • Learn to suspend judgments and assumptions. • Focus more on your own reactions/responses than on those of others. • Determine how you will manage or regulate your emotional responses. Be specific. • Determine your level of motivation in greeting challenges and ensuring your growth as a person and a professional. • Don’t try to develop your social skills or ability to be empathic until you have undertaken the development of the three personal skills involved in increasing your EIQ: self-awareness, self-regulation, and motivation.

28. Activity - Emotional Intelligence Assess your level of self-awareness. How can you become more self-aware? How can you apply the information about Emotional Intelligence to yourself? To your role as a leader?

29. Questions? Thoughts? Comments?

30. References AmeriCorps VISTA Leader Orientation Packet. September 2013. Guiding Your Members to High Achievement. KapilaWewegama. September 2013. Emotional Intelligence, The VISTA Leader & Your Future. Elaine K. Williams. December 2012.