Empathy: How self-aware leaders create self-aware organizations

1. Empathy: How self-aware leaders create self-aware organizations Edward Walker MD, MHA Director, UW Healthcare Leadership Development Alliance

2. “Could a greater miracle take place than for us to look through each other's eyes for an instant?” - Henry David Thoreau

3. “If your emotional abilities aren't in hand, if you don't have self-awareness, if you are not able to manage your distressing emotions, if you can't have empathy and have effective relationships, then no matter how smart you are, you are not going to get very far.” - Daniel Goleman

4. “You know, there's a lot of talk in this country about the federal deficit. But I think we should talk more about our empathy deficit -- the ability to put ourselves in someone else's shoes; to see the world through the eyes of those who are different from us -- the child who's hungry, the steelworker who's been laid-off, the family who lost the entire life they built together when the storm came to town. When you think like this -- when you choose to broaden your ambit of concern and empathize with the plight of others, whether they are close friends or distant strangers -- it becomes harder not to act; harder not to help.” - Barack Obama

6. Positive Psychological Capital To include constructs within PsyCap they must be based on theory and research permit valid measurement be open to development have measurable performance impact 6 Fred Luthans, Bruce J. Avolio, et al.  Positive psychological capital: measurement and relationship with performance and satisfaction. Personnel Psychology60.3 (Autumn 2007): p541-572.

7. Balancing group and individual focus http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7AWnfFRc7g

8. Empathy definition   The action of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experience of another of either the past or present without having the feelings, thoughts, and experience fully communicated in an objectively explicit manner

10. Self-Awareness and Empathy as Nested Phenomena Trans Institutional Institutional Intra- & Inter- Group Interpersonal Intrapersonal 10

11. Emotional Intelligence framework Empathy

12. Best book to read on Emotional Intelligence

13. Resonant Leadership Summary • Mindfulness, hope and compassion are key • Effective teams and powerful, positive organizational cultures do not happen by accident, they are created by resonant leaders who employ emotional intelligence to motivate and nurture their employees. • Yet resonance can be exhausting to maintain; even outstanding leaders can turn dissonant under the pressure of chronic business stress. • Rest and relaxation aren't enough to restore emotional resilience. Leaders must: • cultivate openness, curiosity and awareness about oneself and others • visualize a positive, realistic dream • work to understand and improve the situations of others.

14. Step 1: Knowing yourself “And can we ever know what art makes a man better, if we do not know what we are ourselves?” Plato, Alcibiades

15. Self-Awareness The ability to accurately perceive one's own emotions and stay aware of them as they occur, as well as understanding the impact of one's emotions on specific situations and people.

16. Self-Awareness Knowing one's internal states, preferences, resources, and intuitions • Emotional awareness: Recognizing one's emotions and their effects • Accurate self-assessment: Knowing one's strengths and limits • Self-confidence: A strong sense of one's self-worth and capabilities

17. Do you take the time to reflect? Less is more: multitasking has been discredited by neuroscience research

19. What is your avocation? To what do you return when you are alone and not otherwise occupied? To whom do you turn to outside of work to be renewed? What is your core purpose in the work you do? What gives meaning to your work? Tool: The 3 passions My family or support system What renews me personally The best part of my work

20. Tool: Yerkes Stress-Performance Curve

21. Step 2: Managing Yourself “The unexamined life is not worth living.” Plato, The Apology

22. Self-Management The ability to use awareness of one's emotions to stay flexible and positively direct behavior - managing emotional reactions to specific situations and people.

23. Self-Management Managing ones' internal states, impulses, and resources • Emotional Self-control: Keeping disruptive emotions and impulses in check • Transparency: Maintaining integrity, acting congruently with one’s values • Adaptability: Flexibility in handling change • Achievement Orientation: Striving to improve or meeting a standard of excellence • Initiative: Readiness to act on opportunities • Optimism: Persistence in pursuing goals despite obstacles and setbacks

24. The 3 management tasks of leaders • Strategic Management • Positioning the organization in the environment • Tactical Management • Achieving operating plan targets with your team • Personal management • Reflective management of your internal world: time and focus

25. Do you have a mentor or coach?

26. Examining the unexamined life • Jesuit core values • Self awareness • Ingenuity • Love • Heroism • The discipline of constant self-improvement • The examen as a forerunner of Toyota’s Kaizen

27. Tool: Periodic self examination • Think about things that you have done in the past 12 hours • Did you accomplish what you set out to do? • What worked? What did not? • What would you have done differently? • Why? • If you had not stopped to do this reflection, what would your world have been like?

28. Who has a claim on your time? patients spouse colleagues kids supervisor friends committees extended family team volunteer work your time commitments

29. Principles of time management • Managing lists and managing time are not the same thing • Time is the most precious resource you have – you turn it into other things • Know your rest-recharge cycle needs • Whose fault is it if you don’t balance these competing priorities? • Burnout is your greatest risk as a leader

31. Burnout Definition A debilitating psychological condition brought about by unrelieved work stress, resulting in: • Depleted energy and emotional exhaustion • Lowered resistance to illness • Increased depersonalization in interpersonal relationships • Increased dissatisfaction and pessimism • Increased absenteeism and work inefficiency Burnout: The High cost of Achievement, Freudenberger (1980)

32. Catalysts Routine Repeated Failure Isolation Lack of purpose Non-alignment Futility Physical stress Lack of sleep Hair on fire work Living at work Inhibitors Routine Occasional wins Team membership Vision and purpose Part of the whole Intermediate goals Wellness Adequate rest Planning Living at home Catalysts and inhibitors of burnout

34. Do you take time for lunch?

35. Covey: First things firstImportance rather than urgency Get this out of the way Important Urgent Unimportant Urgent DECEPTION DEADLINE 3 1 urgency 4 2 Then Focus 80% effort here!! Unimportant Not urgent Important Not urgent WASTE QUALITY importance Adapted from Steven Covey

36. Covey’s quadrant 2 • People first, things second • Leadership first, management second • Effectiveness first, efficiency second • Purpose first, structure second • Vision first, method second Covey, First things first

37. People who have changed the world “What caused followers to dedicate themselves with such passion to the visions of Christ, Buddha, Gandhi, Confucius, Martin Luther King, Mother Teresa and Nelson Mandela? They were inspired, not motivated. We know that Martin Luther King did not say, ‘I have a strategic plan!’ And Mother Teresa didn’t have a quality program – she didn’t need one. We are unraveling the mysteries of these powerful styles of leadership and finding that inspiration is a the core of every great leader’s philosophy.” Secretan, Inspirational Leadership

38. EQ framework

39. Step 3: Knowing others “Seek to understand before being understood” St. Francis of Assisi, 13th Century, seven centuries before Steven Covey

40. Social Awareness The ability to accurately pick up on emotions in other people and get what is really going on. This means understanding what other people are thinking and feeling even when it conflicts with one's own feelings.

41. Social Awareness Awareness of others feelings, needs, and concerns • Empathy: Sensing others' feelings and perspectives, and taking an active interest in their concerns • Organizational awareness: Reading a group's emotional currents and power relationships • Service orientation: Anticipating, recognizing, and meeting customers' needs

42. Crucial Conversations • Understanding • Active listening • Clarification • Alignment Do you know how to listen? Really?

43. Step 4: Managing others "To lead people, walk beside them ... As for the best leaders, the people do not notice their existence. When the best leader's work is done the people say, 'We did it ourselves!'" Lao-tsu, Tao Te Ching

44. Relationship Management The ability to use awareness of one's own emotions and the emotions of others to manage interactions successfully. This includes clear communication and effectiveness in handling conflict.* * And, sometimes, flowers and candy

45. Relationship Management Adeptness at inducing desirable responses in others • Inspirational Leadership: Inspiring and guiding individuals and groups • Developing others: Sensing others' development needs and bolstering their abilities • Influence: Wielding effective tactics for persuasion • Change catalyst: Initiating or managing change • Conflict management: Resolving disagreements • Teamwork & Collaboration: Working with others toward shared goals.

46. Empathic, high EQ leaders are inspirational

47. How leaders inspire people • Qualitative study of several thousand business and government executives • “What values do you look for and admire in your superiors?” • Honest 88% • Forward Looking 75% • Inspiring 68% • Competent 63% • Fair 49% • Supportive 41% Kouzes and Posner, Credibility: how leaders gain and lose it.

48. 5 characteristics of good leaders • Qualitative and quantitative study of over 60,000 leaders and constituents over a 15-year period • Five recurrent themes in good leaders: • Challenging the process • Inspiring a shared vision • Enabling others to act • Modeling the way • Encouraging the heart Kouzes and Posner, The leadership challenge

49. 1. Challenging the process • Good leaders: • venture out and take risks • step up to meet major challenges • recognize good ideas • are early adopters of innovation • “as weather shapes mountains, problems shape leaders” • “leaders learn by leading in the face of obstacles” Kouzes and Posner, The leadership challenge

50. 2. Inspiring a shared vision • Good leaders: • have visions and dreams of what could be • have image of future pulling them forward • inspire rather than command commitment • help people feel understood • breathe life and hope into the dreams of others • spread infectious enthusiasm about the future Kouzes and Posner, The leadership challenge