Lessons for Leaders

Curiosity might have killed the cat but it doesn't have to kill your leadership and workforce!

How good would it be to have leaders in your company to be more productive, more effective and able to break down the barriers so that communication and problem solving, is easy.

Well, the thing is that leaders, often want to demonstrate their knowledge and expertise but don't always warm to having curiosity in the workplace, Researchers said only 24% of cure people feel curious in their jobs on a regular basis, and 70% of people that they have to say there are barriers to asking more questions at work.

We were some of generations are brought up in a culture where you just don't question. The people above you are in charge of you and we did as we were told. The thing is that we need to change the way that we speak to people.

Even the British Army is looking at the way that we speak to people, they no longer have that Sergeant Major kind of command and control authoritarian approach to work in.

So to support people in the very best way to help to be able to make a difference to both how they perform and the output that you get. We need to implement curiosity in our businesses and particularly in our leadership.

We are all born with boundless curiosity. But as we grow older, there's a kind of conflict that often springs up in us with that kind of dampens the curious spirit and instinct is tempered by our desire to conform to fit in.

So we stop asking questions, because we learn over time that it kind of is made us look stupid or it's made us stand out, or we stop putting ourselves in positions where we might be open to uncertainty, and therefore feel vulnerable.

When we think about the questions that we asked when we ask why there's a part of our brain that goes into an alert system, it senses judgement, or danger and then often those people that were saying ...

"Why has this gone wrong?"

"What is it that's happening?'

"What can we do better?"

"Where can we make a difference?"

People become defensive, even if they don't look like they are, inside they become defensive, they're feeling that vulnerability. They're thinking, have they done something wrong is it their fault. They feel responsible or in trouble.

So when we bear that in mind we can then know exactly what we're working with and how we can work around it. When we rephrase some of those questions we can change the way that we approach the question and it becomes less confrontational, and much more curious.

So some of the really key phrases that I like to tell the people that I work with. I wonder I wonder what's happening here. Tell me more about that. So instead of why did this go wrong help me understand well what happened here. So these are ways that we can be less confrontational.

We know body language is important and a tilt of the head in that curious questioning way also helps, as well as a slightly higher voice. It calms our internal system.

Curiosity helps eliminate stress. Staff worry less about what they can't do and instead get curious about what can be done.

Curious people tend to be more proactive and curious about solving problems or looking for solutions to issues.

Curious people come up with ideas more easily and then approach difficulties with a can-do attitude.

Leading with curiosity rather than authority might need personal development, coaching or support, but the results are reach much further than just your leadership team.

One client of mine said she used to speed round the office barking instructions and it got her into trouble with complaints about her attitude. Becoming curious actually saved her time because she didn't need to go back and apologise for being abrupt or smooth over ruffled staff.

When your leaders are able to embed a culture of curiosity in your workplace then what you get is all the above and better relationships with employees. When there are problems staff reach out to you and often with options or solutions.

Research shows that feeling we are able to learn and retain information more easily when we are curious.

So we're empowering the workforce. Enabling them to be more engaged, which brings a happier workplace

A happier, curious workplace means you retain them for longer too.

Don't forget to grab you ticket to my Talking truths conference. It will enable you to improve your performance lead effectively grow in confidence and make a positive impact on the professional and personal growth of you, and any team that you manage without compromising your well being. www.emmalangton.com/events

Please remember to leave a review and share with anyone you think might be interested.

Email any questions to me [email protected]

See you on the next episode!

With so much option out there for learning and development, and such a lot of online facilities why should we bother with the time and expense of an in-person conference, event or workshop?

If you really want to enhance your development, then in my view, some in person conferences are essential. Here's why.

Stronger Connections

Connections are more powerful than we realise.

There's nothing more powerful than a group of like-minded people in the same room.

When I work with leaders they often tell me they feel alone.

Good conferences have opportunities for attendees to mix and mingle, form new relationships, and strengthen existing ones.

Personalise Your Learning

When you're there in person, you can ask questions that are specific to your business struggles or from your company

At events people will often share their ideas or strategies and you can make a bee-line for them at the break too.

New Perspective

A new or different venue can open up a new way of thinking and looking at things.

"There's a model in coaching that's called perceptual positions. The point is that it guides you through looking at situation from your own point of view, that of a colleague or manager and then someone else, perhaps a mentor or client. It gives you new perspective about your work and encourages you to ask questions differently. It's similar at a conference"

Confidence

Going hand-in-hand with the previous reason, live events force you to break out of your comfort zone.

When I went to a Global Leadership event last year, I wrote down this:

"I'm in a room full of inspiration people, leader in their areas, but so many comments about being insecure, not confident and struggling in some way."

Yet, they felt comfortable, confident enough to be sharing that at the conference. They got support of like minded people. That increases your confidence too.

Invest in Yourself

It's admitting that you're worth it. It's admitting that you still have things to learn. That you can get better, that's a good thing. We're always learning.

It's an investment in yourself, your career, and even your company.

The Talking Truths conference will enable you to improve your performance and lead effectively. You will grow in confidence and make a positive impact on the professional and personal growth of you and your team, without compromising wellbeing.

www.emmalangton.com/events

email me at [email protected]

Today we're going to explore leadership habits - the routines and disciplines we all have that either help or hinder our leadership impact.

"The good news is that leadership is a set of skills and behaviours that we can all learn and develop."

Leadership is what we do every day that helps us to achieve results through people. And psychology has taught us a lot about how to change our behaviours and to develop new skills.

"Those other people are not here, so we can't do anything about them. What we need to work on is you"

If you want to make a change to your habits and routines, the first thing you need to do is look at what you already do and decide what you want to do differently, what you want to change .

In the same way, we can have healthy and unhealthy leadership habits that we can identify through feedback and by paying attention to how we're spending our time.

When you've identified habits you want to change, or new habits you want to develop - involve others. Their feedback and encouragement will make all the difference.

I talk about the DisruptHR event in York on 11th Feb that I'm also talking at. You can get tickets here https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/disrupthr-york-2-tickets-62315892512

I felt like a celebrity this week talking about details of my #Talkingtruths Female Leadership event is at www.emmalangton.com/events

Book a call with me to talk about how we can work together on your habits and leadership skills https://emmalangton.com/contact/

On this episode I'm talking about 3 key things I believe are necessary for a good leadership mindset.

I ask some questions so that you can consider some of your thinking styles and the patterns in the way your mind works.

I talk about how you can train yourself to be more optimistic and more positive and we really can re-wire our brains.

When we're aware of our self-talk and whether we focus on positive or negative then we're much more able to notice what we say, so that we can change it and make a positive impact on ourselves and others we lead.

Changing your behaviour without changing your mindset will mean you get more tired or stressed and it's not sustainable because it doesn't come with ease.

When you change your mindset first then the behaviour flows more easily is natural and sustainable.

It has a positive impact on the way you lead and how you influence and impact others.

Details and tickets for the #Talkingtruths Female Leadership Event are at www.emmalangton.com/events

Contact me at [email protected] with any questions, comments or to ask about working with me.

This week I'm talking about how to boost your mood.

The third Monday of January is known as Blue Monday - the most depressing day of the year apparently! This is because Christmas is over, the credit card bills come in and often there's not much to look forward to. Sounds a bit doom and gloom doesn't it.

These three key areas are where you can focus and increase your feel-good chemicals to boost your mood.

"I was surprised when companies told me their staff talk more these days about Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) and want help with their staff for this"

Get Back Into Routine

You might think you're in your routine, and that might mean the times in the day are in a routine back at work - but if you're still feeling sluggish and eating up the Christmas chocolate then it will affect energy.

Sometimes it's a bit of effort to do the usual routine things because it's dark and cold.

Putting in a little bit of effort will give a bigger pay-off to boost your mood and get you fully back into the routine.

Make sure you get enough sleep too. Let's face it, we can cope with anything when we've had a good night's sleep.

Boost Your Feel Good Chemicals

Find small things you're pleased about. That might be noticing the daylight a little earlier in the day. This can boost your mood.

Keep the blinds open in the office to let more light in as possible.

Create interactions so that you boost your feel good chemicals. It is a hibernation period and smile at people, say hello to people you see frequently. I do this with other dog walkers. We are social mammals and it lifts our spirits.

Do Some Exercise

This is not necessarily join the gym so that you're increasing the credit card spend!!! Getting out for a lunchtime walk means that you're making the most of any of the daylight that's around.

Physical exercise is linked to good mental health too. We need both.

If you want to talk to me about sorting out your goals and plans for 2020 then book a call here www.emmalangton.com/contact

Get your tickets for the #TalkingTruths - Female Leadership Event

www.emmalangton.com/events

Two of the speakers have been on the podcast previously, heres the links to their shows.

Gemma Stow https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/bbp52-do-what-you-cant/id1406200331?i=1000446948548

Susie Ramroop https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/bbp50-what-drives-you-to-change/id1406200331?i=1000445841970

This episode will be helpful if you are wondering whether to invest in yourself or if you want to build a case for your manager as to why you need some leadership development or if you want to build a case to get funds to pay for attending my conference.

Tickets available at www.emmalangton.com/events

Why should we invest in leadership?

Often companies say to me that they can't see the return on investment, it's too difficult to track results and some say they don't work, so why should they let people have time out for the coaching, mentoring or training.

Performance

In a survey, 75% of leaders said leadership development is very important for creating a competitive advantage.

Can you carry on running with the cost of poor leadership? or with leaders who are unhappy, disengaged, making poor decisions.

"It's much more cost effective to develop existing leaders than to bring new people in"

Optimising people's performance, expertise and improving performance will increase productivity and have a direct impact on the bottom line.

"A leader who is sharing the vision, mission and values of the company can be crucial for the goals and objectives of the entire company"

We attract and retain talent by investing in them.

"People don't leave their jobs, they leave their managers"

Investing in leaders can have a domino effect through the company to retain talent, invest in that person and also have direct impact on other people.

"Managers play an important role in employee welfare"

Investing in leaders can increase their resilience.

"Leadership development increases people's ability to look at things more positively and respond in a resilient way"

Investing in leadership across the board in talent pools and different leadership levels, you're unlocking talent and resilience across the company for when things don't go to plan.

Times of Change

A good leader will be able to respond to times of change and bring employees along with them to navigate change and increase people's ability to respond well to change.

"Leaders can be made"

These points and tips can be helpful for you if you need to persuade a manager to invest in your or why they should fund you to attend my event.

Don't forget to get your tickets for the event:

Talking Truths: The Female Leadership. The event for career women looking to gain more confidence in their roles and establish a better work/life balance in 2020. We've got some great female leaders attending (and speaking!) and would love to see some attendees from WIT. It's going to be such a great event for learning practical mindset and wellbeing skills that you can bring back to the organisation - and network with other local leaders too. There's more detail at this link HERE.

www.emmalangton.com Contact me to discuss working with me or bringing me into your workplace for leadership development or training your workforce in resilience.

Is this the right time to make new year resolutions? This is something Emma talks about a lot - is the New Year the best time for change?

If you struggle with motivation in these dark months and short days, then maybe this is not the right time. If you feel obliged and that you 'must' or 'should' then it might not be the right time.

If you're spurred on by the new time of year and feeling motivated then it can be a good time.

"the 17th January is the date when most people ditch new year resolutions"

Maybe there is a better time to make some goals.

Think about different areas of your life and score how they rate in successfulness for you and are there areas you'd like to change.

Pick one area for now that you want to focus on. Rather than spreading yourself too thin or doing too many new things.

Listen to the examples Emma gives about the work she did with clients and the questions you can use to assess those goals.

"What does success look like for you?"

"How much personal control or influence do you have over that goal?"

"What would be of real value to you?"

If you decide that you're not making any New Year Resolution right now - that's OK. Just own it.

Get your limited edition advanced ticket price for the #TalkingTruths Female Leadership Event here https://emmalangton.com/events/

Book a call with Emma and ask your questions or make an enquiry about working direct with her for 1:1 coaching, business training or workshops by getting in touch via her website at www.emmalangton.com

Welcome to Lessons for Leaders, Episode 3

This week I'm talking about End of Year Reflections and what you can do in that funny time between Christmas and New Year.

I still want you to take time out to relax and enjoy, but I'm also giving tips and prompts to help you to reflect on what's gone well this year - and even this decade!

There's tips on the reflections to make it really effective for you.

Don't forget to subscribe to the episodes and leave a comment or review so that others can find the podcasts too.

Here are details of my Female Leadership Event that I talk about, ticket sales are limited and there's a special offer at the moment, so buy them quickly! http://bit.ly/36wlAmC

In this episode I talk about what I used to do in my corporate job in this time between Christmas and New Year where I sorted out some bigger jobs, did some re-organisation, created different structures to help me hit the ground running in the New Year.

These were usually things that needed much more time and often uninterrupted time.

Taking time to reflect can also need more uninterrupted time.

"It's really important, as leaders and coaches, that we take time for self reflection to look at what's going well in ourselves and our business"

"Taking time to reflect is one of the best ways to increase productivity, positivity and really shift your mindset too"

"Self reflection enables me to look back at what's gone well, what could I do differently and also rehearse dealing with things or responding differently in the future"

This is the end of a decade! Review how your year has gone or even how the decade has gone for you.

When I reflect over the last 10 years, I didn't even have my business at the start of the decade - I was retraining.

Some short terms goals back then were to work one day a week and support my kids. Now I work more, and support fabulous leaders and corporate companies with coaching and providing wellbeing training with workshops and courses on resilience, work life balance, change management and conversations that are effective.

What can you recognise and give yourself some praise about?

"when you praise yourself, it helps you to be motivated"

"motivation is increased when you thank for your staff"

I have just sent out thanks in my newsletter (you can get a copy of that here

"I'm not encouraging you to take your staff to the pub!"

Take time to acknowledge what's going well and what's not.

You might look at different areas in your life and recognise if you have the balance, if you're frustrated, enjoying those areas or not getting enough.

Look at what you need to let go of.

"all work and no play might mean you need to let go of some things, or delegate"

Do you need to let go of things that are not serving you well?

When you look at your reflections see what you can learn and what you are letting go of.

What questions do you need to ask yourself to help you move in the right direction

Even if you want to be happy ... what does happy look like and what do you need for happy to be there? Then you know where you're going and what you want to put into your life to make these shifts.

You can keep coming back to this over time and it might make things clearer.

Think about what you're grateful for

Listen in when I explain what those things are for me.

"Write down 3-5 things you're grateful for every day your brain will naturally see more of the positive things in life"

Take time for you

If you didn't get the tips in the last episode, then skip back and catch up with Episode 2 here.

A lot of leaders do say they feel lonely at the top and don't have people they can chat things over with.

"I really want you to be able to spring-board into 2020 meeting your own goals and needs"

Remember to share, leave a review and subscribe.

Send me any questions that you have or any key reflections that came up when you did this exercise. https://emmalangton.com/contact/

Have a wonderful time off between Christmas and New Year

Emma talks this week about the fact that the majority of workers will cut short festivities to work at some point between Christmas Eve and January.

How can you get good time off and get a rest?

The most important thing that Emma often work with is setting schedules. The leaders Emma works with are people who are used to working all the time.

"Scheduling is more effective than trying to multi-task"

Give yourself the chance to have undivided attention on those activities you feel you need to do at work. This can apply to family members, kids and partners too.

"undivided attention means you get through work faster, less likely to make mistakes and be more efficient"

Set some times that are non-negotiable. We all need down-time. These can be things like an hour to yourself, date night, some time with the kids. It all helps to reduce your stress levels and increase your relaxation time.

Emma talks about what she does to give herself an hour of relaxation, fitness and re-set time and take herself off to the beach.

Set some boundaries and limits on the emails and work time, so that you also learn to say to "no" to things that are not a priority.

"Learning to say no can be a challenge, but keep it simple"

Think about plans that you make and preparation that you do.

Lead by example and set the example for your people. Show that you do know how to switch off and stay away from emails.

Plan, prepare, schedule and take the time off.

"Don't be a Scrooge; a good leader needs good emotional intelligence" Check in with yourself and your people if you catch yourself being grumpy and realise the impact of your grumpiness.

"I know it's supposed to be Ho, Ho, Ho but it can be a really difficult time for many people"

Be realistic and understand what you and your team or workforce can do, so that you make sure that as you go into the lead up to Christmas that you give yourself a break too.

Contact Emma via her website at https://emmalangton.com/

Details of the Female Leadership Event are at https://emmalangton.com/events/

This week, Emma is talking about what will help you deal with the pressure that can build up in the lead up to Christmas so that it runs as smoothly as possible for you.

She's been hearing from her clients about the pressure of the Christmas holidays and need to get everything finished and completed before Christmas.

Deal with Overwhelm and get stuff out of your head. Get the overwhelm guide here.

"Write a list - it's good enough for Santa, so you can do it too!"

"Put your biggest task at the top of your list and do the emergency or most difficult, the sense of achievement means the other things are so much easier".

Be Kind to Yourself and to other people.

"We should be wrapped up and hibernating at this time of year, so give yourself a break and use positive language"

"We have mirror neurons that mean we mirror what we see around us and so can be grumpy and negative if faced with that from others"

"When you smile your body naturally relaxes"

Lets Talk about Gifts

"what gift can you give to someone else?"

"the biggest gift you can give is the gift of time"

Give someone some time, have a chat, say hello

Emma tells a story of how she speaks to a lady at the bus stop every single day. It can really help boost the feel good chemicals.

Ask for Help

"people are happy to assist if you ask for help"

"it's about keeping boundaries in place so that you can ask for help and also say no, if you need to - even Santa has helpers"

This is your holiday too, so as you get into the lead-up for the holidays think about what you want to achieve and what you need to do beforehand. Hopefully this gives you a few actionable tips that get you feeling better about the holiday.

Please do leave a review, so that people can find the podcast more easily.

Get in touch with Emma here

Buy a ticket HERE for the Women in Leadership Event in York in February 2020.