The LeaderShifter Show

The role of empathy as a starting point to address racial injustice in the workplace is a central focus of today’s episode with Alain Hunkins, a passionate leadership consultant, coach, facilitator, and most recently, author of Cracking the Leadership Code: Three Secrets to Building Strong Leaders. (HINT: the secrets involve acting on the interconnected elements of Connection, Communication, and Collaboration). Instead of merely discussing some of the book’s concepts in generalities, we contextualized them in an off-the-cuff discussion of how leaders can employ familiar leadership tools in open conversations with POC on their team and about topics of race with their team as a whole. Among many factors that hold people back from leading with empathy are fear, impatience, power dynamics, and lack of practice. We don’t get past any fears or improve at anything without practice, so start building new anti-racist empathy muscles now. We discuss some specific empathetic behaviors to practice including: listening with the purpose of learning and not fixing or justifying; being open to points of view and experiences with which you have no familiarity and inviting them into decision-making; doing your own research on racism; and self-reflecting on your own conscious and unconscious biases. We don’t claim to have all the answers or even to have gotten it right, but silence is simply not an option. We encourage leaders to get past similar fears and perfectionism and say something.

Lastly, here are some resources we’ve found helpful in our own learning journeys:

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If you define a LEADER as someone who takes responsibility for their personal and professional worlds and want more tools to pivot from Reactive to Creative leadership mindsets and behaviors, then join us for the finale of the LEAD WITH LOVE “Music Festival,” What’s L.O.V.E. Got To Do With It (Leading with Openness Vision and Energy). This completes the head/heart/gut-connecting series on personal and professional resilience during COVID-19 that I have been co-leading with my friend and colleague Jennifer Davis. One of the most impactful tools we shared is the power of play and story to turn team “dramas” featuring victim, villain, and hero into creative, empowering stories starring a creator, challenger, and coach. The love theme acknowledges that as our world becomes more complex and our problems more interconnected, leaders must come from a place of empathy, inspiration, and compassion in our personal and professional lives, AND keep our businesses and loved ones safe. Each webinar features its own L.O.V.E.-based theme song and acronym summarizing the content.

The post 48: Lead with Love: What’s L.O.V.E. Got To Do With It (LOVE = Leading with Openness, Vision, and Energy) appeared first on The LeaderShift Project.

While known as an approach for product innovation, Design Thinking can help leaders navigate through the myriad challenges presented during and beyond COVID-19. On today’s episode, I chat with innovation guru Noelle Dye, who pioneered design thinking work as part of the team that developed P&G’s blockbuster Swiffer products. The essence of Design Thinking is truly understanding your customer, prototyping, failing fast, and iterating/failing until the innovation emerges. Noelle’s advice to apply it during this time is (1) observe your customer objectively and without attachment to any particular solution, (2) become your customer, and (3) engage your customer and truly listen, including what they don’t say. We discussed the inherent tension between employees (READ: leaders’ customers!) staying connected yet protected once we resume work in offices. Astute and creative leaders will solve for both important yet seemingly contradictory goals. The other key to success in Design Thinking is comfort with frequent failure (GASP!!!), so we also exchanged ways that fellow overachievers can let go of the need to be right, SHIFT how we gauge self-worth, and reframe failure as a necessary element of success.

The post 47: Applying Design Thinking to #covid19 Challenges with Innovation Accelerator Noelle Dye appeared first on The LeaderShift Project.

Join me and my frolleague Jennifer Davis to talk about banishing the Inner Critic from your mind’s talk track, activating the best version of yourself, spicing up your team’s values with invigorating new principles, and honoring your personal values as a fundamental measure of success during the “New Now.” This is episode is Part 3 of the LEAD WITH LOVE “Music Festival,” free 4-Part webinar series on personal and professional resilience during the COVID-19 crisis. The love theme acknowledges that as our world becomes more complex and our problems more interconnected, leaders must come from a place of empathy, inspiration, and compassion in our personal and professional lives, AND keep our businesses and loved ones safe. Each webinar features its own L.O.V.E.-based theme song and acronym summarizing the content.

The post 46: Lead with Love: L.O.V.E. Will Keep Us Together (LOVE = Living Our Values Everyday ) appeared first on The LeaderShift Project.

Tired of redundant lists of best practices for remote teams? The focus of this webinar is leading virtual teams in times of crisis. Learn and experience in real time a few clever approaches for building sustainable connection, trust, and productivity – including a no-BS Team Agreement, an effective turbo coaching model, and creative new roles for team meetings. This episode is Part 2 of the LEAD WITH LOVE “Music Festival,” free 4-Part webinar series on personal and professional resilience during the COVID-19 crisis. The love theme acknowledges that as our world becomes more complex and our problems more interconnected, leaders must come from a place of empathy, inspiration, and compassion in our personal and professional lives, AND keep our businesses and loved ones safe. Each webinar features its own L.O.V.E.-based theme song and acronym summarizing the content.

The post 45: L.O.V.E. On a Two-Way Street (LOVE = Lots of Virtual Employees) appeared first on The LeaderShift Project.

This episode is Part 1 of the LEAD WITH LOVE “Music Festival”: A free 4-Part webinar series on personal and professional resilience during the COVID-19 crisis. Because we’re all in the midst of redefining our priorities, roles, schedules, and lives, we created this series to help empower people and teams with tools to become more grounded, purposeful, and productive. The love theme acknowledges that as our world becomes more complex and our problems more interconnected, leaders must come from a place of empathy, inspiration, and compassion in our personal and professional lives, AND keep our businesses and loved ones safe. Each webinar features its own L.O.V.E.-based theme song and acronym summarizing the content. This first webinar provides tools for you and your team to normalize, name, and experience your emotions and boost your “psychological immune systems” during this unprecedented time.

The post 44: Lead with Love: Crazy Little Thing Called L.O.V.E. (LOVE = Literally Overwhelmed by Various Emotions) appeared first on The LeaderShift Project.