MESSAGE BOARD: Issue 3. FEBRUARY 2008
Hello and welcome to the February 2008 Message Board from PiB, the 3rd in our series of monthly articles on corporate life, leadership and of course, the 3Ps approach. I hope you continue to find the Message Boards relevant; and a worthwhile investment of your time.
If you missed previous Message Boards, you can retrieve them from the PiB Message Board archive.
As always, your comments, questions and general feedback are very welcome. Email me here.
Having said that, your once per month Message Boards are designed to address issues or topics you as clients experience every day - rather than simply add one more thing to your inbox! So please email or phone, anytime [my phone number is at the bottom of this email]. It's an in-service thing... David
IN THIS ISSUE
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STATE OF MIND & THE INFLUENTIAL LEADER
Introduction
Nowadays we often hear and speak about a person’s state or frame of mind without giving it a second thought. What I would like to do is explore this very commonly used phrase - and its role within leadership. Mental state, temporary psychological condition or well-being, mindset, the way an individual sees life in that moment, state of thinking, thinking and feeling in the moment, level of mental well-being - all are descriptions of the same thing - State of Mind. They all share a commonality, that is, they are all about our thinking or the thought processes which occur within our mind via what we think...
In determining our state of mind, the 'in the moment' nature of our thinking is a vital aspect. And our state of mind is directly linked to our feelings or emotional state.
To summarise, State of Mind is:
- What I think; and
- What I think is a momentary manifestation of my reality; and
- What I think affects my emotional experience in the moment
People often refer to state of mind as healthy or unhealthy. In essence, those states manifest as secure or insecure. For instance, there is a buoyancy, robustness or openness to change, when our state of mind is secure. Conversely, in an insecure state of mind, our minds are cluttered, confused, obsessed and fixated by what I think. In consequence, our feelings are unhealthy and not in service to ourselves or others. Of course, the opposite is true when we have a secure state of mind. Before we move onto the topic of leadership it is important to explore the meaning of influence. In this present context, influence is about a person’s ability to bring about change - within a group or organisation or within an individual. The quality of the change is not important; influence is about the ability to move or persuade.
Influential Leadership
Influential leadership can be both healthy or unhealthy. For example, a leader who has a positive influence may be seen as having:
- Collegial and friendly relationships, even familial in many ways
- The ability to both leverage goodwill and focus skills for the common good
- Enablement of others' self-assurance and confidence
- Relationships where errors can be a learning opportunity and skill development
- Self-sustaining productivity: taking action independent of his or her influence
- High standards of self-performance: doing one's best is synonymous
- High levels of communication: deep listening and authentic conversations are commonplace
Conversely, unhealthy leaders influence by fear - depend on power and control, use manipulation, seduction, anger, communication by demand and superiority.
The connection between healthy and unhealthy influential leadership is simply the state of mind of the leader. In the healthy or secure state of mind, leaders are not obsessed by what they think. Their minds are open, flexible and curious, and their commonsense guides them. Poor leadership on the other hand, is typified by intractable thinking - a state of mind in which their way of seeing things - their reality - is all consuming. Hence, what I think is more important than anything else, even the quality of my influence or relationships.
Interestingly, some people, even though they don’t have authority, status or position, still have a powerful influence or sway over others. This too can be both healthy and unhealthy. For good or ill, the essence of the leadership relies solely on how secure (or otherwise) our state of mind is in the moment.
Positive influential leadership is about SEEING the power of our State of Mind.
© David Bodman 2008. Permission to copy for personal use is granted. For other publication rights please contact the author.
"In organizations, real power and energy is generated through relationships. The patterns of relationships and the capacities to form them are more important than tasks, functions, roles, and positions."
WE ARE WHAT WE DO
"Australia is experiencing an incredibly tight labour market so companies which have embraced green, sustainable practices are going to have an edge when it comes to attracting the right employees." So says Kim McKay, co-author of True Green @ Work and the co-founder and deputy chairwoman of Clean Up Australia. "Our challenge to business is to fully embrace a greener agenda - minimising your environmental footprint will save energy and money and will keep your workforce, and customers happier."
Here's our tips for achieving a greener workplace:
- Keep a mug at work for coffee rather than the disposable cups.
- Switch to using long-life refillable pens made from recycled plastic, paper or timber, or from fully biodegradable bioplastic (derived from cornstarch).
- Choose recycled paper, rather than paper made from virgin timber - it makes up 70 per cent of office waste.
- Set your printer to double-sided copies to save paper.
- Keep a paper recycling tray in addition to your waste bin.
- Bring your own lunch to work in a reusable container to reduce packaging waste.
- Remove your phone charger from the power point when not in use, as it continues to consume up to 40% of the current used to charge your phone.
- Set your computer to sleep if you are away from your desk for more than 10 minutes, which reduces power consumption to about 5 per cent of full operating power.
- Look to maximise the natural light in your office, rather than relying on artificial light.
- Join the environmental/sustainability committee in your workplace. If none exists, take the initiative and form a green task force!
THE TAKEOUT: the PiB Senior Level Wellness Checklist
For PiB, there is one fundamental premise: that state of mind either supports or negates the effectiveness of good management. Through state of mind, we see the reality of the organisation - its leadership and management styles... and the culture of the business, for good or ill...
The workplace can and should be productive and fun: teams innovating, workers cooperating, managers leading. And with coaching, it can be done. Our approach is simple, practical and effective and it has one purpose: to see your managers grow to their full potential.
How do your managers rate? To find out, download our Senior Level Wellness Checklist
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Principles in Business
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