Judith Germain - Talent Management

Welcome to my blog

I am passionate about developing leadership talent. If you click here, you will be able to hear from me why I developed this passion.  By clicking here you can watch my 4 minute video on managing mavericks.

My aim is to explore how leadership talent can be developed by applying talent management and social intelligence competences. All leaders whether formal or otherwise, rely on their reputation and their social intelligence in any given circumstance, to influence others to cooperate and work with them. Most leaders find that the best results are when they seek to first understand before being understood. All leaders are engaged in social networking.

Leaders seek knowledge form others to hone and build their skills. This blog is essential reading for individuals that need to be at the top of their game and harnessing the abilities of those they lead and influence.

John Maxwell said 'Leadership is influence - nothing more, nothing less'

You may be interested in reading the discussions that take place in the Soft Selling for Leaders Club that I run on Ecademy. They can be viewed by clicking the entries in the box below. If you want to read the whole post (with comments) on the subject - click again on the title.

Why increasing your Emotional and Social Intelligence guarantees that you get ahead

When I think about leadership I find that I agree with John Maxwell, (internationally recognised leadership expert, speaker and author), when he says that leadership is about influence, nothing more and nothing less.

One of the ways to gain influence is to become an expert on understanding the effect that you have on others when you interact with them, and what changes you should make for your interaction to be a positive experience for both parties. This is something that can be learned, although it can be hard to do so without appropriate self awareness or the help of others.

Social Intelligence is not as well known as Emotional Intelligence and confusion remains between the two of them. Salovey & Mayer (1990) described Emotional Intelligence as “a form of Social Intelligence that involves the ability to monitor one’s own and others’ feelings and emotions, to discriminate among them, and to use this information to guide one’s thinking and action”.

This is a fantastic description and accurately describes how Emotional Intelligence relates to the individual. I see Social Intelligence as the ability of taking Emotional Intelligence and applying it to social situations. It concerns itself with how you interact with others and how you assess the situations/environments around you, to achieve a win/win solution or best agreed alternative solution. Social Intelligence is also about how you respond to the different situations and environments that you find yourself in.

When passion is destructive

Get the passion right and the rest will follow - Churchill

No-one has ever followed a leader that didn't have passion. Passion for who they are, what they believe in and the direction that they want to go. Even quiet leaders have passion, they may not have the oratory skills of JFK or Martin Luther King, but they have, nevertheless, the ability to stir their followers to a cause - a vision to strive for.

So passion is a good thing ... it helps us keep going when times are hard, rallies others to a cause, it builds global brands and companies ... without passion a leader has no followers.

When passion is applied without good intent it can rapidly become destructive. Mavericks are generally very passionate people and can become very focused on singular activities. They have vision, strength of purpose, drive and direction - to the goals that they want to achieve. If their goals are not aligned to the organisation, then real sparks can ensue. Troublesome talent, the mavericks, will do what they want to do, when they want to do it ...

So how does the organisation stop their passion from becoming destructive - after all, often the maverick cannot see the destructive nature of their activities.

 

Why it's hard to keep top talent performing

Companies are finding it increasingly difficult to keep hold of their top talent. Ironically this is particularly true for the larger company. This may well be because smaller companies are better at nurturing their talent and see it as integral to their business. For a good perspective on this I suggest that you read Eric Jackson's blog on the top ten reasons why large companies fail to keep their best talent.

If companies are finding it difficult to retain top talent, they are finding it almost impossible to maintain their relationship with their maverick or troublesome talent. Troublesome talent are often recruited because they are highly skilled, have real flair in their area of expertise and have the ability to think out of the box. They can provide real competitor advantage and first mover status. Often customers and clients love their flexibility and their ability to deliver to their requirements each and every time.

When they first join a company the maverick enjoys the flexibility and autonomy that they are given and this is when they really shine and deliver outstanding results. However, eventually, the company will require them to fit into its corporate structure - and begin to follow rules. This is when things begin to deteriorate.

Finding the balance

When you are running a business you need to find the right balance between doing the work, marketing, and getting the right cash flow. Stowe Boyd talks about this in his blog, where he gives his perspective on these important issues.

Lots of first time consultants make the mistake of assuming that they can conduct all these activities at the same time, rather than determining just how much time they should devote to these activities and calculating the appropriate day rate that they should be charging. Stowe's blog is a great first read for those considering going solo before they leave their day job.

Take care

Judith

Influencing how others feel ...

Is important if we want to influence the outcome of our interactions with others. This is necessary if we wish to have our intentions turn into reality, in the quickest and least offencive way. After all people remember us not because of what we say but how we make them feel.

The UK newspaper The Times quotes Daniel Goleman talking about toxic and nourishing behaviours, and interestingly the health benefits attributed to reducing the number of toxic interactions that you partake in.

Toxic behaviours are those that make us feel devalued, frustrated, bullied or angry. Nourishing behaviours help us encourage open mindness, empathy and the feeling of being valued. Toxic behaviour repels people and nourishing behaviours attract people to you. If you want people to do the things you want, you must at first attract them. You must then invest the time to deepen and maintain a healthy relationship.

Invest in the emotional bank account you have with others because you can never be sure when you will need a withdrawal.

At first glance, it can be assumed that Social Intelligence is just a new name for making people feel good or a heightened way of expressing empathy. I don't believe that this is the case at all. I do understand however, that the concept of Social Intelligence isn't new. Recent definitions are encouraging us to consider how we build healthy relationships with others so that they cooperate with us.

This is an invaluable skill and has far reaching consequences in the way that we conduct our personal and professional lives. Social Intelligence may be a method of applying our IQ, and EQ, and other personality traits on a subconscious level to the way we interact with others. Are objective would be to encourage win-win situations in our lives so that our likelihood of personal success increases.

Take care

Judith

How to find work when you are on your own

Deciding to run your own business is a brave thing to do, especially if you are fresh out of the corporate world and setting up on your own. That's why joining a networking community (for example Ecademy) can really help. These types of communities enables you to build social and business relationships that can provide you with advocacy and work based on the strength of your relationships and the quality of your reputation.

Social, business communities provide business owners with all important support, development and very real profitable networking opportunities. Ecademy is one of the best of these social and business communities. There are also networking communities such as Linkedin that can help business owners find important contacts.

Getting regular clients is the life blood for businesses. Richard J White is an expert in Soft Selling, he provides sales and marketing guidance for experts. Richard has written a short article on 5 Strategies for winning more referrals from networking. Following these strategies will enable you to gain more business as you learn to stop push selling and begin pull selling.

Take care

Judith

A different type of smart ...

I'm not sure about you but I feel that the time when we considered that IQ was the only measure of human intelligence is well and truly over. As complex human beings we have multiple intelligences that we draw on all the time during our social interactions with others. Successfully navigating our world really relys on our ability to take our IQ, and EI (emotional intelligence) and SI (social intelligence) and apply them in a way that enhances our success.

K Albrecht defines Social Intelligence as the ability to get along well with others and to get them to cooperate with you. I will exploring the concept of Social Intelligence over the next few weeks.

Leadership and N-Code™

Don't aim for success if you want it; just do what you love and believe in, and it will come naturally - David Frost

I have often pondered on the question of what it is that makes us unique, what makes one person successful at something and another not?

Eleanor Roosevelt said - What if ... Somehow we learn who we really are and then live with that decision? I believe that if we could make this alignment, it would be this that made the difference, between one person and another.


What's your N-Code™ - Your Behavioural DNA?

Awareness of your N-Code™ can enable this alignment and allow you to live with your decision. Furthermore this knowledge can then be leveraged to increase your performance and success. Discovery of your N-Code™ enables you to fully integrate what you do with who you are to control your hidden abilities in a direct and powerful way. You will be able to communicate more effectively, that will allow you to notice real tangible results in the things that you do.

N-Code™ is about becoming conscious of that which is currently unconsious and then using those insights to achieve bigger and better things. Discovery of your N-Code™ - your Behavioural DNA, builds on Covey's work 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, especially Sharpening the Saw, and can become the bridge between effectiveness and greatness that Covey is leading us towards.

My N-Code™ is Seeing Truth. This means that I have hyper insight into people and problems. I can quickly see to the heart of the matter and can enable conflicts to be resolved quickly and creative solutions to be sought in all types of problems. I apply this skill within my personal and professional life.

My professional speciality is working with Troublesome Talent™. I certainly find knowledge of my Behavioural DNA invaluable because I now unconsciously apply it to my passion of developing leaders and creating innovative Talent Management techniques to create increased performance for my clients.

Integration of your Behavioural DNA can have a profound affect on your personal and professional life.

You may like to see Diane Corriette's or Andy Coote's N-Code™ Journey who are just two clients who have decided to publically chart their journeys.

How does N-Code™ relate to Leadership?

Leadership is about flexibility, how you flex your style to achieve the best results from and for your team. It is also about how you manage yoursellf, in all situations. It is important that leaders truly understand what their key innate skills are and the best way to use them to achieve maximum results. This is how knowledge of your N-Code™ can be invaluable.

If you can ensure that everything you do is aligned to your Behavioural DNA then you will be more successful in your endeavours and your performance will improve. Most leaders struggle, from time to time, to balance the time they have available over the things that they feel they must achieve.

Integration of your N-Code™ enables you to decide instantly whether what you are doing or about to do will be successful, or increase your performance. It enables you to be more aware of what works or doesn't work on an accelerated basis.

Large corparations and smaller businesses have learnt how to use their leaders' N-Codes™ to enable their teams to radically increase their performance and become more successful. One strategic team within a FTSE 100 company described how they used their N-Codes™:

Knowing our N-Codes™ allowed us to immediately split up the project and delegate tasks in the most efficient way. Instead of spending hours discussing the best course of action it was instantly clear who was the best person for each section of the task, allowing us more time to actually get the job done.

Leadership is about being able to focus on the results that need to be achieved and not the tasks that need to be done.

Myers-Briggs

Myers Briggs measures your inate preferences, being aware of these enables you to understand the way you think and behave. This knowledge can make it easier to interact with others and in turn be more successful in your personal and professional lives.

It is important to understand that, because Myers Briggs is concerned with your innate preferences, your behaviour is not constrained by your Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) but will change dependant on the circumstances that you are in. This means you can learn to react differently if you discover that  your preferred way of thinking and reacting is not getting the results you want!

Introvert or Extrovert?

These terms have specific meanings within the Myers Briggs System and refer to how you, as an individual, get your energy from. Simply put, if you get your energy by being on your own, you are an introvert, if it's amongst others then you are an extrovert. In this context it is not about whether you are a shy or an outgoing person.

For more information on Myers Briggs click here.

My Myers Briggs Personality type is eNFj which means Teacher with a primary interest in the personal growth and development of others. My MTR-i team role is Coach. If you want to take an online Myers Briggs Personality Profile then visit humanmetrics or The Myers Briggs Foundation.

The Myers Briggs Foundation describe eNFj as:

Warm, empathetic, responsive, and responsible. Highly attuned to the emotions, needs, and motivations of others. Find potential in everyone, want to help others fulfill their potential. May act as catalysts for individual and group growth. Loyal, responsive to praise and criticism. Sociable, facilitate others in a group, and provide inspiring leadership.

I would recommend that you discover your Myers Briggs to understand how you prefer to perceive and interact with the world. You can then decide whether you wish to change your behaviour. Let me know if you need help finding a Myers Briggs Practioner.

Improve your performance in business

Every executive and business owner has one key objective – to improve performance. Behind every business objective, (whether it is, for example, to grow your business by 10%, increase ROI by 5% or become a better leader), is the desire to improve performance. It is this aspiration that makes us successful in our labours.

Performance Improvement can be defined in many ways. For example, the International Board of Standards for Training, Performance and Instruction (2003) defines it as the process of designing or selecting interventions which may include training directed toward a change in behaviour, typically on the job.

I believe that performance improvement is any positive change that can be measured after you have actively decided to make a change in your current circumstances. This is why defining the improvement requirement and measurement method is all important.

If we assume therefore, that a key success factor in business is to improve performance, where would you start? A logical approach would be to decide which area of performance needs improving and look for experts in this field to enable you to achieve the appropriate improvement. For example, you may need to improve your sales so you engage a marketing consultant to enable you to achieve this.

I believe that the first step towards performance improvement is defining your goal. Following a goal setting process will ensure that performance enhancement is made.