Definition

1) The state of being aware or informed of any thing; 2) Showing knowledge or awareness; 3) Consciousness.

Tips

Acknowledge that we always ‘know.’  What we know in our heart of hearts is how we are being in our external interactions, even if we do not always care to admit it.  We may find clever ways to justify uncomfortable discrepancies between how we would prefer to see ourselves and how we are actually being.  But on some level, we cannot hide from our conscience.

Reconnect with your inner wisdom.  All the answers to all our life questions are ultimately on the inside – even if we may have lost sight of this truth for whatever reason.  As a result, many wind up looking outside themselves for solutions, as if others held better or smarter answers.  Venture into your own core long enough and you will always come up with the answer yourself.

Observe that inner knowing operates all the time.  Whether we realize it or not, inner knowing has been at play in every decision we have ever made.  For many of us, our wisdom operates without our complete awareness.  As long as that is the case, we risk it taking us into potentially unwanted situations.  The key to harvesting its full power is to bring conscious attention to our inner knowing.

Access more of your innate ability.  Einstein is reported to have said that we use only two to ten percent of our ability; imagine how far we could go beyond those figures using inner knowing.  Given the dynamic nature of today’s world, it only makes sense to cultivate a wisdom-based mindset within organizations.  Thinking “outside the box” creates inspired cultures.

Expand your attitude toward alternative forms of business ‘knowing.’  Soul-inspiring leaders recognize that listening to and trusting oneself can help solve problems and improve decision-making, ultimately increasing results.  The need for leaders who can create a different future, rather than relying on tried-and-true formulas, is only increasing.  It only makes sense to achieve high performance through inner wisdom.

Notice what you are noticing.  In effect, this means becoming an observer of your own life.  Imagine taking a helicopter ride above the scenery surrounding you.  Looking down from these heights allows a better view of what is happening in your life.  Allow intuitive insights to come to you by filtering in – not out – information that comes to your awareness from your environment.

Believe you can bring into being whatever you wish to create.  While initially counterintuitive to how we have been taught, each of us possesses a huge capability to manifest whatever we intend to happen in our lives.  Unfortunately, many internalize others’ messages and therefore wind up living the way they think others want it to be for them.  We need to remember who we really are – powerful creators.

Set aside your busy mind’s activity.  We typically spend so much time in our heads at work that it helps to rebalance this overuse of the brain by attending to the messages our bodies constantly give us.  Meditative and reflective practices really help.  Ideally, logic and inner knowing work in unison to make us more effective across the spectrum of our business activity.

Questions For Reflection

How can you apply inner wisdom in your professional role as a leader as well as in your personal life?

What insights have you gained from learning about inner knowing, and how can you apply notions like “noticing” and “intentionality”?

What are some ways you can encourage others in your organization (direct reports, peers, you leader) to trust their inner sense of authority?

Definition

1) A piece of work, especially one done for hire or profit; 2) A paid position of employment; 3) Anything one has to do, a task.

Tips

‘Wake up and smell the coffee’ of a shrinking labour pool!  With temporary or self-employed work, people often find the freedom to be passionate about what they do, and they feel they can achieve a measure of balance they are afraid of losing from their lives if they commit to a full-time position.  This reality does not bode well for corporations unless they do something radically different to attract and retain.

Expand your view of what people are actually seeking.  So often, jobs reflect the thinking that people seek only economic gain – they work for pay!  Of course, we acknowledge that people have a deeply rooted desire for a reasonable amount of satisfying work they are fit to perform.  Beyond that, however, a limited view of why people work merely creates an organizational “crisis of the soul.”

Remove your traditional thinking about jobs.  While Henry Ford’s assembly line dates to the 1920’s, much of how we structure and manage work today has changed very little since that time.  At one point, the notion of chunking work down into series of tasks may have seemed novel.  At this time, it merely dehumanizes the job, alienates people from their work and creates disengagement.

Design jobs to create meaning, challenge and accomplishment.  Solid job design means people have the authority to make decisions and perform in flexible ways.  The person doing the job knows it best – so get out of their way!  Economists speak of the “rise of the knowledge worker.”  We prefer to talk about the “death of the joe job” and people’s refusal to stay in jobs that are unrewarding.

Be willing to entertain new work options.  Soul-inspiring leaders are willing to entertain new work options that serve the person, the company and their business goals.  This kind of leadership enables everyone to maximize their own possibilities.  It opens up new levels of productivity, creativity and opportunity for the organization and employees – a real new economy ‘job’ contract.

Create motivated performance.  Motivated performance consists of a what, why and how.  Organizations need employees who understand what they do, why they do it and how they make a difference – true performance motivators.  It is the shift from doing one’s job to collect the pay to seeing how one’s actions affect business goals and therefore contribute to everyone’s success.

Imagine a new world of work.  Imagine a world where the contract with employees truly rewards results; where employees are proportionately paid for their contribution rather than by title or position.  It’s a world where status differences between part-time and full-time are irrelevant, as people freely move between periods of less intense and more intense work rhythms.

Questions For Reflection

Reflecting on how the above trends will affect you personally in the next five to ten years, what will be different about jobs in your field or industry?

Do you currently face issues in attracting and retaining qualified workers, and do you estimate this will get better or worse in the future?

What would you most like to change about your job, and what does this suggest about staying in your current position, versus changing jobs or careers?

Definition

1) The ability of the mind to be creative or resourceful; 2) A mental faculty forming images or concepts of external objects not present to the senses; 3) The process of imagining (fancies, fantasies).

Tips

See beyond current circumstances.  Imagination is a powerful force that can open up possibilities and allow us to see beyond current circumstances into a future not yet realized.  Which brings us to the essence of leadership – to paint a picture of the future that rises above the current state and outline a promised future compelling for all people to participate in.

See goals as “dreams with a deadline”.  Leaders must dream dreams and be prepared to use their imaginations to envision the future.  They do not see “dreaming” as time spent “daydreaming”.  True leaders do not see their roles as strictly creating deliberate strategies and easy-to-understand tactics.  They are comfortable that so-called “fuzzy” imagination can create high performance.

Distinguish between management and leadership.  In organizations the world over, you do not have to be a leader in order to be a manager.  Managing tasks is about tactical execution – getting people to do things right.  The question is whether they are doing the right things.  A missing element could be imagination borne of an agreed sentiment that one’s doing is tied to a higher vision.

Lead with a compelling vision of the future.  To lead with vision is to first draw from the spark of one’s own imagination.  Logic and reason tend to impose boundaries on human potential, whereas leading with vision creates a compelling ‘why’ in people’s minds.  Soul-inspiring leaders draw broadly from their knowledge of human nature to craft visions that engage followers’ imaginations.

Have your vision serve a greater good.  The vision might be to change the world by introducing a revolutionary product or service that advances lives or progress.  Martin Luther King had a dream.  Gandhi bore the hopes of a nation.  They are truly exemplary leaders who turned dreams into reality and people willingly followed, creating a reality they alone dared cast as possible.

Be prepared to check your title at the door.  In soul-inspiring organizations, everyone is expected to be part of the idea-generation process.  Anyone’s ideas are considered valuable and powerful.  Not necessarily will every idea offered up be implemented.  Rather, leaders settle on a few ideas that can generate the outcomes to which everyone is committed.

Generate the future by going to the unknown rather than the known.  The future already exists apart from present reality; it is not created from what we know, but from another dimension where we do not colour it with either past or present experiences.  We can bring that unpolluted future to us in the moment through our imaginations and use it in the now.  This uses our extensive untapped capabilities.

Questions For Reflection

What is compelling for others about the vision you have set forth?

Have y0u ever truly dreamed about the possibilities of what you do, including the potential to change the world?

How can you learn to better engage people’s imaginations, and what would happen to your leadership style if you adopted this method?

Definition

1) The heart regarded as the centre of thought, feeling and emotion; 2) Courage or enthusiasm; 3) The innermost part of something.

Tips

Notice how often business language refers to the heart.  For example – “getting to the heart of the matter,” “what lies at the heart of the issue,” and “to have a change of heart”.  Notice the origin of the word “courage:” cor, standing for heart.  To have courage means to have heart.  When we encourage others, offering them courage, we literally give them heart.

Choose whether to interact from fear or love.  We can either interact with the world from fear or love – including the arena of work.  Heart-based leaders do not become uncomfortable when coached to own the responsibility for bringing their hearts to work and encouraging others to do the same.  They are willing rather than panicked by the suggestion.

Observe your assumptions about caring for people.  A common fear-based objection is to worry that being caring will translate into being taken advantage of.  To love and yet need to make decisions that cause people pain are not mutually exclusive.  The act of showing kindness to employees does not render leaders foolish or impotent in the dog-eat-dog business world; quite the opposite.

Avoid a singular focus on the head over the heart.  In most companies, the head frequently rules the roost.  In left brain-dominated workplaces, there is a belief that logic alone will result in productivity.  The heart is viewed as somehow soft and therefore unnecessary.  As a result, much of organizational life is out of balance.  While paradoxical, harmony between head and heart is optimal.

Approach even difficult tasks with the heart.  Even when their actions would not be deemed loving (for example, laying off their workforce), soul-inspiring leaders realize they can still approach obligatory tasks in heart-based ways.  In this context, heart involves both strength and toughness.  It involves leaders’ awareness of their responsibility to be both fair and firm, gutsy and gracious.

Strengthen your heart muscle through willingness.  Being a believer does not automatically a doer make.  Activating the power of our hearts takes practice and consistent intention.  While invisible to the eye, make no mistake: the health of a company’s ‘heart’ is felt at the core of everyone’s being – through outward-rippling effects on employees, shareholders, customers and suppliers.

Invite the benefits of the heart into your business results.  The best leaders achieve their outstanding results precisely because they pay attention to the heart.  If anything, outwardly gruff leaders ultimately become what we call beloved – those for whom people will give their all.  Beneath their blustery exteriors lie hearts of gold.  Heart is a powerful force in achieving high standards and stretch goals.

Believe the link between heart and profit.  Leaders who capture their employees’ hearts seldom need to worry about the motivation to produce profit and earnings – the supposed reasons for being in business.  Engaged hearts motivate themselves.  Forward-looking businesses recognize ‘heart’ can achieve results far surpassing any financial forecast dreamt up by the brain alone.

Questions For Reflection

What is one thing you have done in the last week to send a signal to people that welcoming the heart at work is important to you?

What proportions of your life do you spend coming from your head, heart and hands – and what do you notice about these percentages?

How much would you say you “love” the people you lead, the products and services you offer, and the customers or clients you serve?

Definition

1) Courteous good will; 2) A divinely given talent; 3) To confer honor or dignity upon.

Tips

Rise above pettiness to forgive and forget.  All great leaders demonstrate grace; they restrain and reserve their opinions.  This essential attitude helps eliminate the fear of failure present in so many followers.  Without tolerance for failure, we become risk-averse and unimaginative – the very opposite of the innovative and intra-preneurial qualities organizations claim to encourage.

Catch mixed messages.  Stay vigilant about allowing these to creep into daily behaviour.  For example, early in a company’s history experimentation is often an accepted part of running the business.  Some efforts fail while others succeed.  Over time, if knee-jerk reactions in the face of failure are allowed to grow, the original culture that attracted bright stars now repels.

Recognize that results and effort is not always the same thing.  It is truly possible for a company to be running at 110 percent capacity, fully staffed by dedicated people, and for the business to not achieve its planned results.  Despite augmenting the talent pool and superhuman daily efforts, results can actually decline to worrisome lows.  Despite everything, efforts can fail to translate to the bottom line.

Balance results and effort.  Soul-inspiring leaders stand by a balanced view of performance that is more characterized by gracious rather than institutional traits.  They think carefully before creating environments too structured or filled with artificial expectations to enable a healthy balance between focus on results and experimentation.

Stay open as opposed to tightening up.  Retrenchment actually sets up a collision course with failure.  While panic-stricken managers move into a blame game of singling out “weak links” not focusing on results, competitors simultaneously push the envelope and thereby gain momentum.  Blaming to communicate “how serious the situation is” does no one any service.

Stay away from rewarding mediocrity with undue patience.  The cost of failing to “make plan” is steep, especially in companies whose stocks are traded on public markets.  Punished by analysts, market-makers and the media, any company that does not make plan is instantly on its way to disaster.  Soul-inspiring leaders do not “wait forever” but neither do they punish effort at the first sign of failure.

Remember what it is like to learn a new skill.  Surely, those around you (parents, coaches and teachers) did not give up on you when you were younger, learning a new skill, sport or subject in school.  Indeed, the more appropriate response was to reward effort, and to focus on the path that eventually got you to where you wanted to be.  The same holds true for people in organizations.

Questions For Reflection

What connections do you see between a feeling of safety from being judged solely on your results and your ability to be creative?

What kind of impact do you think more grace could have on your workplace and on your relationships?

How does the environment in which you were raised influence your reaction to this theme and your ability to demonstrate grace toward others?

Definition

1) Amusment (especially lively or playful); 2) Entertaining; 3) Enjoyable.

Tips

Be open to creating uplifting environments.  Building workplaces where people are invited to have fun starts with wanting them to feel alive.  The tone and tenor you set is directly connected to your own belief systems about fun at work.  Soul-inspiring leaders are convinced that creating fun environments attracts the bright and enthusiastic employees they seek to hire and retain.

Avoid one-time splashy events.  Fun is not about splashy galas where a powerhouse motivational speaker is flown in to jazz up the troops at the company’s annual meeting.  On the contrary – a morning of belly laughs with a humour consultant, only to return to a slave-like environment of disabling workloads and single-digit morale, leaves more damage than benefit in its wake.

Ignite fun by building it into daily routines.  Consider inexpensive ways to ignite fun, like a Comedy Corner where employees can take “play breaks” (also known as creativity breaks) using a toy chest of idea-sparking gadgets.  Thinking of ways to make work feel like play indicates your willingness to acknowledge that people actually accomplish more (productivity) when infused with spirit.

Celebrate achievements along the way.  Soul-inspiring leaders do not wait for business initiatives to be completed before encouraging employees to relish their successes.  It can be as simple as an afternoon off or a meal with their partner paid by the company.  Acknowledging progress at key milestones gives everyone the momentum to push to the finish line.

Be inclusive in how you celebrate through fun.  Soul-inspiring leaders do not wait until large-scale undertakings end to acknowledge the select few rather than the contributory many.  To do so is downright de-motivating.  To be exclusive rather than inclusive reveals a limited mentality on the part of hard-driving leaders – as if only certain individuals deserve joy rather than the whole team.

Expand your view of team-building events.  Team-building events do not singularly need to be skills development-oriented in order to have business impact.  If anything, time spent getting to know each team member’s qualities, talents and working preferences lays highly useful groundwork that speeds team integration and sets in place a people foundation critical to business success.

Recognize laughter’s benefits.  In fitness circles, the positive effects of endorphins released through exercise are well-documented.  The same holds true emotionally, mentally and spiritually through laughter at work.  Become more like the average four-year-old who laughs fifty times a day, instead of the average adult who laughs only fifteen times.  Make work a source of joy.

Link fun to the bottom-line.  In causing spirits to soar, laughter promotes creativity.  Like children at play, adults release innovation through fun.  Given the imperatives to increase out-of-the-box thinking and decrease stress-management costs, you have your “business case” for putting fun first.  Productivity is not only achieved through nose-to-the-grindstone seriousness.

Questions For Reflection

Do you consider your workplace fun?  What elements contribute to, or take away, fun for you?

Do you believe it is OK to have fun at work?  How do your belief systems influence your colleagues’ sense of fun?

What kinds of tasks and environments cause your energy to be drained away, and what types enhance your energy?

Definition

1) A strong mental or instinctive feeling; 2) The capacity to feel; 3) An opinion or notion.

Tips

Question the business world’s ambivalence about feelings.  For many leaders, “happy, happy, happy!” is all they want to hear; do not bring them any bad news.  Instead of classifying feelings as OK/not OK, allowed or forbidden, accept them as natural.  Feelings simply are…neither good nor bad.  We are human beings, and to shut off the valve to our emotions is to eliminate some portion of our humanity.

Deal with issues openly.  Contrary to the tired advice, “employees must learn to manage (also known as control and squelch) their emotions,” why not instead teach them to deal with issues openly and directly?  Bringing out pent-up emotions purges festering resentment, heals unhealthy relationships and releases blocked creativity.

Scrutinize how people act on their feelings.  How we act on feelings (our behaviour) can and should be subject to scrutiny.  Those who express anger through temper tantrums should be held accountable for acting out.  Neither petulant outbursts nor sulky moodiness have a place in business settings.  It is the difference between moving forward productively and unleashing a flood of dumping.

Avoid allowing feelings to slip underground.  When feelings are submerged, they do not conveniently disappear (contrary to popular belief).  They go from overt (visible and available for being worked through) to covert (hidden and difficult to access).  The goal is always to facilitate having the covert become overt so that feelings do not become painful, time-consuming and costly to excavate.

Get comfortable with conflict and emotional upset.  Being afraid of “discussing the undiscussables” actually heightens tension.  Conflict will not miraculously clear up if ignored.  Communication breakdowns must be explicitly declared.  Teach people that feelings are healthy and take the lead in drawing out emotions.  Make it easy for employees to express their points of view.

Invite the expression of all emotions during times of transition.  Periods of intense change naturally create transitions.  Transitions (the psychological process people go through to come to terms with a new situation) are no time for stiff upper lips.  If anything, unspoken dictates to hold emotions in check are probably the greatest disservice done to people at work; anger and tears are vital to clearing emotions.

Apply “emotional intelligence” when dealing with feelings.  High in EQ, or “emotional intelligence”, soul-inspiring leaders listen with empathy when dealing with their own and others’ feelings.  They do not confuse sympathy with empathy.  Instead, they empathize passionately and realistically with people, and care intensely about the work employees do.  They are open to both laughing and crying each day.

Reframe the belief that showing feelings is weak.  Soul-inspiring leaders throw away the old adage that displaying feelings is weak.  They do not have to be aloof and analytical to be effective.  In being willing to bring their whole selves to work, they recognize one does not have to be the cold-hearted boss to be respected.  It is not necessary to choose being liked or respected; one can have both.

Questions For Reflection

To what extent do you allow yourself to show your true feelings at work?  Are there any feelings you consider inappropriate to display in business?

What do you honestly think of others who freely demonstrate a full range of emotion at work?

What is the strongest feeling you have about your organization?