Did You Know Your Employees have a Natural BS Detector?

Your employees have a built in, natural "BS" detector? Did you know that? That's why communicating with candor is essential for management and leadership effectiveness.

Candid, direct communication is confusing for many because I think (and you can tell me in the comments how this sits with you) its something that many leaders and managers misunderstand. Many see being candid or direct as mean or rude, vs. helpful truth telling.

I've observed many have come to this view because when candor is experienced it's done in a way that feels harsh, mean or tactless... and they certainly don't want to be that way.

And yet, succumbing to this experience of candor creates a missed opportunity to build trust, credibility, and influence as a leader.

According to Judith Glaser, author of the book Conversational Intelligence (a must read by the way), candor builds trust. In fact it's one of the keys to a high-performing team.

Excerpt:

"Through our research and client projects over the past decade, we have identified that candor is the behavior that best predicts high performing teams and the single most important success factor in transformation and change. Organizations that exhibit high levels of candor produce the highest and most successful performing teams.....by setting the context for candor throughout all of your leadership interactions, you level the playing field.

Neuro-tip: Candor, truth and trust

While the words – candor, trust and trust - are different, the meaning of these words activate the

same networks in our brain. When we display the Prefrontal Cortex, our Executive Brain. This network opens the power of the Executive functions, such as strategic thinking, empathy, foresight, intuition, good judgment and handling uncertainty with less fear. So candor plays a role in elevating our capacity to work through difficult challenges with others – a core activity for change and transformation in organizations."

"Candor is a door to tapping wisdom and for discovering new ways to handle the challenges we face when stakes are high and uncertainty abounds."

Excerpt: Make Candor a Priority By Judith E. Glaser

The key point is what you say and how you say it both matter!

What this also means is your employees can tell when you're not being candid, truthful, authentic or transparent. Their brain in wired to detect and distrust BS. The result? Your ability to influence, to get the best outcomes will be diminished.

Here's two suggestions for all leaders related to candor.

1). Examine your own understanding and relationship to it. Adjust your understanding accordingly and practice it.

2). If you're really having a challenge embracing it or in your delivery style - read the book Radical Candor: Be a Kickass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity.

// JCS Business Advisors is a holistic business growth consultancy. Through our expertise in human behavior, we partner with forward-thinking senior leaders, entrepreneurs and their HR counterparts to bridge the knowledge & execution gap of connecting people, performance, and profits, resulting in high-performance leadership teams and increase profitability.

 // Email: joann@jcsbusinessadvisors.com // Ph: 888.388.0565 // Schedule a complimentary advisory call and receive a copy of our latest executive briefing. Learn about our "all-in-one" system that develops competent leaders and managers, minimize employee problems while profitably growing your business.

Are You Ready For The Real Life Leadership Test?

One of the great privileges I have as a talent management specialist is conduct seminars on management and leadership. For most of my life, I have been in a leadership capacity in someway all the way from the Junior Leadership program at my local Y.M.C.A. to now running my own company and leading professional development seminars throughout North America.

Leadership is one of the most fascinating topics to examine, write, teach and talk about as evidenced by the voluminous publications released over the years -- and they keep coming!  You’d think for us leadership aficionados we’d all have it figured out by now and not another leadership book would need to be written.

Sometimes though, all we have to do is look around us and learn from the profound examples of leadership -- or the absence of it.

This writing was inspired by my twitter colleague across the pond  Dr. Louis Phillips, from Cardiff Wales to be exact. His writing is provocative, educating and inspiring. Check out his book The Vital Edge - you can learn more about it out here: link  

He recently wrote a post entitled The Danger of Conviction which immediately got my attention because conviction is an essential component in effective leadership and achieving results. So why would it be dangerous? He writes about the upcoming history changing referendum in which Scots (of which he is) will be voting on whether they should become an independent country and his observations regarding the leadership of each position on the vote.

The crux of his post is about the ability to lead and influence during this crucial decision-making period, the source of which he suggests should come from showing and expressing elements of humanity to which every voter can relate.

That sentiment lead me to thinking about what’s happening on our side of the pond. That tiny town in Missouri experiencing mind boggling unrest surrounding the shooting of Michael Brown. When things like this occur, I regularly see it through the lens of leadership.  What I’ve seen so far is a variety of hits and misses.

One major hit has been that of the state police captain Ron Johnson. He has handled a variety of situations (at least that can be seen via the media) with thoughtfulness, grace, confidence, strength and great humanity. In fact you can really see the contrast of the effectiveness of the different leaders as the events are being covered. What Captain Johnson has demonstrated in effective leadership is connecting with the humanity of the people he is trying to lead and influence.

I believe that in order to do that successfully, one needs to first be willing and able to connect to one’s own and be willing to share that. Then a leader can say as Capt. Johnson repeatedly did, “I’m just like you. I share in your confusion, grief, and need for justice”.

I observed that speaking the language of humanity is essential for a leader to be able to influence.

Tweet: Speaking the language of humanity is essential for a leader to be able to influence.

As Louis suggests, leadership is not always about being the surest, knowing it all, being the most certain or the most convinced. Sometimes it’s about vulnerability and humility which opens the door to the hearts and spirits of those you’re leading. It’s there that meaningful connections can be made. The inability to do so turns leadership into a dissonant clanging gong.  The results? People listen less (if at all) and in the frustration of diminishing results, the clanging only seems to get louder to no avail. Just because you’re talking doesn't mean people are listening.

What can these two momentous events teach us about leadership? The world is requiring more from leaders than ever before. Every generation has it’s exceptional set of challenges where great leadership must be exhibited.  And whether on the world stage or in one’s own backyard, there are those who can meet that challenge and some that don’t. In the end, a title does not make a leader -- behavior does.

You access Louis' post here - link