Question Thinking

Anyone who attended day two of the Question Thinking seminar willing to share their thoughts?

Thanks!

(Finally) A picture of the newest Lennox

Here is Rebecca Anne Lennox (at about 2.5 months old).

She was born on March 2.

Her older sister, Maggie (who is 2-years and 9 months old) calls her "Pepper" and the name is so pickin' cute that it may stick.

Listening

Remember Kelsey Grammer's show "Frasier".  He would open his radio program up with the phrase, "I'm listening". 

Many of you have gotten your listening styles report.  What did you learn?  Were you surprised?  What connections do you see with leadership, connecting with others or emotional intelligence?  Use this space to share your observations?

"Feel the Feeling"

What do you think about the section in the EI book titled, "Feel the Feeling" (pg. 107)? I've only read the first couple of pages in that section, but I'm not sure it is so easy to change your mood and emotions so quickly.

Alfreda's Philosophy

Just wondering what you all thought of her personal leadership philosophy.

I found it interesting, considering that we are currently learning about emotional intelligence, that her first point was charisma. Her definition of charisma includes the ability to excite, encourage, and inspire as well as recognizing the importance of interpersonal skills.

MSCEIT

Wow - I completed the emotional intelligence (EI) instrument last night and found it alot of fun actually. I am extremely curious to see how my responses to the odd variety of questions/tasks translates into data regarding my EI. As much as I knew EI was a problem area for me and that I was apprehensive about this section, I now find myself excited and can't wait to meet with Bob about the results! Cheers, Michelle

Connections between Maxwell and emotional intelligence?

So you've read Maxwell's book on connecting (or a good portion of it at least) and you are starting on the EI book.  I'm curious what connections (if any) do you see between Maxwell's principles and the topic of emotional intelligence?

360 Reflections

Let's keep discussing this.  Use this space to share further reflections on your 360.  Did you share it with anyone?  What happened?  What do you think now, 24 hours+ after receiving the feedback?  Remember, everything we do, read about etc is intended to help you understand more about your self and where your opportunities to grow are in a way that is commensurate what your organization asking of you.

Your PLP's

Okay, I hope you are still thinking about your Personal Leadership Philosophy and what it contains.  It should be coming into clearer view for you.  Use this space to share what is in yours and why.  The next step with the PLP is to go share it with someone and get feedback.  If you feel like yours is ready for prime time then go talk to others about it and get some feedback.  You can share the stories here. 

Advice on your 360

I asked the Administrator group, after they had some time to go over their 360 results, what they thought would be helpful for you to know.  Here are two items from them to you...

1. Definately keep an open mind when reviewing your 360's. Initially, I had a different view of my assessments. I sat down alone and in a quiet area and went over them again. I understand now the importance of the feedback. It actually turned out to be a wonderful tool for learning.
2. It is important to ask questions regarding their results.
   
   For instance, I sat down with my Boss and went over how she saw me. It was enlightening to see her thought process. It was also quite helpful especially when looking at my professional development now and into the future.

If you aren't a little excited and nervous about this then you are not engaged enough.  I am looking forward to our session next week.

Charisma: Seven Keys to Developing the Magnetism that Leads to Success

Has anyone heard of and/or read this book by Tony Alessandra, Ph.D.? It looks like the book has received some fairly good reviews, but wanted to know if any of you read this.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0446675989?ie=UTF8&tag=pfco-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0446675989

Moving from "know how" to "do now"

On page 163 of _Everyone Communicates, Few Connect_, Maxwell discusses the communication style of his inherited COO who was a career navy man. His COO subscribed to the armed services perspective on communication:

1^st Draft: A word to the wise is sufficient

2^nd Draft: A word to the wise may be sufficient.

3^rd Draft: It is believed that a word to the wise may be sufficient

…

5^th Draft: Indications are that is believed by some that a word to the wise may be sufficient under some conditions…

I often fall into this trap in my writing.

The elusive skill of really listening

Reading chapter 6 on Common Ground I came across this line and I loved it.  Page 133, "Listening requires giving up our favorite human pastime-involvement in ourelves and our own self-interest."  I think it is really hard to suspend your agenda, your thoughts, your response and sit and listen to what someone is saying.  It's partly the way our brains work, because our ability to process language is so much higher than what a typical person can speak.  So the brain gets bored and begins to multi-task.  And then you begin to listen but not so you can understand.  By now you are listening for the gap in the conversation, so you can respond.  It's no wonder that there are so many miscommunications and incorrect translations.  Add in your experience and expertise and it's harder still not to want to talk.  It takes a vigilant effort to keep this in check.  But is so critical.  If you can think of a time when you really felt someone was listening to you.  How did it make you feel?  I think this is the simplest (not easiest) most underrated way to connect with people.  Your thoughts?

Becoming a Connecting Communicator is a Process

Chapter 6 of Maxwell's book was a relief. I love the chapter title: "Connecting is more skill than natural talent". What a relief. In particular, I have a tendency to confuse writing and speaking.

I have had to give two big presentations to the Provost and Deans in the last few months. I found that my first few drafts of the presentations were dry, boring, and overly dependent on details. It took me a lot of practice (and some key feedback in practice) to pare them down to just what was necessary and even to add a little humor (not exactly my forte).

One of the things I plan on studying over the next few months are the skills that make great speakers great. In particular, the use of storytelling and anecdotes to illustrate key points.

4 Components of Connection (p.53)

As I read these four components (connect with people visually, intellectually, emotionally and verbally) I find myself thinking about the concept of credibility.   I came across an article on leadership credibilty and it said that the key ingredient to great leaders is what they called your confidence base.  It's that thing that you are great at.  Sometimes other people recognize this before we ourselves do.  The theory was that confidence base is what gains you credibility and how you transfer that confidence base to make others better or make the organization better is where leadership credibility happens.  It's not just technical competence but it is how you use that technical competenece that matters as well.  You must have both.

So what is your confidence base?

The article provided an example that Bill Gates confidence base was as a programmer.  He was an amazing programmer and he relied on that skill to attract the worlds best programmers and that is how Microsoft took off.

Zodiak Action Plan Update Thread

I'm starting this thread to track all posts related to what you have done with your Zodiak action plan.  Remember, the key is to apply it!  Do something and let us know how it went by posting a comment under this post.  Then we all learn!  I look forward to seeing what we get.

This whole trust thing????

This has come up a number of times already and believe someone here brought this up as a key attribute. How important is trust for you in wanting to connect with others AND letting people connect with you?  

 Maxwell p.18 talks about "being authentic".  What does "being authentic" look like for you?  Since everyone is different how do you know if people are being authentic? 

Maxwell's book and questions for you!

The first thing I noticed about this book when we kicked around whether or not to include it in the program, was that it fit nicely with our contention that technical skills are critical but they only take you so far.  It's the people skills part that is required for maximum team effectiveness.  Maxwell calls this "connecting".  I also like that his language is replete with emotional intelligence references (perhaps unintended). 

One of my favorite parts of chapter two, comes on page 45 - Connecting in a Group, "input creates synergy, buy-in and connection".  This is not the sole responsibility of supervisors and managers.  Do you take time in group or team meetings to do this?  If so, how and what impact does it have?  If not, why not and what impact does that have? 

Non-fiction books you'd recommend?

Hi Everyone.

I thought I'd ask about non-fiction books you're currently reading or would recommend.

I think Tina mentioned a book by Richard Branson (was it Business Stripped Bare?--I remembered Branson's name, but not the title). If that's the book, would you recommend it?

One of two books I've enjoyed recently is Switch (2010) by Chip Heath and Dan Heath. It's a quick read, filled with some interesting examples of individuals who made significant changes in their organizations and communities.

Another book I enjoyed was Predictably Irrational (2010) by Dan Ariely. This is another quick read about all the irrational behaviors we have and the bad decisions we make and why.

So, if you'd like, share what non-fiction books you've read and enjoyed.

Note: For the above books, I've added links to Amazon.com in case you want to read more about them. The links are not referral links (some links give rewards to the referring site).

Reflective thinking

I thought I'd go out on a limb and be the first to post some reflective thinking.

First I'd like to share my answer to yesterday's Crown bag question of what am I most apprehensive about in the IE. Answer: the Emotional Intelligence part. I am an emotional person and emotions definitely play a part in what I do and how I perform my job. The positive aspect of that is I can be quite passionate about the work I am doing, it contributes to my tenacity and drive, and helps (I think) in fostering the great working relationships I have with so many. The negatives however are that I do take things to heart to much, and at times strong emotions are entwined in my actions or responses to situations. So while I believe the Emotional Intelligence tasks will absolutely be informative and beneficial, I fear the challenge and what will be learned.

And to further test opening myself up to the group :) I wanted to ask your thoughts on something. Last evening I was reflecting upon the fairly significant difference in my reaction to Dr. Lefton's talk and those of many others. I wonder if my having worked 27 years in public institutions, the last 22 of which have been here at KSU, contributes to the difference of opinions. How long I've worked here, and where I am in my career at KSU (i.e. fairly advanced vs starting out) seems like it might lend itself to the differing viewpoints.

Just some thoughts ...