“For fast-acting relief, try slowing down.” 

Lily Tomlin

One of the important attributes of guide dog puppies in training is that they have to be resilient and bounce back from things that startle them.  This last weekend we took our almost 6-month guide dog puppy Ajax to an outdoor musical venue called the Hollywood Bowl to see how he would handle the performance of “Guys and Dolls.”  We thought it might be a crap shoot but he handled the noise, crowd and cramped quarters amazingly well.

Leaders today are managing talent who are pretty stressed. A 2009 poll of 2,261 U.S. adults by Harris Interactive on behalf of employer information website Glassdoor.com found that unemployed husbands and wifes reported more stress than single job seekers (81% to 51%, respectively).  Two thirds of the respondents said that the stress affected other areas of their jobs and 40% said it hindered personal relationships with friends and family. 

There is absolutely no doubt that leaders can create a psychological climate where talent can manage the economic ambiguity of today and the increased workload associated with “learner” (and hopefully more efficient) organizations.  Bad bosses can contribute to absenteeism–recent studies suggest that transformational leadership styles result in significantly less absenteeism¹.  Worse, bad bosses seem to directly lead to increased cardiac risk of death².

WHAT ORGANIZATIONS CAN DO

So, here are some things that organizations can do to help talent deal with today’s stressors and become more resilient:

1.  Emphasize employee career & professional development (don’t promote specialists into leadership roles; provide developmental coaching for high potentials; offer informal/formal mentoring programs; teach leaders to better coaches)

2.  Encourage more team building (provide bonuses to leaders for building high performance teams; Increase formal and informal networking opportunities)

3.  Implement and expand wellness/lifestyle programs and coaching (use health risk appraisals to promote wellness; invest in health promotion programs and lifestyle coaching for all talent)

4.  Support telecommuting and flexible working hours to help with overall work/life balance

WHAT SENIOR LEADERS CAN DO

1.  Replace strategic planning with scenario planning and share with employees what you are thinking “just in case” you need to take actions.  Nobody reads disaster plans but everyone feels better that they exist just in case the author(s) are around when they need to be followed.

2.  Facilitate a high performing senior team–make sure your senior team works effectively together.  Guess what?  Just about everyone is watching how well you communicate and work together and dysfunctional senior management teams is analogous to chaotic parents in a family unit.

3.  Connect and communicate more frequently with employees.  Keep talent more informed and spend more time interacting with all levels of the organization through email, town hall meetings and walking around.

4.  Reward leaders for developing and retaining high performance talent.  Make it part of their overall compensation package.  Create metrics to determine who leaves and why and penalize leaders for letting the “high potentials” work for a competitor.

5.  Replace hiring freezes with voting “dead wood” off the island.  It’s clear who isn’t producing–just walk into any bathroom and their names are typically visiable on the stalls.  Nobody respects a slacker and everyone wishes senior leaders would take some prompt, fair and consistent action to extingquish their flame.  Nike’s slogan seems a good one for leader’s who are “on the fence” about what to do.

6. Reward wellness/balance in employees rather than the “Type A” (stamina and self-management) coping style.  Refer workaholics to your employee assistance program (you are paying for it), check for signs of fatigue and depression, reinforce non-working vacations and explore ways to create more “fun” in the work environment.

If these don’t seem to work, you can always have your talent take a guide dog puppy to work with them…Be well….

Technorati Tags: StressScan, health stressors, financial stressors, stress, health, job burnout, hassles, kenneth nowack, ken nowack, nowack

1. Elovainio, M. et al., 2002. Organizational Justice: Evidence of a New Psychosocial Predictor of Health American Journal of Public Health, 92, 105-108 [↩]
2. Nyberg. et al 2008.  Managerial leadership and ischaemic heart disease among employees: The Swedish WOLF study. British Medical Journal, 1-5 [↩]

HOT READS FOR THE PRACTITIONER

Title: Keeping up with the competition

Competency: self-development

Who benefits: you

Consultant Usage: reference source

What’s it about?  Last week I promoted some educational opportunities (EOs) for my friends in the Southern California area.  Today I would like to share some EOs for the rest of you in the US, Canada and beyond.

These selected programs are random except they come from organizations that I have had a positive history with.  I was also looking for new programs, updated programs and instructors known to me. 

Linkage, Inc. has a variety of programs under the umbrella of management development offered throughout the US and as e-learning.

The Center for Creative Leadership offers its classic and excellent Leadership Development Program in Greensboro, NC, Colorado Springs, CO, San Diego, CA, Brussels, Belgium, and Singapore. 

Management Concepts operates primarily out of the Washington D.C./Virginia area; however they do have courses throughout the US.  Their programs are open to all; however, they specialize in training for government employees and those who do or want to do business with the government.  They have some great offerings in Business Management, Financial Management, Leadership, Professional Skills, and Project Management.

For those of you who are consultants and you want to learn more about how to get work/contracts with the federal government, Management Concepts offers a free information exchange and resource site: Winning Government Business.

The American Management Association has developed a new sub-site on self-development in response to the downturn in the economy.  Check out a wide variety of courses at Recession Proof Your Future.

The Canadian Management Association has ten Customer Services courses available through the end of this year.

And finally, for my friends in Mexico who complain I never give them any educational hints in my posting, here are some courses in management, human resource management, marketing and sales, finance, interpersonal skills, supervision, and project management.  Parra mis amigos Mexicanos: Cursos, Seminarios, y Tallares.  

Technorati Tags: executive education, continuing education, adult learning, continuous learning, Linkage, Center for Creative Leadership, American Management Association, AMA, Management Concepts, government training, Canadian Management Association, AMA Latin America, bill bradley, william bradley, bradley

“Life’s challenges are not supposed to paralyze you, they’re supposed to help you discover who you are.”
 
Bernice Johnson Reagon

Ajax, our guide dog puppy in training is being stretched each day to reinforce new habits and to learn new things.  As a leader, we are learning about the importance of “developmental assignments to help him to respond to new challenges in a way that doesn’t stress him but stimulates an eagerness to learn and grow.  The trick is finding the right “developmental challenge” so he is not overly stressed and one that isn’t too easy or just boring.

Some new research offers some insights about the importance of “developmental activities” to enhance the skills of talent.  It also sheds light on how developmental “challenges” can have detrimental outcomes if it is too taxing or promotes too much anxiety.  Since 45% of the $56 billion that organizations spend on leadership development we might expect that we have a pretty good return on investment.  Actually, formal training programs contribute less than 10% of a leader’s development and estimates are that over 70% of all leader development really happens informally and through on-the-job experiences.

Based on a study of 225 on-the-job experiences with 60 managers, research by DeRue & Wellman (2009) suggest that the relationship between developmental challenge and leadership skill development exhibits a pattern of diminishing returns¹.  Their findings suggest that developmental challenges (a feature of the experience) are positively associated to leadership skill development but only up to a certain point.  If the developmental challenge was too stressful or evoked too high a level of anxiety the value of the development experience actually caused “cognitive overload and diminished leadership skill development.”

Most interesting, these authors found that the pattern of diminishing returns were most apparent for interpersonal and business leadership skills suggesting that enhancing social competence and emotional intelligence through developmental experiences might need to be very carefully orchestrated.

Finally, the authors found one antidote to minimize these “diminishing returns.”  It seems that talent who had access to feedback was less likely to experience the negative impacts associated with high levels of developmental challenges.  Although the authors only measured “availability” of feedback, it is likely that quality and frequency of feedback will also shape our developmental experiences are assimilated by talent.

I am learning how “tone of voice” is so important to Ajax in learning to differentiate between commands (”leave it” and “down” have a certain directive tone but “come” is much more playful).

Lessons about Developmental Challenges for Leadership Development

1.  Compare your talent’s current skills and competence level to those required by the developmental challenge or on-the-job experience. The personality of the individual you are dealing with is critically important–for example, those who are more entrepreneurially oriented (high on openness to experience) will be most comfortable taking new risks and dealing with the most ambiguity and even failure.  Those most neurotic are likely to be easily overwhelmed in new situations that “stretch” them to grow and develop.

If the reaction of the talent is to report high levels of anxiety, fear or of they “freeze” and demonstrate “behavioral paralysis” you have inadvertently overwhelmed them and should immediately re-evaluate the challenge or reduce its complexity or difficulty.

2.  Built in greater frequency and availability of ongoing feedback (both praise and feedforward) as this seems to help moderate any negative impacts associated with overly difficult developmental challenges.

3.  Look for ways to enhance peer support to reinforce new behaviors, analyze and share difficulties and build a supportive community for new behavioral learning to take place.  These forms of support can occur through both informal social networks as well as structured relationships. Helping talent develop informal support and peer coaching might be one of the most important ways that organizations can enhance the developmental value of on-the-job experiences.

4.  Encourage any mechanisms to facilitate self-refection (e.g., developmental journals, peer support meetings) and transfer of learning from the on-the-job experiences back to the job.

Well, I’m off to take Ajax for his next Guide Dog puppy training.  It’s really designed for me to become a much better leader of future leaders.  I hope they don’t challenge me too much today…Be well….

Technorati Tags: StressScan, health stressors, financial stressors, stress, health, job burnout, hassles, kenneth nowack, ken nowack, nowack

1. DeRue, D. & Wellman, N. (2009). Developing Leaders Via Experience: The Role of Developmental Challenge, Learning Orientation and Feedback Availability.  Journal of Applied Psychology, 94, 859-875 [↩]

Don’t look back; someone may be gaining on you.   Satchel Paige

HOT READS FOR THE PRACTITIONER

Title: Keeping up with the competition

Competency: self-development

Who benefits: you

Consultant Usage: reference source

What’s it about? Summer is coming to an end soon.  Kids will be going back to school.  Will you?

My friend Dr. Terry Paulson once told me years ago that if you were not devoting at least 5% of your time to keeping yourself up-to-date in your field of expertise, you were losing value to your company and losing out to others who are actively managing their careers.  There is an old country song that has this line: “If you are standing still, you are falling behind.”  Two very different sources.  Same story.

I know this Blog has a large Southern California readership, so today I thought I would look at some SoCal education options for the Fall.

USC has a somewhat unique program for physicians Master of Medical Management and its long time successful Management Development Program (7 Saturdays beginning Sept. 12).

USC also offers a two day program beginning September 15, Talent Management: Creating Competitive Advantage, featuring an all star line-up of Jay Conger, John Boudreau, Ed Lawler, and Brian Schipper (Cisco Systems).  (PS: August 24 registration deadline)

Haven’t got the money or the time?  You can still check out some of USC’s free Webinars.

Over at UCLA you have the well-known and highly successful Executive Program that has been around since 1954 and just keeps getting better and better.  This after work program runs from October through March and registration closes soon.

For you HR types UCLA offers the week long Advanced Program in Human Resource Management: Visionary Global HR Management That Drives Business Results.  Program begins September 21.

Loyola Marymount University offers a number of certificate programs in its Personal and Professional Development series.  Included are certificate programs as a Pharmacy Technician, in Medical Terminology, Human Resources, and IT Program and Portfolio Management.

Cal State Northridge offers The Certificate in Mediation and Conflict Resolution beginning August 27.

Cal State Long Beach offers a wide range of business and management programs and certificates including HR, career development, and finance.

Cal State LA offers Business Management (Post-baccalaureate) Online Courses as well as Introduction to Medical Interpretation & Translation: English/Spanish course that may be of interest to some of my friends in the medical field.

Finally, last but by no means least, one of my personal favorites because of the quality of the instructors, practical applications guaranteed, and a beautiful campus, Caltech in Pasadena offers programs and certificates in business development, project management, technology management, leadership development and marketing technology.  You don’t have to be an Einstein to enroll; but you may feel like one after taking one of these courses.

Happy learning.  Catch you later.

Technorati Tags: executive education, continuing education, adult learning, continuous learning, University of Southern California, USC, UCLA, California State Universities, Cal State Northridge, Cal State Long Beach, Cal State LA, California Institute of Technology, Cal Tech, Caltech, bill bradley, william bradley, bradley

“I try to take one day at a time, but sometimes several days attack me at once.
 

Jennifer Yane

One of the things we watch for in raising our guide dog puppy named Ajax is what might cause him stress.  In the last few weeks we have introduced him to “open stairs” that he seems very hesitant to climb even though our two story house has lots of stairs he handles easily each day.  Ajax also seems to be pretty stressed and anxious when he approaches a strange dog in his playful manner and they bark loudly back at him to communicate they aren’t interested in a 40 pound puppy wanting to interact.  All of use experience stressors at work and home each day but how we perceive these events determines whether they are experienced as stressful.

Our own research suggests that 40% to 60% of all employees express a moderately high level of stress on the job. Our work and non-work lives are very permeable with most of us taking work stress home and home stress to our job¹.  The contributors to stress are varied and is is logical that we take work stress home with us as well as import the pressures from family challenges back to the job².

The American Psychological Association (APA) in their 2008 survey of American’s perceptions of stress found that almost half of all respondents (N= 1,791) were pressed about the ability to provide for their family’s needs in the wake of the global economic recession.  Women, compared to men, reported they were more stressed about money (83% versus 78%) and health problems affecting their families (70% versus 63%).

In the APA survey all respondents reported an increase in overall stress from last year and more people reported increased symptoms of stress including fatigue, anger/irritability, depression and headaches.  The APA survey also suggested more adverse use of coping habits and lifestyle practices as a result of the perceived increase in work and life stress.

We were interested in seeing whether results from our own personal stress and health risk appraisal called StressScan would help to identify what professional working employees reported being stressed about and how it compares to the recent 2008 APA survey.  StressScan measures 14 psychosocial scales that have been shown to be associated with diverse individual (e.g., job burnout, depression, physical health) and organizational (e.g., absenteeism) outcomes.

Stress is conceptualized as the experience of major and minor irritants, annoyances, and frustrations (hassles) of daily living over a three-month period.   This brief measure of work/life stress was based upon factor analytic research of the original Hassles scale³. StressScan measures the extent to which respondents experience daily hassles in six distinct factor areas including: 1) Health; 2) Work; 3) Personal Finances; 4) Family; 5) Social Obligations; and 6) Environmental and World concerns (6 items).

We analyzed differences by gender across these six StressScan scales (ANOVA) using requests for free trials for this assessment over the last few years (N=149).  In general, women reported significantly higher levels of stress compared to males (mean for woman = 16.48 versus mean for men = 15.35, p < .01).  No other significant differences were found across gender for quality/quantity of sleep, social support network (availability, use and satisfaction) or happiness.

We found only two stress categories were rated as significantly more challenging by women compared to their male counterparts (p < .01) using a 1 to 5 scale where 1 = Never, 3 = Sometimes and 5 = Always):

Financial Stressors (mean for women 3.15/mean for men 2.72)

Family Stressors (mean for women 3.08/mean for men 2.70)

However, we found no significant differences in self-reported work, health, social or environmental stressors.  In our sample, professional working women continue to report more hassles and life challenges around family issues and finances than men (note: we don’t gather marital status on our demographics but this would be useful to know in analyzing these differences).  These findings support the recent APA stress survey as well as confirm that women may indeed still perceive they have two full-time jobs–one at work and the other when they leave.

I guess I will get Ajax out for a long walk with his Guide Dog bib on and see how he handles the stresses of his working life …Be well….

Technorati Tags: StressScan, health stressors, financial stressors, stress, health, job burnout, hassles, kenneth nowack, ken nowack, nowack

1. Nowack, K. (2006). Optimising Employee Resilience: Coaching to Help Individuals Modify Lifestyle. Stress News, International Journal of Stress Management, Volume 18, 9-12 [↩]
2. Nowack, K. (2008). Coaching for Stress: StressScan. Editor: Jonathan Passmore, Psychometrics in Coaching, Association for Coaching, UK, pp. 254-274 [↩]
3. AD Kanner, A, Coyne, J., Schaefer, C.; & Lazarus, R. (1981). Comparison of two modes of stress measurement: Daily hassles and uplifts. Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 4, 1573-3521 [↩]

HOT READS FOR THE PRACTITIONER

Title: Predictably Irrational

Competencies:  marketing and sales, customer service, finance, decision-making, judgment, self-development

Who benefits: should be considered mandatory for anyone in marketing and sales and customer service, could be beneficial to almost anyone

Consultant Usage: training in marketing and sales, customer service; background material for health and financial consultants; some leadership and management training courses

What’s it about? If you are only going to read one sentence of this posting, then read this: I have never given a more enthusiastic, two-thumbs up, higher recommendation than I am giving Predictably Irrational (PI).

I am sailing through my summer reading list.  Today is book three of my summer bounty.  What immediately strikes me is how these first three books are related, somewhat in content, but certainly in writing characteristics.  It is an “ah-ha” moment for me.  It at least confirms what I already think I know about how and why I choose a book.

The three books (Stumbling on Happiness, Blunders, and now PI) are characterized by the authors taking a complex topic and then writing in a clear and concise style so that the reader actually understands problem(s) being addressed, presenting the hard and soft data in an easily understood manner that supports the authors premises, and reasonable conclusions.

Or to put it even more simply, I like practical books with interesting stories.

Author Dan Ariely couldn’t be any clearer in his purpose: “My goal, by the end of this book, is to help you fundamentally rethink what makes you and the people around you tick.”   He writes from the perspective of a behavioral economist (marketing, sales, customer service, finance).  His major contribution is to refute the widely-held rational economic model that says we are capable of making the right decisions for ourselves – and he doesn’t just refute it, he smashes it to pieces. 

Knee-jerk reaction: If I told you, you were unable to make the right decisions for yourself, what would you say?  Ha!!!  That was my reaction.  But he nailed me in example after example, from retirement planning to diets.  (He also has something to say about sex that was too accurate to review in this Blog.)

He observes that not only are we irrational, we are predictably irrational – that our irrationality occurs the same way again and again and again. 

He explains why supply-demand economics only partially works.  This should be required reading for all politicians.   Read this book and you will never look at the public issues of the day in the same way.  Eye-opening just doesn’t begin to describe it.

The book will arouse your emotions.  I guarantee you will laugh.  You will probably feel anger at some point.  You may feel sadness and will possibly have a tear or two in your eyes. You may feel other emotions as Ariely taps into your personal history (and he will). 

I want to go on and on, but I think you get the idea of where I stand on this book.  Before summarizing, let me tempt you further with some chapter headings.  And please remember this is a serious book on Behavioral Economics.  Here are my top five:

Chapter 5.  The Influence of Arousal: Why Hot is Much Hotter Than We Realize. 

Chapter 6.  The Problem of Procrastination and Self-Control: Why We can’t Make Ourselves Do What We Want to Do.

Chapter 9.  The Effect of Expectations: Why the Mind gets What It Expects.

Chapter 10.  The Power of Price: Why a 50-Cent Aspirin Can Do What a Penny Aspirin Can’t.

Chapter 13.  Beer and Free Lunches: What is Behavioral Economics, and Where Are the Free Lunches.

In summary, how good is this book?  I love mystery and thriller books.  I have been waiting months for mystery writer David Baldacci’s new thriller.  It arrived the same day as this book.  I picked up this book and read it cover to cover first.  It reads like mystery and you could actually find yourself staying up late at night trying to finish it before work tomorrow. 

Catch you later.

Technorati Tags: irrational, irrationality, predictably irrational, rational thought, behavioral economics, behavioral economist, rational economic model, supply and demand, decision making, judgment, judgment calls, bill bradley, william bradley, bradley

“I have never taken any exercise except sleeping and resting.”
Mark Twain

Ajax, our guide dog puppy in training is an early riser.  As a result we tend to be getting less sleep than we would really like.  Yes, raising a guide dog puppy is a lot like raising infants.

We wish Ajax was more of a “night owl” with a sleep cycle that tends to peak later in the day–allowing us just a bit more sleep.

We are learning two important things about lack of sleep and how performance is related to whether you are an early riser or a “night owl.”

Are Your A Better Performer if You are a Morning Person?

Brand new research suggests that there are significant differences in the way our brains function depending on whether we’re early risers or night owls.  Using MRI techniques of the brain, researchers at the University of Alberta studied two groups: 1) Those who get up early and feel most productive in the morning and 2) those who are more productive and alert at night¹.

What they found was rather surpising.

Night owls became physically stronger throughout the day, but the maximum amount of muscle tone for “morning people”could produce remained the same.  This finding suggests that “night owls” are really handicapped with tasks requiring physical performance in the morning but “morning people” do just as well anytime during the day.

So, Ajax being an early riser might have a guide dog advantage over his sleepy head brothers and sisters who are optimally effective later in the day.

Leadership Effectiveness and Lack of Sleep

Research by Sylvia Ann-Hewlett and Carol Luce show that 62% of high earning individuals work more than 50 hours per week, 35% work more than 60 hours a week and 10% work more than 80 hours².  Their findings suggest that more than 70% of professionals reported not getting enough sleep.

Leaders and others know that the sleep-deprived are typically moody, miserable and just not much fun to be around. New research from UC Berkeley using MRI technology helps explain why for the first time.

The study is the first to show exactly what areas of the brain are affected by sleep deprivation³.

In the UC Berkeley study of 26 young adults, half of the subjects were kept awake for 35 hours straight and the other half were allowed a normal night’s sleep in that same time period. Then all of the subjects were hooked up to an MRI and shown a number of images while the researchers monitored what happened in their brains as each image was shown.

The sleep-deprived subjects had a significant activity in the amygdala (the section of the brain that puts the body on alert to protect itself and control emotions) and simultaneously activity slowed down in the prefrontal cortex, which controls logical reasoning.  However, subjects who had gotten a full night of sleep showed normal brain activity.

What this means for most people is that a sleepless night or very poor quality of sleep can cause employees to overreact to emotional challenges that they would otherwise be able to tolerate without any trouble.

So, look out if you have sleep deprived talent and leaders who lack emotional intelligence — their amygdala already is compromised….Be well…

Technorati Tags: insomnia, sleep, fatigue, depression, sleep disorders, fatigue countermeasures, REM, NREM, circadian rhythms, stress, health, job burnout, kenneth nowack, ken nowack, nowack

1. Tamm, A., Lagerquist, O., Ley, A., & Collins, D. (2009). Chronotype Influences Diurnal Variations in the Excitability of the Human Motor Cortex and the Ability to Generate Torque during a Maximum Voluntary Contraction. Journal of Biological Rhythms, Vol. 24, No. 3, 211-224 [↩]
2. Hewlett, A. &  Luce, C. (2006).  Extreme jobs.  The dangerous allure of the 70-hour workweek.  Harvard Business Review, December 2006, pp. 1-12 [↩]
3. Yoo, S., Gujar,N., Hu,P., Jolesz, F., & Walker, M. (2007).  The human emotional brain without sleep — a prefrontal amygdala disconnect.  Current Biology. Vol 17 [↩]

HOT READS FOR THE PRACTITIONER

Title: Blunder

Competencies: self-development, leadership, adaptability, stress 

Who benefits: leaders, managers, professionals, those seeking personal growth

Consultant Usage: great material for incorporation into leadership training, any feedback situation, must read for executive coaches

What’s it about? I am overjoyed.  This is my second “don’t miss” book on my summer reading list (see earlier review of Stumbling on Happiness).  The “over” part of overjoyed is that in addition to this being a well-written book explaining a complex topic in understandable language – my favorite kind – is that I see so much of myself in this book.  It is like 360-Degree feedback without people involved.  Now the question is “Will I use anything I just learned about myself?”  Which again is central to 360-Degree Feedback.  But I digress.

This book is amazing because it is a book on psychology written by a historian.  It is also amazing since so much of the book applies to not only the psychology of the individual, but to the psychology of a nation. 

This book is about making judgment calls.  And now I understand why decisions I have made earlier in my life and in my career went awry!

Much of the rest of the review is by the author, not me.  It isn’t because I am lazy (oh I am, but that is not the reason in this case), but that the author’s list of why smart people make bad decisions is so clear that you can readily decide if this is a book for you (or as a gift for someone you know really needs it – and if someone gives you the book, think “360” feedback!).

The seven cognition traps to avoid:

1. Exposure Anxiety: fear of being seen as weak
2. Causefusion: confusing the causes of complex events
3. Flat View: seeing the world in one dimension
4. Cure-Allism: thinking that one-size solutions can solve all problems
5. Infomania: an obsessive relationship to information
6. Mirror Imagine: thinking the other side thinks like you do
7. Static Cling: the refusal to accept that circumstances have changed

While it does not qualify as a blunder, it might be a mistake to pass up this informative and well-written book.

Catch you later.

Technorati Tags: 360 degree feedback, blunder, blunders, best laid plans, adaptability, decision making, judgment, cognition traps, bill bradley, william bradley,   bradley

“If you’re not confused, you’re not paying attention.”

Tom Peters

Ajax, the guide dog puppy we are raising has finally been able to go to the public park in Santa Monica to interact with other dogs.  We can tell right away that is certainly isn’t the alpha dog around others but he is curious to approach and play with any size dog.  It’s interesting to see who turns out to be the true leader in a pack, who the true bully is and who follows.  Who emerges as leaders in groups is practically important in every organization.

One of the things our company has done for the last 20 years is to develop and administer  leaders¹.   These are almost always several days long and encompass a wide range of exercises, simulations and assessments observed by other psychologists and training assessors. 

In each assessment center we always create at least one or two leaderless group exercises (e.g., problem solving or consensus seeking) measuring leadership, interpersonal and problem solving behaviors.  We always ask participants at the end of the exercise to rank and rate each other (a very difficult and challenging task) and we use this data to help identify how our own perceptions of who emerges as leaders matches with those of the other participants,  We also try to compare these results with one of our own 360 feedback assessments being used to evaluate interpersonal competence like our Emotional Intelligence View 360 (EIV360).

One universal observation is that the most dominant members (those who come across as verbal, confident and the most talkative) appear to emerge initially as the leader in a group but many, if not most, tend to fade into the sunset.  A couple of new studies tend to illuminate what we have seen for many years.

Personality Attributes of Those Who Wind Up Actually Leading Groups

There has been a great deal of research validating the “five factor” personality model and its relationship to leadership effectiveness (and health).  These “five factors” tend to commonly be known as Extraversion (assertiveness, positive affect), Emotional Stability (negative affectivity, stress tolerance), Openness to Experience (risk taking, artistic predispositions, openness), Conscientiousness (achievement striving, dependability, organized) and Agreeableness (caring for others, collaborative).

A fairly recent study by Tim Judge and colleagues at the University of Florida has analyzed how these five factors are related to leadership emergence and effectiveness².

They found that Extraversion emerged as the most consistent correlate of leadership when controlling for the other Big Five traits. His findings suggest that Extraversion is the most important trait of leaders and effective leadership (Note: Extraversion was more strongly related to leader emergence than to leader effectiveness). These results for Extraversion make sense, as both sociable and dominant people are more likely to assert themselves in group situation, but the most talkative and appear most “leader like” initially.

Do Dominant Group Members Begin as Leaders?

In two very recent studies by Cameron Anderson at UC Berkeley, dominant leaders appeared to achieve influence in their groups in part because they were seen as more competent by fellow group members³

To measure task competence, they included ratings of task expertise and general cognitive abilities. To measure social competence, they included ratings of leadership and verbal skills by observers.  They used a set of group exercises that was designed to be engaging and evoke a lot of discussion.  After all group sessions had been conducted, outside observers watched a videotape of the sessions and rated group members on the same dimensions on which group members rated each other.

Consistently, the group members who spoke up the most were rated the highest for such qualities as “general intelligence” and “dependable and self-disciplined.”  The ones who didn’t speak as much tended to score higher for less desirable traits, including “conventional and uncreative.”

These findings suggest that dominant individuals (social, talkative, confident) may emerge as early leaders in group settings by appearing helpful to the group’s overall success as opposed to aggressively grabbing power. It seems that dominance leads to influence at least in part because it entails more confident and initiative-taking behaviors. An overwhelming 94% of the time, the groups in the study used the first answer anyone shouted out — mostly ignoring the ideas of others even if they were actually better. 

Anderson and his colleagues also designed a second study to evaluate if it was possible that people who talked more did so because they simply had more to contribute.  They found that people who spoke up more were again more likely to be described by other group members as “leaders” and likelier to be rated as competent in the task they were working on.   Just being more verbal and assertive seemed to signal “leadership presence” to the other group members initially.

Do Dominant Leaders at the Beginning Remain Valued Over Time?

One way to answer this question is to review a classic study by Palhaus who explored the emergence of leadership in groups⁴. His study and findings can be summarized below:

• Two longitudinal studies (7 weeks) explored leadership dynamics in unstructured groups in which participants were strangers
• Narcissism predicted making a strong initial impression and being selected as leader
• These individuals were subsequently rated negatively by the group as a result of arrogance and high-handedness at the end of the 7 week period

His findings suggest that just acting confident and speaking up seem to be the initial ingredients for the emergence of leadership. Why they do isn’t really clear because most group theories suggest that people can’t attain influence simply by behaving assertively and forcefully—they really need to have intelligence and skills.

So, if you want to fake being “leader like” it appears you just need to talk – and talk a lot when you first get into new groups.  If you want to remain being seen as a leader you might consider trying harder to learn from others than assert your own ideas and opinions.

It’s fun to get together with all the other guide dog puppy raisers and to watch the young leaders interact.  It’s even more fun based on their interactions to try to guess who will actually emerge to become a guide dog leader in the future.  Right now, Ajax seems more interested in “playing” then leading around other dogs…we wonder if he has the right stuff to be followed as he gets older and more mature….Be well….

Technorati Tags: personality, leadership, Narcissus, competent jerks, stress, job burnout, leadership, heart disease, talent management, engagement, productivity, bad bosses, group leadership, Envisia Learning, kenneth nowack, ken nowack, Nowack

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