Greetings!
Welcome to “Cultivating your Leadership Brand” series.
Our intention is to provide tips, tools and resources to help you develop an effective leadership brand that drives high quality performance and allows you to bring your best self to work everyday while inspiring others to do the same!
Successful leaders are aware of how they are perceived and recognized in the organization by those they manage, their peers and senior leadership. Driving results in your organization is rooted in how well you can motivate, develop, and productively interact with others. Successful leaders have the ability to manage their behaviors, in the moment, as well as manage their relationships with others.
They have high Emotional Intelligence.
Do you have trouble keeping your emotions and impulses in check?
Are you quick to anger or tend to get defensive? Perhaps you would benefit from learning to manage your emotional responses and gain
behavioral self-control.
Unfortunately, we see it most when it’s lacking – think of the boss who explodes when a deadline is missed, or the co-worker who throws childish tantrums when the coffee machine breaks, or a family member who blows up in shouting tirades when "something" goes wrong. These people are limited by their lack of Social+Emotional Intelligence skills.
- On a scale from 1-10, how would you rate your ability to control your behaviors when faced with conflict, stress or under pressure?
- How might your employees, co-workers or family members rate you?
People that are high in the Behavioral Self-Control competency:
- Manage their impulsive feelings and distressing emotions well
- Stay composed, positive, and unflappable even in trying moments
- Restrain negative reactions
- Think clearly and stay focused under pressure
- Maintain their stamina and performance in emotionally-charged situations
- Choose not to escalate a problem when attacked, provoked, or aggressively confronted by another
- When faced with hostility or opposition, they remain “cool under pressure”
Want to develop Behavioral Self-Control? Self-awareness is the first step.
Our ability to pause before we react gives us the space of mind in which we can consider various options and then choose the appropriate ones.
Make a list of things that cause you to “lose it” – your triggers or “hot buttons”.
Think about those emotionally charged situations and ask yourself:
- What am I feeling?
- What am I thinking?
- What do I want to happen?
- How am I sabotaging the outcome I want?
- What do I need to do or say to get a more positive outcome?
This awareness buys time and “space of mind” to choose a response rather than simply, and impulsively reacting in emotionally-charged situations.
In fact, some of the research indicates that it takes anywhere from two to seven seconds for information to travel from the emotion-processing part of the brain to the logical reasoning part of the brain.
Next, write out a strategy to deal with each of these issues the next time they arise.
Remember,
in the moment
, to choose a more constructive response when issues come up in the future. Watch your self talk – tell yourself what it looks like to stay composed, stay focused and think clearly under pressure.
Remember
Social+Emotional Intelligence
can be learned and strengthened over time and it’s never too late to develop these essential skills to build your leadership brand and increase your value within your organization and in the marketplace.
What actions will you take to develop the Behavioral Self-Control needed to align with with your leadership brand?
Do you procrastinate, postpone big decisions, or miss opportunities?
Perhaps you lack initiative. Next week we will explore ways to develop a
Bias for Action.
Ready to take your leadership brand to the next level?
Invest in yourself, your people and your organization by registering for our eye-opening and dynamic 2-day workshop designed to cultivate your leadership brand and keep you and your employees performing at their best.
